Here’s what I suggest for learning shortcuts, based on cognitive science.
When you want to invoke a shortcut, but it doesn’t immediately come to mind, just sit with that for a few seconds before looking up the shortcut. Actively try to recall the shortcut. This primes your brain to integrate the answer after you look it up. It might not immediately seem like it helps, but our brains integrate these associations when we sleep, and over time it should help.
I do like live preview. Part of the attraction of markdown for me, is the principle found in other systems like LaTeX - separating the text from its presentation. Just type and don’t worry about what it looks like. Mark some text as to what you want it to do (emphasize, reference, etc.). Work out the display later. Microsoft Word, Pages, et al. have unwittingly turned us all into desktop publishers.
Such a great show for the first few seasons.
My cadre of Hue bulbs have worked well. I’ve never experienced the update woes that others are relating. Hands free operation is nice. I can stay warm under the covers and tell Siri to turn off all the lights. I have outside lights come on in the morning so school kids waiting for the bus across the street have a little light. The light strip on our stairs is motion sensitive and helps us see. My wife’s bedside lamp gently increases in brightness in the morning to simulate sunrise and help her wake up in the correct sleep cycle. Automation closed our garage door last night at 9:00pm because we forgot it was open. Etc.
I’ve probably posted somewhere above (actually 12 times when I searched it), but here are today’s contrary opinions:
a lot of free software is really good
Apple forces us to buy new, rather than upgrade what we have. E.g. there’s no reason for iOS devices not to have a microsd slot. There’s no reason M1/2 devices can’t have expandable memory and storage.
single core performance of M1/2 devices is about the same as a recent iPhone.
I’m trying to be less acerbic, so will sit on the others.
Paper Planners have turned into art sketch books on the internet, think Hobonichi. There are no websites/blogs to give direction anymore for work use of a paper planner. I’m still using mine (Jibun Techo Biz mini B6 Slim with a custom cover from Etsy) as a planner for work every day. My work as an independent technician entails many jobs a day, and every day is different. No patterns at all. It’s much faster to write one entry in a specific place in my paper planner than type all of the details into Calendar. I’m finding I don’t use the monthly calendar, either. That’s only going to be for special events. I also didn’t use the special pages in the front this last year.
The Zettelkasten method worked marvelously for the creator of his system because of the structure of his unique mind and the specific field he was writing and researching in. It may not work for another mind and/or another field. Everyone wants to be as productive as he was, hence the fascination with his method, but he was himself, and not you. Know thyself before considering planning and researching tools. Also, know that your mind and needs will change over time. Be flexible and kind to yourself if you need to be. There will be other times when you need to be hard on yourself, too. Balance.
DEVONthink Pro is too much for me and my needs (not wants; I want to use it, but really don’t need to). This past year, I’ve been trying out a lot of apps and spending too much money in the process that I can’t afford to spend. I’ve also been trying to radically simplify my processes so I can quit thinking about the process and just get work and life done. “Continuity is better than Change”, and that for a person who has never really known continuity until this year, to an extent. I’ve always lived in change in my computing life.
EDIT: more contrary opinions: I hate tags and labels and Markdown. I’m a rich text note in a folder guy. Keep It v 2 works fine so long as one doesn’t fill it as much as you can fill Evernote. My undone tasks are a Checklists smart folder in Keep It.
I 100% agree! For 2023 I’m eliminating the following podcasts Mac Power Users, Connected, and Upgrade from my queue so as not to be tempted to fiddle with my setup.
I’ve already committed to saving money in 2023. Minimizing my tech and media consumption is now a new resolution as well, and it’ll help with the saving money goal as well.
Now – I just need to make a note of this so I don’t forget. I think I’ll make a “2023 Goals” document. Evernote or Obsidian? Or could I put this in Todoist? Maybe moving it all into NotePlan would help if I could just — there, I’m doing it again. LOL.
This is not a contrary opinion at all, but lately I am becoming more and more sensitive to switching costs when considering a new app.
I’m still doing a lot of switching – perhaps more than I would like — as my work has required me to use Windows for the past few months, and therefore I have had to switch from Apple-only tools to Microsoft and cross-platform tools.
But I am becoming more sensitive to the fact that even the better tool is not necessarily better, if the time cost of switching outweighs the long-term benefit.
I know these insights are not new, but they became fresh to me when I was chatting with a friend a few months ago. He is one of the most productive people I know – maybe one of the most productive people in the world. He wrote seven or eight books since 2020. Like me, my friend is a heavy RSS user, and the last time I checked in with him a few years ago he was using newsblur. I asked him if that is still the case and he said yes because it seems satisfactory to him, and he just doesn’t like to switch apps as much as I do.
That said, I switched off Inoreader a few months ago, because it was too hairy uncomplicated at cost $10 a month. I tried newsblur briefly and ended up at Feedbin. Every few weeks I look at the readwise reader app, which is in beta, to see if it suits my needs, but it does not. At least not yet.
So I guess I am not living up to my non-switching principle just yet. But I hope I’m getting there!
@MitchWagner have you documented or written about the impact/changes in your workflow/app stack as a result of using Windows…Seems like a big change in itself.
I haven’t listened to any tech podcasts for a year now. My Apple Pencil lies unused as I could not get used to the confines of app selection and pencil grip on glass.
At work, I’m a technical writer, I mind map on an A3 pad or my huge office whiteboard. My work is entirely Windows based using Word, InDesign and Illustrator.
Tasks are either MS Planner or written in my A5 spiral bound notebook.
I don’t even get on with my calendar app on IOS as I find it so clunky to enter something. I’m not quite ready to go back to a Sasco year planner but I like the 20,000 ft view of my next few weeks and months and I haven’t been able to achieve that using tech.
Some of the most productive people I’ve ever known find a workflow that works for them and never change until they have a strong reason to do so. One was a senior executive who used a Franklin Covey wire-bound planner. AFAIK he mainly used his Mac mainly for email and reading reports.
He did, however, use his personal Mac for a great number of things.
This is me as well and I’ve reverted to MS To Do for now. Yes, others are possibly better, prettier and with more features (than I generally use) but the disconnect between home and work leaves me feeling unproductive and ineffective having to switch all the time.
I could use Reminders via iCloud at work but MS just done just enough with connection between apps that there is some benefit. OneNote is becoming my note taker of “choice”. I’m in the process of committing to it around the philosophy of “one source of truth” which has a comforting element - though I am toying with the idea of a SuperNote A6x - because the “new shiny” syndrome is alive and well!
Brainstorming, doodling, mind-mapping, outlining, prototyping ideas, etc is way faster, easier, and more satisfying with loose leaf paper and a black ballpoint pen than with an iPad and Apple Pencil.
Absolutely. It drives my teenage children mad when they see the A3 art pad come out for another brainstorming session at home but I think I am beginning to wear them down to the point they can see it works for me.
Years ago it was an easel and butchers paper on a block. Fantastic way to capture my ideas.
I don’t know if this is contrary or not……but I find Discord to be useless compared to forums.
I’m hoping I just don’t know how to set it up, but every time I’ve tried it I have such an aversion to it I can’t be bothered to figure it out.
I think the contrary opinion would be more like: “you know what? I’m fine with Discord. I don’t need my conversations to be organized and I don’t care if people keep repeating the same topics. I just watch it scroll past and move on with my life.”
