Kevin Richardson describes [http://encourageothers.com/2012/11/having-motivation/] the issue of matching your times of creativity with your life's schedule. As a father of many youngsters, this resonates with me — I know exactly what he means. > As a result, this impromptu late night motivation is essentially wasted. If only I could bottle it and save it for the morning… While I occasionally indulge myself by working a late night just to scratch my creative itch, I know it’s not practical to wo…
I'm reminded that every day brings me one essential choice. I can make the most of what the day brings, or I can choose to despair. Despair is a strong word, but it's at the end of the road that starts with a complaint. Last week, after returning home from a week abroad, we found that winter had arrived [http://d.pr/XVvN] while we were gone. A week away from home results in a lot of catch up work on its own; throw in 2 feet of snow to the mix, and suddenly I easily…
Kyle Baxter answers [http://tightwind.net/2012/11/the-ipad-mini/] some of the questions I've had about the iPad Mini. Initially, I had no interest in the device, preferring to wait until it was retina capable. But screen resolution aside, it's been intriguing to see so many folks — people who's opinions I trust — echo the thought that this is the best sized iPad. My question was this: is it still highly usable as a creation device? Consumption is no question; every article I read on my iPad is…
LaunchBar enthusiasts may already be aware of this, but I stumbled upon the ability to add reminders to … Reminders (I now have visions of Austin Powers running through my head). It's quite slick. The key to remember is that the Reminders application from Apple uses lists. If you've never modified from the default, then your list is called Reminders, as shown in the image here. Simply type the name of your list into LaunchBar, then press enter to open the dialogue you see here. Add the descript…
As I've matured, I've learned a lot about myself, especially in the area of leadership. As I became more self-aware, I realized that in circumstances where I was unsure of the next step, I would ignore the situation. If I wasn't sure what to do, of the next action, I would subconsciously not give the area of need any attention. Not a helpful approach! What I've learned to do is just get started. Do something, anything. It doesn't matter if it was a plumbing issue I'd never handled…
Sacha Greif wrote about side projects in his last newsletter [https://chrisbowler.com/journal/sacha-greif-newsletter], making some good points about the benefits of such things. He mentions that these side projects allow us to exercise creative muscle we might not otherwise get to and build up our resume. And I agree. He also defines a side project fairly broadly and recommends keeping them to 10 hours in duration, start to finish.The issue though, is this: for some, even 10 hours are hard to c…
I've played with Hazel in years past, but never looked at it too seriously. It's definitely a powerful tool! But I found one aspect of the utility very unintuitive. For extra nerdy Mac nerds, this may be either underwhelming or very obvious. I was looking for an a solution for a coworker yesterday, who had a fairly simple issue. She has her pictures folder filled with subfolders. These sub-folders have more sub-folders or images (Picasa puts the folders there). She simply wanted her Pictures fo…
The past week saw another project that I find very intriguing. Linked to by half the western world, it's The Magazine [http://the-magazine.org] from Marco Arment. What's intriguing about it? It's another small, targeted publication. 2012 has seen many a publication like this and I love the trend. Even further, The Magazine is also a curated effort of sorts, with Marco doing the work of coordinating writers and ensuring the content fits the audience. I've spent a lot of thought on those two sub…