Wrapping up 2015

Last year, I wrote about my final sales numbers for 2014. Now that 2015 is wrapping up, it’s time to do the same. I had very high expectations going into 2015. I released Hobo right at the start of the new year and planned a major update to VirtualHostX for the Fall. With both of … Read more

Switching Email Providers

Earlier this year I switched (after 11 years) away from Gmail to an email address at my own domain hosted by FastMail. I didn’t make this decision lightly. I knew changing email addresses could uproot my very online identity. But I was tired of the new direction Gmail’s interface was heading, and I also worried … Read more

Must, Will, Might

Last month I came across a clever post about using just two GTD contexts by Matt Henderson (by way of SimplicityBliss). Like many of us, he’s experimented with lots of different ways of managing contexts. There’s the traditionalist approach where your contexts mimic the tools or location available to you: home, work, Mac, phone, etc. … Read more

No Phone Thursdays

One experiment I’ve been trying for the last two months is taking twenty-four hours each week to be entirely phone free. My goal is to give myself time back to focus on things that matter – rather than living in a half-distracted state all the time. I’ve chosen Thursdays. Anecdotally, it seems to be the … Read more

My New Email Routine With SaneBox

I’ve written before about cutting back on notifications. Today I want to talk a bit about how I’m using a paid service called SaneBox to reduce unwanted email notifications even further. I initially found out about SaneBox six months ago from David Sparks. His enthusiastic recommendation was enough to get me to give the service … Read more

Connecting Amazon Alexa’s Todo’s with OmniFocus

Last week Amazon Alexa and IFTTT hooked up in a big way. They now have triggers that allow you to do things whenever you add an item to your Alexa to-do or shopping lists. This is awesome because now those items don’t have to live within Amazon’s ecosystem. With a little IFTTT tinkering you can … Read more

Duplicate Tasks

I put everything into OmniFocus – my trusted system. Throughout the day I’m constantly hitting my OmniFocus keyboard shortcut to add whatever task just occurred to me to my inbox. It’s quick, painless, and lets me stay focused on my work without breaking my train of thought. Later in the day, I’ll process my inbox … Read more

Where do External Triggers Belong?

The great thing about blogging vs a shorter medium like Twitter, is you can have actual, in-depth conversations. There’s nothing better than someone replying to a post you wrote with one of their own. So here’s one… Last week I wrote about External Triggers in OmniFocus. Sven Fechner of SimplicityBliss picked up my post add … Read more

I Will Not Use the Phrase “Growth Hacking”

But I will call it marketing. It’s always something that I’ve been interested in, but it’s also something I’ve always put off until “I have more time”. Well, that time is now. I spent two days in December and did a thorough review of my little software business. The obvious take away is that 90% … Read more