Life in Full Color

A Blank iPhone First Home Screen

About a week ago I moved all the icons off my iPhone’s first Home screen.

Basically I moved everything over by one screen. So the first Home screen became the second, the second became third, etc. Now, my iPhone’s first Home screen is blank.

I just finished the book Make Time, by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky. And one of their suggestions for reclaiming time in your day and improving your focus is to remove all the apps from your first Home screen.

In the same way that a small little meteor rock can strike the earth and create a huge crater — so too can small little interactions with our phones end up creating huge craters of time in our day.

In terms of absolute efficiency, a blank Home screen is not exactly the most efficient Home screen. By moving everything away from the first Home screen, it means my most-used apps — aside from those 3 in the Dock — are now one additional swipe away.

But I’m okay with that added bit of friction. It ensures that I’m being a bit more mindful and intentional when using my phone. I don’t know how many times I have unlocked my iPhone to do something, but then forgot what that thing was the moment I was at the Home screen. Over the past week, when I’m presented with that blank Home screen it helps me stay on track with what I’m on my phone for.

Secondly, I think the blank Home screen looks pretty great.

Lastly, I’ve found that the blank Home screen makes it easier to stop using my iPhone when I’m done with a task.

I always swipe up and up in order to exit out of the app I’m using and then exit back to my first Home screen. And so now when I do that, I end up back at the empty Home screen. And for some reason, that brings a sense of closure.

Side note: moving all my apps was a giant pain in the app. I had to move each folder one by one, from screen to screen. You can tap-and-hold to get into wiggly-app mode, and then once you’ve selected one app you can tap on other apps to select a whole bunch and move them all at once. It took me about 15 minutes — but it was actually a bit cathartic, and I deleted / rearranged some apps in the process.

A Blank iPhone First Home Screen

Sneak Peek at This Week’s Project

This week was my deadline for wrapping up the final version of a very special, very new project. And then, today, we recorded a bunch of videos for our upcoming 2020 Plan Your Year update.

That’s why, unfortunately, I didn’t quite keep up with publishing very day this week. But now that everything has been wrapped up, the NaNoBlogMo can continue!

Here’s a little sneak peek at what I’ve been designing and building all week…

Sneak Peek at This Week’s Project

Some Good Fiction to Read (During the Holidays)

One of my favorite things to do over the holidays is read in the corner while everyone else is doing something else.

Holidays or not, it has always been difficult for me to fully enjoy my down time without getting stir crazy. I almost always need to be doing. Something. For instance, on my most recent sabbatical week, I installed recessed lighting and smart light switches in our basement.

But there is something I’ve discovered about myself over the years: when I am with family I don’t feel the need to be actively productive. It’s as if being around family is the productive thing I am doing. Which I think is the reason for why I feel more at ease to just rest and relax during times of family-get-togethers.

Here are a few books I’ve read that I’d heartily recommend if you’re looking for some good fiction. As I was compiling the list, I realized that they’re all on the sci-fi end of the spectrum. Hope you enjoy!

Past Faves

Here are a few books that I just can’t stop recommending. When I read Black Matter, I literally didn’t do any work for 2 days; I just read it straight through until I finished.

Current Faves

Apparently 2019 has been the year of dystopian future, science fiction books for me.

Wool, by Hugh Howey. I grabbed the first Silo Trilogy book at a Barnes and Noble in January before a long-weekend staycation with Anna. I could barely put the book down. I bought the second book in the series — Shift — but only made it about 1/3 through before slowing down and moving on to something else. Though I’ve heard from many folks that I am missing out by not finishing it, and that the whole trilogy is worth it. So I plan to pick it back up once I’m done with what I’m currently reading…

(Side-note: There is a recent podcast interview with Silo author, Hugh Howey, and Shane Parish that is excellent. They talk about creative habits, self-publishing, and more.)

The Red Rising Series, by Pierce Brown. It seemed as if everyone was talking about this series on Twitter earlier this year. So I bought the first book — Red Rising — to see for myself. I could barely put it down. I have been plowing through whole series since the summer. (Currently about 20% through book 4, Iron Gold, and it feels like it may be the best book yet.)

Future Faves (I Hope)

There are few things both better and worse than finishing a great book. Having another great book in the waiting can help ease the pain. Here are some of the books in my nonfiction queue that I’m looking forward to reading.

Some Good Fiction to Read (During the Holidays)

An Unexpected Google Search Trick

I’m not sure if it’s the changing weather, or something else, but whatever the reason may be, my personal interest in photography feels like it has been exploding over the past few months.

And so, much of my free time at home has been spent reading through reviews of the Leica Q (and Q2) to get some inspiration for how others are using my same camera.

Also, of course I have been itching to get out more than normal to take some shots. And as I think about what 2020 looks like, I’m considering a personal goal of traveling to at least 2 unique destinations for the sole purpose of making some photos. So if you have any suggestions, please do let me know.

Anyway, as I’ve been reading, there is an interesting “trick” I employed for the Google search results as I have been searching for camera reviews and stories….

Most of the best camera and photography reviews that I have found are on pages 3 and 4 of the Google search results.

You see, I wanted to get some real life, normal-person, story-based reviews of the camera — as opposed to the sterile, press-release regurgitation articles that are on so many of the high-ranking websites that appear on page 1 of Google results.

And so, in order to get to the good stuff — the articles that were written by normal folks with normal blogs who had been using the camera for a while before they wrote their review — I had to skip past the first page.

Whodathunkit?

An Unexpected Google Search Trick

On Quiet, Undistracted Alone Time

A few days ago Mike Schmitz wrote our pick on The Sweet Setup for the best meditation app.

I have long been a proponent and practitioner of regular, quiet, alone time — it is something that has (mostly) been part of my normal day for more than 20 years. (Even as someone who is 100% on the extrovert scale.)

If you read my article from yesterday, I shared about how to have an Apple Watch recovery day by using the Mind & Body workout type on the Apple Watch.

And, as I hinted at in that article, there is additional reason I like the Mind & Body workout type beyond using it as a recovery day workout.

I also like the Mind & Body workout type as a way to help me purposefully set aside 15 – 30 minutes of my day for some device-free, undistracted, quite alone time.

Now, of course, you don’t need an Apple Watch or a meditation app in order to set aside and have some quite, undistracted alone time. But if either of those are tools that can help you, then by all means you should take advantage of them.

. . . . .

Back in 2014 I recorded a podcast and wrote an article about something I call “The Just Checks”.

The Just Checks is about the habit of checking our inboxes: Twitter, Instagram, Email, Facebook, et al.

And the problem behind the The Just Checks is that they rob us of our ability to focus and do deep work (by training our brains to resort to inboxes when we are bored, or challenged). And this habit robs us of any quiet alone time. Why?

Because checking Twitter does not qualify as quiet alone time.

Though we may be physically alone, we are distracted and are not alone with our own thoughts — we’re scrolling other people’s thoughts, stories, inputs, ideas, opinions, etc.

And so, if our moments of down time are filled with inboxes and social media, then we’re never actually being alone. And over time this lack of solitude — “Solitude Deprivation” — can be a serious issue that can lead to stress, anxiety, and depression.

My challenge to you this week: Set aside 15 minutes sometime this week to have some quiet, undistracted, alone time.

P.S. On my shelf are two recent books on the matter: Digital Minimalist by Cal Newport and Stillness is the Key by Ryan Holiday. To be honest, I haven’t yet read these books. But they are in my queue.

On Quiet, Undistracted Alone Time

How to Have a Recovery Day With the Apple Watch

There are a few things I have learned over the past year of perfect Apple Watch Activity, and one of them is how to have a recovery day without breaking your workout and activity streak.

Sometimes I think the Apple Watch fitness tracking is amazing.

And sometimes I feel that my Apple Watch is trying to kill me.

For example… My November 2019 challenge is to get a total of 1,690 exercise minutes, which is an average of 56 minutes every single day. Almost double my normal goal. No thanks.

Or, consider the “stand trend”. The whole point of these trends is that you are supposed to be always trending upward! But, at what point is enough standing enough? Some of us sleep while lying down…

Anyway, my point is that the Apple Watch is always pushing and challenging. And even though I joke about it, for the most part I do like that my Watch is pushing me to stay active.

But, at the end of the day, I am the one in charge of my health and fitness. My Watch is not a personal trainer.

That’s why I have been happily taking recovery days without breaking my activity streak.

Here’s how…

. . .

On the Apple Watch there are several default workout types, but all of them are active. (Well, walking and yoga could be a bit on the chill side.)

But there are also about 60 more workout types that are buried within the Other workout option.

One of those buried workout types is called Mind and Body. The Mind and Body workout is one that I have been using for the past few months as part of my recovery day “workout” each week. I have also begun using it in order to track my times of quiet meditation.

How to Unlock the Apple Watch’s Other Workout options

As I mentioned, there are about 60 other workouts. But you wouldn’t know it unless you went through a specific series of actions.

In order to “unlock” one of the awesome, Other workouts, just do the following:

  1. Start a new workout on your Apple Watch and select Other as the workout type.
  2. Go about your workout.
  3. When you are done, you’ll be able to choose a name for the workout.
  4. Now, that workout type will be available to you in your list of workouts.

What are the “Other” Workouts?

There are about 60 of them. From Barre method to Curling, Fishing to Golf. You can see a complete list here.

The ones I use on a regular basis are Play, Mind & Body, Flexibility, Climbing, Indoor Cycle, Core Training, and Strength Training.

Using “Mind and Body” On Your Recover Day

A few months ago when I discovered the Mind and Body workout type, I began using it on my recovery days.

I would start the workout and then take 15-30 minutes to sit in quiet without any digital devices nearby. Sometimes I will have a book to read, or I will spend the time in personal prayer and meditation, or just sit in quiet.

And so I am still being intentional with that time — I am using it for quiet reflection — but I am not doing an intense or active workout.

Is this Cheating?

Nope! For me, it is a very fair and legit way to stay intentional about my health and my fitness while also being realistic about the fact that I don’t want to do an intense workout every single day of my life forever and ever until I die.

What’s great about having a recovery day workout is that I still get the motivation and momentum of keeping my workout streak going while also getting the benefits of a recovery and rest day.

The recovery day helps me keep going during the other days of the week. I’m able to take a break without breaking my streak, so to speak.

The Apple Watch is pretty great for tracking and managing your health and fitness. I’m incredibly thankful for how much it has helped me over the years. But the more I use it, the more I also see that it does still have a long way to go.

If I felt that I had to continually push myself further and further and further, eventually you can’t go any further. But the Apple Watch will never tell you that.

In fact, I’ve come to to be more and more thankful for this workout type. Because, by starting a Mind and Body workout for 15 minutes, I’m actively doing something: I am being intentional with my health. And it has helped me to be less restless and more focused during those times of quiet.

How to Have a Recovery Day With the Apple Watch

Golden Hour at McKenzie Pass

McKenzie Pass shot with the Leica Q

Earlier this summer my family spent several days in Fort Robinson, Nebraska for a huge family reunion on my wife’s side.

On the second-to-last day, I woke up extra early in order to get out for some sunrise and golden hour photos at the Red Cloud Buttes which were nearby to our cabins.

I had already scouted the route via Google Maps on my iPad, and so I had a pretty good idea of where I was going. So I woke up before the sunrise, brewed a cup of coffee, and hopped into my car to get going.

When I got to the trail head (which was a turn-off from the main highway out there), it was blocked by a chained-off gate. However, as I inspected it the gate I discovered that it wasn’t locked at all. The chains were just dangled around one another to help keep the two swinging gate doors closed.

McKenzie Pass shot with the Leica Q

So far as I could tell it was a public trail. So I opened up the gate and drove on through to get to McKenzie Pass.

I spent a couple of hours up there, walking around, shooting some photos and just sitting in the quiet with my coffee.

The weather didn’t quite cooperate with me, as, it was a very cloudy sunrise morning, so I didn’t really catch any epic shots. Though there was a moment where the clouds parted a bit, and the sun was shining onto one of the rock faces. It looked amazing and I tried to snap some photos, but none of them quite turned out the way I saw it in person. But that’s okay.

McKenzie Pass shot with the Leica Q

I’m glad I took the time to drive up there and was able to do some shooting. There are several more photos I took around Fort Robinson that I’ll share later this week.

McKenzie Pass shot with the Leica Q

McKenzie Pass shot with the Leica Q

McKenzie Pass shot with the Leica Q

McKenzie Pass shot with the Leica Q

McKenzie Pass shot with the Leica Q

McKenzie Pass shot with the Leica Q

McKenzie Pass shot with the Leica Q

McKenzie Pass shot with the Leica Q

All these photos were shot with my Leica Q, and then edited on my iPad Pro using Lightroom CC.

Golden Hour at McKenzie Pass

Annoyed Today, Nostalgic Tomorrow

Yesterday, after putting my 3 boys to bed, I was walking upstairs and encountered a fight scene on pause…

After dinner, all three boys had been at the top of the stairs playing together. My older two were having a battle with their dragon and triceratops LEGOs while my youngest was casually driving his little red fire truck around.

They had to stop playing LEGOs once it was time to get ready for bed, so they just up and left everything right where they were playing with it. And so, after the crazy-time bedtime routine, once everyone was asleep and I was walking up the stairs to my room, that’s when I encountered the fight scene which had been left there on the very top step.

I had to step up and over it all to avoid breaking anything.

And, to be candid, the left-out LEGOs totally frustrated me.

I was annoyed at my boys for leaving their toys out and forgetting to clean up before bed.

I was annoyed at myself for not noticing they had left their toys out and thus not reminding them — and “teaching” them — to clean up after themselves.

I honestly thought about “accidentally” stepping on the dragon and then telling my son it wasn’t my fault because he shouldn’t have left it there. (Let that be a lesson!)

I thought about what if there was an emergency in the middle of the night and I had to rush down the stairs but stepped on the dragon in the process and how bad that would hurt with bare feet and what if it even caused me to tumble forwards down the steps and break my wrist. Don’t my kids think about these things when they decide to leave their toys at the top of my stairs?

Yeah. So much drama for so little of a thing.

. . . . .

And so, as I picked up the dragon and the dino, and moved them over to the side near the wall, I considered the fact that in a few years from now I will miss these on-pause toy fight scenes.

One day, my boys will be grown and they will move out to live on their own. And my wife and I will finally live in a clean and quiet house. And we will miss the days, like this one, when toys were left on our steps and our boys were at home in the evenings to play and to laugh and fight about whose turn it is to brush their teeth first.

And so I try to remind myself in those moments of annoyance that the things which frustrate me now will one day be the things I will miss terribly and wish for again.

Annoyed Today, Nostalgic Tomorrow

Photos and Takeaways From Atlanta’s Focus Course LIVE

A couple weeks ago I was in Atlanta for one of our live, public training workshops for The Focus Course.

Here are a couple of photos I snapped during the week.

The name badges, set out ahead of time.

Artsy photo of the venue, taken from outside the front door.

What it looked like for me to be reviewing my notes in my hotel room the evening beforehand.

My view from the front of the room.
—-

One of the big, overarching pillars of the Focus Course LIVE is this:

To help folks (1) get clear on the vision they have for their work and life, and then (2) create the space they need in order to walk that out every day in the small things.

In short, the aim is to begin building habits that manifest the vision and values of your life.

Like this:

What is an important value in your life?

What would it look like for you to build it into your every-day life?

Here are some examples of aligning values with regular actions in your time and energy:

Generosity: Incorporate charitable giving as part of your monthly budget.

Creativity: set aside time each day to write / take photos / draw / etc.

Health: Adjust your diet; have an evening shutdown routine for better sleep.

Relationships: Schedule and protect intentional time with the most important people in your life.

Building habits around your values is a profound way to radically change your life.

It will help you to constantly focus on doing the actions that matter and that will lead you to the outcomes you want.

. . . .

All that said, our Atlanta workshop was so much fun!

It is such a joy and honor for me to walk people through this process. I absolutely love it!

And my team did great! Isaac and Joanna handled all the event details and logistics and have helped develop an event brand that is classy, warm, and full of the little details. Plus, our senior editor, Jeff Abbott, was able to come join us as well!

Isaac, Joanna, myself, and Jeff.
—-

Our next Focus Course LIVE workshop will be in the Spring of 2020 here in Kansas City. I’ll share more once the dates are landed.

Photos and Takeaways From Atlanta’s Focus Course LIVE

Trade-Offs in Real Life  →

My good friend Havilah Cunnington recently shared on her Instagram about the pain of choosing to turn down a huge opportunity because it conflicted with her boys’ first days back in school.

I so appreciated Havilah’s transparency on this. Especially sharing about how sometimes, when you say no to an opportunity, it doesn’t come back around.

The truth is, we can’t do everything. Sometimes we can’t do everything because we literally don’t have the time and energy.

But sometimes we can’t do everything because something that’s great has to give way to something that is essential.

Living into our values means there will be trade-offs. And sometimes those trade-offs are not easy to accept.

Trade-Offs in Real Life

The Tumor

They found a tumor in my wife’s eye.

Early 2019 my wife went in for an eye exam to see if she could get Lasik. The doctor did a double take and asked if anyone had ever told her she had a freckle or something in her eye.

48 hours later my wife was at a retina specialist where they told her they found a tumor in her right eye.

She called me immediately after the appointment. She was surprisingly calm.

I was at home with our 3 boys. My 7-year-old was in the kitchen with as his mom relayed the news to me. I scooped him up, and we sat together. I just held him. Crying.

He didn’t know what was going on. He didn’t know why I was sad.

There was a possibility that the tumor could be harmless. But the doctor had said it didn’t look benign.

I was weak. I felt as if everything around me was suddenly made of dust — slipping out, slipping away, completely outside of my grasp and control.

My son and I said a short prayer for mommy’s eye. Asking God to make it better.

. . . . .

When they find a malignant tumor in your eye it usually means that it’s already too late. It usually means there is stage 4 cancer somewhere else in your body. A malignant tumor in the eye is usually a “secondary” cancer, showing up from something that has already spread.

However, it was difficult for them to know for sure merely by taking pictures of my wife’s eye. And they don’t like to biopsy a tumor that’s in your eye because of the huge likelihood of losing vision in that eye.

So they ran a dozen tests on my wife to try and find out if there was cancer anywhere else in her body.

Over those next 8 weeks, Anna and I spent a lot of time at hospitals, labs, and doctor’s offices. In 2019 we had our first visit to a cancer center.

Through all of it, my wife was so calm. Physically, she felt fine; strong. She was confident that her body was healthy. She knew that everything would be okay.

I, however, was a complete wreck. I went with Anna to every appointment; I couldn’t bear to be away from her.

I’d bring my iPad with me to the waiting rooms, hoping to get some work done while Anna had radioactive sugar water injected into her veins. But I rarely got any work done.

Most of the time I would just sit there. Mindlessly watching the people activity around me as I thought about how much I loved my wife. How much her boys and I cherished her.

There were times when I’d be driving down the road and a fleeting, tragic thought would pass through my mind. It would completely overwhelm me. Tears would flood my eyes and I’d have to pull over because I couldn’t see the road to drive.

Over the course of those 8 weeks, each test they did helped to fill in a piece of the puzzle. The CT scan. The PET scan. MRIs. Blood work…

And test by test, they slowly began removing possibilities of different cancers. There was no lung cancer. No breast cancer. No liver or thyroid cancer.

Finally, on a late Friday afternoon we got a call from our oncologist’s office.

They called to cancel our Monday appointment…

There was no need to see us on Monday because the results had come back from the last test, and there was nothing to be found.

No cancer!

Thank God.

The tumor in my wife’s eye was diagnosed as vascular and benign. A few months ago they did a cold laser treatment to cut off its blood supply and now all is looking well.

Those few months were perhaps the most difficult, challenging, and stressful of my entire life.

Fortunately, we had the margin we needed to make it through.

Financially, we were able to pay for all the medical costs of the tests and labs.

Our schedules were able to accommodate the massive interruptions without causing any damage to my business or our other responsibilities.

We had friends, family, and co-workers who were able to help us, listen to us, and be there for us as we navigated the unknown.

My wife and I both have a daily routine of exercise that helped us stay active. This was especially important for me, as I tend to get lethargic in the midst of intense stress.

These areas of margin gave us the capacity we desperately needed in order to make it through unbroken.

. . . . .

To be candid, this is not an easy story for me to write and share.

But if you’ve seen this video, then you know just how important Margin is and how deeply personal and real this topic is for me.

Because here’s the thing about Margin…

…You can’t go get some in the moment when you need it.

…When you need it, you need it right away.

…You either have the margin you need, or you don’t.

It’s why we built this course on Margin. You can sign up here, and I hope you will.

The Tumor

Photos from WWDC Trip, Day 0

Yesterday, Sunday, I flew in to California for WWDC. Here are a few photos from my first day at WWDC 2019.

Even though the conference is in San Jose, I first flew into San Fransisco to meet with a friend for dinner.


At my layover in Las Vegas.


My WWDC travel bag. (Read here for more details.)


Outside Marlowe restaurant in Soma.

After dinner in San Fransisco, I hopped the Cal Train to San Jose and got in just in time to meet up with a bunch of other Apple nerds…


Stephen Hackett and me. (Photo by Mike Hurley.)


With Federico Viticci and “Underscore” David Smith. (Photo by Mike Hurley.)


Myke Hurley.

Side note… I forgot my iPad’s SD Card reader! And, to top it all off, there’s a bug with the Leica Q app on my iPad that is keeping me from being able to import photos.

So let’s just say my photography workflow this trip is a bit convoluted. Here’s what it looks like…

I am using the Leica Q app to connect the camera to my iPhone via the camera’s built-in WiFi. Then I transfer the JPG files over to my iPHone. And then I transfer them via AirDrop to my iPad where I can edit them.

Normally, I’d just plug in the SD card reader dongle and transfer the RAW files directly to my iPad. Ah well.

Photos from WWDC Trip, Day 0