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How to Remember and Take Action on What you Read  →

Speaking of reading more, Srinivas Rao has some practical advice on how to synthesize what you read and have that information impact your life. If you’re feeling creatively dry — or if your creative output has been lacking of late — getting into a regimen of taking action on what you read is a great way to start improving your output.

Herbert Spencer said that “the great aim of knowledge is not education but action.” The things we learn should impact how we spend our time, what our behavior is, the things we create, and more.

But, gosh, it sure is time consuming to bridge that gap between reading and applying.

There is no such thing as an “easy” or “convenient” way to capture ideas, remember them, and take action on them. Highlighting something in Instapaper feels nice, but it’s only the first — and easiest — step.

If I do say so myself, I have a pretty neat system for how I read books, organize the bits of inspiration, and then digitize and categorize it. (See also how I use Ulysses, which is the app that serves as the backbone to the organization of my book notes.)

All this effort takes time and energy. But, guess what? That’s the point. Immersion, study, synthesization, and application are work. And they are worthwhile work.

Rao’s final point is the key takeaway here, and possibly the biggest stumbling block:

Implement What you Read, but Start Small: One of the major reasons people fail to implement what they read into their lives is they bite off more than they can chew. They read some book and attempt a massive overhaul of their life. Because this isn’t sustainable, they usually find themselves right back where they started. They assume the ideas in the book don’t work and start looking for the next book to read

When I start a book, I am only looking for one good idea (maybe two at the most). Not because I have a low bar of expectation for the book, but because I only have the capacity to grasp and act on one new idea at a time.

For example, earlier this year I read Profit First. And it was jam packed with great ideas that I wanted to do right away for my business finances. But I started with just one: setting aside 1% of gross revenue as “profit” every single month. 1% is practically a rounding error, so it’s mostly just about getting into the habit. And starting next month, we’re increasing that amount to 5% plus implementing some more of the alternate accounting methods.

How to Remember and Take Action on What you Read

Some Apps for New iOS devices  →

If you happened to unwrap a new iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch recently, then over on The Sweet Setup we’ve put together a list of a few apps you may want to check out.

It’s interesting — we’ve been putting these lists together for several years. And it used to be written for the “new-to-iOS” crowd: people who were getting their very first iDevice at Christmas. But now, the list is written a bit more toward folks who are looking for some new apps they may not of heard about. Though I’m sure there are still quite a few people who got their first Apple Watch and/or iPad this year.

For more app picks, check out this article I wrote last week of my favorite apps of 2017. There are some fun games listed there at the end. And, of course, I’d be remiss if I didn’t highly recommend both Day One and Ulysses — even if you didn’t get a new iOS Device.

Moreover, check out the Popular page on The Sweet Setup, where there’s a list of the most popular app picks on our site as voted on by readers.

Some Apps for New iOS devices

How to Use Money to Buy Back Your Time  →

I loved this article by Ramit Sethi. I’ve been working for myself for nearly 7 years now, and it’s always a challenge to make sure I’m spending my time on the most-important things, and not doing stuff just because I can.

There are three roles in which I am always trying to find the things that only I can do: (1) as the owner of my business; (2) as a dad; and (3) as a husband.

In these areas, there are things that only I can offer and do, and which I️ do best. I love finding ways to focus on those areas.

Without a doubt, the biggest thing I’ve done to buy back my time was to hire a full-time production assistant: Isaac. I hired Isaac two years ago, and by delegating to him I got back about 50+ hours of my life every week.

Isaac works only 35-40 hours, but I got back more than that because I was working far less efficiently than he does.

Something else that has been helpful for me was hiring a bookkeeper.

I used to spend roughly 4 hours per week — every Sunday afternoon — on my books. Now I have all day Sunday to spend with my boys, help my wife around the house, and more.

What’s funny though, is that it was easier for me to hire Isaac than it was for me to hire Joy, my bookkeeper. Joy is not full-time, and the books are something that I could still do without too much stress or time. And so it didn’t seem as obvious to me that it was something I should have been delegating.

How to Use Money to Buy Back Your Time

“Space Between” (Yours Truly on the Baron Fig Podcast)  →

Just in time for your Monday morning commute tomorrow, this week I was honored to be a guest on Eureka, the Baron Fig podcast for thinkers and creative folks.

Adam and Joey are great guys (and have become good friends over the years). We had a lot of fun talking about productivity and writing.

(Here’s a direct link to the episode via Overcast. And here’s where you can find the Eureka podcast page.)

“Space Between” (Yours Truly on the Baron Fig Podcast)

Reading at Work  →

Seth Godin:

Most organizations think nothing of having twenty valuable employees spend an hour in a meeting that’s only tangentially related to their productive output.

But if you’re sitting at your desk reading a book that changes your perspective, your productivity or your contribution, it somehow feels like slacking off…

I work from home, for myself, and it is still a mental hurdle to allow myself time in the day to read and learn without it feeling like slacking off.

Seth’s got a great list of books. Here are a few I’d put in:

Reading at Work

Apple TV Remote Case  →

Continuing in this week’s theme of “Rubber Accessories to Make Your Apple Gear Work Better”, let’s talk about the Apple TV remote.

The Apple TV remote is a case study in form over function. It’s a beautiful little remote control that is an absolute pain in the butt to use.

I highly recommend this $8 case. It makes your Apple TV’s remote much easier to hold, and it helps you know which side of the remote is actually up.

Apple TV Remote Case

The Power of Focus  →

Over on The Focus Course blog, my friend and one of our Focus Course alumni, Mo Bunnell, wrote this article on the conundrum we face when we have more ideas than time.

As I look back, distinguishing between my successes and failures is really simple: nearly all of my successes in life have been when I’ve focused on very few things, obsessed over them, and pushed them until they are ready to ship, good enough for my standards. Nearly all of my failures? Starting too many things, saying Yes to too much, or beginning more things than I can finish to my standards. Trying to do too much leads to fragmentation, dysfunction. And despite what you read, there’s no fun in dysfunction.

More and more, my success seems correlated to what I say Yes to and what I say No to.

Mo’s article originally appeared in one of his Founder’s Friday newsletters. And as soon as I read it I felt super encouraged, because it came at just the right time.

Just a few months ago Isaac (my production manager) and I were getting ready to start on a big new project. But things felt rushed… as if we were behind before we even began.

Isaac suggested we move our project deadline back by 30 days to give ourselves additional margin. But I wasn’t sure. And for several days I was stressing out over this conundrum of how much we needed to do but how I didn’t want to miss our deadline.

Reading Mo’s article reminded me of my own advice. More often than not, it’s better to sweat the details and ship something that is up to standards than it is to rush something out the door.

And so we did choose to move our project deadline back by 30 days, and it was clearly the right decision.

When Mo talks about the power of focus, he’s talking about the results you’re capable of when you give yourself the time and the margin you need in order to obsess over a project and really make it something special.

The Power of Focus

Unsplash Wallpapers Mac App [MAS Link]  →

A while ago, Unsplash came out with this nifty MacOS Menu Bar utility app. Every day it changes out your desktop wallpaper with a random photo from the Unsplash vault. If you don’t like a day’s photo, you can easily click refresh to grab a new one.

Here’s the desktop wallpaper it served up for my iMac today:

Unsplash Desktop Wallpaper Retina iMac

P.S. And, speaking of Unsplash, here’s a page full of holiday and wintery images if you want to get your iPhone, iPad, et al. into the holiday spirit.

Unsplash Wallpapers Mac App [MAS Link]

“You Can Lead From the Front or From the Back”  →

Kieran Snyder with an excellent twitter thread on leadership. Here’s part of it:

The best leaders lead from the front when things are tough. They are visible, accountable, and own the challenge + their own failings. Sometimes the only way to guide or coach things to improvement is to live in the difficulty yourself.

The best leaders lead from the back when things are going great. When things are going great, that’s a sign that the organization knows what it’s doing, and you’d be foolish to mess with the day-to-day. Your job in that case is giving credit + setting up the next challenge.

Ineffective leaders often make the choice backwards: they stay in the background when things are difficult, hoping someone else will figure it out. They get in front when things are going well, hoping to take credit. No one wants to follow these leaders for long.

(Via Sean Sperte.)

“You Can Lead From the Front or From the Back”

Monument Valley 2 Soundtrack  →

Long-time readers will know that for the past several years the original Monument Valley soundtrack is part of my daily, morning writing routine.

Well, a few weeks ago the soundtrack for Monument Valley 2 came out and it’s fantastic. I’ve been listening to it all this week instead of the original soundtrack. If, like me, you like music while you work but you need something that’s instrumental and isn’t too crazy, this is perfect.

And speaking of, the soundtrack for Land’s End is also quite excellent.

Monument Valley 2 Soundtrack

TSS: Apps and Services for the Holidays  →

Over on The Sweet Setup, we’ve put together a breakdown of some of awesome apps that will come in especially handy over coming weeks.

On my iPhone, Day One, Paprika, Deliveries, and Apple Music all get used a bit more than normal during the holidays. And, for me personally, instead of AnyList, my wife and I are using a shared note via Apple’s Notes app to keep our Christmas shopping list in sync.

And lastly, I’d add one thing to entertainment: The Kindle (the actual gadget, not the app). I’ve got Andy Weir’s newest novel, Artemis, lined up next.

TSS: Apps and Services for the Holidays