Methodology

There’s a classic 60s song by The Who called Pinball Wizard about a blind kid who “sure plays a mean pinball.” I like to think of Alfred as channeling that kid and unleashing him on your Mac instead of some movie-adapted, silver-ball bouncing, quarter eater. I’ve mentioned Alfred before in my list of tools, but I haven’t gone on to explain why it’s such an amazing app. If you’re a Mac user, perhaps you’ve used Spotlight (which you can open by clicking Command – Space). It’s a basically engine for your computer. Spotlight has some great additional features too–beyond just searching for files–like currency conversion, contact lookup, launching applications, and more. But it can’t hang with Alfred, which is a super-charged launcher that does everything from searching specific websites to saving all the things you’ve recently copied. You can try out Alfred for free, but to really get to the next level you’ll need the Powerpack for 17£ (~$27). Here are my favorite Alfred features and workflows. ...

I’ve shared about morning manifestos, starting the morning off with meditation, and about my weekly routines of making sure all my bases are covered, but I’ve never shared about my evening routine. It’s hard to share about something you don’t have. Normally my evening routine has been to watch an episode of The West Wing with my wife, floss and brush, and pass out with an alarm set for seven and a half hours later. That’s pretty weak as far as good habits and meaningful ends to a day go. I’ve been challenged by Shawn Blanc’s The Focus Course to start being more intentional in the way I live. One of the first assignments in the 40-day course is to simply set out your outfit for the next day. I often experience decision fatigue, and even making minor decisions the night before–like what I’ll wear the next day and what we’ll eat for breakfast–help my morning start off more smoothly. Another assignment in The Focus Course was to write down a significant thing I accomplished today and two things I’m grateful for. Those are two incredibly easy questions that orient my heart and mind in a good direction before the end of the day. I’ve also half-heartedly tried to start journaling in Day One more frequently, with, as you can imagine, weak results. So, here’s the new evening routine I’m putting into effect: ...

I’ve always enjoyed photography, but I’ve never considered myself a photographer. I can’t pull off toting around a massive DSLR and snapping pictures of people without feeling creepy. We recently picked up a camera to document the forthcoming life of our in-utero baby, and it was time for me to learn the basics so I could actually use this thing. Here’s to moving beyond the automatic modes into the deep end of higher-quality photography. As I begin, I should note that I feel as qualified to write about these things as Leonard DiCaprio was to assume the role of a doctor in Catch Me If You Can–I’m not sure I can do much other than say, “I concur,” with what I’ve read in other places. I’m going to distill what I’ve picked up and try to make it clearer without being wrong. This won’t be a perfect or fancy description, and it may not even be technically how it works, but I wanted to create a way to explain to normal humans what the different settings do on a camera. Let’s get to work. The Three Settings You Need to Learn – ISO, Aperture (f/stop), Shutter Speed Aperture / f-stop Aperture is a fancy word for how much light the lens lets in. This is measured in something fancy called an f-stop, which normally looks like this: f/2.2. The smaller the number, the more light that is let in. You can think of it like the lens starting out as open as possible, then as you move on to higher numbers the lens allows less and less light in, until it shrinks down to the size of a pin hole. Practically, this means that if you have low light, you should use an f-stop with a lower number. A lower f-stop also means things close to you (the foreground) will be in focus while things in the background will be out of focus, giving you that sweet blurred effect that makes things up front pop. In slightly fancier terms, f-stop/ aperture also determines depth of field. Depth of field is another way of saying, “How far away are things in focus?” A shallow depth of field means only things close up are in focus, a greater depth of field means things further away are also in focus. ...

For most of us, our priorities are dictated by the most urgent crisis that needs fixed. The car won’t start. The washer is broken. My boss needs a report by the end of the day. My taxes are due tomorrow. For many of us who are knowledge workers,[footnote]That is to say, basically anyone who does anything other than physical, manual labor, but many of them likely experience this in some ways as well[/footnote] our email inboxes and message notifications often dictate our schedules, our priorities, and what we’re going to achieve for the day. Stephen Covey broadly popularized an idea originally attributed to president Dwight Eisenhower. It’s a matrix of the and the important. Quadrants 1 and 3 is where many of us spend most of our time–dealing with problems that need fixed immediately and then bouncing from that do dealing with unimportant problems that someone thinks also needs solved immediately. ...

We live in a strange time where written word has surged again in importance. Communication has looped from spoken word to historical scriptures to public lectures to the printing press, newspapers and periodicals to radio, TV, the Internet, email, and text messaging. Some days, (perhaps most for some of us), we communicate more with typed text than we do with spoken word. Words are just as important as ever. Jokes don’t come through as clearly in text, tone is uncertain, and ambiguity reigns, especially if you try to communicate without the use of parenthetical emotional explanation or a few emoji. I’ve experienced the frustration of not having the right word frequently lately. When you’re trying to explain something in a new language, your ability to communicate is greatly hindered by your lack of vocabulary. Stories aren’t quite as funny without the right word. Meaning is muddled without the same accuracy as before. Polished statements are nearly impossible and poignancy is checked at the door of a fresh non-native tongue. I’ve been percolating on the importance of words for a while, and, well, I think, with some help, I’ve finally got a clearer picture of why these arrangements of letters are so critical. Words carry meaning > meaning forms thoughts > thoughts determine belief > belief leads to action. Here’s what I mean. ...

Sticking to a plan is hard for me. I don’t like to be boxed in or have limited options. But one thing I’ve successfully stuck to in the last three and a half years is a budget. Three years isn’t exactly a “long haul” but in terms of budgeting, that’s just shy of an eternity. Last year I highlighted my favorite app for budgeting, YNAB. I can’t imagine not using it, and I wouldn’t dream of switching to anything else at this point. It’s a perfect blend of ease, features, and delight. I still whole-heartedly recommend it as the hands-down-best-budgeting app. But a fancy app does not a budget make. You can have the best app in the world, but if you don’t have the desire and discipline to take control of your cash, it’s not going to happen. Here are my five keys to sticking with a budget over the long haul. ...

As a committed member of the Millennial Generation, I love to keep my options open. Finality, conclusiveness, and decisiveness when better opportunities could arise make it difficult to commit. As my wife and I prepare for the arrival of tiny human numero uno, we’ve done some rearranging in our city apartment. We converted our former guest room/office into a guest room/nursery, which meant my massive desk got the boot in favor of a changing table. ...

In light of a certain company creating some new products and preparing to unleash them to the hungry, coveting masses, it seems an especially good time to consider the high cost of owning nice things. Let’s start off with this assumption: Nice things are nice.[footnote]It’s those insights that keep you reading here, no?[/footnote] I suppose that could go without saying, but one major reason we buy things that are better quality than the run-of-the-mill products is because we don’t want to be tempted to swear and chuck that piece of junk out the window when it doesn’t work, breaks, or dies in the middle of an important project. Along with a higher price tag, which is pretty standard for nicer things, there are other costs worth considering. Initial Price “You get what you pay for,” is the catch phrase of those pursuing the American Dream. It’s the de facto slogan of rationalization, and it’s such a good justifier I hardly ever disagree with it. There’s no doubt it contains truth. I hardly expect a cheap plastic spoon I bought for a nickel to last as long as a metal spoon that might last the rest of my life, if I don’t lose it in a move somewhere along the way. But is a gold-plated spoon better? Is it necessary? Will paying $300 for a spoon actually serve me more effectively than a normal piece of silverware? That’s where we have to stop and ask questions. I think it’s wise to buy things that don’t inherently invite death and destruction (a la Smart Cars getting hit by Hummers or semis on the highway) but “YGWYPF” only extends so far. ...

In light of doling out suggestions on reading more books, I thought I’d share the list of books I’m planning to read this year. These are always subject to change, and I’ve purposely not included enough for each week of the year because 1. I’ll come across more recommendastions–perhaps even from you–and 2. new books published this year will catch my eye and get added to the list. You’ll notice some books on this list have a * beside them–that means I’ve already read the book and I’m planning on reading it again. Some books are that good. I’ve assembled my list from a myriad of sources: blogs that I follow, Twitter links, personal recommendations, and from the book behemoth Amazon itself. I’ve included affiliate links so you can snag copies for your reading pleasure. I can’t endorse any of these books that I haven’t read yet[footnote]Weird, huh?.[/footnote] and I’m mostly taking other people’s word on them. This is the part where I wash my hands of any books you pick up and absolutely hate on this list. Maybe we can hate them together at the end of the year. Without further ado, in no particular order, my 2015 incomplete reading list. ...

For the last few years, I’ve tried to read a book per week. That didn’t quite happen in 2014, but I’ve found two keys to getting close to that goal. 1. You have to actually read. Most of us like the idea of reading more than reading itself (myself include, at times) and planning to read versus actually reading are about as similar as being an armchair quarterback and an actual quarterback. ...