Join the Weekly Wind Down Newsletter

Get a weekly letter about getting to play and meaningful work. Start getting where you want to be with calm focus. You’ll receive free samples of:

  • Creating Flow with OmniFocus
  • Taking Smart Notes with DEVONthink
  • Workflow Mastery
  • PDF on beating deadlines with ease using the Touching the Keys Technique

Recent Posts

The Seduction of Goals, the Strength of Guides

The Seduction of Goals, the Strength of Guides

When writing a list of things to do, we look into the future. We write things like: "Do report" "Clean gutters" ... The implication is that if we make it through our list, we will have completed the report and cleaned the gutters. Obvious, no? Tasks can Create a...

read more
The Joys of Avoiding Notes and AI

The Joys of Avoiding Notes and AI

Note takers, makers, apps, and shakers have been quite the rage in recent days. With a promised ease of writing, can we create simply by resting on the notes we've naturally squirreled away? Or perhaps we can turn to AI. From a carefully crafted prompt or two, we can...

read more
Will it Ever End?  … The Work of Work

Will it Ever End? … The Work of Work

It never ends, does it? If you write out your projects -- work, school, personal, or otherwise -- you’ll quickly discover a never-ending sea of things to do. Further, you now need to juggle your options. How do you figure out which is the most pressing, while hoping...

read more
Creativity as Discovery

Creativity as Discovery

“When will it be done?” Many of us have to answer this question, whether it’s a work environment asking for estimate of time for a project or even from ourselves when trying to decide what to do next. Of course, it can be notoriously difficult to measure time, whether...

read more
The Visit and Reaching the Edge of Action

The Visit and Reaching the Edge of Action

Forcing ourselves to get started, through deadlines, shame, or asking others to push us can leave us feeling exhausted. But when we use a Visit-Based approach, rather than one based in force, we support ourselves. Many of my students have described a sense of relief...

read more
Force-Based Systems and the Fickle Fuel of Fear

Force-Based Systems and the Fickle Fuel of Fear

Stuck Those of us who feel like we cannot work unless we are interested in something or are fueled by some impending deadline, can simply feel stuck. We can neither fake interest, nor can we fake deadlines. So, what do we do? Unfortunately, feelings of helplessness...

read more
The Pain of Potential

The Pain of Potential

I could do this! I can do that! But, I need to this! But, but... I really want to do that! One of the powers and frustrations of a wandering mind is the number of things that we can do at any one time. What’s even more frustrating is fully knowing that if we committed...

read more
The Vital Need for Play in Work

The Vital Need for Play in Work

When feeling dependent on deadlines, feeling that we can only things we are interested in, Forcing ourselves to work by some means can seem to be the only choice. However, it might be only have been a default choice.  It may have never occurred to you that alternative...

read more
David Sparks’ Productivity Field Guide Released

David Sparks’ Productivity Field Guide Released

My pal, David Sparks, has done it again and released his latest Productivity Field Guide (Standard Edition|Plus Edition) (limited time 10% launch discount PFGLAUNCH). I do love his intro: “Productivity has become a dirty word... The real solution isn’t about doing...

read more