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Alfred is a powerful tool, but using Alfred Workflows you can go even farther. In this video, I demonstrate how to set up a custom Alfred search to find only folders in a designated directory. If you keep data in groups of folders, you’ll dig this. …
The Stream Deck has become a central tool for many who use automation tools on their Mac. On this week’s episode of Mac Power Users, Stephen and I dive into the device’s hardware and software, explaining what makes it such a versatile device, before sharing our own uses for it.
This episode of Mac Power Users is sponsored by:
This week MacSparky is sponsored by Daylite, the best native CRM app for your Mac. It is that simple. Daylite has been around a long time, yet it has evolved with great features like cloud sync and a modern user interface. You should check it out. Rather than me waxing on poetic about Daylite, the team at Daylite wanted me to write about productivity this month (after all, Daylite is all about boosting you and your team’s productivity!), and I’m glad they did because I’ve got a lot on my mind about time block lengths.
One of the most common bits of feedback I get from people trying to hyper-schedule is that it falls apart on them after a day or two. This, most often, is the result of people making unrealistic block lengths. For example, say you want to work on your personal cloaking device tomorrow, and you give it an hour block. Then when the time comes, you spend three hours working on the project. That’s great that you got three hours of deep work done, but it blows your daily schedule to pieces. Then you feel like you’re behind on everything else for the rest of the day.
The failure when that happens, usually, is in the planning. Specifically, as humans, we tend to be way too optimistic in estimating how long things will take. If you had thought about it the day before, could you have anticipated you’d need three hours instead of one? If you’d planned your day around three hours (instead of one), wouldn’t things have gone a lot better?
If you want to seriously give hyper-scheduling a go, I’d recommend a few things:
1. Overestimate the time it takes.
If you think something is going to take an hour. Multiply that by 2 (or 3!) when making your plan. This is particularly true for project work. The kind of stuff that requires you to dig in always takes longer than you think. If you over-estimate and finish early, give yourself a break (or work on something else). Most likely, though, by doubling your estimate, you’ll just be giving yourself adequate time to finish your work. Once you consistently land within your time estimates, you’ll see the real benefit of time blocking.
2. Keep score.
Whether you do time tracking or keep notes, find a way to track how often and how badly you miss your estimates. That can create a feedback loop for you when planning future blocks. By paying attention, over time, you’ll get much better at estimating how long your work will take, and your scheduling will get a lot more effective.
3. Be kind to yourself.
You will make mistakes when trying to make these kinds of changes. As you are learning how to get better at this stuff, do not beat up on yourself. This stuff is hard. With a bit of patience and time, it does get a lot easier. You’ll see.
When blocking your time, your calendar is your friend. And do you know an app with excellent calendar integration? Daylite! See how I did that? (Daylite has a whole suite of tools for small business including a calendar.) My thanks again to Daylite for sponsoring MacSparky this week and letting me turn this sponsored post into a content post.
Dr. Drang gets a gold star for creating a date calculator in Keyboard Maestro. I’ve built a lot of date calculators over the years using various automation engines. (Shortcuts make it trivial.) I’ve always avoided the attempt in Keyboard Maestro, however, because Keyboard Maestro isn’t particularly good at working with dates. Things got better with version 10 and into the breach ran Dr. Drang.
I’ve never actually lost my wallet. I have misplaced it, though, between couch cushions, under the bed, and in the car. So the idea of attaching an Apple AirTag to my wallet has seemed like a good idea. I’ve been watching the mushrooming market of AirTag holding wallets, but none of them seemed worth to me to replace my beloved Flipside wallet.
Then last month, ElevationLab released a line of AirTag friendly wallet inserts. They are pieces of molded rubber engineered to hold an AirTag and slide into your wallet. So this isn’t an AirTag wallet but instead an upgrade device for your existing wallet. I bought a pair.
They arrived promptly and are just like described on the tin. AirTags fit in them nice and snug, and the rubber can slide into your wallet. ElevationLab makes good stuff. This is no different.
What this rubber device does not do, however, is magically make the AirTag itself any thinner. You still have a pretty thick piece of hardware you are putting in your wallet. The insert worked perfectly with my wife’s wallet. If you have a wallet thick enough to hold an AirTag, this $10 piece of rubber will get the job done.
Sadly, it didn’t fit inside my Flipside wallet. Ultimately, I resorted to something a bit more pedestrian. Here is my wallet with a Gaffer-taped AirTag on the inside. It’s ugly, but it is the lowest possible AirTag profile for my wallet. Even with just the Gaffer tape, the Flipside still bulges a bit.
I’m willing to put up with this wallet bulge for the ability, on those rare occasions, to easily find my wallet. Maybe someday someone will make the perfect AirTag wallet for me, but it hasn’t happened yet.
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Gabe Weatherhead joins me on this FOD interview where we talk about the current state of automation on the Mac and some specific problems Gabe is solving with Keyboard Maestro and his struggles with Shortcuts for Mac. As two Star Wars nerds, we also drift into our thoughts on the recent “Book of Boba” series, and we finish off the call getting nerdy with Obsidian. It’s always fun talking with Gabe …
BBEdit recently released a nice update (version 14.1) with, among other things, Shortcuts support. You can now create a text document and create a note in BBEdtin from Shortcuts on the Mac. As Mac applications go, BBEdit is one of the standard-bearers. (It was first released in 1992.) I know people that switched to the Mac for the exclusive purpose of using BBEdit.
Seeing apps like BBEdit begin to adopt Shortcuts is a good sign. Granted, the initial Shortcuts actions, relating to file creation only, are not super deep, it’s a beachhead. Talking to Mac app developers, I get the impression that will be the case for many apps. They’ll get some Shortcuts support in and then watch for Apple’s lead before going into deeper waters. I think that is fine. The last attempt at Mac automation for the masses (Automator) never really took off not as a result of any problem with the underlying technology but, in my opinion at least, a lack of enthusiasm from the suits at Apple. That doesn’t seem to be the case this time around and initial signs for Shortcuts and third-party developers are promising.
On this episode of Focused, Mike and I consider how the environment affects our ability to focus and share the very different ways we set up our workspaces.
This episode of Focused is sponsored by:
This is a post for MacSparky Labs Members only. Care to join? Or perhaps do you need to sign in? I’ve been playing with a menubar app called, One Thing, which lets you put some text in your menubar. I wanted to use One Thing to post a random inspirational quote of my choosing, so I built a Shortcut on a dictionary action. I also used a simple AppleScript to trigger the shortcut from Keyboard Maestro. Here’s a video explaining the whole thing …
Video producer, script writer, and loving nerd Adam Lisagor is back on this episode of Mac Power Users after a too-long hiatus to share his workflows related to running his growing advertising/video production business. Also, Adam’s writing a script and has news to share on some new tools and workflows.
This episode of Mac Power Users is sponsored by: