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Time is your most precious resource. You need to know how you are spending it. But time tracking is no fun, especially when you forget to start or stop a timer. What’s more, having to worry about starting timers all the time makes you lose focus quickly.
The idea of developing ideas over time (I call it “cooking ideas”) is a frequent topic on my podcasts. Recently Brett Terpstra explained how he uses mind maps for much of the same process and how mind maps help him cope with ADHD when it comes to planning. It’s an excellent post. I get an email about once a week from someone that stumbles into the idea of cooking ideas from listening to my podcasts and they are always shocked at how useful it is. As we head into the new year, maybe you’ve got a project in mind that you’d like some help with. I’d recommend trying this technique. If you’d like to learn more, here’s a podcast that explains it. It’s almost 8 years old now, but it still works.
The iPhone has become the primary device for many different types of tasks for a lot of people. On this episode of Mac Power Users, Stephen and I look at the current state of the hardware, software, and services that make up Apple’s most popular product.
Brydge has announced a new iPad keyboard. This one combines their excellent build quality with a built-in trackpad. I love that Brydge has embraced the “keyboards for pro users” market and I hope other manufacturers are paying attention. Combining an iPad with superior hardware and software is what the platform needs most. I have the existing Brydge keyboard and I have to admit, when I use it, it feels like I’m on a MacBook. So much so that I frequently find myself reaching for a non-existent trackpad. I hope this works as advertised.
Tim Stringer is nerdy in all the best possible ways and uses automation to run his Mac and iOS devices. He’s also gone far down the rabbit hole of web-based automation. Today he shares some of his favorite automation tips and tricks with us on Automators, episode 40.
PowerPhotos is sponsoring MacSparky.com this week and this is the perfect time to pick it up and start cleaning up your Apple Photos library. I use Apple Photos for all of my photo management but there are certain features that are just too close to the “power user” end of the spectrum for Apple to ever ship them with Apple Photos.
That’s where PowerPhotos comes in. If you have photos scattered across multiple libraries that you want to merge together, have a library that you want to split up because it’s gotten too large, or want to get rid of duplicate photos, PowerPhotos can help you get your photo collection back in order.
PowerPhotos gives Apple Photos the tools it needs, but Apple didn’t provide. With PowerPhotos, you can work with multiple Photos libraries and store them wherever you want, including on an external drive or a network drive. You can also split up your giant library into smaller ones by copying photos and albums with a simple drag and drop, preserving metadata such as descriptions and keywords along the way. Or, if you already have multiple libraries, use PowerPhotos to merge them while weeding out duplicates along the way. PowerPhotos also features a powerful duplicate photo finder, a browser to let you see your photos without even opening up Photos itself, a multi-library search feature, and more.
PowerPhotos has all those tools you’d want for Apple Photos but Apple will never add. As we head into the new year, why not take control of your Photos library with PowerPhotos? You may recall an app from the iPhoto days called iPhoto Library Manager that gave you a similar set of tools. PowerPhotos is by the same developer, and it’s just as reliable.
I spent a good chunk of New Year’s Day looking back at 2019 and what went right (and wrong) for me in the critical areas of my life. For me, that includes how I did with my family and friends, the various elements of MacSparky, the legal practice, and taking care of myself. I usually do this navel-gazing on my birthday, but I didn’t want to wait until February this year. The reason I did it on January 1 this year was partly because we just started a new month, year, and decade.
I’m sure a lot of people are thinking about things they’d like to change as we head into a new decade. We’ll be talking about this in next week’s episode of Focused. In the meantime, I recommend not worrying too much about resolutions but instead building some new habits.
One of the best pieces of advice I received when I left my firm job to start my own thing, was to be mindful of all the new defaults I’d get to pick with repotting myself. It was an opportunity to build new habits.
Resolutions are always about the finish line. (“I want to lose weight.”) Habits are about process. (“I want to stock the fridge with spicy carrots every day instead of cookies.”) The only way to get to a finish line is with a process. Don’t make new resolutions this decade. Make new habits instead. If you’d like to learn more about this, one of the best books I read in 2019 was James Clear’s Atomic Habits.
This is a pretty great week for podcast kudos. In addition to 9to5 Mac making MPU a best of the decade pick for the 2010s, the Upgrade podcast named Automators as “Best Tech Podcast” for 2019. I spend a remarkable amount of my time on those podcasts and a little acknowledgement sure feels good.
