This week MacSparky.com is sponsored by TextExpander, the easiest way to start automating your work on Mac, iPad, and iPhone. TextExpander is a text replacement tool with attitude. With it, you can type a phrase like “ccell” and it will automatically fill in your cell phone number. But TextExpander is so much more than that.

Using TextExpander, you can have it automatically create the date and time. For example, when I get client inquiries about meeting, I just type “xmeet” and TextExpander creates a whole paragraph of text including using the current date and prompting me for suggested meeting dates.

But TextExpander can still go deeper. It can use the contents of your clipboard to auto-fill in snippets. It can press keyboard keys, like the tab key, to automate filling in forms on the web or creating an email. You can get it for yourself and your team members so you can share snippets with your team members. 

I’ve done so much with TextExpander over the years that I even have a page of snippets I’ve created that you can download ranging from movie to reviews to conference calls. One of my personal favorite groups is foreign thanks where you can say thank you to people in most language. Sending an email to a French friend, just type “french thanks” and TextExpander gives you “Merci”. It’s like your own, personal translator.

To learn more, head over to TextExpander.com and let them know you heard about it at MacSparky in the “Where did you hear about us” field.

There is a lot of talk lately about the benefits of adding a routine to your day. Mike and I have been covering this off-and-on throughout the year on the Focused podcast. Marina Koren, from The Atlantic, isn’t sold, but adding some routine has made a difference in my focus and general happiness. For me, however, the real pay-off isn’t the morning routine but instead the afternoon one. Building time in my schedule at the end of the day to do an email and task audit, and set up and plan the next day always pays dividends. I don’t always do it, and every time I skip over the afternoon shut down (like today as I’m about to go see a space movie), I pay the price the next day.