Learning Facilitation with AJ&Smart on YouTube

I discovered AJ&Smart’s Youtube page during the pandemic. At the time, I was regional chair of an Employee Business Resource Group with members throughout New England, and we were looking for a new way to hold virtual events while everyone was under travel restrictions or working remotely.

I connected with someone in our organization who was skilled in facilitation, and he agreed to lead a Lighting Decision Jam workshop. As part of the prep work, we received an email with content to review, including AJ&Smart’s video linked below:

The workshop was a great success because of the effective framework, innovative software, and our truly excellent facilitator. We used an intuitive and helpful app called Mural, which made the process run smoothly. It was easy to learn, and had the feeling of an unlimited canvas with areas already set up and ready to go when we needed them..

While this framework wasn’t quite the right fit for an annual meeting type event that we were trying to plan, I have used some of what I learned in other workshops and meetings and it works really well.

If you are interested in this topic, you should check AJ&Smart’s website and especially their YouTube. They have a lot of videos that cover various elements of leading workshops and facilitation in general. There is also some content about becoming a professional facilitator, which is neat. I enjoy their videos and appreciate the humor they sprinkle in to keep things fun. .

Kara Swisher Ends Sway, Her New York Times podcast

I found Kara Swisher’s podcast, Sway, after her interview with Apple CEO Tim Cook was discussed on Upgrade, and I became an immediate fan.

On the June 30th episode, Kara announced that her show would end after nearly two years. I’m disappointed because her show was one of my favorite interview podcasts with really great guests from diverse backgrounds in tech, entertainment, finance, business, and politics.

Kara is respected and well known by many, although this was the first time I had encountered her. I’m a fan now and look forward to checking out her other projects, including Pivot from New York Magazine.

---

Weekly Quote: Neil Peart on Seeking our Better Natures

This week’s quote comes from Neil Peart, the late legendary drummer and lyricist for the Canadian rock band Rush and a prolific author of many books.

We all experience our own darkness, the coming night that Peart references. Depending on the situation, it can be minor, or it might overwhelm us, shut us down for a while, or utterly destroy us. The next line in the song, not included in this quote, no one gets to their heaven without a fight, will mean different things to different people. I hear it as pushing through whatever resistance we face, with our highest ideals at the vanguard, towards the most important aspects of our lives. That may be family, children, friendship, or a professional calling, whatever is most important to us.

When we are at our best, we try to be even better. We extend more love, seek more connection, and present more kindness. Seeking elevation means pushing ourselves to become better.

Sometimes, little reminders are all we need. This lyric pops into my head sometimes, and it’s helpful to remind me that I can fortify myself against the darkest night, and the best way for me to do that is to hold the most important aspects of life close and see them for what they are, my everything.

*Photo Credit: Weatherman90 at en.wikipedia, CC BY 3.0 ,via Wikimedia Commons

PKM Toolkit: Rediscovering My Journaling Habit with Day One

My earliest personal knowledge management tools were journals. Even in the days of using the original iPhone, I did most of my note-taking and writing in print. Can you remember the before times when you double-checked your pockets not for your phone, but to be sure you had your iPod and that tangle of earbuds?

For many years I kept a Moleskine journal and would write in it daily, sometimes more often. I documented my ideas, days, creative bursts, to-do lists, big plans, and emotional struggles. Later, I also kept a Field Notes in my pocket for jotting things down when I was at work or away from home. I even got nerdy and created a basic index system so I could reference stuff I had written.

Eventually, I just stopped. I got pretty intense in my habit and would write even when I lacked much to say because I didn’t want to break my streak. I became burned out by that part in particular and also found myself having more responsibilities as I got older, leaving less time for the kind of detailed journaling that I was prone to.

Making a Brief Return to Print…

With the changes that occurred in my life over the last year, I felt the desire to return to journaling so I could document my life and process my thoughts and feelings. To get started again, I picked up a new journal and decided on the following three prompts to answer for each entry:

1. What am I grateful for?

2. What did I win today?

3. What did I learn today?

It worked well for a few months, and then I had that little broken wrist issue, which made writing by hand impossible for eight weeks. So I took a few days off as I went through the initial recovery stage and decided to modify my approach instead of giving it up.

… And then to Digital

Using Day One, I switched to a simple one-question gratitude prompt and found this to be an even more effective method for my needs. It’s been rewarding, and here are my four big reasons why Day One is working better and will be the format that I stick with:

Photos with a date and place

It’s easy to import photos from the day’s events and have the journal automatically change the location and other relevant info based on their metadata.

Access from anywhere

It’s the same with reading on Kindle; I like that I can access this journal on my iPhone, iPad, or Mac. I have a shortcut on all of my devices that gets me right to a new entry with the date and the prompt so it is very convenient. I don’t have a set time for my reflection, although I try to do it in the morning. If that doesn’t happen, I can do this easily from any device later in the day.

Backups

Because my Day One backs up to the cloud and syncs to all of my devices, I don’t have to worry about losing my writing.

Less Pressure

By reducing the prompts from three to one, the process is simplified. I can write a sentence or a paragraph and feel happy with whatever I’ve recorded.

Journaling for Myself

I do not journal for anyone other than myself. I enjoy the process of recording gratitude because it feels great, and the ability to look at past entries and see what was happening can be fun too.

Do you maintain a journaling habit? I recommend it, in whatever form and frequency work for you. It’s helpful in so many ways for the present and can interest your future self too.

Weekly Quote: Ryan Holiday on the Anger Trap

This week’s quote comes from a favorite book I regularly read: The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman.

Anger usually results in pain, frustration, and a loss of clarity and connection. It is an emotion that is the worst kind of fuel. We all deserve better, as do our co-workers, team members, families, and friends.

Have you noticed that the people around you who are always angry want you to join them? It’s usually true. Angry people find other like-minded people. They want to be miserable together and are always recruiting. Don’t get drawn in. Remember, your anger is their fuel.

The first principle in Stoicism, as this quote from Ward Farnsworth discusses, is that you don’t react to events but instead react to your judgments about them. So choose to respond without anger. Don’t fuel the rage, and don’t fall into their trap.

Focus Mode Comes to Craft

Craft, my favorite app for building ideas, has implemented Focus Mode in its latest update (v2.2.3). With a simple keyboard shortcut (command + .), I can toggle all sidebars, navigation, and headers. I'm left with a distraction-free workspace to create.

Craft is regularly updated with thoughtful improvements, and I appreciate that. The developers are already looking at iOS 16 and macOS Ventura features like Lock Screen and Stage Manager. The mockups look great, and I'm excited to see where things land when the new operating systems are released.

Weekly Quote: James Clear on Being Proud of Yourself

This week’s quote comes from James Clear on Instagram, asking a Monday morning question.

I like this question because it goes explicitly beyond the idea of being happy or well paid or on the receiving end of professional or personal accolades. Instead, it’s about how you feel internally, regardless of external feedback.

This type of personal reflection might be challenging with all the responsibilities and distractions in your life. Do it anyway. Finding time and space for yourself is a worthwhile investment.

Want to give it a try? Do the following: Block out an hour on the calendar. Find a quiet place. Grab a pen and notebook, write this or a similar question on a blank page, and sit there. You may be surprised by what you end up with.

Pushing Reset on Todoist

I spent the last two weeks helping my entire household (including me) recover from a nasty daycare-acquired cold. We’ve had multiple doctors and urgent care visits and several sleepless nights. Now that we are all getting better, it’s time to organize a few things.

At the end of last week, I caught up on email, did some planning for upcoming blog content, worked on a few blog posts, and read. I also went through and deleted or rescheduled everything in Todoist. Doing this took about 15 minutes and was less complicated than I had expected it to be. It felt good to hit the reset button as we headed into the weekend.

My primary job right now is as a stay-at-home dad, so much of what was on my Todoist was related to this site, household chores, or other similar tasks. As a result, my task list debt was not as significant as when I had my corporate job, but it was still piling up. It was freeing, and I even removed a few tasks I had yet to finish but hadn’t felt ready to delete.

The time away forced an audit, which I haven’t routinely done in quite a while. However, I will start doing it again, even if it’s just five minutes weekly and fifteen minutes monthly. Keeping my Todoist organized and up to date is helpful in all aspects of my life.

Doist, the company that makes Todoist, has an article about task management bankruptcy. It’s worth a read, especially if you are feeling overwhelmed and want to burn it all down. You won’t be the first, and no doubt others will do the same in the future.

Weekly Quote: Steven Pressfield on Starting your Symphony

This week’s quote is from Steven Pressfield’s book The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles, which I’ve written about before.

I've found that procrastination is sneaky because it sometimes disguises itself as planning or ideation, two essential aspects of the creative process. It's generally easier to think about something than actually do it, and taking the time to think about something offers more time for the resistance to get stronger. So, the longer I wait, the less likely I am to succeed..

This site began publication in January 2022, although I started planning it in October. We had a newborn, and there were plenty of legitimate considerations to consider before embarking on a new project requiring time and attention. Still, I know that some of that time was the resistance manifested as procrastination and fear. I had many internal arguments about why I couldn't get this site off the ground, and the voice of resistance was cunning and powerful. Yet, despite not knowing precisely what 24 Letters would become, I knew it needed to be created, so I launched. I can thank my family and friends who cheered me on, creators who inspired me, and books like Courage is Calling, The War of Art, and Soundtracks for helping me get here.

Pressfield talks about how the resistance gets even more potent when something is important and meaningful. I didn't realize it then, but creating this site has been vital to my happiness and growth over the last eight months. It has allowed me to connect with new people, learn new skills, grow new ideas, and think in new ways. This has been transformational, so the resistance was exceptionally loud!


I recommend following @steven_pressfield on Instagram. He's creating videos about overcoming resistance and getting stuff done. I like his style and his writing. Check out some of his historical fiction, too. It's really well done.

How do you overcome resistance and get projects shipped and that symphony written? Let me know.

Weekly Quote: Ward Farnsworth on the First Principle of Practical Stoicism

This week’s quote comes from The Practicing Stoic: A Philosophical Users Manual by Ward Farnsworth. I heard the author on a recent episode of The Daily Stoic podcast, and based on that conversation this book was an immediate purchase for me.

The judgments are up to us. This is a profound reminder. It’s easy to forget that while we have very little control over what happens in our lives, we have an enormous ability to control how we react to our interpretation of what has happened. In conversations with friends and colleagues, I’ve struggled to explain my understanding of this part clearly. Ward has done it better and more succinctly than I could.

I am enjoying the style of this book a lot. The various chapters include relevant quotes from the original Stoics and other, more modern philosophers. Perhaps unsurprisingly, using quotes and extrapolating on them really works for me. Who knew!

If you pick this book up, send me a note and tell me what you think.

Weekly Quote: Annie Murphy Paul on Naming the Feeling

This week, we have another quote from one of my favorite books The Extended Mind by Annie Murphy Paul.

What's wrong?

This is a question we've all heard and said countless times. Think of how often this query has been directed at you, and think about your answer. How often were you actually able to articulate what was going on? Did you respond with nothing, I'm fine, or another dismissive throw-away line? Did you make a joke, or perhaps just started listing a bunch of semi-random annoyances that came to mind? I would be surprised if one or more of these responses didn't sound familiar to you from a recent conversation.

We need a better question, something more focused on a person's present feeling. As this week's quote states, scientific research has found that naming a feeling reduces the body's stress response, helping us broaden our ability to cope with either the situation or the emotion causing the stress. So saying what are you feeling right now or how are you feeling seems a more direct approach to giving a person the space to begin figuring it out. It also signals that you are listening, and that's helpful too.

Asking about a person's feelings at work feels a little fraught. But, having done it many times with team members or colleagues who were struggling, sometimes at a crisis level, I've seen it help. I appreciate being on the receiving end of this conversation, and I believe others usually feel similarly. It doesn't always work. When it doesn’t, I remind myself that most things don't work all the time and I take a moment of reflection to examine if I could have done something differently.

Frequently, we are more comfortable with this approach around our kids or family members. Parents know that naming the feeling is the foundation of helping children learn how to develop their emotional intelligence. So it's less of asking about what's wrong and more a complex and open-ended question about thoughts and feelings that sparks a dialog.

I know that what's wrong is a ubiquitous phrase in our culture that isn't going away anytime soon. I'm trying to ask a better question, and I encourage you to do this too. Try it. Start with someone you trust. It isn't always easy to dig in, yet it can be a rewarding experience to help someone resolve a stressful situation. Are you ready to listen?

My Home Screen on MacSparky

I’m a big fan of the work that David Sparks does at MacSparky, the newly formed Labs, and on his podcasts, Mac Power Users, Focused, and Automators. I count David as one of the people who helped inspire me to do this project so I was excited when I was offered a chance to share my Home Screen and give some insight into the apps and tools that I enjoy using.

You can check out the post here, and if you are a Mac or technology geek, you should (and probably already are) check his stuff out!

Weekly Quote: James Clear on Systematizing The Goal Process

In Atomic Habits, James Clear writes about how our goals are only as successful as our systems.

This idea and the book's premise generally have me thinking more about the journey of accomplishing something important. At its core, a goal is essentially a specific ambition that is easy to express but takes actual effort and planning to complete. Developing a good goal requires consideration of the systems that can be implemented. Otherwise, it may never move beyond an ambitious idea.

In addition to planning systems and building habits to get things done, motivation is a factor. The weekly quote from a few weeks ago was from Get it Done: Surprising Lessons from the Science of Motivation, and it was about creating targets for goals - essentially, systematizing the goal process. This is why the SMART framework is prevalent in many corporate settings. It's a system that works pretty well for building actionable goals in large organizations.

I'm rethinking my process because I'm finding that I need more clarity on some of my goals. What are you doing to develop your systems and achieve your goals?

Weekly Quote: Adam Grant on Being Actively Open-Minded

This week, I’m sharing another quote from Think Again by Adam Grant. It’s a book that has stuck with me since I read it last year, and I regularly go back through and reread sections and review the highlights I have captured in Readwise.

I like how Grant uses roles that we are all familiar with to help us best approach effective learning and communication methods. Early in the book, he writes about Phil Tetlock , a fellow Wharton Professor, who discovered that people frequently fall into the role of either politician, preacher, or prosecutor when discussing or thinking about something. Adam takes this concept and expands on it by writing that the ideal role is that of a scientist in search of the truth.

I think looking at this through a lens of humility is helpful. I may have ideas or thoughts about a given topic, and I want to test them and see how they stand up. This helps everyone, including me, get closer to the facts. This can also feel very vulnerable, so it is essential to realize that it’s okay to be wrong. Also, if you see someone approaching a question or idea as a scientist, support them in the process.

Being actively open-minded takes exercise, like so much of what is good for us, and I’m continuing to work on it. How often are you searching for reasons why you are wrong?

Finding Focus: Keeping on Task with Reading Mode

While I still enjoy printed books occasionally, my reading preferences have shifted to the Kindle app on my iPad. Customizing my Reading Focus Mode has improved this preference, and here’s how I set it up to make it work for me.

Contextual Triggers

My Reading Focus is triggered contextually, turning on automatically whenever I open the Kindle app. My Home Screen on both my iPad and iPhone shows only Widgets from Kindle, Readwise, and The New York Times.

Integration with Sleep​

I wrote about how I handle Sleep on my iPhone here. When my iPad enters Sleep Mode, the Home Screen also switches automatically to the one mentioned above. I find that this helps me stay on track at night. If I want to watch Netflix or YouTube, I can find it. It just takes extra effort, so I’m more likely to do some reading which feels better to wind down and sleep.

Reading More by Seeing Less

I try to read every day. I may not read more than a few pages on hectic days, but it still fills my cup and desire to learn something. Plus, it’s an incremental way to finish a book even when I don’t have much time.

With Reading Focus turned on, I am less likely to wander into the myriad distractions that may tempt me. I can still do anything on my device; it just requires overcoming the friction of opening the search dialog, typing in whatever I’m looking for, and then pressing on the result.

More Focus & Automation

I’m working on my writing and production focus modes right now, and I am very interested in how contextual triggers, Automation, and Shortcuts can help fine-tune my workflows. How do you use these tools to help you get work done? I’m curious and interested in learning, so please let me know.

Weekly Quote: The Science of Motivation

I recently began reading Get it Done: Surprising Lessons from the Science of Motivation by Ayelet Fishbach. I’ve heard Ayelet’s name mentioned by psychologist and Grit author Angela Duckworth on the No Stupid Questions podcast. I enjoy Angela’s perspective, so this felt like a great book to pick up.

As a leader, I have found meaningful and effective goal setting with team members to be a challenging task to do well. I’ve thought a lot about it because I was responsible for twenty annual performance reviews in my most recent position. They required goals aligned with the business needs and individual engagement goals. It was a lot of work to do well, and it was a personal priority that each team member felt like I was giving them my attention and care. I think I did a pretty good job, but I’d like to learn more.

I’m enjoying that Get it Done delves into the science behind motivation and, inversely, demotivation. It’s a complicated subject, and I’m already learning a lot, challenging some of my own beliefs and practices, and taking notes on how to get better at goal setting.

Happy Star Wars Day!

As a kid growing up in the early 1990s, I vividly remember watching the original Star Wars Trilogy on television and receiving the reissued “faces” VHS box set for Christmas in 1995. I watched all three movies many times, especially The Empire Strikes Back, my favorite of the original three.

We live in a bountiful time for new Star Wars projects, particularly from the non-feature length side of things with shows like The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, The Bad Batch, and the upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi all landing on Disney+. I know there are plenty of comic books and novels available too. I can personally attest to the very cool Lego sets available because they are slowly beginning to take over parts of my desk!

During the last few months of 2021 and early 2022, I rewatched all of the films and decided that my favorite from the newer batch of films is Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Do you have a favorite?

May the 4th be with you!

Thoughts on the Apple Studio Display

After having the Apple Studio Display on my desk for about a month and a half, I continue to be delighted with both it's form and function.

I had two large Dell monitors at my most recent corporate job that provided me with enough screen space to have reference material and project management apps open. At the same time, I did the bulk of my active work, mostly management reporting, performance reviews, Zoom or Teams meetings, and email, on the other. While the screen real estate was plentiful, the pixel density and overall image quality were subpar.

Now, my computing options are either an iPad Air or a MacBook Air, so while both have a high quality display, neither has much room to work with.

If, like me, you’ve recently read The Extended Mind by Annie Murphy Paul, where the author shares the science behind why more screen space helps us remember more, you will know how important it is to have more room. I was already in the market for something bigger, but many options available didn't quite hit the mark in terms of build quality or style, so when the Studio Display was announced, I picked one up at my local Apple Store within a week.

The Studio Display offers me an outstanding balance of screen real estate and image quality, with a 5K native resolution display created in Apple's design language. As a result, I can have multiple apps open with plenty of room to breathe, and the image quality and brightness are excellent.

For my needs, I went with the standard glass display as my office doesn't have any glair issues. I'm also using the default stand, and it's working fine for the height of my workspace.

The speakers sound pretty good. I use AirPods for nearly all audio consumption, so i didn't need external speaker level quality.

I have not used the camera with its image quality issues, although I will try it out once the new firmware is out of beta. It's disappointing that a display of this quality and price shipped with an issue like that, and Apple needs to fix it. Apple knows how to do camera hardware and software properly, so I remain hopeful.

The Studio Display came in at the upper end of my budget. However, I'm comfortable with the price because I plan to use this display with either a MacBook in clamshell mode or a Mac Mini for some time to come.

Do you have the Studio Display? Let me know what you’re enjoying and where you think it doesn’t quite meet your expectations. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to work on cable management so my desk is tidy again.

Weekly Quote: Courage is Calling by Ryan Holiday

This week’s quote comes from Ryan Holiday’s latest book, Courage is Calling: Fortune Favors the Brave. Ryan is one of my favorite authors. His books and emails are always on my reading and re-reading list, and I frequently recommend The Daily Stoic to friends who want an introduction to Stoic philosophy. It’s where I started.

In Courage is Calling, Ryan writes about many aspects of courage, including difference between being scared and feeling fear. It’s one of the ideas from this book that I’ve really been chewing on. He quotes William Faulkner, who wrote a similar sentiment about walking in the woods, “Be scared. You can’t help that. But don’t be afraid.”

Before reading this book, I hadn’t deeply considered the difference between fear and being scared. Fear is more conceptual, and being scared is an emotional response the body experiences. It’s helpful to have such a distinction clearly laid out by a thinker that I respect, to understand that it’s okay to be scared, and then it’s essential to act anyway, not let fear paralyze you and prevent you from achieving what needs to be done.

I’m doing my best to remember this quote when I am heading into the unknown and begin to feel dread. I’ll allow myself to be scared, but I will fight the fear.

Weekly Quote: The Itch of Happiness

This week’s quote comes from 10% Happier by Dan Harris, a founder, author, podcaster, and former ABC News anchor.


I found this book on Audible several years ago and listened intently to Dan’s journey from his on-air panic attack in 2004 through his journey towards having a better mental balance through work/life balance and meditation.

I know these “if only” thoughts all too well and I’m sure you’ve experienced them too. They usually come by when I’m tired, or maybe at 3 am when I happen to be up with one of my kids. Either way, when they come they hit hard.

Pursuing happiness can find us with blinders on, so eager and focused on that one thing that we miss the forest through the trees. We don’t see other sources of happiness around us, we don’t find the balance that may be right there because we just can’t look around.

It’s good to be motivated, to want to succeed, and find happiness and connection. But, as Dan writes, we have to watch that itch because it can be all-consuming.