Weekly Quote: Cato the Elder on Embracing the Wisdom of Others
This week’s quote comes from Cato The Elder. Cato was a Roman soldier, senator and historian who was also the first Latin prose writer of importance.
At the start of a new week, remember this quote. We must be open to learning from others, regardless of our perceptions about what they may or may not know. Those perceptions are often based on the biases we hold and bring around as unwanted emotional baggage.
Remain discerning, but do not rashly refuse, as Cato reminds us, just because you believe you already know what they will say. You may be surprised by what others know.
The May Newsletter Arrives this Week
The May newsletter will be heading to inboxes on Wednesday. This month I’m sharing thoughts on the importance of getting out of the house and taking a break, as well as more insights into my new M2 Mac. I’ll also have a media recommendation featuring a show with a season finale that left me eagerly anticipating more.
If you’d like to become a part of this, you can check out recent issues and subscribe here.
Unleashing Apple Silicon
I've finally joined the modern Apple Silicon era!
This is my recently acquired M2 MacBook Air. I chose Space Grey with 16 GB of memory and a 1 TB SSD.
I have been using a MacBook Air since 2019, and it's struggled to keep pace with my needs. The Silicon Air is a different beast than what was on offer during the Intel era, thanks in large part to Apple's system on a chip processors using ARM architecture.
Looking for a new Mac? Start with the M Series Air. I love my M2, and the previous M1 generation is still blazing fast and is often on sale at places like Amazon.
This is the best and most responsive computing experience I've ever had. People told me I'd feel this way, and they were right.
Weekly Quote: Ryan Holiday on Overcoming What Other People Think of Us
This week's quote comes from Courage is Calling by Ryan Holiday, reminding us that we shouldn't let what others think get in the way of being who we are and accomplishing what is most important to us.
The vast majority of people aren't paying attention to you or, honestly, anything else. Instead, they're distracted by social media, exhausted by life, or obsessed with what others think of them.
While many people aren't paying attention, you are. This makes a difference.
Make this your superpower. Don't let your perceptions of what others think stop you.
Be the parent you want to be because you aren't worried about embarrassing yourself for being silly on the playground. Buy the car that suits your needs rather than the more expensive one because no one will notice. Be responsible and fruitful at work, but remember to shut things off when you go home to be with your family because most of what will come up can wait until the morning.
Do not live with the manufactured fear of others' opinions. Be bold and take inspiration by remembering the few who are watching you and who matter. Your friends and family, trusted colleagues, and mentors, they are paying attention because they care.
David Sparks on Journaling as a Maker, a Manager, and a Consumer
Last week I wrote a piece for the Finding Focus series about the benefits of waking up early and quoted podcast host and MacSparky Labs founder David Sparks' idea that, as creators, we should make before we manage.
David wrote more on this idea a few years ago and shared his thoughts about how being a maker, a manager, and a consumer impacts the purpose of his journaling process. He writes about the evolution of his journaling:
My purpose in journaling is tracking how I'm spending my time in these roles. I don't view any of them as inherently good or bad. The magic is in the balance. While making is most important to me, both managing and consuming enable making. I want to spend more time making than consuming. I need to spend time managing, but not go down the management/productivity rabbit hole so far that I don't make anything.
So with this in mind, I've been focusing my journaling lately not so much on what I had for lunch, but what I make, manage, and consume. Using tags, I can then see it on a daily, weekly, and even monthly basis. If I look at my week and realize I spent most of my time sharpening pencils and sorting tasks (manager) and not enough time producing content (maker), I know I need to make changes. You can get similar information by tracking your time, but I think there is something more concrete looking at a list of things you've made, managed, and consumed over a period of time.
David suggests using Day One and assigning a tag to each role as an effective way to aid in planning and review. More good advice from someone who, to quote another often used Sparks phrase, pays for his shoes as a self-employed creator.
A journaling practice is a powerful way to see where and what you've been doing. Of course, your journal cannot predict the future, but you can certainly use it to forecast where you might end up.
I’ll be doing more writing about journaling here and in the monthly newsletter. The April issue focused on the topic and offered some ideas on how to get started or stick with your own practice. You can subscribe here if you’re interested. Just be sure to check your email (and spam folder) for the opt-in confirmation that’ll get sent. If you're interested in the April issue, let me know and I’ll get it to you.
Weekly Quote: Reframing Problems with Insights from Todd Henry's The Daily Creative
This week’s quote comes from The Daily Creative by Todd Henry. Todd has written five books and founded The Accidental Creative, where he shares insights, workshops, keynotes, and other resources for creative people and teams.
When his clients get stuck, Todd urges them to ask themselves, “what are we really trying to do here?” This simple but easily ignored question offers a chance to reframe the situation, bringing a new perspective and an opportunity to move forward on a project or task. It’s not a panacea, but it can help get the gears moving again.
Subscribe to the monthly newsletter for stories, ideas, and insights on reading and journaling, the benefits of finding focus and productivity through intentionality, and how tech can help you grow in the ways you want. Every issue also features a studio update and a media recommendation. Check out the sample issues and join today!
Finding Focus: Why Waking Up at 5 AM Helps Me Get More Done
I've long been the kind of person who likes to wake up at 5 AM. The time before the day starts is one of reflection and personal development for me, whether through physical exercise, journaling, or reading. I've discovered since launching 24 Letters that this time is where some of my most productive work on content and ideas comes from.
Here are a few reasons why being an early riser helps me get more done.
It's Quiet
I get distracted easily and also have plenty of responsibilities once the kids are awake, so having a quiet house helps me get into the writing groove. Once I've made coffee and fed the cats, I come into the studio and get started. I use a focus mode to keep the digital distractions at bay, and I have a shortcut to launch my preferred mix in Dark Noise. My mind is quiet, and if I can keep it from getting polluted with notifications and calendar items for the coming day, I'm much more likely to get work done.
It's my Margin
Whatever you're doing with your day, you likely have something that takes up the bulk of your time that, in most cases, is not your creative endeavor or passion project. I'm a stay-at-home dad, which requires a lot of attention and care. Finding the margins means figuring out the time that works around your other priorities. Unless my kids are awake extra early, the predawn time is usually available for me.
It Starts the Day Strong
When I get some work done on a post or a draft of the next newsletter started, I start the day with an accomplishment that is meaningful to me. As a result, I find myself in a better mood and can better focus my attention during the day instead of becoming distracted by the projects I'm falling behind on.
It's Incremental Growth
An hour or 90 minutes a day may not seem like much, but that adds up to a few weeks' worth of writing time if you do it every day. Realistically, it doesn't happen daily, but even three or four days a week moves the needle. For me, it's about progress over time, and I’m happy with that as long as I can build content that helps people.
It's my Peak

In his book When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing, Daniel Pink writes about Your Daily When, the natural fluctuations in energy and alertness that everyone feels throughout the day. Dan's research shows that most people peak in the morning, and I'm in that group. I'm often happiest and most effective at getting things done between 5 am and 12 pm.
What I Work On
I try to make before I manage, as David Sparks frequently says. The early hours are reserved for creative work. I either get stuck into an ongoing draft in Ulysses or begin pulling ideas and sources together to prep for a new piece. This work usually takes place in apps like Craft and Mindnode.
I have a weekly planning document in Craft that I use to roughly map out what I want to get done with the week, and I also have a simple review process built-in with that.
Navigating the Ups and Downs
We sometimes have less attention or time to devote to the things we would like to get done than we would like.
It's frustrating to have a plan and then watch it not happen. We all have more practice with that than we realize, yet it's still difficult to experience. My rule is to start with kindness and understanding. It's helpful to remember the first principle of Stoicism, shared by Ward Farnsworth in The Practicing Stoic:
I like starting the day by acting on something important to me. It improves my mood, sharpens my senses, and helps me achieve the goal of creating content that can help people become a better version of themselves by learning something new. It doesn’t always work, but it did today and I will try for tomorrow too.
Weekly Quote: Princess Leia Organa for Star Wars Day
background image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, H. Ebeling
This week’s quote comes from Princess Leia Organa, delivering this well-known line in Star Wars: A New Hope.
In this iconic and memorable scene, Leia’s distress message is delivered by R2-D2 with the assistance of C-3PO to an awe-struck Luke and a knowing Obi-Wan. This scene sets the stage for much of the story and introduces us to something called The Clone Wars, explored in greater detail in the prequel trilogy, and animated series released several decades later.
I wrote a little about my love of Star Wars last year, and my enjoyment of the universe continues with shows like Obi-Wan Kenobi and The Mandolorian as well as my current favorite of the Disney+ streaming era, Andor.
I’ll celebrate today by sneaking in a few minutes of A New Hope, which I began rewatching earlier this week as I worked on this post. I’ve seen it dozens of times since I was a kid, and I still get a thrill when the opening crawl begins, and the main theme music hits.
Happy Star Wars Day. May the force be with you!
Pen and Paper, Digitally: New iOS Journaling App Rumored for Launch with iOS 17
There was an interesting report from 9to5 Mac last week where they shared a story from The Wall Street Journal that says Apple will be releasing a native journaling app for the iPhone in the next release of iOS. The rumors include on-device integration with location information, physical activity, and other pertinent data to prompt the user to create relevant entries. In addition, there's talk of this potentially Sherlocking* the popular journaling app Day One.
When Apple creates apps that offer an alternative to what third-party developers are doing, they typically don't go as deep in terms of the specific feature set as the app developers do. An example is the Reminders app, which works for some people and has gotten even more functionality with recent updates. Despite that, there's still a set of users who need something like Todoist or OmniFocus. However, Apple does have the advantage of building the OS and can more easily benefit from deeper integration into system settings, so they can usually do some cool stuff that some third-party app developers may struggle with.
I've been subscribing to Day One for years and like the app. Of course, I'll check out what Apple does, but it's not an instant switch for me. I like the features and security that Day One offers right now.
I think journaling is something everyone should do, and I'd be happy if the rumors turned out to be accurate and Apple added this tool as a native app on the iPhone. I hope that Day One will co-exist successfully with whatever Apple creates, and I suspect they will. Many app developers, especially developers who have been working on their apps for years, have added many features people want, and that helps them differentiate themselves from what Apple does. I hope Day One sticks around and continues building a great feature-rich journaling app. The optimist in me thinks they may even see an increase in users if Apple popularizes journaling and more people explore other apps in the category. We'll have to wait until WWDC in June to know what's happening.
In the meantime, if you are interested in beginning a journaling practice, don't wait. Instead, start today, and use whatever format is most comfortable. Whether it's analog or digital, just get started. I'll write more about journaling in the newsletter this month, and you can click here to join and take a look at a few recent issues as well.
* Sherlocking is the term used when Apple creates an app that functions in the same way as a third-party app.
Weekly Quote: Reflecting on Time With Steve Jobs
This week’s quote, shared by Laurene Powell Jobs in the introduction of Make Something Wonderful, a new curated collection from The Steve Jobs Archive featuring speeches, emails, interviews, and personal reflections from the visionary co-founder of Apple.

The quote continues:
He was compelled by the notion of being part of the arc of human existence, animated by the thought that he — or that any of us — might elevate or expedite human progress.
I believe Steve helped change how many of us engage each other and the world around us. He reminds us, both through his reflections in this book and his actions during his life, that our time here is brief, and we should shine as brightly as possible.
Weekly Quote: The Daily Stoic on the Power of Authentic Connection
This week’s quote comes from The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman. An idea like this that we do our best when we don’t pretend to be someone we aren’t but instead open ourselves up and listen to others is something worth being reminded of often.
I don’t necessarily read this book every day, life is too imperfect for that right now, but I read it most days and have been doing so for years. I recommend you check it out, too. It’s worth a few minutes (almost) every day for a reminder of how to practice living a richer and more meaningful life.
The Daily Gratitude Shortcut: A Simple Solution for Efficient Journaling
I began using Shortcuts regularly on my Apple devices about a year and a half ago. I’ve found that they’re helpful and quite fun to use and create, especially when I can trigger them from a physical button on my Stream Deck while working on the Mac.
One of my favorite daily use shortcuts launches the Daily Gratitude Journal I keep in Day One. I like this shortcut because it brings me into the writing space quickly, and Day One is configured to create a new entry from a template with the prompt, “Today I’m Grateful For,” ready to go.

To further my intentionality around journaling, I’ve also connected a Focus mode that triggers automatically when Day One opens and turns off when I close the app. All I need to do is hit the shortcut and I’m able to write without distraction.
Shortcuts can get very complicated with multi-step actions, although the ones I create mostly just use one or two steps at most. Yet, despite their simplicity, they are delightful and can help build habits for the better. This shortcut was easy to make, thanks partly to Day One’s support of Automation and Shortcuts. You can download the shortcut here if you’d like to use it. Remember to change the name to match your own Day One journal names.
Weekly Quote: James Clear on The Courage to Look Foolish
This week’s quote comes from James Clear and the May 27th, 2021, issue of his 3-2-1 Newsletter.
The quote continues:

“It’s not the failed outcome that paralyzes us. It’s the possibility of looking stupid, feeling humiliated, or dealing with embarrassment that prevents us from getting started at all.
The first step to being courageous is being willing to look foolish.”
As I grow older, I get more comfortable with looking foolish. It’s something we should all endeavor to be better at. The potential reward from having a bias towards action is worth any temporary embarrassment.
Weekly Quote: Marcus Aurelius on The Power of Choice
This week’s quote comes from Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. As you go through the week consider these words about how we can decide not to be harmed, and remember what Ward Farnsworth identifies as a first principle of practical Stoicism – we don’t react to events; we react to our judgments about them.
The March Newsletter Arrives This Week
The March newsletter will be going to subscribers on Thursday morning. This month I'm writing about the power of kindness, asking for your quarterly review best practices while sharing a few essential tips of my own, and recommending an award-winning show I'm watching for the second time nearly two decades after it premiered.
You can subscribe here. If you do or already have, thank you, and I hope you enjoy it!
Weekly Quote: Publilius Syrus on the Strength of Kindness
This week’s quote is from the Latin writer and mime Publilus Syrus, who was active during the 1st century BC.
Being kind should be at the heart of motivating and connecting with those around you, whether you're a parent or a CEO. It's particularly impactful when you are called to do hard things or have tough conversations.
Practice kindness when teaching your children tough lessons or working through performance issues with team members. You can terminate someone from a job while still being kind. You can disagree and be kind. You can be kind to yourself during hard times, and as David Sparks says, treat yourself like you would your best friend.
Kindness matters, and it is not a weakness. On the contrary, it is a strength of character and a trait of someone confident and engaging. So practice kindness and hold your head high, especially during tough times or while doing difficult things. Whether it’s your children or someone on your team, people watch what you do and how you react; this is how you reveal yourself. Don’t let yourself or those who are counting on you down.
Thoughts on Creativity and AI from Original Mac Guy
My friend Jim, writing at Original Mac Guy, has written a thoughtful post about using AI in the creative process. Take a look at it here.
I often use AI-based editing tools like Grammarly but haven’t done much otherwise, aside from asking the AI assistant in Craft to summarize a piece of my writing for personal review. I’m impressed by how powerful the tool can be, and I feel like it has the potential to help a lot of people do their jobs more effectively. Jim’s post gives me some ideas to chew on as I figure out where it fits in for me.
Weekly Quote: Ted Lasso on Feeling the Love
This week’s quote comes from AFC Richmond’s head coach and all-around nice guy Ted Lasso, promoting the beauty and the practicality of how much people can do when they care about each other.
Coach Ted’s big and imperfect heart is one of the reasons his namesake show has become such a beloved hit. The first season’s light and humorous approach was a beacon during the early days of the pandemic. The second season had a slightly darker tone, with a twist at the end that, with a careful rewatch of the episodes leading up to it, isn’t as surprising as it first seems. Hope abides for the third season to provide an equally entertaining mix of humor and drama. The new season premieres today. I’ll be watching, will you?
Weekly Quote: Brené Brown on Showing up and Being Seen
This week’s quote comes from Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Dr. Brené Brown. Brown is a research professor, author, and well known expert on topics including courage, and vulnerability.
Someone in your life wants more of you. They may not be able to tell you with words yet, so pay attention. If your children are young, their hugs and uncontrolled excitement when you walk through the door is the language they speak most clearly. If they’re teenagers, the thumbs up you get in reply to the loving text you sent or the wry smile your silly dad joke gets should tell you what you need to know. A spouse or friend might text during the day to say they’re thinking of you. At work, a colleague or manager may want to hear from more of you during the weekly zoom call and encourage you to share your opinion when the din of louder voices quiets.
It’s on you to show up and let yourself be seen. It’s a very Stoic idea to show up and understand that the rest is out of your control. When you do, you’ll be rewarded with a deeper connection and a better understanding of your importance to those around you. Take the risk; the reward of connection is worthwhile.
Steve Jobs on How to Focus
I found this on 512 Pixels, where Stephen Hackett wrote about the 25th anniversary of Apple’s decision to kill the Newton. If you aren’t reading Stephen’s blog and are interested in tech history, you are missing out.
Is anyone else curious just what The San Jose Mercury wrote that had Steve so fired up?