Jim Eagar Talks Repotting & Retirement on the Focused Podcast

My good friend Jim Eagar appeared on the Focused podcast last week to discuss the four phases of retirement and how to find our meaning and purpose in life.

I’m not even close to retirement, yet I found so much value and insight that applies to my experience. Regardless of where you are in your life, give this episode a listen. We all hope to grow old, and there are some thoughtful ideas here on how to do that with intentionality instead of by accident.

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.

The February Newsletter Arrives Next Week

The February newsletter will be going to subscribers on Tuesday.  This month I’m writing about wishful thinking verses planning, sharing some new gear in my studio and recommending a show that has definite Ted Lasso vibes.

You can join here.  If you do or already have, thank you, and I hope you enjoy it!

Finding Your Next Favorite Blog on ooh.directory

Last week on Daring Fireball, John Gruber wrote about ooh.directory, a resource for finding new blogs by Phil Gyford. I’m feeling nostalgic for when directories and blogrolls were a regular part of the shared online experience.

I remain hopeful that the challenges at Twitter push more users to have more control over their platform.

Discipline is Destiny

Ryan Holiday's new book, Discipline is Destiny: The Power of Self Control is available today. Discipline is the second in the Stoic Virtues Series, following last year's release of Courage is Calling.

I pre-ordered a signed copy directly from Ryan, which arrived on Saturday. I'm already a few chapters in, highlighter in hand. Ryan is one of those authors whose work I typically purchase in multiple formats, usually Kindle and in print. I have several of his books on audio too. As I said, I'm a fan!

I recommend either The Obstacle is the Way or Courage is Calling for someone new to his work. Although you won’t go wrong with any of his books, particularly the ones focused on Stoicism.

Here's Where I Started

I walked into a book store on a snowy December afternoon in 2017, and The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living caught my eye. It was on a table themed around the coming new year. Although I did not know who Ryan was then, I immediately knew this was a book I wanted to read.

More importantly, it was a book that I needed to read.

I had just finished four years as a business owner and was starting a new mid-level operations management job at a distressed account. I was dealing with a lot of anxiety, and The Daily Stoic was part of how I ended my day and managed the stress. I'd read the day's passage, maybe do a little journaling or some other reading, and go to bed. The book helped me stay grounded after many long and draining days of putting out fires, rebuilding the team, and developing relationships with everyone from the C-Suite to the frontline.

Six years after finding The Daily Stoic, I reach for it nearly every day and still feel like I'm learning new things. I hope you have a book or something similar that does the same for you. If you don’t yet, you know what I recommend.

Express (and Remember) your Colors with Pastel

I’m thinking about color and design aesthetics these days, both for this website and other projects I’m working on. I know. It’s pretty monochromatic here right now, which is why I want to be able to put together some colors and keep track of the combos that I like. So I searched the App Store and found Pastel. After using it for a few days, I can tell it’s what I need.

What is Pastel?

From the developer, Steve Troughton-Smith on the App Store:

Pastel is an app for amateur developers & artists (like us!) that lets you build up a library of color palettes for your projects.

Pastel is free to download, with the ability to unlock unlimited palettes for a one-time fee. It is available on the iPad, iPhone, and Mac.

What does it do best?

Pastel comes with a bunch of colors and reference palettes included. Then, there’s the option to pull colors from different style pickers and save them to create new custom palettes. The creativity goes a step further by allowing the user to import a photo, and it will pull a palette of complementary colors. It works really well and is a fun feature to play with!

Palettes can be exported as wallpaper to beautify your home screen or watch face, as a color swatch featuring hex colors, or you can send it directly to Procreate for your design work.

Pastel is free to download, with the ability to unlock unlimited palettes for a one-time fee. It is available on the iPad, iPhone, and Mac.

How is it useful?

Pastel helps manage colors, which is useful for many projects, including websites, presentations, book and print media design, and even for pulling colors together for ideas around the house. It’s perfect for what I need because it’s not overly complicated yet still allows me to play with different ideas and take inspiration from the included palettes.

If you are working on a Keynote or slide deck that isn’t constrained by a corporate or institutional stylebook and want to make it stand out, Pastel is an excellent place to start experimenting with colors.

One Thing

I found this very simple app called One Thing over at 512 Pixels a few weeks back. It does just what it says, allows you to post one sentence in the menu bar of your Mac.

I opted for a quote from Seneca that feels especially appropriate right now. I appreciate the simplicity of this and thought you might too. Check it out here on the Mac App Store.

Podcast Recommendation: Make Me Smart

Let me set the scene. It's 7 am. I'm driving West on a nearly deserted Massachusetts Turnpike heading to work. Because I was considered an "essential employee" and provided onsite operations leadership, I was on my way to the office. There were almost no other cars on the road. I had a LOT on my mind. I needed to keep my team's morale up and keep people safe. I had to assist another leader in showing a group of sixteen and seventeen-year-olds about proper mask usage, something they probably weren't thinking much about in the months prior. I had to help procure PPE. The list went on.

It was mid-spring, 2020. We ALL know what was going on then. The pandemic was hitting hard, and it was a scary and overwhelming time. I was looking for information, a way to keep up on what was happening as a first in 100-year pandemic swept our globe.


Enter Make Me Smart, which had just begun doing daily short episodes to keep up with the news and make sense of what was going on. The previously once-weekly podcast, launched in 2017 and hosted by Kai Ryssdal and Molly Wood, was one of those lifelines that I looked forward to every weekday morning. They didn’t always have the answers, but they were measured, well researched, and, sometimes most importantly, human. Both Kai and Molly had moments of sadness, grief, and anger during the height of the pandemic, and hearing their emotions truly helped me handle mine. Additionally, both found time for moments of levity and even humor (Banana Pants! Hollowed out shell Thursday If you know, you know).

My favorite feature right now is Economics on Tap, something they do on Friday to unwind a little. The hosts have a drink of their choice, and the show is usually lighter. It feels like getting a drink with colleagues or friends at the end of a hard week. The Friday show used to be live-streamed on Youtube but hasn't happened lately. Nevertheless, it was a fun watch, so I hope they bring that back.

Molly did leave the show at the end of November and is now working with the VC firm Launch. However, she is still podcasting, so we can continue to enjoy her perspective.

I enjoy the Make Me Smart newsletter too. It’s delivered Friday morning and provides more insight and feedback from listeners. If you like newsletters, it’s worth checking out too.

Is there a podcast you enjoy? Let me know.