INDEX · 02 Relic Self-imposed constraint: Use only the letters of the word inside a 2-inch square to illustrate its meaning Hongdian Black Forest fountain pen, EF, black ink on 120 gsm paper

2024 2025 Last year I made it to day 20 before giving up. I was proud of myself for getting that far. Let’s see what this year brings! I’m contemplating using the one-continuous-line method for some or all of them. OFFICIAL 2026 PROMPT LIST 01 APPLE 02 RELIC 03 MINIATURE 04 CACTUS 05 SMACK 06 OGRE 07 PANIC 08 STINKY...

Knowing what you really value, what you really want, is the foundation on which your success is built It’s springtime here in Australia. The last quarter of the year is about to begin. I’m planning our new handmade family calendar, designing an A6 version for the front of my Hobonichi graph notebook, printing next...

Thoughts on notes, tasks, and life Today a registered letter arrived at my place. It was a conspicuously passport-sized envelope, addressed to my baby grandson. I signed for it, and immediately sent a photo of the envelope with his mother to announce its anticipated arrival. Hooray! she exclaimed. Open it, and show...

Setapp is incredible value, but the alternatives are pretty good, too My Setapp subscription ran out last week; I am officially a former Setapp subscriber. After 6 years of happily paying one fee for access to more than 200 apps, it’s time for a break. Not because I’m unhappy with the value (what you get is insanely...

How two iPhone apps help me harness the difference You are here, your deadline is there. It’s time to cross the space between those two points. How do you visualise that intervening time — as counting down, or counting up? As something that is running out, or something that is being filled? I’d never considered...

You really, really don’t need a new app for this I’ve been tracking my loose-to-no-deadline tasks in a Forster list for over a month now. This list lives in an A6 squared notebook that goes with me (almost) everywhere. It’s been a wonderful experience, giving me a great balance between structure and freedom during...

Stop reading now if you aren’t interested in a nuanced take on both of them Photo and text by the author I’m not usually into the would you rather game, but this one on Mastodon caught my attention. We were asked to choose which we preferred: an AI generated poster, or a poster made by hand but set in Comic Sans....

With 7 principles for keeping your app-data safe I love the idea of embracing the tendency to switch tools as a feature, rather than something to be avoided. Maxim said — I’ve tried keeping tasks directly in Obsidian, using Todoist heavily, classic GTD (as much as that’s actually possible), and the PARA method....

How two people selling something taught me about generosity and productivity Photo of hands by Mikhail Nilov, photo of background lights by Ave Calvar Martinez — images altered and combined by me I’ve just read two truly useful articles, pointing to products I have no intention of using. I’m nodding my head at the...

Forster lists, social etiquette and the root of all text Image of crying tree touching the hills taken by me My friends, you might have noticed I did not post anything last week. It’s been a rough and rocky time. The miracle we were praying for did not come to pass (again), but miracles have surrounded us...

Record tasks in chronological order, do them when you’re truly ready Another week to match the last one: full of caring for little people, my grandbabies. Oh, the noise and delights and the detritus of young family life! My screen time is way down, in the nicest of ways. The Obsidian queries that run my plugin-free...