On this episode of Focused, Mike and I review Q3 and talk through our plans for the rest of the year. We look at keeping a menu of opportunities without turning every interesting idea into a commitment, and setting quarterly milestones for projects that won’t fit into twelve weeks.

We also compare notes on what we’re choosing to leave undone. There’s an overhead audit, a little forgiveness for plans that changed, and a new creative challenge for each of us.

Episode Links

• Video version of this episode
• The FOCUSED Calendar | NeuYear.net
• MacSparky Labs
• The 12 Week Year by Brian Moran and Michael Lennington
• Intentional AI podcast
• The Meaning of Your Life by Arthur Brooks
• Doing This Every 90 Days Completely Changed My Life | YouTube
• Personal Retreat Handbook 2.0
• 3 Questions That Will Change Your Life | Practical PKM
• Robot Assistant Field Guide | MacSparky
• VidSummit 2027
• The Library Community | Practical PKM
• I Built the Quick Capture Tool Obsidian Was Missing | YouTube
• Productivity Field Guide | MacSparky
• Focused #260: Quarterly Planning and Riding Roller Coasters
• Grit by Angela Duckworth
• Situated by Angela Duckworth
• Grit: The power of passion and perseverance | TED Talk
• How to Be Good at Life by Ben Meer

This episode of Focused is sponsored by:

• Squarespace: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code FOCUSED.

The post Focused 267: A Menu of Opportunity appeared first on MacSparky.

On this episode of Focused, Mike and I work through practical questions about capacity, chronotypes, delegation, accountability, and what to do when a careful plan collapses. We also talk about task overload and the difference between getting human help and handing work to a robot.

In Deep Focus, we look at systems for bad days and why my automated daily note lost to the paper cards sitting on my desk.

This episode of Focused is sponsored by:

• Gusto: Payroll, HR, Benefits. Simplified. Get 3 months free.
• Keeper: Get 60% off personal and family plans.
• Daylite: The only made-for-mac CRM solution. Start your free trial today.
• Squarespace: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code FOCUSED.

The post Focused 264: The Accountability Shaped Hole appeared first on MacSparky.

On this episode of Focused, Mike and I are joined by Cat Mulvihill to look at a frustrating productivity problem: having a good system and still not doing the work. Cat separates the reasons we get stuck into three categories, logical, biological, and psychological, because each one needs a different answer.

We talk about external accountability, ADHD and task initiation, perfectionism, and the tendency to keep rebuilding the system when the system isn’t the problem. Cat also explains Immunity to Change, a framework for finding the hidden fears and assumptions that can keep one foot on the brake.

Then we get into shiny new objects and what we’re reading. Cat’s Bluetooth home phone may be the best solution I’ve heard for keeping a cell phone out of the bedroom without missing an important family call.

This episode of Focused is sponsored by:

• Keeper: Get 60% off personal and family plans.

The post Focused 263: Removing the Roadblocks, with Cat Mulvihill appeared first on MacSparky.

Don’t fly to Turkey just yet. Our WIRED testers saw visible hair regrowth with these red-light therapy devices.

Don’t fly to Turkey just yet. Our WIRED testers saw visible hair regrowth with these red-light therapy devices.