Hi Reader, My next edit is late. Not dramatically late. Not crisis late. But late enough that I noticed, felt the familiar tightening, and started doing what I always do: blaming my planning. “I should have estimated better.” “I should have blocked more time.” “I should have known.” Then I caught myself. Because the problem isn’t my planning. The problem is that I’m trying to estimate something that can’t be estimated. Frying vs. Catching Some work is frying a fish. You know the steps. You...
6 days ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader,[PRODUCTIVITY_TYPE GOES HERE]She kept saying “I’ll restart Monday.” Then Monday came. She wasn’t ready. “Next Monday. Fresh start.” That Monday came too. And passed. By week three, the gap was so big it felt insurmountable. The inbox was full. The commitments were backlogged. The idea of catching up made her want to crawl under her desk. So she kept waiting. For the perfect Monday. For full energy. For the feeling that she could do it. It never came. The Trap Nobody Talks About...
13 days ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader, It’s Valentine’s Day. So let’s talk about the relationship you keep neglecting. Not your partner. Not your kids. Not your friends. The relationship between your productivity and the rest of your life. The Three-Legged Stool Most productivity advice measures one thing: output. Tasks completed. Projects shipped. Goals hit. But output without energy leads to burnout. Output without relationships leads to isolation. Output without opportunity leads to stagnation. I call this Living...
20 days ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader,Last week I told you about David. Twenty years of discipline. Calendar blocked. Routines honored. His daughter moved 3,000 miles away anyway. David’s system didn’t fail. It succeeded at the wrong thing. Here’s what I didn’t say last week: David’s problem isn’t rare. It’s the default. The Pattern I Keep Seeing Most systems are designed for your best day. Full energy. No interruptions. Perfect conditions. Then life shows up. The system was built for ceiling performance. But you live...
28 days ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader,David’s system worked perfectly. Calendar blocked. Routines honored. Twenty years of discipline. His daughter moved 3,000 miles away anyway. The System That Worked David did everything the productivity books told him to. Morning routine: 5 AM, journaling, gym, inbox zero by 8. Weekly review every Sunday. Quarterly goals posted on the fridge. His boss loved him. Projects came in early. His calendar was immaculate. But his daughter Emma stopped inviting him to things. His wife started...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader,I caught a nasty bug this week. Not the kind I could debug.🐜 The flu hit hard. I spent most of the week in minimum day mode—doing only what absolutely had to happen and letting everything else slide. Here’s what I learned: my system held. What Minimum Days Look Like I completed 60% of my planned intake calls for the Lab. The other 40% got notified & with their permission, we rescheduled. I didn’t fill the Lab. But I sent every invitation to the lab I planned to send and was in touch...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Hi Reader,Monday, a few people start a program I’ve spent two years designing. I’m terrified it might actually work. What I Learned Building It The hardest part wasn’t creating content. It was cutting it. I crafted 47 modules (yeah, I know…). I cut it to 12. I wrote a 200-page workbook. I cut it to 40 pages. I perfected “optional deep dives” that were actually “required reading I was too insecure to call required.” I cut those too. Simplification is harder than addition (much harder for an...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Hi Reader,My book “Restart Time” has a new appendix (#11!). It covers monthly, quarterly, and yearly planning—the maintenance cycles that keep a system running after you build it. Here’s how it came about. The Borrowed Systems For years, I used other people’s approaches to yearly and quarterly planning. Annual reviews. 12-week years. OKRs. Vision boards. Quarterly themes. They all work. I’m not knocking them. But they were never a perfect fit for what I was building: a system designed around...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader, Wishing you a New Year full of health that holds, love that grows, and prosperity that supports what matters most. I spent the break doing what I do best: building. The Pattern-First Productivity Lab is now live. Sales page up. Checkout working. Cohort 1 starts January 19th. It was more work than I imagined. Which brings me to something I’m still learning about myself. My Productivity Profile I talk a lot about types in this newsletter. But type is only half of your productivity...
2 months ago • 2 min read
Hi , I have a stack of journals at the very bottom of my bookshelf. Pristine spines. Empty pages. Designed by productivity gurus who promised transformation. Besides these I also have a graveyard of deleted apps on my iPhone 16 Pro Max. Todoist. Things 3. OmniFocus. Notion. Each one installed with hope. Each one removed with quiet shame. And yet—my system works now. It’s worked for about two years now. What changed? Mini InsightJanuary 1st is for Keepers. Predictable energy....
2 months ago • 2 min read