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 hour 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...
7 days 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...
14 days 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...
21 days 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...
28 days 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....
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader, The book has a new name. Pattern-First Productivity is now Restart Time. Why? Because that's the metric that matters most—how long it takes you to get back on track after life knocks you off. Not "how productive were you at peak performance." Not "how many hours did you work this week." How fast can you restart? That's the design spec. That's what we're optimizing for. Mini Insight AI will get better, faster, more persuasive. That doesn't make this book obsolete—it raises the...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Hi Reader,How does one deal with variable level of energy? Simple (not necessarily easy): one plans for it. The same way one plans for different traffic velocities: by building velocity-aligned lanes. Mini InsightGood flow deserves a clear path. Your Fast Lane is a short list you follow when energy is good. Less hunting. More doing. Try-This-Now (≤5 minutes) Open the place you look first (notes, calendar, whiteboard, or paper). Make a page called “Fast Lane — This Week” and add three lines:...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader,A quick note about last week (plain talk) I didn’t send a newsletter last Saturday. It sat between U.S. Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday. Inboxes were full I thought. Also, something felt off in my own system. I paused, fixed a few pieces, and found three simple ideas that helped: seasons, focus minutes, and work blocks. I’m sharing them with you today. I also restarted my yoga practice (as a practitioner) ,but that's another story and I don't need to talk about the...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader, Mini Insight: “Energy is the real budget.” When your day lives in ten places, your brain spends half its power just tracking what’s next. A simple 3-line strip can calm your system and give you one clear “at a glance” view. Why it mattersWhen your day feels simpler on the page, it feels kinder in your body—and it’s easier to come back tomorrow. Try-This-Now (≤3 minutes) On paper or in your notes app, write three lines: “Needle-mover:” ________ “Promise I must keep:” ________...
2 months ago • 1 min read