Good week with some wild temperature fluctuations around here. Almost 20C late in the week but we started closer to 6C at the beginning of the week. You may not see a video next Monday as I’m working on the B-Roll for it. We shall see if I finish it tomorrow at the library.

Then next week I should be finishing up my look at Digital Minimalism so that I can start recording the two part set of videos (and posts) that go with the book.

If you’ve found my content helpful then new in 2019 I’ve opened up a Patreon page. You can help ensure that more helpful content keeps coming.

I Shipped

This week the only big thing I put out was a look at my Kingston USB C hub for my iPad Pro. In short, it’s great and helps me make the iPad Pro so useful while only connecting a single cable into the device.

Friday Five

1. Forget Business Cards, Go for Depth

From Stand Out:

Do you have enough people in your professional life who really know you? The bias in most discussions about networking is toward meeting more people, going to more cocktail parties, and trading more business cards. But sometimes depth can be as important, if not more so, than breadth.

I hate networking. Those business card trading meetings suck. I do like walks on the river with someone to get to know them. I do enjoy coffee and a long talk about whatever comes up.

That is where I focus my time. Less people, more depth.

2. The Starving Luminary

From Stand Out:

Unfortunately, for many aspiring thought leaders seeking to make a living from their work, it would be easy to devote all their time to writing free online article, helping others termendously, and building a powerful reputation — all while starving.

Yup, there have been times in the last 12 months where I’m getting emails every day saying how my content has helped and I’ve been wondering how on earth I’m going to pay for groceries. One of the reasons I had to stop so many free “help” meetings was that I couldn’t do that and feed my kids. Now I get the joy of some people getting annoyed I can’t help them for free.

3. We find happiness in…

What Technology Wants:

We don’t find happiness in more gadgets and experiences. So do find happiness in having some control of our time and work, a chance for real leisure, in the escape from the uncertainties of war, poverty, and corruption, and a chance to pursue individual freedoms — all of which come with increased affluence.

It’s interesting to think of how many people spend all their increase in affluence/money on more gadgets and not on purchasing more freedom of their time.

4. Shawn Blanc’s iPad Writing Setup

Yup Shawn uses an iPad most of the time too.

Over the past two years, my usage between Mac and iPad has basically flip-flopped. In early 2017, I bought a 9.7-inch iPad Pro, which I promptly upgraded as soon as the 10.5-inch came out. And last fall, when the new 12.9- and 11-inch iPads Pro were released, I upgraded again.

I love my 12.9” and it’s hard to see how I could go to the smaller 11” day to day for work.

One thing I’ve added recently is a LunaDisplay so that I can run my MacBook Air in clamshell mode and access macOS when I need to. I’ll be writing for The Sweet Setup soon on extending your Mac with an iPad and address headless macOS.

Headless macOS with an iPad Pro and LunaDisplay
Headless macOS with an iPad Pro and LunaDisplay

You can see my current gear setup here.

5. Critique is easy, creating is hard

From Justin:

Creating something, and releasing it to the public, is hard. Producing a quality product takes a long time. Plus, there are years of experience and practice that have to happen beforehand.

Do you know what’s easy?

Critique. Putting someone down. Tearing something apart. It only takes a few keystrokes to say “this sucks.”

Solid reminder when we’re feeling overwhelmed by the negative comments that are coming our way.