This week we saw crazy rain followed by very sunny warm days that were beautiful. The kids got some new playground equipment at school, and I’m writing this a day early because it’s a 1/2 day of school and Friday off for the kids. Actually they don’t have a full week of school in October at all.

Three-quarters of all startups fail, and entrepreneurship is about making decisions. Nothing impairs the quality of your decisions faster than running on empty. – Arianna Huffington in Tribe of Mentors

Right now I’m talking to the email list about how I schedule my days and keep energy going so that I can make decisions. If you want to get these extras subscribe.

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I Shipped

Monday I took a look at what I want to be my favourite iPad case, the TouchType Pro. Unfortunately V1 has some manufacturing bugs that make it so that I can’t recommend the case without a big, hold on for V2.

I also published the first book review in a while this week, Company of One by Paul Jarvis. For those that look forward to the book reviews, I’ve already got one for next week that only needs editing and book notes done for the one after that. The next book I’m reading is Stillness is the Key.

Friday Five

1 Playing Hooky From Commitments for Productivity

This piece from Derek Sivers goes well with the one I just published from Justin Jackson, but back to Sivers:

Some of my best, most productive, and enjoyable days have been while playing hooky.

Not only is it okay to book “out of office” days to get work done like Jackson says, it’s totally fine to just head out and do whatever you want ignoring work, or working on that thing that you’re excited about today.

2 It’s a Good Thing That Everything Isn’t Easy

From the upcoming book by Neil Pasricha called You Are Awesome.

…the thing so often missing from the conversation around ambitions exceeding abilities is the fact that it’s a good thing. That’s what you want! Can you imagine if everything you did was easy? Page 136

Sure it may sound good on the surface to have everything come easily, but it’s pretty boring. Part of the thing I enjoy, and hate, about running my own business is the struggle to get something to stick.

PS: Yes I was given an advanced readers copy of this book.

3 Abandon Your Email Address

Love this idea of abandoning your old email, but I do wonder how practical it is for business people? Sure if you don’t need money, then ignore everything that comes in.

Then never give this new private email to anyone except dear friends and family.

Let your old Gmail collect the junk. The people you really care about will use the new one, so you won’t need to check the old one much anymore.

4 Porcelain Dolls on the Sidewalk Crying

From You Are Awesome, which I finished this morning.

Not many of us have been through famines or wars or, lets be honest, any form of true scarcity. We have it all. And the side effect is that we no longer have the tools to handle failure or even perceived failure. These days when we fall we just lie on the sidewalk crying. We are turning into an army of porcelain dolls. Page XVIII

And yet, with that truth above, so many want to head out and do their own thing on YouTube or Instagram or…but the attitude above isn’t one that will let you be successful. There is going to be far more rejection in building your own path than trying to follow some job through.

5 Lock-in Has Made Us Complacent in Our Purchases

From Chris Wiegman as he talks about leaving “big tech” ecosystems.

My last personal Mac was a 2016 15″ MBP with touchbar and all the other bells and whistles and it was a piece of junk for the bargain price of around $3,000. Lock-in, in my opinion, has made us complacent where we will still buy these machines simply because we think they’re the only things we can work with.

He goes on to document his reasons why he wanted to break away from the big tech companies, some of which I agree with and some I don’t. While I don’t love the lock-in from Apple, I do love the iPad Pro and use it for almost everything I do.

I’d love it if he gave us a more detailed look at what he’s using instead of Google or Apple stuff. I know he’s on a Linux laptop from System76, but what other services were replaced?