Annual Review series, part 2. Last week we discussed how to structure goals. Today, we discuss how to select your goals in the first place. It starts with deep self-knowledge. Truly understanding the things about you, what motivates you, what excites you, what makes you tick, and also what you dislike and despise. Not the things that everyone will nod their head at, but the things particular to you. When you write down what you really are like, it suddenly becomes clear which things are importan...
Jan 16, 2018•49 min•Ep. 128
Annual Review series, part 1. Sometimes you stumble upon a project that excites and engages you so much, it gives you what feels like superhuman power. We discuss how to foster the right environment for such projects to appear in your life. We also explore the subject of focus. We're much better at doing hard things sequentially than all at once. Well… most things. Some — keystone habits — only work if you do them with high consistency. And so we present a new template for planning goals for the...
Jan 11, 2018•47 min•Ep. 127
How to become less addicted to notifications and badges. The thing is: they're designed to make us react. Every time we see there's a new message, we check it out. And thus it becomes a compulsive behavior we cannot stop (we're just humans after all). We can reduce our exposure to the trigger (have less notifications), but how do we fix the root cause?
Jan 04, 2018•41 min•Ep. 126
Learn a new language in the New Year! Following up on the previous two episodes on learning languages, we share more tips on how to learn efficiently, as well as our own progress (Radek learning Spanish, and Michael learning French)
Dec 19, 2017•50 min•Ep. 125
Cool gadgets you can get for Christmas. Also: Review of 2017 in hardware, and why Radek doesn't wear an Apple Watch anymore.
Dec 12, 2017•41 min•Ep. 124
Just follow your passion, right? … No. Unless you’re already highly skilled at something you’re passionate about, following your passion will only drive you to be miserable. To get a great job you can feel passionate about, you must first have something rare and valuable to give. You must be so good they can’t ignore you. A much better idea: Follow your curiosity.
Dec 05, 2017•41 min•Ep. 123
Optimizing your day for Deep Work. Or, what to do to make highly productive, deeply focused work possible (and likely).
Nov 29, 2017•39 min•Ep. 122
More mobile life & iOS automation talk: 1. Using Scanbot (and not Evernote) for document safekeeping 2. Optimizing Magic Spreadsheet for iPhone, tracking time spent, micro-journaling
Nov 22, 2017•52 min•Ep. 121
Part 2 of our discussion on: - How to develop a better accent in a foreign language - Michael’s story of learning Spanish - Duolingo and computer-aided language learning
Nov 15, 2017•55 min•Ep. 120
The story of how Michael and Radek learned English, German, and other languages. Michael's way was to watch lots of movies and sing lots of songs. Meanwhile, Radek plugs in historical spaced repetition learning data from his very first magic spreadsheet (again!).
Nov 09, 2017•49 min•Ep. 119
After a few months of heavy iPad use, Radek admits: despite its (obvious) flaws and limitations, iPad Pro is a surprisingly good computer. There's still ways to go, but with some determination and a shift in mindset, there are very few things you can't do on an iPad.
Nov 03, 2017•46 min•Ep. 118
Discussing the good, the bad, and the ugly of the iPhone X. Also: Wireless charging everywhere, ARM on the Mac, iPhone multitasking.
Oct 25, 2017•47 min•Ep. 117
Like every half a year, we reunite in one physical location, this time: Wrocław. We talk about learning languages, beers, Taiwan, and the low-carb diet.
Oct 18, 2017•45 min•Ep. 116
Michael celebrates his tenth triathlon, explains how he got into it and tries to persuade Radek to compete as well.
Oct 14, 2017•37 min•Ep. 115
About Radek's trip to Panama, along with a bunch of traveling pro tips. The art of packing – how to pack for 13 days in a regular backpack. Modern materials and packing for a wide range of temperatures. Avoiding jetlag.
Oct 04, 2017•54 min•Ep. 114
If you're a doctor or a lawyer, you have an ethical obligation to do the right thing for your patient or client. Why aren't software developers held to the same standard?
Sep 26, 2017•35 min•Ep. 113
Today, we discuss the book Essentialism by Greg McKeown. The goal: designing a simpler, more focused life. Doing less, but better. Cutting down on what's "good", but not good enough.
Sep 18, 2017•42 min•Ep. 112
Michael explains how he uses Evernote. This was going to be a boring episode about note taking. Turns out, this is a powerful system that completely removes the need for storing paper. All of the 13,000 notes, documents, receipts, health records, are accessible and searchable anywhere. Whoa.
Sep 12, 2017•45 min•Ep. 111
Today, we discuss Non-Violent Communication by Marshall Rosenberg: Resolving conflicts with other people, taking responsibility for your own life, finding empathy for yourself. PS. Apologies for being not one, but two weeks late!
Sep 07, 2017•44 min•Ep. 110
Taking iOS automation up to eleven. Featuring: making Magic Spreadsheet work on iPhone using Workflow, smart checklists in Nozbe, journaling Workflows, Automator on the Mac, URL schemes, and finally… how Radek made an iPhone day planning app by stringing together two different apps with Workflow.
Aug 16, 2017•49 min•Ep. 109
Michael teaches Radek how to be more productive on an iPad. Featuring: using Evernote (or Notes) as a temporary files storage, solving drag&drop issues with web apps, limitations of Dropbox, and putting it all together to make complex workflows easy.
Aug 08, 2017•35 min•Ep. 108
Habits, systems, and reminders are crucial, but it is possible to go too far and end up hoarding them. Every now and then, it's worth questioning which are really essential, and which no longer serve a purpose; what can be removed, simplified, automated, or delegated.
Aug 01, 2017•46 min•Ep. 107
Part 2 of our discussion on reducing the cognitive load of notifications, and loosening the grip of social media addiction. We've made some changes and simplifications since the last episode and we have some pro tips to share!
Jul 27, 2017•52 min•Ep. 106
Discussion on distractions and addiction, and how that relates to software we use. We forgot how to be bored for even 30 seconds, and we fill even the smallest slices of our time by responding to notifications and with social media. Just so we can have our hit of dopamine.
Jul 19, 2017•39 min•Ep. 105
Part 2 of our discussion of Stoicism and the book "A Guide to the Good Life". Be sure to check out Part 1 first.
Jul 12, 2017•49 min•Ep. 104
We discuss "A Guide to the Good Life", a modern, approachable introduction to Stoicism. A philosophy of life easy to dismiss as a boring piece of history not applicable to modern life, but in reality, a tremendously useful bag of psychological tricks that help you live a happier, calmer life.
Jul 02, 2017•41 min•Ep. 103
Michael tries to sell Radek on the idea of using an iPad as your main (or only) computer. Radek remains skeptical, but buys the new iPad Pro anyway.
Jun 26, 2017•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 102
Radek and Michael comment on Apple's announcements on Worldwide Developers Conference this year. (This is our take on what's significant, and what's missing — we assume you already know the news)
Jun 20, 2017•52 min•Ep. 101
This week, we're celebrating our one hundredth episode of The Podcast. Sharing the story of how this show came to be, how it evolved with us over time, and where its future lies.
Jun 13, 2017•43 min•Ep. 100
Our thoughts and wishes for Apple's WWDC (Worldwide Developers Conference) next week.
May 29, 2017•41 min•Ep. 99
