I remember just a few years ago when some of my favourite writers surpassed the 10, 20 and even 30-year mark in their writing careers. To do something consistently for 30 years — to show up day in and day out for decades on end — that’s something special.
I’m no poster child for consistency. The Newsprint’s archive is sparse. I haven’t shown up each day.
Or, at least, I haven’t shown up here. I’ve been elsewhere. I’ve been being a father. I’ve been being a professional, a local volunteer, and a local athlete. I’ve been a regular church attender, something I was never before. I’ve been on the Peloton, lifting weights, reading my Bible, hanging out with my wife, and excitedly introducing my little girls to the fun parts of life. I’ve been studying.
I’ve been busy, like everyone else. Honestly, I don’t miss writing at all.
What I have missed, however, is a strong creative muscle. The muscle that sees something in real life and has a creative way of flipping it on its head. My brain right now is like a human body with strong arms but a weak core — the analytical muscle is strong, but the creative muscle is weak.
The Sunday Edition debuted over 10 years ago on this website. Crazy. The original Sunday Edition scraped together some interesting links from the week that was, and it included some minor commentary on a few of the links I found most interesting. The Sunday Edition easily became my most-read piece each week — for this little blog, 1,000 readers each Sunday was quite the exhilarating rush. I envisioned turning The Sunday Edition into a small business at one time.
Those 1,000 readers are mostly gone now, as is my drive to please everyone. You can like what you read. You can disagree with it. You can even flat out dislike it.
All I ask for is the common understanding of how hard it is to show up every week, to put yourself out there every week, to — as my dear friend Marius put it recently — be that vulnerable with an audience each week.
That’s what The Sunday Edition aims to be going forward.
This is my 2025 New Year's Resolution. My mental fitness. My 5:30AM psychological Peloton ride.
No promises. No guarantees. Just an exertion of creative energy.
Superhuman is My 2024 App of the Year
No app has done more for me in 2024 than Superhuman. This is odd, given I bounced off the app the first time. This second go through, though, has unlocked more time, increased response speed, and has me leaning more into email than ever before.
Superhuman’s keyboard shortcuts are the king of keyboard shortcuts. There is a single key-press for just about every action in the app. Archiving email is as simple as pressing “E” on your keyboard. Reply with “Return”. Move with “V”. It’s so ridiculously fast and easy to use.
It’s so good at getting through your email quickly that you might feel you don’t need to pay the money for the app once you have your endless email list cleaned up. Email, in many ways, feels too easy with Superhuman.
On the negatory, Superhuman has two core issues with it:
- It’s expensive as hell. — Indeed, it is. I can look myself in the mirror and know I’m saving $40 CAD per month in billable time. But for someone who may not be able to deduct the cost of their email app, I understand all apprehension. It’s spendy.
- It sucks on the iPad. — The iPad is a particularly good device for email, but Superhuman flat out sucks on the big touch screen. The navigation is extra poor. I never know when to swipe up or to the side to get back to where I was before. The rest of the app on Mac and iPhone make up for this, but it flat out sucks on the iPad.
I’m not here recommending you subscribe to Superhuman instantly. I am, however, recommending you use the referral link above to check out the app for a month. You may find yourself saving time and feeling less anxious about checking your email a few times a day.
Superhuman, for me, has been game-changing in 2024.
AirPods Max: 4 Years Later
I mentioned my pal Marius earlier, and his wisdom spans far beyond blogging. I’d venture to say his core competitive advantage is his knowledge of sound — the gentleman has more sets of headphones than I can count, and finds ways to discern an audio figment like I do decimals in a tax return.
So when you get a chance to read the complex thoughts of an audiophile on Apple’s most controversial audio product, you can’t miss it. I’d recommend dumping the link into an AI bot somewhere and listening to the article as though it were a podcast. Sometimes I feel this is how Marius intended for his writing to be digested.
Just make sure you pick your favourite set of headphones.
The Art and Science of Spending Monday
Morgan Housel, writing at perhaps my favourite blog right now, Collab Fund:
If you develop an early system of savings and living well below your means – congratulations, you’ve won. But if you can never break away from that system, and insist on a heavy savings regimen well into your retirement years … what is that? Is it still winning? A lot of financial planners I’ve talked to say one of their biggest challenges is getting clients to spend money in retirement. Even an appropriate, conservative amount of money. Frugality and savings become such a big part of some people’s identity that they can’t ever switch gears.
There are two types of final tax returns out there: Those who could never bring themselves to part with their wealth, and those who parted with their wealth much too soon.
The Second Cup
Here are a few more links to get you through that second cup of coffee this Sunday morning.
- Touring the $250,000,000 Highest Penthouse IN THE WORLD — (Ryan Serhant)
– It didn’t actually sell for $250,000,000, just so you know. - Unboxing the Mac Studio — (Grovemade)
– Old article, but I love Grovemade’s photographic style. - Notion Calendar — (Notion)
– My runner-up for 2024’s app of the year. - An awesome Mac setup — (Workspaces.xyz on Threads)
– Not sure whether it’s the photographic angle, the light, or the gear, but what a great shot. - Simeon praises God for meeting Baby Jesus — (Luke 2:29-32)
– Isn’t it interesting that a man had been told through revelation that little baby Jesus would be a light unto the Gentiles, yet Jesus was crucified because (among other reasons) He was a light for the Gentiles? How did Simeon know when the powerful Pharisees did not? I think the Pharisees did know, which makes it all that much worse.
Happy New Year to you all. I hope you have a wonderful week ahead.