Sharepoint sites are another alternative, but they seem impermanent, sometimes disappearing when an admin leans on their keyboard. Then I found the Newsletter feature in Outlook; what a concept!

It’s fascinating to see Microsoft implement Twitter- and Substack/newsletter-like features on an enterprise level, but I can definitely see the benefits for my company.

The next few posts will be about:

1. Speeding up a credit process using Excel, then Snowflake

2. An inspiration, encouragement, or feelings-based post

3. My recent projects, questions, or leading

The newsletter is a way to get my ‘work-only’ thoughts out, processing through writing, and sharing them in the most corporate way possible.

It’s also a way to have fun. 🕺

Ngā mihi,
Nat

One day I may write about these ideas. Maybe they’ll be individual posts that turn into a book, or hopefully something comprehensible. But right now, I need small ideas.

Small ideas are palatable and easy to process. Small ideas are accessible to everyone, and simple to understand. Small ideas can also be a consumable, but even small bites can be rich in flavour if you cook them just right.

Refine the bits that sound good, trim the bits that don’t fit the bill.

Trim your darlings.

Today, I have cleared a path to a decision clearing. Our team has discussed what options we have, and now I need to take a sharp left turn to start hacking away again. Pushing without relent, slicing through ideas, barriers, and the mind.

This is where ‘grit’ is needed. The project can reach a clearing by the end of the day, but only if I put the effort in to reach a clearing right now. I can even see the clearing ahead, but to reaching it I the stamina to keep going. Grit is carrying on; tenacious unrelenting. If I keep going, we’ll be able to rest, assured that someone will pick us up, or maybe they’ll encourage us on our next leg of our journey.

This is grit; the will to carry on. There’s always a clearing ahead.

’Grit and tenacity’ was inspired a Hacker News comment.

I’m stuck because I have things to do—too many things.

But to do, is to express, so I must continue my expression of life, and all things considered.

Expression is just making anything. So, go do it. Creation doesn’t even have to be good. Lots of bad creations are popular. Lots of creations are popular becausethey’re bad. Lots of creations aren’t popular, because they’re so good.

I was listening to Jack White and Rick Rubin on Broken Record, and Jack talked about being young, in the rut where you start assuming that “good things are ignored, and things that aren’t very good are popular.” But reality hit when they went mainstream and Jack thought:

[D]oes this mean we’re not any good? If we’re getting well known, maybe […] what we thought was special is not special?

Popularity is counterintuitive

It has nothing to do with quality or how good you are, but everything to do with expression. Jack and Meg were just making music, enjoying their sound, expressing what the moment meant to them.

The best way to be in the moment, is to express.

You’ll get better because you’re making something, you’ll find an audience because you’re making something, and you’ll make something to be proud of, because you’re making something.

There are many people out there who make videos like mine, or write like I do. Some are ‘successful’, some are not. But none of them could tell you what madetheir success, or how they got where they are. There is no foolproof strategy for success. The only foolproof strategy you have, is to express, create, and make.

Although even if that strategy is fool-proof, it’s not smart-proof. It takes courage to create, and sometimes you need a dose of fool’s courage to give yourself permission to start.

Anyone could look at trains, and yet there he is. Anyone could spittle on a mic, and yet there she is. Anyone could start in real estate, and yet there he is. With enough money, anyone could be anything, and there they all are.

But they didn’t get there because they were good.

Create, make, write, record, design, film, express. It’s all about expressing this moment.

Stop consuming, it muddys the waters.

• Update Library to use keywords instead of roles

• Move old projects to hard drive

• YouTube Christchurch—boring

Vlogging dream setup:

• Smaller laptop (bigger storage, more ram, more power?)

• Hard drive (SSD) for backups only

• Camera or 2nd phone? (unsure how HDR works on cameras)

• RAID NAS, for archiving

• Camera backpack

• Smaller tripod for timelapse

Questions to Josh, and my own responses:

• What does the audience want? Me, whatever me is.

• Do they need to be longer? They could be. I don’t think it would matter too much. People like the Reels more than the videos, so longer videos wouldn’t hurt or do anything. I’ve seen slower, longer videos from many current YouTubers.

Realised I feel I need ‘permission to edit’ my friends. I need my friends to give me permission to edit them, and trust me to edit them well. That’s one area I need to work on together with my friends. It’s not something only I can do.

• Organise Mac dock

• Pick music first? Maybe it’s all about feeling what you’ve shot after? Choose music with feeling.

• Add YT studio app to home page (comment notifications)

• Set scheduled transactions to be ‘pending’, so they’re easier to ‘clear’ or reconcile (should have been doing this for a while)

• Create sections of things to do (now, later, long term)

• Budget

• Start editing video for today?

• Dinner, beans, broccoli, chips

• Some emails

• Send Becky money—equivalent to mic+tripod

• Check out Soundstripe songs—not as good as Splice

• Check out Epidemic Sound—didn’t even try logging in

Buy a black iPhone next time to be less conspicuous when taking video. When you walk into a cafe with a white iPhone, it stands out more than black.

Are parasocial relationships the new normal? Is this why there’s an interest in learning about boundaries, amongst other things.

My aim is to do something with my photos, writing, and videos. I don’t want to have hard drives and clouds full of media that will never see the light of day. Why else does anyone make anything?

• Early morning running video

• GorillaPod

• Publish blog posts from past few days—apart from this one

• Add images to blog posts

• Video of us biking back

• Airplay mirroring Mac—works alright, an actual camera would be better…

• Continuity camera record video, Final Cut—not possible

• Stadium Timelapse—so good!

• Running or 3 part thumbnail for video (ab testing)

• Final Cut and Logic—Audition and Premiere have nothing on Apple. FCPX does enough for audio though.

  • https://www.reddit.com/r/finalcutpro/comments/j2rxc7/fcpx_logic_pro_x_workflow_questions/

  • https://support.apple.com/en-nz/guide/final-cut-pro/ver1a7d02ee5/mac

• Posts

  • 9. Screenshot of table and mockup, just meal?

  • 10. Photo of desk and gear

  • 11. Screenshot of video

  • 12. Timelapse

Not sure if my life is interesting enough for a vlog. Going to a cafe was a bad idea. And I had caffeine not long ago, so this coffee is questionable.

Final Cut for iPad seems okay. I’d worry that I wouldn’t be fast enough, or wouldn’t be able to do some things.

Small screen would be helpful. You can see why people use cameras for vlogging, not just phones, but phones do work. The evidence is in the Jet Lag guys.

Decided I don’t like cafes. I’m happy to meet people there, but sitting at one; no.

Filming my day has shown me how much easier it would be with updated tech. My phone is fine, but my iPad could be improved. I have a general need for a small camera in the future, and same goes with my MacBook. A watch could be helpful for framing, but I don’t want to be wearing it all the time. Also not sure how it would fare tracking a run at the same time.

• Shoe shot

• Audio fading between shots

• Download He Has Done Great Things for running

I need a tripod. Long form video is both easier, and more challenging than short form. More filming, less thinking about what you’re making. Shorts are constant thinking about what you’re making.

If I’ve learnt anything, your videos need to be hilariously simple if you’re going to make one every day.

Running + mic = wind

Don’t run with mic. It’s not worth it.

Crazy that I’ve spent the whole day making a video. I’ve barely done anything else. An absolute blur.

It feels good, and feels confusing. Why would anyone want to do this, other than the feeling that comes with it?

Make a video about getting better sleep?

Smaller laptop. Easier to transport.

Eat better food.

• Do I need captions? No, but they’re easy to add

• Run at 1pm

• Redo voiceover?

• Find out how rode wireless mic works with iPhone

• Check rode wireless new version

• Consider purchasing videomic me+

• Get mic out of storage

• Move to Notes with moving check boxes

• Book Better Man

Don’t have too much footage…

It’s much more fun to send a video out without anyone seeing it. Real life comments on videos aren’t the same.

Almost forgot most of the past two days because of how focused and crazy it’s been. Enjoyable for sure, but also confusing, and surprising in regards to motivation.

I’m really chasing the high of creativity and making/finishing something. I want to make more videos. It’s crazy how this has captured my attention.

I never thought I’d be like this, and yet I couldn’t be more obsessed with making a video.

Making videos requires keeping a large laptop, but investing in storage, power, and iPhones.

I didn’t know I’d been upgrading my camera every year. I thought I had an old camera, but I have one of the newest cameras out. Better audio is required.

I feel more focused on videos than anything. I’m bored by other’s videos. I don’t want to check social media or feeds. They’re interesting, but dominoes and magic tricks are my favourites. I don’t know where this will take me. All I know is that I enjoy it.

Now, what to do tomorrow? There’s potential of a video. There’s a story to be told. There are jobs to be done.

Now I need, a better computer (maybe), more storage on Mac and iPhone, more external storage, an iPad for editing; if I want.

Camera, or Final Cut Camera? It’s good to be quick to capture. That’s probably the only difference.

Can I do a Casey Neistat run? Landscape mode, running shots, 5k run, early morning, over bridge, short to accompany, photo for insta, running and talking?

I need to find time to be away from everything, just reading and writing. I need God. I need a space other than online or making things. I need an off time.

Be offline.

• Run

• Buy dinner groceries (should have ordered)

• Vacuum

• Clear study

• Tidy house

• Do more, offline

Starting to have huge anxiety, or bubbly excitement, about making things and videos. It’s mostly the feeling of trying something new; trying to figure it out, test it, understand it. But I’m not sure what to do with the feeling.

I need a planned space where everything is organised, so it’s easy to live life. Excited to tell stories though. Maybe that’s where it starts.

I need to be offline after I’ve been online. I can’t stand the expanse of the internet, or my phone. I hate it all.

It’s hard to write a video, and also write a blog. You probably just need to choose one. There’s only so much that can come out of one being.

A stressful day of making a video.

Not as simple as Medium, but more open, and with better feeling. I now have an iOS app, and I can strikethrough tasks instead of un-bolding them.

Remember to write, then edit.

• Read God has a name (finish it?), bible, NYer

• Run 10k

• Ask J&LM about dinner

• Dinner:

• Research: Vegetarian/vegan meal prep

• Plan: Weekly Insta post, idea, figure out how to schedule

• Schedule next beauty care (hair, wax)

• Nifty money

• Write about areas of house, wardrobe system (drawers?)

• Publish Savings

• Write about work, and future (and write generally)

• Add other tasks to bottom, from journals

• Emails…

• Plan for retirement

• Check movies and books from journal

• Add books to StoryGraph

• Create a section for these posts on Substack

• Turn on Stripe to enable paid subscriptions?

• Cancel Medium

• Follow publications on Substack

Funny that all I want to do is read, and yet I don’t spend much time doing it. Moving to another platform always helps energise me. What an unfortunate motivator.

Remember this is an experiment.

This editor is better than Medium. Are there other apps that integrate with Substack?

Scheduling is better, everything feels better.

I enjoy simple technology, with limited design.

Substack feels like it’s still taking risks. People care about it. They’re still developing it. Medium feels old; people are trying to use tricks to make it work. It’s like Buttondown with more bells and whistles.

I may eat my words later.

This is a great place for new writers. I didn’t stay at Medium for long, but it never felt right. Ghost and WordPress are lonely, Medium is confusing; we’ll see how Substack is. I’m sure committing longer helps, but design is distracting as well. I’m in the market for simplicity, and a paywall for fear of my writing going public.

I don’t really want to have a Substack. In a way I do, but I can put my domain on it and make it mine. How else will I write from my phone, or write for free?

Even my home page looks better.

Surprisingly easy to write and schedule this at night. Here’s to tomorrow.

(Note for next time: Scheduling date format is month first on Medium.)

• Holiday activities with Becky: Walk, orienteering, bar, reading in park, evening picnic

• Dinner: Picnic, crackers, cheese, egg cup, small sandwich? (spinach, cheese, tomato, cut in triangles)—no sandwich, egg cups were good

• Run 10k or 5k—tomorrow, today needs to be a rest day.

• Read, God has a name, and GoodLinks articles

• Consider Pinboard for links—better to write about them than just link them on Pinboard

• Public Obsidian, alternative to Medium?—this is an experiment. Focus on the experiment first.

• Plan over two days, one day may not be enough to get things done?—One day is definitely enough. There’s almost too much time in the day.

• Daily (bible, run 10k, read a book?)

Considering Ghost or even Substack (ew) for easier editing and CMS. They may even have ‘strikethrough’ text (better than bold). But I have to remember, this is an experiment. It’s not meant to be perfect. My assumption is that I’ll have a better chance publishing different content on Medium than I’ll have with Ghost and SEO.

I don’t imagine Medium will go places in the near, or far future. It may end up like YouTube, with algorithm changes and revenue loss. For now, it feels filled with clickbait, and stories about the platform itself, and blogging; maybe that’s just what I’m following. I have to change too.

I need to plan for my life, so I can enrich other’s (like Becky’s).

When I ran my first half marathon yesterday, I thought about running ‘home’ to Auckland, and filming it much like Hardest Geezer, but not the length of Africa. It’s less, but it would be a good series. Maybe one day.

What would I do if I had no one to be accountable for? Read, to find other accountability.

This is a way to write through your tasks so they’re easier to do. It’s a standard productivity tip, included in GTD and many other ways of doing tasks. The secret, is that you’ve already thought through how something will be done, now you only have to do it.

I’m interested in researching whether other people do this. I doubt anyone does this on Medium of all places.

• Research publishing your to do list or tasks on your blog, again—no one talks about this. Maybe no one does it?

• Run

• Money: Christmas, schedule, correction

• Call GD

• Publish today tasks, with a title

• Read, God has a name

• Bible plan (bible.com best), year plan—The Bible in One Year is what I want, the 30 Day Shred is also something I’m interested in.

• Album tracker—Musicboard doesn’t work best. Last.fm is older, but somehow works better. I’d like to track that I’ve played an album. AOTY doesn’t allow that. Manually scrobbling to Last.fm works fine.

• Airplay scrobbling Last.fm, Homepod—some apps work, Open Scrobbler, QuietScrob, and Scrobbles for Last.fmare best

• Buy groceries for dinner: Tofu burgers (halved and breaded), spinach (cabbage), GF burger buns (long, or sourdough loaf)

• Italicise Medium on previous post

• Return books to library, get new ones out

• Note what NYer articles to read from the past few weeks—feel like I need to read them all

• Mark NYer articles unread—added to GoodLinks

• Use Feedbin starred feed instead of Pinboard

• Remove other starred links from Feedbin

• Remove movies from favourites on Trakt; it’s only for TV shows

• Watch Juror #2—didn’t finish it. May finish it one day.

I’m having issues creating publications—like Notes to Self and Today—that already have a name. The error also doesn’t show up on Safari.

Why is it so hard for writers to not write about writing? I guess it’s the only thing on their mind?

Very indie images. I’d like to publish albums as well, like I used to do on Exposure. What a full circle.

Medium is Instagram, with more writing. There isn’t a better alternative. Not even a blog can do this.

Publish something closer to my most read stories (Tom Sachs, SNL, Colin Jost).

Ignore the stats.

To succeed, the cost needs to be offset, or gifted.

You can’t use readership to become a member without first paying for it first. It’s an investment, but a small price to pay for an attempt.

This is a fun goal. The Medium algorithm and audience are seen as fun challenges. A blog is also fun, but it requires a lot of buy-in and set up. Medium is simple, with a huge audience included.

How do I know that I’m writing well? I know I won’t be great to start off with. I know what good writing is, and I know I don’t possess that innately. ‘Just writing’ is the first step to writing.

Improvement comes through; ‘just writing’, understanding the audience and algorithm, along with reading and responding to others. However, I intend to be different from your standard writer, for I have an unfair advantage.

I am real. I don’t write about Medium, blogging, tech, or politics. I write about my life, my real life. I don’t sound the alarmist bells of engagement-bait. I write for readers, not other writers and bloggers.

Step 1: Just write, don’t use backspace.

Step 2: Edit, (maybe ‘just write’ some more).

Step 3: Publish

Medium is the YouTube of writing. Substack is the Vimeo or Twitch. The New Yorker and other publications are Cable. Ghost is Vimeo OTT, with a through line to sites like Platformer, as Nebula. And Twitter/X and others are Shorts, Tik Tok, and Reels.

Books are films.

WordPress is notably absent from this lineup. You could say WordPress is what Google Video used to be.

Updated: 2025

• Mail Client: Mail

• Mail Server: iCloud

• Notes: Things 3

• To-Do: Things 3

• Photo Shooting: Camera1, Blackmagic Camera2

• Photo Management: Photos, Photomator

• Calendar: Calendar

• Cloud File Storage: iCloud, Backblaze

• RSS: Not so much these days, Feedly if needed

• Contacts: Contacts

• Browser: Safari

• Read It Later: GoodLinks3

• Shopping Lists: Reminders

• Music: Music

• Podcasts: Podcasts

• Password Management: Passwords

• Chat: iMessage (Messenger, Telegram, Discord because that’s where the people are)

• Bookmarks: Safari

• Word Processing: iA Writer

• Spreadsheets: Numbers

• Presentations: Keynote

• Meal Planning: Mela

• Budgeting and Personal Finance: Credit & Debit and Numbers

• News: The New Yorker

• Code Editor: BBEdit

Other

• Ad blocker: Wipr

• Backup: Time Machine & Backblaze

• Video downloader: Downie

• Clipboard: Pastebot

• Video player: Infuse, Play

• Maps: Maps, InRoute

• Torrents: Transmission with Catch and showRSS

• Social: Phonenix?

via Manu & Carl; similar to Derek’s Uses

Previous:

• Mail Client: Mimestream, Spark

• Mail Server: FastMail, Google

• Notes: Notes or paper

• To-Do: Reminders or paper, Todoist, Asana

• Photo Shooting: Moment Pro, Filmic Pro

• Photo Management: Lightroom (CC & Classic), Photo Mechanic

• Calendar: N/A

• Cloud File Storage: Dropbox RSS: Feedbin, Reeder (and Classic), FeedMail, NetNewsWire)

• Contacts: Contacts

• Browser: Rockmelt

• Read It Later: Reeder, Pinboard.in, Instapaper

• Shopping Lists: N/A

• Music: Doppler, Shokz, Mighty, Spotify, Pandora, iTunes

• Podcasts: Overcast

• Password Management: 1Password

• Chat: N/A

• Bookmarks: Del.icio.us, Favs

• Word Processing: Pages

• Presentations: iA Presenter

• Meal Planning: Paprika

• Budgeting and Personal Finance: Finances 2

• News: The Spinoff Bulletin, The Press

• Code Editor: TextEdit

Other:

• Ad blocker: 1Blocker

• Backup: Dropbox

• Video downloader: N/A

• Clipboard: CopyClip

• Video player: IINA, VLC

• Maps: Google Maps, Waze

• Social: Ivory, Tweetbot, Echofon, Feedient