Year: 2013

Mi friend and co-author of the book #iPadOnly, Michael Sliwinski always said that with the iPad the keyboard is optional.
Most people get their iPad and immediately get a Keyboard. I did it when I got mine on 2010 and have use it for every time I need to write for two hours or more. The reality is that for anything else I don’t need the keyboard for anything else and I am even able to work without the keyboard for writing, it is just that there is something nice when I am spending a long time siting writing to be able to use the full screen.
People it is obsessed with trying to make their iPad a laptop and get frustrated when they discover it is not. Those things that many called weakness of the iPad are in many cases exactly the strengths they have. The lack of keyboard it is one of those.
When I am going to write or respond email, analyzing data, working on spreadsheets, making presentations, mind maps and much more things, I really don’t need the keyboard for anything, and because of that I can work on many places that a laptop will be the wrong tool for the job.
The reality is that we use the keyboard and the mouse constantly because those where the best tools available on a PC. Most likely you have seen that famous keynote where Steve Jobs announce the iPhone. At that time most SmartPhones had a small keyboard, when he announced that his iPhone was not going to have any, people was sure he was going to fail. Well I think time has shown us that he was not necessarily wrong.
The iPad has exactly the same power to change the keyboard and mouse paradigm and we are seeing how more and more people it is using tablets and more specifically iPads to do their job.
In 2011 when I mention that my iPad was my main machine and that I was #iPadOnly people tough it was impossible. Two years later, many people is trying to accomplish the same, but they are not yet ready to abandon their old believes and because of that, they simply find frustration and try to do a familiar set up.
I have joke that if Apple release a mouse to the iPad, many people will get it as a compliment to their iPad keyboard. The reality is that the keyboard is optional, for most part you don’t need it, and if you spend enough time practicing and paying attention you most likely will use it on exceptional occasions, unless you write for two or more hours straight almost everyday.

Everything is about perspectives. I can work #iPadOnly because I took the time to check my own workflows and give me some perspective on what and where I am trying to accomplish and doing. My daughter eats vegetables because for her it is a normal food (and from the perspective of the parents she has consequences if she doesn’t.) In the past I was a frequent flyer (more than 200,000 miles on a year) and except when I got bumped to First Class I always found the space really small. I stop flying for a living in 2010 and begin working full time at my home office. To be honest, we haven’t travel that much on a plane since. Regardless I notice how this week my perspective changed. I use to weight more than 350lbs. That fact defined my perspective regarding the size of the rows on airplanes, and based on that perspective, they were really small, the little table is way to close (even impossible to use if the person in front of you decide to recline) the seats are tight and the person next to you (asumming you didn’t got the lucky middle, in which case is the people around you) is way to close. I did it for more than 200,000 miles every year but was never something comfortable (unless you got sent to first, that happen often when you travel that much)
As I was saying this trip came with some change in perspectives, I set my iPad mini to work on the table and decide to pull it closer because it was more comfortable to type. It was in that moment that a little something in my brain fire a smile and for a moment I was really proud. I was more than 150lbs lighter than 2008, 100lbs lighter than my last work flight in 2010 and 20lbs since my last plane trip and for the first time in my adult life I was comfortable in that space.
I am aware that airlines rows have less and less space, so I am sure it’s not that. Also I didn’t got bumped to first class in this trip. The thing is the change of perspective, this seat are not as small as I remember them, the table is not as close as it used to be, and actually this may have been the best working session I have ever had on a plane, while sitting on coach. The perspective changed and seems totally different than 150lbs ago (even 20lbs ago) from an uncomfortable space to a one that it fits perfectly.
It was this exactly the fact of how I was able to change everything that made me think about other perspectives that may also need to create an adjustment, that may need a readjustment or even a radical change.
We tend to come to the conclusion that certain things are the way they are, I did for many years , airplanes were small spaces, I never considered that: I was too big.
This is a topic that I want to continue covering, and I want to leave you thinking for a moment on what may need an adjustment on your own perspective… I can think on a couple of things…

It is interesting that June it is almost gone. There are 5 more days to the second half of the year. At this point it is a great moment to sit and reflect on what are you accomplish so far, and how in line you are with your goals. At this time many people drop the idea of those goals and will begin to plan when december comes around again.
I am a believer of reviewing your goals constantly, in order to remember where you are and where you are going. For example 5 years ago, I decided to stop smoking and begin taking care of my health. I have weight myself almost every friday since. I have lost more than 150 lbs (75 kilos) because I have remind myself often what to do and what I am trying to accomplish.
I have publish eight books since 2011. Not because I am a better writer, not because I write faster than many writers. Because I remind myself every morning that I am a writer and my business is to write.
That doesn’t mean you win all, or you are successful every time. I have fail on the blogging side many times, I get tired, busy, distracted and weeks pass without me posting, and the more I let it go, the harder is to come back.
But it is this constant checking what allow me to keep most of them on movement and had allow me over the years to accomplish many of them.
When was the last time you check where are you and where you want to go? When was the last time you check your goals? I recommend that you do that daily, in the worst scenario weekly.

When my friend (and co-author) wrote this post on friday on how we wrote the #iPadOnly book together, I decided to copy the format and tell my side of the story. Here is my post (I basically copy Michael’s format and even some text, so if you read one and then the other one you will get the contrast easier…
We just finish my first co-authored book with my friend Michael Sliwinski. It’s called “#iPadOnly – The first post-PC Book. We cover how to only use your iPad to work, play and do everything in between” and it’s going to hit virtual (and not-so-virtual) bookshelves in a little over a week. This post is a quick summary of how the book came to be, how we both wrote it (living on different continents) and some of the cool things of the process!
I begin writing about #iPadOnly on my blog
I love my iPad. It had been my main machine since 2011, and I believe it can be the main machine for many people. It is not a problem of capabilities, or performance but workflows. So I begin writing on the topic and had in my wish list to write a more formal book about it. I also was sure that the topic deserve a book, but I wasn’t ready yet, at least not by myself. I was in the process to do other projects but then I receive an email from Michael that said:

“Hello Augusto, I’m not sure if you already realize this, but we’re writing an #iPadOnly book togheter. What do you think?”

When I receive that email I tough:
– It will be cool to actually write this book
– It will be cool to work with other productive person and learn a trick or two
– This will be a really collaboration project, there is no easy way to sit in the same room
– I will be able to learn more about remote business (since my business is like that, I just don’t have Michael’s knowledge and experience, yet)
So obviously, I said yes.
We got together on FaceTime and each of us bring our best to the table; the rest, as they say, is history. Here’s how we wrote this book:
1. The communication and weekly reviews
I live in Fort Wayne, Indiana and Michael in Europe. We “met” on FaceTime and we decided to do regular, GTD-style weekly reviews together every Friday at 6 am EST (my days starts at 4:00 am, I even wrote a book about it)
Michael propose that we used Nozbe and I agreed. I have seem Nozbe from the side for years and even that my system has live on Omnifocus for many years, I was curious, so I jump in and was so surprised by the collaboration features of Nozbe. This is not my first book, I have wrote, translate and publish eight books, with six more coming out before the end of the year. Collaboration was so easy using Nozbe.
Sometimes we used Skype, mostly because there is not voice FaceTime (it will be available for some in the fall with iOS7) and iMessage when we need it a faster answer.
I am grateful of how easy was to communicate with Michael, our years of working remotely or on the go, make this part so easy.
2. We wrote in Byword using a shared folder in Dropbox
I came up with the first outline of the book, because it is how I like to write, I create an outline and then it transform itself to the actual book. Michael agreed on that approach and we decided to fill it up. Initially we tried to use Google Docs – actually Google Drive app on the iPad to write as it allows real-time collaboration… but the app is (at least on the iPad) not ready for that kind of work. Also I like to write on Black background and white font (I get less tired and can write longer), so we move to my app of choice, Byword.
After we wrote everything, it came the process of make the book a book and not a series of texts. My first language is Spanish and I also speak English. Michael first language is Polish, and he speak at least Spanish and English. So make the book in an universal language was a challenge. We did a good job, gluing it all together and then we started the long process of editing.
Since this wasn’t my first book, I knew that the easiest part was just done, writing the first draft. Editing is the hardest and longest part of a book, in my experience, I think for Michael this was a surprise.
3. Editing with Nozbe and Byword
For editing we wanted to go back to Google Docs again, to be able to edit the same files in real time… after 2 days we realized our mistake and went back to simple text files in Dropbox.
We’d set up tasks in Nozbe – if someone was editing chapter one, they’d add a task to Nozbe and comment on their progress there. Once the task was done, the chapter was “free” for the other person to dive in.
Michael learned that: “The editing part was really tough.” In my opinion it is exactly the editing that make you wish that you have written instead. We work hard until the book got a flow, and it flow well. When we began the book, I tried to explain Michael’s the Flow Well concept, but it is hard to understand (and explain) if you have never wrote a book before. During editing he got it.
After we shipped the book to Lori, the Productive! Magazine editor (She is the first native English-speaking person in the bunch so she’s doing the real heavy-lifting editing.) She is making our flow, sound in real English.
4. Having a co-author rocks
I am grateful of Michael and the fact that he co-author this book with me. I learned so much about writing, #iPadOnly, workflows and much more in the process. Agatha Christie used to say:

“I’ve always believed in writing without a collaborator, because where two people are writing the same book, each believes he gets all the worry and only half the royalties.”

I am glad to report, that at least in this case, she was wrong! I never felt that I was having the whole workload or worry, so I will be happy with half of the royalties.
We wrote a little over 50,000 words on the subject and we think you will love it and even find a trick or two. We say it’s the first ever post-PC book as it really shows you can use the iPad as your only and the main machine.
5. Writing a book is hard
Michael learned this, he was forced to wake up earlier to write. I had learned this already. After all that I have written, continue being as hard as the first one. I think, at least for me there is no hope.
Coming to you on June 27 – the first real post-PC book. The Spanish version will follow soon . We think you’ll love it. It’s full with practical advice, our experiences and the whole definition of the #iPadOnly concept and new paradigm shift we’re experiencing nowadays with the whole “mobile first” movement.
We work on our iPads. You’ll learn how we do it, how you can do it, how anyone can do it. Just have a look at the table of contents

It is by this time not a secret that I am testing Nozbe. I have been an Omnifocus user for a really long time, and have come to take for granted many of the great features that came with that software.
I decided to test Nozbe for many reasons but one is to make sure I am using Omnifocus effectively. You see, I don’t remember the last time I took everything out of Omnifocus and begin with a clean slate and even when my system had worked well, I have learned that sometimes you need a radical approach to things in order to simplify and be even more effective.
You may also know that I am co-writing a new book with Michael Sliwinski called #iPadOnly that we will be releasing at the end of June. If you have follow Michael long enough you will discover that he basically re-do his office once a year. It is always something that it had fascinated me, but that I had never done because I was of the believe that: “if it is working, do not mess with it”
The problem with that believe is that since things are working you also don’t discover new ways to do things better. It was because of that reason that I decided that this year from July 28th to August 2 I will re-do my home office, my tools, and document the week long process here.
Part of that process is Omnifocus, but because I knew I need more than a week to accomplish that I begin the test on May 9 and will continue until July 31st. There are many things on OmniFocus that have come to be second nature and that I am honestly struggling while using Nozbe, but it is also a great opportunity to discover and evaluate my system.
The problem with our comfort zone is that set us in a dangerous place that if we do not pay attention we may get stock and instead of continue moving we move at a slower pace every time. (until we stop moving)
OmniFocus it is something in which I know how to use. I am extremely comfortable using. I have tricked OmniFocus to do really cool things. The problem is that I need to make sure that it is really helping me to move forward or if this tool is keeping me set on the Comfort Zone. (that may be called better the Dangerous Zone)
I am sure during the next weeks I will be talking more about my experiences with this experiment and what I have learned from it.

In the lines of the poorest excuses that sometimes one need to get a toy tool I got me an iPad Mini to test to write about it for the book I am co-writing with Michael Sliwinski: #iPadOnly.
I have contemplated the Mini for a while, but honestly I was unsure if the screen was going to be simply too small for me to work all day. The iPad is my main machine, so I need to make sure that if I get the Mini was going to be able to substitute the Big iPad as main machine or if I really need a compliment machine.
I have always believe that weight is a key element to any computer, (as well as battery life, but in the case of the iPad that one it is not relevant) and even that the difference in weight between the iPad2 and the iPad Mini is so little, you could tell, as you could with the difference between the Original iPad and the iPad2. The Mini is lighter and that make it really cool.
To make the story short, I went and got an iPad Mini. At the beginning I wasn’t sure if was going to substitute my Big iPad, at the end of the day I do almost everything there, I am even writing a book about it. It took me two days to notice that I basically stop using the Big iPad and that the Big iPad was now on the side of the table just showing Tasks and Calendars. I was only carrying the Mini.
I am really enjoying the Mini and will not change back. So far I have only one thing that I will change. I can type relatively fast on the big iPad and I can’t do that on the Mini, yet. I say yet, because one of the first things I did was to install TapTyping and are practicing to improve the speed. I am expecting that soon I will be able to write faster to the point that the bottle neck it is not on the iPad. I did that on the big iPad once, so I am sure that it will be a matter of time. Right now I am able to type 39 words per minute and have an accuracy of 97%.
I remember when I stop using the MacBook daily and how every time I need it to use it after days going #iPadOnly it feel so big. It is the same feeling the few times I had grab the big iPad to do a task.

I had the opportunity to participate on TEDx Fort Wayne on April 2013.
My Talk was called: Using NO to Change the World.
This was a great experience, I hope you enjoy the talk and if you can let others know.

I love my iPhone. The problem is in the words of Jake Knapp: “I can’t handle infinity in my pocket.”
While writing my next book, that is about doing #iPadOnly I have really look into detail and take the time to evaluate and review some of my workflows, and of course having a section/chapter on how the iPhone complements the iPad also force me to look into how I was using my iPhone.
As I said on Tuesday, sadly a lot of my use was for distraction more than for focus. I spend hours reviewing mail (much more than I really though) even that I tend to check, process and respond on the iPad. I also spend hours follow links that take me to another link, that will most likely give me something to read on the other link. It was because of that reason that I turn email off and also delete Safari and Google Chrome.
I also said on Tuesday how interesting was the amount of times I got the configuration screen of the iPad, even when I was working on the iPad.
After four days without a proper browser I bring Safari and Chrome back on friday morning. First, now that I know that I don’t miss email on the iPhone (at least I have not miss it for the last four days) I need to check if the browser was also the real distraction or it was just the email.
So I turn the browser back, download Google Chrome (My work Browser) and continue the test. I was testing the assumption that email and the web where the biggest distractors, but having 1Password as an emergency browser I notice that it is not really browsing the big offender, so I decided to try to re-activate Safari and Chrome and test the assumption.
I can say that in the last four days I had really need email once. The interesting thing was that it wasn’t to actually receive an email as I originally though it was going to be, but in order to sent one. I don’t have yet the perfect solution, and I may or may not have it by the time this book is done, but without a doubt the test had been a really interesting one, and I am really happy that I did.
The most interesting part of this test is how much I am using my iPhone for other tasks that it is really good, because I am not getting constantly bug down by email. I don’t know if I will keep email turn off forever, but at least for now.

I am not the first one with this idea, but what will happen if you stop reading emails on the iPhone. The reality is that I prefer to process email on the iPad, but lately I have been noticed that I have so many read emails when I open email on the iPad, so I am reading, but I am no processing. I begin noticed that I am opening email on the iPhone looking for something, (don’t ask me what, because honestly I don’y know) and I am not processing emails.
I have write a lot about distraction, focus and concentration. I have joked for years that one of those things that I am really, really good, is that I can distract myself better than any one, I am really good at it.
When I make my iPad my main machine I did it looking for more focus and concentration as well as to be able to be more effective. I am even writing a book about living #iPadOnly with Michael Sliwinski that will be released soon.
I am not the first person that it is considering what their iPhones are doing on their pockets, Stephen Hackett try to get rid of his iPhone (regardless of the fact that he failed, the exercise was the important part), Jake Knapp, Robin Sloan, Peter Cohen, Michael De Groote among others are getting rid (or trying) or simply limiting the iPhone capabilities to keep the tool as a productive tool and not only as a simple distraction tool.
The reality is that if my iPhone stop being a productive tool or even worse it is a distraction tool; why I want to have it? I really don’t need to have a distraction on my pocket. That far I understood, but it wasn’t clear for me what was the precise problem until I read this post. Since then I have been thinking on this, and giving it an honest time to journal and think about it.
I have done many things in order to improve my Focus and Concentration, I begin my day at 4:00 A.M, I respect agreements, I have learn to say NO to myself with intention, I live a live with much less things, I have simplify many things, except my iPhone…
When you read Jake Knapp article at Medium there is a line that hit me really hard, he says he can’t handle “infinity in (his) pocket.” and if I am honest, me neither. I can handle infinity period. I work better on situations that I can be limited, it is in part why I love to work on my iPad, I remove the infinity power of the equation and leave the effective working only.
He also wrote: “I don’t have what you’d call the world’s greatest attention span,” and to be honest mine is also terrible. If mine will be great I would had not had spend years trying to discover focus and concentration. I really struggle with this and it is because of that, that I have found any and all different ways to prevent distractions so I can use my attention.
I am not saying I am getting rid of my iPhone, I am just going to stop checking emails on it. At least temporarily. The idea is to eliminate the distractions, the reality is that I prefer to process email on the iPad, so checking then on the iPhone the only thing that generates it is that sometimes I check email more than once (ok, more like one thousand but you got the idea). I wasn’t aware how many times I was doing this until I turn the email off on the iPhone and got this screen a lot.
My iPad it is with me most of the time, and I can tether to check emails there. If the iPad it is not there I should not be checking email, so I better do other stuff with the phone, or nothing at all. My main machine is an iPad.
The problem is that email give me a window of distraction bigger than what I can handle. It was interesting a soon as I turn the email on the iPhone I stop pulling my iPhone from my pocket. (ok it was like I got nervous and eventually stopped)
You may ask, what if you are traveling and need to check an email? I can always turn email ON again if I am out of about and need to access it for some reason. The goal is not to do it every second.
I got rid of my email on the MacBook years ago, when I adopt the iPad as my main machine because the iPad was a better processing experience. I may say that recently Mike Vardy ruined for me a little that experience when he bring to my attention that you can’t sort email to show the oldest first. (thanks Mike!) It’s been bothering me since he mentioned. I hope to find a solution for that or maybe I can add it to someone wish list for iOS7.
There had been less than 24 hours since I turn email on the iPhone, I have seen the configuration screen more times that what I am willing to admit, but I have not missed email on the iPhone for a second. Last night as I was out and about I want it to check for something, pull the iPad, connect it to the web tethering with my iPhone and checked that the email I was expecting had not arrived yet. It was at that moment that I noticed that if I would had email on my iPhone I would had most likely review thousand of times instead of one. So far, I call this a success.

I mentioned this tip in my book 25 Tips for Productivity and it is something that I had always found interesting, how we hold to things even when they don’t work for us. The reality is that regardless of the cost, if something doesn’t work you should get rid of it.
We all had got computers, tablets, phones and even more expensive things that simply didn’t work and had prove to be useless. It is because of the cost of the thing that we decide to keep it to see if there is any way that the thing will be useful.
The reality is that we waste an incredible amount of valuable time that we could use to do important things trying to make this thing work in our workflows simply to end up frustrated and sure that next time we should try to make it work.
Maintain an object that doesn’t work for you is a waste of time and without a doubt against personal productivity.