How I’m Working Brighter Right Now #1

The gist: things that have been helping me work, rest, and play brighter lately.

Today, I thought I’d share a bit of a peek behind-the-scenes at things that have been helping me work, rest, and play brighter lately.

A “hat tip” goes to Kendra Adachi of The Lazy Genius podcast, who has an ongoing series called “What’s Saving My Life Right Now,” where she shares some of her current favorite things and what’s currently working for “lazy geniusing” her life.

I always love them, and when I was thinking about ways to share more of my own productivity and self-care experiments, they immediately came to mind. So I started brainstorming ideas for something I could do with a similar format and theme, and here we are!

Every quarter, I’m going to share a few things (tactics, activities, routines, tools, products, etc.) that are helping me work more productively, rest more intentionally, play more playfully, and keep everything as balanced as possible in the process.

Things helping me work brighter

Daily brainstorming practice

Back in December, I started thinking about getting back into writing every day. But I knew that with how my health, energy, and productivity had been the previous few months, diving straight into actual writing was setting my expectations too high. So instead, I decided to start smaller with a one-page brainstorm list about anything.

It feels closer to “writing” than the stream-of-consciousness journaling I do in my morning pages, and is often the starting outline for a future piece of writing, so it feels like a good starter step for building back up to writing daily, and has been really fun!

Sunsama for daily prioritization

I’d been aware of Sunsama (referral link) for years now, and always absolutely loved the app’s look and feel, but saw it more as a time blocking app…and I just don’t usually time block.

But late last year I decided to give it a try anyway, and have found it really helpful to:

1. Have one window showing all my commitments for the day: project-based tasks I manage in Notion, daily habits I track in Todoist, appointments in my Google Calendar, etc.
2. Use their tasks and subtasks feature to group tasks and habits into larger routines.
3. Have somewhere separate from Notion to view ONLY the Notion tasks I’ve prioritized for the day.

Plus, I do like to time block my days on the rare days I have multiple appointments, and it really is good at that. If any app could turn me into a fan of the strategy, it’d be Sunsama.

And it’s just so pretty! 😍

Raycast for minimizing transitions on my computer

The final work tool I’m loving lately is Raycast, an app and workflow launcher for Mac. It’s basically an Alfred replacement, if you’re familiar with that. If not, it replaces the computer’s built-in spotlight search with something way more powerful.

Instead of just searching for files or apps, you can also access tons of automations, workflows, and other tools with just a few quick keystrokes.

I’m a big fan of the idea of contextual computing, or taking the most direct route possible to what you want to do on your computer, and designing workflows that minimize distractions. And workflow launchers are one of the easiest ways to do that.

My most-used Raycast commands include:

• Search my Notion workspace (without having to switch to the Notion app)
• Start, pause, or stop a Pomodoro timer
• Search my browser bookmarks and open a selected link in a new tab (without seeing any of my other open tabs first)
• Execute a command in Home Assistant (to control things like smart lights and the TV without taking my hands off my keyboard, let alone getting up…so wonderful)

Things helping me rest brighter

“Automated” morning and evening routines

I’ve spent over a year building up my current morning and evening routines now, and am finally in a spot where they both feel relatively easy and friction-free. And so much of that has been thanks to a somewhat overly convoluted (but very fun to create) system of Shortcuts on my phone.

I had already been using the app Routinery to help me stay on track with routines. But now, for each step in the app’s routine, there’s a matching Shortcut that helps me get the step done, which is linked to in the app.

For example, for my 5-minute tidy at night, it brings up a list of overdue chores so I don’t need to think about what actually needs to be tidied. For that and other habits, it also marks them as done in my habit tracking.

It’s definitely a complicated system, but I had so much fun building it that I get a kick out of using it, which keeps me consistent with my routines. 🙃

Going to bed earlier

I’ve always taken a ton of pride in being a night owl. That’s still true, but my body also just won’t sleep in as late as it used to. Last year, I started waking up around 7am, regardless of what time I went to bed. So as much I love those hours after midnight, I started trying to go to bed earlier.

In the past year or so, I’ve gone from going to bed at 2-3am, to trying to make sure I’m asleep by midnight. I haven’t gone to sleep before midnight regularly since high school, so it’s definitely been an adjustment to have so much less time at night.

But I’m getting more sleep overall, which is actually making me more of a night owl in some ways. I might not stay up as late, but having more energy and being more rested means my nighttime energy surges are even bigger than usual, and I’m back to doing one last sprint of productivity before bed.

That’s always been my favorite time to work, but the past few years, I had so little energy in general that I was too worn out by then to get anything done. It feels like coming home again in some ways.

Gentler Streak for tracking workouts

I need to write a whole blog post about Gentler Streak, so I’ll save the finer details for that. But it’s a workout tracker focused on rest and wellbeing that provides an alternative to the goal of “closing your rings” on the Apple Watch.

It estimates how much activity would be healthy for you based on other Apple Watch stats, and you keep your streak by staying within those limits, as opposed to trying to hit the same numbers every day, like most default fitness apps.

This app has completely changed my outlook on exercise and helps me pace myself better than I can on my own.

Things helping me play brighter

Sofa app for intentional TV

I’m trying to watch more new TV shows this year instead of (or more accurately, in addition to) rewatching my all-time favorites over and over again. I’m also taking a break from Stardew Valley to try out some new cozy games, and haven’t been using Goodreads as much.

I was about to make a Notion database to organize it all when I remembered the app Sofa, a “downtime organizer.” It lets you track and organize TV shows, movies, music albums, video games, arts & crafts, and any other kind of downtime/leisure experience.

I’m using it to build lists of TV shows to watch, books to read (transferred from Goodreads), video games to play, and craft projects I want to try. It also has a cool tracker that lets you view “your year in entertainment” that I love building up.

Wylde Flowers video game

I just started this game last week, but I’m loving it so far. If I had to describe it in one phrase, “cozy farming sim, but witchy.” It’s so cute!

The concept/story is that you move in with your grandma to help her take care of her small farm in a small, super cottagecore town. Only you also find out the town has a coven, and you’re a witch. So it’s farming by day, witchcraft by night. I prefer this so much to the combat in Minecraft and Stardew. 🤣

Finding the perfect morning music

We’ve already established I’m a night owl. So it takes me awhile to fully wake-up in the morning. But it takes a lot less time lately because I’ve found/built the perfect playlist for it.

Here’s a public version of it.

It’s a bunch of songs that are like medium-to-high energy, but nothing high or super-high energy that will feel overwhelmingly hyper first thing in the morning. Think pop rock and hyperpop like HAIM, Paramore, WILLOW, Carly Rae Jepsen, Chappell Roan, and Betty Who.

Given that I used to barely get through my Saturday morning ballet classes without falling back asleep, the idea that I now voluntarily dance within an hour of waking up is pretty nonsensical to my night owl self.