余裕 (yo yu), a Japanese term, means having a surplus, slack or extra capacity.
Having spare time or room
Being relaxed or composed
Having financial surplus to spare
Mental/emotional capacity to handle situations
In the world of cheaper, better and faster, it’s easy to slide down the path of efficiency. We don’t usually embrace yoyu, seeking easily measured productivity. Read more books, earn more money, have more friends.
When I spot a productive and happy person, I nod and I smile.
One way is to learn from people who found it. Digest their books and interview.
Another way is to turn the phone off, travel, be alone and retreat.
Disconnect from the outside world and start a journey to the inside.
If you feel exhausted from the overwhelming flow of information, perhaps it’s because it’s meant to. To give you just enough and keep you addicted. It’s empty calories.
The hard part though… is to cut away from everything you know, and start the hero’s journey.
The journey that start with connecting to the inside.
1Password makes remembering, typing and sharing passwords a delight.
Arc (free) is a different internet browser experience. Spaces, Split Windows and Command bar are a few things that I would miss if it were gone.
Bartender (US$16) organise my Mac menu bar into something useful and beautiful.
Beeper (free), brought over by the amazing folks at WordPress, combines WhatsApp, Slack, Facebook, Telegram, Instagram and LinkedIn into one app. Fast and delightful. I hope they bring back the send-later feature soon.
Fantastical is my Calendar app. It has not failed me.
Cardhop (made by Fantastical folks), gives me access to my contacts with a few buttons. I save baby names, dog names and cities of the people I love.
CleanShot (US$29) takes screenshots and videos, combined with Dropbox, makes it easy to report bugs and share design feedback.
Dropbox (US$17/m) protects my files and photos and makes it easy to share them. Pricier than iCloud or Google Drive, the security, support and delight are worth every penny.
I saved videos that inspired me with Downie (US$19). There’s something about keeping and organising that makes me remember.
DaisyDisk (US$10) finds out what’s eating up my disk space. Works on Dropbox and Google Drive too.
A new way to edit podcast interviews with text, Descript (US$12/m). It is at least 2x faster, but your milage may vary.
Fathom (free) records and transcribes Zoom and Google meetings. Free my attention from note-taking and focus on the person.
Flux (free) changes the screen colour to help with sleep.
iCloud, used in tandem with Dropbox, for extra storage. Mainly for photos and things I don’t need to access quick.
A nifty app, Maccy (US$10) keeps my “copy” history. Saves me from switching back and forth when copying text.
Magnet (US10) organise my screen, with shortcuts. Full screen, left, right, up, down.
Notion, replaced Apple Notes, Gdocs, Gsheets, Asana and Evernote. It took 2 years to move everything over, but I never looked back since. Marie Poulin has a great course.
Permute ($14.99), built by the same people as Downie, converts media files to different sizes and formats. Mostly to save precious disk space.
Perplexity, is replacing Google Search, and it has not asked me to pay yet.
Apple Photos (free), together with the iPhone and iCloud, feels like magic. With a bit of upfront work of tagging, finding photos of friends from 10 years ago, is a real treat.
Polymail ($10/m) is probably not the best email client. But it’s not painful enough yet to switch yet.
Rewind (free) records everything on my Mac screen. Peace of mind is worth the extra disk space.
Things (US$50) is my to-do list. I dump ideas, tasks, and articles and free up my mental space for more to come. Pairs with the GTD method.
As my work has become online, I have come to appreciate software. Tools that are made with attention and care.
