Focus on your system newsletter - Issue 03

Hello everyone,
Here's my latest newsletter to help with your systems.

App I am testing:

I found a new app called Affine Pro from Shu Omi, who has reviewed many great apps.

For me, the biggest draw of this app for note-taking is that it is open-source and that data is kept locally.

It has all the usual features you expect from note-taking apps, including linking, tagging, and properties.

I am looking for the AI integration feature, as I haven't been able to achieve what I want with Obsidian.

The AI integration includes a chatbox in the sidebar to help with research and writing, as well as the ability to ask for help directly in notes.

Ultimately, I am looking for AI to automatically link by context and generate tags and properties. Its lack of a Mobile App and integration with other apps makes this a no-go for me.

Book I am reading:

Tribes of Mentors is one of the books in my Tim Ferris collection.

I wanted to read this book as he shares practical advice from high achievers.

Tim Ferris's style of writing is direct and easy to read, offering practical advice readers can use.

One of the important things I took away from reading this book is the art of declining.

I am naturally the one who agrees to take on more work to achieve team goals, but I often reduce the quality of my work and burn out.

Along with his other books, such as 4-hour week and 4-hour Chef, it is one of the most recommended books I suggest for young people starting their careers.

Tech that I am looking at:

ChatGPT 4o was recently released. As a fan of ChatGPT and a subscriber to its services, I was interested to see what it had to offer.

My main uses are summarising extensive notes, helping me write code and brainstorming to solve problems.

For Summarisation, ChatGPT 4o responds faster, but ChatGPT 4's responses covered more information from the original text in more detail.

For programming, I expected the responses to be the same, but I found that ChatGPT 4 created a smaller solution to resolve the request.

For Brainstorming, ChatGPT 4 once again produced 10%-20% suggestions compared to ChatGPT4o.

My primary testing suggests that ChatGPT 4 is still ahead for the scenarios I use, so I will still pay for it.

EDC that I own:

Airtags are one of my favourite Apple products. I was previously testing with Tiles Mate but switched to Airtags once Apple released them.

I have 3 of them.

The first one is on my keys. This helps me find my keys in the morning, so when I am in a rush, I do not spend too much time finding them.

2nd one is in my wallet. I bought a wallet that can handle the air tag and reminds me if I leave my wallet at home.

I put it third on my TV remote. This allows me to find the remote when my wife leaves it in the kitchen, or it falls between the cracks in the sofa.

I have had it for a few years and only changed the batteries once.

If you are invested in the Apple Ecosystem, this is a well-worth purchase.

Methods I have tried to implement:

One time management method I have implemented is the Eat the Frog method.

This involves finding the most challenging task in your day and starting it first.

I started using this method because completing difficult tasks at the end of the day just made me want to skip them or procrastinate on something else.

So now I check my iOS Reminders app and pick the most complex task of the day.

Often, I would break the task into subtasks and work my way through it.

Breaking them down makes it easier to manage and keeps the momentum going.

One of the challenges is working out, which is the task the frog must eat.

Here, I think about which task is most urgent and which will impact my goals the most.

This method may not be for everyone; your energy and focus are not the best in the morning, so try it and see.

How about you? Have you discovered any tools, books, or methods recently that have transformed your approach to work or life? I’d love to hear about it drop a message to me on X.
Until next time, keep optimising and stay practical!
Thanks for reading,
Siv

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