Matthew Lang

After reading Nicholas Bate’s latest powerful productivity post, I thought I would share a few of the people and apps that have influenced me.

• Patrick Rhone - Patrick’s dash/plus system has been part of my own processes since I read about it.
• Nicholas Bate - I’ve been reading Nicholas Bate’s blog for over 15 years. I’ve been using his master list idea for some time.
• Ryder Caroll - Creator of bullet journaling, the only productive process that I have stuck with recently. It also works for me because of it plays nice with Patrick’s dash/plus system and Nicholas Bate’s master list. The fact that it’s also analog is a huge benefit to me. I spend enough times on screens. The last thing I need is another app just to stay organised.
• 37 Signals - Over the years I’ve long been a fan of the way the 37 Signals company work. All of their books are recommended, but the real changers for me were Rework and Remote are great books that really do make you question the traditional methods of working. Short, sharp and straight to the point.
• Trello - Although I use pen and paper most days, there is times when you need a digital tool to manage a project. I’ve flip-flopped between Things, Todoist and Trello over the years. While freelancing I used Trello for managing client projects, but when I returned to full-time employment I started using Todoist and Things to manage projects. I’m back to using Trello now. It’s the visual aspect of the app that really helps me.

I could have probably added another dozen or so people and apps that have influenced how I work over the years, but these five are the ones the I keep going back to.

Who influences your productivity?

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been re-writing a small product that I spent sometime building before lockdown.

The product has been gathering dust since the start of lockdown. It does have a handful of customers and generally good feedback from those customers, but I wasn’t happy with my first pass at it. There were so many things that I would do differently if I could start it over again. So I decided to have another go at it.

I’ve made pretty good progress so far and will be able to launch it again in a few months.

This weekend I’m hoping to move all my Bear notes into Ulysses. My Bear renewal for the Pro subscription is at the end of September and while I find the app useful, I’m finding that I don’t use it as much as I used to. I’m also starting to consolidate some other files that I have into Ulysses. It’s becoming my go-to app for writing and note taking.

Most of the notes I have already moved across, but there’s a few that I need to do some more work on to tidy up the formatting that was lost in the migration. Hopefully by the end of the weekend, most of this migration will be complete.

I’m going to try and kick-start the blogging process once again. I’ve lost count of the number of times I have tried to do this over the last few years. This time though, I’m trying something different.

Instead of trying to aim for longer pieces on a daily basis, I’m going to initially just keep it short. Around the 100 words mark.

So, expect some short ramblings over the next few weeks. Some thoughts, views, ideas and anything that I think is worth putting on the blog. I’m hoping this will lead to a steady stream of posts over the next weeks and hopefully a more active blog.

For the last ten years that we’ve been visiting my in-laws in Canada, they’ve lived in the township of Oakville just outside of Toronto. When they first moved there, we were impressed by the small suburban areas, quaint feel in the centre of town, and the beautiful properties along the lakeshore. Everything just seems to fit together nicely.

Not having been here now for the last four years, we’ve seen a dramatic change in the town. Instead of the flat skyline we were used to, it’s now starting to fill with taller condo buildings.

An increasing number of properties along the lakeshore have eschewed traditional homes in favour of a more modernist look. Gone are the homes that tried to keep in with the style of other homes in the area. There are now several homes that can only be described as boxes comprising of glass and wood. Finally, the centre of town has lost its charm. I’ve noticed some of the smaller independent stores have gone. Instead, there are more retail outlets from more extensive franchises there.

In a way, I suppose, it’s been the victim of its own success. As more and more people are looking to move to the Greater Toronto Area, they look towards places outside of the city that isn’t too far away. Mississauga, located just outside the city, could be considered a city in its own right. The skyline is a sea of high-rise buildings that now dwarf what would have been the tallest buildings there twenty years ago. Oakville is the next town along the shores of Lake Ontario. With condo buildings now featuring prominently here, I think it’s safe to say it will follow the same route as Mississauga.

Just up the road from Oakville is the small town of Waterdown. I was stunned to see how much this small town has expanded over the last few years. What was once a quaint town centre is now dwarfed along the road by multi-story buildings for commerce and residential use.

One could argue that this is simply a sign of the times. I could partly agree with anyone who presented this argument. Everything changes over time, but it’s a shame to see the old, small towns along Lake Ontario gradually morphing into a single sprawling urban area.

A final trip to Rockchapel today for nine holes before our flight back to the UK tomorrow. Papa making up the fourball for today.

My youngest son, Drew, turned 10 years old today and boy did he have a great day.

A few rounds of laser tag ensured that he and his brother reminded us that the Fortnite skills on the PlayStation are transferrable to other areas in life. I wasn’t expecting to run around that match, but it was great fun.

After that it was back to his aunt’s house for cake and big birthday spread with a few presents to open.

It as great seeing the kids together once again and it’s been so long since they’ve all been together. A good chance then to re-create one of our favourite pictures of the kids all together on the front step.

That rounded off a truly great day for Drew. Happy birthday pal!

An unexpected perk of this trip to Canada was being able to play Glen Abbey golf course, which has been a host of the RBC Canadian Open for a number of years. We’ve always visited this course as spectators to the tournament, but being able to play it was an opportunity me and Ethan couldn’t pass up.

A strange course, as it features a handful of holes that are located down a ravine which made for a very different experience to other golf course we’ve played.

A fantastic day with Ethan and we both played pretty well considering it was out first time on the course.

All of us headed down to Niagara Falls for the day to enjoy some of the sights down there. The first thing we all did was the boat trip to see the falls up close. We haven’t done this since Drew was born so it was nice for him to experience this with all of us. After a wander round Clifton Hill, we grabbed some pizza and did the Sky Wheel to take in some great views of the falls.

Me and Ethan played Hidden Lake again today. We stuck with what we liked and played the new course. We also got paired with a couple of locals who kept us right and gave us a few pointers to deals on local courses. Nice to see that the food is still great at Hidden Lake as well. Highly recommend the smash burgers!

First visit to our favourite nine hole course in the Oakville area, and that’s the Rockchapel course just past Waterdown. Nice being able to play in the sunshine with a good short course for Drew.

A great afternoon range session for the boys before the rain started rolling in.

My in-laws have a new home in Canada, so a few changes to the sleeping arrangements. They still have a great spot outside for a quiet coffee though.

Today we headed up to St Andrews to see some golf at the final practice day of the week before the 1st rounds begin tomorrow. After an early start, and a couple of hours of driving, we finally arrived. Blue skies and a strong wind featured for most of the day.

After spending some cash on a few goodies at the store, we headed over to the practice area and watched some of the players putting and pitching. Drew managed to get a few signatures from some of the professionals, but he was chuffed to bits with his signed golf ball from the world’s top ranked amateur, Keita Nakajima.

Finally, we spent some time in the stands watching players coming through the 16th and 17th holes.

It was a great day and I’m glad to say we’re heading back up on Sunday to do it all again!

I watched the final episode of Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi last night and I have to say it was a great ending to a fantastic series.

I had so many questions about how this series would pan out. If Obi-Wan and Leia meet, why doesn’t she remember? Surely Obi-Wan and Darth Vader can’t have an epic lightsaber battle? These questions and the many more I had were thankfully answered in a number of different ways, but didn’t lead to a major plot hole between this a A New Hop. Obi-Wan’s final episode was a great finish to the series and for one scene in particular, it’s definitely worth the wait.

Ewan McGregor reprising his role as Obi-Wan was always going to be a good choice, but it was Vivien Lyra Blair who played Leia who really stole the show for me. Moses Ingram who played Inquisitor Reva was also great, a more complicated character than you might first assume.

Will there be more from Kenobi? I don’t know. I would be quite happy if they left the show as it finished. There is one story that I would like to see more of, but I don’t want to give the ending away, so you’ll just need to watch it.

And about that missing Star Destroyer in the final episode. Maybe on the other side of the planet?