Focused - 257: I Go By Vibes, with Stephen Robles

Episode Date: June 3, 2026

Welcome to Focus, a productivity podcast, but more than just cranking widgets. I'm Mike Schmitz and I'm joined by my fellow co-host, Mr. David Sparks. Hey, David. Hey, Mike. How are you? Doing great. How about yourself? I'm good because I'm joined by my other fellow co-host.

Welcome to the Focus podcast, Mr. Stephen Robles. Thank you guys so much for having me. Mike, it's great to meet you. I'm excited to chat. Likewise. Yeah, I've been listening to Mac Power users long before I was doing a podcast with Mac Sparky. and I will say publicly, I feel like you're doing a great job stepping in, filling that role. And there have been maybe four or five times where you're talking about something like

how you're trying to create intentional tech use with your kids or your way that you read books. And I just like stop what I'm doing. And I'm like, I need to meet this guy. So selfishly, I was like, hey, David, do you think Stephen would want to come on focused and talk about some of the nerdy productivity? stuff instead of the tech stuff and very excited to have you on the show today. Well, that's awesome. Thank you so much. And yeah, I'd love to get into it. Yeah, I say, I have the same thing because like on this show, we try to focus on Mac power users, you know, tips and tricks, helping people get better at this stuff. And I can't go down a

focus rabbit hole on that show. And the same thing, Stephen says something once in like, oh, man, that's a thread I would like to pull. And so you are here today, Stephen. Welcome to the Focus podcast. I think we should probably start for the focus list. There's not all of them listen to Mac Power Users. Tell us a little bit about your journey. Oh, man, I grew up in New York and in high school, I did all the music stuff, musical theater, trumpet player, and wound up studying that in college, came down to Florida for that. I have a degree in trumpet performance, which I always joke about. It has nothing to do with my work now. But, you know, I'm glad I did it. It's where I met my wife and we got married right out of college. And we have three kids.

My oldest is now 17, just turned 17, which is wild. And I have a middle son. He's 13 and a daughter is nine. And I've worked in various fields. I did music right out of college for a while. And then I always on the side was doing things like building websites for people with rapid weaver. If anyone knows that, Macap.

And that did much with that. And also played around with video editing and photography. And then worked for a travel company doing those things. I would go in the field and got to travel a little. of the world and take videos and photos, make brochures and promos, and then got into some live production and started doing podcasting and covering Apple. And then a few years ago, I started working for Riverside doing all video stuff. And at the same time, was growing my, my YouTube and creator business. And just this past October, I went totally independent. And so I get to make

podcasts with you guys and make videos. Living the dream. It really is like, it sounds like a trite thing, but it really is, like, I've, for many years, wanted to see, like, could I do it? Could I make it? Because I've followed people like David Sparks for years. I follow the ATP guys and John Gruber, and I'm like, okay, all these guys were able to like make this their livelihood and do this thing that I think they love. I was like, surely, like, I think I can do it. I think that I, I'm passionate about it. I think I have some skills and explaining things. I really want to try my hand out at it. And for many years, you know, when you're, you know, your family's growing, your kids are young, the priorities you got to take care of your family. And so many years, I either work two jobs full time and a part time and did all that.

And, you know, it's, I always have the feeling like, man, I wish I started sooner. But I don't know, you never know. You never know like butterfly effect, what that of, how that would have affected, what it would have changed in our family. But I'm glad I'm here now. And it's really wonderful. Yeah, I feel like that question is a real trap. Like, I should have done this sooner, I wish I had done that, because the person you are is because of what you did. You know, because of the time of the travel company and playing the trumpet and all that stuff, it added up to what made it allowing you to live your life.

And I try not to get hung up on stuff like that. Like, I'm very happy with what I get to do with my life. And to the extent I have any regrets in the past, I'm thankful to them because they helped shape me to what allowed. me to be here in this moment. Yeah, that's it. It's easy, though. It's easy to get caught that. As your kids start growing up and you're giving them advice,

you know, you got to tell them once in a while and something terrible happens. Like one of my kids wrote me and texted me the other day and said, you know, I can't believe this is happening. It's terrible. And I wrote her back and said, epic journeys require suffering.

And I don't think she appreciated it, but it's true. Well, I also think back, too, like as my kids are entering that age of like, what are they going to do the rest of their lives? You have no idea what you're going to want to do at that age. I thought I wanted to be, you know,

full-time music educator, which might have been a great life and a great career, but it wasn't until, you know, the iPhone came out while I was in college, my senior year, basically. And I didn't know that there was going to be an entire world

where the covering iPhone was a job, like talking about it, making videos about it. So you just have no idea that that's an option when you're 18. and who knows when my kid with AI now and how that's going to change what the world will look like 10 years from now

because might do something that a job that doesn't exist right now. Yeah. Most likely they will. Yeah, exactly, exactly. I'm curious when the iPhone came out 2007 because you kind of just mentioned that's the thing. You get to write about that, make videos about that. When you saw that was, was there like a light bulb moment where it was like, that's what I want to do?

or did you just kind of, were there several different tipping points along your journey where, you know, Stephen Johnson talks about the idea of the adjacent possible. Now that I'm doing this thing, I see that this thing is available. Or was it all in conjunction of getting to the point where I can talk about Apple for a living? Well, I think the first inflection point was my first Mac, which I talked about in my first, my power use episode, but that I saw my freshman year of college, the 12 inch G4 power book, never used a Mac before, didn't know what it was, but I knew I needed it. I didn't know why.

I didn't know what I was going to do with it, but I had to have it. And so when I got my first power book, it was in my sophomore year of college, I got I movie and garage band, and I was like, oh, I love doing this stuff. You know, I'm studying music, and this is nothing to do with it, but I also love these other things. And so I realized, okay, this is something I want to do. When the iPhone came out, I didn't get the original one, another regret. But I had a friend of mine got the original iPhone on launch day.

I remember he pulled out of a Sena leather sleeve. And I just, it blew my mind. I was like, oh, I'm over here with my trio 755P, this huge chunker. And you have this future device in your hand. And so I didn't get one right away because couldn't afford it. It wasn't on the right carrier. I was on sprint. You know, you had to be on singular.

But those early years when I started working my first full-time job, as you do in your first full-time job, you have a little time during the day. And I started following Engadgett and some of the tech blogs. And then when I started listening to those podcasts and reading those websites, like, oh, people are doing this as their job. Like, they're talking about technology every day all the time. Like, I wonder if that's something I could do one day. And I think that's what planted the seed. Yeah, I remember when they made those videos, Apple made those videos of the guy in the black shirt and the glasses like the week before they released the iPhone.

Right. And I wasn't sure if I was going to get one. But then I saw those videos and it was like, must have. Yeah, must have. Yeah. So I was in line on opening day. Oh, that's awesome. Were you there, Mike?

Did you get a day one iPhone? I don't know. I did not. I don't even remember the first iPhone I got, but it was a little while. Yeah. I'm a little bit of a late Apple bloomer. And what attracted me to the things that I was not doing at first was really just the productivity stuff. Yeah.

I started writing and got connected with a company called Asian Efficiency. helped them start the productivity show podcast back in the day and then sort of ended up talking about the Apple tech stuff because there were a lot of productivity nerds that used Apple stuff and once I tried it I was hooked I had I like to say I had the original iPhone because I had re-skinned my Palm Trio as if it was a Mac. It had like the old kind of the aqua wallpaper and the icons I had just put a whole set of Mac icons on it because you know back then there was no iOS I didn't know what it was supposed to look like, but it looked like a Mac if you looked at my trio.

That's hilarious. Anyway, we are off topic a little bit. So the first thing that Stephen comes up on Mac power users that I want to go deep on is occasionally you hover around this idea of being a generalist. And I know, and I've intentionally never talked to you about this offline because I wanted to have this conversation. But it seems like you have stumbled into the idea of yourself as a generalist and embrace. racing that. What's that about? So growing up and doing music, I was in New York and, you know, a lot of the people I went to high school with, they went to Eastman Conservatory. I had a friend go to Juilliard. Yeah. I had these people do, you know, go to these prestigious schools. And I still studied trumpet. I didn't go to one of those schools. But I thought to myself, I really need to focus on being the best or being excellent at musicianship or whatever it.

is. And like I remember there was a solo and ensemble type competition in New York. We called it Nisma. And, uh, I did that and I got a 99 out of a hundred. And I was so sad that I didn't get a perfect, that I got one point off. And I think from then, like as a musician, then you hear about child prodigies. You hear about the person that like started playing guitar at five years old and never stopped. And now they're like, you know, Prince level musician. And in my mind, I guess I thought like, well, whatever it is you choose to do, It's something you need to start at a young age, do nothing else, practice for 8 to 12 hours a day,

and then just be the best. And like, that's success, whether it's music, which I thought I was going into, or maybe that's creating, you know, photography, or maybe that's video. Like, you need to do it from a young age, become an expert at that one thing, and that's how you become successful. And I don't know, like, where that came from, that idea in my mind came from. But it was there. And as I got my first power book and,

through college, I realized I have other interests, but it was always an internal tug of war of like, well, if I'm a jack of all trades, then I'm not an expert and I'm not good at something. And for some reason, there was that conflict in my mind of like, you can't both have multi interests and be an expert. I just didn't think those things were compatible in my mind. And honestly, that stuck with me for a long time. Even as I went into my various careers, I kind of settled into this idea of like, well, I have lots of interests.

I'm like pretty good at a few things. Like I can build a website. I'm not the best website maker, but I can do it. I can take photos. I'm not a pro photographer, but I can do it. And I thought it was lesser, but I was like, I can at least make a career of this and I'll work these jobs and support my family. But it was always like I didn't do the thing I should have done in my mind. I was like, I should have been an expert at something.

And it wasn't until much later. I read the book, Range by David Epstein and started listening to more podcasts about this kind of thing. And it was like, actually, there are experts in single areas. And yes, they are excellent in what they do. But there's also experts at generalism or to be or like multi-discipline people. And like actually, as I learned, having those multidisciplinary interests actually makes you better at some things than a single focus type expert, whether it be troubleshooting or problem solving or team dynamics. and leading a team. And so I realized like,

well, maybe I didn't miss the boat on this. Maybe I actually can be really good at some things and that somehow makes me good at like other things. And I don't know, it just changed my whole mindset kind of a little later in life. So you discover you don't have to be a child prodigy to be a success.

I literally, David, I literally, I was dating my wife at the time. Yeah. Probably freaked her out at this. But I remember sitting in the car with her and starting to cry because I thought, I will never conduct the New York Philharmonic.

Yeah. Like that was the internal struggle. I was like, I didn't get good enough. I didn't start early enough. That'll never happen. And because it'll never happen, I'm a failure. Like, that was kind of the internal feeling. And looking back like, man, that was kind of silly, but that was so real.

That's interesting. Because see, like, I grew up a musician too. Actually, I aspired to be a music teacher at one point in my life. And I was like in the state jazz band. I was pretty good, you know. And so I was playing at a pretty high. high level for a high school kid. Got into Berkeley, but I didn't go.

But the thing I learned, like, in all those honor bands is there is always a guy that can play better than you, you know? Like, wherever you go. And it was like, that was an early lesson for me that I think actually helped me. So it's just interesting. We went like a different direction with that, you know. Well, I remember I read an article and it was a timpanist. He plays the timpani and he wanted to audition to like the Boston.

orchestra or some high level orchestra there. And there was this like, I think it was a New York Times article and he practiced eight hours a day for an entire year. You get one audition. And he's against all these other timpinsist. And he played his piece pretty perfectly. He messed up one tiny little thing. Yeah. It didn't get it. And I was like, man, you know what? I actually don't want to do that. Like, I'm kind of glad because that's super stressful. I want to be doing that. So at what point did the bit flip in your brain that this is okay? So I got to lead a creative team for a few years in an organization. And I was leading videographers, a social media manager, photographer, graphic designer.

And when I started doing that, you know, I haven't had imposter syndrome, I imagine. I was like, I don't know how I lead these people. but I realized as I was directing them and trying to project manage that all the interests that I had through college and after building websites, figuring out Photoshop, watching video copilot.net and learning after effects randomly, like all those random little things I did, while I was not as good at video production as the guys I was leading,

I was able to have a bigger picture of a final product in mind that allowed me and helped me lead them in a way that they could make even better stuff with some direction. And I realized, like, I actually don't have to be the best at taking the photo to direct a photographer. And the bit flipped. And I was like, okay, maybe all my experiences up to that point allows me now to have that kind of leadership ability over a team of experts. Because I don't, like, they take better photos than me. I don't want to take the photo, but maybe I can direct this vision in a way that is useful. And I think that started to help me see like the value and maybe all the experiences I had.

So that is a, I want to unpack that a little bit because I feel like that that's a powerful example of the realization of the way that the generalist mindset maybe puts you in a position where you could act as that director effectively. but if you don't have the experience, do you think there is still value in the generalist mindset? If you could go back and talk to 18-year-old Stephen, would you tell them focus on the trumpet, or would you tell them embrace the generalist role? Well, if I could talk to him, I would say maybe get a computer engineering degree instead of a trumpet degree. But I also at the same time wouldn't, you know, I think I'm glad I did in a weird way,

even though it's a conflict. But I think it's the ability to have experiences and learn from them and have the kind of perspective of like, what can I learn from this? What did I learn? And what can I apply to the future? And I think, you know, one of the examples in the book range is of chess masters.

And, you know, you take a chess master and you put the board in any kind of traditional position where the pieces like how they would might land he will be able to like see the winning moves in seconds and be able to like think 20 moves ahead. But if you present a chess board that's slightly out of place or in a way that the pieces wouldn't normally find themselves, that chess expert cannot really function the same way. They don't have the same ability when the picture is different. And so I think there is a difference, not that it's better or worse, but when you hyper-focus in that one area,

you might be extremely good at playing the violin. And when it's like a traditional classical piece or whatever, you can wow people to no end. But there is also a value of being flexible and being have kind of like an elasticity to how you see these situations and events to then say, okay, I can maybe apply this thing I learned or did a while ago to this.

And so I don't know if it was the exact experiences, but I do think it's a mindset. I think it's an eagerness to learn mindset, but also a lot of things apply to a lot of other things. And if you really, you know, take the time to maybe learn a lesson, it'll probably come up a lot again in the future. The violin example, that resonates with me because I grew up playing violin. Okay. I remember specifically, I started when I was five, and I grew up with the Suzuki method. So it's kind of classically trained.

You learn by ear. and I remember a point in high school where a couple of my friends were playing guitar and they're like, hey, let's jam. And I'm like, okay, where's the sheet music? Right. Yes. And I was like, I can play of all these four seasons from memory. Everyone's telling me, oh, this is, you're so good at this.

You should join the orchestra, the symphony, whatever. I didn't really have any interest in that sort of thing, though. Take me out of that very rigidly defined comfort zone. and I have no idea what I'm doing. And when I got to college, I was more on the classical side. I played in the jazz bands and I loved playing that kind of music,

but I was very classical-minded. And I was in a few music ensembles where I was with a bunch of gospel players and ensembles, they would play like funk and stuff like that. And I would be trying to play with them. I'd be like, what key are you in? They'd be like, bro, I got no idea. I'm like, what chords are you playing?

They're like, bro, I don't know. I'm like, how do you play, like, piano players playing these incredible chords? And they're like, I don't know, just follow my finger. I'm like, this is an entirely new world. Like, I don't get it. And I was way out of my depth. And I loved it. I loved hearing them.

But it just blew my mind. Like, oh, there's people like this too. I had no idea. I was on the other side of the fence on that. Like, I was in the jazz band. And occasionally, like, one of the really good players from the orchestra would come over, a trumpet player or whatever. And, like, you'd give them a chord sheet and say, hey, man, just writ,

let it rip and their brains would it would melt. I mean, I'm going to play the root. Every chord change. That's all I know to do. That was, that was me. Yeah.

And that's interesting because you mentioned that you were in that scenario and you loved it. I remember being in that scenario and I hated it. And so the difference there that I want to, want to hit on is I feel like you, if you embrace the role of the generalists, you'll find yourself trying things, putting yourself in positions where you're not the best at something. And you can either view that as an opportunity or a threat. Right. And so for me, it was very uncomfortable. It highlighted that I wasn't

as good as maybe I thought I was, the story I was telling myself in my head. But then what do you do with that? And I think that's where the book range, you mentioned, that's a phenomenal book. I love that book. And it kind of encourages you to lean into the things that are uncomfortable, not so that you can become even competent in those areas or extending that out further become the best, right? Because that's this scarcity mindset. There can be only one person who is the best. I'm going to be that person or I am going to be a failure. And that's, I would argue the wrong way to look at things. If you make any sort of progress, that's a win. And there's really the opposite of the scarcity mindset, I think is like this abundance mindset. And it kind of reminds me of this concept,

the gap and the gain? Are you familiar with that? Not sure. I'm not sure. So the gap, just real briefly, this is a concept by Dan Sullivan, but it's very relevant for this discussion. If you've got a goal and you set that goal, you, that's your ideal. That's what you're moving towards. But no matter how good you are, how much you make progress, at some point, you feel like you're not making progress fast enough. And so there's this gap between where you are and where you think you should be. And so that's frustrating, you lose motivation, why am I even doing this? But you don't have to take that approach. You can actually measure backwards. This is where I started. This is where I am. Look how much I've

grown. And that creates the motivation to keep going. As long as you're trying to become the best in a field, you're stuck in the gap. But if you're doing it because I love doing the thing and I want to learn and I want to grow and maybe these skills that I'm learning are going to be useful somewhere else. But I don't even really know. I'm just having fun doing it. That's the game mentality. Yeah. See, I have a completely different mindset about it. Like even from an early age, I always felt like the fun thing about learning something new is the ramp. You can learn so much about something new so quickly as opposed to the level between competent and good and good and expertise that gets smaller and smaller in terms of the time payoff. So for me, it was almost like maybe a time management thing. It's like, well, you know, I want to learn. how to do this thing, I bet I could get competent at it in very little time. And it's like a joke in our family that we all just do it ourselves. Like, you know, like my kids make fun of it too. And it's like, my daughter's like, oh, yeah, I was looking at this children's book. And I was looking

the illustration. I was thinking, yeah, I could do that, you know. And she's like, yeah, I said you could. You know, and like in my wood shop, I, you know, I do metal work, I do leather work. I do, I'm not the best at any of it, but I feel like I'm good enough to do good work and all of it. And I don't know if to me, there's an attraction to that. Like, what else can I collect in this bag of tricks that's rattling around between my ears? And I just never have had any problem with it. Maybe to my fault, really. No, I think that's good.

And I also, I remember in high school, I took home a tenor sacks from the school. All right. Because I was like, I just want to learn something new. And like, it was super exciting. I'd be able to play a C scale on the tenor sacks because I never did it before. You know, it was fun. But with the, with the whole best, worst paradigm, YouTube also has helped put that in perspective for me. Because you immediately see the best every day.

Like, MKBHDs out here with 20 million subscribers. and if I compared my channel to his every day, it would be crippling to think like, that'll never achieve that and likely won't. But it helps then shape the mindset of like, okay, it's not a best, worst scenario. It's a can I differentiate question? Can I do something that offers value

or has a different take or something unique that no one else is doing? And that's not dependent on how quote unquote good you are at a specific skill, that's about how creatively you can think and present and then execute on that idea. And that's what I really felt as I was trying to grow my YouTube channel. Okay, I can have a different take, execute on that because of all the skills that I've gained over the years doing random stuff. I can, I have these scales and I can execute it from beginning to end all by myself. Let me see how quickly I can iterate and just throw stuff against the wall and see what sticks.

And that really helped me realize like, okay, this is not like a best worst question. It's just doing something different. The interesting thing about MKBHD in particular, because you mentioned he's got like 20 million subscribers. And it's easy to look at where he is now and look at the quality of the stuff that he puts out and be like, I could never do that. But I remember coming across not too long ago a clip of his 100th video. when he's a little kid recording with the potato camera on his Dell PC at the kitchen table

or something. And he's like celebrating the fact that he's got 97 subscribers after 100 videos. And I remember coming across that and thinking to myself, you know, he just didn't quit. And he published enough stuff and the quantity produced the quality. You know, he got enough reps in that he realized what actually made a better video. And he leaned into that. And there's so many people, and honestly, I've done the same thing myself many times. You try something and it doesn't work and you're just like, ah, forget this.

One of the reasons why I brought this generalist conversation up is I have a hypothesis I'd like to throw against the wall here. Okay. I think we're entering a golden age for generalists. The arrival of large language models, AI agency, that stuff makes a specialist not as valuable as a generalist. because in the not too distant future, we'll have a team of specialists available to us whenever we want. And it's the generalist who will figure out

how to put it together. What do you guys think? I think I agree. I only hesitate because there may be experts of new fields that are just emerging. And I don't know what an expert AI agent user looks like. You know, maybe that's you, David. And I do see like what you do with Claude.

And I'm like, okay, you're better at it than I am. But I do think for those, I think it's that execution part of the process where these tools allow a single person to multiply their efforts way farther than ever possible. And you look at MKBHD today, you know, they just did a huge, like an hour and a half long documentary of the studio, basically filming themselves for a year as a team. And it's like, when you see everything behind the scenes of MKBHD, studio. I mean, he's got a dozen of people there working on everything. He's got thumbnail designer. He's got editors. And then you can put in perspective like, oh, wait, it's just me sitting in this room. Like, I'm not just by myself. And so what I am able to put out there, I can be proud of because I'm like, I don't have a team of people.

And I can still put out really good stuff. And these tools have allowed for that. And I do think those who have the ideas that previously didn't have the monetary means or some of the skills to maybe execute all the way, we'll have the tools now and leverage the things like AI, and they might be able to do things they just, they couldn't before. Yeah, I think that's a good rephrasing. It's not that generals are going to dominate, but they have new opportunities with the way things are going. I completely agree. I listened to recently the John Gruber's talk show with Adam Liseagore.

I'm not sure if you guys listened to that. I did. Develop this, what did he call it? Hovercraft. Hovercraft app, yeah, for Vision Pro. has no idea how to how to write any code. And I thought that was such a brilliant interview. And credit to John Gruber for the way that he did it because he kind of goes into it.

He's like, I don't really know about this AI vibe coding stuff. And there have been so many narratives like, well, AI is fine if you want to do a personal project. But you can't create anything commercial with it because what happens if it breaks and you got to support it? You figure it out. You do support it, right? But you don't have to know all that stuff ahead of time. It's one of those limiting beliefs that can keep you from taking it. action on it. And the framing that Ed and Lisa Gore used in that interview was so good.

He viewed himself as the creative director for these coding projects. He's just a team of one that's doing this. Or he's developing some internal tools for his actual creative team as well. But I think that's the secret sauce there. And I don't know that that's exactly generalist related, but there's definitely some overlap there where what job are you hiring the tools to do. And if you can get clear on that and what you want the final outcome to look like, I mean, the sky is the limit. That's pretty cool. Yeah. And I think that taste direction, you know, I think about, I've built probably 200 websites in total for clients and different people. And over the years, you know, when I first started, the client would say, can you make this button

this way or can you change this around because it's difficult to navigate? And all those little changes that probably were annoying at the time. But just by doing that, I learned how people use websites. You know, I learned like what people are looking for when they visit a website and what that means. And now when I want to do something on my own website, I can direct Claude to write something. And the first pass, it's usually pretty good. I could use it out of the box.

But I will sit there and tweak it six or seven prompts deep. So it can be even better. and then I'm happy with it. And I have enough confidence in my taste and ability there where I'm saying, okay, now it's ready to go. And I think that's the kind of skill that a generalist, someone who has had a varying experiences, can then use these tools to make a page on the website or make an app or vibe code something that is then useful and they can put there out in the world and someone

else will inevitably find it useful too. This episode of Focus is brought to you by Keeper Security. Between work, banking, and shopping, you have a lot of to keep track of. Keeper stores everything securely in one place and organizes it so you can log in anywhere within seconds. Keeper is a password manager that creates strong, unique passwords for all your accounts, stores them securely in one place, and logs you in automatically across all your devices so you never have to remember, guess, or worry about your login credentials again. For businesses, Keeper takes the chaos out of managing accounts for teams so they can securely

share logins, control permissions, and protect sensitive data without slowing down day-to-day work. What people really notice is how simple it feels. Security features like AutoFail and Face ID or fingerprint login quietly make things easier, so best-in-class protection doesn't have to feel like extra work. It just happens in the background. From individuals to large organizations, millions of people worldwide rely on Keeper to keep passwords organized and accounts protected. Keeper can help you do the same thing. Stop thinking about passwords altogether and just get on with your day. Do you care about online security at all, you need a password manager. Something that helps you create and organize unique passwords for each of your logins,

and Keeper gives you everything that you need to do exactly that. They make it super easy to generate passwords, and you can save and access them on any of your devices. The auto fill feature makes it easy to add those passwords wherever you're trying to log in, and I love how they have support for two-factor authentication built right in so you can have that extra layer of security wherever you go without having to deal with all those annoying SMS codes. If you don't have a password manager yet,

I highly recommend that you give Keeper Security a look, and right now Keeper is offering listeners of the Focus Podcast 60% off personal and family plans if you go to Keepersecurity.com slash focused, F-O-C-U-S-E-D. This offer is only for podcast listeners. That's K-E-P-E-R security.com slash focused for 60% off personal and family plans. Make sure you use the link so they know that we sent you.

Keeperssecurity.com slash focused. Our thanks to Keeper Security for their support of the Focus Podcast and all of Relay. All right. So one of the things that I heard you bring up on Mac Power users was the approach that you have with intentional technology use in your kids. So there's a larger topic I want to explore. explore here on tech and focus. But I want to start it and frame it through the lens of how do you communicate to your kids what intentional technology looks like when you are, when dad is a YouTuber.

It is a funny dynamic because, you know, we'll talk about technology, AI, and algorithms like just in passing or in conversation. And I think as with many conversations, there's some negative connotation to some of those terms and some of those things. But we also realize, like, I will routinely save a bunch of reels I've come across and in the evening airplay mirror to my TV and we all watch like 10 funny reels together. And so I'm trying to instill and I think hopefully they're understanding like there's a lot of value out there, either in social media or on YouTube, a lot of its entertainment there is a lot of educational.

And honestly, it's different for every age. I was just talking to my wife about this. And we have a lot of family friends with very young kids, like five years old and younger. And I do think, I don't know what, I'm sure there's lots of studies out there, but when there's a lot of exposure to those algorithmic feeds and platforms

at a young age, unfettered, time access, like maybe multi hours a day, I think something is happening affecting the way that the kids think and so forth versus if kids have a number of years without that and then get introduced to it. And I have, you know, no proof for studies for that. I'm just talking about my own kids and then the kids, you know, we're around. But like my oldest, my two sons, 17 and 13, I am intentionally like, all right,

Yeah, you can scroll a little bit. We're going to do an hour a day. And if you want more time, you can request it and we'll see. And like, I will just judge you off vibes if I'm going to approve this screen time request or not. But we'll see. Because I want, because it's also what I've found is it is a social connection point for teenagers. My son had a birthday party recently. He had a bunch of friends over.

They're all like 16 or 17. And multiple times I heard one of them say, hey, did you see that video? And it was probably a viral video. video that went really big. And so there's also this, you've got to be careful because you want your kids to be able to connect with other kids of the same age. And for those older teenage years, actually the social media thing is one of those places because that's just where they're all on. So we're trying to allow it in moderation for my daughter who's nine and for younger, you know, she can't scroll anything. She doesn't have Instagram. She has nothing to scroll.

She doesn't have YouTube. We can talk about my YouTube practices. if we want. But we will share things with her. Like we'll either like scroll together or I'll save some reels and show her later. But I'm trying to be very intentional. And we are very conservative compared to a lot of other families close to us. Most kids have like multi-hour ability on these social media apps. And maybe that's okay.

But for me, strangely, as someone who does this for a living, I rather err on the side of conservative. And I will just attest that I've spent time with Stephen's children and they are remarkably well-adjusted kids. Thank you, David. You did. We spent a whole day at Disney together, which we'll test a child. Yeah.

So. Well, I think I'm probably pretty similar to you in the approach. We've been hesitant to let them embrace the technology and the way that they want, you know, when they want for a long time. They've got controls on things that they could do and they just have access. to an iPad, all of our devices get charged to the dock in the kitchen, no devices in the bedrooms, that sort of thing. When our kids at turn 16, they get their first iPhone. Before that, they use like a light phone or something similar. But I also think the restrictions are not the point.

It's really teaching the mindset for how am I going to use this tool for good, you know, intentional, instead of just getting sucked into the algorithm. So we have a saying at our house, create, don't consume, which doesn't mean you never consume. As a YouTuber like you, you know, I have to watch videos to get ideas like, hey, I should take a different approach on that idea. If you don't ever consume anything,

it's kind of hard to just come up with stuff. But also, consuming tends to be the default, and it requires the least amount of effort. and so I remember teaching my kids. This is how you, you know, record a song in garage band. My oldest has been editing my bookworm and Intentional Family Podcasts for years at this point. Because he's a nerd like I am trying to teach him, you know, this is a intentional way to use it, which ultimately, you know, I guess if you're a dig a little bit deeper, we want to teach

them the quote unquote right way to use the technology. But right is subjective. You can decide what right is. and really there isn't a wrong answer as long as you're intentional about it and you don't just get sucked into the the agal rhythms and invest your attention to add some more zeros to Mark Zuckerberg's bank account.

Well, a prime example is my oldest. For a 17th birthday, we actually got him a MacBook Pro. Maybe we should talk about this on MacPower users, David. So he has his first own MacBook Pro. One of the reasons is he does music type production. He makes tracks. and loops. He'll even rap over them. And like he's released some stuff on like Apple Music and Spotify. And so we wanted him to be able to have the tools to like make music that he wants to make.

And one of the apps he wanted to use because he has seen it in some videos is FL Studio, which is like a music production app. And so when he got the MacBook Pro and we downloaded the FL Studio, I don't know how to use it. I've never used that app. And so he requested time on YouTube. And if you deal with screen time with your kids, you know, there's 15 minutes, there's one hour and there's all day. I so wish Apple would add more options to that or even a custom option. Like, a movie is two hours.

Like, at least let me approve for two hours. You're on a road trip or whatever. You want to keep tapping one hour. But that was probably the first time, the other times I mean, if I'm by accident. But my son requested time on YouTube because he was going to look up tutorial videos for this app, FL Studio, and I approved YouTube all day.

And I said, look up some tutorials, go at it. You know, and that's a situation where that I've been in, where I've sat with a YouTube tutorial or a video co-pilot back in the day, and I will watch four hours of videos literally clicking and after effects following the tutorial to learn. You know, that's how I learned. And so that kind of content, extremely valuable. And like, yeah, spend four hours on that.

You're learning a new piece of software. But yeah, if we're talking about Mr. Beast videos, like, we're not going to do that for four hours. Let's, let's not do that. so how do you handle the balance there between consumption and in creation i'm kind of curious because i am a YouTuber but i have to admit i don't actually watch youtube all that much i'll do some research but it's not the place i go just to like consume stuff for for fun um i know myself and i i tend to go off the deep end if i take the take uh take uh my eye off the prize for even a little bit.

So what sort of things do you use to maintain focus and intentional technology use? I do watch YouTube not super often. You know, I'll typically watch a 10 or 15 minute video like while I'm eating lunch or something. And I'll just honestly just to see what's out there. You know, I'll look at the YouTube homepage and like, what are the algorithm serving people right now?

What devices are people watching videos about? And, you know, I get a bunch of Hank Green and John Green video served to me because I watch a lot of those. And so, you know, I'll watch some of those. But I've probably spent more time scrolling reels because that's, for some reason, like one of my downtime activities. And we were actually just looking at screen time last night. I'm like, maybe I should probably do this less.

But I do have kind of an internal gauge. Or if I catch myself, like, scrolling on something, like Instagram, like there'll be a moment where I'm like, I think I've consumed a lot more than I've made today. And it's literally my job to make. some stuff. So I'm going to stop now. So I don't have any like set limits or boundaries on my stuff, but I do feel an internal check of like, this is, yeah, I'm done for that. I should, I should stop. And so that's, that's what I go by, vibes. I always feel like, because I like Instagram too, I mean, woodworkers, people who tie knots, you know, I got the, it knows me, you know.

That's awesome. Yeah, but the, um, but I do find afterwards, like, I just drank salt water. I was thirsty and I drank salt water. That's good. Yeah. And I also I have a stack of books on my nightstand that I want to read. And there is always that push and pull, usually the time I have to read, it's at night, you know, it's late. And so the decision is like, watch an episode of something, scroll for 20 minutes, or read. And I want to want to choose to read. And I don't as often as I would do that. And I know

David's practice is like, you know, he puts his phone in the drawer in the nightstand after a certain time. And I think I want to adopt that. Just drill a little hole, Stephen. Drill a little hole in the back, feed the cord in. Maybe. When you go to bed, just stick it in there, plug it in old fashion. This is a trick. Don't use a puck. Plug it in. Not because you need the fast charge, but because it's a pain in the neck to unplug it, so you're less likely to dig in for it. It is true. I, because I use MagSafe Chargers since iPhone 12 since it came out. And it is easy. Just put on and take off even at night.

Get yourself an old-fashioned clock, put it on your thing so you don't need to look at your phone. Let's not get crazy. I think Mike even leaves his in the kitchen, right? I do, yeah. I don't even have a clock in the bedroom. That drives me nuts. I don't want to know what time it is when I have to get up in the night.

How do you get up? Do you have an alarm? How do you get up? I do, I use a sleep cycle for the Apple Watch. And so I'll set my, yep, taps you on the wrist. sleep is a whole rabbit hole, which I'm happy to go there if you guys want to. But I was diagnosed with epilepsy when I was 18 years old. So I have to be careful about my sleep. I got to get enough. I got to make sure that I'm generally getting good sleep. So I'm not using any of the statistics that it gives me as, oh, there's my license to do something crazy or anything like that. But I just keep an eye on those sorts of metrics. Yeah. And haven't had any issues in 20-something. than years. So we're going to, we're going to keep it that way. All right. So Stephen, you mentioned you have a pile of books on your nightstand. So I assume you're reading physical books. What kind of

books are these? You know, you've read range. Like, what and how do you read? I read all physical books. As it should be. If you guys are, we don't talk about the fact we do this in YouTube, but you should see the smile, the beatific smile on Mike Schmidt's face right now. I feel vindicated. I, we did it. You know, David and I just did a whole episode with Jason talking about e-books and the cobo and e-readers. And I've, I've tried a lot of them and they're great.

But for me, reading, it's just got to be physical. It helps me focus on it. And I don't know. I get more from it. Just, you know, reading the E-ink letters versus reading the physical pages for whatever reason, my brain, it just does better at that. So we're about to finish the body keeps the score. My wife and I have been reading through that for the past year off and on,

and so we're going to finish that. I just got Joanna Stearns. I am not a robot book where she used AI for her entire life. And so I'm just about to start that. But I also have your brain on art, kind of started that here. I got Dick Van Dykes, How to Live to a Hundred Years book. And I'm kind of really excited to read that. But I do keep a note here of all the books I've read every.

year. And just some polk, I've read creativity by John Cleese recently and really enjoyed that. Short book. Yeah, you're just one sitting and you can read it. 4,000 weeks, which David and I have talked about, was very impactful recently.

I dealt with grief a couple years ago. The other side of sadness by George A. Bonano is an incredible book. And I kind of keep that there because I kind of refer to it pretty often. And I typically read kind of that it's nonfiction. I don't like calling it self-help. I don't know what you

would call books like 4,000 weeks. But that kind of general like stolen focus, you know, that was another recent read. I read the violin maker, which is an incredible book about making Stradivarius violins and, you know, going to Austria and seeing all that. So those are the kind of books I enjoy reading. I think I would classify those probably as self-help. Like if you're going to go find them in a Barnes and Noble, that's probably where they would be. But yeah, they're not really how to crank a few extra widgets during your day. It's, uh, think about things maybe a little bit differently. 4,000 weeks. I remember that one really messed me up when I read it. I actually put a memento Mori widget in my obsidian daily note. So I get a little progress bar. This is how much of my life has

expires every single day. I do not. I do not do that. Some people think that's weird. I find it motivating like, hey, make the most of the time that you've got available. I guess it kind of ties back to our conversation about the generalist stuff, though. Like if you're trying to become the best at something, oh, man, my time is slipping away. I only have so many hours left to become a master of whatever skill, but that's not, not the way I'm trying to approach it. Just a reminder that this two shall pass. You're not going to be here as long as maybe you think you are.

And I tend to put a lot of pressure on myself to achieve big goals and things like that. So his whole idea of the cosmic insignificance theory, you know, the universe is going to be fine after you die, was actually like a big relief for me. It felt like a big burden off my shoulders. Oh, okay. So I can just do the best of what I got to work with. And then everything's going to be fine. I got that in lock at like 10 reading Isaac Asimov. Sure, sure.

Because he saw Harry Selden was he was the thing of the first. first book and by the last book, nobody even remembered who he was. And I was thinking, well, I'm not going to be Harry Seldon in my life. So I'm good. Did you watch Foundation, David? Yeah. Yeah. Actually, it's, I really enjoyed it.

And, uh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm in the middle of it. So thanks for spoiling that. But, uh, anyway, uh, I will say, yeah, yeah. I will say the, um, I found John Green through the Anthropocene reviewed, another book that I read recently in which I loved. And so that's when I started listening to him. and Hank Green. But, you know, John Green jokes a lot about, like, we're all going to die. And it's

joking, but it's also, like, from that book and also Ryan Holiday's Stillness is the Key book, which I read a couple years ago, it does help put it in perspective and feel like a weight off your shoulders. And I also, I watch the, speaking, go back to what we watch on YouTube, the last meals series in, I forget the kitchen, what the name is. But he opens every show by like, we all got to eat and we're all going to die. And, you know, the whole show is the last meals with these famous people. And, like, it is sad to think about death sometimes, especially if it's hit close or recently for you. But it's also like, you know what, things that feel really big today when you put it in that perspective gets a little smaller. And that's a helpful perspective I have found. And that also helps when

you think about those regrets, like from years ago, like, oh, I didn't start early enough. Yeah, you know what, it doesn't matter anymore. Not only can you not change it, it turned out all right. You're here now. You're here now. Yeah. Exactly. And none of us are getting out of this alive, so enjoy it.

That's it. And I was like, I love that kind of like that kind of humor. Yeah. Like it, it helps a little bit. Like the Memento Mori. Like I don't want the calendar in my notes app just yet, but I do like the, sometimes I look at the year progress. I used to follow that X account that had like a year progress loading and every month.

You know, they pose like another percentage. And like, that does like, help me say, man, time moves fast. And so let me, let me be present for now rather than be so focused on regret of the past or fear of the future. And I think you need to distinguish mourning and loss from accepting death. Like my father passed away over 30 years ago. I literally think of him every day. It's, you know, but at some point it becomes like a friend because he was so special that after 30 years, I think of him every day. But, you know, my own death, yeah, that's going to happen.

But hey, you know, make it work while you're here. And so I, to me, it's a very different, like, pattern. And also, like, I think about, well, what is the most important thing before I go to do? And then I think about my kids and what I impart to them. And then, you know, we just talked about screen time. And it's, it is very important. But, man, it's more important that I teach them how to be kind and humble and to, like, work diligently. and believe that you can achieve these things

if you work hard enough. Like that's what's really important that I instill on them. And like that I'm here for them now and will be here for them as long as I'm here. Like that's really what's important. My wife and I came to the conclusion

that the only thing we influence with our kids is the moral compass. Like they are who they are. Like they're work ethics. They're a lot of their personality is just it's hardwired from birth. But, but if you parents,

them right, hopefully you can give them a bit of a moral compass. I don't know if you guys listen to a reconcilable differences, but, you know, John Syracusa and Merlin, man, John Syracuse, I think, leans much more like, he really wants to teach his kids to bring a coat because it's going to be cold. And Merlin is like, well, okay, man, but they're going to do what they're going to do. And I have felt myself moved slowly from, like, the Syracusa, like, I really want them to understand, like, this is important to be like, you know what? they're getting older and they're going to make their own decisions.

They make so many decisions already that you probably don't even know about. And like you cannot control those. And like, sure, there might be decisions that I prefer they make. But it's really just more important that like they know I'm supporting them and that I've done my best to impart. Again, be kind, be humble, work hard and be selfless when you can as much as you can. And like that's, that's it. I feel like you guys are just a little bit behind me. my kids are a little older.

And as your boys are graduating, both of you, the hardest thing about that phase you're entering is when you see them, you know, metaphorically driving towards the brick wall. And every part of you wants to jump in and tell them, rest the wheel from them. But the best thing you can do for them is let them do it. Because the stakes are low when you're 20. Right.

You know, and let them crash. Stand by with your broom and your dustpan. Be ready to help them, but don't intervene. And for the love of all, that is holy, don't tell them, I told you so. Oh, no. Yeah. But just let them, but that was a really hard skill for me as my kids were kind of going through the phases you guys are going through through as to say, no, no, no, they got to get some, they got to bloody up a little bit here

if they're going to get through life. But yeah, it's tough. It's like the parenting paradigm shifts as they get older. Yeah. Why, I'm getting very hippie and old here, guys. What's going on? Sorry. I'm not Yoda.

This episode of the Focus podcast is brought to you by Squarespace. Go to Squarespace.com slash focused to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using the code focused. Squarespace is the all-in-one website platform designed to help you stand out and succeed online. Whether you're just starting out or scaling your business, Squarespace gives you everything you need to claim your domain, showcase your offerings with a professional website, grow your brand, and get paid all-in-one place.

Gang, more than ever, I think you need to own your space on the internet, and the easiest and most affordable way to do that is, with Squarespace. I've been using them since they first showed up. I still have an active Squarespace site. And one of my favorite things about this company is the way they are constantly evolving. They're not sitting on their hands over there at Squarespace. With Squarespace, you can make a beautiful website. They have Blueprint AI, which is their AI enhanced website builder. It lets you quickly and easily build a site bespoke to your business. Just put some basic information in about your industry and goals and off it goes. Plus, they have beautiful, professionally designed award-winning

website templates, so however you start, you'll have a great-looking website with many options and no experience required. If you want to share videos, you can do that too. Upload video content, organize your video library, and showcase your content on beautiful web pages. You can even sell access to your video library by adding a paywall to your content, perfect for online courses, exclusive tutorials and premium workshops. And best of all, you can get a trial for free. Just go to Squarespace.com slash focused. And when you're ready to launch, use the offer code Focus to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.

That's Squarespace.com slash focused. Offer code focused, F-O-C-U-S-E-D to get 10% off your first purchase and to show your support for the Focus podcast. Our thanks to Squarespace for their support of the Focus Podcast. and Olive Relay. Mike, what are you reading these days? I am reading a book called Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Gidara. You mentioned the last meals. Stephen, are you familiar with Will Godara or this book at all?

I'm not. I've got to look it up now. Okay, so Will, I believe is a chef. I actually just heard him and his business partner were on the Nathan Barry podcast. and they were talking about this idea, and that's what actually caused me to pick this one up. That podcast episode was great. They talk about ways to interject joy into the everyday experiences. You know, someone's coming to a restaurant.

They're kind of famous for they don't have any sort of like valet tickets. They just pay really close attention. This is your car. And they watch you the whole time that you're there, and as your meal's getting close to the end, they take your jacket and they warm it up by the fire. So it's ready for you when you walk out. And those little things just put the experience over the top.

I remember there was one story in that podcast episode that they told, just to kind of explain a little bit why I think the general focused audience is going to like this book in this podcast episode in particular. They got this big barrel of really nice whiskey. and they brought it back, they put it in the basement of their restaurant, and it was a big ordeal to get there. And after that, they had some big business guy come in. He's like, I need a glass of your best whiskey.

So they gave him a glass of this whiskey. And I said, that's the only glass they have ever sold. Because when they sold it, they were like, we can't do this. That feels wrong to sell this. So what they did is they created this thing where if you come to their restaurant, and you share something really vulnerable in front of a bunch of people, then you get to take a shot of whiskey from the barrel. So they create this whole experience about it,

and they've had so many people share so many vulnerable things and a bunch of groups of people just bawling their eyes out because of the stuff that they're sharing, and that's kind of what they're optimizing for, those types of experiences. And it's kind of cool to think about, you know, what are the ways that we can create that sort of atmosphere, not just in a restaurant business.

I think it is a little bit more generally applicable, but that's where a lot of their stories come from is the hospitality industry. I can add on that book is excellent. I read it as well, and I actually think about it with my customer service. Like where can I make a difference? And I don't want to get into it,

but I've tried to go above and beyond for some of my customers over the years in that way. I discovered that book through my wife because she's in Disney management, and they worship that book at Disney. I mean, they... I mean, that makes sense. All the managers read it and they talk about it

and it's like, how can we give the guests unreasonable hospitality? That's a thing. He came in, actually, my wife actually saw him speak. He came to Disneyland and talked to them once. Great book. And no way, don't think about it just for restaurant owners. I think if you deal with the public in any way,

this is something to consider. That's awesome. I'm going to check that out. And if I could, I'll mention two. two more books that I have not mentioned yet. One is one, I read it a couple years ago, How to Be Perfect by Michael Schor, which is a creator of shows like The Good Place.

And it's actually a book on moral philosophies, but Michael Schor is hilarious. And if you have any interest in that kind of stuff, I absolutely loved it. And the last book, this one's a little weird, but I don't want to curse on the show because I don't get an explicit tag.

But the title of the book is on BS, the BS being, like the actual thing. It's like a 70-page essay that was written in like the 60s or something. And it's a little book now. And that book, I feel like should be required reading going into life. Because that book talks about the prevalence of BS, where BS comes from, why people BS. And there's a line in that book that has just stuck with me ever since. And it's like, if you have known a BSer in your work, in your life,

and it's so hard to put your finger on like, what makes this person a BSer? And in the book it says, in order to be a liar, you have to know the truth and then represent the opposite. So liars have to know what's true and say the opposite.

A BSer is unconcerned with truth. It is not that they know what's true and say what's the opposite. They don't even pay attention to what's true. And they just say things to form their own reality around themselves and hopefully around others and convince them of their reality. And it was like, wow, if I knew that all the years that I was working in like the corporate world,

I was like, that would explain so much because I'm such a like a logical facts and figures evidence guy. I'm like, I sent this email and stated this exact thing and I executed this, like, what's the deal? and so often that kind of specific factual recounting of an event didn't matter to some people and they would just like talk around it and dismiss it and it would always blow my mind. I'm like, how are people not get it? Like, why am I not communicating? Like, this is like real stuff. Like, this is facts.

And then I realized like, oh, they're unconcerned with truth. It doesn't matter. Like you can't fight BSers with facts and figures. And that just helped me understand so much of the world. It's a 70-page book I highly recommend. Wow. You know, 30 years of trial lawyer, I ran into a lot of those guys. I'll say another piece of it in my mind.

I put your book in my cart. This is by Harry Frankfurt. Yes. I can't. There's an anniversary edition, gang, so I'm going to read it. But the other thing I feel like, just as an aside there, often I felt like it was a reflection of insecurity. Like when people do that. I don't know if he covers that in the book or not, but that, to me, so often the explanation.

Yeah, and he talks about, like, the reason why most people BS is because they're expected to go beyond their expertise or knowledge. Yeah. Or they're insecure about something, hence BS. And, like, and there's just a lot of people are required to do that a lot of the time. And that's why there's such prevalence of it. He wrote it in 1986, which is the year I was born. And so maybe that's why I identify with it. That was the year I graduated high school.

I feel old now. I was like, I just turned 40 this year. I'm feeling old. I'm feeling old too. All right. My book, we know there's a little movie coming out called The Odyssey. And I went and read a book earlier this year. Emily Wilson wrote The Iliad or she did a translation of the Iliad. And I didn't realize the time. She also did The Odyssey. I just discovered that a few weeks ago. So now I've got it. I'm working through it. I know there's a bunch of public domain versions of The Odyssey out there. You can get it for free if you got a Kindle or whatever.

I recommend spending money on the Emily Wilson translation. She does it in meter. She does an English translation in meter. I looked it up. It's iambic pentameter. I don't know. And people who listening know better. But all I can tell is it's a delight to read.

And I can tell she put a lot of effort into making it a delight to read. And if you want to go to the source material, if you're thinking about that movie, get it by Emily Wilson, The Odyssey. by an author you may not have heard of named Homer. Not Simpson. All right, guys. What's new and shining your life? Mike, you want to go first?

Sure. So Instagram knows me well and services me ads for content creation gear. And there's a company called eye footage that makes these sliders and they recently came out with one called the Pico Pro, which is just a short slider, maybe 18 inches, a little bit longer than maybe two feet. I don't know.

I haven't measured it, but it fits in my backpack. And it's pretty nice. I've got my Osmo Pocket 3. I'm trying to figure out ways to shoot more B-roll. earlier this week I brought my little B-roll kit with the Osmo Pocket with the

DGI mics with my I grabbed that slider stuck it all in my backpack and set up in the co-working space and shot some B-roll. It's pretty nice though because you can very easily program not just the starting and ending points but also

the actual I'm not sure that the technical terms here but the rotation. Yeah the rotation So it'll actually like the plate will rotate as the as the slider slides from one point to the other. You can choose how fast it goes. You can really dial it in. You can do it all right on the device. You can also do it via the app.

So you can have like a whole bunch of points that you plan out. And I just want something that I can put on the table next to me, turn on the Oswald Pocket, let it go by my MacBook as I'm typing or something. You know, stuff like like that. So I've got B-roll for my YouTube videos because I've, I shot a bunch of B-roll in the past, but it's probably been about a year and a half since I've really made more. And every time I have to go grab one of those clips, I feel like, oh, I really don't want to use this one again. Is this, it?

Is this it? Yep. Yep. That's it. So the pro is like the carbon fiber one that's really light and strong. And yeah, I've been impressed with it. You know, I got it off of Instagram. so I didn't really know what to expect.

And I kind of thought it was going to be this flimsy thing that would work, but I probably have to be pretty careful with it. And it seems like it's pretty well made. And I can just throw it anywhere and not really worry about it banged up. It comes to the nice, nice protective case that it goes inside. And yeah, I've been impressed with this little piece of gear. And hopefully it's going to help me up my YouTube game. I just bought it.

I literally just bought it. Just wait. I have to add on here. I have the one step above it. Oh, wait a minute. What? Yeah. I bought, if you look like my productivity field guide videos, there's a bunch of B-roll of my side, and it's the same brand, eye footage, shark, but it wasn't, they didn't make this one then. And the one that's, it's about 600 bucks, you can put a DSLR on. Yeah, you can do DSLR on this one too. It's just not nearly as long as the one that, that you've got. And the one I have it like it pivots on the center point so you double the link,

but you got to have it on a good tripod. Okay. It might be worth getting the better one. But the, uh, and they're amazing. And just like Mike said, you put the start point and the end point, press a button and off it goes, silent, not a problem. And, uh, and I know there are more expensive ones out there and fancier ones, but for little guys like us, these are amazing. That's cool. You want to share yours? I go. I'll go. Uh, I'll go. So I'm doing the robot course and, you know, people are starting to wake up to the value of transcripts, like what stuff they do because that is a great thing. You know, you feed it to the robot after a meeting and it figures out what you got to do next and who's going to do what. It's really handy.

So people want more transcripts. One of the customers during one of our live videos shared, he has this plod note pro, which is the thickness of about two credit cards in the same size. And it's a little piece of technology with a single button on it. You press it. It starts recording. It's got an app that pairs with it over Bluetooth. So you can be in a meeting or anywhere you want. Press the button and it just starts recording.

The plot software distinguishes between the speakers. You can assign speakers. You can just get the rough transcripts or you can get summaries and action items. They've got a bunch of templates. It's a really powerful platform. And it's about $180 to get the. the Note Pro, which is the one I'm playing with right now. I haven't decided if I'm going to keep it or not.

I bought it from Amazon because I knew it would be easy to return if I decided I didn't want. Because, you know, of course, people listening are saying, well, Sparky, what about, you know, whisper memos on your watch and all the apps on your phone? That's true, but there is something to be said for just a little piece of technology. You press one button on and then you're recording. If I was still practicing law, this thing would be right. I'd be carrying it with me all the time. I think it's just so useful for like client meetings or planning sessions.

I'm not sure I do enough of those anymore to justify this in my life. I've only had it a couple days, but I've been impressed with the performance. And if you're looking for an easy way to get transcripts, there isn't anything better. You can even apparently attach it. It's like magnetically to your phone and it can get conversations off your phone. Sounds a little creepy to me.

Obviously, I would tell somebody if I was going to do that. But there's a lot of stuff I do where I, I like transcripts. Like I've been making this big move to circle. And I got transcripts of all my calls with the circle people. And I'm building a knowledge base around it. And they know it. You know, I ask.

And but I do feel like transcripts are a thing now. And this is a nice piece of technology that does it. According to the people in my robot, it says in field guide, the plod one is the best one. I did a little research afterwards. And it seems like a lot of people agree. But it does. It can get a subscription. And you can really go down the rabbit.

but hole with this thing. But it's kind of cool. You guys aware of these things? Yeah, I have applaud. I have, they actually sponsored available years ago, but I have the pin and the card. And I still use it. I really like them. And the pin, you know, it's very discreet. I do like having a dedicated audio recording device, so I don't have to think about my phone being on. Yeah. And I know this is going to sound creepy at first, but just to hear me out, family gatherings. Yeah. It is actually, I love doing voice memos during family gatherings. I've done a lot of my phone. I have audio recordings of my kids when they were little, like, reading books. Oh, I wish I had those.

And, like, the just doing audio versus video, there's a mind shift where people around you don't get weird. Like, once you start holding your phone like this, everybody acts different. Yeah. But if you record a voice memo, you get something very different. And the plod makes it even more discreet and easy. And so, like, at Thanksgiving, I actually wore my applaud pin and would just, like, record some of the conversations just for personal use. And just to reminisce about it. Sure.

And I like that it separated the speakers because then I could. could actually see like, oh, what was that story that granddaddy told around the table? And it's actually like, yeah, for business, tons of use cases, but also kind of just for personal stuff too. What do you think of the quality of the recording? Like, I feel like the iPhone, the audio is better on the iPhone. I have that, that is a feeling that I don't care for the audio on the plot as much

as the voice memo on the iPhone. Like, I just did a voice memo on the iPhone the other day. And I was like, man, this sounds so much better than the applaud. And so I hope that the plot gets better. I have the first plot version, so yours might sound even better than mine. Yeah. But there's still something to be said about it, just a dedicated device that's discreet and I don't know to think about.

Yeah. It is, it's an interesting technology. Mike, have you ever thought about these things? I have not. So I have to admit, I don't even know what this thing is. But I like the idea of recording the family gatherings. That's pretty, pretty genius. I think.

And that's the kind of thing that you don't even really realize how valuable that stuff is until years, years later. Yeah. And you know,

my dad passed away three years ago and I have a number of audio recordings of him just telling stories around the dinner table that I'm going to treasure and I'm going to keep forever.

And so I highly recommend anybody does, just start doing it. Even if it's just a voice memo up on your iPhone, just start doing it. But I want to spring a new smart home device on David

because this is my shiny new thing. Oh boy. I just unbox this yesterday. So this is a little govy lamp. And the shtick here is, it is wireless. So this is just a tiny little table lamp that has a battery. And so you can recharge it via USBC. It is matter.

So I was able to add it right to my home app. And it's totally color. You could change the colors, intensity, brightness. And it's just a lamp now in your in your Apple home. we go to my uh the thing here this is i can do blue and i can do red you can do all the different colors and uh again battery powered so you can take this anywhere in the house and i don't know i don't know what i'm to do with it i don't want to know if it worked and like it's kind of cool and yeah table lamp what else well you know it's funny that actually might be a really good thing for me

i have a sister-in-law who loves the dodgers and i tell my wife when it would be cool if we got her like a light that lit blue when they win, you know. And I'm sure I could wire that up, right? Done. Yeah. I'm sure you can, you can use Claude to probably code some cloudflare worker to fire off an ifft or whatever. Yeah. Yeah. There you go. Tables. Well, let's wrap it up there. If people want to connect with you and learn more about what you're doing other than Mac power users, where can people find you, Stephen? You can go to beard.fm. And everything is on my website. It's all there.

I love that domain. Thank you. I was proud of getting that, grabbing that one. And now you can never shave. I can never shave. But that's okay. I shave my head. I keep the face.

I'm good. All right. Well, thank you for listening. Thank you to our sponsors today. That is our friends at Squarespace and Keeper Security. If you want to get deep focus, that's the ad-free extended version of the show. You can do that at Related. fm slash focus as well as find links to all the things that we talked about today on deep focus today

I think we're going to go a little bit deeper into the idea of directing AI so if you're a deep focus subscriber stick around for that otherwise we'll catch you next time