Hey there!

It feels good to be home. It feels good to be back in a routine. More specifically, my routine. The routine that I’ve curated for my own personal value system [and sanity]. I am someone that, perhaps oddly, enjoys their daily grind. I wake up, get a shower, grab a cup of coffee and dig into what feels most interesting and rewarding for that day (of late this has been Playlist, but more on that in a bit). This summer has not been that…

…and yet weirdly has been more special and rewarding than that routine that I both love and desire.

Of the past six weeks, we’ve been away from home for four of them. Why would we sign ourselves up for that? Honestly, I don’t know, it was partially planning and partially just taking opportunities when they present themselves. My wife is a school teacher and our daughter is in elementary school, so the summer is when we are available to travel. We had an already packed summer planned, but there was an 8-day window where we could fly to Amsterdam and meet up with Nicole van der Hoeven. When opportunities like that open up, you take them. Another of these was a work trip that brought me to Denver and Wyoming, so we took that as an opportunity to bring our daughter out West for the first time since she was an infant.

I was watching a recent video from Matt Birchler and he said: “this video is the last video of Season 2 of A Better Computer” while he takes a break over the summer to refocus. I thought that was especially smart of Matt and realized this was something that I was doing but much less intentionally so. What I didn't realize is I had ended a season of my online persona and was taking a break from routine to do some more living.

Your routine will always be there. Your comfort zone at home will always be there. When cool opportunities present themselves, take them, even if your routine, and “productivity” take a temporary hit.

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For the past few months, the thing that has been interesting and rewarding for me is an app that I’m building called Playlist. Playlist is a more human take on productivity and planning that understands that modern life is busy and is filled more than just work. The goal of Playlist is to help you stay on top of what’s important, be more present, and to celebrate the progress you are making each week. If that sounds interesting, I’m actively looking for folks who want to test and shape what Playlist becomes. You can request an invite at Playlist.day or reply to this email.

Talk to you soon,
Brandon Boswell