Dots and Boxes

This is Morning Coffee 91. My wife wants this to be my only job, so pay what you want, purchase my books on Amazon, or join my Music Program.


Škofja Loka, Slovinsko


Good evening. Writing you while walking downtown. Headed to the marina. The sun is going down. Cool breeze. Beanie, hoodie, jacket weather. The AirPods fill my ears with Jazzie Robinson. It’s been a busy weekend for us. 4am roadtrip to another state. More on that below. As always, hope all is well.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Zelda on the iPhone
  3. Dots and Boxes
  4. Hiking Photos

Zelda on the iPhone

I’ve been playing Zelda on my iPhone lately, thanks to Afterplay: a simple website that lets you upload retro games into your account and play them on any screen. It even auto-saves as you play.


Dots and Boxes

Even with all the technology in this world (and in my office), year after year, my favorite possession continues to be Field Notes. It doesn’t matter what the latest gadget is, nothing compares to this little notebook in my pocket.

I’ve used hundreds of Field Notes over the years, and during that time, I’ve slowly built a very simple system for capturing: Dots and Boxes.

  • Dots for notes
  • Boxes for tasks

This is what I call Rapid Logging. Current date at the top, bullet points for thoughts, checkboxes for actions. I can be anywhere in the world, pull this little notebook out and have two pages like this completely full in less than five minutes. It’s the ultimate tool for clarity.


Hiking Photos


This is Morning Coffee: a weekly newsletter that arrives in your inbox every Monday morning. I write about productivity, technology, and cool things I find on the internet. My wife wants this to be my only job, so pay what you want, purchase my books on Amazon, or join my Music Program.


Writing a newsletter every Monday. Playing basketball a few times a week. A dad to a little girl. She just turned three. Doing tech support for our local hospital. Last updated: November 12th, 2024.

Morning Coffee


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