Notes

On warm days like these, everything wants to slow down. And sometimes you’re still tempted to just keep going. Even though your body is asking for something else. You can have every intention of doing things differently, but changing habits is often harder than it looks.

The same goes for building the planning app I’m working on right now. The idea is that it will help me become more creative, keep a better overview, and stay more focused. All good things. 😊

But the habit creeps in quickly. One more feature, another idea for a different app to optimise my time and planning even further. And I enjoy that — but the danger is that you end up spending more time optimizing than simply solving the problem you started with.

A good example is the note-taking app Notion. You can do so much with it and build entire planning systems inside it, that the system itself becomes your new project instead of a tool.

I’m trying to become more aware of that, but it keeps sneaking back in. And for those who’ve seen the documentary: this is exactly the same tension. That search for grip is a good thing, but too much grip can also make you tense too much. 😁

So I want to try and slow down again for a bit. Keep working on the app, but also look outside my hyperfocus bubble a little: walking in nature, making and sharing music, and spreading the documentary further.

P.S. Over the past few weeks a lot of new people have subscribed to “Mail from the Road”, because “Geef me de 5” featured the documentary. Glad you’re here! And a huge thank you to “Geef me de 5” for sharing it.

On the couch, laptop on my lap, typing, waiting, planning, thinking. That’s been my view over the past few weeks.

In my previous message, I shared that I’ve been working on a new project, my new hyperfocus. If you’ve seen my documentary, you know that toward the end I talk about how, with the help I received, I started gaining more control over my life.
One of the things that really helped me with that was learning how to plan in a way that works for me, breaking down overwhelming projects into smaller, manageable pieces. And that’s something I still do.

Over the years, I’ve gone pretty deep into productivity. I’ve tried a lot of software and different methods. I enjoy working with technology like that, but those apps never really work the way I want them to. There are a lot of them, but they’re either too complex and built for big teams, or too simple. I couldn’t find one that actually fit the way I think and work.

And now that AI has gotten so good at writing code, I suddenly saw a way to build that app myself, even though I’m not really a programmer. So here I am, working out concepts, prompting, fixing bugs, figuring out the design, coming up with names, and so on.

And slowly, that’s turning into an app where I can plan and organize my life, business, music, and other projects in a simple, visual way. From bigger yearly goals down to small daily tasks, without losing the overview.

The first version of the app is getting close. I’ve started testing and refining it, and after that I want to see if it’s something that could be useful for others as well.

Grey skies
Black and white
Snow is listening

Wings stay cold
Even now
Spring is whispering

It’s finally here! Grab the popcorn and turn on your TV. From now on you have one week (until January 29th 17:00 UTC+1 ) to watch my documentary before it goes offline again, so don’t miss it!

The documentary is in Dutch, but you can turn on the English subtitles. For the full experience, I would recommend watching the movie on the big screen and with good audio.

I’m so thankful to everyone who made this documentary possible. I hope it offers recognition and understanding to those who often feel like a stranger on the road, and that they’re not alone. I’m also very curious what this movie does for you. So want to share something after watching it or have a question? Feel free to send a message.

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