Now that I’ve got a dedicated space to work from, I’ve started establishing some routines.
It feels very zen / self-care to start every day with tefillin, meditation, yoga, and a bit of bass guitar practice.
But when it’s time to work, I’ve been writing the acronym “SIGH” at the top of my to-do list.
Inbox zero is not for everyone, but it’s definitely for me. As is Slack zero, and GitHub zero.
S. I. GH.
I just hope I don’t get dragged into any Figma projects. That would totally ruin my acronym.
A list of things I install when getting started with a brand new Mac.
galaxy terminal themeInstalling multiple PHP versions, including unsupported versions (Feb 2023):
brew update
brew tap shivammathur/php
brew install shivammathur/php/[email protected]
brew install shivammathur/php/[email protected]
brew install shivammathur/php/[email protected]
// Use PHP 7.2
brew link shivammathur/php/[email protected]
// Switch to PHP 7.4
brew unlink php
brew link shivammathur/php/[email protected]I’m super excited to announce the launch of a project I’ve been working on for a while now…
This has been a labour of love since July. I first had the idea during WordCamp Sydney – I was taking questions after my talk on Gutenberg, and somebody asked whether there was an easy way to build Gutenberg blocks.
The short answer is no. Building custom blocks isn’t easy at all. Even seasoned WordPress developers are required to learn a whole new skillset. Imagine then, where this leaves regular site builders.
One of the plugins that inspired Block Lab is Advanced Custom Fields. ACF makes it super easy for site builders to add custom meta data to posts, making it much easier for their clients to build out content.
But WordPress is moving away from a custom fields paradigm, and toward a block based way of thinking about content. That’s where Block Lab comes in. Block Lab makes it super easy to create custom blocks, with a Gutenberg-first focus.
Block Lab is a collaboration between myself, Rob Stinson, and Rheinard Korf. Going forward we’ll even introduce you to a few other WordPress developers who are keen to get involved.
So, if you’re somebody who builds sites for a living, take a look at how Block Lab can help you build better.
My team at work has a weekly call, codenamed “Strategy Sync”, where we chit-chat and play a few rounds of Rocket League. This week, I joined the call from the metaverse via Bigscreen, which allowed me to beam my colleagues onto a giant screen in my virtual lounge room.
The best part was, they could see me, too! Well, my virtual avatar anyway. Here’s how I set it up.
Back in Virtual Reality, you should see your Bigscreen environment, and a selfie stick camera. This camera is now be your virtual web cam!
I recently did an interview with Alyssa Cuda on the WP Engine Blog about Tide, and the future of WordPress coding standards.
We believe that if Tide can encourage and guide WordPress Developers to write better code, every WordPress site (and by extension, the entire web) will be better. That’s how Tide got its name: A rising tide lifts all boats.
How and Why I choose my web browser.
As an advocate for open source, the open web, and privacy, my choice of browser is a critical part of my work. Some thoughts:
The only true open source browser. If I have a problem, I can file a bug on Bugzilla, and submit a patch to fix it. More importantly, if I’m ever curious about how the browser works under the hood, I can check the source.
For me, this makes Firefox an extremely persuasive option, and is the reason I try it out from time to time. Sadly, I’ve not yet been able to stick with it, and here’s why:
I am in the Mac / iOS ecosystem, and although Safari may lack in some features, it makes up for it in others:
For these reasons, Safari has been my primary browser for many years now.
Due to privacy concerns with Google’s ad-based business model, I try not to use any Google services. When I do (YouTube), I make sure to block all cookies and browser storage for those domains (which I can do with 1Blocker).
Chrome’s deep Google integration makes it a non-starter for me. Most of Chrome’s benefit’s can be summed up as “better integration with Google products”, which doesn’t help me at all.
I don’t have a personal Google account, but I do need one for work. For those times, I have my default browser set to:
My system default browser is set to Choosy – a System Preferences extension that smartly handles which browser to open depending on the URL.
I use Choosy to set up rules for the services that either require my work’s Google account, or simply don’t work well in Safari. This way, when a colleague drops me a Google Doc link to review, it automatically opens Google Chrome, which is signed into my work Google account.
This way, the vast majority of my web browsing happens without being logged into Google. Since 1Blocker is also blocking Google’s cookies and analytics, my browsing activity gets to remain private.
Although supporting an open source browser would be my ideal, my daily driver is Safari, due to its native integrations with Mac and iOS. I also use Choosy for the times when I need to be signed into my Google account (in which case I use Chrome, sparingly).
If you enjoyed this post, please consider adding this website to your bookmarks or favourites. Bookmarks are easy, free, private, and require no special software.
Inspired by Seth Godin, I recently attempted a daily writing project. I committed to write one blog post every day, indefinitely.
Here are my reflections.
Writing takes time. Not the actual typing – that part is easy. But finding inspiration everyday is a serious commitment. It can take hours, and it can't be forced.
Sometimes opening yourself up to inspiration means sitting in a café reading a magazine, or going for a stroll through the park, or reading a book. Let's be real: I have a family and a job, I don't have time to wistfully wait in the bath for my eureka! moment every single day.
After a few months, I gave up. And when I gave up… I really gave up. I didn't write again until… well, now.
I've realised that, at least for me (and maybe for you, too?), trying to force a daily routine isn't the best way of falling in love with a habit or practice. I advocate for a different approach. Let's call it…
No Pressure Weekday Habits
I'll illustrate this habit-building technique with an example: Meditation. I love meditation, but I haven't always. At first, I only loved the idea of meditation, the practice took some getting used to.
All the books I read told me that it was vital that I meditate every single day for the first 3 months (a common trope among daily habit pushers). Other books told me to start with just 5 minutes a day (or write only 1–2 sentences, or run for only 1km).
That wasn't working. So instead, I decided to commit to the following:
Meditate for at least 30 minutes, but only on weekdays, and only if I feel like it.
In the end, I found that my intuition here worked wonderfully. It was the pressure of not missing a day which caused me to give up. It was the triviality of "small habits", that caused me to give it away. Now, I often happily meditate for 20—30 minutes, and I do so most days.
So, back to writing.
After a few days of writing every day, I started feeling stressed, worried, and overworked. Worse – the short posts were often uninspired or forced. That's not the sort of writer I want to be.
Instead, I'll be the writer who taps out a decent chunk of valuable content every single day.
But only on weekdays, and only if I feel like it.
One of the most well guarded secrets of entrepreneurs is: Depression.
A startup malaise is all too common. There are ridiculous amounts of stress and work involved with starting a new business, and “leaving a dent in the universe” (a common Silicon Valley mantra). Cases of panic, anxiety, and burnout are frequent and often go undiagnosed.
If you’re struggling with depression now, please seek help.
If you’re feeling on top of things, and you’re an entrepreneur, it’s a good idea to make plans in advance to help you recognise burnout.
What habits can you put into place to help reduce your anxiety? How will you recognise burnout if it shows up?
We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.
— Walt Disney
Are you curious?
Curiosity and silence go together.
Curiosity is about searching and discovery. Things that get in the way of that are pride, arrogance, loudness, teaching, and even problem solving.
You can’t sell and be curious at the same time.
You need to be quiet.
Listen. Really listen. Empathise. Be quiet.
We have something new to learn from everyone: the elderly, our children, the arrogant, the meek.
In every conversation: Stop evaluating, and listen for something to learn.
When espousing the benefits of Distributed Teams, as I often do, I’m often told “but Luke, remote work wouldn’t succeed in my business”. And do you know what? You’re right.
Is it possible to transition from office to officeless? Not with that attitude.
Having a mixed location workforce feels like a natural step when transitioning to a fully distributed business, yet this intermediate step can present its own unique challenges.
Integrating remote workers into a non-remote team can be difficult because they don’t share physical office interactions with the local team.