In a world where technology is increasingly conspiring to steal our focus and attention, my goal is to teach you how to be more productive with Apple technology. I want to help you achieve what is most important to you and enjoy your life at the same time using technology instead of becoming another one of its victims. Pretty much everything I make points at that North Star. I believe in this message so much that I’ve staked my livelihood on it.
Sparky‘s Happiness Formula
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Hi Friend, Over the past several years, I’ve spent a lot of time reading classic Hellenistic philosophy. I find those thinkers’ willingness to take on the big questions interesting. Because when it comes to thinking about philosophy, I’m practical. I couldn't care less whether or not I’m living in a simulation. I am very interested, however, in finding and sharing happiness. And the Greeks thought about that question a lot. Maybe Aristotle said it best: Happiness is an activity of the soul in accordance with virtue. From Nicomachean Ethics, Book I, Chapter 7 That’s really the aim of my Productivity Field Guide. To get people to figure out what roles are important and how to become their best version for those. Having lived this system and now taught it to many people, I’m increasingly convinced that the payoff is more significant than being your best self. I believe I’ve found a formula for happiness. Put simply: Pursuing your best self (Arete) + Ethical Living = Happy Life That makes a lot of sense! Many of the ancients argued that living ethically and in accordance with virtue is key to achieving eudaimonia, often translated as happiness or flourishing. Arete can easily substitute in for virtue. It is very similar. Fulfilling one’s potential and living in line with one's true nature along with ethical living gets you there. Or, at least, it gets me there and several others I’ve talked to going through the Productivity Field Guide. Does this mean this formula makes you immune from suffering and disease? Of course not. It does, however, give you a mechanism to cope. True happiness can come from living a life of virtue and striving for personal excellence. The more I pursue these goals, the more I see it in myself and others. I’ll cover this more in-depth in a new edition of the Productivity Field Guide, which will be released later this month. Stay tuned. Your pal, Upgrade Photos with PowerPhotos (Sponsor)The Photos app is great until it’s not. If you want to add power-user features to Photos, check out this week’s sponsor, PowerPhotos. It’s the ultimate toolbox for managing your photo libraries on Mac. There are some true power features here that really improve the Photos app:
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David Sparks (MacSparky)
In a world where technology is increasingly conspiring to steal our focus and attention, my goal is to teach you how to be more productive with Apple technology. I want to help you achieve what is most important to you and enjoy your life at the same time using technology instead of becoming another one of its victims. Pretty much everything I make points at that North Star. I believe in this message so much that I’ve staked my livelihood on it.
Hi Friend, I’ve been using the term “donkey work” a lot lately, and some of you have been asking what I mean by it. Fair enough. Let me explain. When I started paying attention to AI, I realized pretty quickly that I didn’t want it writing for me. I didn’t want it making my videos or drafting my newsletters. That’s the work I love. That’s the stuff I wake up wanting to do. If I hand that off to a machine, what’s left? But I also realized I spend hours every day on stuff that has nothing to do...
A MacSparky Dispatch Hi Friend, I built the AI assistant I’ve always wanted. Then I shut it down. For the last few weeks, I’ve been experimenting with OpenClaw, an open source project that started as ClaudBot, then became MultBot, and now goes by OpenClaw (lawyers!). It’s essentially AI plumbing for your computer. You install it, and suddenly you have an independent artificial intelligence agent that can work without your supervision. It can run on its own schedule, doing tasks while you...
A MacSparky Dispatch Hi Friend, Every year I try to lock in my tools for the following year. 2025 was odd because I moved most of my daily management into the Apple productivity suite to prepare the Apple Productivity Suite Field Guide. Now heading into 2026, I’m rethinking what I’m using and why. Task Management I tried using Reminders all year and largely pulled it off. There are interesting web-based and AI-based task managers out there, but none seem useful to me. I just don’t believe...