/reader

But is productivity always the goal? Maybe if you’re a widgetmaker. But any widgetmaker who stumbled upon this post has likely clicked on to something else.

What do you do when you’ve been productive enough? Pushing alone can take you only so far.

At some point, you need something else to take you to the next level. A fresh insight. A dash of creativity. Brute force can’t be the only option in your toolbelt.

Insight and creativity aren’t easy to measure, like widgets produced. But insight and creativity are every bit as crucial as pure effort for sustained success.

So what do you need to slow down?

Maybe a comfy chair. Place matters.

What about time?

Sure, time can be hard to find, but it’s more doable if you’ve cut out doomscrolling and those streaming services that are becoming more and more like cable television, the very thing you sought to avoid when you cut the cord.

What if the thing you need to do to improve your life is nothing?

Could you do it?

Could you find the space?

Could you find the time?

If you can’t, fine.

But if you can . . .

That’s why companies like iA, the developers of the minimalist writing app writer, didn’t go the easy route of turning their app into a glorified ChatGPT prompt. They instead made it easy to differentiate between what you wrote and what you copied from an LLM (or any other source). The technical aspects (programming) don’t seem all that hard. But coming up with that answer to address the challenges created by generative AI took a lot of thought.

Manton Reece, the founder of micro.blog, has chosen to take a different route in regard to implementing generative AI: He’s instead tasked AI with handling the writerly tasks writers would rather not worry about.

Alt text for images

For one, AI can write alt text for uploaded images.

When I’m focused on writing a longform blog post, switching gears to write accurate alt text is way harder than you might expect. I understand alt text is crucial for digital citizens with accessibility needs, but I’m a horrible, selfish, lazy person. But thanks to AI, my readers can have better accessible images despite my worst qualities.

Podcast transcription

AI also shines on micro.blog by automatically transcribing podcast episodes.

Subscribers on the Premium plan can edit a transcript to create companion text for each episode. (See this post for an example.) It sure beats the hell out of typing it all out yourself.

Opt-in required

Perhaps most importantly, users must explicitly opt in to use AI on their micro.blog sites.

Manton Reece obviously finds value in AI. But he knows some of his customers don’t measure value the same way. But hopefully those customers find value in Manton’s leaving the choice their own.

Recently my wife and I rearranged our living room. It started with storing the TV in the garage, something we’d been talking about for weeks. Then we moved the couches and the rug and finally, the used IKEA chair my wife got for $25 from Facebook Marketplace, which we moved into our bedroom. (I teased her so much for buying this useless chair; and then I fell in love with it.)

Only a couple hours after the move, I told my wife I’d found my reading and writing nook, centered around that same useless chair. Shortly afterward, I set on starting those habits in a new place. (This very blog post was started in that same chair, in that same spot.)

A picture of the IKEA chair now in my bedroom, only a few feet away from my bedroom office. Shhh, don’t tell Cal.

There’s something about having a certain place reserved for a certain task. You don’t have to think about why you’re there, or what you’re there to do. Once a habit is built, the appropriate neurons start firing once you arrive and your task becomes easier. You create a context, and context informs your thinking and your actions.

Place matters.

This realization is also why I recently created a site dedicated to my microposts (I also must acknowledge that the decision was made easier when Manton Reece gave all micro.blog Premium subscribers five blogs for the price of one).

I’ve largely walked away from social media, except for LinkedIn, which, despite its many annoyances, still feels like a professional necessity. From time to time, I find myself wanting to share a weird photo or silly quip. But my main blog isn’t the place for that. So now my microblog is. Because, as you know, place matters.

One last bit to bring the point home . . .

I’m going to paraphrase and bastardize a post you may have seen on LinkedIn. (This is one of those aforementioned many annoyances. Of course, now that I want to quote the post, I can’t find it.)

The post makes the point that a soda costs one thing at a grocery story, another at a convenience store, another at an airport, etc.

And if you’re not happy with your worth, maybe it’s time to look for a job somewhere else. Maybe the only thing holding you back from getting more money is your location, whether that’s by geography or just within the walls you call your workplace.

Sure, the post is a little cheesy. And so many people just copy and paste it and you get tired of seeing it.

But that doesn’t mean there isn’t some wisdom in the post.

Because, yet again, place matters.

Yesterday I used Anthropic’s Claude to help me prepare for a phone interview.

I didn’t ask Claude to fabricate a resume. (I’d already submitted my resume anyway.)

I simply asked it to help me tighten some things up.

Want more details for how you can responsibly use LLMs to help in a job search?

Check out the video.

P.S. This video is an example of how the best uses for tech are sometimes the least sexy and exciting uses for tech.