Favorites of 2023
It’s time for my 15th annual Favorites post. It’s always fun reviewing my old favorites, seeing how the picks have evolved, and realizing how much more verbose I’ve gotten in describing them.
One notable change — I’ve added “Video Game.” This might be ephemeral, as I don’t play video games SUPER often, but this year, there’s definitely one.
OK…let’s get to it!
Gadget: Apple Watch Ultra
I got the Apple Watch Ultra in March of this year. It was an unexpected, but welcomed surprise. It’s also one of the few picks that have made it through basically the whole year and is still number 1.
Why? There are a couple of reasons. First, it’s a huge upgrade over my old Series 5, as far as features and size goes — I love a big watch.
I gained a blood oxygen level sensor, a temperature sensor, and most crucially, sleep tracking. In April, I was officially diagnosed with Sleep Apnea and needed to get a CPAP machine.
Before that, I never liked sleep tracking, because it was a reminder of how poorly I slept. But I really wanted to get the before and after for the CPAP. The results were kind of staggering:
Then, of-course, there’s the amazing battery. I don’t have to charge this thing every day — and usually charging it while I’m in the shower, or shortly before bed, will give it a full charge.
Finally, the new “Modular Ultra” face and widget support in watchOS 10 took this watch to the next level for me. I believe if I’m going to wear a computer on my wrist, I need all of the info. watchOS 10 delivers better on that promise than any other Apple Watch update:
Honorable Mention
This year was a pretty light year for me, gadgets-wise. That said, there are still a couple of gadgets that get honorable mention:
The iPhone 15 Pro Max. The last time the iPhone won the dubious honor of “Gadget of the Year” from me was in 2015 — the first year I actually owned an iPhone. While there have been times in the past where it got honorable mention, this year is the closest it’s come to top spot again.
The 5x camera is great, the titanium feels fantastic, and of-course, there’s the Action Button. I actually returned my Peak Design case and got a Nomad Leather case because Peak Design omitted the Action Button from their original 15 Pro Max case1.
Currently, I’m using it to add new tasks to Things 3, but as I experiment more, I can see myself using it to switch contexts depending on focus modes or other variables.
The Elgato Prompter. This is the first teleprompter I’ve actually been able to use. It’s got a dedicated screen, a very small footprint, and you can use it as both a standard teleprompter and a second screen.
I’m apparently one of the lucky ones who got it close to release, because at the time of this writing, the Prompter is unavailable!
App: Timery
It was a big apps year for me — I often switch apps, and I’ve made a couple of huge changes this year, but Timery has emerged as the winner. Timery, if you don’t know, is an app that sits on top of Toggl, and makes Toggl much more usable though a better interface, Shortcuts support, widgets, reporting, and more.
I made a decision in mid-November to be more dedicated to time tracking — something that I’ve had more of an aspirational relationship with. But over Thanksgiving break, I outlined all the areas I’d want to time track, and came up with some projects and tags.
I started slow: when I go into my Reading Focus, start the Reading timer. Once I got into that habit, I started integrating it into my work day, and even added buttons to my Stream Deck.
The data so far has been illuminating — for example, I learned that it takes me about 26 hours to produce a LinkedIn Learning course.
Moving into 2024, I’m excited to do more time tracking as part of my Yearly Theme (coming soon).
Honorable Mention
There are several apps that competed for top spot this year, so the honorable mentions are vast. I’ll try to keep them brief though.
Notion: This one was honestly a surprise for me. More than once, I wrote about choosing Airtable over Notion. Notion felt weird and complicated, and Airtable felt comfortable.
But that changed in August. I started to use Notion more due to some team work I was doing, and Airtable started making annoying changes.
So I moved all of my operations to Notion, and shortly before writing this very section, I got an email that I’m no longer on a paid plan for Airtable.
ScreenTime+: Like lots of features Apple releases half-baked and then forgets about, ScreenTime for iOS leaves me wanting. I mean…you’re not ever really blocked from apps where you exceed your time limit.
But ScreenTime+ has 2 killer features:
- It truly blocks apps and websites. There’s no “Ignore” button, meaning that if you turn on blocking, through focus modes or Digital Detox, you’re not getting into those apps/websites until it turns off.
- Blocking based on focus modes. My screen time was down 20% the week I implemented my Personal focus mode with blocking from ScreenTime+. That’s…huge.
While it still takes discipline to keep the focus mode on, it’s a lot easier to remove the distractions when you see a wholesale block vs. a “This is blocked, but…” button.
Bear Notes: I couldn’t ‘write this without mentioning my triumphant return to Bear Notes, with the release of Bear 2.0. The app is SO good after a much needed update, and I’m happy to be back.
After using Craft for a little over a year, I decided a strategy where I keep my “second brain” in Notion and my quick notes in Bear worked better for me.
Enrichment: BetterHelp
This wasn’t my first foray with BetterHelp for therapy, but it may have been more necessary this year than when I did in 2020/2021.
I’m filing it under enrichment because I’ve learned a few new things about myself that have generally helped me handle the hectic life of 3 small kids/2 working parents/running a business. Namely that I’m likely a “Highly Sensitive Person (HSP),” or simply put, someone who has a stronger reaction to external and internal stimuli.
With many small children, a harder than normal year for the business, and lots of other factors contributing to a very busy 2023, it was a little tougher for an HSP than usual.
It also informed some of the decisions I’ve made, like the one to time track. I’m also journaling more, and my Yearly Theme is heavily based on this revelation.
Book: Upgrade by Blake Crouch
In July I decided to put a moratorium on business books, which was overwhelmingly the genre I read. Honestly, they all start to sound the same after a certain point.
So starting on our family vacation to the beach, I read only fiction, and non-fiction, non-business books.
The clear winner was Upgrade by Blake Crouch, which I absolutely devoured. It was thrilling, interesting, and as usual with his work, had a technological slant…plus a very heavy philosophical question to consider.
It was also the first I read that explicitly reference the 2020 pandemic, which made it felt more real.
I highly recommend it.
Honorable Mentions
Looking at Good Reads, I didn’t event come close to my “Reading Challenge” in 2023. But I also made another decision: the number of books you read doesn’t even remotely matter as much as the quality of the books you read.
So while there were a couple of other books I enjoyed, like Project Hail Mary, I don’t have a whole lot of other recommendations this year.
I’m currently working my way through Walter Issacson’s Leonardo Da Vinci biography, and while I’m enjoying it, it’s a bit of a slog.
TV Show: Loki Season 2
Back in 2021, Wandavision beat out Loki by just a hair. I loved both shows, but Wanadavision had a pretty profound affect on me.
I feel the same way about Loki this year. Some people will say the season was weird and slow, but I think it was incredible storytelling that transformed a complicated character in a truly beautiful way.
They say this was the last season of Loki, but I doubt it’s the last time we’ll see the newly minted God of Stories on-screen.
Honorable Mention
As usual, I didn’t watch too much new TV. I also enjoyed the last season of Ted Lasso, and while I watched Brooklyn 99 last year, I’ve been enjoying it again this year.
Music: One More Time by blink-182
Longtime readers shouldn’t even be remotely surprised by this one. Tom rejoined my favorite band and they put out a new album and it’s incredible.
I’m not a music reviewer, so I’ll just show you my Apple Music Replay. As a reminder, this album towards the end of October (on my birthday, actually!) and the top album is one my kids listened to non-stop from January to April:
Suffice to say, I’ve been obsessed with the album. I think it’s a perfect work, emotional and raw, while still keeping blink’s juvenile sense of humor.
Movie: Elemental
As I write this, there are a bunch of movies I want to see: The Marvels, Barbie, Oppenheimer, Killers of the Flower Moon, Nepoleon, etc.
But I haven’t watched them.
The only new movie I saw this year was Disney’s Elemental. And that was really good, so I’ll happily make it my number one movie of the year.
Podcast: History Daily
I’ve written at length about History Daily, and as I move away from interview shows and into more story-driven shows, this show is the perfect fit.
It’s actually the catalyst for a lot of my thinking around the direction of podcasting for 2024.
I listened to nearly every episode since I discovered the show in April, and it’s something I’ve ritualistically enjoyed with my kids each morning I drive them to school.
If you’re into history, I strongly recommend it.
Video Game: Jedi: Survivor
I’m a fan of basic games. Straightforward gameplay, simple mechanics. Not having to customize every aspect of my character to beat the 14 year olds who have way more time than me.
THAT SAID, I will make every exception for a Star Wars game — especially something as good as Jedi: Survivor. It’s such a fantastic story, excellent gameplay, and it was able to build in a way that didn’t force Fallen Order players to learn a whole new game.
I loved it.
That’s it!
Last year I ended with the hope that I’ll get to a movie theater in 2023. I did not.
2024 will be the year! Movies, new TV shows, and better books! Or maybe it will continue to be my Apologies to Matt Damon, we ran out of time.
- They did issue a fix, but It would have been at least late December since I got it, and I don’t think the company handled this particular situation well. ?
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