• ChatGPT is Exposing Our Broken Education System

    I was at a talk about generative AI over the weekend, and someone asked about what it meant for students and homework assignments.

    The speaker said something I can’t stop thinking about: that if ChatGPT can regurgitate information as well as a student, and the teacher has no idea, what’s really the problem?

    Something I’m trying to teach my children, even at their young ages, is critical thinking. I don’t want them to memorize something. I want them to think about a problem, analyze it, and come to a solution.

    I want them to question rules that don’t make sense. And I want them to force people in authority positions to explain themselves.

    Our education system in the United States doesn’t teach those skills, and the fear of what ChatGPT means for homework grossly exposes that.

    Who cares if ChatGPT can write a paper about the Battle of Gettysburg at a 5th grade level?

    If my kid successfully leverages tools like ChatGPT to do their homework and save them time, they’ve gained a much more useful skill than memorizing the Battle of Gettysburg was a major turning point in the American Civil War, lasting from July 1 to July 3, 1863, with the Union Army defeating the Confederate Army led by General Robert E. Lee1.

    We’re still in a culture where students are taught to obey arbitrary rules, learn enough to pass standardized tests, and then promptly forget what they’ve memorized.

    And it’s so very broken. It’s why 98% of 5 year olds are considered “genius level creative,” and by age 15, that number is down to 12%.

    The good teachers will celebrate generative AI. They’ll teach their students how to leverage it to do proper research in a fraction of the time.

    1. I know what you’re thinking, and you’re right. ?
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    How to Add a Google Doc in a Specific Folder with Your Stream Deck

    I’ve greatly improved my process for creating social media content in a centralized place.

    The basic workflow is this:

    1. Create a Google Doc in a folder called “Social Posts”
    2. Kick off a Make automation that watches that folder, and adds a new entry to my “Social Media content” base in Airtable. A schedule date is also determined.

    Then my VA goes in and reviews the documents, creating images as needed, and posting them on the scheduled dates.

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    How I Keep my Email at Inbox Zero

    One of the tenants of the No Spend Month my wife and I are doing is decluttering. We’re going through all of our stuff and donating what we don’t need. We’ve already gotten rid of bags of clothes, hundreds of DVDs, lots of books, and toys.

    See, those who knew me growing up might be shocked by this, but I hate clutter. If I have a lot of stuff around me I can’t focus. The same thing goes for my digital space. Too many notifications, badges, and messages gives be agita; so I try to keep my devices clean. I have no badges turn on except missed calls and overdue tasks. Very few apps have notifications. I have a focus mode where only my wife can send notifications to my phone.

    And I keep my email at near inbox zero at all times. Here’s how.

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    How to Manage Your Email for a Sane Holiday Season

    Do you feel like you got way too many emails over the Black Friday / Cyber Monday weekend? I know lots of people who do. I also know lots of business owners who held back sending their own sequence of emails because they hate getting emails. And while that’s a different conversation1, you can draw a similar conclusion: when people get a lot of email, they feel it’s overwhelming.

    It doesn’t have to be. Way back in 2010, I wrote about how you can easily manage subscriptions with GMail. Well, it’s been 10 years, and there are a lot more ways to control your inbox. Let’s take a look at some.

  • The Best Home Automation Device of 2021: Lutron Aurora Dimmer Switch

    I love to automate everything. Sometimes it’s overkill. But it usually results in some cool things. With Shortcuts being available on the Mac now, for example, I can push a button on my Stream Deck, set the lighting in my office for recording, put my phone into the Recording Focus Mode, and set my “podcast recording”timer in Toggl.

    But this isn’t about any of that1. This is about a general home automation device. The best one I’ve seen all year: the Lutron Aurora Smart Bulb Dimmer Switch.

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    SavvyCal vs. Calendly

    A few weeks ago In my newsletter, I talked about how I’m considering switching to SavvyCal over Calendly. There are a lot of great features to like about SavvyCal, including how calendar overlays work, one-off links, reusable hours, and recurring time blocks based on calendar events.

    Plus with teams, you can do “round robin” scheduling, allowing you to easily combine multiple people’s availability – something that while SavvyCal requires a team account for, Calendly doesn’t offer at all. But I’m not quite ready to switch yet. Here’s why.

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    Using Automation to Better Manage Client Work

    Perhaps one of the more iconic scenes from Star Wars: A New Hope (1977) is the trash compactor scene. It’s the first real trouble our heroes are in together. The first time they need to work together (and wait for their robots to save them).

    If you’re unfamiliar, Leia, Luke, Han, and Chewie fall into a trash compactor (garbage masher) and the walls are quickly closing in on them; despite their best efforts, nothing they do can stop the walls from closing in. OH and there’s a monster (a dianoga) that nearly eats Luke. They escape when R2-D2 (and the behest of C-3PO) turns it off and opens the door.

    Getting a lot of client work can kind of feel that way – especially if you’re a small shop. You take on too much work, and now the walls are closing in on you. Luckily, we also have robots who can save us, through automation.

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    Launch Specific Parts of a Mac App with Stream Deck and Keyboard Maestro

    Earlier this week in my Favorites of 2020 post, I bestowed the dubious honor of favorite gadget upon the Elgato Stream Deck. I love automation, and the flexibility of this bad boy to control not only aspects of my computer, but aspects of my home, is fantastic.

    Well I recently picked up the Stream Deck XL and have a few extra buttons to play with now. One thing I thought would be interesting is to launch a specific note in Bear Notes. Turns out you can totally do that! Here’s how.

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    4 Ways to Make Podcasting Easier Through Automation

    Podcasting is a time consuming effort, which is why many podcasts fall victim to the dreaded podfade1. It can sometimes feel like you need a herculean effort to get it all done. Come up with topics, find and book guests, coordinate schedules, do the tech checks, record, post production, then publishing and promoting. That’s why putting a process in place and moving things off of your plate is a must. Here are 4 tasks you can take off your plate thanks to automation.

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