Innovation in blog design rarely happens, but I had something of an epiphany and gave this blog a fresh coat of paint. My primary impetus was that I didn't like how giving something a headline makes it feel far too official. So I removed them. Now every post feels like a quick, throwaway thing on social media.

Less pressure, more posts? We'll find out!

Watching people work at Disney Animation is my happy place. It makes me surprisingly emotional to see how much care and love goes into these movies. It’s perfectionism brought to its absolute zenith, and I’m so glad it exists.

These two videos made me very happy recently:

Here is my prediction for the name of Apple’s foldable iPhone.

We are (roughly) in the 20th year of the iPhone. At year ten, Apple introduced the iPhone X, a real break from the past with a new design and a new way of interacting with the device.

Now it has been another ten years. (Not really, but they skipped the iPhone 9 to call it X, so they obviously don't care about precision.)

X is the Roman numeral for ten. XX is twenty. A foldable iPhone has two displays.

iPhone 2X

Twenty years (XX). Two screens (2x).

You heard it here first.

I love handwritten notes. I don't love writing notes on paper. It's just too messy. Even though I romanticize filling notebooks with ideas, scribbles, and everything that goes through my mind, I always arrive at the unfortunate conclusion that it's just too much of a mess to be useful to me.

So I went down the rabbit hole of e-ink tablets.

My goal was to find a perfect digital notepad with:

• A good writing experience (pen feel, latency, writing tools)
• A good and easy-to-navigate interface
• Focus. No clutter, no weirdness
• Beautiful hardware, bonus points if it's pocketable
• A backlight

A couple of months ago, I wondered if micro-blogging and journaling could be combined. Something about sending off small posts feels different from crafting a whole journal entry. I’ve been journaling the classic way for years, but I often felt like I was just going through the motions because I had to. It wasn’t fun, just another task.

So I built myself a complicated solution using Apple Shortcuts and Obsidian to prototype my vision of a short-form journaling experience. Tap an icon, a text field opens, and I can quickly jot down what I’m doing or thinking about. The result was a Markdown file with timestamps and those entries. That felt surprisingly good. It was fun to open the app and quickly note what I was doing whenever I had a few seconds of downtime. Far better than doomscrolling.

Not to be contrarian, but I don’t think Donkey Kong Bananza, Nintendo’s second Switch 2 exclusive, is very fun. The first level intrigued me. The sheer chaos of punching and breaking everything had me spending a couple of hours in a vortex of dopamine hits.

This got old very quickly, though. It’s the same thing in every level of the game: run around, smash stuff, collect gold, run around some more, repeat.

I haven’t finished it yet, but I’d say I’m more than halfway through the game, and it hasn’t surprised me as often as I expected based on the very positive reviews floating around. It hasn’t surprised me at all, to be honest, come to think of it. I watched the Nintendo Direct presentation showing what the game is all about, and that seems to have been it.

Not even the art style impresses me much. Coming off my second playthrough of Tears of the Kingdom, Donkey Kong Bananza only looks nice. Nothing made me stop and take in the vistas. Not to mention the character design, which feels a bit like something a 13-year-old in the 90s would have liked.

The story is basic and can be understood without reading anything, and its difficulty is easy enough to just run from quest marker to quest marker without having trouble progressing.

Sorry, DK, this Bananza is just a tad too boring for my taste.

Hello friends, here's a bit of blog housekeeping. Something of a public service announcement. I'm German, and sometimes the urge to write without having to do so in a language that isn't my native one bubbles up.

Since I don't want to start a second blog or newsletter to do so, I added a new feature to this blog that allows you to filter posts by language. It can be found in the footer and lets you switch between all posts, only posts in English, or only posts in German.

If you prefer to follow along via RSS, you can use the default feed that contains all posts, or choose to use the English or German feeds.

There are no German posts yet, but I figured I'd let you know about this in advance.

Do you think anyone, anywhere, is actually happy with how they take notes? I doubt it.

The moment you start thinking about your system, you stop being content with it.

What’s the right approach?

A carbon-based notebook that gives you all the fuzzy, tactile feelings? A digital setup that lets you search everything in seconds? Which notebook? Which app?

Every few months, I come up with a new “best system.” The result: my notes are scattered everywhere.

I’m torn. I love the idea of a romantic, analog notebook. But I also want everything searchable, connected, and in one place. Luhmann built a system that was both tactile and interconnected. But at what cost?

I tried a Zettelkasten in Obsidian, based on Bob Doto’s A System for Writing. It felt slow and convoluted. Tried index cards like Luhmann. Felt like I was losing my mind.

Maybe I’ll never find the perfect system. Maybe I need to accept: my method is just lots of notes, in lots of places.

There’s some beauty in that chaos, I guess.

I had my second vegetarian slip-up in five years this weekend. A friend threw a party and prepared quite a few delicious snacks, complete with small signs beside them, listing the ingredients in detail.

I somehow missed the part where one of the quiches contained bacon. My bad. Unfortunately, I’m now able to report that I still love the taste of meat, even after not eating any for five years. I doubt that’ll change any time soon.

I'm not happy about this breaking my streak, but I decided not to dwell on it for too long. It was an honest mistake that doesn't take away from my overall vegetarian lifestyle.

Many people struggle to keep up with their read-later lists. I’ve perfected mine and—at least in that regard—I have no problems anymore.

Today, I want to share my complete read-later workflow and tools with you. It has proven itself time and again as a scalable solution that avoids the problem of an ever-growing backlog of things to read.

Here it goes: I put links to articles I want to read into my to-do list and then I read them.

That's it. That's the whole system.

In the last few weeks, I spent quite a bit of money on art supplies. My hobbies are cyclical. The interest fades, but it always returns. This time feels different. Sketching and painting have a cathartic effect on me. It feels necessary, not just fun.

Normally, perfectionism makes me quit quickly. Frustration comes fast when your artwork looks nothing like what you expected. I have been working on that, but lately, I find myself loving the imperfection itself.

Maybe that shift is connected to AI.

Sure, it is neat to generate a Studio Ghibli version of an image. But as someone who knows he could create something unique by hand, it feels hollow.

Every line of ink on paper carries more tactile character, more direct connection to the body and emotions, than anything made on a screen. That was always true. AI just made it more obvious.

I want to harvest that truth for my otherwise very digital life. I feel like it will be essential for my wellbeing going forward.

Something about a sketchbook as a daily companion for life has always fascinated me. Sitting somewhere and sketching what’s around you feels like the purest form of mindfulness.

Pages and pages full of visualized memories. What could be cooler than that?

Here’s a small sketch I did yesterday while sitting on a bench at the Alster, talking to an older woman about her allergies.

2024 will always be the year I started running. My first run was on January 14th, and since then, I’ve stuck to it. One run every other day, all year long. I never would have guessed it, but running turned out to be one of the highlights of my year, profoundly improving my life in ways I didn’t expect.

I ran 889,5 kilometers, which took me 106 hours and 49 minutes. My average pace was 7'12"/km. My current average pace for December 2024 is 6'23".

Somehow, I managed to build and release a new app this year. It’s called Unhinged, and while my opinion is obviously biased, I genuinely believe it’s the best mood-tracking app out there.

Unhinged checks in with you three times a day, asking how you’re feeling and what you’re doing. Over time, it gives you valuable insights into the factors that shape your mood.

I’ve been using Unhinged since March, and it’s fascinating to see how my mood shifted dramatically after finding a new apartment in Hamburg at the end of May. It’s also clear that the second half of the year has been one of the best ever.

There are plenty more insights hidden in the data. For example, my mood is almost always 'Very Good' in the morning block if I’ve gone for a run. I also added a feature to tag people in entries, which has helped me track how different people’s company influences my mood.

Now is the perfect time to start mood tracking. 2025 hasn’t started yet, and you could have a full year of data by the time I release the '2025 Mood in Review' feature. (No promises, though. It’s just something I’m hoping to work on.)

You can download UNHINGED for free on the App Store.

A year ago, I made the mistake of confusing hating Berlin with not wanting to live in a big city anymore, and I moved to a small town. It didn't go well.

At the same time, I declared 2024 to be the Year of Friendship. Those two things combined resulted in one of the worst times of my life. I had never felt more alone than in the first six months of this year.

Fortunately, after accepting that I made an oopsie and needed to rectify the situation, I went ahead and found a new apartment in the city where I spent my most formative years. It felt like coming home.

Which brings us back to my yearly theme: Was 2024 the Year of Friendship?

Absolutely.

The second half of the year was one of my best and most social ever. It surprisingly made 2024 the best year in recent history. Spending the summer, autumn, and winter surrounded by friends compensated for my time in loneliness enough for this year to be considered a success.

This was a triumph.

HUGE SUCCESS.

When the Harry Potter books first came out, I refused to read them. I thought I was too cool to like what everyone else was raving about. I was wrong.

These days, I try to approach popular things with an open mind. I bet meditation will be life-changing for me once I get into the habit. The masses can’t be wrong about that one. If I don’t like it, I must be doing it wrong.

The same was true for working out and practicing gratitude. They changed how I feel and see the world on a daily basis.

Who am I to say that wearing barefoot shoes or reading 50 Shades of Grey isn’t for me? If something resonates with so many people, maybe I should at least be humble enough to acknowledge the possibility that I might like it too.

And what is life about, if not discovering and maximizing the things you truly enjoy?

Despite what society suggests, you're not obligated to stay up-to-date on daily news.

Being in the loop won’t solve your perceived lack of control.

Just because news is available doesn’t mean you must consume it.

Your real responsibility to you and those around you is keeping a clear head and a healthy mind. Don’t let the endless stream of information wear you down.

Society often equates news awareness with caring about issues, but you’re more capable of making an impact if you’re not drowning in despair.

Take care of yourself first.

Then, focus on what you can actually influence.

The only thing you need to grasp is the big-picture flow of events. Don't get lost in ever changing details. Don’t waste your mental health and possible impact scrolling through a relentless flood of noise.

Put your energy into what builds, strengthens, and moves things forward.

Being able to apologize properly is a skill worth honing. At least for those of us who aren’t perfect. It's helpful in almost any situation involving other people, which, it turns out, are most of the important ones.

Since my whole family consisted of people unable to apologize, I could not have been farther away from being able to do so myself. I'm sure I hurt a couple of people on my way to getting better at it.

I had to be proven wrong, repeatedly, to finally accept that I’m fallible.

That I'm not only possibly wrong, but likely.

Years later, I’d look back, realizing I’d misjudged situations I once felt sure about. Each of these moments chipped away at my arrogance, leaving a simple truth: I can and will mess up.

This changed my reaction to criticism. Instead of defending myself, I started considering if it might be valid.

I had to learn to put my ego aside and...

Bids for connection are moments in relationships (no matter what kind) where somebody indirectly asks the other person to share an experience with them. These moments might not seem like much, but when accumulated, they are important for the health of the relationship.

Steven Pinker states that good writing is pointing out:

Pinker suggests approaching writing as if you were pointing something in the environment out to another person – something that she would notice for herself, if only she knew where to look. Imagine directing someone's gaze across a valley, to a specific house on the other side. "You should pretend," writes Pinker, "that you, the writer, see something in the world that's interesting, and that you're directing the attention of your reader to that thing." He calls this the "joint attention" strategy.

It helps me to consider my writing as a bid for connection with the reader. I'm pointing something out, asking for joint attention.

It doesn't have to be an earth-shattering new idea or the most exciting piece of content ever. It's just a small moment that we share.

It’s incredible how much of what the Stoics wrote about 2,000 years ago still applies today.

One sentence, just three words long, has stuck with me the most:

Therefore establish your own guilt as far as you can. Investigate yourself; play the part of the prosecutor, then of the judge, only then of the advocate. Offend yourself sometimes.

Offend yourself sometimes.

My upbringing didn’t involve role models who showed me how to do this, so it took me years to figure out how to achieve it more often than not.

For the longest time, I didn’t really understand what "ego" was or how it could get in my way. I’m not sure when it finally clicked, but at some point, I realized that who I want to be and what my ego tries to accomplish are often two separate things.

My ego makes me defensive. Whether it’s defending me from others or from myself, if it’s something I shouldn’t be shielded from but should confront, this defensiveness blocks my personal growth.

I have to offend myself without taking offense.

I treat relationships, health, and hobbies like projects that demand effort, and whose success is my responsibility.

They become a perpetuum mobile of self-efficacy. The more I invest, the more control I feel over my life. This builds momentum. This flywheel can only be stopped by a lack of kindness toward myself.

To make this work, I see the things important to me as malleable, and I see myself as someone who can shape them.

Since everything, including myself, changes over time, this is a never-ending cycle of improvement. Hoping something will stay the same is a futile fight against entropy.

So I embrace entropy as a fundamental truth and consider everything important to me as a fun project I get to work on.

Making an effort is never wasted.

I pay close attention to the scalability of my actions. This often leads to situations where it seems like I’m acting against my best interests, but I want to make choices my future self will thank me for.

Instead of allowing myself a slow morning after a restless night, I go for a run.

Instead of relaxing on the couch, I'm teaching myself how to code.

Instead of avoiding a difficult conversation, I embrace it.

These things share one important truth: I know that I will feel better once they've happened. These actions are scalable because they optimize for delayed gratification. They anticipate a future that will be better because I welcomed friction.

Nothing worth having was ever achieved without effort.

Once I internalized this way of thinking, it changed how I see myself and those around me. Chasing instant gratification doesn't align with the life I want, and watching others do so isn't something I enjoy.

I want to be, and surround myself with, people who are willing to put in the effort to live a life their future selves will thank them for—people who make scalable, life-affirming choices because they know these actions grow and compound over time, leading to greater, unexpected benefits.

Since I started running in January, I’ve noticed something that, while not incredibly surprising, is still new to me: while I’m running, I feel stronger, more physically capable, and healthier. It’s a reliable way to experience eustress on a scalable level.

What’s more, when my body feels like it’s functioning as it should, the quality of my thinking improves as well.

Physical strength leads to clearer, more optimistic thoughts, and less ego-driven thinking. When I’m not using energy to build up defenses, it’s easier to be more kind, humble, friendly, empathetic, and loving.

In short, feeling physically strong makes it easier to think strong thoughts. Running is a simple, scalable and reproducable way to achieve that.