Learn From My Mistakes

Short story of how I break life chaos into small, solvable problems - 3 min read.

It happened again!

I didn’t close the garage freezer properly.

Good news: I caught it early. I needed something after about 12 hours and noticed.

Nothing fully defrosted. The top shelf went soft first: soups and those crepes with ground turkey. If you know the physics, it makes sense.

Unlike last time, I decided to accept the risk and just shut the door. No overthinking.

Re-freezing.

So if the newsletter suddenly stops, you know the plan failed and the food was not meant to be re-frozen. Stay tuned.

But that’s not the point of the story.

One failure is an accident. A repeat is a broken system.

If there’s one thing I enjoy most, apart from being married to my gorgeous wife (hi, love, stopping reading here is fine), it’s fixing systems.

The fix I need: a notification when the door isn’t closed.

“Just double-check it” is not my method. After a few repeats, we all know I do not have the mental bandwidth for that.

Maybe the freezer beeps when the door’s open for a few minutes. It lives in the garage behind a closed door. How would I know?

Cool thought experiment, but metaphysics is not my thing.

Notifications are the only way. To the phone. Better, to the Apple Watch.

Therefore I bought a bundle of Tapo door/window sensors and stuck one on the freezer. After all we’ve been through, this buddy deserves a name. I’m convinced he identifies as Snow White. So be it.

Snow White got the upgrade. I set the sensor to alert me if the door stays open for more than 2 minutes.

Next, I added the Tapo app to the whitelist for all my Focus modes in iOS, so the alert gets through no matter what.

Bonus: the bundle included two extra sensors. I put them on the garage doors. (Yes, we have two. But narrow.)

Why?

Once a year we forget to close one and it stays open overnight. I do not stress much. I consider myself a decent runner if something happens.

But my wife gets upset.

Now I get a notification if any garage door is still open after 10 pm.

Two birds, one stone. Classic.

Other “birds” I’d tag if I had more sensors (throwing spaghetti at the wall and hoping my wife reads this, likes an idea, and begs me to buy more):

• Mailbox: get a ping when mail is delivered. No need to check every hour when you are waiting on a Social Security number, driver’s license, vehicle title, or passport. Americans love mailing important documents.

• Fridge crisper with vegetables and salads (did not even know there is a dedicated name for that drawer): if it hasn’t been opened in two days, trigger a siren so the neighborhood is mad at us for not eating healthy.

• Pantry: no alerts, just a Notion log of midnight raids. I refuse to believe I ate all that dark chocolate. Someone else was involved while I was asleep.

• Liquor cabinet: trigger an alert for any before-noon access. Someday we’ll even buy the cabinet.

• Bike hanger: would be nice to know if a bike fell off the wall and lands on the car.

• Medicine cabinet: if it opens late, auto-text my wife, “Honey, everything OK? Do not wake me, just text me back. I’ll read it in the morning. Love ya.”

The system isn’t fancy.

It’s simple, petty, and effective.

Two minutes open, I get buzzed.

Ten p.m. open, I get buzzed.

If I hear beeping from our garage - it is personal growth.

If this newsletter stops, you’ll know Snow White won.

Till next time (I hope).

Our favorite digital finds

Tools, apps, and services that actually deliver

Shortcut of the Week

I’m good with money now.

It took a lot of learning, reading, and yes, some tears.

But you can skip that part.

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Short & Sweet

Short articles worth your attention

How To Become Wiser: 25 Questions To Ask Yourself - 2 min read.

Wisdom isn’t quotes. It is reps. Here’s a simple workout you can run today when your judgment starts wobbling.

I Postponed My Worries, and Here’s How That Went - 6 min read.

Think Pomodoro but for freaking out. Box your worry into a tiny slot, jot it down, then spend the rest of the hour on work that pays the bills. When the timer rings, you review like a manager: most items shrink, a few get action, and the drama goes in the trash.

Hypocrites: How to Survive in a World that’s Full of Them - 12 min read.

Stop trying to look perfectly consistent. Aim for integrity instead. Hold yourself to the same rules you use on other people, admit when you upgraded your standards, and move forward without the fake perfection costume. Radical, I know.

Add this to your shelf

If you're looking for something to read, this book's worth considering

Surprisingly fun to read. It’s a book about incentives. When the people making decisions don’t pay the price for being wrong, you get bad results. Taleb shows how to spot those asymmetries and protect yourself.

A Workspace I Envy

A handpicked desk setup that caught my eye this week

Turns out I love the loft look. This reminded me how much I miss brick walls from my my Europe days (decades actually). I definitely took them for granted.

Behind the Persona

A deep dive into the quirks, habits, and backstories that shape icons

Cool Facts About Serena Williams

Four-Hour Focus Blocks: She reserved 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. for hard practice with phones off and no drop-ins. Long, match-like sessions trained stamina and attention for the third set.

Draw Blackout: She avoids looking at the tournament draw so she only thinks about one opponent at a time; her team shares just the next scouting notes.

Male Hitting Partners: She practices with male sparring partners to normalize a faster pace so match tempo feels easier.

Mindset Reps: She uses visualization as a framework during competitive moments and pairs it with coach-led analysis to tighten game plans.

Post-Match Debrief: Within an hour of a match she does a short review with her coach: two things to keep, one thing to fix before the next round.

Simple Pre-Match Reset: Before walking on court she washes her hands to improve grip, a tiny ritual that reduces avoidable errors.

Injury Gatekeeper: If a key shot drops below her standard - especially the serve - she pulls out rather than play half-speed.

Travel Recovery Default: On long flights she uses compression, hydrates, and walks every hour; arrival day is for recovery, not hero workouts.

Pre-Packed Outfits: Tournament outfits are laid out by day with backups so there are zero wardrobe decisions before call time.

Peak-Only Calendar: She played fewer tournaments by design to land fresh at the Slams. Recovery blocks replaced filler events, so the biggest weeks got the best version of her.

Sleep as a Tool: She shifted from late nights to early wind-downs with screens off. Better sleep turned into better legs in set three and fewer sloppy decisions.

Rhythm Before Power: Warm-ups started with long control drills - 30 to 45 minutes of timing and placement. Groove the rhythm first, then add pace so the floor stays high on off days.

Clear Team Lanes: Coach and physio owned the body, manager handled media and business, family time had a slot. With roles clear, she kept her head on the next ball, not in the inbox.

Planned Recovery: Off-days were scheduled like practice: treatment, light movement, and real rest. She finished by noting what worked and what to tweak so the next block started sharper.

Watch-worthy clips

One video that got us thinking, and we think you'll like it too

You’ll steal two ideas: invite “spears” after your next presentation, and dial your energy to match the room. Sinek’s awkward date delivers both in under three minutes, minus the cringe.

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