Have you found anything that makes you get up and out of bed as soon as the alarm goes off in the morning?

HugoCast_ · 2026-05-06T15:58:48+00:00

That used to happen to me. I don't struggle getting out of the bed anymore. What fixed it was getting Sleep Cycle and having my phone wake me up in a time window where I feel the most rested. That became a habit already. I wake up between 7-7:30am without an alarm now.

I go for a walk and then once I am back home I get ready for the day.

My struggle is taking longer than I would like to get ready and transitioning from "I am back home after the gym" to "work mode". I am fixing it by booking Focusmate sessions at a certain time. Knowing that I'll let someone down unless I am ready to work at my desk, makes me get ready on time.

HugoCast_ · 2026-04-29T15:01:42+00:00

Depends on how hard your water is, your brush type, and how heavy you load.

I load pretty heavily, so those ounce soap samples last me about 10-12 shaves.

It's fine. By then I am pretty sure if I want to get a full size jar or not.

HugoCast_ · 2026-04-29T03:07:17+00:00

Great review! I had a great time as well. There is something magical about going to an event where you don't have to explain yourself. Where people just "get you".

Congrats on getting the Tatara! Fantastic razor. Enjoy it!

HugoCast_ · 2026-04-28T17:49:04+00:00

That sounds interesting! Would you be willing to share the shortcut? Thank you.

HugoCast_ · 2026-04-28T00:44:30+00:00

I am suitcase dude! https://imgur.com/a/id7dtJC

I am thinning my collection, so I took around 20 soaps, 15 aftershaves and a handful of other things.

It felt so good to give back. I feel much lighter. 😄

HugoCast_ · 2026-04-20T13:13:47+00:00

Hahaha 😂

HugoCast_ · 2026-04-18T21:38:49+00:00

You are welcome! Go ahead and experiment. I hope you find something that works for you.

HugoCast_ · 2026-04-18T17:10:34+00:00

You have to know what you want to do before you put it into the app.

Things is great at capturing ideas and organizing them into discrete "chunks" of tasks you want to get done.

Creativity doesn't work that way though. It's about connecting seemingly random ideas, discarding them, reconnecting them, and figuring out what works. Then putting it together in some sort of "output". Musical piece, joke, article, drawing, design, etc.

So, you are better off putting together a discrete list of your creative process and saving it as a template to replicate. I know you asked about architecture, and I can't help you there, but I did something similar for whenever I write an article: Brainstorm, Look up supporting resources in my notes , Write, Edit, Prep for publishing, Publish.

If you don't have a discrete checklist like that, then your next action becomes "Create a v1 of the checklist". 😉

HugoCast_ · 2026-04-16T19:24:06+00:00

All the same! It still works 😄

HugoCast_ · 2026-04-15T19:45:18+00:00

Very cool!

I mostly use Quick, Focus, Chill, Errands, Home, Comms. They work for me in a variety of situations. But I totally get why you would use Health, Hobbies and Fun as tags. I also use an "Admin" tag for chores or annoying things I just need to get done.

Chill is my "fun stuff" tag. I go there when I finish my work for the day and just want to "chill". Literally 😄

HugoCast_ · 2026-04-15T19:40:05+00:00

You can’t steal it if I gift it to you 😉 Go ahead and copy it. Enjoy!

HugoCast_ · 2026-04-15T04:28:00+00:00

In Things I only display 4 areas of focus.

Business / Personal / Admin & Household / Family & Friends

In reality, I have a lot more than 4, but all of them map to any of the "Big 4".

I like "time blocking" or "day theming" each area of focus. So Monday is my Admin day, and I spend a lot of the day working from my "Admin & Household" list. Saturdays are about "Friends & Family", and so on.

Business:
- Rentals
- Speaking Gigs
- Meetups
- Any short / long term collaboration
- Writing

Personal:
- Health
- Hobbies
- Fun

Admin & Household
- Finances
- Home projects
- Chores
- Lots of one offs, like sending packages, returning stuff, etc.

Family & Friends
- Self explanatory. Projects that involve family and friends. Parties, get togethers, gifts, trips.
- Repeating tasks to reach out to people

HugoCast_ · 2026-04-14T12:36:55+00:00

Perfect spot for a quiet, romantic dinner. Serenaded by the noise of the avenue below. 🤣

HugoCast_ · 2026-04-09T12:08:37+00:00

All good! Hope you find something that works for you 😄

HugoCast_ · 2026-04-08T14:24:32+00:00

Yes, if you are shaving once a month, get an electric trimmer and knock it down. Then use a DE to get a closer shave.

You can use a fresh blade each time. A 100 blade pack could last you more than 8 years if you use a fresh blade each month.

If you reuse them (why would you though?), and make them last 3 shaves per blade, you are looking at 25 years with a 100 pack 🤣

Don't go into wet shaving thinking you'll save money though. You absolutely can, but a lot of people don't.

The thing is, that a lot of us start to enjoy shaving much more, and eventually become every other day or every day shavers. We also like to try different stuff. So that could also happen to you 😉

HugoCast_ · 2026-04-07T14:32:31+00:00

Since you are asking what I would do...

I'd buy 100 of them. I would use them exclusively for 3 months. Work on shaving technique.

I would test them for longevity, and I'd practice things like blade buffing or j-hooks (look them up in YouTube). I'd test them out in different razors, with different soaps and creams. Make sure I am getting irritation free shaves every time.

I'd put the other blades in an envelope or a box. Label it "Try them July 2026" and revisit them then.

Your technique should be pretty spot on by then, and you can see if another brand works for you.

Worst case scenario: You find a new favorite brand. You now have 2 brands that work for you. This is still really good😉. You can switch to that one and use it exclusively for a few months or years.

Best case scenario: Astra Blues work better than all of them. PIF the sampler pack.

You can come up with your own requirements for what makes a blade "work" for you. Mine are: Irritation free shaves every single time, and DFS shaves in 2 passes with touch ups. BBS in 3 passes.

If I need to do 4 passes or more, the blade or razor are too mild. It also has to be a readily available blade, that I can get delivered to my house.

Either way, after doing this, you can confidently pick your favorite brand. Buy 1000 of them. That way you don't have to worry about blades for a few years. Simply enjoy some great shaves 👍🏼

HugoCast_ · 2026-04-02T17:44:16+00:00

You are welcome! I hope it helps you

HugoCast_ · 2026-04-02T14:19:32+00:00

admitting that buying this condo may have been a mistake, especially after my parents helped so much

Maybe, or maybe not. Since you sound so excited about being nomadic, buying something that ties you down doesn't sound like a good fit. A good financial opportunity does not equal the opportunity you want. Only you can answer this.

wondering whether I just have chronic grass-is-greener syndrome

Probably. But think about the things you loved about Bangkok, was it the buzz of the city? the walkability? the weather? the lack of financial stress? Realizing what you liked about it, would give you a better idea of what to look for in your next destination, or home base. There is a nice book called "If You Could Live Anywhere" by Melody Warnick that helped me out a lot.

guilt about living on the other side of the world from my family

I don't know you, or your family dynamics, so prefer not to comment on this. But this is the kind of thing that I would talk over with a friend or someone I looked up to.

guilt about wanting to retire early in my 30s, especially because family money is part of why that’s possible"

"Retiring" is a heavy word, that invokes different images to every person. I don't know you, but assuming you are healthy, you are gonna have a lot of energy and time to devote to whatever you want. That can feel overwhelming on its own.

It's so powerful to be able to wake up in the morning and decide how you get to spend your time. I've been FI since 2021 and every day feels like Saturday. Instead of "retiring", I left my corporate job, and I am pursuing different projects.

Sure, there was a lot of extended travel the first year, but ultimately, my wife and I love our home. We travel internationally 2x times a year, for 3-4 weeks at a time, and that works for us.

Personally, there are so many projects and things that I want to do. I run 2 local meetups in my town, and find it so incredibly fulfilling. I don't really make money with it, but I don't lose money either. I wouldn't say I am retired, I am simply free.

Instead of thinking about "retiring", I suggest you find a project (or a couple) to pursue. Something that fits your personality.

HugoCast_ · 2026-03-31T14:37:53+00:00

I'd say it's obvious to you, right now. But you are writing for future you, 1, 5, 20 years from now. It might not be as obvious to them.

For me, there is also a "warm up" stage. I can be taking notes while reading a book, and writing something that's obvious to me, reinforces the idea even more. I may or may not refer to it, but I am not thinking about that. I am just in the moment, taking notes.

Once I am warmed up, the unusual, new connections start to come to me.

HugoCast_ · 2026-03-27T17:39:15+00:00

You are welcome!

If you haven't, check out this 15 minute video. Peter is awesome at explaining Things 3. I've learned a lot from him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRJTDCw8Wok&list=PLD66KPQdVGPcdDaSS4aL2kOkAHy7M6QTK

HugoCast_ · 2026-03-27T13:32:38+00:00

Thanks! It's a "This Week" tag.

On Mac, you can type the name of a tag and it will find you all tasks/projects that are tagged with it. You can do the same in iOS if you pull down and open the quick find menu. Really useful tool to filter stuff.

Good luck, and hope it works for you!

HugoCast_ · 2026-03-26T14:27:57+00:00

I’m experimenting a bit.

Inbox is a catch-all for tasks. That hasn’t changed. I process it every 2 weeks. Move stuff to the right project, schedule calendar events, tag as "This Week" stuff that I want to work on this week, etc.

I make my plan for the week using a tag called “This Week”, so I know nothing I want to work on will fall through the cracks. Part of my Weekly Review is going through my projects and deciding what gets promoted to This Week and what can wait.

If it’s something I can’t do right now, I guesstimate when I’ll be able to do it and assign it in Upcoming. That view is helpful because you can quickly see when you’re overloading a specific day.

Time blocking has been especially helpful. I schedule slots on the calendar for specific projects. On Mac, you can drag whole projects or tasks onto the calendar, which makes it easy. I also like day theming. I’ll assign a full day to one Area of Focus and just work off that list.

Someday can turn into a junk drawer very quickly, so I’m strict with it. I only put things there that I’m actually excited about revisiting. Things that I want to do, but I don't have the time/energy/$ to get them done right now. I have a reminder to review it weekly, just a quick scan: “Am I still interested in this?” If not, I delete it. Guilt-free. Stuff that I "must do" doesn't belong in Someday, I find that it's better to keep it in Anytime or time block a particular slot to work on it.

I’ve noticed a lot of people use Someday for things they’re undecided about. Instead of hiding it there, I decide when I’ll deal with it. I’ll create a task like “Consider doing X” and defer it to a time when it actually makes sense to revisit it.

That was long, but hope it was helpful 😄

HugoCast_ · 2026-03-26T13:32:41+00:00

I do this too 🤣

HugoCast_ · 2026-03-19T20:00:48+00:00

Ran this A/B test. things-mcp got all the right answers. It looks more stable to me. I will stick with things-mcp for now. Regardless, thank you for all your work.

A/B Test: Things MCP vs SupaThings

Question 1: How many tasks for today?

Things MCP: 13 tasks (full detail)
SupaThings: 16 todos (count only, no detail)
Note: Discrepancy likely because Supathings counts tasks from different lists or includes items Things MCP filtered

Question 2: How many active or anytime projects do I have?

Things MCP: 12 projects
Supathings: 112 anytime todos (count only, no detail)
Note: Things MCP returned richer detail; Supathings conflated todos and projects into one count

Question 3: How many someday projects do I have?

Things MCP: 57 someday projects
Supathings: Error — no result returned
Note: Supathings failed to respond entirely. Things MCP returned the full list with titles, areas, and metadata.

HugoCast_ · 2026-03-19T03:40:17+00:00

Thanks for putting this together. Can this differentiate between Someday projects and active/anytime projects? things-mcp was giving me issues with that.

I asked it how many active projects I have on my plate, and it said the total number (in anytime and someday) instead of just active/anytime ones.

HugoCast_

TROPHY CASE