Quantity, Rhythm, and Optimization
Insights on fostering creativity, quickly jump to app settings on iOS, recent app updates, tips gathered from Claude's and Chat GPT's system prompts, and a few other nuggets of wisdom.
Hey guys, here are a few of the things that stood out from my previous week:
On Creativity
Just yesterday I watched this short video about what fuels creativity. I’ve been into both creativity and productivity for a while, and there’s a useful overlap. One point from the video that stood out for me (and connects to a lot of productivity advice) is that quality often comes from quantity. Creative work is, at heart, a craft: it asks for dedication and care. It’s easy to mistake that for perfectionism, but chasing perfect isn’t the same as pursuing quality. In fact, that pursuit of perfection often just paralyzes you, keeping you from getting anything done. What happens is you’re always trying to hit some impossible standard, and that pressure just locks you up. It makes it really tough to even start, or to push through and finish something. So, in other words, perfectionism resists repetition; craft depends on it.
A few takeaways from the video: accept your rhythm (and keep momentum), focus on progress, and ignore the pressure to polish everything to death. Make a lot. Mix ideas. Keep practicing. And find your balance between structure and freedom—enough order to move forward, enough chaos to discover the unexpected.
Some of my favorite quotes:
“Creative success follows statistical probability. The more attempts someone makes, the more likely they are to produce a masterpiece.”
“Creativity is mostly combinatorial, taking existing elements and recombining them in novel ways.”
“Creativity often emerges at what scientists call the edge of chaos… in between lies the sweet spot where unexpected but meaningful connections form.”
Actually, there’s some tension in concepts that may be worth exploring. This is something that also came to mind: there’s a “freshness” you have when you’re new to something—an open, curious way of trying things before you’ve learned the usual paths. A lot of artists try to return to that perspective. Repetition can make you better, but it can also pull you into formulas if you’re not careful. So for me, often times the trick isn’t just to repeat; it’s to repeat while regularly resetting—to keep a beginner’s mind on purpose. Make a lot, build muscle, then step back and ask the naive questions again. That cycle keeps the rhythm and preserves the freshness.
On Shortcuts
If you are tired of having to navigate to the settings of each app on your iPhone, I found this useful Shortcut.
On Updates
How are you guys doing with the new Tahoe and iOS 26 updates? I’m holding off on Tahoe for a few weeks, or until some of my most-used apps push compatibility updates (specifically, waiting for Yabai). In the meantime, here are a couple of updates that stood out from the last week or two:
Craft had some nice design updates. I must confess I’m still not used to the whole liquid style of iOS, and I finally get a lot of the hate. But Craft’s approach to these visual updates is actually really nice. I’m happy to see the interface doesn’t sacrifice accessibility to show off the liquid stuff. The update also has some other additions, the most important for me perhaps being able to filter tags between Inbox/Today/Upcoming.
Readwise Reader added better offline control so you can choose what stays on-device. This is still the app where I manage most of what I consume.
Snipd also pushed a solid update: improved AI for Chat with episodes, and there are new filters for uploads. I use the uploads feature a lot for YouTube lectures/interviews I want to hear and highlight on the go. The new filter feature is a welcome addition, but even better would be a way to batch delete uploads. I think I’ve been waiting for this for more than a year.
Day One, which I use for journaling, pushed an update (2025.19.2), and it seems to have broken all of its Shortcuts integration on Mac. I emailed support; no reply yet. I rely on those shortcuts a lot, so this has been frustrating. If you haven’t updated the app and this is important to you, I’d suggest waiting until a fix comes out.
On Subtitles
I discovered MewCut. It is meant to convert between Final Cut Pro titles and subtitle files, perform translation, and transcription. I downloaded, tested, and found it too buggy, but promising.. Honestly, I’m really hoping that this one app improves because I do need a lot of what this app is trying to solve.
Aside from the automation aspects of MewCut, I’m looking around for something which is good at transcribing and making subtitles a certain length—especially for non‑English languages like Chinese. Both MacWhisper and WhisperScript that I use for creating subtitles, struggle with this and require lots of manual editing. If you have a recommendation would love to know!
On System Prompts
Tiago Forte shared an overview of the system prompts for Claude 4 and GPT‑5. I mostly use both through their APIs, and I specifically like to look for applications that allow me customization over the system prompt that is used. I’m not fully sure how much of this applies to API calls versus the official sites/apps, but still super interesting to read.
A couple of things that stood out to me.
For Claude:
On tone, I appreciate the “Skip the flattery and respond directly.” I think this used to be more of an issue in earlier models.
Useful terms to push Claude models for deeper responses: ‘analyze,’ ‘evaluate,’ ‘research,’ ‘deep dive,’ ‘comprehensive,’ ‘assess.’
I found this myself in Claude’s docs. If you can keep the system prompt limited to the role and add all extra requirements to the message, it may be more effective.
For GPT-5
The “don’t ask clarifying questions or seek confirmation” guidance seems counterproductive. I’d rather the model ask more so the output is better.
For both:
The style of your question is the style of the answer you’ll receive. Want more in‑depth answers, make more in‑depth requests. This one point seems to be controversial for some users who think simple prompting is all you need. Models keep getting smarter and can understand simpler prompts better, but knowing when to be detailed and specific still matters.
On a related note. It’s been several weeks since GPT-5 came out, and using both models daily, I’m starting to notice a pattern. GPT-5 tends to follow long, detailed instructions better. For example, I keep a list of banned words whenever I use AI to help me write/rewrite content. GPT-5 sticks to it. Claude often slips. I’m hoping the next generation of Claude models tightens this up.
On Growth
I saved this X thread by Julie Zhuo. It’s one of those long, thoughtful lists of advice broken into practical nuggets. It covers a lot, but here are a few that stood out to me:
Fear as a teacher: “Walk towards what you’re afraid of, and you’ll always find your greatest learning opportunity.”
A reminder that our takes are partial, so we should be slow to judge: “The truth of anything is multidimensional and impossible to fully grasp.”
This one relates to PKM: “The number one meta-skill for success is learning to be an exceptional learner.”
This next one made me pause. I had to read it several times to get it 😄. It’s a reminder to be intentional about what we optimize for, and to make sure it lines up with our goals, especially the ones that are hard (or impossible) to measure.
“You can only optimize what you can measure. This explains both why it’s impossible to optimize for happiness (not measurable), and why we so often optimize for things that don’t actually make us happy (money, social media likes, how much you can deadlift, etc—easy to measure!)”
On Cinema
Weapons (2025). So good. It left me with so many questions and there was a lot that I didn’t understand, but the storytelling was brilliant. Synopsis: When all but one child from the same class mysteriously vanish on the same night at exactly the same time, a community is left questioning who or what is behind their disappearance.
The Coffee Table (2023). A simple, low budget film with some very good ideas. It was all about atmosphere and tension. I really liked i1t Synopsis: Jesus and María are a couple going through a difficult time in their relationship. Nevertheless, they have just become parents. To shape their new life, they decide to buy a new coffee table. A decision that will change their existence.
April (2025). Second feature film by Dea Kulumbegashvili. Incredible. I believe she’s suddenly become a very important figure in the world of cinema and can’t wait to see what else she creates. This film and Beginning, her first one, were both masterpieces. Synopsis: Nina, an OB-GYN, faces accusations after a newborn’s death. Her life undergoes scrutiny during investigation. She persists in her medical duties, determined to provide care others hesitate to offer, despite the risks.
Sister Midnight (2025). Like a mix of Kaurismaki and Jarmusch, but the setting (Mumbai) and the cinematography just make of this something else entirely. Loved it. Such a surprise. Synopsis: In Mumbai, an arranged marriage spirals into darkness as the spineless husband watches his wife morph into a ruthless, feral force within their marital confines.
F1 (2025). I know nothing about racing and don’t care about cars, but I was still moved and excited, and for me that’s good cinema. Synopsis: Racing legend Sonny Hayes is coaxed out of retirement to lead a struggling Formula 1 team—and mentor a young hotshot driver—while chasing one more chance at glory.
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