MS

Hello, I’m Michael Sliwinski, founder of Nozbe - to-do app for business owners and their teams. I write essays, books, work on projects and I podcast for you using #iPadOnly in #NoOffice as I believe that work is not a place you go to, it’s a thing you do.

😎 Life

How my life influences my business and the other way round. How I design my lifestyle and how I succeed or fail in the process.

🍿 😎 ⭐️ My thoughts have been replaced by “Hamilton” lyrics…

Friday, August 23, 2024 /hamilton/

I love musicals and I’m a huge fan of the Hamilton musical since I saw it first in London on West-end in 2019. Later it came to Disney+ with the original cast and the brilliant Lin-Manuel Miranda (see trailer below) and we’ve been having regular screenings with friends and family in our home. Later we took our entire family (including our three daughters) to see the show again on West-end in London in 2022. But that’s not all, as both my wife and me speak German, we even travelled to Hamburg in Germany, to attend a German-version of Hamilton last year. Our entire family is crazy about this show. We listen to the entire soundtrack in the car. And my eldest daughter got herself a shirt that says: “My thoughts have been replaced by Hamilton lyrics” which inspired me to write this post:


😎 ✈️ 🕹️ ⭐️ My family car turns 7 today and there are 7 things I still find awesome about it

Tuesday, February 20, 2024 /q7/

Exactly 7 years ago today, I took ownership of my first ever new car. I remember being very apprehensive about getting such an expensive car, even though I had a unique opportunity of getting it at significant discount. I was studying its price list very diligently trying to find the perfect balance of specs, extras and value for money. Turns out, this car has aged exceedingly well and not only do I keep driving my family in it today, but we are immensely enjoying it. Here are 7 outstanding features that I still enjoy after 7 years of ownership of Audi Q7:

My family car turns 7 today and there are 7 things I still find awesome about it


😎 🕹️ Time for reading glasses

Friday, February 9, 2024 /glasses/

This day has come. 🤓 Today I picked up my first pair of prescription glasses for reading. My 20/20 eyesight is gone. Now I need glasses for reading. It’s only a 0.75 correction, but it’s meaningful. Especially when I’m writing on the iPad which is pretty close to my face. I’m in my mid-forties and the time has come. So how do I look?

Time for reading glasses


🍎 📲 😎 How iOS17 will finally let me digitally split from my wife? New setup for iFamily in 2023!

Tuesday, September 19, 2023 /ifamily23/

This week is all about the new iOS17 - operating system for our iPhones and iPads! Finally it’s coming to our devices and at last I’ll be able to split my main iCloud ID from my wife. An e-divorce of sorts. Nope, I’m not really breaking up with my wife, I love her too much… but we’ll finally be able to have separate iCloud accounts because since 2012 we’ve been using the same main Apple ID/iCloud account on both of our iPhones. Yes, that wasn’t ideal but it worked for us very well. However, as you can imagine it was also frustrating at times, so here’s what iOS17 offers that finally will help us out:

How iOS17 will finally let me digitally split from my wife? New setup for iFamily in 2023!


🖋 😎 🔗 ⭐️ Practice Gratitude every day to be happy, fulfilled and calm with this Siri Shortcut

Wednesday, August 30, 2023 /gratitude/

I’ve written a daily journal for more than seven years now and I’ve incorporated daily gratitude practice into it every morning. While many people tried my journaling shortcuts, some commented that while they weren’t committed to keeping a journal, they’d like an incentive to practice gratitude and have just a gratitude journal of sorts. That’s why I decided to extract the gratitude part from my journaling Shortcut to make such practice more accessible to many more people. Read on to get this free Siri Shortcut (compatible with iPhones, iPads and Macs) and start benefiting from an effortless daily gratitude practice today!

Practice Gratitude every day to be happy, fulfilled and calm with this Siri Shortcut


🕹️ 😎 Lifehack: Baking soda and super glue - how to fix almost anything!

Monday, May 8, 2023 /soda/

This tip has blown my mind 🤯. It turns out that with a basic super glue and Baking soda (or Sodium Bicarbonate) you can fix almost anything. It started with my daughter’s headphones - her Beats Solo 3 wireless broke and initially I wanted to buy the replacement parts, but then I stumbled across a video (embedded below) that convinced me to do it differently. Here’s the result of my fix:

Lifehack: Baking soda and super glue - how to fix almost anything!


😎 ⭐️ More than a decade of Internet frienship - how I finally met Augusto Pinaud in person!

Tuesday, May 2, 2023 /augusto/

Virtual isn’t real. Online meetings aren’t the same as being in the same physical space. Long distance relationships never work. Right? Maybe. If that’s what you want to believe. I think by running my #NoOffice company Nozbe for the last 16 years I’ve proven that you can run a viable, creative and a very profitable business completely remotely. And recently I’ve realized that over more than a decade I’ve developed a close friendship with Augusto Pinaud even though that until last month, we’ve never met in person and all this time we’ve been only communicating online while living a literal ocean apart.

More than a decade of Internet frienship - how I finally met Augusto Pinaud in person!


😎 Thank you Tweetbot and welcome Ivory! Or my gradual switch from Twitter to Mastodon!

Thursday, March 2, 2023 /tweetbot/

Twitter used to be my favorite social network. My happy place. I know, there are trolls there and stuff, but the cool thing about Twitter was that I could choose to follow only a select number of people and using a brilliant Tweetbot app. I had a social network without an algorithmic timeline. Just good old chronological timeline. I could follow my favorite people (Below 100) and I could tweet to people who’d choose to follow me (16K+ as of the moment of this post). This all changed when Elon Musk bought Twitter, fired a bunch of people, brought back suspended trolls and later, without any warning cut off access to third-party apps like my beloved Tweetbot. Here’s what I’m going to do moving forward:

Thank you Tweetbot and welcome Ivory! Or my gradual switch from Twitter to Mastodon!


📲 😎 Replacing battery in iPhone SE - my daughter’s first phone!

Monday, January 30, 2023 /battery/

Before we launched the brand new Nozbe I got myself an old 2016 iPhone SE to be able to test if our app is fast enough for this phone and designed well enough to fit this smallest screen on the iPhone. After a few years as I upgraded my iPhones, I put this old vintage one on the wall of my home office and kept it there. Now that my eldest daughter needed her first phone, I decided to give her this one for starters. However, this iPhone’s battery was really bad. So I did some research and decided to buy a new battery on Amazon for around $20 and change the battery myself. What could possibly go wrong?

Replacing battery in iPhone SE - my daughter’s first phone!


🗯 📲 😎 How to enjoy photos of your family on your iOS16 iPhone Lock Screen

Thursday, December 8, 2022 /lockscreen/

My brother, who recently converted back to iPhone from Android, just sent me over this tip and it’s fantastic - if you’re a parent, who has lots of family photos - follow the steps in this article and you’ll thank me later. Thanks to this tip, every hour I see a different photo of one of my three daughters and wife. I love my Lock Screen now! Here’s how to enable it:

How to enjoy photos of your family on your iOS16 iPhone Lock Screen


🗯 😎 Be thankful and practice gratitude every day

Thursday, November 24, 2022 /thankful/

😎 Missing cup holder bias - or how a minor thing can destroy your entire experience completely

Tuesday, November 15, 2022 /cup-holder/

🗯 😎 Vote - please vote or the extremists will ruin our world

Tuesday, November 8, 2022 /vote/

🗯 📲 😎 CarPlay is why auto makers should just give up on infotainment systems

Monday, November 7, 2022 /carplay/

😎 🎾 Learnings from a bike accident - speed, distance and helmet!

Tuesday, May 3, 2022 /accident/

😎 🎬 Garry Kasparov on Ted explaining the war in Ukraine 🇺🇦 in 15 minutes

Thursday, April 14, 2022 /garry-kasparov/

😎 I’m a privileged white man - and what am I going to do about it?

Thursday, March 24, 2022 /white/

😎 A chance to meet someone in person, who you know online? Go for it or it might never happen!

Thursday, March 17, 2022 /meet/

😎 Being nice and optimistic doesn’t make you weak

Thursday, March 3, 2022 /weak/

🕹️ 📲 😎 iWallet - an iPhone minimalist wallet that has been with me for the past 9 years!

Thursday, January 27, 2022 /iwallet/

⌚️ 😎 How Apple Watch helps keep my dad alive!

Thursday, January 20, 2022 /afib/

😎 🎬 I’m not throwing away my shot 💉 - celebrating my booster COVID-19 vaccine with Hamilton music!

Wednesday, January 19, 2022 /shot/

😎 Dear John… let’s have one last chat about COVID… for the sake of our friendship

Wednesday, December 8, 2021 /john/

⌨️ 😎 Coding is one of my favorite hobbies. It’s my happy place.

Monday, November 15, 2021 /postjs/

😎 🎬 Drink water. Just listen to Cristiano Ronaldo!

Friday, July 9, 2021 /water/

😎 Getting vaccination done for COVID-19

Wednesday, May 19, 2021 /vaccine/

🍎 😎 Why I bought the last two remaining Apple HomePods for my living room

Thursday, April 15, 2021 /homepods/

😎 ✔️ I don’t love it!

Wednesday, April 7, 2021 /loveit/

😎 ✅ 10 years after my earthquake adventure in Japan

Thursday, March 11, 2021 /japan/

🤖 😎 Building Lego Baby Yoda

Saturday, March 6, 2021 /yoda/

😎 What I’m thankful for this year

Thursday, November 26, 2020 /thanksgiving/

😎 How my uncle taught me which ice cream or dish to choose from a menu of options?

Thursday, October 1, 2020 /uncle/

📖 😎 Just say “thank you”… because when you said “but”, you basically blew it!

Monday, September 28, 2020 /thankyou/

🍿 😎 When in doubt, just do the next right thing!

Thursday, August 13, 2020 /right/

😎 Getting Beard Done by shaving once a week, with a system!

Wednesday, May 6, 2020 /beard/

😎 10 design principles by Dieter Rams

Wednesday, April 15, 2020 /designed/

😎 11 years and counting - how my daughter is growing and I simply can’t believe it…

Monday, January 13, 2020 /eleven/

🏝 😎 📱 A child to a remotely-working dad: you’re just writing random stuff!

Wednesday, January 8, 2020 /dad/

🤖 😎 LEGO - how I’m unleashing a child within me by building a new lego set every year (just for me!)

Wednesday, December 25, 2019 /lego-building/

😎 When are you planning to retire? I don’t think I ever will!

Friday, December 13, 2019 /retirement/

😎 Kidnapped and tweeting… something that’s just NOT true to you

Friday, September 27, 2019 /kidnapped/

😎 I’m too old for this, right? Wrong!

Friday, August 30, 2019 /too-old/

😎 Jesus was right. Love is all you need to answer what’s right or wrong!

Thursday, August 22, 2019 /commandments/

✔️ 😎 Focusing on the WHEN and not the HOW…

Thursday, August 15, 2019 /when/

😎 💼 Nobody’s perfect from the beginning

Monday, January 21, 2019 /perfect/

😎 What I’ve learned from my IG #2018bestnine photos

Tuesday, January 1, 2019 /2018bestnine/

✔️ 😎 Time to start your annual review!

Friday, December 28, 2018 /annual/

😎 Two organizations that do a great job of helping those in need

Thursday, December 20, 2018 /szp/

😎 🎾 So in the end I want to become an Ironman…

Wednesday, December 5, 2018 /wannabe/

🕹️ 😎 How I’m keeping my coffee ☕️ warm using the Ember mug

Monday, December 3, 2018 /mug/

🎾 😎 🎬 I’m thankful for Robert Kubica being back as racing driver for Formula 1

Thursday, November 22, 2018 /kubica/

😎 15 years ago I stopped being friends with her… only to become her best friend ever as her husband

Wednesday, November 21, 2018 /friends/

😎 💯 100 Years of Polish Independence 🇵🇱

Sunday, November 11, 2018 /poland/

🎾 😎 Golden State Warriors - how to keep eye on the prize and lead an unselfish team

Wednesday, June 13, 2018 /goldenstate/

😎 👨🏼‍💻 7 proven rules that will help you lose weight… for good!

Monday, February 6, 2017 /diet/

✔️ 😎 🖋 How I finally get daily journaling done with a workflow on my iPhone

Wednesday, November 2, 2016 /journal16/

😎 💼 Optimism pays. Why optimistic people are successful and get more done

Monday, July 18, 2016 /optimism/

🎾 😎 Lessons on humility and hard work from the Warriors vs Thunder basketball playoffs battle

Tuesday, May 31, 2016 /warriors/

😎 ✔️ Productivity and relationships - why I take my wife on a honeymoon every year?

Tuesday, February 23, 2016 /honeymoon/

💼 😎 Wow, you’re so successful! What’s next for you?

Monday, January 25, 2016 /next/

😎 Christmas gift ideas: give experiences instead of things

Monday, December 21, 2015 /ferrari/

😎 List of tech stuff I’m Thankful for in 2015

Friday, November 27, 2015 /thanksgiving15/

✅ 😎 Enjoying the present moment - thoughts after Nozbe Reunion

Tuesday, September 29, 2015 /present/

😎 Living consciously. In the moment. Essentially now.

Tuesday, August 18, 2015 /conscious/

📱 😎 Dad, let’s go to the “iPad store” please! (Or how our children embrace touch devices…)

Saturday, March 14, 2015 /ipad-store/

😎 Oscars tonight: I’m rooting for my high-school buddy’s documentary: Our curse

Sunday, February 22, 2015 /film-our-curse/

✔️ 😎 How I’m setting my goals for 2015 to get them all done

Friday, January 9, 2015 /goals2015/

😎 ✏️ 5 lessons I learned from my mom - and how she shaped my life

Monday, September 15, 2014 /mom/

😎 How I implemented Slow Carb Diet, lost 8kg/17lbs in 2 months - tips and tricks for beginners

Thursday, August 14, 2014 /slow-carb-diet/

✔️ 😎 ✏️ Next Actions and Holidays: How vacation planning apps can teach you to get organized…

Monday, August 11, 2014 /next-actions-holidays/

🎾 😎 ✏️ How I became leaner, healthier and stronger? My first 6 months of 2014 in detail: slow carb diet, new eating habits and a lot more regular exercise.

Tuesday, June 24, 2014 /fitness2014/

🎾 😎 My first triathlon - excitement, self-doubt, drama and joy - how I won my fight with the resistance

Tuesday, May 13, 2014 /triathlon/

😎 ✏️ Yes, I’m a Christian (Roman-Catholic) and I believe Jesus Christ to be my Savior

Saturday, April 19, 2014 /catholic/

✅ 😎 ✏️ How to never forget to pay your bills (thanks to Nozbe)

Friday, December 13, 2013 /nozbe-bills/

😎 ✏️ Moral compass. On being honest and what I’m doing every day to make better decisions.

Wednesday, December 11, 2013 /pray/

😎 ✏️ This is our Independence Day!

Monday, November 11, 2013 /independence-day/

😎 ✏️ How my entrepreneurial parents inspired me to start a company

Monday, July 29, 2013 /parents/

😎 ✏️ Take the blame. It’s really your fault. Learn from it.

Tuesday, April 23, 2013 /blame/

🌎 😎 This is something I’ve been struggling with recently: Getting Your Family On Board with Life Changes

Monday, April 8, 2013 /family-changes/

🌎 😎 If life would be like that, it’d be boring: Just the good parts

Sunday, April 7, 2013 /good-parts/

🌎 😎 How we should embrace and follow it: The Secret to Overcoming Any Fear

Thursday, April 4, 2013 /fear/

🌎 😎 I also work like this: 30 Minutes

Thursday, April 4, 2013 /30-minutes/

✔️ 😎 Combating the Resistance - 10-step productivity course recorded!

Tuesday, March 5, 2013 /recorded-course/

😎 ✏️ Giving thanks for good to TV, Radio and Newspapers

Saturday, November 24, 2012 /giving-thanks-for-good-to-tv-radio-and-newspa/

😎 📱 ✏️ Syncing family in the cloud - two ways to set up iCloud with your spouse

Tuesday, November 13, 2012 /ifamily/

😎 ✏️ Indestructibles - Hermann Maier and Robert Kubica

Wednesday, September 19, 2012 /indestructibles-hermann-maier-and-robert-kubi/

😎 ✏️ 143 pieces of clothing

Friday, June 1, 2012 /143-pieces-of-clothing/

😎 Seven years married to my best friend

Wednesday, April 25, 2012 /seven-years-married-to-my-best-friend/

😎 Stop at red light

Tuesday, February 7, 2012 /stop-at-red-light/

😎 The importance of counting things

Monday, January 30, 2012 /the-importance-of-counting-things/

😎 Why you should reconcile with old friends

Tuesday, December 27, 2011 /why-you-should-reconcile-with-old-friends/

😎 💼 Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should

Monday, September 26, 2011 /just-because-you-can-doesnt-mean-you-should/

💼 😎 Feed your curiosity. Try things out. Learn. Grow

Thursday, September 22, 2011 /feed-your-curiosity-try-things-out-learn-grow/

😎 Labor Day - a reason to celebrate love for work

Monday, September 5, 2011 /labor-day-a-reason-to-celebrate-love-for-work/

😎 Power of the subconscious mind

Monday, August 1, 2011 /power-of-the-subconscious-mind/

😎 Decisions and Consequences - taking calculated risks

Monday, July 18, 2011 /decisions-and-consequences-taking-calculated/

😎 100 things challenge to become a zen minimalist master

Saturday, July 9, 2011 /100-things-challenge-to-become-a-zen-minimali/

✅ 😎 ✈️ #publicNozbe - simply help someone in Japan

Tuesday, March 22, 2011 /publicnozbe-simply-help-someone-in-japan/

😎 📖 Recording Voice memos while Reading Audiobooks

Monday, February 28, 2011 /recording-voice-memos-while-reading-audiobook/

✔️ 😎 The Art of Being on Time

Monday, February 14, 2011 /the-art-of-being-on-time/

💼 😎 Why college education is still very relevant

Monday, January 24, 2011 /why-college-education-is-still-very-relevant/

😎 💼 Get a Degree and Change the World!

Thursday, September 30, 2010 /get-a-degree-and-change-the-world/

😎 Minimalism feels fantastic

Saturday, July 31, 2010 /minimalism-feels-fantastic/

😎 ✔️ Don’t be like waiters memorizing orders

Tuesday, July 27, 2010 /dont-be-like-waiters-memorizing-orders/

😎 Democracy is our privilege

Monday, July 5, 2010 /democracy-is-our-privilege/

💼 ✈️ 😎 Enjoying Lifestyle Business

Wednesday, June 30, 2010 /enjoying-lifestyle-business/

😎 Life is not the amount of breaths you take, it’s the moments that take your breath away.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010 /life-is-not-the-amount-of-breaths-you-take-it/

🎾 😎 Adam Malysz - my perfect, humble and inspiring role model

Monday, February 15, 2010 /adam-malysz-my-perfect-humble-and-inspiring-r/

😎 A tale of a proud father - how my baby daughter made my life richer

Wednesday, January 13, 2010 /a-tale-of-a-proud-father-how-my-baby-daughter/

😎 Have a nice day - everyday words that make a difference - not only on Christmas

Thursday, December 31, 2009 /have-a-nice-day-everyday-words-that-make-a-di/

😎 Thanksgiving - what I’m thankful for this year

Thursday, November 26, 2009 /thanksgiving-what-im-thankful-for-this-year/

😎 Responsibility - Response-ability - ability to respond and react the way you want

Thursday, November 12, 2009 /responsibility-response-ability-ability-to-re/

📙 😎 Tribute to Marc Orchant

Thursday, August 7, 2008 /tribute-to-marc-orchant/