Paying attention to "wow that's cool" moments [WRAP 185]

Hey [FIRST NAME GOES HERE], a couple days ago I asked a quick question about newsletters—specifically if anyone was interested in me being your personal newsletter coach for a 10 week program I’m running. The program has two goals for you…

1. You become a better writer through repetition and coaching
2. You make money on your newsletter because you are a better writer

If you’re interested in working with me this fall to build a newsletter machine that powers your business, click reply and just say “Newsletter”.

💡 One Big Idea

A few times this year I’ve written about vibe coding and some cool tools I’ve been building. My friends Nat Eliason and Cathryn Lavery have been showing me how to use Cursor and Claude Code, along with my own YouTube deep dives. So far I’ve built working tools for:

• GAP Planner
• Lead Magnet Generator
• Email Newsletter Kickstarter
• Clipboard Utility (that broke though)

This week I’ve been toying around with building a simple time tracking tool in the terminal. The command line interface (CLI) always freaked me out a bit because felt more “programmatic” than the chat based interface of Cursor. But I wanted to experiment with it and the time tracking tool was something that I would use every day.

Why time tracking? Don’t I do that in my Field Notes? Yes, either that or on the whiteboard. But I wanted a simple “program” that I could quickly throw entries into and had the power to call back those entries… which is exactly what the CLI is good at (with proper programming). This is only a tool for me, so I didn’t need to build a web app and worry about interface design.

Here’s a sample entry: time-log bulk "YouTube=2h Writing=1h Admin=0.5h Coding=1h Clients-NAME=2h Meetings=0.5h”

At any time I can also call up a report on each category: time-log category “YouTube” and it will show me all the time I tracked for YouTube. I can add “August 2025” to the command it will show me all the time for August. Here’s a sample entry, with the commands.

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So here’s the question, and one I’ve been asked a few times… why build a time tracker CLI tool? It’s simple enough to track on paper (true), and there are already time tracking tools available online (also true).

Basically is this too nerdy and complicated for something that already exists as a tool and I have traditionally done with pen and paper?

The answer… it might be! But I’m a big believer in using personal problems and processes as a way to experiment with new tools. The ability to learn how to turn personal or customer problems into tools and apps is very cool.

It feels like the first time I was putting videos on YouTube, or made sales through my newsletter. And I’ve learned to pay attention to those moments.

Video to Watch

Beau is one of my favorite YouTubers. His adventurous, down-to-earth style really vibes with me. What he’s talking about in this video is a natural “narcissistic” tendency of creators to think themselves so interesting that they believe parts (or all) of their lives are worth sharing. And the balance is staying true to what you think is cool and interesting without getting sucked into algorithms, trends, and should-be-doings.

​

What I’m Reading

My cousin Toby recommended the book A Land Remembered by Patrick Smith. It’s a story of frontier Florida between 1860-1900, with a few flash forwards to the 1960s.

Being born in, growing up in, and living back in Florida, this was a fun one to read. You really get a feel for the early frontier struggles, dangers, and opportunity being on the edge of civilization. It’s a lot like Phillip Meyer’s The Son or Wendell Berry’s Jayber Crow, if you like those books/authors.

A few weeks ago I told you my brother Mark was starting a Substack. Well it’s live now! Go subscribe if you’re interested in essays about the overlap between myth and meaning in modern life.

Thanks for reading, and if you want to build a newsletter machine this fall, reply to this email with "Newsletter".

All the best,

Matt