Five Sass-y tricks to impress your friends

I am not ashamed to tell you that I was really reluctant to try Sass.

When you’ve been doing front-end development as long as I have (20 years this August), you know that there are new tools and techniques made available on an almost-daily basis. Most of them are fleeting at best, so I tend to wait until it looks like something is gaining some traction before I take the time to try it out.

But Sass won me over on the very first project I put it to work on and I’ve used it on practically every project since. Along the way, I’ve picked up some clever tricks that make life easier and development faster.

Here’s a small roundup of some of my favorites. Enjoy! Continue reading →

How I beat writer’s block

In today’s episode of the WP Unicorn Project, Suzette and I were lucky enough to speak with Jennifer Bourn about content strategy. We spoke a little bit about techniques for overcoming writer’s block, and I wanted to share mine. It’s call free writing.

I learned this technique in a writing class in college. You get three pieces of paper, a pencil or a pen, and a timer. Set the timer for 15 minutes, then scribble furiously as you try to fill all three pages full from top to bottom in 15 minutes with your writing. No stopping to think, no pausing, no editing.

You might be thinking, “But if I have writer’s block, what am I going to write?” Well, if nothing comes to mind, then just start writing “I don’t know what to write. I don’t know what to write. I don’t know what to write.” Continue reading →

Once-a-day email

I only check my email once a day. On weekdays. I don’t read emails on weekends. I don’t have push notifications for new emails set up on my phone.

I start my workday by opening up my inbox. I work through everything in there. If it will take less than a few minutes, I do it right away. If it takes longer, I put it on my to do list. Then I close my email until the next morning.

The benefits are tremendous. I can focus on the task at hand. I’m not constantly wasting mental energy every time my inbox pings. I’m way more productive, more focused, and just plain happier.

Most frequently, when I tell people that this is how I run my business, I’m met with wide-eyed stares and proclamations of “I could never get away with that.”

But you could. Really. If you wanted to. Continue reading →