Issue sponsored by: Morning Brew​

We closed up the cabin for the season last week.

It’s a bit of a ritual now.

Run through the list. Shut everything down. Load the van. Long drive home.

It’s familiar. I love it. It’s part of our story.

I hope these experiences will provide meaningful memories for the kids as they grow up.

If you're new around here, my name is Brad. I'm a Canadian creator, web designer, and founder of a productized marketing agency. But I also like to share newsletters with a more personal touch: behind-the-scenes stories that aren’t all business, marketing, and funnels.

A few years back, we bought a little cabin up north, tucked away by a lake.

Nothing fancy. No infinity deck. No cedar sauna (yet! there have been talks...)

But it’s our getaway.

And it does something that I’ve come to truly cherish.

It slows me down.

Summer days up there are a different kind of rhythm.

It feels like the 90s. No buzzing phones. No pressure to be always-on. Just days that drift and stretch the way they used to.

It’s beach time. Toes in the sand. Always wearing swim trunks because you never know when you're gonna jump back in the lake.

Good coffee. Slow mornings.

The kids build sand castles, we eat a lot of ice cream by the lake, and often have to run away from angry wasps.

Supper's usually grilled over charcoal. Nights smell like wood stove fire and bug spray.

And it’s quiet.

Except the occasional haunting call of a Canadian Loon on the lake (my favourite animal sound by the way).

We’ve got decent Wi-Fi, thanks to Starlink. And I’m grateful to be able to work from anywhere, including the cabin.

But I don’t go there so I can work my days away on the laptop.

My focus up there isn’t on digital work.

It’s the other kind.

Building things with my hands.

Adding iron filters to the plumbing so the water stops staining our clothes orange.

Tuning the jet pump in the crawl space.

Building a new section of the deck.

Patching the roof with tar the morning after a rain storm revealed where the latest leak was.

Chopping wood.

Waging war on the mice and ants.

The kind of work that doesn’t require two-factor authentication, you know?

And that you’re allowed to be present without being productive.

But now we’re back.

The cabin’s closed.

Winterizing checklist complete.

Freezer's emptied. Pipes blown out. Antifreeze in the traps.

And this time of year?

It’s weird.

No longer Summer, but not yet Fall.

The mornings are cooler, but the afternoons are still piping hot.

The calendar’s starting to fill itself.

The inbox wakes up.

The kids know school's around the corner.

And you don’t quite know what pace to move at.

To be honest, I don’t love it.

It’s that awkward middle ground. Where summer’s freedom starts to slip from shore. But you haven’t locked into that autumn momentum yet.

Transitions are like that though. Aren't they?

Unsettling. Disjointed. In between identities.

That’s where I’m writing you from today.

The middle. The part that isn’t clear yet.

But I know this: Fall is coming. And once it lands, it’s go time.

That’s when I hit my rhythm again. That’s when I build (more with my mind, less with my hands).

Which is why I try to simplify and get back to focus.

And in this transition, it’s easy to fall into doom scrolling, or letting emails and algorithms dictate how you invest your focus.

So I use this time to make sure distractions don’t creep their way in as I establish productive work habits.

I still like keeping up with certain world events, but without obsessing over them or getting absorbed into the melodrama of our world.

(I mean, how could I possibly function without knowing that Taylor and Travis are tying the knot!?)

*eyeroll*

And I’m ruthless in my inbox.

I delete and unsubscribe more than I do the opposite.

But something that hasn’t been on the chopping block for me (yet, haha), is my subscription to Morning Brew.

It gives me a short, digestible, pretty neutral summary a few times a week.

No political spin. No drama. Just a short summary of what’s on the go.

Quick pulse check.

Then I archive it, and get back to work.

So if you want to stay in the loop without losing your focus this fall:

Consider subscribing to Morning Brew. They’re sponsoring this issue, but I feel quite good sharing it with you.

Sponsored by: Morning Brew​ The 5-Minute Newsletter That Makes Business Make Sense Business news doesn't have to be dry. Morning Brew gives you the biggest stories in business, tech, and finance with quick wit and zero filler. Over 4 million professionals read it every morning because it keeps them informed, entertained, and ahead of the curve. No jargon. No long reads. Just smart news that fits your day. Sign up free and see why everyone’s obsessed. ​

That’s it for now.

The cabin’s closed.

The season’s shifting.

And the work ahead is starting to show itself.

Let’s build something good.

Brad