ABOUT STEPHEN
The short version: I'm a knowledge worker who needed better systems — and found them.
Somewhere between a fishing village in Japan and a standing desk in England.
Years ago, a university exchange programme dropped me into rural Japan — a sleepy fishing town on the north coast, about as far from my life in England as you can get. I stayed for four years, teaching English and slowly absorbing two ideas that would reshape how I think about work: ikigai (a sense of purpose) and kaizen (continuous improvement). I didn't realise it at the time, but those principles were quietly rewiring how I approached everything.
Back in the UK, I landed in the tech world — an IT role at a Japanese bank in London. Life got busy fast. A demanding job, a new daughter, a side business I was building in the margins. Late nights, early mornings, and the creeping feeling that something important was about to slip through the cracks.
THE TURNING POINT
I'll be honest: without systems, I'm naturally disorganised. Left to my own devices, I'd procrastinate on everything that matters. That's not false modesty — it's why I became obsessed with productivity in the first place. Not because I had it figured out, but because without it, I was lost.
I started with David Allen's Getting Things Done, which genuinely changed how I managed my work and life. That led me deeper — into deep work, cognitive science, habit design, and eventually into the tools and principles I write about on this site.
WHY AI
More recently, I've turned my attention to AI — not because it's trendy, but because it's the most significant shift in how knowledge workers operate since the internet. I use AI tools daily, and I've seen firsthand how they can either sharpen your thinking or quietly replace it. I'm interested in the former.
That's what this site is about. Focus, productivity, and using AI with intention. No hype, no hustle culture. Just what actually works, tested by someone who needs these systems as much as anyone.
If any of this resonates, the best place to start is the blog — or grab The Focus Reset, my free guide to cutting through digital overwhelm.