Throughout my day, whatever I’m doing—writing with a pen marked in pink tape and engraved with 230316, refilling my toothpaste from a bin among a wall of purposefully organized storage bins, or sorting through schedules on 3x5 index cards—I’m reminded, and humbled, by the people who sparked these habits to begin with.
None of these were things I was told to do. No one handed me instructions. They were just… observed. Noticed. Subtle choices that resonated deeply enough to steal—and eventually, to make my own.
A spark. That’s all it takes. One idea, one example, one person doing something in their own way—and a domino falls. And before you know it, it’s shaped how you live.
I’ve picked up so many of these sparks from other people. Here are 10 of them—each one small, specific, and quietly transformative.
(Sidenote: It was incredibly hard to pick just one spark per person. Each of them has shaped my thinking in more ways than I can count. But for this post, I picked one spark each. Back to the post)
Mark your tools
Adam Savage
Adam Savage was my personal gateway to organization. Sure, I’d heard of Marie Kondo. I was vaguely aware of various organizing approaches. But none of them landed—until I read Adam’s book Every Tool Is a Hammer.
From there, I fell deep into his videos on the Tested YouTube channel. One idea that stuck: mark your tools.
On job sites, tradespeople bring their own tools, and tools get mixed. So they mark them. Spray paint. Zip ties. Burned-in initials. Whatever works. The point is to make it yours.
That single idea made me think: What else can I mark? How else can I customize the off-the-shelf to carry my signature?
Red boxes
Casey Neistat
Still on the theme of organization: years ago, Casey Neistat dropped a 3-minute YouTube video about the red boxes in his studio. They held parts, accessories, trinkets.
What resonated wasn’t just the organization—it was how it was executed. How it was explained. How perfectly imperfect it was.
I admit: I tried to buy those exact red boxes. They weren’t as affordable or available as Casey made it seem. So I made my own version. A stack of clear storage bins from Canadian Tire. Each box now holds something essential: travel gear, earplugs, carabiner clips, home stuff, and everything in between.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_yc6o9Hp_U
Dates
Van Neistat
By this point, I was comfortable marking and customizing my stuff—thanks to Adam and Casey.
But then Van Neistat dropped this tiny idea, almost in passing: put dates on things. Not just notes or documents. Things.
In one video, while talking about the importance of details, he casually mentioned putting dates on his tools and projects. That’s all I needed.
Now? I date everything. My pen. My keyboard. My phone. My power tools. Anything I make with cardboard, foam core, or wood.
When in doubt… put a date on it.
White
Tom Sachs
You don’t have to look hard to see that my scrappy, DIY aesthetic owes a lot to Tom Sachs. One of his core visual choices—one that really stuck with me—is the use of white.
For Tom, white isn’t just clean. It’s revealing. It shows the fingerprints of the work. The pencil marks. The imperfections. It makes the process visible. A human was here.
After that, white became my default where possible—not because it looks pristine, but because it captures patina. The wear. The marks. The use. It tells the story of how something was made and how it was used.
Pink tape
Laura Kampf
The pink tape that marks my stuff carries the bold spirit of Laura Kampf.
In her workshop, pink tape is everywhere. On labels. On tools. On storage. That image stuck with me.
I adapted it slightly. For me, pink tape isn’t for labeling—it’s for marking. Not what something is, but that something is mine.
But regardless of how I use it, I don’t think I would’ve reached for pink at all if it weren’t for Laura.
Side note
Paul Akers
This one’s subtle.
In his audiobooks, Paul Akers often goes off-script. And when he does, he says he’s going off-script—shares an anecdote, then wraps it with: “Back to the script.”
I don’t know why, but I love that choice. It makes things feel conversational. It gives you permission to break form—and then come back. I like that.
You’ll see me use it in my writing from time to time. In fact, I used it earlier in this very post.
Red pen
Jason Sudeikis
A random YouTube recommendation sent me to this GQ video with Jason Sudeikis. I’d already watched Ted Lasso, so I was in.
One item stood out: his red pen.
He explained how he and other SNL folks used red pens to write and edit scripts. Red. Interesting.
Up to that point, all my writing was in black. With the occasional highlighter or annotation. But red? That was new.
So I tried it. Pentel Energel 0.7mm. And I never looked back.
Index cards
Joan Rivers
I’ve tried to make index cards a habit so many times.
Zettelkasten? Tried it. Fizzled.
Ugmonk analog system? Tried it. Lasted a few days.
But then I saw this one-minute video. A glimpse into Joan Rivers’ literal archive of index cards—her lifetime of jokes, stacked and filed.
That did it.
The idea of index cards wasn’t bad. I just needed a different example. A different perspective. And Joan gave me that.
Date stamp
Austin Kleon
I’ve written the date by hand thousands of times. So when I saw Austin Kleon using a date stamp—prolifically—I hesitated. Not because I didn’t want to steal his idea. He literally wrote the book on that.
But because I wasn’t sure I needed it.
Then I tried it.
And I’m glad I did.
There’s something deeply satisfying about the clunk of a date stamp on paper. Like giving yourself a tiny stamp of approval. Whatever that’s worth.
Word play
George Carlin
Yesterday, I gave a 10-minute talk at work. As I wrote and rewrote and reworked it, I couldn’t help but think of George.
I’ve admired him for decades—not just for his presence or perspective, but for his profound craftsmanship with language. The way he played with words. The rhythm. The timing. The specificity.
I try to carry a little of that in everything I write. Every post. Every talk.
Here’s a bit from yesterday’s talk:
Not everything needs a meeting—but sometimes, a meeting saves the day. And that meeting you thought you could push off because you need some noise cancelling headphones level focus time? That 30 minutes could have been the most important 30 minutes you could have spent that day.
I didn’t need to include “noise cancelling headphones level.” I could’ve just said “focus time.”
But I wanted that detail. That color. That extra omph.
For the record, anytime you hear or read something like that from me—I sat with the sentence. I played with it. I pushed it.
It’s 100% handwritten.
And it’s 100% inspired by George Carlin.
Light
The people who sparked these things in me may never know it. That’s the thing about sparks—you don’t always get to see what they light.
If something here resonates—take it. Tweak it. Tape it. Make it yours.
And maybe one day, someone else will do the same.