Take Control of Automating Your Mac, 5th Edition

Develop an Automator’s Mindset

I think of myself as a relatively lazy person. I mean, yes, I’ve written 63 Take Control books (and counting) in the last 20+ years. And yes, I’ve written numerous other books, too, not to mention hundreds of articles for Macworld, TidBITS, and other sites. And sure, I run a publishing company, speak all over the world, have a wife and two kids at home, and teach tai chi classes. But apart from those minor exceptions and maybe a dozen others, I’m pretty much a layabout.

However, there’s more than one way to think about laziness. When it comes to your Mac, a good form of laziness is not wanting to spend unnecessary time doing something that’s tedious or repetitive. A bad form of laziness is not bothering to figure ...