Hello friend,
I've been feeling that "end of year" energy this week. What about you? I like the emphasis on slowing down a little, reflecting, and planning rest.
On the subject of rest, I'm going to take a couple of weeks off over the holiday period. This means I won't send a weekend digest email on 27 December or 3 January.
I've already started planning my last two digests of the year for you, though, and I am excited to send them. Next weekend's email will have an annual review and planning flavour, and the weekend after will feature my top 12 doodle essays of 2025 (I just counted and have over 150 to choose from!).
I think that is everything. I hope you've had a good week. Here's your digest...
✏️ Doodle Essays
I have two doodle essays for you this week.
The first doodle essay shares how I continue to work on my boundaries with my mobile phone. We have not broken up; we are just sleeping in separate rooms, and it is so much better.
The second is another post about lists. This one is about keeping a someday maybe list. If you enjoyed this post, I really suggest you read these too, as they are connected:
I also have a Now page update for you for the end of November.
📚 Read
Here are some articles from other creators I thought you might enjoy:
- Dr Samanatha Boardman explains that "by constantly anticipating, discussing, and preparing for holiday stress, we’re essentially training ourselves to experience it". I am genuinely trying to do things differently this year, thanks to this article.
- Naomi from Todoist shares her thoughts about "end of year" energy in this email newsletter.
If you're curious about the books I'm reading, you can see my library in Tana here: Library.
I set myself the goal of reading 52 books this year. At the time of writing, I think I've managed 47. I have no intention of pushing to reach 52 by the end of the year, as it feels like an arbitrary number now. It's so much more important for me to get pleasure or learning (or both) from what I am reading. It's funny how your perspective can shift over a year, and it really makes me think about the importance of combining meaningful goals with experiments (an experiment on what and how I read would have been far better).
📺 Watch
I enjoyed The Minimalist's latest TEDx talk, sharing their experience of taking a year off social media. I particularly liked their "casino rule" for socials: decide your limit before you go in.
🧰 Tools
I've been experimenting with dictation tools this week because I wanted to use ChatGPT's advanced voice feature for something, but it wasn't working correctly.
Side note: I am considering reallocating my AI budget to a different tool (I really only want to pay for one at the moment). If you have any recommendations, I would love to hear them.
Back to dictation: I had tested Wispr Flow briefly before, but I don't think I gave it enough attention. That first time, I was primarily focused on using my mobile device, whereas my main use case is desktop dictation. So, I've been using it all week on desktop, and it is impressive. It also works on mobile, but I have less need for it since I tend to use Tana's new capture widgets.
If you fancy giving Wispr Flow a try, my link gives you a month of unlimited premium access. Let me know how you get on.
If you are a Tana user and you missed the launch of the new capture widgets, this video explains all:
That's all from me today. Have a great week, and I will be in touch again next weekend.
Best wishes,
Martine
P.S. As next weekend's digest is all about reviewing your year, setting goals, and planning experiments, please email me if you have any prompts, tips, articles, or videos you recommend on the topic. Thank you.
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