Hello friend,

I hope you are having a restful weekend.

I took some time off this week with no specific plans and spent the time decluttering my home, seeing a few friends, and continuing my half marathon training. The weather was rubbish, but the week has been relaxing and restorative.

During this downtime, I reflected on my relationship with social media. I left Facebook years ago and have not regretted that decision. I deleted TikTok from my phone over a year ago, and I only remembered its absence while writing this sentence. It now feels like time to leave Twitter (I probably should have left a long time ago, truthfully). I am also considering leaving Instagram, though I would retain a personal account for my creative hobbies.

If you have followed my work for some time, you likely understand my reasons for wanting to reduce social media use. There's an ethical element, particularly regarding Twitter, but it is primarily driven by a desire to protect my wellbeing, time, and attention. I know I'm not alone in this.

I plan to continue sharing my doodles and essays on LinkedIn. Please feel free to connect with me over there if you'd like to see me in your feed.

This introduction has become way longer than I intended. Let's move on to today’s digest 😀

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✏️ Doodle Essays

​This week's doodle essay is about one of my favourite productivity topics: prioritisation. The essay explores a simple reality: if you don't prioritise your workload, someone else will. In other words, everyone else's priorities become yours and, often, the person who shouts the loudest makes it to the top of the list. Proactive prioritisation is key, and I share a few strategies in the essay.

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📚 Read

Here are two articles from other creators I thought you might enjoy:

• I know we are already half way through the month but I love this list of 12 reasons why February is awesome from Bree Groff. She's right; February is an introvert's dream.
• David from Raptitude encourages us to slow down in this article: Maybe the Default Settings Are Too High? He articulates his point beautifully (and coincidentally, I am currently slow reading Lord of the Rings, so the article felt particularly relevant to me).

If you're curious about the books I'm reading, you can see my library in Tana here: Library.

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📺 Watch

I'm probably showing my age with this video recommendation, but I'm perfectly OK with it!

Watching Sean Bean talk about the benefits of birdsong feels a bit like a warm hug. And it is always fun to hear from Jo Whiley and Zoe Ball (I also enjoy their podcast, Dig It).

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🧰 Tools

I have not included a Tools section in the newsletter for a while, so here you go:

• I just downloaded Tock (Mac only) and it looks great. It is a free, minimalist timer for your menu bar and is handy for timing your Pomodoro sessions.
• If you are meditation-curious and keen to keep things accessible and simple, The Way is worth a try (they offer 12 free sessions, no credit card required).
• It's an oldie but a goodie: I just switched back to Gmail (from Spark Mail) for my email management. I had been having a few issues with Spark. I have spent some time tidying my tags, setting up a few rules, and creating a web app shortcut via Chrome for my desktop (Mac) and it's working well. I love the one-click unsubscribe feature.

Finally, I promised an update on how I was getting on with the Zoe app for improving my diet. Honestly, it's been amazing. I am still using it and I have totally overhauled how I eat in six weeks. I am not counting calories; instead I am focussing on good fats, plenty of protein, and eating my 30 plants a week. You can get a 20% off code here if you'd like to give Zoe a try.

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That's all from me today. Have a great week, and I will be in touch again next weekend.

Best wishes,

Martine

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