Issue #108 | Subscribe

The good old days. By Ed Laag.

I read about a term called “good tired” a while ago, and coincidentally, I experienced the precise feeling this week.

But before we go into the details, let's not confuse being good tired with simply tired or depleted. Good tiredness is when you feel tired after an activity that feels worthwhile of your time.

This kind of tiredness doesn't feel like a wasteful expenditure of energy.

For me, this was writing a deep, long-form blog post after so long this week (I've shared it in this week's article recommendations).

Even though I spent hours writing and polishing the blog post and felt absolutely exhausted at the end of the day for over two days, it felt good. Each day felt like having done a good day's work.

And this is not the first time I've felt like this. Having a mentally stimulating day at work, playing sports, travelling, carrying around a 1.5KG camera shooting photos for the better part of the day and even spending 6 hours in a never-ending game of Monopoly, all made me good tired. I went to bed satisfied and feeling that I lived a day that made me happy.

On the contrary, I've had days where I was utterly depleted and felt like I had nothing to show for it. Days where I was wrapped up in meetings where I didn't need to be, or doing work that didn't feel worthwhile. I felt plain tired. There was no good part in it.

You, too, might have experienced both ends of this spectrum.

The goal is to maximise days of being good tired and minimising the other.

We might not be lucky to spend entire days every day doing something that imparts a feeling of good tiredness. Still, we can try infusing some activity that does.

For example, reading a good book at the end of the day, going to a music or pottery class after work, working out in the gym, cooking something new for dinner or even one of your favourites, going out on a date and more.

You'll be surprised how even a short and seemingly unimportant activity can make a hard day feel delightful.

Try it.

Now, let's move on to the rest of this newsletter issue:

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Your Next Read

Big Feelings

Liz and Mollie, the duo behind some of the most soulful comics on Instagram, talk about dealing with feelings like anger, uncertainty, burnout and more in this true-to-life book.

Personal Growth

Apps & Services

Arc Search

AI-assisted mobile browsing

Arc dropped one of its most significant mobile browser updates with this new app. The Browse for Me feature can be a time-saver when you want collated information from multiple pages in a brief format. Available on iOS for free.
Folder Hub

Access your most-used folders faster

This app lets you quickly access your favourite folders and files from anywhere on your Mac. Hover over the top centre of your screen to reveal a floating dock from which you can drag & drop files to any app. Available on macOS and is free for up to 3 workspaces.
Atoms

A delightful habit-tracking app

James Clear, the guy behind the bestselling book Atomic Habits, is back with a delightfully designed habit-tracking app. I love how you get to design your habits with a goal-oriented mindset in this app for better results. Available on iOS, and is free for tracking a single habit.

Handy Shortcut

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B

Quickly search your typed text on a search engine from Spotlight.
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Interesting Reads

How I Research Everything with Perplexity

16 min read

Longform

Perplexity has almost replaced Google and ChatGPT for me. This blog post is an exploration and an extensive walkthrough of how I've been using this tool for online research and quenching generic curiosity.
How I Got Scammed Out of $50,000

28 min read

A cautionary tale of how easy it is to fall victim to scams these days. While hindsight bias will tell you it was easy for the author to avoid this scam, sometimes, our emotions get the best of us.
The Allergy to Uncertainty

6 min read

This line hit me hard: "To a parent that values certainty above all else, it makes sense to answer that email instead of wondering how their kids’ days went."
I Tried the “Pile Method” and Decluttered a Bedroom in 12 Minutes

3 min read

This seems like an easy enough technique to keep rooms organised, daily or even weekly. I'm excited to give this technique a try this weekend.

Videos

A short fictional story on why having the courage to be disliked and being your authentic self is a quality to aim for.

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