Issue #177 | Subscribe

Email subscriptions can quickly become overwhelming.

Especially when brands add you to their mailing list without your consent.

To help us deal with this subscription overload, Gmail is rolling out a new feature called Manage subscriptions, which you can access under More options in the sidebar:

While Gmail has had an option to unsubscribe from emails from the email header, like this:

This feature gives us a dashboard to view all subscriptions in one place and understand the frequency of the subscribed emails:

You can then pick a sender from the list and unsubscribe from their emails by clicking the Unsubscribe button, which brings up a confirmation modal like this:

Once unsubscribed from here, you shouldn't receive further emails from this sender.

But even if you do, they'll skip your inbox and land directly in the spam folder.

Mass unsubscribing from emails isn't new. Tools like Leave Me Alone have been doing this for years.

But now, we have a built-in, free tool inside Gmail that does the job.

Try it out.

In other news, I'm finishing work on my macOS app, which I aim to reveal to you here next week, along with an early access discount.

I've been using it all the time on my MacBook, and I'm excited to share it with you soon.

Now, speaking of productive workflows, have you seen Sunsama?

Before you move on to the rest of this newsletter issue, here are a few words from:

This Week's Sponsor

Staying productive can be tough with constant context switching and task overload. Sunsama makes it easy to plan your day, stay focused, and build a routine that works.

6000+ high-achievers swear by it. Their risk-free, 30-day trial will turn your cluttered, chaotic life into a streamlined, peaceful, productive powerhouse.

Sponsorships are paid callouts seen by over 4,375 people every Friday. Promote your product or service.

Your Next Read

Thriving

Meditations for Mortals

There's only so much we can do in a day. In this book, Oliver Burkeman teaches us how to embrace this constraint through small exercises to try over a month.

Apps & Services

Recall

Shared comments and highlights on any web page

This is like using Google Docs’s commenting feature, but for web pages. Highlight text and leave a note for yourself, or share your highlight with others for them to reply to your note. You can jump back to a previous highlight at any time from the extension. Available on Google Chrome for free.
Odyssey

Privately remember where you've been

If you want a private version of Google Maps’ timeline feature, this is the app for it. Automatically track all the places you’ve been, and search your past visits easily. Tracked locations stay on your device. Available on iOS for free.
Grila

A keyboard-first calendar app

If you prefer using your keyboard over a mouse or trackpad, this calendar app will make you feel right at home. Launch the app with a global hotkey and type short codes like au25 to quickly jump to August 25th. Available on macOS for a $5.99 one-time fee.

Handy Shortcut

⌘

Shift

.

Quickly show or hide hidden files in the Finder app.

Interesting Reads

How I Organised My Kindle Highlights Using AI

19 min read

Longform

I had 7 years of book highlights rusting in my Kindle. So, last week, I paired with Claude Code to automatically extract, tag and interlink 850+ highlights from my Kindle into an Obsidian vault for easy access. While I've worked with Kindle highlights here, this process works for any knowledge base or file organisation.
I Travelled The World Delivering Letters to Strangers

3 min read

This was the most interesting thing I read this week. A post box in the Galápagos Islands run entirely on good faith by tourists. This is the kind of experience that helps us grow as a person and end up with a potful of stories to tell.
Why Handwriting Matters

15 min read

I miss the days when I used to handwrite a 30-page exam sheet without breaking a sweat, whereas filling even a single page today is a challenge. This interactive blog post explores how handwriting has changed over generations, and has a live tester where you can draw letters to analyse your handwriting.
Very Bad Advice

2 min read

Simplification by elimination is a powerful tool that can help us solve tough problems and also figure out what to do in life. This valuable collection of what not to do will help in this regard.

Watch Next

Joan explains how the best ideas and innovations are born not through goals, but through constraints.

Want to join my inner circle?

Join a club that pays you back handsomely through knowledge and skills that help you get 1% better every day.

For a one-time fee, yes, not a subscription, you get:

Become a Member