Issue #224 | Subscribe

I often hear people say AI tools allow them to do way more things and take on more projects than they could've single-handedly.

That's true.

AI can help massively speed things up, allowing us to do more work within our limited time every day.

But here's an important question:

Are those extra things even worth doing?

There's a reason why these extra projects or stuff didn't make our list before AI: we prioritised what matters to us and trimmed what felt like a distraction.

But with AI, we can accommodate everything, which is likely to send us on a path of divided focus where nothing of meaning gets done.

Now, when AI tools bridge skill gaps and allow us to explore uncharted territory, they're helpful. But diverting our focus to tasks and projects we wouldn't otherwise prioritise is seldom beneficial.

Think about this the next time you're tempted to take on more work just because you can.

In Today's Cover: Spider-Man: Brand New Day is out, and I can't wait to watch this movie. Fan art by Sukriti.

Now, before you move on to the rest of this newsletter issue, here are a few words from me as:

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Your Next Read

Thriving

You Can Just Do Things

We often wait for opportunities to land at our doorsteps, or approach life in a more traditional, well-tested way. What if we could make our own luck through tiny compounding actions instead?

Apps & Services

Knockoff

Hide knockoff products from e-commerce sites

Although I feel this extension might work best in the US, I did see some results on Amazon India. Products from unrecognised or spammy brands get dimmed in the search results, leaving the big brands untouched. It often wrongly flags items, but it's worth trying for cleaner search results across Amazon and Etsy. Available on all major browsers for free.
OpenReel Video

A powerful video editor in the Web browser

This app is for those times when you quickly need to edit a video for a reel, presentation or other purpose and don’t have a professional video editing tool handy. Open this app in the browser and edit your videos using capable tools. You can even connect an AI model for AI-assisted editing. No signup needed. Available on the Web for free.
Rhyme

Save interesting travel recommendations

If you often discover travel spots from Instagram Reels and other social media posts, this app will be handy for quickly collecting and organising interesting spots, and later, converting them into a full itinerary. It even has an in-app Reels browser and search where you can find travel content easily. Available on iOS and free for basic use.

Handy Shortcut

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9

Quickly jump to the last open tab on Chrome or Safari.

Interesting Reads

How I Declutter My Digital Workspace

17 min read

Longform

I've been sharing tips on how to declutter and organise our digital workspace for years, but this is the first time I've compiled everything into a guide. I've covered browser tabs, feeds, emails, files, apps and more areas we work with daily. Try a few of these approaches if your digital workspace feels unmanageable.
Unjournaling: Why Some People Heal Better Without Writing

3 min read

As someone who has not had much success with journaling, I felt this piece spoke to me. I agree with Ankita’s view that sometimes, we need a jolt rather than reflection to change things for the better.
The Accidental History of the @ Symbol

3 min read

The @ sign that we use so frequently nowadays was a rarely used symbol in the early days. This short post traces its origin and tells us how this once-ignored symbol became the backbone of modern communication.
A Restaurant Ruined My Life

29 min read

Upon watching several movies and TV shows about the food industry, I knew restaurants are a tough business. But this piece was a front-row seat to a roller coaster ride of owning a restaurant business. If you’re free, this’ll be an interesting read.

Watch Next

This video feels like a candid conversation with an expert about how to deal with day-to-day anxiety.

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