Hey there,
Lately, I've been experimenting with an exciting piece of tech called NFC stickers.
NFC stickers are small NFC tags that you can stick on any surface and program
them to do something when you tap an NFC compatible device on it.
Since iPhones are NFC-compatible, I'm trying different automation to run with the NFC stickers as the trigger.
One of my experiments is to create a water consumption tracker using this approach.
So far, it has been working wonders for me, and I'm writing an article to show you how I set up my water consumption tracker.
Keep an eye out for next week's issue for this new article.
Now, grab a coffee, sit tight, and enjoy this week's issue:
Book to Read
Four Thousand Weeks
Thinking that we have unlimited time in this world is the biggest mistake we can make. We only have about 4,000 weeks. This book will teach you how to make the most out of your time and your life.
View it on Goodreads
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Apps & Services
Literal ➔
A modern home for your books and highlights
Literal is a beautiful alternative to Goodreads. It's pretty similar to Goodreads in the sense of maintaining your personal library, exploring what others are reading and sharing your highlights. However, the apps are much more pleasing to use. For example,
on the iOS app, I was able to scan text from my paper books and create highlights in minutes. Another fantastic feature of Literal is the ability to join book clubs. Book clubs are like groups where people share books they like. Literal
is currently invite-only, but
my invite link will get up to 3 people immediate
access.
Literal is available on Web, iOS and Android.
Plash ➔
Make any website your desktop wallpaper
Plash is a macOS app that lets you set any website as your desktop wallpaper. Thus, you can have a dynamic desktop showing you the information you need. Examples include setting a running clock, your Google Calendar, Twitter or any ever-updating websites
as your wallpaper. You can even tweak the website styles to match your needs. Plash is free to use.
Podcastle is a suite of apps that will help you record, edit and export high-quality podcasts with little effort. Podcastle uses AI tech to normalise your speech across the recording, remove background noises and fine-tune your voice to production quality
in a matter of clicks. You can even write text that gets synthesised to a natural sounding voice for your podcast. Need to transcribe your podcast? Podcastle does that too. Podcastle is free to start with, and then you can upgrade to a
paid plan starting at $14.99/month.
Milanote lets you plan all of your projects on a digital board. You can add anything to your board from clips of websites, photos, to-do lists, visual indicators, colour palettes, and more. Think of a Milanote board as your brain dump for a project or
article. Collect all relevant information on your board and then turn them into a finished product. Milanote has been around for quite a few years now, but they recently launched a more polished version of their app. Milanote is available on all platforms and free to start with.
Taking the Shortcut
Quickly create a new snippet on the Slack app.
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Interesting Reads
When we face a new problem, most of the time, our reaction is to apply a quick fix and make the problem go away for now. However, this mindset doesn't solve the problem. It slaps a band-aid on an open wound. To understand the root cause of the problem,
we need to understand the initial trigger and our mindset at that time. The iceberg model will help you dissect your problems into a structure to understand the underlying issue better.
Type-Two fun occurs when you go through a strenuous journey to reach a goal. You might not enjoy it while you're struggling, but when you reach the finish line, you'll be ecstatic. Examples include running a marathon, working out, climbing a mountain
and more. I've experienced this with workouts at the gym. I would 100% be in a better mood and feel lighter more energetic after an intense workout. Read this article to know more about this claim.
Measuring output does more harm than good. It's similar to the concept of quality over quantity. Do less, take time to do it but do it well. A way of achieving this is to follow an outcome mindset. With an outcome mindset, we target results, not efficiency.
For example, instead of targeting to publish 5 blog posts a week, target to increase blog read time or visitors by 5%. You don't have to publish mediocre articles 5 days a week to increase your blog traffic. You can do that by focusing
on fewer but stellar quality articles. Read this post to learn more.
Have you ever felt that you're living someone else's life? That's what happens when you blindly follow other's opinions without understanding what you want out of your life. In this post, Brian explains this concept beautifully, with real-world examples
illustrated spectacularly. It's time to care less about what others say and listen more to what your heart says.
Although the title of this article is a little salty, the underlying thoughts are true. Most personal finance gurus usually talk about how you can maximise your wealth when you have a good amount of cash flowing in every month. However, almost no one
speaks of how you can increase your cash flow in the first place. This post will give you a light hint in that direction.
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