Hello, fellow tinkerer 👋 -

Happy Wednesday. HOW IS IT ALREADY APRIL NEXT WEEK?

I've been running a tiny experiment over the course of Q1. I've never been a big fan of year-long goals and prefer to break things into smaller chunks.

This year, I tried something new, stuck with it for the first three months of the year, and am pleased with the results. I'm excited to share more about this in the next newsletter!

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1) Reflection:

We all have to make time to consume the content we love. For me, that's podcasts. For you, that might be YouTube videos, books, or reading articles.

Finding time is the tricky part. We only have so much time in the day.

What works best for me is consuming content while I'm doing something else. I'll listen to a podcast while I make dinner, mow the lawn, or drive my kids to an after-school activity. These are necessary tasks, but not brain-intensive tasks, so I can easily listen at the same time.

I also give myself permission to listen to stuff that is complete fluff. Most of the time, I'm learning something from a podcast. But sometimes, I'm not in the mood. Don't feel like you always need to be consuming "valuable" content just to squeeze the most from your day.

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2) Product:

One thing that helps me focus is music. And I recently discovered what a game-changer headphones can be.

I was previously blasting instrumental music through my computer speakers. A friend and fellow writer told me that he has basically trained his brain to get into "focus mode" when he puts on headphones. So I bought this pair of Sennheiser headphones.

Game-changer was right. Something about putting on the headphones blocks out the external distractions of my environment a lot more than music alone. Highly, highly recommend the investment.

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3) Tip:

My favorite music for working is brain.fm. I usually choose from one of two focus modes: either music for creativity or deep work, depending on my mood.

I should add that I listen to different music when I'm writing for my newsletter or Medium or Substack. Brain.fm is usually reserved for client work: that way, my brain associates the music with that particular type of focus.

You can try brain.fm free for 30 days with this link.

That's it for this issue of Tinkering! See you again in two weeks.

Cheers,
Anna

​LinkedIn | Threads | Medium | Substack​

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