Voice notes to ChatGPT, Focus sounds, Framer & More

What’s on the menu

• Voice notes to ChatGPT

• App for Focus sounds

• Video about Framer (by me)

• App to block distraction blocker

Voice notes to ChatGPT

Stumbled upon a great ChatGPT / Productivity workflow today that I'll definitely repeat.

Before work, I went for a walk by the beach. I started thinking about my day and how ChatGPT could assist.

I needed help with my next newsletter and I needed some inspiration for a Youtube video outline.

I thought of prompts... I was like, I should write this down. But I was walking. I didn't want to be one of those walking phone zombies 🧟‍♂️

I remembered I had this transcriptions app called @otter_ai. I installed it once but never used it.

So I started dictating my prompts to Otter.

I improved them as I walked with more specificity (recording the prompt again) until I got it right.

Got home, copied all the prompts into ChatGPT and now my day is off to a flying start 🚀

www.otter.ai

Non-Music sounds for focus

I’m a big fan of putting a pair of noise-canceling headphones on and using sound to increase my capacity to focus.

That being said, music can often be distracting for me. Lyrics are a definite no-go. It has be a sound that is fairly consistent in nature and something that does not grab your attention.

Brain.fm

Way back when I was working at Typeform a co-worker recommended me a website called brain.fm. I’ve been a user ever since.

It is background sound, mixed with rhythmic pulses that match brain frequencies of a focused state.

They have some research backing the fact that it actually improves cognitive abilities.

I’m not sure about the validity of that research, but it does have a positive effect on my ability to focus and do deep work.

A video about Framer (By me)

I was playing around with Framer for a side project and felt inspired to make a video about it. The tool is super simple to use and any absolute beginner (like myself) can make a decent-looking website.

Have a play around: framer.com 

App to block distractions

What’s your digital distraction poison? The app or website that is right at the tip of your fingers when you feel a moment of boredom.

Mine is Youtube. I love grabbing a quick bite of content in a down moment. The thing is, I don’t actually want this automatic behavior.

I want to be intentional with my actions, and not be led by my brain’s latest dopamine impulse. Checking Youtube is fine, but I want to actively choose to do so.

I found this iOS app called One Sec. It requires some initial setup of going into your shortcuts app and setting it up, but it’s done within a minute or so.

Now every time I open Youtube, it asks me if I actually want to open the app or not. It’s silly, but it’s working for me.

You can do the same for any app you want. Try it out.

If you enjoyed this email, feel free to share it with a friend. It really helps :)

Cheers,

Arjen