Hello, fellow tinkerer 👋

Happy Wednesday. I follow the Threads account Year Progress Bar and find myself completely astonished that the year is 13% over.

How are you feeling so far this year? Does it feel like the year is 13% over for you? More/less?

1) Reflection:

When I was 27, I broke my hand. My cast made it incredibly difficult to type, so I tried to use dictation software (Dragon Naturally Speaking, if you're curious). While it was capable of picking up my speech, it was clunky and hard to use with various products on my computer.

For whatever reason, I let that experience shape my perception of dictation apps — even though logic should have told me that the technology would improve over time. It wasn't until last year that I really dove into dictation apps. And now I regret that it took me so long.

2) Product

Here's the thing about dictation apps (and how I feel about a lot of products): you don't have to find one dictation product that meets all of your needs. Maybe you use one app and it has some built-in dictation features. Cool, use that. Use Siri or Google for things on your phone. Find one that works and fits naturally into how you do different tasks. Using dictation shouldn't feel like a chore or break up your natural rhythm.

I use different apps for my to-do list versus riffing on an idea, for example. You can check out the different products/apps I use here.

3) Tip

One of my favorite things to do with dictation is create the first draft of a blog post. If you're writing anything long-form (or just trying to get ideas out of your brain), I highly recommend. Dictating is a lot faster than typing.

I'll write a scant outline (more like talking points) on a piece of paper. Then I'll use a dictation app and start talking. I can do this anywhere, including while I wait in the parking lot to pick up one of my kids. It saves a ton of time when I write blog posts, because it's faster to edit the dictated version than write from scratch. Here's more info about my process.

Want more ideas?

→ I'm hosting a webinar on Feb. 25th about setting up simple automation for solo and small business owners. You can sign up here.

→ Want to hear some funny AND serious stories about remote work? Check out this podcast episode: Remote Work Before It Was Trendy.

→ If you're using an AI notetaker, here's how to add follow-up items to your to-do list.

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

Cheers,
Anna

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