Tinkering With Ideas #013: Getting "unstuck"

Hi Reader 👋 -

Happy Thursday. Is Spring finally here?? Feels like it. I love taking walks to clear my head and have to give up that activity during the cold months. Ready to dust off my walking shoes and resume the habit.

1) Reflection:

Finding ways to clear your head is necessary for, well, everyone. But taking a walk isn't the right answer — it's just what works for me.

There's a saying that you can't force creativity, and that's true. But creative work isn't limited to creative careers. My spouse is a software engineer and he plays video games when he's trying to noodle on a problem.

Lin-Manuel Miranda says, "Creativity doesn't happen without daydreaming." One of goals for April (also National Poetry Month) is to find more time for truly creative work. I've been so wrapped up in the necessary work (like client work and maintaining an online social presence) that I haven't done any work for just me, something that won't end up published on The Internet.

If you're feeling the same way, I encourage you to carve out some time each week in April to do something for just you.

2) Product:

I listen to a lot of podcasts, and often hear interesting ideas that I'd like to revisit later. But I also listen to podcasts when I'm doing something else like taking a walk or making dinner. My way of "saving" the spot in the podcast was taking a screen shot of the time (like 7:18 into the episode). Not ideal.

I recently discovered Snipd, an app that lets you "snip" portions of the episode. Perfect. You can also edit and share your snips (like to social channels).

3) Tip:

I think everything on The Internet should have a transcript or captions — video, podcasts, etc. Snipd is great for capturing the audio and adds the text, but sometimes I'd like to re-read entire sections of a podcast. Everyone consumes information differently and I often prefer reading to listening.

But, alas, transcripts are not always available. If that's the case, I'll use Otter.ai to get a transcript. I'll just leave the podcast/video playing on my computer with Otter recording and when I come back a transcript is ready for me (you can also upload if you have the original source file like an .mp3 or .mp4).

I'm also a guest on a lot of podcasts. I want to turn my nuggets of wisdom into social posts of my own. So I generate a transcript and read back through, pulling out the lines that would make great social content later.