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For the last few years, my relationship with reading has been… complicated.

I used to be the person who could inhale a 500-page novel in a weekend. But recently? I’ve become the person who reads the same paragraph four times, realizes I absorbed none of it, and then instinctively reaches for my phone to scroll through social media. My brain felt fragmented, constantly jumping to the next distraction. I wanted to read, but I just couldn’t stay in the book.

Then, on a whim, I picked up a crochet hook.

I didn’t expect much—maybe a lopsided scarf or two. But as I spent my evenings counting stitches and wrestling with yarn tension, I noticed something shifting. The quiet, repetitive focus required to turn string into fabric was training my brain to slow down.

Surprisingly, the more I crocheted, the better I got at reading again. It turns out that working with yarn is the perfect physical therapy for a distracted mind. Here are the top three ways crocheting helped me rebuild my reading skills.

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Why New Year’s Resolutions Are a Trap (And What to Do Instead)

It’s that time of year again. The collective consciousness is buzzing with the promise of a “new you.” Gym memberships skyrocket, kale flies off the shelves, and millions of people finally declare their intentions to overhaul their lives on January 1st.

I’m here to tell you: Stop. Just stop.

The New Year’s resolution is a cultural ritual set up for failure. It’s a dopamine-fueled burst of optimism that usually crashes and burns before Valentine’s Day. Studies consistently show that a staggering percentage of resolutions fail—some suggest as high as 80% are abandoned by February.

Why? Because resolutions are often vague (”get healthy”), unrealistic (”lose 30 pounds in a month”), and rely almost entirely on willpower, which is a finite resource. They focus on the outcome—the shiny trophy at the finish line—without giving a second thought to the process required to get there. When the initial enthusiasm fades and life gets in the…

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Our phones are loaded with distractions. Even the slightest friction can throw me off when I need to create a note. So I set out to find the quickest and easiest way to create a note in Evernote and IFTTT (If This Then That) fills this purpose perfectly.

How To:

1. Download IFTTT from the Play Store.

2. Once opened, do a search for Evernote.

3. Scroll until you find ‘Quickly create a note’.

4. Click connect and follow the prompts including what notebook and tags you want to assign to new posts.

5. You will now be able to choose the new widget to add it to your home screen.

That’s it! It will create a note for you when you click the button. Super quick and simple.

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Hello All! This will be a short post but I wanted to get this out there to the masses. Everyone says that Notes are the key to growing your audience on Substack but with my ADHD I get so caught up in other things that I forget all about them at times.

I set out to solve this problem by creating a Chrome extension that allows me to batch schedule Notes to Substack as well as posting to Bluesky and my Mastodon network.

Introducing: Social Batcher

Social Batcher not only allows you to manually enter and schedule notes and posts, it also allows you to import a spreadsheet of them!

This allows you to sit down for a set amount of time (I spent an hour doing it this morning) to create your posts manually or in a CSV file and schedule them out. I can breathe so much easier knowing I have at least 2 notes per day scheduled until the first of the year.

You ca…

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“Goals are for people who care about winning once. Systems are for people who care about winning repeatedly.” - James Clear Author of Atomic Habits

The Resolution Trap

It’s coming.

That time of year when we all set out with the best of intentions to set goals for the year. We call them New Year’s Resolutions. We set them every year, and every year they die on the vine. It happens to all of us for one reason or another.

Only 9-10% of New Year’s Resolution setters achieve their goals.

Why is that?

After reading Atomic Habits by James Clear, I firmly believe that at least part of the problem is that the goals we set are too big and don’t account for planning.

James Clear proposes setting up systems for success rather than setting goals. When we set goals, we are really ‘failing until the goal is achieved,’ but when we set up systems, we can achieve daily success. Those small daily successes will eventually see us meet the overall goal and give us more wins with a solid plan.

Don’t fall into the …

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I ran out to Best Buy, my first mistake, to buy one as soon as they were available. I believe it was a mistake because Best Buy's purchase policy doesn't include the 100-day return benefit that Remarkable offers. Instead, you get the customary 15 days to decide.

A great indicator of how I would eventually feel about this product came when, after driving for an hour to pick it up, I got home to discover the Marker+ didn’t work. It would be initially recognized by the device, but once further on, it would not register even a single pen stroke.

So back to Best Buy I went the next day for another hour-long drive.

The drive is my fault for living in a small town and for not ordering online, but I wanted to hold the thing as soon as I could.

The second unit at least worked, but I noticed immediately that the aspect ratio was not going to work when moving back and forth between the Move and the Pro. When you write a note on the Move, it centers the text when viewed on any other device. This can be somewhat remedied by turning the device horizontal, but that makes the whole thing a bit awkward as well.

Lastly, I found that since I am a majority remote worker, I just wasn’t mobile enough to justify the use of the device.

I’m sure some people can and will overlook the aspect ratio issues and some slowness, finding a good use case for it, but it wasn’t for me. So, back to Best Buy I went and returned the unit.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments!

SHOWCASE

Each week, I highlight great tools, resources, and insights to help you stay productive and inspired. Got a link to share? Email relapsedreader@relapsedreader.com with SHOWCASE in the subject line!

• Todoist – I use Todoist to create all of my tasks and set reminders. I would not be able to keep things organized if it weren’t for this tool.

• Sunsama – Sunsama is a new application I am trying out, and so far it is amazing for planning my day. It pulls in my Todoist tasks and all of my calendars. Once all of that data is pulled in, I can plan my day and my week. It’s very guided and has you set a time when you turn off for the day. The link provided is an affiliate link and just helps me out with the monthly cost of the product.

Non-Fiction Reading of the Week: The Subtle Art of Not Givi…

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For those of us with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), managing daily tasks, organizing thoughts, and remembering important information can be a constant struggle. Evernote, love it or hate it, offers a versatile toolkit that can be can be used to support the unique challenges we of the ADHD brain experience on a daily basis.

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The main benefit of Evernote I have found lies in its ability to centralize information, making it easier to capture, organize, and retrieve thoughts and tasks. Instead of scattered sticky notes, half-filled notebooks, and a chaotic digital hellscape, Evernote provides me with a single, searchable repository for all of life's details.

Here's my breakdown of how specific Evernote features can help, and has helped, me navigate my ADHD challenges:

Overcoming Disorganization:

• Digital Notebooks: Create separate notebooks for different areas of life, such as "Work," "Personal," "School," or specific projects. This digital filing system helps to compartmentalize information and reduce the feeling of being overwhelmed.

• Tagging System: Go beyond notebooks by using tags to categorize and connect related notes across different notebooks. For instance, a single note about a project idea could be tagged with the project name, "ideas," and the relevant client. This flexible system allows for intuitive and personalized organization.

Tackling Task Management and Time Blindness:

• Checklists and To-Do Lists: Create actionable to-do lists within notes. The satisfaction of checking off completed items can provide a dopamine boost, a key motivator for individuals with ADHD. It’s how our brains work and crave dopamine.

• Reminders and Due Dates: Set reminders for appointments, deadlines, and even small, routine tasks. These notifications can be a crucial external prompt to stay on track and combat "time blindness," the difficulty in perceiving the passage of time.

Capturing Fleeting Thoughts and Ideas:

• Quick Notes and Mobile Widgets: The ability to quickly jot down a thought or idea on a mobile device before it disappears is invaluable. Evernote's mobile app and widgets make it easy to capture these fleeting moments of inspiration or important reminders on the go. I have also set up an IFTTT widget that allows me to create a quick note at the touch of a button on my phone. Let me know in the comments if you want some detail on that.

• Web Clipper: Save articles, recipes, or interesting webpages directly to Evernote, eliminating the need to keep countless tabs open and providing a centralized place to revisit information later. This is my ever-present friend, if I were being honest. I would forget that link I was looking for if I hadn’t formed a habit of clipping.

In essence, Evernote empowers me by providing a structured yet flexible system to offload the mental burden of organization and memory. By creating a personalized "second brain," I can reduce anxiety, improve productivity, and gain a greater sense of control over my daily life.

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I’m going to stop doing that.

From now on, what I write here will be real and from the heart, and about what is really going on. I’m throwing grammar and spelling out the window, insisting on writing the way I talk.

I hope people will still read regardless, but I also need to write for myself because there are just too many voices in my head not to let some of them out into the void of global consciousness.

There are so many words that go through my mind daily. It’s this constant conversation going on up there about my skill level, what I might be forgetting, what I might be remembering, and sometimes what I wish I wouldn’t remember as often.

Occasionally, those voices hit a nerve, and it can make me a bit angry. Occasionally, they have a point.

Like now, as I sit here writing this lett…

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This doesn’t work.

It especially doesn’t work for those of us with ADHD and other neurodivergencies. Our brain chemistry doesn’t compute when we just try harder. ADHD interfers with our brain’s reception of Dopamine which means the ADHD brain doesn’t interpret long term rewards the same as neurotypical brains do.

In fact, we ADHDers may seem like huge procrastinators by choice but our brains actually rewards us when we have a last minute rush to meet a deadline.

Unfortunately this also means that at times we miss those deadlines because we also have trouble estimating work and organizing tasks.

Throw in a little inability to regulate emotions at times and we are looking at quite the combination.

So, how…

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Perhaps, but then again, perhaps not.

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This isn't about apathy or giving up. It's about liberation. The "Let Them" theory is a powerful mindset shift that encourages you to release your grip on what you can't control—namely, other people—and redirect that energy back to what you can: your responses, boundaries, and choices. It's taking a long, hard look at what it means to control the things that are actually within your circle of control.

At its core, "Let Them" is a declaration of personal freedom. It's the conscious decision to stop trying to micromanage the world around you. Your friends don't invite you to a gathering? Let them. A colleague misunderstands your i…

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I bet the next thing you thought I would say is that we all must find a balance in life between work, hobbies, family, church, or any other myriad of things you believe make you a responsible person. Right?

Not quite.

By day, I am a Project/Program Manager where I am keeping up with all the moving parts of multiple projects, and at night I play video games. Not just any video games either. I play action role-playing games, better known as ARPGs. What I love about these type games is the need to research, analyze data from other players, manage your timeline for getting to the next skill point, and evaluate resource availability so I can be as successful as possible and complete the hardest content I am able to.

See the …

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Each week, I highlight great tools, resources, and insights to help you stay productive and inspired. Got a link to share? Email relapsedreader@relapsedreader.com with SHOWCASE in the subject line!

• Taming the Trunk – A fantastic resource for Evernote and productivity. Jon Tromans offers fantastic strategies for using Evernote and provides timely updates to the Evernote community.

• Evernote – My go-to app for notetaking and organizing thoughts. Expect future deep dives into how I use it effectively!

Non-Fiction Reading of the Week: Atomic Habits by James Clear

I'm about a third of the way through Atomic Habits, and so far, it's an insightful read on how tiny habit changes can lead to significant personal growth. The way Clear breaks down behavioral shifts is practical, but I’ll admit—it can be tough focusing on non-fiction! My strategy? Reading in small bursts rather than long stretches, making it more manageable and digestible.

I get a small commission if you purchase using my link: https://amzn.to/3HxLzl6

Fiction Reading of the Week: Dead Man's Walk by Larry McMurtry

Finished this one recently, and wow—what a brutal but gripping portrayal of a harsh time in history. This is the first, in chronological order but not publication order, of the Lonesome Dove Quartet. As an ADHDer, I can't help but wonder: how historically accurate is it? You can bet I’ll be falling down a Wikipedia rabbit hole investigating the real events behind the novel.

I get a small commission if you purchase using my link: https://amzn.to/3HyNeXA

Tech of the Week: Kindle Scribe, Rocketbook, Evernote Oh My.

Recently, on r/KindleScribe I promised I would give some tips for utilizing the Kindle Scribe in conjunction with Evernote. This first tip, there will be more to follow, is my go to way of getting notes from my Scribe and into my Evernote filing cabinet. Unfortunately, I cannot find my original source for this trick but thank you random Reddit user for suggesting this to me.

If you aren’t aware, Rocketbook makes a line of reusable notebooks. Within the Rocketbook app you can snap a picture of the page and this is where the magic happens. Along the bottom of each page is a row of symbols:

Within the app you can designate which cloud service or destination the document is sent to once you have taken the snapshot of it with your camera. For instance, I have set up the shamrock symbol to send the document to Evernote. Once there I can do anything I would normally do to a document I have added.

Sounds neat right? Well even more interesting is that Rocketbook, being the cool folks they are, offers anyone the ability to download PDFs of their various pages.

See where I’m going with this?

By loading that PDF to your Scribe you can write your notes, mark the symbol that corresponds with where you want to send it, and bam you have sent your note to Evernote for further processing and filing.

I use this often to utilize Evernote’s transcribe functionality which makes the notes searchable and then I file the note where it goes.

You can find the templates here: ROCKETBOOK

Coming Next Week…

More insights into productivity strategies, new book recommendations, and another SHOWCASE of helpful tools. Stay tuned!