By Colby Kultgen

An App That Tells You Which Products Are Killing You, Everyone Should Have an Analog Bag, and The "Teach Myself List"

Read online / Read time: 4 minutes

Hello friends!

Welcome to 1% Better.

The newsletter where I share my 5 favorite ideas, lessons, and discoveries of the week—no fluff, just the good stuff.

Let's get right into it.

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A powerful question to get a bad day back on track

I love this question that therapist and best-selling author Lori Gottlieb uses with her clients:

We're all guilty of doing this (myself included).

Someone cuts us off in traffic, and we're fuming about it for hours.

A coworker sends a passive-aggressive email, and suddenly the whole afternoon feels ruined.

We allow five bad minutes to contaminate our mood for the rest of the day.

The best way I've found to combat this?

​Gretchen Rubin's Four Quarters Technique:

Don't let a bad five minutes ruin a good 24 hours.

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A viral anti-doomscrolling trend that I love

In our constant battle to use our phones less, TikTok has given us a surprisingly good solution:

The "analog bag."

The concept is simple: pack a small bag with screen-free activities you can reach for instead of your phone when you're out or with friends.

Here are a few ideas:

• Books and crossword puzzles
• Knitting or needlepoint
• A sketchbook
• Watercolor paints
• A physical planner
• Disposable or Polaroid camera
• Journal
• Deck of cards
• Portable chess or checkers set

My challenge to you:​
Put together your own "analog bag" this week, or at least think about what you would include if you made one.

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An AI tool that I use every single day
​Sponsored

I have a confession:

Sometimes I don't feel like typing.

Sometimes I just want to get my thoughts out of my head as fast as possible without touching a keyboard.

That's why I love Wispr Flow so much.

It's a voice-powered AI keyboard that turns whatever you say into clean, well-punctuated text. It works in Slack, Gmail, Notes, and anywhere else you write.

Why I love it:

• No filler words or awkward transcriptions
• Learns your go-to phrases, names, acronyms
• Quiet mode = no awkward stares when you’re dictating in public
• Syncs with your computer for easy note-taking

​​​Try it out for free right now.​

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An app that tells you which products are killing you - Yuka​

Another app I've been using constantly (this one isn't sponsored).

Yuka scans barcodes on food and personal care products and gives them a health rating based on ingredients, additives, and nutritional quality.

I'm not going to lie, I've become kind of obsessed with scanning everything in my house with this.

Note: This isn't the end-all-be-all when it comes to food selection, and you should still use your own discretion.

But definitely worth downloading if you're trying to be more intentional about what you're putting in and on your body.

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A running list of essential life skills you should learn

Here's the reality: We all have gaps in our knowledge of essential life skills. Important things nobody taught us at school or at home.

That's why I think everyone should start a "Teach Myself List".

A running list of practical things you want to actually learn instead of panicking and Googling when you need them.

Here are some examples:

- Financial literacy basics
- Car loans, payments, insurance
- Health and life insurance
- Home equity lines, mortgages
- How to travel with points
- How to change a tire
- How to create a budget
- How to put out different types of fires
- How to balance a checkbook
- How to tie a tie
- Basic home repair
- What chemicals you can't mix
- What a deductible actually is
- Basic sewing and when to use a tailor
- Food storage and cooking basics
- How to find good doctors
- What should be in an emergency kit
- How to negotiate hospital bills

You don't have to tackle them all at once. Pick one thing to learn every couple months. Whichever would be most useful for you.

Personally, I'm focused on learning house skills this year. Mounting shelves, painting properly, fixing the toilet. All that fun stuff.

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A tweet that hit too close to home

P.S. Reply to this email telling me what resonated with you this week!

I read and respond to them all.

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