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By Colby Kultgen

The Most Underrated Goal-Setting Tool, A 4-Inch E-ink Reader, and A Visual That Lives Rent-Free In My Head

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 reminder that "too late" is a myth

I love the message here.

It's so easy to get caught in the trap of "I'm too old", or "it's too late".

But here's the reality: Five years from now, you’ll be five years older regardless of what you do with that time.

You may as well spend it becoming the person you want to be.

Reminds me of a story I heard from writer Mark Manson:

As we head into 2026, don’t let “too old” or “too late” be the reason you hold yourself back.

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A 4-inch E-ink reader I'm excited about - The Xteink X4​

One of my goals for 2026 is to read 50 books.

To make this happen, I'm setting a few rules:

• Read in bed every night before sleep
• Replace podcasts with audiobooks
• Read more than one book at a time

And maybe the most important one:

Always carry a book with me.

I usually don't mind carrying a physical book or my Kindle, but this little E-ink reader will make things a whole lot easier.

The e-ink screen means no eye strain, 2+ week battery life, and it fits in my pocket.

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A replacement for doomscrolling in 2026
​Sponsored

Speaking of reading more in 2026.

I know not everyone has time to read 50 books this year.

That's where Shortform comes in.

They take books like Atomic Habits, Thinking Fast and Slow, and The Mom Test and break them down into clear, actionable summaries you can finish in 15 minutes.

My challenge to you in 2026: replace one 15-minute doomscrolling session per day with a book summary.

Same time investment. Completely different outcome.

​Use my link to try Shortform FREE + get $50 off a membership​

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A tweet that scared the hell out of me

I don't know about you, but this scares the shit out of me.

A few months ago I wrote an article on Substack about how I managed to break my phone addiction after years of failing.

If you're looking for actionable steps to actually reduce your screen time this year, it's worth a read.

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A $30 productivity tool that might change your life

I had 3 separate people tell me this one investment changed their lives in 2025.

Hint: it wasn't a course, supplement, or app.

It was a whiteboard.

Yep, they all told me that tracking their goals on a whiteboard was way more effective than any other app or system they'd tried.

Well, it got me curious enough to grab one for my own 2026 goals.

I’m not saying you need a whiteboard too.

But I am saying this: track your goals somewhere visible. Not buried in a Notes app, not in a journal you open once a month, but visible. Daily.

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An image I share every year

Tim Urban shares this every year, and I'm making it a tradition that I do too.

I don't know about you, but I'm really focused on those green lines this year.

Let's make this our best one yet.

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