Mr. Rogers, Mastering Email & Free Ebooks

I hope you had a fun weekend, and have a great week! Here are a few things I've been reading and checking out this week:

Articles I'm Reading:

• Can You Say...Hero? - Tom Junod - We watched A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood this weekend (the Mr. Rogers movie featuring Tom Hanks) and this is the Esquire profile the movie is based on. The profile highlights what came across in the movie: he was a talented communicator with a special ability to be present. He obviously cared deeply about the people in his life, and his daily routine was part of what contributed to his success.
• Mister Rogers Had a Simple Set of Rules for Talking to Children - The Atlantic - This article gives a bit more insight into how Fred Rogers managed to communicate so well, particularly to children. Attention to detail, especially around language and the words used, was a big component.
• Don't drown in email! How to use Gmail more efficiently - Andreas Klinger - Easily the most impactful productivity article I've read this year. I changed how I dealt with email in about 15 minutes, and managed to conquer my 1000+ message inbox in a few hours, and stay on top of it all week.
• An Eco-Friendly Prefab Farmhouse Pops Up in New Zealand in Just 4 Days - Dwell - A beautiful, modest house built with eco-friendly materials and efficiency in mind.
• The most organized Airbnb (or house) I've ever seen - I aspire to this level of organization...now I see why people buy label-makers.

Websites I'm Visiting:

• Standard Ebooks - Standard Ebooks takes ebooks from free sources like Project Gutenberg, and formats them beautifully for e-readers, including modern type, proof-reading, and adding covers. There are all kinds of classics, including Journey to the Center of the Earth and A Midsummer Night's Dream.
• George Orwell - This website is dedicated to the work of George Orwell. Copies of his books, articles, reviews, and poems are available here in English and Russian.

Product I'm Using:Wren Carbon Offset

I've been interested in minimizing my environmental impact for a long time. Some of that involves aiming for zero waste, but a large part of the rest is minimizing my personal carbon impact. You pay a monthly fee for Wren, which uses the money for an environmental-offset initiative, often in an area in need. They have a calculator for your personal impact, and a selection of great initiatives to choose to support. You can sign up with my link and earn a little bonus offset.

Have a great week!

Graham