The Christmas Growth Letter by Tim Cakir - Issue #32

December 15, 2020

Merry Christmas everyone, and a Happy New Year!

In my last newsletter of 2020, I want to thank everyone for subscribing and reading my content over the past year. I’m really grateful for all the positive feedback I’ve had and I hope I’ve been able to bring you value.

I’d love to know what kind of content you’d like to see from me next year, as I have lots of plans to increase my output.

It’s been a difficult year but as we look forward to 2021 I’m going to focus on being grateful for what I have and doing what I can to make next year better.

I also have a festive gift for my subscribers - check it out below!

Christmas gift for my subscribers

I’m offering a free 15-minute consultation or catch-up to all my subscribers. Whether you’re having a problem or need advice about something related to your business, you can pick my brain about anything you like.

Here’s my Calendly link to book your slot.

Good Reads

Christmas ads are often hit and miss, and this year it was challenging for brands to hit the right note. Here’s a cool collection of the best and worst ads from the UK, showing just how difficult it can be to deliver the right message in your marketing.

With Christmas ad season now firmly underway, Marketing Week shares its take on this year’s Christmas stars and festive flops.

I’m a massive fan of Spotify because thanks to their algorithm, I always discover amazing new tunes.

Some complained about the Wrapped feature, claiming they’re not interested in other people’s top songs. However, I think it’s a perfect example of creating content that people can’t resist sharing. I really enjoyed seeing what others have been listening to, and I can’t wait for more great music in 2021.

Spotify is today launching its 2020 Wrapped personalized experience — the company’s popular year-end review of users’ favorite artists, songs, genres and podcasts. This year, however, Spotify is making a few changes. For starters, Wrapped will be exclusively available on mobile for Spotify users, while a web experience will offer a version of Wrapped for […]

With everything that’s going on, you might not be feeling very grateful at the moment. However, I have found that writing down something I’m grateful for every day improves my state of mind and helps me work harder. Best Self journals introduced me to this, and here’s an article from them about why it works.

When you think about achieving success, you might think it’s all about the bold actions you need to take. But that’s not entirely true.  While action is an essential piece of the success puzzle, there are other factors at play that have the potential to make or break your goals.  One of those is your ability to be grat

Instead of just writing down a list of resolutions, try reviewing your year. Here’s a really interesting article about how to conduct a personal yearly review, looking back at successes and failures, as you plan for the year ahead. There are some great ideas in this blog post from many years ago, which is still super-relevant now.

Unconventional Strategies for Life, Work, and Travel

And finally, if you’re in the mood for some soul-searching and goal-setting, check out Ali Abdaal’s annual review template in Notion. If you don’t use Notion, use the template as a guide for your pen and paper review, or copy it into your chosen notes app.

This annual review template lets you reflect on the people, things, and experiences you’re grateful for, the lessons you’ve learned this year, and the stuff you’d like to do next year.

Tools

I’ve invested in the reMarkable 2, which is a tablet notebook with the look and feel of paper. Handwriting your notes is a more effective way of learning than typing, and so far I’m loving the tool. It’s not a screen, so it’s easy on the eyes, and there are no apps or browsers to distract you from your work.

You can take notes and also write on PDFs, and organize all these into folders and notebooks. You can also convert your handwritten notes to text which you can export.

It’s pricey, but I think it would make a great Christmas gift for a university student, a budding writer, or a note-taking enthusiast!

Introducing reMarkable 2 — the paper tablet