Issue #360 (A Poor Man's Productivity Trick) 01/05/26
From Invisible to Irresistible: How UGC Helped This Brand Pop Off the Shelf — What if the biggest unlock for your CPG brand isn’t a packaging refresh or a promo blitz – but creators telling the story your audience actually wants to hear? That’s exactly what happened when this everyday grocery staple shifted from traditional ads to a creator-led, UGC-powered strategy built for scale.
Instead of pushing polished product shots, the brand activated creators across food, lifestyle, and everyday routines – pairing premium gifting with seasonal moments and culturally relevant hooks. The result wasn’t just content; it was momentum.
Snack boards, game-day recipes, self-care rituals, and kitchen-counter creativity started taking over feeds, delivering 560K+ views, 247K reach, 9K likes, 2K saves, and $58K EMV – all from authentic storytelling that felt like discovery, not advertising.
More importantly, it became repeatable. Mid-tier creators expanded visibility. Micro-influencers added warmth and trust. And with Creator.co managing recruitment, briefs, and delivery, the brand built a scalable content engine, everything from 71K-view recipe videos to 600+ save snack hacks. As one marketing leader put it: “The team is accessible, easy to work with, and provides frequent updates – all our data was right at our fingertips.”
When UGC becomes the heart of your strategy, your product stops blending in and starts belonging in the lives (and carts) of your consumers.
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A few months ago, a Hacker News reader asked a good question considering the current AI environment, which I think is also relevant now at the beginning of a new year. Would you get a Computer Science degree today?
As the reader points out, tuition costs can be huge and entry level jobs are becoming harder to come by. So does it make sense to pursue that kind of education when much of what is worked on now can be learned independently.
I didn't find the top comment all that useful (the one that references a Paul Graham article) but some other suggestions might be of practical use.
For example, one points out that he dropped out halfway through getting his degree and couldn't be happier with the result. Another recommends doing an advanced CS degree via Coursera (the popular online course platform). Another recommends doing math or science and learning programming on your own. And yet another says it seems too risky to go without a degree.
As you can see, the thread has lots of diverse bits of advice that may benefit you or someone you know considering such an endeavor.
Now on to this week's hand-picked productivity links!
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FileBrowser Quantum — A free, self-hosted web-based file manager with configurable sources, OIDC authentication, MS Office file support, and real-time indexing.
BoardFlow — A platform for conducting strategic meetings, with features including board activities creator, decision tracking, a hub for meeting docs, assigned actions, and more – to help improve clarity and discipline in your team meetings.
MindNote — The smartest, simplest, most customizable AI note-taking app for web and Android, to help you keep your notes organized and accessible. Ideal for research, study, work, and personal use. sponsor
PrintCalendar.top — A calm, printer-friendly canvas to map your month, capture notes, and keep a lightweight log of what matters.
YouniqMail — A customizable and privacy-safe email client, with support for IMAP and SMTP, a tagging system for organizing mail, categorization via flags, sorting, advanced search/filter, and lots more.
CursorClip — A screen recorder app that lest you record your screen and it adds auto zooms to highlight what matters, so you can ship demos and tutorials without video editing hassle.
DockFlow — A native enhancement for the Mac dock, that lets you instantly save, manage, and switch between multiple macOS docks, for better focus and productivity in design, dev, or other work.
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Impacts of Working From Home on Mental Health Tracked in Study of 16,000 Australians — The effect on women in the study was positive for flexible WFH arrangements, and the wellbeing of men was positive due to drops in daily commute times.
The Appropriate Amount of Effort is Zero — An interesting perspective on how success in a lot of areas is not overly dependent on the amount of effort exerted, a concept that could extend to your own field of work or expertise.
A New Place to Read Your Newsletters — We’re trying out a free app for reading newsletters called Khaki. The interface is clean, distraction-free, and only shows the newsletters I’m subscribed to, no noise of everything else in my usual inbox. sponsor
Poor Man's Productivity Trick — One person's method of tracking your work using nothing but a text file, something the author refers to as a Rolling Daily Work Tracker, or just rolling tracker.
The 70% AI Productivity Myth: Why Most Companies Aren't Seeing the Gains — As explained here, even the founder of OpenAI is feeling left behind as a programmer and many feel the promises of AI-powered productivity are not realistic or attainable.
Always Be Ready to Leave (Even If You Never Do) — "The professional habits that made my departure smooth are the same ones that made my work better every day."
How To Get Faster Approval From Your Manager — This mostly goes without saying, but it's a good reminder that managers are ultimately responsible for the results, which is often why things take longer for approval. Some suggestions are offered on how to speed things up.
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