How to read newsletters

Three years ago I lost faith in newsletters. What started with a few too many subscriptions snowballed into an inbox bursting at the seams. Each newsletter would fuel feelings of guilt and anxiety the longer it remained unread.

Turns out I wasn’t alone:

Perhaps a more rational person would have ditched newsletters completely. I couldn’t. I’ve learned more from newsletters in the last few years than my entire school career. You have multiple mentors sending you interesting, raw and wisdom-packed letters every single week. It’s irreplaceable.

This personal love-hate battle sent me on a journey to search for a better way to read newsletters (and ultimately co-found an app with my friends based on the learnings). I discovered that, with the right mindset, environment and habits you can experience the power of newsletters without the heartache.

Your mindset

Why do we feel bad about not reading a newsletter? Would you feel guilty if you didn’t read every post on your Twitter timeline or every book on your shelf? Newsletters are treated with the same stress inducing mindset that we apply to emails — everything must be read and cleared to gain a sense of completion.

Lenny Rachitsky, Ex Product Manager at Airbnb and newsletter publisher, suggests a new mindset when it comes to reading newsletters:

“Don’t feel like you need to read everything. Let the content wash over you and move on. Even if you find one nugget of valuable content a month, you’re winning.”

It’s ok to skip and skim where nothing jumps out at you. You don’t have to read every single link. There’s no surprise test at the end. Treat your newsletters like you’re reading a magazine, you wouldn’t feel bad if you missed a page.

Go back to reading newsletters because you’re excited to, not through a sense of duty.

Your environment

If you’re one of the lucky people who are disciplined enough to read newsletters in your inbox, I envy you but personally I struggled. For me it’s like eating lunch at my work desk, I can’t relax in the place where my brain is hardwired to work. Thankfully there are alternatives:

“If you have a lot of subscriptions, newsletter ‘readers’ will save you a lot of time and headache. They are designed specifically for distraction-free reading and also remove the strain of subscriptions on the inbox.” Nic Getkate, The Slice

A few readers to consider:

• Stoopinbox. The one you’re most likely to have heard of, Stoop gives you a new email address to sign up for newsletters and dedicated space to read them in.
• Meco app. The new player in the game, Meco is designed for mindful and enjoyable reading. Plus you can sign up with your Gmail so there’s no need for another email. I’m a co-founder so slightly biased but I’ll leave you to try it out for yourself.
• Mailbrew. Mailbrew isn’t a newsletter reader per se, it collates your favorite content including your newsletters into a weekly digest email or a feed on the web.

If you choose to keep reading within your email, it’s critical to separate your newsletters from your inbox to maintain order. Set up an automatic filter that sends newsletters straight to a dedicated folder so that they don’t get lost amongst Linkedin requests and airline offers.

The best way to find the right solution for you is through some good old fashioned trial and error.

Your habits

Today, we are lucky to have an abundance of incredible newsletters at our fingertips but this comes at a cost. We are like kids in a candy shop, stuffing our inboxes full of exciting content, only to end up with rotten teeth or in our case guilt, shame and missed words of wisdom.

“If the only newsletters you get are the ones you truly find valuable, you won’t feel overwhelmed.” — Josh Spector, For the Interested

If you come across a new newsletter that doesn’t have you saying “f*ck yeah I want to read that” then don’t subscribe. On the flip side don’t be afraid to regularly cull the ones that are not adding value to your life anymore.

Once you’ve got your subscriptions sorted, turn your attention to your reading. Instead of being pulled into newsletters at any time of the day and mindlessly scrolling, we need to dictate our reading and make it intentional.

“Pick a regular time each day to read newsletters so — like social media — you don’t get caught in an endless passive scroll.” — Grant Gurewitz, Think for Yourself

Start your mornings with 30 minutes of newsletter readings and save any longer reads for Sunday mornings to give you more time to digest them. Janel from BrainPint newsletter also recommends saving interesting links for later using platforms like Notion or Pocket.

One or two tiny habit changes, can transform your entire newsletter experience for the better.

Conclusion

“We are what we read” — Maria Marinova, The Profile

Newsletters give us the power to feed our brains with relevant, meaningful and timely stories from the brightest minds around the world.

As the popularity of newsletters continues to explode, it’s more important than ever for us (the reader) to arm ourselves with the knowledge and know-how to thrive on all of the incredible content available.

Start by reviewing how, where and why you currently read newsletters. Be honest with yourself on where you are falling short and take action. Make 2021 the year that you harness the true power of newsletters.

Thank you to all of the newsletter publishers, experts and friends who added their insights to this article. If you are looking for more newsletters (and your inbox can handle it) I highly recommend checking out their content.