Samuel’s Thoughts 174: The Year of Balance

Samuel is in the final week of his break before jumping back into master’s work, and he’s using the downtime to fine-tune his systems and reset his mindset for the year ahead. He shares a few takeaways from How to Take Smart Notes—especially around linking ideas—and talks about building out Stream Deck workflows that speed up podcasting, research, and even launching games. The main focus is his annual “theme of the year” tradition: after a successful 2025 “Year of Relationship,” he’s naming 2026 the “Year of Balance,” with practicum and heavier program demands coming up—and a deliberate goal to avoid burnout while still making room for the people and projects he loves.

Highlights

• Finished How to Take Smart Notes and wants to tweak his “second brain,” especially by linking related notes more intentionally.
• Stream Deck is becoming a one-button workflow hub (audio production, show prep for “Going Through Who,” research tabs, and more).
• Set up game-launch shortcuts too—less about “saving seconds,” more about fully using the tool he already owns.
• Explains why he prefers “year themes” over New Year’s resolutions (plus a quick tangent on “science,” skepticism culture, and not being a jerk).
• 2025 recap: “Year of Relationship” brought more intentional time with friends, new groups, and deeper community ties.
• 2026 theme: “Year of Balance,” especially with practicum approaching and the need to protect mental health and prevent burnout.

How to Take Smart Notes: https://a.co/d/cQOSzFq

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Music from https://filmmusic.io

“NewsSting” and “News Theme” by Kevin MacLeod

(https://incompetech.com)

License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)