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While tending to a Christmas cold, I spent a lot of time at the end of the year watching TV (“Barry” is so good, “Game of Thrones” makes way more sense the second time around), reading and resting. I also, when I had the energy, did some whole-house deep cleaning. I swept cobwebs out of corners, washed curtains, spackled nail holes and gathered up the accumulated junk.
At one point, my 18-year-old said to me, “Are you one of those people who just likes to clean?”
“No,” I told him. “I’m one of those people who likes things to be clean.”
For our first Local Edition of 2026, I want to offer some ways to help you sweep away the cobwebs and organize the junk of your desktop, your phone, your brain and your habits. I reached out to my colleagues with this question: What’s one thing that makes your work easier?
Here’s what they shared. If you have some tips, tools and tricks of your own, please reply to this email and share them with me. I’d love to hear them.
Digital tools
Kate Cox, faculty/strategic partnerships:
To work for extended, focused periods, I need nonverbal sound so my brain can relax enough to clear the way for thoughts. I started listening to binaural beats in my headphones when I worked in a noisy newsroom. Some call it brain ‘entrainment.’ One frequency in the right ear and another in the left ear, combined with other tones, allows the brain to perceive the difference as a rhythmic beat that it can match with the alpha, gamma and beta brainwaves that boost calm and focus. It sounds kinda woo-woo, but I've been using the Brainwaves ([link removed]) app for more than a decade and it got me through thousands of edits and spreadsheets.
Tony Elkins, faculty:
Music is a must for me when I am focusing on a task, and there’s nothing better than the original Lofi Girl ([link removed]) — lofi hip hop radio. Before this, it was always a chore to find good ambient electronic music without a lot of vocals. This channel was one of those aids I didn’t know I needed until I found it.
Ren LaForme, managing editor:
Is it a little Alanis Morissette that the former digital tools reporter doesn't use many interesting digital tools these days? I've been putting a lot of sweat equity into growing a little orchard at my mom's house. It has taught me that you really only need a few tools for most jobs, but it sure helps if they're well-made. That in mind, I'm most grateful for an old standby: Google Docs. As publishing keeps getting faster and less human, the ability to use suggestion mode to dialog, debate and banter with reporters about big topics — like structure or focus — or small details like the placement of a comma helps us get it right more often than not. It really is the little things.
Megan Griffith-Greene, faculty:
When I need to brainstorm, I need a good thunderstorm. For whatever reason, a good immersive rainstorm track helps keep me focused, whether I'm reading, writing, editing, revising or coming up with brand new ideas.Here's one that I like a lot ([link removed]) . (I'm in good company. Director Guillermo del Toro constructed an entire rain room in his California home to do focused writing with the illusion that it's raining outside.)
Fernanda Camarena, faculty:
I like taking small breaks with the Hallow ([link removed]) app for short guided prayers, daily Gospel and the quote of the day. It’s a little pause to reset and take a quick break with a sense of purpose and reflection. It also helps me stay off social media. It’s a nice reminder that even the unseen parts of my work matter.
AI tools
Kerwin Speight, faculty:
I use Granola ([link removed]) to take meeting notes. It's powered by AI. It takes notes and summarizes virtual meetings. It also provides me with an action item list by meeting. It's synced with my calendar to automatically take notes once I join the virtual space.
Jon Greenberg, faculty:
As handy as they might be, the typical conference attendee list isn’t so easy to work with. I had Gemini ([link removed]) take a PDF, scrape the name, organization, job title and email address of only the journalists on the list and give it to me in a spreadsheet. I used the sheet to document my conversations with the people I met. Really awesome for follow-up work.
Analog tools
Sitara Nieves, vice president, teaching and organizational strategy:
My recommendation doesn’t have much to do with AI or technology, but is more old school. A long time ago, I read the book “Designing Your Life” — a recommendation from Jenn Brandel. There’s a concept in the book about energy mapping, which is essentially tracking where in your day you have the most energy, and what kind of work lights you up (and alternatively, what kind of work makes you distracted, cranky or procrastinate). I don’t really usetheir template anymore ([link removed]) , but I do still use the conceptual framework of energy mapping to think about and tweak how I structure my day and my workweek to maximize my own energy. For me, for example, my best time to write, think, plot out new teaching, or work on anything creative or strategic is first thing in the morning, so I block time in the first part of every day to have uninterrupted focus time to do those things. I also know I have times in the late afternoon when it’s
easier to do tasks that aren’t as fun for me (invoicing or dealing with budgets). As the new year starts, I’ve been thinking about energy mapping again — it changes as the work on my plate changes and even at different times of the year — and how to create a structure for 2026 where I’m spending more time on work that fuels and energizes me. Highly recommend!
Josie Hollingsworth, audience director, PolitiFact:
Leave stuff at your desk: I like leaving an extra laptop charger at the office, so I don't have to transfer them between house and office (I use an old Nintendo USB-C charger that gives me joy). I also have the materials for PB&Js at the office so I don't have to think about lunch a lot of days of the week. A little bit of an essential oil or something that smells good at my desk is nice. (I have a roll-on coconut oil scent that just says "Calm.") This can be a good reset if I forgot to zhuzh at home — at least I smell good.
And from me, here’s a tip I learned a few years ago that I share whenever I can. After you’re finished writing, before you turn a final draft in, hit publish or send, read what you wrote from the bottom up. Start with the last paragraph, then go up to the next to last, and on and on until you get to the top. It’s so easy to miss basic errors when you’ve been looking at the same words for a while. This process wakes up my brain and almost always helps me catch the typos I’ve messed up along the way.

Speaking of mess-ups, I have a correction to share from the final Local Edition ([link removed]) of 2025. In my conversation with the founders of URL Media, I got the U in that name wrong. It should be Uplift. Sadly, no reading from the bottom would have helped me with that one. 😖
That’s it for me, thanks for reading and happy new year,
Kristen
Kristen Hare
Faculty
The Poynter Institute
@kristenhare ([link removed])

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