"Help, I'm Accidentally Getting Sh*t Done!" Adventures in Minimal Effort
Small Things, Big Results Edition
Well, hello!
You’re reading Mappy Monday, a free monthly newsletter about budget travel, quirky self-help experiments, thrifty money hacks, movie and book gems, and occasional silliness.
To my LA friends: Seeing the devastation and thinking of you. I can't imagine how heavy life must feel. Wishing you moments of peace and hoping you're surrounded by love.
AI Shenanigans: “Hemingway’s” take on AudioDiary App
Experiment: Just 3 Things on Your To-do List
Travel: Party Like a Hobbit!
Health: Make Your Workout Fun
Money: The Magic of Compounding
Watch: The French Classic - Amélie
Read: James Clear’s Atomic Habits
Mind Hack: How to Pick a Job
Just because: Gif-ed Doodles
Note: I will always tell you if I’m getting any referral bonuses. There are some in this letter. If you buy the book Atomic Habits, Altra trail runners, or Chaco sandals using my links, I’ll earn a few cents from Amazon depending on what else you buy that day. (Your clicks help keep my matcha mug full🥰, thank you).
AI Shenanigans - “Hemingway” Reviews My AudioDiary AI App
Small thing: Talk for a few minutes.
Big result: Feel better about your life.
You hear it everywhere: “Keep a diary, it’s good for your mental health!”
But do you have 30 minutes each day (or the attention span) to sit and write? And even if you do, your notes just collect dust, no interaction is happening.
Well, now there’s an AI for that. It’s called AudioDiary. I talk to it every evening on my walks or lying in bed. I like it so much that after a couple of months of using it for free, I paid $16 for 6 months of the premium version (very unlike me). It spits out summaries, suggestions, and goals based on my entries.
I wrote a little review and asked Claude.ai to rewrite it in Hemingway-style, just for kicks. Here it is:
I never pay for apps. But I paid for this one. It was good and it was true and there was no bullshit.
You walk home in the dark. The day is heavy in your mind. You open AudioDiary and it is simple and clean. You put in the photos first. They are what you saw and what mattered. Then you talk.
The machine listens. It gets the words right. Not like the others that mess up and make you angry. This one knows what you say, even when you speak soft in the night.
When you are done, it mirrors back your day. Clean. Clear. It does something else too. It finds the good things. Even on the bad days, it finds them. Not fake good. Real good. Small good. The kind you forget but shouldn't.
It sees things you want to do but haven't said straight. It offers these to you. You can take them or not. No pressure. No guilt. Just the truth of what you said.
I use it at night mostly. Walking, or in bed when the city is quiet. Some nights I talk about good things. Some nights about bad. The app doesn't care. It just listens and remembers and shows you that your day had worth.
That's all. That's why I paid. Because it is simple and it works and it tells your life back to you straight.
Just to add to the AI Papa Hemingway's take on this piece of modern tech:
Records and stores your voice entries
Transcribes your voice into text
Analyzes your entries to generate personalized goals
Lets you add photos
Sums up your day in a delightfully encouraging way (paid version)
Is made by Soliloquy Apps by a small team in England
The free version is already great but if you want more recording time, more photos, and daily and monthly summaries, the pro version is reasonably priced.
Experiment - Just 3 Things on Your To-do List
Small thing: Pick just 3 to-dos.
Big result: Finish the things that matter most.
My to-do list is a sprawling, ever-growing beast that looms over me like a disapproving mother. Every day, I add new tasks, convinced that they are both important AND urgent (so much for the Eisenhower matrix).
So, I drew a line in the sand. Or rather, three lines. I divided my to-do list into three camps:
"Top 3": I pick the three tasks to do. Only three.
"Next Up": I think of this as the waiting room where tasks sit flipping through old magazines, hoping to be called into the "Top 3".
"On Hold": This is where tasks go when they're stuck waiting for something else to happen. Maybe I’m waiting for a package to arrive, for someone to get back to me, or for the weather to clear up. These tasks are temporarily out of my hands.
Instead of my usual 'start 12 things, finish none' approach, I focus on three:
Order a new car battery: Done.
Pick new webhosting service: Done.
Write to AudioDiary team: Half-done, waiting for reply. Off to the "On Hold" pile it goes!
Now I can add 3 more.
Once a week (or so), I prune my lists. Tasks that have lost their importance are unceremoniously thrown away. The Delete button is my favorite productivity tool.
Travel - Party Like a Hobbit!
Small thing: Make a quick stop.
Big result: Discover your favorite place on Earth.
Hobbiton in New Zealand released tickets for their 2025 International Hobbit Day celebration (September 22-23), where they transform their 12-acre movie set into a proper Bilbo & Frodo birthday bash, complete with a feast at the Green Dragon Inn. It costs 320 NZD ($180 USD) per ticket.
When planning our New Zealand road trip, I thought Hobbiton was just one stop among many in this land that has everything from glaciers to glow-worms.
But when I stood in front of Bag End, with real veggies growing in the tiny gardens, and wandered through the Shire to sip Southfarthing brew by the fire at the Green Dragon Inn, joy welled up inside me, quietly spilling down my cheeks.
Even the regular tour of this movie set (120 NZD, or 68 USD), tucked away in rolling hills was magical, and it quickly became one of my favorite places in the world.
(Want to see how we managed to road-trip New Zealand without breaking the bank? Check out my article on car camping in the North Island, including a visit to Hobbiton)
Health - Make Your Workout Fun
Small thing: Turn exercise into a game.
Big result: Reclaim the joy of moving your body.
In the US, I’d drag myself to the gym three times a week. But five months in Europe threw that routine out the window. So, I ditched the 'proper' workouts and started looking for fun ways to move.
Some of my favorites are:
Animal Flow: It's like breakdancing meets yoga meets "what is my body even doing right now?" The best part? You can't really do it wrong – whatever weird movement you come up with, just call it "experiments in locomotion" and boom, you're a movement artist.
Dance Workouts YouTube has endless options, and nobody can see you in your room. I've tried everything from ballet (apologies to actual ballet dancers) to hip-hop (apologies to... well, everyone), and had a blast.
This playful way works for me not because it's a better "workout" (whatever that even means), but because I actually do it.
Your Turn to Play!
If you're tired of traditional workouts, look at these:
3-minute dance routine (Caleb Marshall is adorable!)
4-minute Chapeu de Couro Capoeira tutorial (oh, the skillz!)
4-minute line dancing lesson (driving the hubby nuts with this one)
12-minute baby cartwheel training (one of these days I’ll get it)
15-minute acroyoga with a partner (just don’t break each other)
15-minute Shaolin Quigong routine (makes me feel all Zen)
20-minute animal yoga flow (cool-looking)
30-minute ballet for beginners (so pretty)
40-minute Budokon yoga routine (a flowy take on a classic)
Money - Compounding is Magic
Small thing: Put little amounts of money to work every month.
Big result: Watch your money multiply.
Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it; he who doesn't, pays it.
- Albert Einstein
Compound interest is when you earn interest on your money, and then you earn interest on that interest. Compound growth is the increase in value of your portfolio from the stock you own and reinvested dividends.
In both cases, it's your money making more money, which then makes even more money - creating a powerful snowball effect over time.
Disclaimer: Even the best investors can't predict stock market movements. The following calculation is based on 7% return, roughly the average yearly return of the S&P 500 over the past 65 years, adjusted for inflation. Investing involves risk, past performance doesn't indicate future results, and you may lose money.Check this out: if you put $50 each month in a bank account paying you 0% interest (or stash it under your mattress), after 20 years you’d have $12,000 saved up. You’d have less if your bank (gasp!) charges fees.
But look what can happen if you invest the same $50 each month in a low-cost index fund for those same 20 years, or even longer. Time is the secret ingredient of compounding magic. (Or at least has been, so far):
Use this compound interest calculator to play with the numbers.
Now, let's talk about bank fees. Even a seemingly small $7 per month adds up to $3360 over 40 years – money that could have been invested and earning the average of 7%, which would net you $18,530! Ouch! Look for banks that don’t charge fees.
I'm not a financial advisor. I’ve been investing for 18 years and have seen the magic of compounding firsthand. Your mileage may vary.
Watch - Amélie
Small thing: Watch a movie for 2 hours.
Big Result: Have your heart grow three sizes that day.
Have you ever seen Amélie? It’s a French cinematic unicorn that can melt even the most cynical heart.
Amélie, an adorable, whimsical soul, discovers a hidden treasure and decides to find its rightful owner. This sets off a series of secret, gentle interventions that sprinkle magic into the lives of people around her.
This film is like one of those friends you can revisit many times and always find something new to love.
Read - Atomic Habits
Small thing: Gently nudge your routine in the right direction.
Big result: Level up your life without feeling like you're climbing Mount Everest.
You've probably heard of Atomic Habits by James Clear – it seems to be everywhere these days. But has it actually improved your life?
Here’s a quick, illustrated summary of it by Lewis O’Brien to get you started.
When I wanted to start walking 10k steps a day, I used the “Atomic Habits” framework:
To make it easy, I set a small daily step target. To track my progress, I used the Samsung Health app already built into my phone.
I bought (on sale, of course) shoes so comfortable that they basically begged me to take them for a walk (Altra Superior trail runners and Chaco sandals).
To make it more likely to stick, I "stacked" it – I listen to audiobooks or podcasts while walking.
To make walking attractive, I either tried to choose pretty routes or pick a cafe to walk to.
These tiny tweaks have actually worked! 7 months in, and walking is now… dare I say… “my thing”?
Here’s 30 Days to Better Habits lessons, a free course by James Clear if you’re ready to try it out.
Mind Hack - How to Pick a Job
Small thing: Read one sentence.
Big result: Change your perspective.
Do what feels like play to you but looks like work to others.
- Naval Ravikant
Just Because - Mesmerizing Doodles
I came across a Doodle Library, and there, on the home page, a strangely mesmerizing gif of all the doodles put together.
So there you have it... Proof that big things really can come in small packages (unlike this newsletter).
Be Mappy,
Mags
