Education, story-telling, and personal development.
These three things are roughly what I’m looking for in a good email newsletter.
I want to be entertained, to be challenged, to be informed, to be intrigued, and to be taken to places I may not have already gone to through my own curated feeds.
Does that sound like something you want in on too? Well, let me give you my current Top 20 email updates. In no particular order, here’s what I’m happy to see in my inbox:
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1. Quartz Daily Brief
Since Quartz started this news update, it’s been the first thing I read each day. I don’t pay much attention to the news during the day, so this is the nearest I get to a briefing. And it’s fab.
The short weekend essay they send on Saturday is consistently winning too.
2. Doug Belshaw’s Thought Shrapnel
Productivity, education, and web links worth exploring every Sunday.
3. Oliver Quinlan’s Quinlearning
Oliver Quinlan recently introduced this newsletter after enjoying Doug Belshaw’s Thought Shrapnel. Similar in nature to Doug’s, but with different edulinks and recommendations for you, Oliver has started his newsletter off with a bang.
4. A Millennial Type
In Declan and Erica’s own words, “Empowering Millennials to LIVE, CREATE, PERSEVERE, and DREAM”. I can’t improve on that…they even use an Oxford comma. 😉
5. Almost Timely (@cspenn)
Full of links on social marketing, technology, society, and all sorts of other things.
Penn’s premium content adds a nice touch to proceedings, with actionable advice on how to be one step ahead of the rest. Just keep it to yourself, he urges!
6. Chris Brogan
Chris Brogan’s Sunday newsletter is a friendly kick up the bum to help support you as an owner, preceded by a comment on what he’s drinking. Be sure to tell him what tipple you’re enjoying.
7. Primility
Jerod Morris already does a great job co-hosting podcasts like The Showrunner and The Lede (check these out too!).
Jerod has recently started a Primility movement, for balancing pride and humility. His newsletter gives you a dose of inspiration to start each week, as well as a roundup of all the daily Primility shows you can listen to.
Wrist bump!
8. Educating Modern Learners
The EML newsletter showcases exclusive content and comment on education issues, as well as great edulinks elsewhere on the web. Some great thought pieces to explore.
9. Hack Education
One of the co-founders of EML, Audrey Watters, also has her own fantastic weekly update. Hack Education doesn’t focus on just the positive stuff and the hype, and that makes it a breath of fresh air. Yours in struggle.
10. On Tap Education News Digest
I mainly use this on days when I’m not checking my own curated news feeds. But if you don’t already have education news ‘on tap’, this is a great daily email for you.
Mainstream media links, government and other sources, plus international stories, all ready for you to click or tap on and be informed about.
11. Annie Murphy Paul: The Brilliant Report
I first encountered Annie Murphy Paul in 2010 when I read her book, “Origins: How the nine months before birth shape the rest of our lives“. Her newsletter has engaging content on learning, based on cognitive science, neuroscience, and psychology.
12. Further
Brian Clark of Copyblogger writes about personal development each week.
He features a big topic in every issue and includes other links on health, wealth and wisdom. It’s my favourite Brian Clark thing (closely followed by Unemployable).
13. Harvard Business Review Management Tip of the Day
HBR has lots of email alerts, including a daily roundup of all that day’s stories published on the site. But the Management Tip of the Day is useful for more than managers. As a student, you can also get a dose of useful advice on taking action, persuading others, and being your best self.
Sign up at: https://hbr.org/email-newsletters
14. James Clear
On how to improve performance and form habits, James Clear’s articles are incredibly popular (200k+ subscribers). Worth a read for a part-story, part-evidence-based, part self-help way to give you a physical and mental boost.
15. The One Thing
Each week, Iñaki Escudero says, “There are many things going on, these are a few of my favorite ones”.
A quirky, informative, and fun email. “The One Tradition I wish I had”, “The One Business lesson to learn from a 13 year old girl”, “The One Thing nobody can do”, “The One Chart to question our assumptions”…Lots of stuff that’ll stick with you.
16. No Sidebar
At work, at home, and in your soul…No Sidebar is an informative look at calming down your life so you can do more with less.
17. Storythings
A selection of stories from the week that you may not have read about. They helpfully tell you how long each piece should take to read.
18. The Daily Water Cooler
This is awesome if only for the two animated gifs you get each day. Coming from someone who doesn’t enjoy much about animated gifs, it’s high praise!
You’re also treated to links worth sharing, as well as a (US-centric) look at news in business, politics, sports, and culture.
19. The Long + Short
From innovation charity Nesta, a free online/mobile magazine that “tells stories of innovation that are thoughtful, hopeful and questioning”. Some are long reads and some are short. Hence, the Long + Short.
The weekly newsletter also has other stories of innovation from elsewhere on the web that are well worth a read.
20. University World News
Not content with your own national higher education news? Get a briefing on what’s happening all over the world, with useful comment pieces too, from University World News.
BONUS! – 21. Nuzzel
It’s not quite an email subscription, but a great alert service. Customise it to show you the most popular links being shared by people you follow on Twitter. The online service is great and the powerful email alerts tell you when a certain number of people have tweeted the same link.
You can also get daily email updates of the most popular links from the previous day.
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What have I missed? Let me know what newsletters you look forward to getting. Tweet me up…I’m @universityboy.
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