The holidays are over, and it's time for the first Tools Edition of 2026.

Here's the deal with the new format—once a month, I'm dedicating an entire issue to tools. Starting, not with the flashy ones everyone's talking about, but the quiet workhorses that sit open on my screen every single day. The ones I'd miss if they disappeared tomorrow.

They save me time every day. I hope at least one does the same for you.

Supported by iSpring

Stop defending your L&D budget. Start proving it. This webinar shows you how to connect your work to what your leaders actually care about: revenue, retention, and efficiency.

→ Save your seat​

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Tools Worth Your Attention

Napkin.ai

When I'm stumped about how to represent something visually, this is where I start. It smartly transforms text into diagrams, charts, infographics, and other visuals.
​https://www.napkin.ai​

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NotebookLM (Google Notebook)

Still one of the best tools for making sense of messy inputs. Drop in sources, ask better questions, and let it help you see patterns. Ross Stevenson’s YouTube walkthroughs are practical and worth following.
​https://notebooklm.google​
​https://stealthesethoughts.com/​

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Text Blaze

Text replacement doesn’t sound exciting until you realize how often you repeat yourself. I use this for AI prompts, feedback, and common explanations. Small setup. Big payoff.
​https://blaze.today​

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BrightCarbon’s BrightSlide

If PowerPoint is part of your job, this quietly saves time and frustration. Better consistency, faster formatting, fewer fights with the tool. It earns its keep quickly.
​https://www.brightcarbon.com/brightslide/​

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1Password

Not glamorous. Completely essential. Worth a few dollars a month just to stop thinking about passwords entirely and get on with real work while upgrading your security.
​https://1password.com​
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Also supported by Neovation

If you’re already using ChatGPT and wonder what else is possible with AI, join Dan Belhassen to explore powerful, practical (often free) AI tools that will help you do more with less!

→ Register for Beyond ChatGPT​

Know someone who could use any of these tools? Forward it their way.

🎵 Today I'm listening to The Cure

📍Where I'll be next

• ​Learning Network Book Club, Jan 26 (Online)
• ​LearnTec, May 5-7 (Karlsruhe, Germany)
• ​ATD International Conference, May 17-20 (Los Angeles, CA)

If today’s issue was useful, my book Think Like a Marketer, Train Like an L&D Pro goes deeper on designing learning that earns attention and drives action. And if you’ve read it, a short review helps more than you might think.