📩 Selim’s Notes, November 2025: Clarity, Consistency, and Cause

Hi friend,

It’s been a while since the last issue, and as I’m writing this on a quiet Sunday morning, it feels good to slow down, reflect, and reset.

October was my birthday month, so it’s a new year for me, and we’re also entering the final stretch of 2025.

If your goals from January feel far away, don’t worry. You still have two months to make meaningful progress.

Let’s get into this month’s reflections.

💌 Writing & Projects

This month has been full of creative experiments. I’ve been writing Lead Letters, my daily reflections on newsletters, lead magnets, and automation, you can read them all at leadletters.digital

I’ve also been collaborating with Rüzgar Zere on Lead Magnet Club.

We just published the second season newsletter today, and it’s packed with free AI tools to help you create your own lead magnets. You can read it here!

You can also try LeadShark.io; a great tool for building automated comment-to-DM sequences and generating leads faster.

If you’re interested in newsletters or building your audience, Lead Letters is where I share everything I learn.

🧭 Work & Life

In April, I shifted from being a solo consultant/trainer to working full-time again.

After one and a half years of self-employment, I really appreciated taking two weeks off in October, knowing that my salary would still arrive at the end of the month.

I see many “quit your 9-to-5” posts online. But most of them make money from telling you to quit, not from actually doing what they preach.

Here’s my take: there’s nothing wrong with having a stable job while still building creative side projects.

It’s not a lack of ambition; it’s a sign of balance.

🌍 Humanitarian Reflections

The temporary armistice in Gaza was a small relief, but the suffering still continues, and also similar crises persist in Sudan, Yemen, and many other places.

Although I’m not currently working directly in the humanitarian sector, I continue to support organizations that respond on the ground.

If you can, please do the same. Many NGOs are facing severe funding shortages.

🏃 Health & Fitness

Sunday, is a run day for me. 🏃‍♂️

Last year, around this time, I ran the Istanbul Marathon, a full 42 kilometers.

This year, I couldn’t join in person, but I ran 12.5 kilometers on my own instead.

Not quite the same distance, but still a step forward.

This year, I’m also running to support a cause close to my heart, Hayat Sende Derneği, which helps young people who grew up under state protection build independent, meaningful lives.

Every step is a hope, every donation a future. 💙

If you’d like to support, here’s my campaign page:

👉 https://ipk.adimadim.org/kampanya/CC143462

I’m aiming to keep running once a week until the end of the year and still maintaining my daily 10,000-step streak (only missed two days in October!).

The lesson remains the same:

Don’t worry if you miss a day. Just don’t miss twice.

🤖 Tools & Automation

This month, I’ve been testing and refining automations for both my projects and those of my clients.

If you’re curious, I share practical examples in Lead Letters about how to make your digital life more efficient.

I’ve also been experimenting a lot with LeadShark.io while working on the Lead Magnet Club project.

You can check it out for free, it’s one of the simplest ways to turn conversations into real leads.

And just yesterday, I discovered a tool that genuinely changed how I write and think: Wispr Flow

I used to rely on ChatGPT’s voice input or my iPhone’s dictation feature and assumed they were good enough, I was wrong.

Wispr Flow is lightning fast, supports multiple languages, and formats your text beautifully without any extra editing.

Best part? It works seamlessly across all apps on Mac and iPhone.

You can use it for free or try the Pro version free for 2 weeks here! (affiliate).

📚 Books & Ideas

Last month, I finished The Art of Thinking Clearly by Rolf Dobelli, and it’s easily one of the best books I’ve read this year.

Dobelli reminds us that we can’t fully eliminate cognitive errors, they’re too deeply wired. But by recognizing them, we can avoid self-induced unhappiness.

One quote that stayed with me:

This “via negativa” approach, focusing on what to remove rather than what to add, connects beautifully with habits, writing, and clarity.

He also makes a sharp distinction between intuitive and rational thinking:

• Intuitive thinking is fast and energy-saving.

• Rational thinking is slow and energy-demanding.

  Both have their place, be rational when stakes are high, intuitive when they’re low.

I’ll share more insights from this book in future posts. You can find more information and quotes from the book on this goodreads page!

If you’d like to follow along, connect with me on LinkedIn.

🧩 Coaching & Growth

As some of you know from my LinkedIn post, I’m now a certified coach (EMCC European Mentoring & Coaching Council).

If you’re reflecting on your goals for the last two months of the year or planning for 2026, I’d be happy to help.

You can simply reply to this email, and we can talk about how coaching might support your next step.

🪞 Closing Thought

October reminded me that progress doesn’t have to be extreme.

You can slow down, run shorter distances, and still move forward, as long as you keep showing up.

Let’s make November and December count.

—

Thanks for reading and following along on this journey. Wishing you a peaceful, productive, and healthy week ahead!

Selim

🌐 selimuysal.net

💌 leadletters.digital

🚀 startyournewsletter.today

🧠 dailyhabits.blog

📚 books.dailyhabits.blog

P.S.

If you’d like to start your own newsletter, you can try beehiiv; the platform I use for all my publications.

And if you’d like to learn how to start writing online, check out this free course: Start Writing Online

P.P.S.

If you can, I’d be glad if you could support my donation campaign for Hayat Sende Derneği, helping young people who grew up under state protection build independent, meaningful lives.

👉 https://ipk.adimadim.org/kampanya/CC143462 💙