Mindful Notions by Sam H Li

Sam’s London piece : Hill’s TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@hillzn8 Get full access to Mindful Notions by Sam H Li at samhli.substack.com/subscribe

If you’ve enjoyed the show—especially the conversations that help us slow down, pay attention, and build a little more presence into everyday life—I’d be so grateful for your vote. Vote here: https://podlifeawards.com/vote/the-listeners-lobe-tgl20262 How to vote (takes ~30 seconds): * Open the link above * Paste this RSS link when prompted: https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/2727113.rss * Submi...

Take a second to vote for the podcast here! https://podlifeawards.com/vote/the-listeners-lobe-tgl20262 Use this podcast link when voting: https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/2727113.rss Live NYC event celebrating the nom: https://luma.com/j1gd9a3w Get full access to Mindful Notions by Sam H Li at samhli.substack.com/subscribe

Mindful Notions is nominated for its first award! Vote here . And tell a friend! Get full access to Mindful Notions by Sam H Li at samhli.substack.com/subscribe

Dig deeper into what we are trying to LAUNCH here . Mindful Notions has been nominated for an award, and it’s fully listener-voted! Vote for the podcast here: https://podlifeawards.com/vote/the-listeners-lobe-tgl20262 Voting closes May 4th. Get full access to Mindful Notions by Sam H Li at samhli.substack.com/subscribe

Check out Magan’s app, FIG, here ! Check out Hill’s Substack, Scaffold, here ! Check out Austin’s publication, COMPUTE/COMPETE, here ! Check out my publication, Cities Decoded, here ! And if interested in applying to the Notion Ambassadors program… ➡️ https://www.notion.so/notion/04f306fbf59a413fae15f42e2a1ab029 Get full access to Mindful Notions by Sam H Li at samhli.substack.com/subscribe

I’m so excited to announce that our very own Magan Chin has launched her app, FIG: an AI-powered career platform . As we celebrate Magan’s app launch , we also discuss what Hill, Austin, and I have been up to: * Austin — COMPUTE/COMPETE (geopolitical AI) * Hill — untitled education startup (critical thinking) * Me — Cities Decoded (AI from the perspective of city changemakers) Also, I was happy to...

Why a manifesto Sam: “Why do we feel the need for a manifesto? It allows us to really put into words this feeling…which is a feeling of shame. That feeling that you did everything right and then you suddenly can’t get anything. You can’t get any job.” The “Bermuda Triangle Problem” Magan: “I did not come up with this concept. Simon Ventura wrote a book about it. We see some of the most high achiev...

Hey Mindful Notions community👋. After Hill , Austin Nellessen , Magan Chin , and I wrapped up season 1 of our ‘Accessible Intelligence’ podcast, the inevitable question was: What’s next? We start answering that question today in two important forms. One being season 2 of this podcast (first episode of the new season out Thursday morning!). And the other is a manifesto, written in the body of this...

About five years ago, I posted my first public YouTube video. To be clear, I had posted videos before, but they were always unlisted or private (shout‑out my Arizona State University 2019 speech and debate vlog). With the encouragement of my parents and sister, I decided to try… something with the channel . Did I think about going viral? Yes. Did it happen? Nope ! Did I think about eventually mone...

Thank you so much to the Cheerful Earful comedy podcast festival for having us in London. Sources mentioned in the episode: * “ Their Aunt Used An AI Picture Of Their Grandmother To Announce Her Passing, And She Refuses To Change It ” * “ AI-generated jokes funnier than those created by humans, University of Southern California study finds ” * “ From Rejection to Viral Sensation: Inside the Wildes...

Relevant links from the ep: Magan’s startup: https://figai.netlify.app/ Cluely manifesto: https://cluely.com/manifesto Series intro: https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidprosser/2025/04/04/how-two-yale-juniors-just-raised-31-million-for-their-social-network/ OpenAI x research: https://openai.com/index/introducing-nextgenai/ OpenAI x apps: https://openai.com/index/introducing-apps-in-chatgpt/ Building...

Here are the questions we ponder at the end. What are your thoughts? * What does Notion Agent change for young professionals? * What does Notion Agent NOT change for young professionals? * What is one Notion feature that would make you use Notion more? The fun doesn’t stop! Come see us live! 🇺🇸DC, Thurs Oct 2nd: Make with Notion recap ➡️ https://luma.com/aic-dc-10-2-25 🇬🇧London, Sat Oct 18th: Chee...

After the first episode of “Accessible Intelligence,” we dive deeper into how each of us uses AI tools (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Lovable, and Notion) for work and life. We drive towards the question: Is AI overhyped? Here are the questions we answer at the end — what are your thoughts? * If you had to put a percentage on it, how overhyped is AI right now on a scale of 0-100%? * What's one AI tool you'...

It’s been a pretty crazy year for me. * 50k views on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@samhli * Producing a free speech show that regularly hits 10k listeners: https://www.thefire.org/news/podcasts/so-speak-free-speech-podcast * Releasing Mindful Notions’ first-ever produced show: * Host of DC Decoded, 650+ subscribers, 20 episodes: https://samligenaicollective.substack.com/podcast * Becoming a No...

Rough transcript is here! https://www.notion.so/samhli/Ep-1-transcript-25aa4afc00e780cfba68e20acdce7fcd? ChatGPT Timeline & Sources ChatGPT Launch (November 30, 2022) * OpenAI's original ChatGPT announcement - The official launch post introducing the conversational AI * TechCrunch coverage of ChatGPT launch - Media coverage and initial reactions GPT-4 Release (March 14, 2023) * OpenAI's GPT-4 anno...

We're living through the most rapid technological transformation in human history. In less than 3 years, we went from a simple chatbot called ChatGPT ( model 3 ) to GPT-5's "PhD-level" capabilities . But here's the thing: Most AI conversations happen in two separate worlds that don’t meet often enough: * The experts building these systems * The users (specifically, young professionals) trying to f...

In the age of AI-generated art, what can actually resonate with humans, and what might be simply beyond possibility (see: improv)? For young professionals, where there is more likely than not an expectation to use AI “well”: how does that apply to AI-generated images or presentations? And for me, how has Notion AI actually helped, not hindered, my creative abilities? Make with Notion is less than...

Friends of Sam are always welcome to join and yap…I mean seriously discuss! how to make young professionals’ lives better. Want the key points of the episode? Summary and transcript courtesy of Notion AI here⬇️ Use all of Notion AI features FREE for 3 months with your work email*: https://affiliate.notion.so/samhliforstartups *I get a commission for each approved signup. This deal is generally lim...

Hillary , founder of Scaffold AI , and Austin , founder of ATLAS , help me answer that key question and more for young professionals. We dive into Hillary's thought-provoking piece on AI, agency, and the future of work. Plus, a fun lightning round at the end including we would like to pull all-nighters! What that looks like: * The intersection of AI tools ( Notion AI for me) and human agency in pr...

Something that I quickly realized as I started working was there was no time to “actually” read. Sure, I was reading a lot in the literal sense (both for work and for personal). But, I didn’t feel like I was retaining…more than I needed to. Based on that experience and the interest from users, I’m happy to present my newest Notion template to remedy that reading problem: “Tracking professional and...

One of the most exciting things I’ve been able to do this year is hold my own Notion events in DC . As a Notion ambassador, I led my first Notion DC event and made a great connection with Manas Ram . Manas is an author, public speaker, and an expert in the mental wellbeing space. He attended my first Notion DC event and was generous enough to come on the podcast and talk about his experience with...

Show your support for “Mindful Morsels” by subscribing! Much more on this soon, but here’s my latest Notion template (in free and premium versions!): * 🌃New City Essentials: https://www.notion.com/templates/new-city-essentials-premium-version * 🌆New city essentials: https://www.notion.com/templates/new-city-essentials-free-version Like what you’re seeing? Share this post with someone who also mi...

So it’s February, meaning that the spirit of January’s New Year resolutions probably feel slightly less…spirited. Fear not! Iris and I talk about the meaning of a new year, how to set intentions rather than strict resolutions, and finish our conversation with some personal “ins” and “outs” for the rest of 2025. Show your support and subscribe to “Mindful Morsels!” Oh, and of course, there’s a new...

Introduction Like many people, I witnessed the extraordinary capabilities of Google's NotebookLM. It felt like another fascinating step forward in AI's accessibility to non-engineers. While we've had two years of mainstream ChatGPT, until now AI tools have primarily been text-based for most everyday users. When I first heard NotebookLM's voices, I wasn't threatened—more contemplative. It's remarka...