👋 Hey Reader!

Here’s what I’ve got for you in today’s issue of WFH Dads:

→ The AI tool I actually use every day

→ Recommendation of the week - Habits that create clingy kids

Let's get into it.

The AI tool I actually use every day

I saw this interesting graph the other day that broke down how many people are utilizing AI:

If you spend any time on X or LinkedIn, it's pretty easy to feel that if you aren't sending out a swarm of autonomous AI agents to do your work for you, you're falling behind.

So if you're not using AI much, you're still early!

But if you want more time for your family and for yourself, AI can help you.

And there's one AI tool that I use every day that can genuinely be helpful to anyone:

Voice dictation aka voice typing

Voice dictation uses AI to transcribe what you're saying, which is about 3x faster than typing it yourself.

One time I talked for almost 30 minutes to Claude about everything I learned from producing video content at a conference our team went to. Claude used that and went on to build a 28-page event playbook based on what I told it, saving me literally 8-10 hours!

Being able to just SPEAK about my experience to Claude helped provide soooo much more context and nuance much more quickly than trying to type it all out.

But there are different 'levels' of voice typing, and it can be hard to know which one is the right fit for you.

So here are the 3 levels of voice dictation from basic to advanced.

Levels of voice dictation

Level 1 - Built-in speech-to-text

You might be thinking 'hasn't my iPhone already had a speech-to-text feature for years?'

Yes, it does, but it sucks.

Unless I'm speaking slowly and articulating every word unnaturally, the output is usually way off.

The only times I use this is if I say something like 'hey siri - text my wife...I'm headed home' (and sometimes it still messes that up)

So let's move on to level 2 where things start becoming a little more useful.

Level 2 - Dictation built into AI tools

These are the dictation tools that I use mostly at work since I can't download any of the level 3 apps on my work computer (I work at a cybersecurity company; they're a bit particular about what you put on your work computer).

I'll use dictation for short requests to my AI tool, like:

Or super long diatribes like:

There's a few tools you can use for this:

2a - Claude: transcribes as you speak

There's a little microphone on the bottom right of the Claude interface you can use to turn on dictation.

Claude will transcribe things as you say them, which sometimes does lead to some typos, but still a lot more accurate than the speech-to-text that's built into the iPhone.

2b - ChatGPT or Gemini: transcribes after you speak

Both ChatGPT and Gemini will wait until you're done talking and THEN transcribe it. Doing it that way allows the tool to see the full context before it tries to type it out, which leads to more accurate transcriptions.

For that reason, I prefer the dictation of ChatGPT and Gemini over Claude.

Level 3 - Dictation-specific apps

Apps like Willow, WisprFlow, and Superwhisper are great because you can start dictating anywhere you can type...Slack, email, notetaking app, text messages, etc. This eliminates the need to jump into ChatGPT whenever you want to dictate something. And they work on both your computer and your phone.

You can even customize how much it 'cleans up' your dictation based on whatever app you're in.

Casual formatting in a text message:

Or more formal for an email:

Some of these tools can even draft a full message for you based on your instructions, like this example from Willow:

I haven't spent as much time using those features though, as I typically just want the raw dictation that I can manipulate or edit as I see fit. These apps just allow me to do voice typing anywhere on my device. If I want an AI tool to do more summarizing or organizing of what I say, I'll likely do that within Claude or ChatGPT.

There's quite a few voice typing apps on the market. I've used Superwhisper and am currently experimenting with Willow on my home computer, but you can find a breakdown of some of the pros / cons of some of the top apps in this video on the best voice typing apps.

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So if you aren't using SOME type of dictation tool, jump into the level 2 options. If you've been dictating natively inside of the AI chatbots, try one of the apps mentioned in level 3. Either way, let me know how it goes!

Recommendation of the week

Habits that create clingy kids

I recently watched this video on things we do that we think are helping our kids that actually get in the way of them fostering their own independence.

The screenshot below isn't the thumbnail of the video but one of the first frames that really resonated with me! I've even written about dad guilt in a previous newsletter.

One of the habits he mentioned that I've noticed in myself is interrupting play. For kids, play IS their deep work. It's where they get into flow and practice focus.

My 3-year-old will be super engrossed in his magnet tiles and I'll be like 'That's a pretty big tower Thomas! Lots of blue tiles! What are you building next?' While it comes from a place of wanting to connect, it has the potential to break the deep focus he was in. And in our world of shrinking attention spans, I want him to get as much focused work (play) as possible!

So when he's in the zone, I'm not going to say anything unless he initiates. I'm going to let him enjoy being in that flow.

The video is worth a watch:

What about you?

Are you using dictation? Or planning to try any of the tools above?

Thom Gibson Founder of WFH Dads ​​​

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600 1st Ave, Ste 330 PMB 92768, Seattle, WA 98104-2246
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