I remember sitting in a meeting with my thesis supervisor while we were planning our next steps. As she spoke, I lowered my head to scramble some annotations in my notebook. Suddenly, she stopped and said: “Pay attention! Don’t write. I need you to focus.”

What she didn’t know was that for me, paying attention meant writing notes. It was the only way I could anchor my wandering thoughts and make it likely that I would actually remember what I had to do. I suffered throughout that meeting, feeling the weight of a brain that didn’t seem to work the “right” way. It was more stress than anyone should feel during a thesis meeting.

In that moment, I wish I had a way to take notes differently. I wished for a tool like Fathom AI, even if it didn’t exist yet.

Bridging the Gap Between Intention and Action

On my path to becoming an accountability partner, I discovered AI notetakers. They were truly mindblowing for me.

A bit about me… I’m a biologist, so I look at productivity through a scientific lens. This approach made me realize that my old method was necessary for my own biology (thanks, ADHD!). Nevertheless, trying to listen, process, and write simultaneously creates cognitive overload, leading to mistakes.

Fathom AI changed the game. Now, I can do both: I can pay more attention and interact more during a call, knowing that the notes, summaries, and action items are being handled with just a few clicks. It is a functional system that supports my “future self” without the shame of missing a detail.

Why Fathom is My Choice for “Future-Astrid” Systems

I value tools that can have a real, functional impact on my life and the lives of my accountability partners (and your life, internet stranger!). Fathom not only records audio and video. It is also a judgment-free safety net for our productivity.

• Real-Time Focus: Fathom joins your Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams calls as a silent assistant. This lets you stay in the flow of the conversation without the chaotic mental strain of manual writing or typing.
• Intelligent Summaries: It distills a long meeting into a concise, one-minute read. It categorizes key points and decisions so you don’t have to hunt through a transcript.
• Action Item Detection: It identifies when a goal is set. If you say you will complete a task by Friday, Fathom flags it. Just to give you a heads up… Fathom does this on their premium plan. Their free plan is very good, tho.
• Scientific Reliability: Offload the “capture” phase of a meeting to a trusted tool. This reduces stress on our working memory and reduces mental strain. This helps prevent those “bad brain days” where you feel overwhelmed by administrative tasks (or make them easier to

Practical Results and a Gift for You

Mistakes are a part of growing and learning, but we can use technology to build better scaffolding for ourselves. Using a trusted AI notetaker is an amazing option for anyone who wants to reclaim their free time and focus on the work that actually matters.

Now, don’t just take my word for it. I want you to see the functional impact for yourself. Use my referral code to get one month of Fathom for free:

✨ Get one month of Fathom premium for free here!

Using a little notetaker like this ensures that nothing gets dropped. It is an act of kindness toward yourself and a way to ensure you are always making progress toward your goals.

If you want to know how I organize my Fathom meetings on Notion to keep track of the meetings I attend, let me know in the comments 🙂