“Taking time for yourself, is also being productive.” 🧘🏾♀️ ~Lalah Delia
Shout out to Lindsay Griffith, Christine Rosander, and Terry Carter for buying me coffees this past week! ☕️ Thank you!
Lindsay is a fantastic writer, teacher, and volunteer. She helps host birthday parties for kids, dog tea parties, and more!
Christine is an incredible musician that gives me all the bluesy soul vibes. She is working on some new tunes, and I can’t wait to hear them.
Terry is a wonderful designer and developer but can also project manage like no one’s business!
--
Looking back over the last week, the day jobs were busy, a lot was happening in the side hustle world, my grandma had a fall and bruised her ribs, and the world was on fire. At one point, I thought, “Wow, I picked the wrong time to cancel my Talkspace therapy.” 🤦🏾♀️
But all in all, I’m feeling good. I’m exercising (every sometimes), reading, and working on a gorgeous jigsaw puzzle (Cinque Terre, Italy, if you’re curious). I’m meditating a couple of times a week, which was a phrase I never thought I’d say (thank you, Chorus Meditation). And I even joined a coworking space for a couple of days a month.
I’m even getting better at saying no. Baby steps for sure! If you’re looking for a formula, I recently ran across this in Recomendo’s newsletter:
In his newsletter, James Altucher reveals how he decides to say yes or no to opportunities. Here’s what he wrote:
Two out of these three have to trigger for me to say YES:
KNOWLEDGE: Will I learn something?
FUN: Is it fun?
MONEY: Is it financially worthwhile?
James says no a lot more than yes.
Throw in the occasional tequila shot, and all in all, it feels like my self-care toolkit is coming together.
Self-care can look so different to each of us, and I encourage you to think about the things you can add to your self-care toolkit. Look for the things that fill you up, that recharge you, that help you feel more you. And start adding those into your life in small ways. We have loving and creating to get to, and it begins with taking care of our bodies and minds.
In other fantastic news, we hit a goal this week. WE PASSED THE 1,000 SUBSCRIBER MARK! 🥳🥳🥳🥳
I remember for the first few years thinking I would never hit these numbers. And here we are. I am so proud of this newsletter’s growth in just this past year. It FEELS GOOD!
Baby steps. Consistency. Sharing and being vulnerable. YOU. Those are a few of the things that got us here. And I am excited for what the future holds.
On to the picks!
P.S. I think we could all use one (or three) of these yoga classes. Tip: Stephanie Pollock
Note: This email may contain affiliate links. If you click through my link and make a purchase, that means I may receive “thank you money” at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products that I use and love.
#sponsor
There's a million newsletters about stocks and VC. Stefan's newsletter is about options that aren't talked about as much.
Follow along as he explores different alternative assets. Past issues include investing in NFTs, sneakers, and trading cards.
Check out Alternative Assets -->
#loves 😍
💰. Tool: Hecto.io. Hecto has been instrumental in helping me get advertisers and sponsors for #jesspicks. And folks who are interested in cross-promotions (if you are interested in any of those, please let me know.). They launched on ProductHunt this past week and are having great success so far.
📺. Watching: 70s Disco HIIT Dance Workout. My new fave fitness instructor Emily is back with a disco-themed high-intensity dance workout. You'll feel like John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever. I cannot handle a 25 min workout at this point in my life. But it works well to split it up amongst like 3 songs into two 10-11 minute sessions.
🎧. Listening: Preach. This John Legend song has been an earworm for me this past week. There is such a powerful message about taking action in the face of all of this systemic racism. I watched the video too, and it was intense but shows a picture of what the world was like when he made the song in 2019. And it's amazing how not much has changed since then.
#reads
You’d Have a Lot More Followers If You Acted like You Only Needed Ten — fortheinterested.com
I get the tiny bit of irony that I include this post in an issue where I’m celebrating 1,000 subscribers. But I'm glad that I didn’t go after growth for growth’s sake and instead focused on sharing and learning with the audience I had.
Josh Spector reminds us that:
“Too many creators shape their work to fit what they think others want — they mimic what other successful people do, do what the gatekeepers want to see, or what they think will get them noticed.”
Every time I notice myself comparing to other newsletter creators and seeing their growth, I remind myself to keep my eyes on my own paper. And to do things that don’t scale. I’d rather have that 1,000 true fans who love/appreciate/value what I’m sharing than 15,000 folks just sitting on my email list.
Are we too busy to enjoy life? — nesslabs.com
How is THAT for a question? In this post, Anne-Laure asks us to think about how busy we are and if that’s more important to us than whatever we are saying we are too busy to do.
Love this part:
“Defining what “time well spent” means to you and making space for these moments is one of the greatest gifts you can make to your future self.”
#icymi
😍 Last issue’s top pick was: 8 Little Notes to Help You Get Your Time Back
🎧 Featured on the We're Only Human podcast and talked about why I’m not trying to leave my day job, how being laid off ended up being a blessing, me being a Broadway dancer (sometimes), and #caregiverlife.
#classifieds 🗞
Switch to iPad is a weekly newsletter about getting the most out of your iPad. #jesspicks readers can try it free for 14 days, cancel anytime!
Morning Brew covers the latest news in a fun and entertaining way. Get up to speed in business, finance, and tech in just 5 minutes. Check it out!
Have something you’d like to promote to #jesspicks readers? You can buy an ad or sponsorship here.
#lifevibes
#supporters ☕️
Thank you, Terry, Vanessa, Meredith, Lauren, Meg, Maria J., Chivon, Kim, Luciano, Colie, Chasity, Laurie, Latienda, Collette, Anne, Kristen, Liz, Katherine, Monale, Betsy, Melissa, Lindsay, Jennifer, Kayla, Madison, Rae, Stephanie, Christine R., Christine M., Frances, Hannah, Chris, Brandy, Mea, Kristian, Maria K. Avery, Adam, Barbara, Shenee, Desiree, Lisa, Kandice, L'Oreal, and LaVerne for being #jesspicks supporters!! ❤️
Want to help support this newsletter? Buy me a coffee.
