“You are not the work you do; you are the person you are.” 💖~Toni Morrison
Shout out to Bex and Laurie for buying me coffees this past week! ☕️ Thank you!
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This week continues to feel heavy for a variety of reasons. So if you can’t read this issue right now, please give yourself the permission and space to set it aside. 💖
My week has been a bit painful as some nagging shoulder aches I’ve been having for a couple of weeks got worse.
After a couple of doctor visits, the theory is that the pain comes from overuse and poor posture. Hoping to get a treatment plan in the coming weeks, but it sounds like a mix of chiropractic stuff and physical therapy. 😣
I carry most of my stress in my neck and shoulders and tend to hunch a lot while working. So that’s something for me to focus on improving this year. Do you have any favorite techniques or tools that help you have better posture, especially when working at the computer for at least 8 hours a day? I’d love to hear them!
Also, we all need a chiropractor. My friend Deena said it’s an adult cheat code.
In other news, I have a new development with my business that I’d like to share:
I hired a VA! (hiii Alice 👋🏾)
I’ve been thinking about and wanting to hire a VA (virtual assistant) for years. But I’ve always struggled to pull the trigger, probably because I am not the best at delegation. I think the timing worked because we are growing and hiring other team members at my job, helping me grow and develop in that area. And it felt like the stars aligned for everything to happen.
I wanted someone to help me with graphic creation because while Canva is great, it takes me forever to create images. It’s not my zone of genius…at all. Alice has already made some graphic templates and images that are amazing. She’ll also be helping me show up about 3x a week on Instagram/Facebook, so definitely give me a follow in those places to get inspiration and tips throughout the week.
If you have been thinking about hiring a VA, let me tell you. I didn’t have a lot of ideas for tasks going in, but I wanted help with graphics and showing up on social media and was able to find someone. Like most things, I took a baby step to give it a try, and so far, so good. It’s an experiment, and I’m excited to see how it goes. Maybe you can try something similar.
On to the picks!
P.S. I hope that you can give your body, mind, and soul whatever it needs to feel a sense of peace. Sending you love and grace.
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#loves 😍
📚. Reading: A Curse So Dark and Lonely. I love a good fairytale retelling, focusing on Beauty and the Beast. All they have to do is fall in love, break a curse, and save the kingdom. What can go wrong? I’m halfway through and loving it. The main characters, Rhen and Harper, are dealing with some real turmoil, and it’s been great to see their relationship developing so far.
📺. Watching: The Girl Before. “A woman falls for an architect and gets an eerie premonition about his house when she finds out that another woman died there.” Loved this slow burn miniseries on HBO Max. Perfect 🍿 + 🍷 watch.
📝. Site: 750words. After re-reading this post last week, I am starting to get back into doing morning pages again, using coffee as my trigger. The site is a “future-ified, fun-ified” version of the morning pages exercise from The Artist’s Way.
#reads
How I Manage 3 Jobs, 3 Pseudonyms, 7 Dogs, & A High Publishing Rate — betterhumans.pub
“My biggest lesson from managing a bucket load is that time is extremely limited. With my goals and human constraints, I’ve had to grow more creative to accomplish my goals without burning myself to the ground.”
Destiny’s lifestyle is intense, and I’m not saying you have to use all of her advice. And I can’t entirely agree with everything she does. But there might be 1-2 tips you can pull from this post that you can apply to your situation. For me, I like these two:
Don’t Answer Every Phone Call & Text Right Away (I’ve also started using scheduled summary notifications on my iPhone, and it’s been a game-changer).
Before You Fall Apart, Put Yourself Back Together (this is a reminder to get your self-care in and take pauses when you need to).
Which time management tip resonates for you?
Why not working first thing on Monday can supercharge your productivity — www.fastcompany.com
Hannah Herman blocks the first two hours of her Monday for learning and development. Plus, she says it’s a great way to ease into the week. I need to take more time earlier in the week to review things that I can include in #jesspicks, so this idea may be worth revisiting.
“Even if you don’t have a formal L&D plan, almost everyone has a queue of job-related articles they want to read, webinar recordings they want to watch, and professional communities they want to connect with more regularly. Blocking out time on the first day of your workweek can help keep those things from falling through the cracks in favor of “real” work.”
Later in the article, she also gives other suggestions for how folks can use that time.
#icymi
😍. Last issue’s top pick was: 100 Things To Publish In The Next 100 Days To Grow Your Audience
My friend Ruth Ridgeway has created a simple pricing workshop to help us price our products and services in a way that feels good! I have not dived in yet, but excited to check it out.
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