Hello, fellow tinkerer 👋 - Happy Wednesday. School starts TOMORROW so that means I'm buried in backpacks, laundry, and other details before the big day. This year, I have one high schooler, one middle schooler, and one elementary schooler so that means THREE different schools are emailing me on the regular. Please pray for my sanity. 1) Reflection:The start of the school year usually comes with a big shift in our routine. It's an entire production to get three kids out of the house. Whenever we go through big routine changes, it's easy to forget that change is hard. Even if it's a change we have chosen. Even if it's necessary. Give yourself some time to adapt to a new routine. I'd say at least 30 days, but sometimes even that's too short, depending on how big the change is. Allow yourself to feel out of sorts. Allow yourself to feel a little stressed. Eventually, you'll ease into the new routine. 2) Product:I use an app called Reflect for note-taking and the makers of Reflect released a Chrome extension. When you open a new tab in Chrome, you get a beautiful dashboard with things like the year's progress, your calendar, and the weather. I particularly love the year's progression. It's a gentle reminder of the passage of time (as opposed to looking at the calendar and thinking, "How is it August already?!) You can customize the dashboard depending on what you want to see. Click here to add the extension to Chrome. 3) Tip:I'm a big fan of digital calendars (my Google calendar is color-coded). BUT I also have a giant whiteboard calendar in my house. This is for the kids: it gives them a visual of what we have going on — especially my youngest, who is seven years old. Do I love updating two calendars? Not really. But I also recognize that my kids function much better when they know "the plan." Plus, it visually represents what we have going on that month. Want more ideas?→ If you're a solopreneur, here are some ways to tame your workload. → I've become a big fan of standard operating procedures. Here's how I keep mine organized. → I thought this article from the Washington Post on "algospeak" was really interesting. ​ That's it for this issue of Tinkering! See you again in two weeks. Cheers, |
Practical tips to make your day better & make your life easier.
Hello, fellow tinkerer 👋 - Happy Wednesday. I saw this Year Progress bar on Threads this week and thought, "That can't be right..." But it is. 1) Reflection: I've been thinking a lot about things that "grab my attention." I'm frequently the victim of Shiny Object Syndrome. I see something new, and I want to try it right that moment (hence, I never run out of ideas for this newsletter 😆). But I also recognize that distraction comes at a cost. I have bigger projects I want to work on. When I...
ICYMI! I hosted a webinar last week about using automation to repurpose content. The YouTube version is here. Hello, fellow tinkerer 👋 - Happy Wednesday. We're fully into the fall season in Chicagoland (colors, weather, pumpkins, everything). My husband has wanted a 12-foot skeleton for years. I keep wondering where we would store it... from Home Depot's website It's that time of year when buying a skeleton is A Discussion in our house. And ConverKit has a polls feature, so I ask you......
I'm hosting a webinar on September 12th! Join me to learn about using automation to repurpose your content. Sign up here. Hello, fellow tinkerer 👋 - Happy Wednesday. Today is my oldest daughter's birthday. She was stillborn back in 2015. So it's a somber day every year. We always get a cake to honor her. 1) Reflection: Talking about pregnancy loss makes some people uncomfortable. And yet, by not talking about it, parents who experience losing a baby feel isolated. I started writing about...