Hello, fellow tinkerer 👋 -

Happy Wednesday. It's that time of year when I need a heavy blanket in the morning and air conditioning by afternoon (thanks, Chicagoland). But as I write this, I'm staring at a stunning red tree outside my office window.

A friend of mine shared on Facebook that, having grown up in California, she's always awed by fall. I am also, and I've lived in this part of the country my whole life! I'm forever inspired by the changing seasons.

1) Reflection:

My oldest started high school a few months ago, and if I thought my life was busy before... yeesh. It's a lot to keep track of everything.

I've realized that I have to write everything down. Without question. I need to move things out of my brain and into some other format, otherwise I won't remember. And I've also had to think about other ways to give myself brain space, even if it's just a little bit.

If you're feeling overwhelmed, try to think of ways to get things out of your head. Maybe it's writing them down. Maybe it's saying "no" to things that are no longer serving you. Maybe you can use tools and automation to free up some of your time (you know I'm a fan!)

If you want some ideas, I wrote about tools to free up mental energy here.

2) Product:

This may seem like a VERY small way to free up mental energy, but I love smart plugs. You can plug things like a lamp into a smart plug, and then put the plug on a timer. There are a ton of brands out there. I like smart plugs that connect to my Alexa devices, but many of them have their own apps.

FOR EXAMPLE: Every morning, I wake up my middle child for school. His bedroom is in the basement, so it's initially dark and has a weird overhead lighting situation. I recently added a smart plug to a lamp in the basement and put it on a timer to turn on a few minutes before his wakeup time. This very small change has made my morning infinitely better.

3) Tip:

In the book The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron (which I'm currently reading), she talks about Morning Pages — stream-of-consciousness writing. I've started a Morning Pages practice and have found it a really great way to get ideas out of my head. You can read more about Morning Pages on Cameron's website.

Want more ideas?

→ I'm going to be on a panel talking about "What Makes a Freelance Business Sustainable?" on October 25th at 10:00 am CT. You can sign up here.

→ My friend Katie Parrott wrote an essay about using ChatGPT as a career coach. Check it out here.

→ October is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month, something I talk about every year as a loss parent. I wrote about how to support people who are grieving, which you can check out here.

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That's it for this issue of Tinkering! See you again in two weeks.

Cheers,
Anna

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