🌯 April wrap: gangs, golf, and a giveaway
Hello
What day is it? After all the public holidays, and some work/play travel to Brisbane and Sydney, I’m definitely falling into that confusing limbo of what day is which.
I shared on socials last week that I’ve been giving myself a bit of a hard time for working a bit too much at the moment. One of the (many) reasons I work for myself is to be able to design my days, work, and ultimately, life, to what suits me best. I tend to operate at around 80-85% capacity to leave room for fun and flex.
However, I’m currently peddling closer to 100% due to some reschedules and a client piece of work getting bigger (good problem to have). So it’s been a good test of my three non-negotiables, and being really clear on what makes a good day/week.
💪🏻 Exercise is the first and most important one, booking in classes in advance and planning workouts/classes for when I’m travelling is essential.
🛏 A close second is sleep. Like most people I need 7-8 hours a night and I’m pretty strict on getting that. This means that I can’t be working later than 8pm, which gives me a good hour to wind down before 9pm bedtime 👵🏻.
✏️ Finally, calendar management. Which mostly looks like blocking time around key events (virtual workshops or ‘bigger’ meetings), and making sure I have an hour blocked out in the middle of the day for a proper break.
Whilst I’ve been working more than usual on recent weekends, I’ve also been making sure that I take one whole day off each week, and planning things for that day; pilates, a catch up with a friend, a hike, some time getting messy at the ceramics studio, or a film and takeaway with my partner. Preferably there’s a mix of social, movement, and creative and means I don’t spend the day on the couch, scrolling.
What are your top three sanity-savers when the diary dials up?
Here’s some things I’ve been enjoying since we last spoke:
Adam Grant’s summer reading list - I feel like his last one came out approximately five minutes ago, but here’s another quarterly book recommendation drop from Adam Grant. I’m interested in reading Good Arguments and listening to Office BFFs.
TV - Top Boy: We’ve just ploughed through the four series of Top Boy on Netflix, a gritty London gang drama.
Music - Paz sounds: I met Paz in the toilet of our mutual co-working space, and it turns out she makes very relaxing meditation music. She’s just released a new track which I’ve been enjoying as wind-down music over the last few evenings. (Listen)
Learning - I’ve signed up to Priya Parker’s inaugural intake of her Art of Gathering course. I’ve been a fan of her work since reading her incredible book in 2018, which still shapes so much of how I think about learning and facilitation so I’m very interested in seeing how she creates meaning, connection, and engagement in a virtual, mostly asynchronous space.
What have you been into this month? Pop a comment to this post, or just tap the little heart button if you liked something you read.
🎁 Oh and if you’re not already following the bookshelf on Instagram, make sure you do, as this week I’m giving away a copy of Shane Hatton’s brand new book Let’s Talk Culture.
Waving,
Steph
PS. To borrow from Austin Kleon (and everyone else who borrows this from Austin Kleon), this newsletter and the podcast are 'free but not cheap'. You can support their ongoing creation by buying me a coffee as a one off 'thank you', purchasing a card from the Good Press card store, or leaving giving the podcast a (five 😉) star rating on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Thanks!
Thanks to the good human who left this kind review on Apple last week:
What I read in April
Each month on Instagram, I summarise the books I’ve read that month with their star rating and a short, 1 sentence review. You get the longer-form;
👀 BOOKS I READ WITH MY EYES 👀
Mastering Community by Christine Porath ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
It was almost more of a culture book and I loved the plentiful juicy examples of interesting company/organisation cultures. There were some sections I thought were a little disconnected and felt slightly confusing, but if you also geek out on company cultures, it’s worth reading for those case studies alone.
The Bullet Journal Method by Ryder Carroll ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
A friendly and thorough guide to painlessly getting your life organised and in order with the effective use of the humble notebook, and some structured entries. (Check out the full review in the last bookmark).
Killer Thinking by Tim Duggan ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Fun and fast-paced guide to elevating your ideas, with up to date Australian examples of businesses thinking bigger and better. It’s a bit ‘design thinking 101’ in places, but the questions in the IRL sections at the end of each chapter felt a bit deeper than lots of books on the topics of creativity/innovation.
👂🏻 BOOKS I READ WITH MY EARS 👂🏻
Just Kids by Patti Smith ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Beautifully written and narrated description of the complex and unique relationship between Patti Smith and the artist Robert Mapplethorpe. You can tell Patti is a poet before she’s a musician with the way she tells their story. Also a great example of why keeping journals is important given the level of detail in anecdotes from the 1970s.
Zen Golf by Joseph Parent ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Despite sounding like it was recorded on a Nokia 3210, I’m loving this audiobook to fall asleep to. Which I’m not sure the author would take as a compliment, but I do mean that positively. From the bits I have heard, there’s some nice mindset tips that are relevant to far more than just golf.