#004—I'm really nice to myself, what about you? 🙂
Hey all, happy Thursday! I caught up with my friend, Alex earlier this week, and we started talking about our morning rituals. And coincidentally, as soon as Alex and I hung up our call, I saw an email from one of our community members asking for advice on overcoming anxiety in the morning.
So, I wanted to kick off this email update by telling you what I do in the mornings.
A few years ago, I noticed that I would always groan first thing in the morning. I wouldn’t be excited for the day--usually dreading the number of meetings or difficult projects I had on my plate--and would always want to sleep a bit longer.
My husband actually helped me notice this toxic habit of mine. And as soon as I became aware of it, I recognized how much it impacted my mood and actions for the rest of the day.
So I began trying something new:
As soon as I wake up (like before my eyes are even open…), I say five nice things to myself:
I am kind
I am creative
I am intelligent
I am strong
I am aligned
They’re not the same every day - I just say whatever comes first to mind. I started doing this years ago… it took a while to become a habit, but I immediately began noticing the difference in my morning energy and mood throughout the day. That kept me committed to practicing the ritual daily.
Now, I’ll forget to do so some mornings but I’ve noticed that on the days that really matter, when I wake up feeling unmotivated, I’m almost immediately reminded of my ritual.
Hope this helps some of you -- if you resonate with any of this, I would love to hear from you. 🙂
Now, on to this week’s resources 👇
Side note - if this is your first time getting the newsletter, you can sign up here to keep getting these updates in your inbox every Thursday. As always, feel free to forward this to anyone you think could use it!
💼 CAREERS AND JOB HUNTING
The topic of mentors has come up a lot this month. Last week, I did my routine check-in with people in my community that I know are job hunting or looking to make a career change to see what they need help with.
Over 90% of them have told me they need help finding a mentor or building and nurturing relationships with people they admire and look up to.
So, I’m thinking about putting together a bootcamp to help anyone learn how to reach out to the people that interest them and find mentors. We’d cover how to identify people to reach out to, what to say, how to approach the first conversation, how to nurture the relationship, and how to “ask” for mentorship.
If that’s something you’d be interested in, simply reply to this email and let me know. I’ll add you to the Interest List and if I end up hosting the bootcamp, you’ll be the first to get all the details.
In the meantime, here are some resources:
Kicking off with: Your Life is not a Journey - Alan Watts - I shared this with multiple friends this week and it really resonated so thought I’d share with all of you in case you need to hear this 💜
Google Leads created a Job Matching Service - check it out here
Community + Job Search Support for anyone that lost their job to CV-19
Remote Work Playbook, by LifeLabs
Marc Andressen put together a guide on personal productivity and career planning
For students, here are Summer 2020 Internship Lists
The Perfectionist Project - The Perfectionism Project is here to teach you how to beat procrastination, overcome perfectionism and become your best self.
Naval’s How To Get Rich collection - if you haven’t checked out Naval’s interviews before, this is a good collection to start off with
👋 SOCIAL AND PROFESSIONAL HANGOUTS
For many of us, everything feels very chaotic and uncertain right now. Mass unemployment, the pandemic, protests for racial justice—it can all feel overwhelming. That’s why it’s more important than ever to check in with ourselves and reflect on how we’re processing. So, this week’s list of hangouts will highlight wellness and mental health.
Do you know how your brain reacts to uncertainty? I had Daria Tsvenger on the Edvolution podcast about a month ago, and something she mentioned about mental health really stuck with me. Daria told me that it’s natural to feel negative when there’s a lot of chaos or uncertainty around you. That’s because our brains have evolved to spot threats in our environment. When we’re in a challenging environment with a lot of uncertainty and change, our brains are naturally finding and amplifying the potential negative outcomes—in essence, the threats.
On the other hand, it actually takes effort to think the opposite way, finding the positives in all the chaos.
I think that’s especially applicable to our current situation. It’s harder to find the rays of light, but it’s worth it to look for them. Daria’s Dream Sprint is actually coming up, and if you’re interested in what she has to say, I’d highly suggest checking it out. 👇
The Dream Sprint, via Daria Tsvenger
begins June 25th
The Dream Sprint includes a free, 10 day self discovery program led by Daria. Daria is a mindset expert with a neuropsychology background, who has collaborated with neuroscientists from Stanford University - everything with the goal to understand how the brain works and why we feel what we feel, why we do what we do. She has helped thousands of people around the world to discover their true dreams and to confidently take action towards them. More details here.
Sound Meditation Livestream
June 18th, 5:00 p.m. PDT
Enjoy the time to engage in deep listening, using sound as the vehicle for self-inquiry, and as a tool for bringing us back to feeling grounded and reminding us of our ability to internally realign. Details here.
Soothe: At Home Massage
June 23rd, 11:00 a.m. PDT
Join Soothe for a 30-minute guided massage session to follow exercises that will help you decompress and alleviate stress from head to toe. Details here.
Yoga w/ Brooke
June 23rd, 11:00 a.m. PDT
Join us for a virtual yoga class - Brooke has created a custom routine and playlist for an hour-long virtual flow. Details here.
How to Heal Burnout Scars in the Midst of Constant Change
June 25th, 3:00 p.m. PDT
During this workshop, Career Development Coach and Burnout Survivor, Caru Jones will safely guide you through identifying old burnout wounds, share unique ways COVID is indirectly affecting our well-being, and explore old and new ways of overcoming and avoiding burnout during change. Details here.
😎 COMMUNITY CORNER
If you’ve got something that helped you out recently or that you think other people should know about, send it to me by replying to this email.
I’ll do my best to spread the love and share as many of the resources as possible.
Here’s what the community came up with this week - thanks to all of you who submitted!
A virtual Escape Room game - check it out here! I haven’t played it yet but if you do, let me know what you think!
Elle Luna: The Crossroads of Should and Must - This is a pep talk for anyone who’s chosen “Should” for far too long.
6 hard truths that will make you a better person - I talked about the concept of Ikigai in my last Careers bootcamp. This article captures the hard truth about careers and how we work.
Health and wellness classes that are free + donation-based - directory here.
Book Recommendations:
The Happiness Trap: How to Stop Struggling and Start Living by Russ Harris
Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker
From me: Melissa shares her story about going from poverty + welfare to millionaire on this week’s Edvolution podcast. Listen to her here 🙂
⭐ FINAL THOUGHTS
I’m going to be an auntie soon! My first nephew is due July 9th (also my birthday!) and I’m heading to Florida this weekend where my brother and sister-in-law live. I’ve been thinking a lot about early childhood development (the educator in me…) and how I want to help encourage play and creativity for my nephew.
So, I’ve spent quite a bit of time this past month talking to professors and psychologists that specialize in early childhood development and learning motivations. One professor I spoke to who specifically works with young children involved with self-directed learning told me something that really hit home:
“The kids I work with don’t have a hard time learning. Most of them tell me that learning is the easiest part. They love playing, tinkering, asking questions, exploring, finding answers. What’s hard for them is being forced to learn a specific way, it doesn’t feel natural, they say.”
I feel ya, kid.
What happens to our natural curiosity along the way? The obvious answer is school - our education system does a great job of discouraging creativity and play. But I wonder how we might re-ignite that curiosity and desire to explore among ourselves. I’m working on some cool projects now that relate to helping adults learn better and explore with confidence-- I’m super excited about them and happy to geek out with anyone interested. 😃
As always, feel free to reply and share your feedback, thoughts, resources, etc. I love hearing from all of you.
Also, if you had a chance to check out my most recent project, Mental Models, I would love your quick feedback! It’s just 3 questions and you can respond here. Always appreciated!
Stay safe, happy, and curious,
Shireen
