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Jessica's Friday Five

Five practical tips every Friday for making your life more joyful and easy. A wildly popular email newsletter with over 9k readers.

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Jessica's Friday Five: Heated vest, Excel workshop, and candy for breakfast

Hi Reader, Happy Candy-For-Breakfast Day to all who celebrate. Maybe add in a little protein too, but no shame if you need a little Reese's cup to get your day going. I get you. Thanks for voting last week on which charity to donate to - on behalf of all of us, I donated $650 to Mountain Strong Hurricane Recovery Fund this week. Let's get to your Friday Five, shall we? Heated Vest: My friend Mariah introduced me to the magic of a heated vest a few years ago and I'm never going back for fall...
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Jessica's Monthly Management Memo: October 2024

Hi Reader, Distraction and anxiety are going to be an an unusually high rate the next couple of weeks if you're a manager based in the US with a high-stakes election happening next week. Take care of yourselves and your team. My leadership-during-elections advice from last month can be viewed here if helpful. Let's get to your Monthly Management Memo - as always with something bold, something new, something borrowed, and something to pursue. Something Bold - Put Disaster Policies in Your...
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Jessica's Friday Five: 2 tips to save lives, weighted blankets, and Google space limits

Hi Reader, If you're in America like me, are you anxious about election results? I certainly am. It feels like the next 10 days are going to be the longest year ever (and there's a good chance we won't know all the outcomes we care about for days or weeks after that). Hang in there! I decided, with dropping temperatures and election anxiety, that it was time to get out my weighted blanket again (I have this one, my kids have this one, and this one was just added to my wishlist after my friend...
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Jessica's Friday Five: Decluttering hack, put this into ChatGPT, and Fri Five book club

Hi [FIRST NAME GOES HERE], This week, I spent some time "polishing up" some of my personal and work systems to finish the year strong. If you're feeling like inputs are coming at you from a whole bunch of directions, that's probably because it's true. We live in a busy environment! The top two tips in today's Friday Five are for you if you feel like this, too. When you're feeling scattered: The best thing you can do when you're feeling like there's too much to do and it's coming from all...
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Jessica's Friday Five over a scene of fall leaves and sunshine

Jessica's Friday Five: Offline email, fire pit, and why not to donate to Senate races

Hi [FIRST NAME GOES HERE], This week, I got the chance to facilitate 5 different experiences for many incredible leaders across the globe, from education leaders in America to nonprofit leaders in Europe, and the final session of the current cohort of Joyfully Managed Worklife. I, like many of you, have a worried eye on the hurricane-related devastation happening in Florida (which is where I was born), and I'm sending so much love to everyone who is dealing with this tragedy and losing loved...
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Jessica's Friday Five: Oct checklist, book rec, private podcast for Asheville

Hi [FIRST NAME GOES HERE], Lately I've been thinking about how I want to invest more time into hobbies - things that I can do just for me. I've even purchased a few things to try to make this happen (like a home pottery kit), but I never actually make time to do the thing. My local Parks & Rec Department put out their winter activities guide this week. There's a painting class there that happens on a weekday morning. Instead of being annoyed that it's not offered at night, I decided - what if...
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Jessica's Monthly Management Memo: September 2024

Hi [FIRST NAME GOES HERE], Hurricanes, floods, high-stakes elections, and more. Leadership is rarely easy, and it seems like there's tremendous pressure right now on those who are leaders at work. I'm hoping today's issue provides resources to support you. If you're new here, I'm Jess, and this free monthly newsletter is intended to provide you all (a community of just over 5,000 managers at work) with practical resources to inspire more joy, ease, and effectiveness in your leadership. Let's...
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Jessica's Friday Five: What I bought, Alexa uses, and COVID tests

Hi [FIRST NAME GOES HERE], How in the world are there only 96 days left of 2024?! Goodness. And just 5 more issues of Friday Five before we will reach the US presidential election. Time feels like it's flying over here! This week, I had the incredible opportunity to participate in the official Facilitator Training for the Fair Play Method, which is all about creating a more intentional and equitable division of labor in our homes. I can't wait to begin creating opportunities to share these...
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Jessica's Friday Five: Crock pot tacos, scheduling text messages, and a $2 way to brighten a day

Hi [FIRST NAME GOES HERE], I've had a chance to connect with so many of you this week - the Joyfully Managed Worklife cohort continues to rock along and we got to see some alumni of the program in a bonus session this week, the best practices of excellent managers session was a joy despite tech challenges that tried to derail us (we persevered!), and all of that reminded me how critical connection is. As an introvert, I can sometimes forget how important it is to be in a community with...
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