Jessica's Friday Five: 2 great books, new Google feature, & activity bags

Hi Reader,

To write this week's issue of Friday Five, I had to sort through over 35 ideas of tips I wanted to share with you (and that's just the ones I had tagged for today in my list of over 300 Friday Five tip ideas!). Goodness gracious. I might create some little email series with tips for specific audiences that folks can opt into if they want (like you'd get 30 days of one tip per day for those who are managers at work, or 30 days of tips for parents, or 30 days of tips for business owners). Would that be useful? Let me know your thoughts! If folks like the idea, let me know which I should create first from those 3 topic ideas (business owners, managers, parents). Just hit reply - it comes straight to me, as always!

Oh - and last week y'all voted on where to donate our Amazon affiliate income for the last few months. The winner by far was Outdoor Afro so I donated yesterday on our behalf! I'll ask again later this year for another charity vote.

Let's get to your Friday Five!

1. Bonne Maman Calendar: If you celebrate Christmas, my favorite advent calendar is the one from this jam company. It has 24 days of tiny jam jars that are both adorable and delicious. They always sell out, so I was grateful for my recurring annual reminder this week to get some (one for me and a few for gifts). If that sounds fun to you, here's their website.
   ​
2. Books for Work: I added a few new recommendations to my favorite books for work page​—the new ones are Slow Productivity and Dare to Lead. The former reframes productivity in a new light about accomplishing truly meaningful work vs. a million tiny tasks, and the second is one I find myself recommending regularly to teams working through hard team culture issues or leaders who want to build brave and honest teams. Dare to Lead also has incredible free resources on this public site if you find it helpful and want to share it with your team. Right now, I'm reading an early copy of this new book from Lazy Genius author Kendra Adachi, and I love it so much - I'll share some learnings once I finish it.
   ​
3. 3 Tips for Back to School: For those of us with school-aged kids, I wanted to share 3 tips this week for this season: 1) Name what matters: Take time to clarify what matters for your family. It won't be the same as what matters to every other family. Is having dinner together most nights important? Perhaps getting homework done with as little stress as possible is your priority. Or prioritize a team sport or other activity for your kids. Not everything can be a priority - name what matters for your family and let other things go. 2) Create checklists: Checklists help make sure even the most mundane routines of our days do not become unnecessarily stressful. Make a list of the things that need to happen before leaving the house in the morning or the bedtime routine. It supports you to save your limited decision-making energy for more important things and helps build your children's independence. 3) Activity bags: Different days and activities require different supplies. Pick a bag and hang it near the door to hold everything you need for a given activity. Designate one tote to be for swim lessons and let bathing suits, goggles, and towels "live" in that bag. Have another for going to the park with sunscreen, shelf-stable snacks, and hand sanitizer.
   ​
4. Got Aging Parents? My friend Sarah Ponder is one of the people I go to when I've got personal finance questions. She has these checklists that are SO helpful for different life moments (she shared one with me when my mom passed, which was beneficial at a challenging time). She has a checklist for what you should be thinking about when you have aging parents (which I know is many of us!). You can get it free here - I hope it supports you! (Sarah's company, Real Wealth Planning, is one of our Friday Five ​sponsors​ - thank you to her for helping keep this newsletter free for readers!)​
   ​
5. Which workshop would be most helpful? I'm thinking of doing a live workshop later this month or in September for the public so that anyone could grab a ticket and join me (mostly I spend my time leading workshops for teams within companies and nonprofits, but I like to offer public workshops at times). Let me know which topic would be most valuable to you below:

Bonus Democracy Deed for those of us in America: I've got two today!

• For Climate Voters: This free event is today and features leaders across the climate movement, from Congressmen, Mayors, and Governors to influencers and celebrities. You'll hear messaging guidance and the best ways for Climate Voters to get involved in the Harris/Walz campaign.
• For Republicans: If you are politically conservative, here are a few ways to get involved in favor of democracy: Republicans for the Rule of Law and Republicans for Voting Rights.

If you're wondering what these "democracy deeds" are all about, they'll be in the next 11 issues of Friday Five, and here's why I am including them.

There may be affiliate links in this email which means I may receive a commission if you purchase something through a link. However, please be assured that I only recommend products I have personally used and love!