Published about 9 hours ago • 3 min read • Friday Five
Hi Reader,
Today I woke up in Las Vegas, where I'm attending the Summit celebrating 35 years of Teach For America, which is the program where I started my career a few decades ago. I'm doing my best to find a balance between doing all the things I'd like to do while here (seeing Lauryn Hill perform, watching a talk with Lin-Manuel Miranda, seeing so many friends and former colleagues) while also taking care of myself (getting some decent sleep, finding quiet moments to help my inner introvert recover, drinking water). Hopefully I'll find that middle ground!
Let's get to your Friday Five:
Prepping for a busy season: Mid-August to mid-October is a really busy season for me this year, both personally and professionally. Here are three things I'm glad I did to prepare for this season when I knew it was coming: first, I offloaded things to others. I sat down with my husband and figured out a few things that are normally on my plate that he could take over for a while to help out. Each week during our weekly family meeting, he's been taking more of the "either of us could do that thing" tasks than I am right now. Second, I took about 20 minutes to look through my email subscriptions and unsubscribe from a handful that were less valuable to me, so the overall number of things I have to look at and pay attention to would be reduced. Finally, I looked at the calendar and proactively blocked a few days and some half-days that I could make work as no-meeting days amid a very busy season. Those have served as release valves, giving me a few lower-key days to do focused work and get caught up without switching between meetings and work throughout the day. If you've got a busy time coming up, can you do one or two of these things to help take care of Future You?
Halloween countdown if you have kids: Are you looking for a fun way to mark the time between now and Halloween? Here’s a list of activities for you and the kiddos to count down to the big day that I made when my kids were younger that we really enjoyed! You can look through for ideas, or you can do what we did: print out pages, put them in envelopes, and open one each day to uncover that day's little activity.
Get organized for the rest of the year: The next few months often have a lot of extra "things to do" for all of us. Here are some suggestions for things you might need to pay some attention to as October begins:
Winter holiday time off/travel - do you want to take time off work? Go anywhere? Go ahead and get that process started.
Halloween costumes - if you want/need them in your family, now's the time to make that happen.
Add tentative dates for your fave traditions to the calendar. It's easy for seasons to fly by, so if there's something you really want to do (pumpkin patch, looking at holiday lights, parades, cookie baking day, shopping days, holiday card design and stuffing, etc.), tentatively mark it on the calendar now. Also, here's permission to skip any or all of these things if they don't bring you joy.
Winter gear - does what you have from last year still fit?
Flu and COVID shots - it's time for them again! Do it for you + for the others that won't get sick because you won't pass it on to them.
The easiest coffee cake ever: Last weekend I was on a trip with some friends (I met them at this camp I go to every time it's offered), and I brought some muffin mix to our Airbnb. But we had no muffin tins, so Kristy suggested I use a regular cake pan we found. Turns out that the mix (I always have at least one of these boxes on hand because it's such an easy "make and bring" food to a friend or a book club meeting or something) works super well as coffee cake - we enjoyed it as a group for a few days straight. When oranges are in season (we have an orange tree in our backyard), I add in some orange peel to fancy it up a little.
5-min breaks: Do you ever find yourself staring at the computer screen after completing a complex task, with more work to do, but unable to focus on the next to-do? Take a 5-minute break. Some research suggests that taking five minutes to stare at a nature scene or just close your eyes and do nothing (but definitely NOT scrolling on your phone - one of the researchers said scrolling doesn't count as rest) helps to refresh your brain and restore your attention.
Bonus Sponsor Resource: So many of you loved this last week, so I wanted to share again! What Season Are You In? Beginning, tending, releasing, or resting? This free guide helps you figure out which one fits this stretch of your life, so you can plan the next few months around it. Get the free guide. This resource is from one of our Friday Five sponsors - thank you to them for keeping this newsletter free for readers!
Last Friday's Most-Clicked Link:This article on protecting your phone’s battery health.