Jessica's Friday Five: one question that sparks connection

Hi Reader,

Many of you reading this are Americans like me - if so, Happy 4th of July Weekend. The American experiment is ongoing - inspiring often, tragic often, embarrassing at times, and our collective responsibility to shape. Here's a quick watch I enjoyed on this topic.

Separately, I’ve updated my workshops page with some additional topics I've been enjoying leading with teams these days. I'm currently booking fall workshops if your company could use professional development - just hit reply if you'd like to chat about that.

Let's get to your Friday Five:

1. Want to know what I bought in June? I recently updated this page with the things I bought and liked in June, including a really helpful cat gadget, the absolute best sunscreen, and a second set of a game we've been enjoying as a family, so all of us can play at once.
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2. Silence the extra summer noise: If you've got young people (old enough not to need constant supervision) home during summer break but you need to focus, I can't recommend noise-canceling headphones more. These have been my go-to for years now (I'm literally wearing them while writing these words!), and it looks like Walmart has like-new versions for a lot cheaper than I paid for mine.
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3. 4 iPhone Security Settings: I appreciated this article on 4 iPhone security settings worth turning on. It explains what they are and how to turn them on, and I picked two of them for my own phone that weren't on my radar before (the other two I already had going).
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4. Let’s create some Team Communications Expectations together: I’m doing a workshop next week during which I'll guide you through building a shared set of internal communication expectations your team will actually use. We'll work through the questions every team needs to answer so you leave with a strong draft to take back to your team. I'll record it for anyone who gets a ticket but can't join live (or wants to review parts later!).
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5. Ask this in a group family or friend chat: “What's one good thing that happened this past week?” It is an easy way to make connections with folks and to remind us all that there's good here now, even when life is not all rainbows and puppy dogs.

Bonus Sponsor Resource: Grüns: I have been taking these ​Grüns gummies​ daily for years now, and this week I got their new summer flavor (it's rocket popsicles, like those red, white, and blue ones from my childhood). Best flavor ever, honestly. But the regular ones are delish, too, and often they basically serve as my breakfast because I don't love eating a lot in the morning. They help with gut health (keeping everything moving and happy if you know what I mean...), energy, immunity, and cognition. I really like them. 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: The housesitting service I use for both family travel and also for going on "business retreats" by myself to get out of my normal routine for a few days.