Jessica's Friday Five

Hi Reader, Did you know today is National Donut Day in the US? You can get free donuts at Krispy Kreme and Dunkin (the latter requires you to buy a drink). Or if you don't yet have a Rakuten account (my fave), sign up and then use it to order donuts for delivery through Grubhub. If you spend $30, you'll get $30 cash back. Dozens of free donuts, basically. Have fun! Make a “Start the Work Day” checklist: If you’ve been in my world for very long, you know I love the value of a checklist. The...

Hi Reader, Is anyone else confused about what day it is? My to-do list for Wednesday was topped with the word "Tuesday" without me even noticing until after 5 pm that day. A few weeks ago, I labeled Tues, Wed, and Thurs in my plan as "May 15th". Who even knows what is going on in my brain? I did find a little time to work with my family to make our Summer Fun List, so that's something that feels on track at least. Let's get to your Friday Five, shall we? Add weather to your calendar: If you'd...

Hi Reader, I've spent time with hundreds of managers this month in various workshops; I've felt a palpable energy for healthy productivity and sustainable leadership. A rejection of hustle culture; but with a nuanced interrogation of what it takes to be in a leadership role that requires stepping up at times but finding ways to ensure that the "push" pace isn't required week over week. Engaging in those conversations with so many of you has been an honor and a privilege. Let's get to your...

Hi Reader, Right before writing this newsletter, I just clicked cancel on a potluck dinner we host every month at our house for our friends and neighbors. There's just too much going on right now, and I had to tell these beloved folks that we needed to create a little space in our calendar. Here's a permission slip if you need it to take something (or several things) off your list or your calendar if you're in a busy season. You can do anything. You cannot do everything. Let's get to your...

Hi Reader, Over here, this "Maycember" season is kicking my butt. If you've got friends with kids in school who aren't being responsive to your outreach, it's probably because they are overwhelmed with way too many events and requests coming their way as the school year and sports seasons end. I shared on LinkedIn one thing I'm trying to help make Maycember a little less intense next year. Hang in there if you're in it with me. Rainbow Walk: I'm in a coaching program with the incomparable...

Hi Reader, Some of you might remember me mentioning a few weeks ago that we had a hive of bees set up in the wall of our home while we were out of town. We've been working with a local beekeeper to move the bees safely, and we had to cut a large hole in our wall to pull out what turned out to be a huge honeycomb (picture a 5-gallon bucket full of honeycomb). The bees and their queen are safely in a new space, and the keeper left us with some (hyper-local at an entirely new level) honey made...

Hi Reader, This week, we put up a Little Free Library in our neighborhood. It ended up being an even more fun and rewarding project than I expected, and now I love peeking at it every day to see which books have been dropped off or picked up by our neighbors. What a fun tiny little hobby. Last week, one of you (hi, Nikki!) rightfully called me out for mentioning in last week's Friday Five that we are caring for foster kittens and neglecting to share pictures of them. My bad! Scroll down for a...

Hi Reader, We came home from a week away to a swarm of bees 🐝 having set up in the wall of our home. The first clue was about a dozen dead bees in our bathroom (we've never before seen a bee in our house, so this was...unusual). So we've learned a lot about bees this week and are grateful to the local beekeper who is helping us move the bees to a place where they will thrive that is not inside our house. We also welcomed 4 foster kittens 🐈 and their mom into our house for the next month or so...

Hi Reader, Guess what, Friday Fivers? We surpassed 13,000 subscribers to this email newsletter earlier this week. We have now got ourselves a little tradition, and when we reach a new milestone like this, each of you can enter a little raffle to win a book (you can watch me pick the winners back in March, the last time we did this). If you'd like to join, scroll to the bottom, and I'll pick 3 of you using a random wheel of names. I'll send the 3 winners each a book of your choice from a local...