42 - A Message from the Chief PaW
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Photo of the Week
Kona went to the groomer on Monday to get prepared for Thanksgiving Week. He came out with some feathers in his floof! He looked pretty cute but he was also very glad went Aunt Gayle took the feathers out on Thursday night after all of our company left on Thanksgiving Day.
A Message from the Chief PaW
Hi everyone. If you’re new around here, my name is Kona.
When momma founded her company back in March, she decided that I should have a job too so she named me the Chief of Peace and Wellness or Chief PaW. It’s my job to make sure that momma and I get plenty of exercise, that we get lots of rest, and that we eat on a normal schedule. I’m also in charge of love and cuddles. All of my performance reviews this year have been stellar. I am VERY good at my job.
Sometimes though, I have one other job which is to step in and make sure that momma slows down a little bit and remembers that she can’t do everything she wants to do. Sometimes my excellent example of sleeping, eating, playing, and cuddling is not quite enough to remind momma that these should be our most important priorities. Oh - and hygiene. I have to remind momma every day that we need to brush my teeth and I need my vitamin. I would rather she forget about combing my hair but I guess I’ve gotta do what I’ve gotta do to stay this handsome.
Momma has been really overwhelmed these last few weeks. Momma made several commitments with due dates right at the end of November and some life things have happened as they invetably do and there wasn’t enough slack. It’s that last part that I’ve told momma she’s got to work on in 2023 - adding in more slack.
You see, momma is great at taking on new projects but not as great at making sure there is an appropriate amount of time to do those projects the way she wants them to be done. She has high standards and wants to do everything as well as she can but that always takes time and time is our most precious resource - especially when your life is measured in dog years instead of human years. So, just like I’ve had to remind momma this week, the rest of you humans need to remember that you need some slack in your schedules. Some down time to rest, to catch up, to just mess around, and, most importantly, to cuddle your furry friends.
So, what do you need to work on making sure you’ve got more time for in the new year? Not sure? Then how about if you join momma in her Quarterly Retreat. You can get just the workbook (it’s free) or you can join in her Quarterly Retreat Workshop which is self paced or join in for the Quarterly Retreat All Access Pass and get the workbook, the workshop, and all of the live sessions for the entire year! It all starts on December 1. Use the code MANIFEST2023 and you can get 25% off of EVERYTHING on momma’s course page through December 1.
P.S. I watched momma update the workbook this weekend and I think it’s beautiful! You should definitely check it out!
Where’s Kara?
A quick summary of where I’m going to be hanging out online and IRL over the next few weeks. Join me, and if I’m visiting near you, hit reply and let’s meet up!
In Real Life (IRL)
The FINAL trip on an airplane this year is this week!! I’ll be in Baltimore Maryland for just a couple of days. Lots of other in state/local travel the rest of the month but at all times I’ll be with Kona and within a 90 minute drive of my own bed.
Around the Virtual World
Quarterly Retreat - It’s time to sign up for the Quarterly Workbook (free), Quarterly Workshop (self-paced, $25) or the Quarterly Retreat All Access Pass ($50 and inculdes everything0 which is the best deal as it gives you the Workbook, the Workshop, and access to every update as well as every live session I offer this year! Don’t forget to use code MANIFEST2023 to get 25% off everything right now at https://karamonroe.podia.com. P.S. This makes a GREAT gift for the holidays. Just drop me an email at kara@iwannabemewhenigrowup.com when you purchase. Let me know who you want the course sent to (name and email) and when you want me to send it and I’ll take care of the rest. Or register with that person’s name and email and they will get the announcement of the purchase immediately! You can also use the MANIFEST2023 code for 25% off of my Facts of Life Course now through December 1.
Join My Course and Community - You will often find me hanging out in the course and community for my course “Facts of Life Book”. Do you need to organize your most important stuff for life’s most important moments? If so, then the Facts of Life Book course is just for you. With loads of templates, tools, and guides I’ll help you get your most important information organized. Newsletter readers - get in now for the low cost of only $25 for life!
Creative Work Hour - Every single day of the week, at 10 a.m. eastern, a group gathers online in Zoom to do a quick check in, a brief meditation, work for about 50 minutes on whatever they want to do, and then check out with one another for 5 minutes. Creative Work Hour is one of my favorite places to hang out online and I’ve been there every single day that I could be there since about March of 2022. Come as often or as little as you need to get projects done. To register for the sessions (they are free but you have to sign up to get the zoom link) and to learn more, visit https://lu.ma/CreativeWork.
AP Productivity - I’m once again joining my friend R.J. Nestor as a mentor in his exceptional course AP Productivity. We started a Cohort in October, but you can join in on the next offering by visiting his AP Productivity page and watching this space. I’ll always let you know when a new offering is about to begin.
Tools, Tips, & Tricks
Need to Curb An App Habit - Try One-Sec
I’ve been gathering and trying out some resources to add to the Quarterly Retreat Workshop. One thing I know people fight is apps that suck them in. Someone suggested the One-Sec app and I’m really enjoying it. The premise is simple. Install the One-Sec app on your phone or tablet. Decide what app or apps you want it to watch for. When you open those apps a screen comes up that reminds you to take a breath for one second. You can then continue to the app you started to open or close the app. What makes it so great in my mind is that it will look for any app on your phone. Maybe you want to stop checking your work email on your phone. If so, have it watch for you email app. Want to stop playing a game? Have it watch for the game app. You don’t have to uninstall anything but you do have to take a pause and breathe before you open the app in question.
I’ve been using it this week for Twitter and Facebook and a couple of times the app has actually made me realize that instead of “reading” on social media, I’d rather read a book in the Kindle app. To give it a try, I recommend you go to https://one-sec.app/ in your web browser on your phone and download. I've been using the beta Android app for about 10 days now and it works great.
What I Published This Week
This was another bad week for publishing. That said, as you read this, there should be one new episode of the podcast out. Remember that you can subscribe to I Wanna Be Me When I Grow Up wherever you listen to podcasts. I’ll also be posting a reflection late this week on what I learned from the podcast experience of getting 30 episodes out in 30 days (which I will be successful at but that means there is a little rush of them coming out here at the end of the month) and what’s next for the podcast.
Facts of Life Book Series
As I build towards the official launch of the Facts of Life Book Course and Community on January 1, I’m continuing to publish articles about some of the many different things you might include in a Facts of Life Book. While I’m continuing to publish them on on Medium and Hive you can now see all of them on the Facts of Life Book website.
My Digital “Garden”
As a part of the Obsidian Vault Rebuild Series that I wrote on Medium and YouTube, I began using Obsidian Publish. This add on tool for Obsidian allows you to easily publish your “in progress” notes to the web. If you want to see what I’m thinking about, this is a great place to see inside my head. It’s always available at https://publish.obsidian.md/iwannabeme
This Week’s Featured Book Note
Each week, I’m featuring one book note from a book I’m currently reading. Click the image to view this week’s note as a PDF file.
I thought I’d have some time to finish this book this week, but, as Kona said above in his report, things piled up. That said, this is a wonderful compilation of C.S. Lewis’s various writing about Reading. I’m soaking it all in. Here is my mindmap in progress. Just click on the image to open the PDF and see it larger.
Diversion
Gayle and I saw Wakanda Forever over the weekend. The loss of Chadwick Boseman was devastating and I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about the sequel to the original Black Panther film. I still have mixed emotions about the new character they introduced but on three things I am quite clear. First, Angela Basset is INCREDIBLE Second, if you need a dose of strong feminine energy go see this film. While several Marvel Movies can at least make it on the Bechdel test list, their entries are weak at best.
Wakanda Forever knocks it out of the park in terms of strong female interactions about all manner of things. For once, in an action hero movie, the male characters feel like the throw aways.
Finally, the manner in which they honored Chadwick Boseman was appropriate and felt genuine. I found myself in tears a few times.
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Readwise is an incredible service that takes all of the highlights you take on Kindle, on various web sites, and in so many other places and stores and organizes them for you. It generates a daily (or more often/less often as you prefer) set of highlights for you to review so that you can better remember what you read. Readwise also syncs with all kinds of apps including Evernote, Notion, Obsidian, Roam Research, Log Seq and more. If you’d like an extended 60 day trial, use my link https://readwise.io/kara
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