Sunday, September 27th to Saturday, October 3rd

This week I was struggling with “recharging my battery” and finding time to work on my practices.

My work week was more hectic than normal. Long days with more context switching and cognitive load than usual. Plus, my anxiety with where the world is right now. Oh yeah, just that…

I didn’t make my goal of finishing an illustration I have in progress, but I did make some progress on it, in a round about way.

I’m subscribing to this technique from Ness Labs:

Once you feel familiar enough—which means that you can grasp the concepts and can articulate them, but still feel very uncomfortable using them—you should start creating something bigger

So I did manage to get a lot of practice in to grasp the concepts, and I’m still feeling uncomfortable.

Speaking of that practice, here are my Doodles for the week

I drew a simple illustration for work, that was a timeline of the upcoming quarter, and we used that to read-out some planning to stakeholders. I can’t share that here of course. We’ve done this process in other ways until this time around. I’m looking forward to feedback to see if everyone involved found value in the altered process.

The relentless optimism of Ted Lasso is intoxicating, in the best way possible. This show is the perfect escape for me in this moment. More optimism. More defining success through positive relationships. And more laughs. Yes, please!

Speaking of relationships, I’ve watched this a couple times this week. I find it fascinating. I’ve been a part of some research projects, but nothing with the duration and meaning of this one.

Direct link

Gratitude

In no particular order

  • I’m thankful I was able to help my son navigate some relationship challenges of his own
  • I’m appreciating my new practice of morning pages. I find letting my monkey mind chatter on paper early in the morning is helping me all throughout the day
  • I’m thankful for a great conversation with a small group of creative people on Monday night
  • I’m thankful for a good text exchange with a dear friend. A good kick in pants for me. Time to get moving on a project!
  • I’m reflecting on a nice outdoor dinner with my extended family on Sunday
  • I’m thankful for some financial advice from a professional
  • I’m grateful that I learned what is helpful for me from my past week of missing health goals. So that I can put those things into practice.
  • I’m thankful for someone taking time to distill their years of experience and expertise into small actionable chunks for me to explore
  • I’m glad I was able to share the silly band The Electric Six to a friend. We had a lot of laughs.
  • I’m glad my wife and I went to the farmers market Sunday morning, and spent an entire afternoon cooking slow food.
  • I’m glad for fantastic professional assistance with my anxiety.
  • I’m thankful that I have the ability and means to express myself like this