Hi friend! āļø
Do you ever have that feeling that things are really tough for you but must be easy for everyone else? Yeah, I hear you. The weeks have felt like theyāre getting longer + tougher as we fall deep into the holiday season.
My husbandās family celebrates Hanukkah + my family celebrates Christmas, so both make December feel like an overwhelmingly long month.
Like most of you, Iāve felt the weight of this particular season but the one thing bringing me solace is knowing none of us are in it alone. Many of my friends are, like us, having conversations with their families about not exchanging gifts this year + opting for a quieter, simpler experience. Weāre opting for laid-back calls instead of messages. Weāre leaning into the warmth of our own homes. Weāre scaling back + readjusting.
I think we could all do with a bit more quiet + simplicity. In our work, in our lives, in our minds, in our hearts.
If youāre celebrating Hanukkah, I hope itās a good one š¤
with warmth + love,
N
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š The Click Throughs
Long-form reads for the content pro, marketing geek, or meme lord
Darling Magazine: Itās Time to Ditch Your To-Do List for a Stop Doing List
Not gonna lie, I immediately rolled my eyes when I saw this article. Then I made a list + I stopped some (definitely not all) of my self-sabotaging habits. Sometimes you need to call things out to know what needs fixing.
The Sociology of Business: The brand checklist
Ana Andjelic is an expert of brand strategy + sociology. This checklist dives into 4 signals to look for when predicting a brandās success: culture, consumer, category, and company. Tagging my boss (hi josh!) in this one as we build our 2021 brand strategy.
Well + Good: Even If You Canāt Take a Real Vacation, Thereās Good Reason to Take a āDevice Vacationā This Weekend
As social media managers and marketers, this oneās really hard to do. But what if, in lieu of not being able to travel because lol 2020, you still got away from one of the biggest stressors in your day? Call it a vacation + take a mini-unplug break.
NBC Newsā Know Your Value: Want to conquer your 2020 performance review? Do these 4 things.
For some, itās that time of year: review season. Going into reviews with a plan + confidence is less stressful than hoping for the best. If youāre not on a formal review cycle, use these tips to reevaluate your professional value as we end this year.
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š§š¼āāļø Mindful Moment
One actionable thing to get you through this week
Do you ever get stressed about a situation + the more you think about it, the worse it seems to get?
BrenƩ Brown talks about these stories we make up in our minds + inflate beyond their reality. She dives deep into the concept in this 4 minute video with Oprah (pro tip: important parts are at 0:25-1:59):
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š Link(s) in Bio
Things Iāve been loving that you might like too
Whenever stress hits hard, sometimes the only thing that helps me is humor. Lately Iāve been laughing over this Nigella Lawson microwave clip, comedian Vinny Thomasā Galactic Federation interview, and this brilliant brief history of Sexy Colonel Sanders from Adweekās David Griner (surprisingly published pre-KFC Lifetime movie).
Confession: I still use a paper planner. I love digital tools so much + I still use them in my workflow, but I always go back to pen + paper. I still get joy every year when itās time to get a new one and fill it up. For the past three years, Iāve used a medium weekly Monday-start Passion Planner because I love their brand and their goal-oriented design. $30+ USD, passionplanner.com
I used to stress bake. Then I got too stressed to bake, so now I just stress save-recipes-to-bake-someday. My most tempting recipes include a 5-minute Chocolate Fudge Sāmores Mug Cake, Salted Peanut Butter Cookies, and Cake Batter Chocolate Chip Cookies. Iām sorry to disappoint you if you thought I was healthy.
The most impactful thing Iāve bought in the past two weeks has easily been this tiny pot of Vaseline Cocoa Butter Lip Therapy. Itās wildly unexciting but Iām horrible with keeping my lips smooth in the winter. Itās the one thing thatās worked + Iāve been able to stick to. Itās also about $2 in any drugstore. Win win win. target.com
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š Content Calendar
Ideas for you to take into your week ahead as a content creator
When a trend pops up, itās understandable to want to jump on it. Memes + trendy content formats supply an easy way to participate in a larger conversation. No shame in using a trending meme format, but before you do ā take a moment to pause.
Does this make sense for your brand to post? Are you adding to the conversation/humor? How will your audience/consumer react to this content?
Memes will come + go but your brand will have to stand the test of time. If you jump on all of them, youāll quickly become a certain kind of brand (not not subtweeting cheeky fast food brands on Twitter).
Itās important to know how memes work in conversations + to experiment with them to keep your brand fresh. But donāt be afraid to sit out of ones that donāt make sense for your brand. We canāt win them all.
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š The (ring) Light at the End of the Tunnel