February 15, 2021

Hello BOSLadies and happy President's Day,

Thank you to those who attended our meeting last Tuesday. What do we want to read next?

Just a heads up, I will only be sending Love Notes on weeks that we do NOT have our meeting. If you are interested in putting together your own Love Note to send out in my stead, please let me know and we can get a sign up sheet going. The opening is for the second Monday of every month. I look forward to seeing what gets puts together!

The Weekly Three

1. Something about willpower: I've been reading Bravey by Alexi Pappas slowly and in bite size pieces. The content hits closer to home than I expected and some of the topics are painful to address, which is why, of course, they must be addressed. She also shares insights and tools that I've found incredibly helpful, like the Rule of Thirds that I shared two weeks ago. Another tool that I've benefited from greatly in my latest phase of COVID ennui and burnout is this graph:

She writes: "The best way to budget your willpower is to know yourself and understand what drains your willpower and what replenishes it...If my day is filled with 'willpower draining' activities, then it makes sense that I feel exhausted...When I started understanding my willpower in this way, not only did I have more energy to accomplish more things but, most important, I stopped beating myself up when I didn't have energy. That's the beauty of understanding willpower: We become kinder to ourselves." Try plotting your weekday activities on the graph and see if it gives you some new insight into how you may be feeling lately. Highly recommend 2. Something about the significance of Bumble's IPO: When Whitney Wolfe Herd took Bumble public last week, she became the youngest female founder to do so. This quick read from Fast Company quotes Herd pointing out that most men do this in their twenties, which she sees as "a reflection of the funding they’re able to get and the societal acceptance of them perhaps dropping out of school or taking a non-traditional path". What do you think the significance is that this youngest female founder's company is a dating app, particularly one built for women? Does her success wave the "hey, women are a huge market when you design for them" flag? I'd like to hear your thoughts.

[Photo: Marla Aufmuth/WireImage via Getty Images] via Fast Company link above 3. Something to boost your creativity: This is an idea that I heard on Tim Ferris' podcast a long time ago but recently got me jazzed up again. He suggests writing down five (it could be ten) ideas everyday - the first things that pop into your head. Could be terrible, could be great. It takes practically no time at all if you do it stream of consciousness style and it can be both humorous and inspiring. In my experience, when I do it immediately upon waking up, things from my dreams sneak their way in. Thank you for taking the time to read, Amber