To save time, plan your day ahead of time GARDEN/notes/Not having a plan means making more decisions. Ideally, you have the plan already made before you start the day. Take 5 minutes at the December 17, 2024 Take breaks Stand up. Stretch. Take a ten-minute walk. Loosen up those neck and shoulder muscles. When it’s work time, do the work. Then take a break. Then get December 17, 2024 Prioritize one big thing each day The big thing doesn’t have to be a big thing. It’s just the thing, the focal point, the one thing you’ll make sure happens even if nothing else December 17, 2024 Not having a plan means making more decisions Lack of a plan means that you have no (known, valid) reason to say no. Requests, demands, suggestions, obligations, interruptions come at you. You December 17, 2024 Give yourself buffers, time to transition Don’t expect yourself to switch instantly from one task to another. Work in transition time. Give your brain and body a break. Buffer the edges of December 17, 2024 Approval requires authority Approval means, “I condone or sanction or endorse you or this thing you are doing.” Approval has an official ring to it. We use it in legal language December 17, 2024 Acceptance is something any one person can give to any other person. You don’t need any training or qualifications to accept somebody. Acceptance December 17, 2024 Acceptance is not the same as approval GARDEN/notes/Acceptance and approval are not the same. These two things are not the same. They are very different. But we get them mixed up all the December 17, 2024 A good plan is a simple plan Can you summarize it on an index card, the main parts of the plan? Can you explain it to a 10-year-old before you lose them to boredom? A good plan December 17, 2024 Retrospective financial 🔗 Retrospective, financial anniemueller.com/posts/ret… December 17, 2024 What will you produce with your next action? A moment of connection, a song, a concept, a new product, a moment of silence, a bigger perspective, a blog post, a drawing? If you can’t figure out December 16, 2024 The cage that fear creates What scares you is what has the power to hold you, to trap you, to keep you locked down. Because fear is so powerful (and because we’re not very December 16, 2024 Productivity as means, not end Being productive is not the end goal. Productivity is a means. The end is… What? To matter. To create. To take joy in the work we do. To help. To December 16, 2024 Benefits of feeling alone I don’t want to feel alone as a way of life. But sometimes feeling alone can be good. Wanted or unwanted, the feeling of aloneness can help us be December 16, 2024 Be clear with your No; don't say Maybe if you mean No A half-way, mumbled, uncertain No can be as harmful as a promiscuous Yes. When you know that the right answer for you to give is No, be better to December 16, 2024 Be careful with your Yes; it is an agreement Yes is an agreement. It’s a contract, and it’s a good idea to be careful—even hesitant—of who and what you attach yourself to in verbal contract. December 16, 2024 Approval versus connection We seek approval. We often seek approval at the expense of connection: I do something that Person A will approve, meaning that Person B will not December 14, 2024 We are what happens when “We are what happens when the seemingly unthinkable celebrity rises to power.” — Lidia Yuknavitch Source: Yuknavitch, Lidia - The Book of Joan December 14, 2024 I will trade you this muddy shitball 🔗 I will trade you this muddy shitball for that shiny marble anniemueller.com/posts/i-w… December 13, 2024 Refuse to let fear dominate Remember: Do not let fear be the dominating force of my life. Because there’s a lot to be afraid of. Real threats, not just imaginary ones. Real December 12, 2024 Orient your life toward comfort or growth [[../_attachments/Orient your life toward comfort or growth/2025-07-02-1707-img-Orient your life toward comfort or growth.png]] There are two basic December 12, 2024 Expect obstacles 🔗 Expect obstacles anniemueller.com/posts/exp… December 12, 2024 Emotional buffer zone 🔗 Emotional buffer zone anniemueller.com/posts/emo… December 12, 2024 Love your body of work 🔗 Love your body (of work) anniemueller.com/posts/lov… December 10, 2024 Lowell, Nathan - Ravenwood [[../_attachments/Lowell, Nathan - Ravenwood/2025-07-02-1707-img-Lowell, Nathan - Ravenwood.jpeg]] Enjoyed this one. A middle-aged woman December 9, 2024 Practice by doing 🔗 Practice by doing anniemueller.com/posts/pra… December 9, 2024 If you feel okay 🔗 If you feel okay, feel okay anniemueller.com/posts/if-… December 9, 2024 Matthews, Jason - Red Sparrow One of the ways I judge a book, perhaps the most important way, is how well I remember it. Do the characters stay with me, vivid, fully imagined? December 8, 2024 Hoffman, Eva - Lost in Translation “All immigrants and exiles know the peculiar restlessness of an imagination that can never again have faith in its own absoluteness.” I have a lot December 8, 2024 El-Mohtar, Amal and Gladstone, Max - This Is How You Lose the Time War First, I didn’t know there was a time war but the more I think about it the more it makes sense. Second, this is a novella. A novel is long. A December 8, 2024