It's Thanksgiving!

Hope you are spending time with some of the people important to you :) Gobble gobble 🦃

👀 My Musings

So, Thanksgiving would make a lot of sense to write about Casual Magic, but I didn't think it all the way through and wrote about it in week two of the newsletter, ha! But, based on that newsletter, I had a number of folks ask me how I prioritized all the things and people that were my ✨ casual/loud magic ✨. I'm not perfect with Calendaring, but I'm going to use this time to geek out over my thought process (adapted from Eric Partaker's & Ali Adaal's Ideal Week). Heads up, there's a chance this will be a long musing. If this productivity niche isn't for you, no hard feelings, I'll see ya next week 😉.

Level 0. Not Using a Calendar

I'd be a headless chicken if I were here. Do NOT recommend.

Level 1. Scheduling Your Events

For most people who use their Calendar, this is how they utilize it: Add all the events you have so you know when and where to go (with the additional spice of color coding different areas of life, ex: blue - school, deep green - work, purple - nonprofiting, light green - friends & family). It helps you keep track of what's scheduled!

It allows you to see a decent birds-eye view (ex: I have family in town these two weekends, so I'll be home; I have to be in Raleigh five days this week, so I'll prioritize college friends the week prior).

Once you don't have to use your brain to store all this information, it frees up so much of your head space for other things!

Level 2. Block Your Ideal Week

This step is one most people don't know of, but it's a game-changer.

Create a New Calendar named "☀️ Ideal Week" to think about, in a perfect world, what your ideal ordinary week looks like.

1. You can add in your repeated non-negotiables (class, work).
2. You can schedule time for yourself (study, cook, gym, work, etc.)
3. You can schedule a recurring time to talk with friends/family.

Developing this "Ideal Week" is so important because it allows you to compare your Intentions (Ideal Week) to your Reality (Everyday Calendar). You develop and reflect on this Ideal Week Calendar quarterly or semesterly since it's supposed to be more general.

So, this example above is a little outdated as I've started a part-time position, and am at fewer nonprofit events/friend's things during the week due to the grind of school but this is why this framework is helpful:

• It helps me not overcommit. My Calendly only has times for meetings/lunch during those Tuesday & Thursday slots.
• For people like Svea, who is just as go-go-go as I am, we have dedicated time for each other weekly <3
• If something takes less time than expected, I can plan that instead of responding to a few extra emails (since now I have set aside time for that), I can call my family since they're only sporadically free as well.
• It helps me understand that I need to set aside a certain amount of time for homework, nonprofit work (not pictured since it's usually 9:30-10:30), and to wind down (watch an episode of my fave show, shower, etc.) /get up in the morning (skincare/morning routine, etc.)

I want to mention this - you are NOT wedded to this Calendar. It's more of a "guiding framework." If I have to skip class for an event, I can think about when to find time to watch the recording. If I'm just exhausted and need more recharge time than normal, I do less work/cancel something, and give myself that time.

I hope to live my life with intention and prioritize the people & goals important to me - and this is my way of doing it.

Ali's video on the Ideal Week Calendar.

Level 3. Sunday Planning

I could go even more niche, but I think the Ideal Week is cool enough as is. So now that you have your Ideal Week Calendar (intentions) and Everyday Calendar (reality), you can take some time every week to make sure you align the two. Every week, as plans change, I'll better understand what I need to prioritize, etc. We all have that challenge where we overcommit to meetings, gatherings, and clubs. But if while making plans, I take a glance at the craze of the week, and my hope of what that actual week looks like, I can make plans more intentionally.

The whole point of this is that we all have our own methods of prioritizing the wonderful people and things important to us, and mine happens to be solidly structured since that's what I need or I'll be doing everything but spending time with the people important to me, and doing the things that matter. I'm not saying you have to "optimize" your Calendar to a crazy level, but who are you thankful for that you want to spend more time with? What are you grateful to have the opportunity to do that you don't put enough time into? And what actionable steps will help you start prioritizing those people and things? For me, it was this Calendaring system, but what about for you?

P.S. Something else I'm doing this week (totally recommend) is doing one gratitude-oriented thing a day (ex: writing thank you cards to people in my life, creating a gratitude tree, working with GSF students on sending thank you's, etc).

🪄 Casual Magic

My casual magic is the people on this newsletter! I've gotten so much better about adding journaling to my nightly routine and y'all are 100% the forcing function. Y'all literally just let me nerd out over Calendars. I hope over the past few weeks you've been able to take something away as well :)

Happy Thanksgiving 🦃!!

🧠 Productivity Tip

Year at a Glance: We have monthly views, weekly views, and daily views on our Calendar, but I see the benefit in having our entire "Year at a Glance." This provides a view of your entire year on a page. There's a benefit in this as we can see what the big-picture events are coming up. Of course, this doesn't include anything spontaneous or meetings, but this provides a good overview of what's coming (also adapted from Ali).

You can look at an example of mine on the first two sheets in the link below. If you are interested in developing your own, make a copy of the third sheet!

​Year at a Glance Examples & Copy​

🥳 Community Event Spotlight

Designed for Joy is hosting a Bingo Game Night, with all proceeds benefiting their mission (to provide women in crisis with stability through immediate employment and support, removing the stigma of vulnerability.) There'll be over $2,000 in prizes, with snacks and drinks! Find more information & tickets, here!

When: December 12 @ 6:30 PM

Where: Designed for Joy (517 W Cabarrus St, Raleigh)

❤️ My Favorite Things this Week

1. 📕 Book - Connect: Building Exceptional Relationships with Family, Friends and Colleagues by David Bradford & Carole Robin speaks on how to build strong interpersonal relationships that will last a lifetime. It was a school read, yes, but an interesting read as it's applicable to both your personal and professional life. Without real relationships, you can't build partnerships and friendships that make life whole :)
2. 🎙️ Podcast - I absolutely love the stories of business leaders making it happen, and that's the perfect example of this pod. Listen to the Ali & Thom Elliot episode on The Deep Dive, “I Quit My Job And Built A $10M Pizza Business.”​
3. 📱 Productivity App - This week, we're going with Letterloop! It's one of my new favorites - a group of friends can sign up and every month (or however long you select), the group can select questions that everyone has to answer! Once all the information is compiled, Letterloop develops and sends a newsletter with all the photos and information from people's answers. This is great for long-distance friendships, or even those whom you don't get to see enough, but want to check in!
4. 🎁 Product - This is a new section in my "Favorite Things!". And this week, we're starting with a cute diffuser! Every night, before I shower and sleep, I add some lavender and orange essential oils to it, and it's meant to calm you down before sleep. You can make up some fun little smell concoctions and see what you enjoy :)
5. 🚀 Nonprofit - Today, we're spotlighting The Holt Brothers Foundation! They're a nonprofit supporting children whom have a parent with cancer. They provide education, emotional support, peer empathy, and inspiration during a this tough time for children.

✍️Quote of the Week

"The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities." ~ Stephen Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People