The end of the financial year, the start of winter, and a quiet time around these parts.

A duotoned dark purple and beige version of the Apple heart emoji, in front of a blue striped background

BTW… this month Aimee was busy trekking through Yosemite, and Lil was still focused on her new job, so it’s The Jess Show again!

🎞️Stranger Things
🎧How I Work
📖Resilient Management
📱Down Dog
JOMO
🎒How to fit a side project in, on the side

🎞️ Watching

Stranger Things (TV show)

The set design. The clothes. The music. The characters. The 80s. The monsters. The hair. The gags. There’s a lot to like about this show! And I thought the third season held up well.
— Jess

A movie style poster with photo-real illustrations of various people in the centre, with a 'starcourt mall' sign above them and a spindly creature below. Text at the top reads "One summer can change everything" while logo-text in red at the bottom reads "Stranger Things 3"

🎧 Listening to

How I Work (podcast)

A teal coloured background with black text which reads 'HOW I WORK', where the 'o' in work appears to be a yellow sun on a horizon.

Work-life process hacking is my whole jam, so I’m surprised I hadn’t come across the How I Work podcast sooner. It’s filled with ideas about how to improve your work-life, through interviews with successful business-people about how they do things. I especially like the ‘My Favourite Tip’ episodes, such as the one with Dan Pink (5 mins) on how he structures his workday around anticipated energy levels, or the one with Tim Kendall (8 mins) on how to use your clothing as a communication tool.
— Jess


📖 Reading

Resilient Management (book)

Resilient Management is the latest release from A Book Apart, intended to help new managers navigate their role, with suggestions such as:

  • Develop expectations in collaboration with your team, and iterate on these over time.
  • Make sure your team’s purpose or “north star” is clear, including its connection to the objectives of the wider company.
  • Be aware that communication patterns, channels and style will likely need to change to suit the size of the company.

— Jess

An image of the book cover for 'Resilient Management' by Lara Hogan, which is written in white text on a peachy pink flat background colour.

📱 Using

Down Dog (app)

My hairdresser recommended Down Dog to me, as she was using it for DIY morning yoga classes at home. I remembered it while on holiday recently, and turned my Airbnb into a makeshift yoga studio… it worked a treat! You can choose your instructor, skill level, how detailed you want the instructions to be, background music, and what muscle group to target (or avoid). The free trial let’s you give it a whirl before committing. Namaste 🧘🏽‍♀️
— Jess


➿ Practicing

JOMO

The Joy of Missing Out (JOMO) is an antidote for the feeling that you “might miss an opportunity or satisfying event“. Rather than fearing what you might’ve missed, enjoy what you gained in its place, be that headspace, saved pennies, a nap, or whatever is on Netflix. I still get caught up in FOMO, but trying to practice the flip in perspective when it happens.
— Jess


🎒 Learning

How to fit a side project in, on the side

We’ve gone lean on our side project goals and requirements lately, letting other aspects of life take priority over this site for a while. This has been aided by open conversations each other about what we can or can’t do, and online systems that let us work on things at different times if we need to.
— Jess