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Hey Reader,

Good LORD my windows were filthy.

You know how things just deteriorate in your immediate surroundings over time, and you just get used to it, and don’t notice?

Until one day, you do?

And then you simply HAVE to deal with it immediately or the world will end?

That happened to me this morning. Coincidentally, while I was sitting at my desk lamenting the fact I had absolutely NOTHING to write about. Not a sausage.

I looked up, and the sun was shining through my windows, illuminating every dirty mark, every smear, every spiderweb and speck of dust and all the general grime and grimmity grimness, and the thought occurred to me: it’d be lighter in here if I cleaned those.

It’s not procrastinating, it’s useful.

How can I possibly write when those smears are reminding me what a terrible adult I am?

Seriously, it’s been about a year since I cleaned my windows because I am a sloven.

But do you know what?

It reminded me that sometimes, when you need to do something — like write your email or your social media post or those insights for that client — the best thing to do is stop doing trying to do that thing and do something else entirely.

So, yeah, I’m writing about cleaning my windows right now…

But what I’m actually saying is — when you find yourself struggling to do a task, stop it. Go do something else. Something entirely unrelated that feels like being lazy or procrastinating.

You’re not lazy and you’re not procrastinating (probably).

You’re giving your brain a break and space to think.

You’re moving your body and changing your state, and that’s not just fun, it’s crucial for creativity.

Go clean your windows, they’re probably filthy.

And when you get back, you might find your brain has solved your problem.

And now for the Friday Goodie Bag, gathered for you this week from cool stuff I’ve found…

Mindfulness is for men, too — by Dave James

My friend Dave, speaking coach extraordinaire and the reason I’m now a stand-up comedian, has done a TEDx Talk and it’s one of the best I’ve seen.

He started a group for men called Menditation because he had what’s known online as “anger issues” and wanted to stop raging. He was super successful in this endeavour because I cannot imagine him as an angry man. He’s one of the kindest, gentlest dudes I know. In his TEDx Talk he talks about that journey and why it’s so important for men to talk.

Cos in case you hadn’t noticed, there’s a loneliness epidemic and men are not okay. He’s part of the solution.

​Watch his TEDx here:

​

This quick-start guide to painting with watercolours

I’m a marketer’s bloody dream, I am. I saw one ad on Instagram, and the next thing you know I’m the owner of a teeny tiny watercolour set that I can take anywhere with me and not worry about all the set up and making a mess and usual stuff that stops me from painting low-quality watercolours.

It’s from Tobio’s and when I bought it, I ended up on their email list (which is actually good) and they sent me this guide on how to start painting with watercolours. But not just a general overwhelming guide — this is how to start painting OUTSIDE. Which is the point.

Anyway, I’m not sure if I should be sharing this, but here ya go.

This article about how fcked western childrearing can be

I’m not a parent. I’m blissfully child-free. But I see my friends and peers doing their absolute best to raise children, and doing an amazing job, and struggling immensely, because in this absolutely whack hemisphere, in the supposed “civilised” western world, we isolate parents — particularly mothers — and then expect them to get on with it, even though nobody has shown them what to do.

​This article by Gül Deniz Salali compares her early motherhood in London with child care experiences in a Central African community.

And I’m no expert, but this hunter-gatherer way of family and community and child-rearing seems much more natural, kind, and sensible to me.

Pop culture references in journal articles

​This Instagram thread had me howling. It was instigated by some dusty old dude tweeting “Stop using pop culture references as the first half of your journal article.” A follow up, by “spirit”, said: “Who Gon Check Me, Boo: A Phenomenological Study of Entitled Gate Keeping of Scholarly Contributions” and the rest just kept on coming.

Things to think about: gate-keeping, miserable old men who don’t understand culture changes, humour in writing and academia, pop culture as a jumping-off point for naming things and writing articles, the relative value given to pop culture vs “serious” academia and how that can get in the bin.

This song by Train that I’d never heard before

Thanks to my LinkedIn buddy Freddie for sharing this song by Train. It’s called 50 Ways to Say Goodbye and it just made me laugh.

A listicle in song form. And quite a banger, too.

What I’m reading

The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong. I’ve never read any of his books before, and heard good things about this. I’m up to chapter 4 and enjoying it so far!

I have, however, just finished Orbital by Samantha Harvey and it’s beautiful. 11/10 recommend.

What I’m writing

Honestly not much right now, because I’m 72% dust. I wrote some birthday cards this morning, does that count?

Word of the week

Semantic satiation.

This is what happens when you hear or read a word so much it ceases to sound or look like a real word anymore.

Your brain’s essentially saying, “Enough! That’s enough of those particular sounds! I am done with your nonsense.”

Quote of the week

And with that quote, I’d like to encourage you to just start. It’s never going to be perfect. So you may as well make it good.

TTFN,

Vicky