The other day, I started berating myself for failing to send this newsletter three weeks in a row, after promising myself earlier in the year to make consistency my tip-top priority. I would stick to twice monthly at minimum, ideally weekly when there’s a lot going on.
Sure, I was traveling for a speaking gig, then visiting family, but is there really an excuse? I made a note on my phone to reflect on this procrastination conundrum:
What’s up with the newsletters?! Last ones sent on May 29 😭 What happened there? Can I intentionally take breaks or re-pace instead of falling off?
Less than two hours later, the podcast gods answered. I tuned into one of my favorite craft-focused podcasts, How I Write, when I heard the exact permission slip I needed hidden in an episode called “How to Write Something Truly Useful.”
Enter Daniel Pink, one of my favorite authors and thinkers, in conversation with David Perell:
“Writers and others need to think about breaks the way that athletes think about breaks, which is that they’re part of our performance, not a deviation from the performance.
A lot of times we say, ‘Oh, I'm taking a break. God, I’m kind of wimping out here,’ when in fact breaks and recovery are fundamental to our performance.”
Aha! So my failure was in not planning a newsletter break, thinking I could just power through week after week as friends I admire do, even when my inspiration well is dry (in Artists Way parlance).
Based on the research for his 2018 book, When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing, Pink shares a “platonic ideal” of what makes for an effective break:
Breaks in motion are more restorative than sedentary breaks
Outside is better than being inside; bonus if you’re in nature
Breaks with others are more restorative than solo ones
The best breaks are fully detached from devices
Here’s the full episode if you want to listen, and subscribe to The Pink Report for more:
Here’s me and Ryder taking our break during one of our epic four-hour midday-on-a-Monday strolls through Central Park while I listened to this episode 😛
What is your favorite way to take a break? How do you plan for them, and how do you know when you’re overdue? If you write a newsletter, how do you stay consistent? What fills your idea bucket, and how do you stay inspired—or at least “on time”?
What does chaos gardening have to do with career (and business) pivoting?
🪴🌺 Check out yesterday’s PivotList newsletter to find out . . . and in case you’re not subscribed to both, below are some of the top books from my summer stacks:
📚 I’ve been a proud Book of the Month member for over a year, and their community is currently celebrating its 100th! I look forward to every month’s “drop,” a selection of beach-readable books across different categories, prompting me to choose things I might not otherwise pick up if browsing a bookstore.
Two recent favorites: Lena Dunham’s memoir, Famesick, on navigating the parallel challenges of chronic illness alongside the perils of celebrity, and caro claire burke’s debut novel, the dystopian trad-wife tale, Yesteryear.
🎉 Huge congratulations are also in order to several friends with new books out this summer! I wholeheartedly recommend all four:
Erin Weed’s powerful process, Just One Word: The Surprisingly Simple Method to Discover Your Purpose and Unleash Your Power. I was beyond honored to get “dug” on her podcast — listen to discover how she landed on my one life-guiding word (SOUL).
Steve Kamb's much-needed How to Try Again: An Approachable Guide to Navigating Chaos and Making Change THAT STICKS
Cathy Haynes’ beautiful book, The Fullness of Time: Marking the Day by Birdsong, Blooms, Shadows, and Stars
Speaking of taking much-needed breaks! Last but not least, forthcoming on July 21: Free Time podcast guest dj didonna’s Big Time Off: The Transformative Power of Sabbaticals and How to Take One
🎧 Check out the Free Time archives »
Our twice-monthly AI-focused office hours for paid subscribers are held on the first and third Wednesdays of every month — join us for the next one on July 1 at 12 p.m. ET. Note: they are not recorded, since everything changes so quickly! We do share detailed notes and resources in Substack chat afterward.
You hereby have permission to block out several weeks for intentional breaks between now and September. Super bonus if you follow our French counterparts and block all of August off!
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