Hi ,
I was so excited to work today...but it wasn't meant to be. I spent all Sunday morning cleaning my desk, putting up a new light, whiteboard, and baskets, setting up the docking station for my new computer, cleaning up the piles of random things lying around...essentially making my office a pleasant place
to work again.
And then...the car wouldn't start. Which means we can't get my daughter to school. Curveball!
So while I have my daughter entertained with the fort I built her, I have a chance to write you a
letter. Today I'm just gonna have fun and share a few things that have been on my mind.
A.I.
I listened to 3 wild podcast episodes of the Ezra Klein show (1, 2, 3 linked here) all about the present and future of artificial intelligence, and I can't stop thinking about them. I was pretty against A.I. until recently because I didn't want to be
part of an industry I wasn't sure was ethical or in the best interest of humanity. I now believe I need to become proficient so I can help shape the future using it. The episodes led me to read Ethan Mollick's new book called Co-Intelligence, which I'm part-way through and finding fascinating. I still haven't actually started using anything yet (and I have no intention of replacing my writing in any way with AI-written work), but I'm working up my courage to dive in (and trying to find time in my schedule, truthfully). If you're at all curious about this topic, I highly recommend starting with the podcasts and see where it takes you.
About a month ago I read The Book of Longings and it's something else I keep thinking about. The premise is
essentially, what if Jesus had a wife? The book is told from her perspective, and it's wonderful. It aims to be thought-provoking about how the world would have been different throughout history and even now if women had been a more significant part of the Bible. I wish I had read this book with a book club so I could have discussed it in more detail while it was fresh in my mind.
The Happy Squirrel Collective
We launched two weeks ago with 10 amazing members! I'm so proud of how it went, and I'm eager to see how the group evolves. We had our first FiniShit call last week which is co-working for the last 5% of a project, and it went great. On May 7th we're having our discussion all about "Unravelling Procrastination" and I
think it's gonna be a juicy conversation. You're welcome to join us if you like! Here's the link to join The Happy Squirrel Collective.
Task Management
This is something I'm usually really good at, but with all the new tasks for the Collective I am testing the limits of my systems. They need to grow and evolve, and I'm not sure how that's going to happen yet. I'm experimenting with using Asana in a new way, I'm using my calendar a little differently, but none of it is
quite the solution I'm looking for. Plus I've added in a few new health habits that I'm trying to integrate into my system. I share this because I know it's something a lot of you struggle with, and I want you to know it's okay for your systems to grow as you grow, and change as needed. You don't have to stick with the same thing forever. It's uncomfortable right now to feel disorganized (hence the major desk clean to try and help, which it did), but I know I'll figure it
out.
Okay, that's all for today. Hopefully next week I can write to you about experimenting in your business like I had planned to today. Fingers crossed!
Have an awesome day,
Stephanie Wasylyk
Your Solid Oak Tree