Hello, fellow tinkerer 👋 -

Happy Wednesday. I've been my oldest child's chauffeur for the past few weeks. Such is the life of a teenager... While the thought of a teen driver scares me, I have to admit that my life will be SO much easier once I'm not constantly toting kids around.

My oldest will begin driver's ed later this year. If you're a parent whose kid is old enough to drive, please reply and tell me that it will be ok. 😊

1) Reflection:

Here's the thing when we're strapped for time: something's gotta give. For me, that's usually my personal projects. I have to do client work and I have to show up social media platforms (because that's how I market myself and I get new clients). I also maintain consistency with my things that have a specific publishing cadence, like this newsletter.

A few months ago, I announced a new course: 30 Days of Writing Online. It is finally done — much later than I'd planned. One of those things that got pushed back when other things came up.... I went through a re-design of my brand and it was a lot more intensive than I expected. I had a major home improvement project. And I ended up changing the format quite.

ANYWAY: I'll be emailing people on the waitlist on Monday, July 22. Want to be notified when access is available? Add yourself to the waitlist here.

2) Product:

A really easy tip for creating content online is to "take one thing and publish it elsewhere." Easier said than done though, right?

A lot of people take screenshots of their content and republish it as a visual. For example, they'll take a screenshot of a tweet, and then post that screenshot to LinkedIn. It adds some variation to text-only posts.

​Poet.so is a really cool tool for creating beautiful screenshot images. You just drop in the URL of your LinkedIn post (for example), and it creates a screenshot image with a nice background.

3) Tip:

Even though I'm lamenting the loss of time this summer, I'm mostly good about preserving time for my own projects. For me, that means waking up early and capturing a few hours of quiet alone time.

However, I'm not bullish on waking up early. You should follow your body's natural rhythm. I am bullish on finding a time that works for you, and protecting that time as much as you can.

I didn't do this nearly enough when my kids were little. Frankly, I was just trying to get through the day. But now, looking back, I feel like I lost myself a bit during the baby/toddler/preschooler years.

If you can carve out even 15-20 minutes per day, just for you, do it. Your future self will thank you.

Want more ideas?

→ Here's how to evaluate your personal tech stack.

→ I interviewed Christine Gritmon about her trans-Atlantic move, getting laid off, and moving forward with new energy. Check it out here.

That's it for this issue of Tinkering! See you again in two weeks.

Cheers,
Anna

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