Thanks for being here.
2020 Annual Review
I’m going to give myself 40 minutes to write as quickly as possible without editing, because if I don’t write something, I’m afraid I won’t write anything for another year. How do you look back on a year like 2020 without the fear of cracking open a can of tears that will never end? I’m wrecked by the year, but somehow still standing. At the very same time, I found so much steadiness and peace, too. I made big decisions that truly changed my life—and maybe who I am. Here’s the 2020 annual review.
How to Get Out of Thanksgiving This Year
The other day I hosted a Zoom Friends-Giving, and I’ll be honest: while I love seeing my friends, having to do yet another event on Zoom makes me unbearably sad. This winter and holiday season is filled with uncertainty, exhaustion, sickness, and frustration, and I’m scared that it’s going to get even harder. Yet everywhere I look, people are packing their bags, trying to figure out a way to make Thanksgiving work this year, and making excuses when we should be making really hard decisions. We need to cancel in-person Thanksgiving. Here’s why (and how).
Join The Visibility + Storytelling Challenge
Join me for a seven-day Instagram Creativity Challenge: create seven posts in seven days (using the prompts below), and everyone who does will win prizes. If you've been here a while, you know I have an annual birthday sale every year. Each year during my...
Sort your stress into three piles
What really causes me to freeze Sometimes I get really productive during stress. REALLY productive. It's my coping mechanism and I run around like an energizer bunny, getting it all done. I think my inner monologue truly believes that if somehow I accomplish every...
Taking Care Of Yourself
In a tired year, how do you persevere? Here are a few ways to restore and recharge. For my empaths, highly sensitive friends, and people who are feeling the fatigue of this year, a reminder to take care to fill up your own bucket and create boundaries to protect you as a person.
“Mom, Go That Way!”
When your four-year old helpfully gives you directions as you’re driving home.
What You Can Do
Ruth Bader Ginsburg died on Friday. A Supreme Court Justice, an advocate for women, for equality, for justice. The best kind. Here’s my two cents: Let the anger burn pure and clean. Let the tears flow out. Let it burn clean and hot in you, but do not let the anger take you down. Do not let the emotions bury you. Find a clarity and focus inside of this.
It’s Okay To Skip The Marketing Pressure
Just a reminder: if you’re feeling overwhelmed, mentally rough, or you’re in a financially tough spot right now, skip the marketing pressure to buy things on deadlines. More good opportunities will come in good time. You do NOT have to buy anything right now that you don’t need.
Do This To Make Your Day Better
Today I want to share a tool that can help you set yourself up for a successful day. I learned about it from Hugh Jackman. Hugh is a well-known musical theater performer, artist, and singer (who holds the Guinness World Record for “longest career as a live-action Marvel superhero”). He talked about the practice he uses on a recent episode of The Tim Ferriss podcast. Here’s how it works.
Setting Boundaries & Saying No
Saying no is powerful. My toddler wields the word on a daily basis, and in many ways, I’m in awe of his unabashed claim of the word. Yet saying no can be hard! How do you do it well? Here are my time-tested strategies.
August Sabbatical (Does 2020 Include A Sabbatical?)
Every summer, we take a break as a family and take a summer sabbatical. Typically, we take a few weeks off in August, sometimes up to a month. This year is a little different, of course, because 2020 has been a tidal wave of epic proportions. Still, despite everything going on, we’re going to hang onto the threads of the idea of a sabbatical and take a small step back. Sticking to a semblance of structure and routine can be stress-relieving, especially when things are chaotic.
How To Make Better Decisions: 4 Helpful Strategies When You’re Stuck
Decision paralysis is real. Sometimes when I have a huge decision looming ahead of me, it’s hard to figure out what to do. Just the other day, I met with my operations planning team, and we reviewed the pile of work that I had on my plate ahead of me. My lead operations person looked at me and said “Sarah, you have to make some tough decisions here. You no longer have enough bandwidth to complete all of this.” We had to get real about the time we had, and the projects we could do. The hardest part? Decision making. I’ve written before about why making decisions is so hard. Today I want to share four strategies you can lean on when you feel stuck and don’t know your next move.
2,000 Books Is Not Enough
Since starting my social media break last week, I’ve noticed something interesting. I’m hungry for more books. Books feel like a breath of fresh air. Like a complete conversation in a world that’s forgotten what more than a sentence feels like. The comparison between a book and Twitter is divine, and real. I’m back on track to read 50 books this year, but I want to read more. Here’s how I’ll do it.
LET’S TALK: A PODCAST
Let’s Talk 13: If More Discipline Isn’t Working
Does self-discipline work? Sometimes yes, but lately for me, and especially during the pandemic, it’s not cutting it. Hustle culture, burnout, and heaping more “discipline” on top of me like an overactive bootcamp coach isn’t getting me to do any of the things I want to do. Here’s what’s working for me instead.
Let’s Talk 12: Try It And See
If you’re ever stuck or waffling in a decision, here’s a phrase and a short-hand that I love that helps remind me to take action: “Try it and see.” It’s something I use when I don’t know whether or not to do something. (It doesn’t work in ALL instances, but it certainly helps when I’m stuck.)
Let’s Talk 11: Getting Out Of A Rut
How do you get out of a rut? When you’re stuck at home, with children or without your brain (or BOTH), how do you get back into a groove and find your way? This episode is for anyone that feels anxious, stressed out, overwhelmed, or unable to complete a to-do list. I’m taking the view that it’s time to learn and adapt to our situation, and figure out the best strategies for us as individuals and how we get through this.
// Big Life Questions
Who Is Imagining The Future?
One of the questions we’re all asking about—begging for, really—is what the future might look like. Where are we going, and what does the next year look like? I find myself searching for writers who have thought about this—people who have imagined it, who are dreaming about it, or have studied it. It turns out, there are definitely a few people who have written things like this, from winding forays into five-year futures, to epidemiologists and pandemic researchers thinking through so many of the layered consequences of viral diseases. Here are the people talking about what the future looks like, and a few ways to begin thinking about what’s next.
You Don’t Have To Be Okay
It’s okay not to have it figured out. It’s okay to not be productive. You’re allowed — I mean, even expected — to not be okay right now. It’s okay to be feeling whatever it is that you are feeling—grief, confusion, rage, fog, happiness, joy. Your life is your own, and it’s yours to feel.
How Not To Lose Your Mind
The next few days and weeks are going to challenge us, a lot. Having everything suddenly shift and having our lives disrupted this much is a huge deal. Here are seven ways to stay sane.
Screw the fairytales
In my twenties, I was on track to fulfill all the obligations of being a woman in this society: engaged to be married, great job, graduate degree education, wanted to have kids. Society was happy for me, and that ring on my finger was the icing on the cake. The problem? I didn’t like the job, and I was wildly uncertain about the prospect of getting married, even though I’d said yes to the proposal. Then, over the span of a year, I lost my rib (it was taken out of my body through emergency surgery), I lost my fiancé, and I found myself in completely new territory. What happens after the fairy-tale ending? In most books, my engagement would have been the happily-ever-after. Here, I had a new lease on life, and finally, slowly, started listening to myself and what I wanted, instead.
Three Things To Grow Rich In (That Aren’t Money)
Wealth can be created across more areas than just financially. Sure, monetary wealth can be a beautiful thing, and I’ve got aims to grow wealthy in money. But there’s three areas that are more important to me for wealth than just money.
How Will You Measure Your Life? The Art of Managing Yourself
This morning I was fortunate enough to wake up at 5:06am, an hour before my baby wakes up, and I had a rare hour to myself to read, write, and meditate. I picked up an HBR series called “On Managing Yourself” and meandered through Clayton Christensen’s essay, “How Will You Measure Your Life?” These are some of...
// Decision Making
The 25/5 Rule For Finding Focus
Paralysis. Indecision. Procrastination. I’m not alone. The 25/5 strategy helps every single time, and it’s so important I’m writing about it.
Never Choose Seven
A simple trick that helped me make better decisions. Truly—this mindset shift has stuck with me every since I learned about it many weeks ago.
Why I Tracked Every Book I Read in 2017
This year, I decided to track all of the books I read to see what was making it's way into my mind. As part of my year of devotion and paying more attention to where I spend my mental energy, I kept a running list of all of the books I read. I also tracked the order I read the books, as well as a short summary of each on my...
How Do You Decide What Book to Read Next?
If I could read every (good) book ever made, I would. But, time has a way of limiting us, and I want quality over quantity. Recently I stumbled on a great way of choosing which book to read next. Here’s how it works.
Eliminate the Thinking
One of my goals is to find a way to minimize the amount of thinking I have to do about any particular subject. My brain is really addicted to thinking. It's one of its favorite things to do. But there's a certain amount of useless thinking that happens about things that don't need as much brain time on them. For example,...
Why Saying “No” Is A Kindness
I invited two dear friends to join a book club with me. I think their reactions were remarkable. The first said, “No thanks,” directly. “Business books are so oversaturated in my life right now. I’m only reading fiction,” he said. "I can't read another business book right now." Done. Clear. Easy. Being direct is a kindness....
// How People Work
If A Kid Breaks Their Arm, What Do You Do?
A quick primer on understanding key issues when talking about race, racism, and anti-racism in America and beyond.
Let’s Talk 12: Try It And See
If you’re ever stuck or waffling in a decision, here’s a phrase and a short-hand that I love that helps remind me to take action: “Try it and see.” It’s something I use when I don’t know whether or not to do something. (It doesn’t work in ALL instances, but it certainly helps when I’m stuck.)
Permission To Feel Your Feelings
This time we’re living in right now is exhausting, and I’m baffled by all of the extra zeal towards getting more done, and being extra productive, and “making the most” of our quarantine time. I don’t think this is the time to make the most of it. Sure, if you have the energy and the drive to make things, do it. If you’re struggling and scrambling to put things together and pay bills and keep your jobs, I completely understand. But that’s not what I’m hearing from people. People feel vulnerable, they’re struggling to focus, they’re zombied out on their phones, they’re completely overwhelmed by childcare and jobs.
Don’t Forget To Sleep (If You Can)
These last few weeks have been long and tumultuous. As we move forward collectively we will go through some phases in our journey. In the beginning, there’s a dawning realization, awareness, and information gathering that happens. We begin resourcing and preparing and responding—however we each respond.
Toilet Email (And Why It Matters For Your Marketing)
Why do people email when they are on the toilet, and does it matter for your marketing? It does, and here’s why it’s so important.
My 2020 B-School Bonus—An All-Year Accountability Program & Monthly Mastermind So You Can Take Consistent Action On Your Dreams
The 2020 cycle of B-School, Marie Forleo's bestselling online program to teach you the fundamentals of profit, marketing, and clarity in your business, is now open for enrollment! If you are thinking about joining B-School this year and you've been wanting to connect and work with me, read on. I'm offering a private coaching...
// Conscious Community
One Hiring Mistake I See New Entrepreneurs Make All The Time
“I’ll start a podcast and interview people I know,” someone says. Twenty episodes in, and they realize that they’ve accidentally interviewed people that look identical—all one gender, all one race. Did they do it on purpose? Of course not. Most people don’t mean to. We don’t set out to say “Hey look, I think I’ll create the most biased podcast out there and only interview people that look like me.” But when we don’t pay attention, this happens over and over again. Here’s why it happens, why it’s important to notice it, and when to intervene to change it.
How to Give Great Advice (and Why Most Advice Doesn’t Work)
It’s fun to brainstorm, to be clever, to solve things. But sometimes other people don’t need us to solve their problem, offer advice, or jump in with the perfect story. Sometimes they just need us to listen. Listening isn’t being quiet: it’s an active process. And it takes work to listen well. Here are a few strategies for being better at giving advice (without giving advice).
Start Sooner: How One Conference Kickstarted My Blog, My Business, and My Freedom
More than any course, metric, skill, or tactic, the people you surround yourself will make the biggest difference in your life and career. Conferences can be transformative experiences. When you bring people together in one place, for one weekend, to celebrate, to learn, and to connect, you leave changed.
Want More Connection?
I have a friend who seems to run into people he knows everywhere he goes. He seems like the most connected person I know. I laughed and asked him how he does it. Here’s what he shared with me.
The Introvert’s Guide to Networking at a Conference
My friend was recently excited about a conference but terrified of going and getting overwhelmed. He texted me: “Help! do you have any good networking advice for introverts at conferences?" Conferences are a great way to meet people, and it’s one of the best ways I’ve used to reach out to new people, connect with peers,...
Humor, Comedy, and Laughter: How To Tell A Great Joke (And When It’s Not Funny)
I always cringe when someone tells a joke and it's a joke that's at someone else's expense. Making fun of people isn't great comedy. It's cruelty disguised as humor. "Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people." — Eleanor Roosevelt. But how do you know? What's the difference...
RECESS: A FREE AUDIO COURSE
Five minute guided resets for sanity and clarity. Listen to the free samples below or sign up for the full course—also available for free—at sarahkpeck.com/recess
GUIDED STORIES, BREATHWORK & VISUALIZATIONS