Weekly Good Things 2024 - Week 28

Good Things, and the Weekly Meal Plan.

Jul 15, 2024

Hello! Hello! Welcome to another weekly episode of Good Things where I give you a peek into my everyday life during the week, and roundup my good links, ideas, books, and more.

Happy Week to you!

This morning I spent far too long staring at the opening to my letter to you here. It’s impossible to capture the sentiment, tension, and fears I see in my communities right now.

It all feels daunting. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed.

This is precisely why I’m so committed to this weekly practice of identifying Good Things for myself.

This work gives me the energy to do good things in the world – and hopefully inspires a nugget or two of action and momentum on your part, so that we can collectively do the work of repair the world needs. We must come together in community to make the world a better place.

For the past week I’ve been immersed in my mid-year review.

It’s a time of reflection and regrouping that is a non-negotiable for me.

I loosely base my activities off of my own retrospective template: answering “What went well?” “What could be improved?” and “What should I stop doing?”.

I start by reviewing my photos, my calendar, my activities and connections, my morning journal writing, blogs and newsletters. I go through my regular questions, and come up with some open questions for the mid-year to journal on.

I also tend to take a peek at the writing and reviews of others who I know are similarly introspective to come up with additional questions to ask myself! (I have a swipe file of these kinds of posts! Why reinvent the wheel?

👋 If you are new here, welcome! I try to fill these newsletters with a little something for everyone. (If you are just here for the food, it’s at the end! Feel free to scroll, I won’t judge!)

5 Good Questions for a Mid-Year Review:

In addition to the basics, I try to take some time to dig a little beyond the surface with self-inquiry. Sometimes I’ll sit and write out a first pass response, and then come back a few days later to dig a little deeper. (Last year I got a lot of value out of the Huberman Journaling Protocol episode in diving deep into a specific difficult topic.)

What hard conversations do you need to have right now?
What am I directly avoiding right now?
What do I want to learn this year? (Learning objectives, courses, learning with friends)
What are my values? What do my choices *show* have been my priorities?
What am I going to stop doing?

Good Things This Week:

All things considered, it was a generally good week. I’ve been waking up earlier in the mornings, spending a little bit more time outside, walking more.

After spending some time noodling on creative activities that I enjoy doing, I grabbed my DSLR off the shelf to take some better photographs. (I’m also out of practice!)

✍️ Going Analog: one of the results of my mid-year review is doubling down on efforts to work with my brain. Part of this is making some of my regular processes and habits more visible (and turning them analog). Making better use of whiteboards, checklists, and printing things. Writing out my weekly to-do list (and Done list). I also spent time cleaning up some of my digital spaces (including our work Asana) in order to help with focus.
💡 Connecting with creative humans: I get significant joy out of discussing and amplifying the good work of others. I’m always delighted to help a friend clarify an idea, solidify a direction, brainstorm options, or get more specific. This week I was delighted to spend some time with my friend David Gerber who writes a newsletter Beyond the Cove. On a hot evening around the corner from my house, I coincidentally ran into a college friend, Lisa, who was with her friend Veronica plotting out their new women’s performance workwear line. We ended up chatting for a few hours, and I got my friend Michele (a fellow business owner) to come join us! A few days later I ran into Veronica chatting with a woman Katie who is a tennis pro, and has a line of gorgeous precious metal hand crocheted bracelets. I also got to help my friend Jill organize some details around her new fractional finance business.
🔮 AI Experimentation: I’ve been playing with ChatGPT vs. Claude and other sources. Last year I kicked off a month long daily experiment in getting up to speed with AI as a tool in my day to day workflow. I typically find AI to be the most useful in updating my (already very detailed outlines, and helping me things that I’ve missed.) Claude is a much more friendly/human sounding responder.
📣 Asking for help is hard. In order to find more balance, I know I need to delegate more, and this takes practice. My attempts at doing so in a few specific areas of need failed spectacularly this week – hoping to regroup and try again! (Note to self: identifying clear needs, deadlines, and communication requirements up front is key.)

Slow Drip Gardening

Last week, my mom brought me an old growth hosta from the house to break up and plant here. It’s been a little bit transplant shocked, and some sections are doing better than others.
The back plot (which we moved) has been filled with soil, I built a fence, and made the first attempt at planting. It is indeed partially shaded, so we’ll see what does well – right now the rhubarb is cranky in there, but the herbs seem okay.
I ordered some succulent potting soil to re-pot my inside succulents.
My seeded parsley is coming up.

What are you planting?

More Good Things:

📖 Reading: In my “Year of Sanderson” we’re on to the Rhythm of War (I’ve also downloaded Tress of the Emerald Sea to listen to). Working my way slowly through: William James’ The Varieties of Religious Experience, and David Burns’ ‘The Feeling Good Handbook’. ‘This is your Brain On Music’ by Daniel Levitin. Dr. Casey Mean’s Good Energy. Finally finished Emily Henry’s Funny Story. Started The Curious Secrets of Yesterday by Namrata Patel (going to her book event this week.)
🎧 Listen: The Bone Valley Podcast (if you like true crime, this is excellent.) Still building and enjoying adding to my July Spotify playlist. Summer of pop. (The new Kesha Joyride song.) I’m working on my Podcast Listening List (if you have a favorite podcast you’ve been listening to, please let me know!) // Poolsuite FM for your pool listening needs.
🩺 Health: after ramping up some walking and re-committing to regular lifting (all it takes is printing my workouts), I also made some progress this week in self-care (a well overdue sports massage), and a trip for a DEXA scan, RMR, and VO2max test. I love having benchmark data.
🌻 Flowers of the Week: clipped more gorgeous hydrangea from my overflowing bush! What a treat to have several weeks of joyful blooms!
🛍️ Good Acquisitions: I was influenced by The Block Shop in purchasing this very nicely designed car care manual. A large whiteboard/bulletin board which is turning into part of my externalized HQ. A soap holder. A bottle emptying kit for your conditioners. More of my preferred electrolyte mix. And another pair of Brooks Glycerins, my preferred running shoe, because I’ve been racking up the miles. Tight calves and nagging twinges are my no fail sign after 200 or so miles that I need to replace my shoes.
✅ Tackle a Nagging Task: this was a great week for getting things done. I’m still bullish on my “Done List” which is where I simply take note of all of the errands I do as I get them done. I went to the carwash ($35 at Allston carwash gets you both exterior and interior wipe downs). I washed the dog beds. I printed out my monthly intentions and put them on my bulletin board.
📺 Watching: Finishing up The Acolyte (do NOT recommend), in progress with House of the Dragon. Absolutely LOVING ‘My Lady Jane’ on Prime. (This show was *terribly* marketed, and is delightful.
🤣 Memes and randomness of the week: I can’t stop looking at photos and videos from the Ambani wedding John Cena looks absolutely delighted to be there, and Priyanka Chopra and that Jonas brother are just living their best lives. I’ve been enjoying the invitations (not unlike Glass Onion!), the sets - they basically built a set on their billion dollar property. The jewelry influencer who has been doing TikToks. // Jack Schlossberg’s unhinged TikTok persona, and the bit that is being a Vogue correspondent (they are in on the joke) // RIP Dr. Ruth.

The Weekly Meal Plan:

Why do I do this? I’ll note, my meal plans tend to be more of a directional support for me than what I actually end up eating in my week. (I think a lot of people who do meal planning feel obligated to actually eat the things they come with rather than just using as a placeholder/inspiration. I do not feel so constricted.)

🍒 Good Eats from this Past Week:

I’ve had Just Bare Lightly Breaded Chicken Fillets in the freezer, which have been a great backup meal or snack – chicken nuggets for adults! I grabbed some chocolate mousse from Whole Foods which was delicious. My lunch on repeat was a combo of puglia lentils, cucumbers and tomatoes, white cheese, and red wine vinegar. I had a Starbucks birthday cake pop. (I did not know how much I would enjoy this?)
I swung by Boston Kebab in Waltham – I had no idea that it was such a bustling sit down place! In Istanbul there are all of these cafeteria-like restaurants with home cooking that I love, and it reminded me of that!

✍️ Every week I spend some time working on my "Let’s Eat” kitchen organization spreadsheet. I’m working this week to consolidate some notes - favorite recipes recommended by friends into one place on my sheet.

Bean of the week: (none until I finish my lentils!)

Weekend prep: I went to farmers market on Saturday morning, and picked up zucchini, cucumbers, tomatoes, fennel, cod, striper, and apricots.

Sunday: Macaroni and cheese with zucchini, tomatoes, and herbs
Monday: Miso mayo cod, soba noodles, bok choy
Tuesday: Yasmin Fahr’s grilled tahini-honey chicken thighs with zucchini
Wednesday: Scampo at the Liberty Hotel after an event
Thursday: Momofuku Bo Ssam via Smitten Kitchen
Friday: inspiration from Bettina: pasta, peas, garlic scapes, crispy mortadella
Saturday: Deconstructed mantı with noodles, ground beef, garlic, yogurt, chile

Lunch Options: Lentil salad. Salmon with marinated artichokes and beans. Lamb vindaloo with yogurt, tadka dal and yogurt. Greek chickpeas with cumin. Coconut chickpea curry. Trader Joe’s Kimbap. TJs Jumeokbap. 🦞 A lobster roll off the summer list.

Snacks: 🍒 Cherries. Blueberries. Strawberries. Yogurt and berries, yogurt with lemon and nuts, eggs, cottage cheese, cheese sticks. Turkey Chomps.

Treat options: Apple Tartines. Key Lime Pie. Trader Joe’s S’Mores in the freezer section. Popsicles. Dark Chocolate covered pistachios. Chocolate Lava Cake. (Want to grab a new Flour Bakery corn muffin)

What are you eating this week?

Previous Years:

Something I really enjoy doing is flipping back in my journal or my blog to the week of the year over the past several years. When I write it out in a list like this, it feels like a nice accomplishment!

Observing the data this week: Apparently it’s break season.

That’s all for now! Hope you have a great week!

xo, Sam

PS: Will you forward this to ONE person you think would like this newsletter? Thank you!

🧠 Good Things with Sam Tackeff

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