I love a good list. I’m here for all the summer bucket lists. I’m hoping not to tarnish the summer bucket list by also making a summer-work-bucket-list. Summer feels full of delicious possibility. That unique slice of time that lends itself to imaginaation. Adventure.  Step outside my usual habits.  That’s what I want to invoke with a summer-work-bucket-list.

Here’s a start on my summer-work-bucket-listz;

Experiment with one new habit that makes work feel spacious. This one is about unstructured think time for me. Starting the day outside instead of in my email.

Make one new work friend. I mean more than one coffee. I mean being intentional about getting together a couple of times. Sending funny texts. Doing the work of nurturing a new relationship.

Reconnect with one lost work friend.

Write and post one piece that scares me. The summer-work-bucket-list equivalent of an adventure hike.

Challenge my Bad Vibes. This one might feel a little “eat your vegetables-ish” but hang in there. This is about recognizing the spaciousness in challenging the little voice in my head that whispers “that person gives me bad vibes” or “I just know she’s not for me.” The person I might bump into and say a quick hello but internally roll my eyes. Or the person who pops onto zoom and suddenly I’m dreading the hour ahead of me.

I’m not talking about the person who is truly a jerk. I’m talking about the person I don’t know but prematurely judged as “not my person.” When I do that I attribute it to my outstanding instinct or gut feeling and pat myself on the back for being so intuitive. Which is complete BS. I’ll challenge those bad vibes with at least one person this summer. I’ll say hello and learn something about them over coffee. Might not be a forever friend but I’ll have more joy when I don’t waste my time carrying around manufactured bad vibes.

Three other things on my mind this week. Love this advice on creativity and so much more. This Ted Lasso life lesson. My favorite smores cookie recipe.

– KBD