I'm sending this week's Stuff from Wexford, on the south-east coast of Ireland, enjoying a weekend away from the city with some friends. However, Stuff doesn't stop!
Last week, the most clicked link in #145 was How to Find Joy by Tony Robbins, some excellent advice for all of us.
This week, I have been thinking about boundaries, and how to draw the line, I'm grateful for you joining me as we think about this together.
Before I get to the list, I have a favour... After some great TV recently (Succession, Ted Lasso, Silo, Breeders), I'm looking for some suggestions to impress my colleagues and friends, so could you hit reply (or comment underneath) and recommend something for me to watch please? I'll post a list here next week!
Thank you all for being here on our joint journey of curiosity.
Till next Monday, enjoy...
👓 The Big Stuff - drawing the line
It has been a tough day, maybe a tough week but it's time to sign off and try and enjoy some quality time. How do you ensure that you don't transfer emotions from work, to your precious home life?
The secret is robust work-life boundaries - a set of 'rules' that you can employ to ensure you don't transfer. I try and use my walk (or commute) home as the boundary between my two worlds, with minimal checking of phones/email during my down time. There are plenty of other work-life boundaries you can set.
Boundaries are suddenly everywhere, maybe down to this guy - but alongside boundaries at work there are ways to draw a line in other areas of life.
I've often talked about the fact I try to keep guardrails around technology, it's an example of my boundary from the always online culture.
Personal boundaries are as important as work-life, and finding ways to set them politely will help ensure that you maintain healthy relationships with the people (and the world) around you.
🧠 The Other Stuff
- Mindfulness: What would it be like if we could learn deep appreciation for any moment? Connected to my thoughts about noticing joy in Stuff #145
- Small Talk: Fifty great ways to start a conversation. See also, my free icebreaker app, The Questions.
- Overachievers: Are you an insecure overachiever? How to recognise the five signs, and what to do with the insatiable Drive to Achieve more.
- Career: This job decision matrix is a few years old, but a really useful tool to bring you clarity of thought for your career.
- Tools: Simple Stupid Tools is one of my most used websites, if you need to do something simple like make a QR code or convert a file, this site has you covered.
🌞 The Little Stuff
- Hoodmaps: Brilliant opinionated maps of your city. Dublin is uncanny!
- Life before internet: Young people have no idea what we did after work.
- Diners: I love an American (style) diner - but why do they all look that way?
- Finally: Draggy Box, I'm not fully sure what's going on here, but I like it.
Matt Rutherford
🎧 Aural Stuff
On the Stuff Speakers this week...
🎧 This week's musical recommendation is the beautiful new album from Anohni and the Johnsons, My Back was a Bridge for you to Cross. An intensely soulful album that reflects on the potential destruction of the planet.
Taking inspiration from 60's blue eyed soul like Marvin Gaye, this collection is a really beautiful thing, recorded with minimal production (almost live sounding) and a real heartache for current situations.
I've listened to this a lot since it was released a couple of weeks ago and it continues to improve with every listen. I think we'll see this on a lot of 'best of 2023' lists in December.
Highly recommended.
Matt Rutherford
👂🏼 Stuff Someone Said
“A great way to understand yourself is to seriously reflect on everything you find irritating in others.”
Kevin Kelly - note, a key inspiration for this newsletter
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