Befriending your Imposter Syndrome

I truly enjoyed this podcast episode with Icelandic president Halla Tómasdóttir. Halla joins Adam to discuss dealing with impostor syndrome, why leadership is worth the effort and how listening and asking questions can build trust with constituents and make you a stronger leader. The two also dig into the story behind Halla’s “scarf revolution,” Iceland’s history of solving problems with creativity and Halla’s approach to leading her campaign — and presidency — with optimism.

(Thank you Andee)

Offline

Loving this poster by Ryan Miller x Rainforest Trust. Ordered!

Mini Side Tables

I love these minimal mini side tables by UNFNSHED. Paint them in whatever color matches your home and voila. Wishlisted!

An Old New House

Reposting this personal story from my Instagram Account as this resonated with so many of my followers.

Last month marked the anniversary of our adoption of a truly magical house. Her name is Finne.

She was built in the 1830s and from what we know was a loving and communal home to families in Salem NY. Then, a gentleman lovingly took her apart, piece by piece, labeling every beam and creating detailed instructions on how to rebuild her.

He listed her on Craigslist, hoping to find someone who will bring her back to life. He did. Cue Hudson Valley based builders Bex and Dave.

They drove their truck up and moved her three hours south. They schemed her rebirth and eventually started pouring her a foundation. They then poured a tremendous amount of love into her, expanding her original footprint. A year later they listed her for adoption, mid October of 2023.

That night, I was out for dinner with Tim and happened to see the listing pop up.

Just a few days earlier, I made the intention to buy a house upstate that could hold all of our grown-ish children and be a physical manifestation of our love. There she was!

I saw photos of Finne and gasped. I slid the phone over to Tim and he started reading the history of the house. Then he gasped.

The next day we were the first ones to see her. Before walking in, I told ‘my team up there’ that if this was my house, there better be a clear sign.

We walked in and were taken aback by Finne’s beauty. The original old wooden floors, stairs, exposed beams and extremely tasteful designed details all around.

We sat in the staircase for an hour, talking about life with the broker. On my final walk through of the house, I noticed a book on the nightstand, that was put there by the person who staged the house, Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert. It’s one of my all time favorite books and I had started reading it for the 5th time two days prior. I chuckled. I hear you universe. I hear you loud and clear.

After a sleepless night, I spent a ridiculously long time writing a heartfelt offer letter to the sellers. Their broker responded with “Thanks. We have 6 showings this weekend and it will go to the highest bidder!”

My heart sank. I knew I could not participate in a bidding war. And I accepted the fact this might have been it. Onward!

The next morning, the weekend of the 6 showings, my broker calls me and said “The owners just read your letter and canceled all the showings. They accepted your offer and your application for neighborly friendship!”

Gasp! Tears were shed.

Fast forward legal schmegal. We closed on the house on 12/13/23 and have called her our home ever since.

Finne is gentle and majestic. She is wise but also silly. She loves to host and wrap guests in her warm energy. (Yes, houses have personality/soul!)

We love her so. But the biggest score of all is that we now call the humans who lovingly brought her back to life, Bex and Dave, our friends and neighbors.

The end.

This Energy for 2025

Instead of my traditional start-of-the-year-birthday-intentions-post, I bring you this girl. May we all channel her energy and confidence in 2025.

(My intentions post for 2024 and 2023)

Build A New Model

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”
—Buckminster Fuller

One Minute Park

Need a bit of a break. Can’t go outside? Try One Minute Park.

To Create A Magic World

The Fediverse

I am excited for what the Fediverse promises: A diverse community of interconnected social platforms. More in this blog post about the open social web.

Always Go To The Funeral

“Always go to the funeral” means that I have to do the right thing when I really, really don’t feel like it. I have to remind myself of it when I could make some small gesture, but I don’t really have to and I definitely don’t want to. I’m talking about those things that represent only inconvenience to me, but the world to the other guy. You know, the painfully under-attended birthday party. The hospital visit during happy hour. The Shiva call for one of my ex’s uncles. In my humdrum life, the daily battle hasn’t been good versus evil. It’s hardly so epic. Most days, my real battle is doing good versus doing nothing.”

A beautiful read: Always Go To The Funeral, by Deirdre Sullivan

Community is…

“Community is what happens when you do what you love together.”
Pete Davis

People I Want To Meet

Switzerland based Software Design Toni keeps a List of People he’d like to meet on his personal website. This is wonderful. Thank you for the inspiration!

(via Chris Glass)

The BonBaron Sherpa Chair

I love this chair. By posting it here, I am adding it to my virtual wishlist. That’s all.

We Can Disagree

“We can disagree and still love each other unless your disagreement is rooted in my oppression and denial of my humanity and right to exist.”
– James Baldwin

Map of Reddit


Wow! This is magical: a map of the Reddit. Each dot represents a subreddit. Two dots within the same cluster are close to each other if multiple users frequently leave comments on both subreddits. Created by Andrei Kashcha.

David Szauder (AI Art)


Wow. This. is absolutely magical. Hat tip to David Szauder for dreaming this up. (Yes, it’s generated with AI tools.)

Integrity

The use of the word integrity is in decline.

Look

This poster over on Drool caught my eye.

Instrument of Cultural Change

“A talent for speaking differently, rather than for arguing well, is the chief instrument of cultural change.”
― Richard Rorty

(via Casper)

Carl Sagan on Books

Everything is on Fire

“Everything is on fire,
but everyone I love is doing beautiful things
and trying to make life worth living,
and I know I don’t have to believe in everything,
but I believe in that.”
Nikita Gill

Now we continue living a life of integrity, kindness and community, no matter the circumstances. Find the helpers. Connect hearts.

The PARA Method

Seems like I feel like organizing my digital life. I stumbled upon PARA, a simple, comprehensive system for organizing any type of digital information across any platform. Intrigued.

Email System

I enjoyed watching this streamlining process and email system set up.

Exploded Fruit Bowl

This Exploded Fruit Bowlby by Paul Cocksedge made me smile.