The February Chill
The Pick Me Up is a Monday morning newsletter filled with advice, personal stories, and tips to help you get out of bed and jumpstart your week.
Greetings, friend! It’s me, Jen Glantz. Welcome to a brand new Monday, in a brand new month.
February makes me feel life I’m on ice.
Even though I call myself a New Yorker (I’ve lived here 11-years), I blame my Florida roots for making me unable to fully adjust to the winter climate. I spend most of year bundled in this, packing my pocket with these.
Perhaps you feel this way too, but when February 1st rolls around, I have a moment where I think to myself:
What am I doing with my life?
One month of the year has already been stomped on. How the heck am I going to live differently this month?
My plan: Be more organized. Be more patient. Be less hasty. Spend less time on TikTok.
In this issue: How to get the most out of the month ahead, a song I can’t stop pressing play-on, and winter essentials I’m really digging.
Why you’re getting this: I'm Jen Glantz and this is The Pick-Me-Up newsletter. I've been sending it every Monday, for 8-years, to thousands of awesome humans, just like you. Thank you for letting this email live in in your inbox. It truly makes my heart explode with joy.
Instant Pick Me Ups
🍪: If there’s a friend you’ve been thinking about a lot lately and want to do something nice for them, I have an idea for you. It will only cost 60 cents. Write them a letter. Share a memory from the past that makes you happy. Put it in the mail. What a fun, simple, and joyful surprise.
📚:I love when celebrities write books that are open, honest, and share a perspective we’ve never heard from them. That’s why this is the book on my nightstand right now.
🎧: This song makes me so happy. I know the new year has passed, but whatever, any day can feel like the start of something big, special, amazing. This song always pumps me up.
Make February Matter
For so many years, my life was a high-speed treadmill that I was always trying to run faster on.
The pandemic changed all of that, all at once.
I came face-to-face with my life, my real life, the one where all the distractions that you've become really good at keeping close, the ones that keep you far away from what was slow dancing right in front of you, evaporated.
What was left?
Crumpled up piles of dirty laundry, unfinished to-do lists, a whole lot of expired countdown clocks.
I finally saw exactly what I had become so good at doing:
Running around in circles with my arms open, trying to hold onto everything that was slowly falling apart, slipping away, unlatching from my pinky finger.
I had to take control of it.
I made a promise that this year, I'd be deliberate about how I spent my months, my time, my energy.
I set my 2023 goals, broke them up into 90-day timelines, and made sure that at the start of every single month, I knew what I wanted and I knew what I was going to do to make that happen.
Ps. I did this all in a simple Google doc that I keep open on my computer so I can see it every single day.
If you’re someone eager to make the most out of your months, including this one, right here, right now, here’s my advice:
1. Map Out Your To-Do Lists
I write down every single thing I want to accomplish in the entire month (for all categories of my life - finances, work, personal goals, etc.) on a Google doc and on a sheet of paper that I sometimes carry around with me, like a school hall pass, as a way of showing myself "LOOK, JEN! You're giving yourself permission to do really gigantic and terrifying things."
Every Sunday, I look at this list and pick what I want to do that week. I write out those tasks and start planning the days I’m going to get them done.
Okay, if you’re still with me - get this:
Every morning, I make a to-do list for the day and break it up into three parts. It looks like this:
This helps me stay focused and have a check list for the day. Whatever I don’t finish, I push to the next day or the day after.
2. Pick THREE Things to Make Your Life Memorable
We only get one February 2023. So when I'm 97-years old and someone is like "Hey, you! What did you do with your precious and extraordinary life in February 2023?" - I want to have a gigantic answer for them other than: “I watched a lot of Netflix and gave into extreme Imposter Syndrome.”
This month, those things include:
-Traveling some place new
-Renewing our vows
-Finishing the last chapter of a book and getting it published :)
3. Get Extreme
I think of the most absurd, unusual and comfort zone busting things I can do and I plan to do them.
Mostly, these tasks involve emailing people who are 97% unlikely to ever write me back or start working on something with an even higher chance of failure.
I challenge myself to grow up, to change, to face the fact that i'm only happy when I'm living life like it's some kind of extreme sport - and I'm responsible for making that happen.
Here’s an example of the day I did this in January.
4. Be Nice to Myself (A work in progresS)
This is something new and something sweet.
I write down at least four nice things I can do for myself that month.
They are almost always things that cost zero dollars. Usually it's a gentle reminder to give my hobbies more quality time, or rest...I am no good at resting.
There's a whole lot of things we can't control in 2023.
But then again, there's a treasure chest of things we can.
I'm power walking toward those things, my friend.
I hope you are too.
All my love,
Random Pick-Me-Ups
Selling Everything: Over the holiday season, I became obsessed with selling everything in my apartment I didn’t need or want anymore. I made over $500 selling stuff on Poshmark, FB Marketplace, and OfferUp. It takes work to set up each item, but then sometimes sales happen fast. Just a good idea if you want to make some extra cash this month.
Winter Essentials: I’m by no means a pro at this winter thing, but here are some of my favorite items to wear when it’s freezing outside.
Secrets: Whenever I’m feeling really lonely, I like to read other people’s secrets. It makes life feel more relatable. Do you remember this book? I recently bought it again because it’s a good coffee table book and one that makes me feel less alone in life.
Ps. Let’s work together - here’s how:
1:1 coaching // courses // company workshops & speaking
+ Random:
Books // Card Game // Podcast // Bridesmaid for Hire
+Social:
I’ll be back next week with a new Monday Pick-Me-Up. Until then, I leave you with this:
I hope you love something as much as my best friend loves her best friend. This is what I mean by that (LOL).