Does anyone else feel like they’re talking to themselves this week?
I get that next week is a holiday, but that’s NEXT WEEK.
Why isn’t anyone working THIS WEEK?
As I scrolled through my gazillion of blog post ideas, I couldn’t get excited about any of them.
Because, the truth of the matter is, I’m sort of feeling like I want to be on holiday right now, too.
But then I had a brilliant idea (at least my team who is paid to think I’m brilliant thought so)!
Every night, at bedtime, I ask my Small Child a series of questions:
- What was your favorite part of the day?
- What was your favorite thing you did for a friend?
- What was your favorite thing you ate?
- What was your favorite book you read?
- What was your favorite game you played?
It can go on like that for eons, as she struggles to find every reason in the book not to go to sleep.
We thought it’d be fun to do Tell Us Your Favorites with a twist.
I am going to ask six questions.
In the comments, we’d like you to answer the six questions.
I’ve asked my team to participate so I have their favorites under each.
It might become something larger that has tons of recommendations useful for all of us.
Let’s play Tell Us Your Favorites.
What is Your Favorite Book of the Year?
I just finished The Women in the Castle two nights ago—and it’s my favorite of the year, so far.
Other recommendations from my team include:
- The Power of Habit
- The Nightingale (I second this!)
- Break the Habit of Being Yourself
- In a Sunburned Country
- Ready Player One
- Emperor’s Blades series
- Million Dollar Outlines
- Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI
What is a Not-to-be-Missed Podcast?
Corina said “How I Built This” on NPR is her favorite.
It’s not PR, but that’s OK! We’re all in business.
Of course, I’d be remiss if I didn’t recommend Inside PR.
And, this is totally tooting our own horns, but the Big Data episode that aired earlier this week is one of our best.
Laura said her favorite is Presidential (which I can attest to because she quotes me stats from it that I could not care less about so I just smile and nod).
Mike said his favorite is Writing Excuses (you may be sensing a theme).
No one else listens to podcasts so they can up-vote Inside PR for me.
What is Your Favorite Movie of the Year?
Gosh, this is a hard one for me these days.
Gone are the days of lazy weekends sitting in the movie theater.
Now the only movies I see in the theater are G-rated.
No, wait!
I LOVED La La Land. One of my favorites of all time.
I know that’s technically a 2016 movie, but I saw it right before the Oscars this year.
Love.
Other recommendations from my team include:
- LEGO Batman
- Beauty and the Beast
- Hidden Figures
- Rogue One (which I always pronounce as ro-gay own-nay)
Who is a Must-Follow on Twitter?
You may have heard that Voldemort blocked Stephen King on Twitter.
No matter! JK Rowling to the rescue.
It’s A-M-A-Z-I-N-G to read their tweets about our president.
She is the favorite of many of us on this team.
Mark Manson, the author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, is another favorite.
(TWO people who are clearly gunning for raises said I am a must-follow on Twitter. I disagree. I curate a ton of content there, but I’m not funny. Facebook is different story.)
What is Your Favorite Productivity Tool?
It won’t come as a surprise to most that I love, love, love Slack.
Like I might marry it, love.
It has changed the way we communicate internally and it’s the host of the PR Dream Team (which is awesome).
It integrates with other apps I use, such as Wunderlist, to make life incredibly easy.
And there were at least two +1s on this one among my team.
The other life-changer for me has been Sanebox.
I now get maybe 30 emails every day in my main inbox. That’s so much easier to manage than hundreds at once.
- Pen and paper
- Buffer
- Microsoft Office Suite (this hurts my Mac-loving heart)
- Wunderlist
- A notebook
What Should Everyone Binge on this Holiday Weekend?
I spend a lot (A LOT) of time on the trainer so I’ve pretty much seen everything.
My favorite of the year, so far, has been The Handmaid’s Tale.
It’s super compelling and it hits a little too close to home. It’s well worth the time investment.
Other recommendations include:
One smarty pants said, “They should turn off Netflix and get outside!”
And another smarty pants said, “Whuacamole and tortilla chips” and included a GIF of whack-a-mole.
I would complain, but I feel like I’ve created a culture that allows smart butts (as my mom would say). It serves me right.
Tell Us Your Favorites
Now it’s your turn!
We’d love to hear your favorites in the comments here.
To make it easy, go ahead and answer the following:
- What is your favorite book of the year (it doesn’t have to be published this year, just something you’ve read this year)?
- What is a not-to-be-missed podcast?
- What is your favorite movie of the year (it didn’t have to come out this year, but you’ve had to have watched it this year)?
- Who is a must-follow on Twitter?
- What is your favorite productivity tool?
- What should everyone binge on this holiday weekend?
Let’s hear it!