Productivity secrets from a sexy chef. A worksheet for goals that matter. And more.

Published: Mon, 07/20/15

Hello & happy Monday!

It's been 10 days since my last note to you. July is FLYING.

Here are a few things I've written recently. Enjoy these pieces now. Or later. Or never. This is a zero-pressure zone. :)

- Productivity secrets that I learned from a sexy chef. That chef... happens to be my partner and sweetheart, Brandon. You know him. You love him. He practically has his own online fan club, these days! (And he's a Leo so he adooores the attention...)

- This might help you stick with your fitness goals. A worksheet (and some mental re-frames) that really work for me. Side note: you could totally use this approach with any goal (writing a book, being more punctual, working towards a new career), not just fitness-oriented desires.

- "I want to get started as a copywriter. What should I do?" The latest from Good Question, my advice column. This includes an email script that you can use to let people know that you're interested in swinging into a new career (any career, not just copywriting) and that you are ready to start lining up your first 'round of clients.

- How to get “back on track” with a goal when you’re backsliding, hard. My tips on how to reboot your motivation to work out, write, paint, meditate, or whatever else you want & need to do.

- If you ever find yourself thinking, "What's the point of writing / blogging / trying to do [insert project here] because I don't have any 'fans' yet and nobody even cares what I make?"... this one's for you.

It's so easy to feel "invisible" in the midst of "power-bloggers" with millions of fans and glittering book deals with publishers in NYC, but it's vital to remember that you can have a "smaller" audience and still have a very real and significant impact on people's lives. This is not a woo-woo, ya-ya pep talk. It's the truth.

Because of something that you write, say, or create, you might inspire 1,000 people to sign up for a 5K race and get active for the first time in a decade... or maybe you will inspire 1 teenage girl to sign up for kickboxing lessons and discover just how strong and powerful she is, instead of starving herself to death in an effort to look "prettier."

Who will you choose to be, today?

The kind of person who chooses not to write or create anything, because "nobody is listening so why bother"?

Or the kind of person who says, "Whether I am improving the life of 1 single human being or 1,000, my work is worth creating."

I hope you will choose the second mindset (and I'm guessing you will, because you're amazing like that).

I hope you will share something that feels good to create (a text, an email, a blog post, a poem, a painting, a pie baked with love).

I hope you will remember that, in doing so, you are creating a ripple effect of positivity, improving people's lives in a real, tangible way, and there's no telling how far & wide that ripple might extend.

"Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can." Arthur Ashe

Let the ripple begin.

Wishing you a beautiful & productive day...

-Alex

PS. If you are looking for a powerful, knock-your-socks-off, intensely motivating book to read... this could be it. (I'm halfway through and I LOVE IT.)

PPS. If you are looking for a really sexy, smutty, passionate, thrilling book to read... I just finished this one and SWEET LORD IN HEAVEN. All I can say is, "Amen."

PPPS. This song is my world right now. Enjoy.