Dear Reader,

Every year, I throw a “last hurrah to summer” ice cream party. Neighbors, kids, dogs, and friends of friends show up for a scoop.

So this week, in my productive procrastination of back-to-school paperwork, I’m collecting eggs, pulling carrots for carrot cake ice cream, and bugging my husband to roast more coffee (his favorite flavor).

Making each flavor takes about two days, and I aim for 12 (do the math).

If you ask me why I put in all that effort, I would say, “Because it’s worth it.”

Maybe ice cream isn’t your thing, but I imagine you have activities that, on the surface, seem like “a great waste of precious time,” but inside, you feel are really worth it.

Worth-it activities have a few things in common. And it’s because of these things I think you need to prioritize them more.

1. You just love doing it. You feel joy, contentment, satisfaction, and uplifted by doing the activity.
2. You’re an expert beginner. You have competence and autonomy in your advanced skills but also humility in how much there is to learn.
3. It’s self-serving and self-expanding. The activity lets you express your unique strengths while connecting to something bigger than you.
4. You get a role refresh. You step away from another demanding life role and feel refreshed and reset when you return.
5. It’s a ritual. It marks a time of day, a day of the week, or a season of life, and you honor that time with your efforts.
6. You enter creative flow. You’re free to brainstorm, experiment, and color outside the box of convention.
7. It offers you a sense of generativity. It’s something people will remember you by. You are making your mark, leaving your legacy, and hopefully teaching others along the way.

What’s on your worth-it activity list?

Keep churning it! We need refreshed, creative, and expanded people in this world to meet its challenges.

Ok! Off to make lemon sherbet (from the lemons I borrowed from my neighbor).

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Something worth watching This week, I stepped away from the mic and practiced yoga with my guest! In this episode, Sarah Ezrin and I weave yoga, parenting, and wise effort all into one creative episode! ​ I want to watch

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Something worth doing Are you a clinician wanting to know what’s around the corner for evidence-based therapy? Join me and Joseph Ciarrochi for a free 1-hour workshop on Process-Based Therapy! ​ Sign me up!

Something worth writing about

What are your worth-it activities? Go down the list of the seven features of a worth-it activity. How does your worth-it activity enhance your life?

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