TGC Newsletter: February 2024

Welcome to The Growth Coach newsletter! In this monthly email, I'll share a few things circulating in my mind over the previous weeks. These emails will be short and sweet, providing thought-provoking insights and lessons about creativity, youth, career, leadership development, and more. Thanks for following along in this weird journey of life.

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What I'm Reading

The Red Car Theory by Aniket Tapre

The Red Car Theory isn’t just about noticing red cars; it’s a metaphor for the broader concept of recognizing opportunities in life. Just like red cars, opportunities are abundant and diverse, but they often go unnoticed until we intentionally seek them.

Recognizing them can expand opportunity, whether you believe in manifesting, being aware of, or being open to possibilities. There is something about trusting the process, trusting the universe, trusting your brain to notice the red cars and then see value in that noticing. Maybe it’s a way to make coincidences more likely to repeat in the future. The Red Car Theory may not open your world to possibility, but what if it does? How will that belief impact your behavior?

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What I'm Listening To

In a Modern Love Podcast, Un Marry Me, a best-selling author tells his story about how his wife wanted to be “unmarried,” and no, that doesn’t mean divorce. The podcast is a lesson in removing pre-set status quo expectations. When we go through our lives, we fall into similar paths and patterns as others: college, job, marriage, kids, retirement. As we move through that process, the status quo deprioritizes friendship, community, play, or fun. We accept things we think we cannot change. But we can, and that’s what designing the life best for you means. You can redesign how you engage in and with romantic relationships, platonic relationships, run an ethical business as an anti-capitalist, or deconstruct self-care to create community care.

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What I'm Doing

Inspired by a relationship coach, Lily Womble, when small, good moments happen, I’ve started to say out loud, “More for that, please.” It has always made me smile and grateful for a small moment of joy.

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What's Moved Me

This tweet is from Susan Cain’s The Quiet Life newsletter. Susan Cain is the author of my favorite book. Although she’s an introvert and I’m a type A extrovert, her appreciation for the quiet, simple, kind moments of gratitude often move me to tears.

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What I'm Wiggling To

Speaking of hydrogen, just double it and add some oxygen, and you’ve got my new favorite song: Drink Water by Jon Batiste ft. Jon Bellion, Fireboy DML

Stay Playful,

Tamar

TGC Newsletter: January 2024

Welcome to the first edition of The Growth Coach newsletter! In this monthly email, I'll share a few things circulating in my mind over the previous weeks. These emails will be short and sweet, providing thought-provoking insights and lessons about creativity, youth, career, leadership development, and more. I welcome your thoughts and reactions to the content in this newsletter.

Thanks for following along in this weird journey of life.

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What I'm Reading

The root of inspire can be traced to the Latin word "inspirare," which literally translates to "to breathe into," and in early usage, the term's meaning evolved into "to draw air into the lungs." Metaphorically, this mirrors the inspiration process: We take inspiration from the world around us - "breathing it in" - and then "breathe it back out" through how we apply it to our lives.

From The science behind inspiration and how to design more of it into your life, by Minnie Bredouw

My question to you: When you take a deep breath, what did you notice or think about? What, if anything, changed in you?

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What I'm Listening To

NPR's Throughline Podcast episode, No Bad Ideas?, a thought-provoking episode about original thinking, AI, and the history of creativity. This was one of my homework assignments for one of my graduate courses this semester entitled The Responsibility Ladder, People Power and Policy.

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What I'm Doing

I'm taking everyday risks inspired by The Looking Glass: The Year of Everyday Risks by Julie Zhuo. Julie writes:

Everyday risks - the small actions that comes with a twinge of discomfort. Because of that twinge of discomfort, I haven't jumped to do them. And so they continue to remain a notion in my mind, rejected for being too silly, stupid, effortful, fraught, impractical, ego-bruising, exposing. They remain untried.

Everyday risks are an opportunity to be vulnerable. Do something a little scary (like talking to strangers) to create opportunities for something good to happen in your day. It's an opportunity to remember that our world has more good than bad. Examples include talking to the cashier, being silly when it's unexpected, or smiling at strangers on the street.

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What's Moved Me

I think art is always answering to the threat of death. But you don't throw yourself into it. You just answer.

• Helen Cixous from Jewish Currents: The Strangeness Inside Yourself

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What I'm Wiggling To

Psychedelic Switch by Carly Rae Jepson

Stay Playful,

Tamar