Product Therapy: February Updates 💥
Gray Brooklyn days, IRL hangs and lots of forward momentum
I feel bamboozled by the month of January. It came and went and I am in utter disbelief that we are on month 2 of 2024. I guess that’s a good thing?
January looked like this…
A snowy new years in the Hudson Valley
So many gray days in Brooklyn, the kind where you contemplate leaving the Northeast because who can live like this?
A quick escape to rainy Florida to see family
A big momentum push on all the work I’m doing…sadly creating 7 day work weeks for myself
The momentum push becoming too intense and spinning out - bringing on signs of burnout
An abrupt momentum halt to recover
An intentional boundary setting to rebalance
Needless to say, I pushed it too hard and had to pull back to recuperate. My biggest wins of the month were recognizing the signs of burnout before they hit and then actually doing something about it.
When the work you do is fun it's hard to say no. But it's vital. I took a lot of what this podcast (thanks Kira) said to heart and have now incorporated recharging moments into my daily routine. In the grueling winter months that looks like 30-min puzzle breaks (my latest that I am struggling to finish), a bundled walk in the winter cold, a dance class to get out of my head, etc.
I’m looking for inspiration on building more recharge moments into my day - especially in the winter. How do you recharge? What do you do away from screens that fills you up? INSPIRE ME!
Some product things
New offerings
I am SO excited to host my first event, The Lean Product Blueprint, a 60 min FREE WORKSHOP for lean team product managers. I have been hard at work building content and promoting the sh*t outta this thing. If you know any solo or small team product managers, this event’s for them! RSVP HERE
I’m piloting a new offering for folks looking to use their product experience outside of full time work. It’s called Unlock Your Product Potential and you can check it out here.
Hosting
Last month I hosted some fun events, many IRL!
I’ve noted that The Old Girl’s Club has been a massively helpful women’s organization for me. I’ve been helping them with NYC meetups and we finally had our first programmed event in January.
Notably, I updated my headshot from 2015 with an amazing photographer, Omer Kaplan, I couldn’t recommend him enough. If you’re in NYC and need a headshot, he’s your guy!
The event was very reminiscent of the work I did at SoundCloud organizing Women’s events and I’m so excited to keep the momentum going with these.
I co hosted a Product Breakfast with Prerna Singh on Navigating Alternatives to Full Time Product Work. Prerna and I connected through the lovely Ha Nguyen. We were inspired by Ha’s Breakfast Club to create something of our own. The first one was well attended and there was plenty of appetite to host more.
So - if you’re interested in talking product in NYC → Sign Up Here
Writing
I spent a lot of time writing here about things like Imposter Syndrome but also the trials and tribulations of self employment: Busting 3 Myths About Self Employment and A Peek Into My Business Stack.
I wrote a guest post for fellow coach Amanda Halle’s newsletter, Unraveling AI, detailing how AI plays a big role in my day to day (I hadn't realized how big until I clocked it!)
On Linkedin, I:
Boosted future and current job seekers, urging them to take the recruiter call, Interview, take advantage of the new year job postings and be intentional when starting a new job.
Started promoting my workshop sharing stories about my time as a full time PM.
Advising
In addition to teaching an elective at Cornell Tech this spring semester, I’m advising students at Cornell Tech on their spring projects and advising students in the Business, Tech, Entrepreneurship program at NYU.
Some non product things
📖I just wrapped No Bad Parts, a book I’ve been recommended too many times. I flew through it and would highly recommend it to anyone interested in delving into their inner world.
🎙️I loved Armchair Expert’s latest episode with Lil Dicky and found his story fascinating. I, too, dreamed of working at an ad agency post-college. I fell into product management instead. I think it worked out ok, but maybe I would have had a rap career if I went the advertising route?
🌮I’ve gone pescatarian-vegan ISH and been cooking lots of plant based things. This was one of my favorite things I made last month.