Welcome to November. October was a whirlwind and November has shaped up to be sheer chaos. Ah, the joys of everyone trying to get things in by December 31!
In the first newsletter of each month, I review life through the lens of a monthly theme which is all in the context of my word for the year. For 2025, that word is simple. As a reminder, here are this year's monthly themes.
- January: Feel the Flow (Habits and Workflows)
- February: Lighten Up (Physical Space Clearing and Decluttering)
- March: Streamline and Shine (Work and Occupation)
- April: Simple Connections (Travel, Play, and Relationships)
- May: Spendfullness (How I Spend Time and Money)
- June: Play & Create (self-explanatory)
- July: Family and Friends
- August: Freshen Up (I’m not exactly sure if this is the house, me, routines, etc.)
- September: Back to School (Business, especially Community and Online Products)
- October: Simple Routines
- November: Gratitude
- December: Reminisce and Renew
Let's begin with a quick review of October.
October - Simple Routines
As I mentioned at the beginning of October, I'm trying to get in a rhythm using time blocking. I am happy with how fruitful this approach continues to be. I still don't quite have everything in every day that I want, but I'm making progress.
Specifically, in October, I focused on adding in a few small, but important things that help me be a little bit better every day. One of those was checking in on the Circle community each day. This is not something I’ve done routinely, but if I want this community to grow, it’s a small and easy step that I’ve already seen make a difference.
As I mentioned, November is going to be a bit more chaotic than anticipated. It's a long story, but all in all it’s good chaos. That said, I'm head down most of the next two months to finish a couple of big projects for great clients. But, I don’t want to stop this personal growth in areas that are important for me so I do still have a few plans for the month.
November - Gratitude
November’s theme is gratitude. As October has wrapped up, one of the things I've been doing is checking in on the Day One journaling app's "On This Day" feature. It's similar to Facebook memories, but I usually put more personal stuff in here. I've found myself noting some things I'm grateful for each day. My first aim for this month is simple - just continue this practice. This simple practice also fits in with how busy November will be - especially because I can also use voice dictation to add these if I don't want to type on my phone at the end of the day.
Voice dictation is my second area of focus for the month. I have what feels like a bazillion apps I can use for voice dictation - to the point I don’t use any of them. I know I can get more writing done if I use voice instead of straight typing so my aim this month is to try to write every weekday - specifically focusing on using voice dictation to get some stuff out of my head and into the digital realm.
What are you focusing on this month?
How are you coming along with your annual theme? Monthly theme? How do you struggle with finding time for the things you love and/or need? Drop me an email or chat below.
Some Other Things You Might Find Interesting
What I Published This Week
- During my cancer recovery journey, I finally found a path to live out the call I've felt to ministry for most of my life. In the United Methodist tradition, we have a long established process for members of the congregation (laity) to become certified to provide additional service to the church. I earned my Lay Servant certificate last year and completed all the course work and submitted all the paperwork for my Lay Speaker certificate in June (although in true church bureaucracy I still haven't been recognized formally as a Lay Speaker). Yesterday, I had the opportunity to "fill the pulpit" at Central United Methodist Church in Richmond, Indiana which is my dad's church. The sermon was titled Sinners and Saints. You can watch and/or read it on my website if you're interested.
- The Reading Nook survey is still open (and feeling a bit lonely). Please send 2 minutes to take it AND consider signing up for the all-new Shelf Reflection session (see below).
What's Coming Up?
Below are the next events of each type in the community. See the full schedule by clicking the Events button in Circle (if you're on the mobile app, you may need to click Home and then you'll see the Events button).
November 04, 2025 09:00
(Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Join us for the bi-weekly Obsidian Office Hours Session.
Office Hours are a time to ask questions about Obsidian. If you have a question, reply to the event with your questions - or attend live and you can get your question answered in the session.
When appropriate, office hours sessions will be recorded and the recording posted here.
November 14, 2025 14:00
(Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Do you want to get a better handle on your finances? If so, join me for a free one hour workshop to talk all things money. I'll do a demo of the budget software YNAB and talk about how to get started getting your financial information in order - with YNAB or completely on your own. Bring your questions!
December 12, 2025 09:00
(Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Join me for a one hour workshop designed to help you choose a theme for 2026 - and if you wish to go deeper to choose monthly or quarterly intentions or themes. Participants will receive a beautiful Intention Setting Guide to download. We'll spend an hour choosing a theme and deciding on ways to keep that theme visible to yourself during the year.
One more event - Join me for some Shelf Reflection
As noted above, I’d love your input on what you’d like to see more of in 2026 in the Circle Community. One of the things I’ve done for the last several years is do a little end of the year reading wrap up and set some reading intentions for next year. If you’d like to join me in this process, I’ve added two new “Shelf Reflection” events here in Circle. I hope you’ll join me to talk about what we read, watched, and listened to in 2025 and what we want more of in 2026. To learn more, click on the links below. I'm currently planning to offer two sessions. They are the same from my end, but given who shows up could result in very different conversation so come to one or both!
December 12, 2025 12:00
(Eastern Time (US & Canada))
It's hard to escape the noise of the world that we live in. Just like we need to give our bodies nourishing food and exercise, we also need to give our brains and nervous systems nourishment in the form of content that helps keep us sane and happy.
Join for this free workshop to reflect on your content consumption over the last year and do some planning for what you want more of in your content diet for next year. When you leave the workshop you'll have:
1. Tangible things you can do to tame the social media algorithms
2. A reflection of what you've consumed in the past year
3. An action item or two for what you want to consume next year.
Participants will receive a printable worksheet a few days before the workshop to download and use if you wish. If you don't have a printer or don't want to print, all you'll need to bring is a few thoughts about what you consumed this year and some way to take some notes for yourself.
December 19, 2025 08:00
(Eastern Time (US & Canada))
It's hard to escape the noise of the world that we live in. Just like we need to give our bodies nourishing food and exercise, we also need to give our brains and nervous systems nourishment in the form of content that helps keep us sane and happy.
Join for this free workshop to reflect on your content consumption over the last year and do some planning for what you want more of in your content diet for next year. When you leave the workshop you'll have:
1. Tangible things you can do to tame the social media algorithms
2. A reflection of what you've consumed in the past year
3. An action item or two for what you want to consume next year.
Participants will receive a printable worksheet a few days before the workshop to download and use if you wish. If you don't have a printer or don't want to print, all you'll need to bring is a few thoughts about what you consumed this year and some way to take some notes for yourself.
Sail away at night
When we cruise in January of 2026, Gayle and I will celebrate 25 years of cruising with Disney. I can count on one hand the number of times we've gotten to do a night time sail out from a port. (By far, the best night time sail out we've ever had was San Diego!)
There is something about the twinkling lights of a city fading into the distance as you sail away that is captivating.
On our Southern Caribbean Cruise last week, we had a late departure from Aruba. I shot a little video of the fun and stitched it together.
