10 minutes that immeasurably improve your week

Oh, hi friends!

I’ve been thinking about small activities that we do (or hopefully do) that come with outsized benefits compared to the time they take.

One example: I ran 1.3 miles last night. It took less than 15 minutes, but I felt refreshed, slept better, and was encouraged to eat a healthy breakfast the next morning. (Wait, there was a delicious hashbrown involved. Nevermind. Leave me alone.)

Another example: I spent 15 minutes today working on two lines of a song. Did they make the song perfect? No. But they moved it a little closer. And those 15 minutes made me remember that I need to do that more often.

You probably have your own little to-dos with big, outsized benefits.

I’m going to keep identifying mine and do them again and again.

Pick it up.
Pick it up.
Pick it up.

Actually, get a bigger pencil.

But then: Pick it up.

Photo by Miguel Á. Padriñán from Pexels

“I became a songwriter not when I composed that perfect couplet, or experienced the right amount of pain. It’s when I realized that whatever I wrote, even if it meant gutting myself in front of strangers, letting all those raw emotions come flooding out, making a fool of myself with my own words, was exactly what I always wanted to do with my life.”

Jeff Tweedy’s new book about songwriting and his time in Wilco looks like it has plenty of advice and gems! (h/t Austin Kleon's very good weekly newsletter)

Dreaming of Streaming?
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And if you need a library card, whatcha waiting for? Sign up here! (Guest cards are also available for visitors who are good at planning!)

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Thanks, as always, for reading.

Love, Kara