Strands of Genius: Seeking a Design Intern, Writing the Way We Talk, Integrated Brand Models, Power of Performance Reviews, Zoom Face/Body Dysmorphia
plus: a new publishing schedule, our thoughts on work-life balance, and your moment of zen
WRITING FROM | Greenville, SC
WORKING ON | finalizing a contract with a new client in Puerto Rico
LOOKING AHEAD
July 29: Integrated Brand Models | for the School of Stolen Genius
(PDF is already live, presentation + Q&A for Apprentices)
:: WHAT’S NEW & WEEKLY GRATITUDE ::
It’s Tuesday! And guess what? There were no wi-fi outages, no travel plans that got delayed, no last minute client work that messed up our timing. Did you guess it? We’re switching up our publishing schedule. This newsletter was initially a solo endeavor, called “The Tuesday Ten,” so in some ways we’re going back to our roots. We’re amping up content production for the School of Stolen Genius, and think a Tuesday/Thursday cadence will serve us better. Which means, Tuesday is the new normal! You’ll hear from us on Tuesdays, guest curators on Thursdays, and for our SOSG students, you’ll be getting a weekly roundup post from Faris on Friday, with a tool, template or research report. On that note…
We’re looking for a design intern to help support us in our continued development of the School of Stolen Genius. If you or someone you know might be interested, head on over to the application for more deets.
As we continue to build out the School of Stolen Genius, we’re looking for a design intern to help us bring our vision to life. This will be a remote, part-time role, with deliverables like deck templates & promotional materials designed. The stint will be from August 15th-November 15th, with an opportunity to extend work together should we both enjoy the collaboration.
This week, we’re especially thankful for:
homegrown shishito peppers and tomatoes, kiddie pools, sour beer, walking in the pouring rain, macrame, How To Be An Antiracist, ginger sparkling water, pork braised in peach cider, and wild swimming.
THE SCHOOL OF STOLEN GENIUS PRESENTS
INTEGRATED BRAND MODELS
Wednesday, July 29th: 9a PT / 12p ET / 5p GMT
The PDF is available for download, and Faris will be presenting the deck next Wednesday. The live presentation is included for Apprentices, and the recording will be made available to all Members. If you’d like to buy a single pass to the live recording, email ashley@geniussteals.co (Don’t forget: We’re hoping that if you work for someone else we can help you expense this.)
:: THE LINKS ::
WHY WE WRITE THE WAY WE TALK
The author argues that we’ve been learning to write in ways that better communicate our tone (something that was previously taken care of by the verbal articulation) rather than just showing we understand and can master the language itself. Stretching words (‘fiiiiiiine.’ is very different from ‘that’s fine!’), Ironic Capitals, punctuation as emphasis… These are ways we’re changing language so that it works better for us. “Language snobbery is not inevitable. It’s not that people who cling to lists of language rules don’t want love as well. It’s that they’ve been sold a false bill of goods for how to get it. In high school English classes and writing manuals, we’ve been told that being “clear” and “correct” in language will help people understand us.
But understanding doesn’t come from insisting on a list of rules, shouting the same thing only louder like a hapless monolingual tourist in a foreign country. Understanding comes from meeting other people where they are, like being willing to use gestures and a handful of semi-remembered words and yes, even to look like a fool, to bridge a language barrier with laughter and humility.” (New York Times)
THE POWER OF PERFORMANCE REVIEWS
I’ve long been a fan of reviews, both as the giver and the receiver. I see them as opportunities for growth, no matter which side of the process you’re on. As the employee, you’re told what you’ll be measured on. As the employer, you have an opportunity to redirect focus, and to help your employees grow. Which is great, when it works. But too often reviews are pushed to the back burner, which hurts both the employee and employer. If you’re looking for a way to guide the conversation, this in-depth article is just the place to start. (First Round)
STARING AT OURSELVES ALL DAY ON ZOOM & DYSMORPHIA
Our whole lives, we’ve been told that we’re judged our appearances. For women, doubly so. Lisa Davis writes, “Like most women, I have been taught that what matters most about us is our looks in a society that rarely focuses on the changing beauty of middle age. How fitting that an app named ZOOM magnifies those feelings of insecurity and loss.” In regular conversation, we wouldn’t be staring at ourselves. And yet on ZOOM, it’s the norm. How will this affect us and our mental well-being long term? (Huffington Post)
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:: WHAT WE’RE THINKING ABOUT: WORK LIFE BALANCE ::
I ran two sessions last week, in which we explored work-life balance. Starting with an attempt to define it, we quickly realized one of the reasons it was so elusive: the language itself. Talking about “work-life balance,” so many of us imagine a set of scales that are always in, well, balance.
But work-life balance is not an idea where all things are weighted equally. After all, work-life balance with a newborn certainly wouldn’t mean weighting work as heavily as a new babe. Equally, when you’re put on a new project, or begin work at a new job, work-life balance might include a heavier lean towards work.
We began using the language that made sense to us: work-life harmony, work-life integration, and spent a little more time thinking about what it was. Here’s some of what rose to the top when it came to defining work-life balance:
Enough time for yourself outside of the workplace
Not just thinking about work, but giving yourself the mental space to think about other things
Prioritizing commitments outside of work
Having an identity outside of the workplace
An ideal state, something we’re striving for
And the reasons it can be so elusive? Besides the language itself, there’s:
Our always connected world. Even when we want to turn off, work is that much closer to us — and it’s harder to disconnect.
A culture that’s focused on presence, usually moreso than productivity. Colleagues and employers look down on absence, and aren’t always accepting of boundaries we create.
How we think about performance and success. In our society, we generally value success, money, promotions, etc, rather than balance and contentedness. Hobbies don’t always lend themselves towards “success and money” even if they *are* valuable. (And then, of course if you do have a hobby outside of work, be prepared for someone to suggest you turn it into a side hustle. Which is great. But also unnecessary. You can have hobbies that don’t involve financial rewards.)
Resources required to figure out what works for you. It takes time, energy, and sometimes even financial resources to do some of the initial exploration, something we feel like we’re all a bit short of.
But we practice the act of finding balance because of the many benefits. Practice, of course, make the act easier and more familiar. We know we’re more than our jobs, and practicing work-life balance helps us remember that. Society tells us to be more productive, so for some of us work-life balance is our act of rebellion. The practices help us reframe our perspectives, support our mental, physical and emotional health.
Work is like gas, expanding to fill the space we give it. Practicing work life balance helps us gain tools to healthily engage in work. It helps us to nurture the things we’re passionate about, while also giving us better quality rest so that when we do return to work, we feel renewed and energized.
What then, are the areas of competencies required?
Time management. Not just the bigger picture, but the breadcrumbs too —If we can better manage time at work, we can better manage time elsewhere.
Self-care. Identifying/knowing what impacts your mental/physical well being AND creating moments to check-in frequently (not just once a year, or once a month)
Resilience / Space to Fail. We’re not going to be able to hit home runs every time. Knowing that you aren’t going to be successful all the time, but any success is better than none at all.
Ability to set boundaries. Prioritizing on the small scale. Being assertive, knowing there is no need to apologize. Using key opportunities to set larger boundaries (new jobs, new teams, asking for help, etc)
Communication. Being able to communicate your needs with yourself, your partner/family, and colleagues. Learning how to go about communicating our needs to different audiences.
Goal setting & exercises. We want to give ourselves some guidelines and ways-in, because it can be easy to fly by the seat of our pants. Goals and exercises help us stretch, and help us see our own improvement or opportunities for change.
We ended the session by each picking something that we’ll focus on. Some of us went for additive goals (ex: I’ll walk 5km next week) while others went for goals involving removal (ex: I won't look at my phone until 10am.) Specificity is KEY.
Remember: Perfection isn’t possible. And achieving balance happens over time, rather than in the moment. But, there are some ways that you can help set yourself up for success: in how you think about work-life balance, in actions large and small, and even in conversations with colleagues and employers.
:: AND NOW… YOUR MOMENT OF ZEN ::
We had the pleasure of spending some time at Rock Island State Park in TN earlier this month, and can’t get these waterfalls out of our head. In this one instance only, forget about TLC. Chase those falls <3
If we can ever be of help to you, even outside of a formal engagement, please don’t hesitate to let us know.
rockON,
faris & rosie & ashley | your friends over at geniussteals.co
@faris is always tweeting
@rosieyakob hangs out on instagram
@ashley also writes for deaf, tattooed & employed
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It's called Genius Steals because we believe ideas are new combinations and that nothing can come from nothing. But copying is lazy. We believe the best way to innovate is to look at the best of that which came before and combine those elements into new solutions.
Co-Founders Faris & Rosie are award-winning strategists and creative directors, writers, consultants and public speakers who have been living on the road/runway since March 2013, working with companies all over the world. Our Director of Operations is nomadic like us, our accounting team is based out of Washington, our company is registered in Tennessee, and our collaborators are all over the world. Being nomadic allows us to go wherever clients need us to be, and to be inspired by the world in between.
Hit reply and let’s talk about how we might be able to work together :)