Hi Friends, It was one of those weeks to remember. I was thrilled to deliver a training course on Time Management to the fantastic employees of a leading company here in Jordan, welcome to my email list, dear ones; you know who you are. This training material got me so excited that I am considering offering it to you, my dear audience, in an online workshop, so what do you say? Are you interested in upgrading your time management skills for higher performance? If interested, email me back with the word (interested). When I said goodbye to my trainees, I felt so grateful for doing this work that I am deeply passionate about, and I was ready to celebrate. And celebration, I did. My family and I went on a mini-getaway over the weekend because last Wednesday happened to be our 12th wedding anniversary. We shared one day of the weekend getaway with the kids to mark the end of their summer vacation, and we had a day just for ourselves to celebrate our special occasion, enjoying the lovely food, weather, and view: |
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Looking at horizons is relaxing, sea or not. |
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I never made the connection that the date of our anniversary marks the end of the summer vacation. It was a fun, first-time realization and the hopeful start of a delightful 2-in-1 family tradition, celebrating the beginning of a new school year and a new year in our marriage. Speaking of school years, if you’ve been around for a while, you would have known how excited I get about September. If that post does not motivate you, then I can’t find a better way to energize you this week than sharing what Jon Acuff wrote recently: |
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"I’m convinced that one of factors that separates dreamers from doers is the back half of the year. EVERYONE has goals in January. Pop culture shouts, “New Year! New You!” New Year’s Resolutions abound. Gyms get crowded. But do you know when it gets real? August and September. When the crowds have long faded, the gyms have long emptied, the brand new weekly planners have long been discarded in drawers, that’s when it gets serious. The fall is a filter. It removes the half-hearted. It separates the almost did from the can’t believe I did! It shakes out the doers and offers a dare. I dare you to finish strong! I dare you to make the most of the next 4 months! I dare you to enter December on a win streak and start the new year on a tear! I’m ready. You in?" |
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P.S. Be ready to participate in my annual goal-setting workshop, to be announced in early November; stay tuned! |
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Here is your weekly dose of The Sunday Spark ⚡️ a newsletter listing 5 sparks to ignite fireworks, that I thought were worth starting your week with: |
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2. 📘 I can't wait for you to read Jon Acuff's new book, All It Takes Is A Goal, my new favorite book about goal-setting, which I received as an early copy. You will receive excellent bonuses if you order before the release day, September 12th. |
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3. 📱 Free help with screen time! Sign up now for Susan Stiffelman's FREE Tech-Wise Parenting Summit, which will help parents and caregivers figure out how to set screen time limits without triggering arguments and meltdowns. The speakers' list is brilliant. I am excited to watch Nir Eyal, Catherine Price, Dr. Dan Siegel, Dr. Tina Bryson, and Dr. Kristin Neff. |
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4. 🎥 I always love to learn a new way to understand habits: Here is a fun and informative 5-minute animated video about why breaking a bad habit is so hard. The source is one of my favorite researchers about habits, Wendy Wood. |
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5. 💭 📅Have you printed your habit tracker for September yet? (I sent it last week, but here it is again). This is a quote to remind you to decide the habits you want to track this month and why you want to consider using a tracker: |
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“Making progress is satisfying, and visual measures—like moving paper clips or hairpins or marbles—provide clear evidence of your progress. As a result, they reinforce your behavior and add a little bit of immediate satisfaction to any activity. Visual measurement comes in many forms: food journals, workout logs, loyalty punch cards, the progress bar on a software download, even the page numbers in a book. But perhaps the best way to measure your progress is with a habit tracker.” ― James Clear, Atomic Habits |
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(Thank you Readwise for helping me find this quote from a book I read) |
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This is Sunday Spark issue #144! Was it forwarded to you by a friend? Receive your own by subscribing here, and don't forget to thank your lovely friend for me! |
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Some cool resources I personally use, love and recommend, with discounts just for you: - I like to start the day with my personalized Momentum Plus tab, which helps me stay focused with a powerful mantra, an inspiring image, a to-do list, countdowns to big dates, and world clocks where I keep an eye on time zones of friends and family living abroad before contacting them. Being a newsletter friend, you would get a special offer of a 10% discount when you subscribe to Momentum Plus with the promo code: bardees.
- Enjoy a free month of the Readwise app, it is the BEST way to retain the knowledge you gain through reading. Using spaced repetition, it helps you remember your highlights from Kindle books/articles you read. I am in love with their new reader feature. Reading online has become a top-notch experience thanks to Reader. Get one month free using my link.
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Note: some of the links above may be affiliate links, but always keep in mind that I don’t endorse anything I don’t use and love myself. |
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See you next Sunday First name / my dear friend! |
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In case you missed these posts on Instagram… |
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