✅ Today’s Checklist:
🤔 Trivia: Who was the first woman to be sworn into the U.S. Senate, and in what year did it happen? Find out.
📩 Had a great interview but no follow-up? Here’s what might be happening.
🗣️ These feedback tools make the quietest employees speak up.
😒 What to do when you’re dealing with an employee who has a bad attitude.
🖤 What happens to you when your therapist dies?
The holidays are over, the decorations are down, and now it’s time to face the credit card statement you’ve been avoiding. Deep breaths. It’ll be ok.
Pull off the band-aid and assess the damage
You can’t fix what you won’t look at. Open your bank statements, credit card bills, and any other accounts where holiday spending happened.
Add it all up. Write down the total. Yes, it’s going to sting. Do it anyway.
Now you know what you’re working with. The number isn’t going to get smaller by ignoring it.
Create a plan to get out of debt (or rebuild your cushion)
If you went into debt, decide how aggressively you can pay it off. Can you throw an extra $200 a month at it? $500? Pick a realistic number and commit.
If you didn’t go into debt but drained your savings, decide how much you need to rebuild. Set a monthly savings goal and treat it like a bill you can’t skip.
Use the avalanche method (pay off highest interest rate first) or snowball method (pay off smallest balance first) depending on what motivates you. Either way, make a plan and stick to it.
Challenge yourself to save money creatively
January is the perfect time to cut costs without feeling deprived. You’re already in “reset” mode, so lean into it.
Easy wins:
Small cuts add up fast. Cutting $10 here and $20 there can save you hundreds by the end of the month.
Look for easy ways to earn extra money
If cutting expenses isn’t enough, bring in more cash.
Quick side hustles:
You don’t need a full side hustle empire. Even an extra $200-$500 can accelerate your debt payoff or savings rebuild significantly.
Give yourself grace
You overspent during the holidays. So did millions of other people. It happens.
But now you’re taking action. You’re facing it, making a plan, and moving forward. That’s what matters.
The financial hangover is real, but it’s temporary. A few months of intentional saving and spending, and you’ll be back on track.
Most harassment training gets clicked through and forgotten.
Traliant’s 2026 Preventing Workplace Harassment course was built to change that and you’re invited to see it first.
This free, live premiere gives HR and compliance leaders an early look at a cinematic, story-driven training designed around real workplace moments, interactive decisions, and scenarios employees actually recognize.
You’ll preview:
Wednesday, Jan 21 | 2–3 PM ET
Ah, the buzz of the new year! In my corporate days, it was my favorite part of the year. We had goals, we had energy, we had hope and excitement… and also a very long list of to-dos.
Paired with the sparks comes the overwhelm and stress. There can be a lot of pressure to achieve, perform, and execute.
The biggest challenge as a manager or director is how to lead your team well. It’s setting the tone. January can either energize your team or exhaust them before February even hits.
To keep your team motivated without overwhelming them with all the things, here’s what I recommend:
Let them know where they’re going and that you’re leading the way. Don’t just tell them—show them.
Being organized means having a map or compass to the treasure that they can reference whenever they feel overwhelmed. That’s good leadership.
Your team needs to see the big picture and understand how their daily work connects to it. When people know where they’re headed and trust that you have a plan to get there, they can handle the stress of execution.
Make it fun
Meetings with silly icebreakers. Traditions that create inside jokes. Being ridiculous for no reason other than because work shouldn’t always be serious.
Find ways to bring in fun and play. When your team is laughing together, they’re bonding. When they’re bonding, they’re more resilient when things get hard.
Celebrate the little things
Celebrating small wins makes the little details your team is doing feel worthwhile. It reminds them that the little things compound and stack into big things. It also communicates appreciation for the day-to-day work that often goes unnoticed.
Did someone ship a small feature? Celebrate it. Did someone handle a difficult client call with grace? Call it out. Did someone help a teammate troubleshoot an issue? Acknowledge it publicly.
Recognition doesn’t have to be big or expensive. It just has to be genuine and consistent.
Create mini-milestones
Building on the little things concept—having smaller goals along the way to the big ones makes you feel like you’re making progress.
There’s nothing more defeating than feeling like you’re working so hard and no progress is being made. Creating mini-goals and milestones helps keep the mindset right and frames the work as having movement.
It keeps morale up and reminds them that the little things they do daily matter and they are getting somewhere.
Break your Q1 goals into monthly milestones. Break monthly milestones into weekly wins. Make progress visible and tangible. (Reminder: RSVP to our free live training on this exact thing on Thurs 1/15 @ 9AMPT)
Create a shared purpose
Sure, a business goal is to make money. But that’s not a shared purpose.
Whatever your goal is, tie it to something bigger than revenue. Make sure you and the team know why the hell you’re doing what you’re doing.
Are you solving a problem that matters? Are you making life easier for your customers? Are you building something that didn’t exist before? Are you creating opportunities for your team to grow?
Money is the outcome. Purpose is the fuel.
Personalize the mission
Each person on your team is motivated by different things. Find a way to personalize the purpose and mission for them.
Maybe Suzy is a new mom struggling to find work-life balance. How can you help her gain confidence in her new identity as both a parent and a professional?
Maybe Todd has never worked in your industry before but is brilliant at coding. How can you support him in knowing his skills are transferable into any industry, especially yours?
When people see how their personal goals align with the team’s goals, they’re not just working for you—they’re working for themselves too.
Set the tone for the year
How you lead in January matters. If you start the year frantic, disorganized, and all pressure with no celebration, your team will burn out by March.
But if you start the year with clarity, energy, purpose, and a little bit of fun? You’ll build momentum that carries you through the entire year!
So yes, set big goals. Push your team to do great work. But also make sure they feel supported, appreciated, and connected to something bigger than a spreadsheet!
That’s how you keep them motivated without breaking them.
Thania (TA Content Mgr)
If your team is constantly firefighting tech issues or babysitting updates across a fleet of devices, it’s time to call in reinforcements.
Remote Monitoring & Management (RMM) tools like SuperOps and NinjaOne are built to help lean IT teams do way more with less stress, downtime, and back-and-forth.
SuperOps brings IT + PSA together in one clean platform — perfect if you’re managing helpdesk, tickets, and assets all at once.
NinjaOne is lightning-fast and beloved by MSPs and internal IT teams alike for its intuitive interface and powerful automation.
Bottom line: RMM tools aren’t just for IT pros, they’re for anyone tired of tech chaos.
📆 Learn the most realistic executive playbook for AI in 2026 we’ve seen. Free on Jan 21. RSVP here.
💆♀️ Melt couch-induced knots fast with this neck + shoulder massager.
👖 Thania swears by these stretchy, curve-friendly jeans and yes, they’re on sale.
🧴 Dry skin season fix: BYOMA Rich Cream delivers serious moisture without the fuss.
Upcoming Events
* Smart Girl Society is our private community for women who want deeper conversations, accountability, and tools that actually make life easier. Join the waitlist to get in the next round.
👩🍳 Recipe of the Week: 4 Ingredient Date Caramels.
😋 Have a recipe you love? Share it here.
Have more feedback? 💌 Reply to this email and tell us.
✨ P.S. Want more inspiration and positivity to kick off your week? Sign up for our Motivational Monday texts (U.S. only).
👀 Want to see if your company is a good fit for our 250k+ ambitious readers? Join our Sponsor Waitlist here.
Join 301k+ smart women reading The Assist every Wednesday.
