OG Tuesday Issue #135

Start your morning with this affirmation:

Today’s checklist: Play some mind games, negotiate more parental/family leave, swipe the habits of scientists, and get ready for May.

YOU DO YOU

Mind games that are totally okay to play

Meditation might not work for all people on all days. Give your brain a little break by playing some games instead.

There’s Wordle of course, if you haven’t already been sucked into that. Here are some other delightfully “unmindless” games:

Lewdle
The goal: Like Wordle, this game gets you guessing words letter by letter. Unlike Wordle, these words have an R rating.
When you should play it: When a colleague, once again, follows up to check on the status of something before the deadline.

Framed
The goal: Look at a single frame from a movie and guess its title.
When you should play it: When you’re standing in a long line and everyone else seems to be doing something super important.

Maze Machina
The goal: Swipe your way out of an Automatron’s labyrinth.
When you should play it: When you “don’t have time” to start anything new before your next meeting.

hocus.
The goal: Outsmart optical illusions to solve a cube puzzle.
When you should play it: When it feels like you’re out of ideas and you just need a creative reset.

Hidden Folks
The goal: Find people hiding throughout a beautiful, hand-drawn landscape.
When you should play it: When you’re just not super into whatever your partner popped on Netflix.

TOGETHER WITH MIRO

Make Your Team Feel Loved Today 💕

Feeling the need to boost morale and show your team some love?

Let the Compliments Board do the heavy lifting for you.

This free template is the perfect solution for fostering positivity and connection among your team. It’s like a digital hug, but without the awkwardness 🤗.

How it works:

Log into your free Miro account (or sign up for one)
Open the Compliments Board template. You can customize the template with your team’s name and colors to make it feel more personal.
Share the board with your team and encourage them to leave compliments for their colleagues. You can also set a regular schedule for sharing compliments, like a “Compliment Friday” to end the week on a positive note.

Start giving your team compliments

GET MORE SH*T DONE

Habits of truly inspiring scientists

They keep their brains active with interesting puzzles. (See segment above for some you can try right now.)
Physicist Richard Feynman liked to pick locks and crack safes when he was “bored.”

They like long walks (on the beach and off).
Physicist Albert Einstein kept up a religious habit of daily walks.

They like to hang out in bathrooms.
Prolific patenter Yoshiro NakaMats enjoyed spending time in the bathroom so he could get away from the television and other invasive sounds of modern life.

They have hope their work will make a difference.
Primatologist and anthropologist Jane Goodall told New Yorker reporters: “If you don’t have hope that your action is going to make a difference, why bother to do anything? You just become a zombie.”

TOGETHER WITH SUNSAMA

Meet Your New Productivity Assistant

Productivity isn’t hard if you have the right system in place. “Atomic habits”, in other words.

Sunsama is the system that helps you build the habits you need to live an ambitious and productive, yet balanced life.

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It’s a risk-free trial as they don’t take your card upfront. In less than 2 weeks, you will stop playing catch up with tasks and start living a balanced life where work doesn’t consume you.

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LEVEL UP

Negotiating More Parental Leave: It Never Hurts to Ask

You’re starting (or growing) a family, and it’s truly a beautiful thing. Of course there will be challenges. Your priorities are shifting. You just don’t have as much time or energy to devote to work. Now’s not a time to feel guilty; it’s a time to consider what might help you better juggle work and family and then try to get it.

Let’s talk about negotiating for more parental leave, because, no matter what your anxious inner voice might tell you, it absolutely never hurts to ask. (This applies whether you’re considering a new job offer or if you’ve been in your role for a while.)

Parental/Family Leave Facts and Figures

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) requires employers to offer some employees up to 12 weeks of job-protected leave, but it doesn’t have to be paid leave. That’s why negotiating is so important.
Less than 23% of U.S. workers had the option to take paid family leave in 2021.
The percentage of employers offering paid maternity leave dropped from 53% in 2020 to 35% in 2022. [World Economic Forum]
The percentage of employers offering paid paternity leave also dropped from 44% in 2020 to 27% in 2022. [World Economic Forum]
New mothers who take less than 2 months off work experience more depressive symptoms and self-esteem problems than mothers who take more time. [American Psychological Association]
Negotiation won’t come as a surprise. Surveys suggest most (70% by some estimates and 84% by others) managers expect people to negotiate.

Parental/Family Leave Tips

Make sure you have a handle on your company’s policy as well as your state’s leave mandates.
Determine what you really want and what you might settle for. For example, you might want 16 weeks of paid leave but you might be willing to accept 12 weeks of paid leave followed by a period of flexible or compressed work hours.
Ask parents you know in your company or around your city how much leave they got. As with negotiating salaries, it’s always good to know how your request lines up with the averages.
Know any other parents or potential parents in your organization? Ask if they’d be willing to join you in making a broader request to update the company policy.
Explore or suggest additional benefits, including childcare services and stipends, that could take the burden off new parents.

WATERCOOLER TALK

Your 3 x 3 guide to May

May is a busy month. Here are 3 easy ways to participate in 3 big events happening next month.

Mother’s Day
(Sunday, May 14)

3 experiential gift ideas:

A Spafinder gift card
A Libro.fm audiobook credit bundle
A butterfly explosion cake (DIY or professionally made)

Mental Health Awareness Month

3 things to do:

Invite some important people in your life to do a gratitude challenge
Get trained in Mental Health First Aid
Tell your coworkers about Empower Work, an organization that offers free and confidential support for work problems

Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month

3 things to do:

Browse the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center’s care package of poems, meditations, and films
Explore the Center for Asian American Media’s archival collection
Support AAPI women-owned businesses, such as Nguyen Coffee Supply and Chocovivo

PARTNER PICKS

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Morning Brew is the free newsletter that gives you a shot of business news with a side of wit, so you can stay informed without dozing off.

NEW & NOTEWORTHY

Latest Listings

👌 Upgrade your Executive Assistant game with these killer online and in-person trainings.

📣 Ready to give your employees the recognition they deserve? Check out these epic shout-out examples.

🔖 Catch up on all OG Tuesday newsletters here.

🏪 The Assist Store: Check out our SMART Goals Template and browse our Etsy Store.

🚨 Job Openings

Courier Newsroom is looking for a Social Media Manager (Remote/Michigan)
Lwala Community Alliance is looking for an Office and Team Manager (Nashville, TN)
bvoip is hiring for a Marketing & Events coordinator.
University of Virginia Health is hiring for a Senior Executive Assistant.
Humana is hiring for an Administrative Assistant.

❗If you have a job opening at your company that you’d like us to share in our newsletter, please submit it here.

👍 Check out our communities:

SPILL THE TEA

Hooray, You Made It to the End of Our Newsletter!

Riddle me this: What’s 102 stories high, wears a black cape, and has very sharp teeth?

⭐ Answer here.

👉 Here are all of April’s OG Tuesday Riddles.