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✅ Today's Checklist:

• Why everything feels easier with the right support

• Building a profitable personal brand

• 7 ways to make ChatGPT your personal job search assistant

• How to stretch your PTO in 2026

QUICK LINKS

🌿 21 million people also struggled with dieting until they found this.

✨ A little delusion goes a long way (science backs it up).

🥗 Seven "unhealthy" foods that are secretly good for you.

🤖 A beginner-friendly intro to using ChatGPT without feeling behind.

PSYCHOLOGY

Why Doing Things Together Positively Affects Your Perception

Takeaways:

• In a University of Virginia study, participants wearing heavy backpacks were asked to estimate how steep a hill was. Those standing with a friend consistently perceived the hill as less steep than those standing alone, showing how social support directly alters how difficult a challenge feels.

• Isolation amplifies difficulty. That's why solo work, remote days, or building alone can feel heavier even when the workload hasn't changed.

• A simple fix is shared momentum. Create a small "growth chat" with a few people working toward their own goals. One word check-ins like "Done" remind your brain you're not climbing alone.

Read about the Social Slope Effect on Linkedin.

PEOPLE OPS

The HR Tools That Keep Your Team Running Smoothly (Even on the Messy Days)

Managing people isn't difficult because of the people—it's everything around the people. The onboarding checklists. The PTO requests. The compliance questions you swear you already answered twice. The constant dance of keeping everyone supported, aligned, and informed.

These tools don't replace great leadership; they take the mental load off so you can be a great leader.

BambooHR is perfect for small teams that want HR to feel simple, organized, and human. Think: clean onboarding, easy time-off tracking, and employee records that don't live in a million folders. It's the tool that keeps you from feeling like you're running HR out of your inbox.

HiBob (aka "Bob") is built for culture-driven teams who care about connection just as much as operations. It brings engagement tools, flexible workflows, and people data together so hybrid and global teams stay aligned—and actually feel like a team.

Deel is the go-to for hiring globally without drowning in compliance. Whether you're bringing on contractors or full-time employees, Deel handles international payroll, legal requirements, and local nuances you shouldn't have to Google.

Together, these tools smooth out the people-ops wrinkles so you can focus on leading, not chasing paperwork.

COMMUNICATION

Building a Personal Brand That Brings You Money

Takeaways:

• Personal brands don't grow by posting more. They grow by telling stories that build trust, show who you really are, and make people feel something.

• The narratives that make you memorable fall into a few buckets: your origin, philosophy, expertise, personality, and proof. Together, they explain why you think the way you do and why people should trust you.

• Vision is what turns attention into opportunity. When people can see where you're going and how they fit into that future, your brand becomes something they want to follow and invest in.

Read all 6 narratives on Linkedin.

PRODUCTIVITY

Take Advantage of ChatGPT for Your Job Search

Takeaways:

• AI can help job seekers figure out what roles actually fit: "Here are my priorities and skills — create an assessment to help me rank them and suggest roles that best match."

• Use it for speeding up applications. Try: "Please revise my resume to match this job description" or "Write a cover letter using my resume and this JD."

• For networking, uploading a screenshot of a contact's LinkedIn works surprisingly well. Prompt it with: "Brainstorm 15 ways I could add value to this person, with email templates for each."

Read all 7 on Linkedin.

EXPENSE MANAGEMENT

Why Are We Still Suffering Through Expense Reports?

Honestly—why?

The back-and-forth. The "just forward me the receipt" drama. The black hole of approvals. It's exhausting. But here's the thing: managing expenses doesn't have to be this annoying. Especially when there are tools that quietly get the job done.

We've been hearing good things about Rippling's expense feature—especially if you're already using their platform. Everything's connected, so expenses aren't this separate, chaotic universe.

Some teams swear by PEX. It lets you hand out prepaid cards with spending limits already built in. No micromanaging, no awkward convos—just clear boundaries.

And Zoho Expense? Kinda the underrated workhorse. It's affordable, does all the basics really well (like receipt scans and mileage tracking), and doesn't feel like learning a new language. If managing expenses still feels messy, manual, or maddening—change it.

You're not stuck.

TIME OFF

How to Stretch Your PTO in 2026

Takeaways:

• This viral calendar hack shows how to turn just one PTO day into 3–4 day weekends multiple times a year by "bridging" holidays with adjacent weekdays.

• Examples include Jan 1–4, Feb 13–16, and May 22–25—each using only 1 PTO day to create extended breaks around New Year's, Presidents' Day, and Memorial Day.

• The strategy works best with early planning, especially if you want first dibs on popular dates. Your future self will thank you.

  
  

See the dates on IG.

STAFF PICKS

Stuff We're Loving This Week

🧖🏻‍♀️ This mask covers pores, hydration, calming, and dark spots in one go.

🍹 A glass drink dispenser that makes hosting look effortless (and expensive).

🥿 Finally, a shoe cabinet that's pretty enough to leave out and big enough to actually help.

💋 Cameron's favorite gloss is juicy, smoothing, and she's already gone through 3+ tubes.

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