Episode 8: Time is the Real Luxury
While luxury cars and bags are cool, having time to do whatever I want is even better.
👀 Is this thing on?
Hey, yall - it’s been a while! Life got hella busy between mid-October through Thanksgiving, and I’m still not sure how I got here lol.
I was in Chicago facilitating a workshop about Broadening Participation in Computing, then I went to Oakland to host the CSforAll Summit. I came home to catch my breath for a few days before hosting my line sisters in Atlanta, then a day after they left, I hopped on a plane to NYC to check out the Jay Z exhibit at the Brooklyn Library and the Spike Lee exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum. After that, I hopped on my beloved Amtrak and headed down to Tysons Corner, VA to marry off my girl Sukari….and two days after I got home, my grandma and her homegirl, my Soror, Ms. Rose showed up at my doorstep to spend a week with me for Thanksgiving.
Fun times were had and I am looking forward to winding it all the way down for the winter. This may or may not be my last newsletter for the year. TBD!
What I’m Thinking About
When my line sisters were here, two of us were talking about luxury cars. I pointed out a BMW X6 and told her how I really love those, but how redundant it would feel to buy a crossover car when I already have an SUV. I then clarified that my Nissan Rogue hasn’t paid off yet, and my promise to myself is that 1. I will pay off my car and drive it for at least a year before I buy another one, and 2. I want to buy a house before I think about buying a new car anyway.
After talking through that, I told her that luxury to me is actually what I have now - and that’s time. I haven’t had a paycheck since Aug/September and I haven’t worked since July. While I admittedly have had days or weeks where I felt the need to be “productive” (whatever that means), for the most part, I’ve been going with the flow. I have a loose structure to my weekdays simply because I want to make sure I am taking care of myself and getting to the gym, but mostly I’m just winging it day to day….and that’s a luxury I will ‘pay’ for every single time.
I’ve been trying to get through the book “The Psychology of Money” for MONTHS (I’m terrible with non-fiction when it’s not a memoir) and one of the things that stood out in the book to me is in Chapter 8 “Man in the Car Paradox”. In this chapter, author Morgan Housel talks about when he was a valet and would gawk over all of the nice cars that came through. He goes on to say “When you see someone driving a nice car, you rarely think, “Wow, the guy driving that car is cool.” Instead, you think, “Wow, if I had that car people would think I’m cool.” Subconscious or not, this is how people think.” He’s not wrong.
This conversation came up again when I caught up with one of my readers, Dr. Gloria O., who actually gave me the idea to write about this topic. While having a luxury anything (car, purse, etc) is not far out of my reach if that’s what I want, TIME is the true luxury for me. I see so many posts where people talk about how they long for unrestricted time. I recognize the privilege I have to take a step back from the “grind”, and in the words of Common “I wish I could give you this feeling”!
What I’m Reading
Walk Through Fire by Sheila Johnson
I think I’ll be talking about this book for the next year. It’s easily one of the best memoirs I’ve read this year (and I’ve read a lot of them)!
ICYMI: Shelia Johnson is the first Black Female Billionaire. While her story is truly fascinating, she is also known for being the co-founder of BET with her ex-husband who shall remain nameless (you’ll understand why once you read the book lol).
Sheila Johnson is a boss, which many of us are already aware of. However, she truly had to walk through fire to get to where she is now. She gave us SO MUCH TEA about her ex-husband. SO MUCH. I am so glad that she was able to heal and continue to be an entrepreneur, as she had a business before the launch of BET.
Additionally, I love how she was able to navigate new business ventures without prior experience in the industry. Having money certainly helps with that, but it was Sheila’s sharp negotiating skills that allowed her to get the approval from the city council to build the first Salamander Resort and become the first Black woman owner of 3 sports franchises. Sis is brilliant.
What I’m Watching
Are yall tuned into Black Cake? I am ENTHRALLED! How did I skip over this book? While I know some people are indifferent when books are turned into movies or shows, this is a show that has me PRESSED to read the book, simply because I don’t want this journey to end.
ICYMI: Black Cake is based on the New York Times Bestselling book of the same name by Charmaine Wilkerson. Black Cake is the story of a woman named Covey who once lived in Jamaica until her husband mysteriously died at their wedding and she ran away. The show goes on this journey with Covey, who changed her name to Eleanor while in Europe, where she is reunited with her first true love. They go on to build a life together, and once Eleanor loses a battle to cancer, she leaves her kids behind with a flash drive with stories of her life, exposing secrets they never knew about their mom.
For those of you who are watching, what do you think about all of the secrets Eleanor (or Covey) kept from her family? I can’t imagine listening to a story like this when my parents are long gone and I can’t ask them more questions. Whew. The trauma!
Anyway, if you haven’t tuned in yet, there is one more episode left until the finale and you can binge the entire series instead of having to wait week to week like the rest of us!
What I’m Vibin’ to
Spotify Wrapped dropped today, and if you know me, you know I love Spotify! Spotify Wrapped puts data behind your listening habits for the year, showing your top 5 artists, songs, genres, etc. I love this feature because I like to look at what my friends/folks I follow on social have listened to all year. I saw Future as someone’s top artist and learned more about them in that moment than I could ever know from following them on Twitter lol jk!
Apparently, I listened to music for 48,665 minutes so far this year (that’s 33 days nonstop, and 2,925 of those minutes were spent with Beyonce).
Below is my Top Songs of 2023 playlist. Give it a listen and share your own with me! I love discovering new artists/songs!
Bonus Track: Notion
Notion is a freemium productivity and note-taking application that helps with task management, project tracking, to-do lists, and bookmarking.
I discovered Notion when I was running my non-profit, and it became my number one tool for running my business. Notion is cool because you can create pages inside of pages or databases with information. In my business, I used it to document processes and procedures - basically, anything folks would or could ask me more than once. There were how-to guides, meeting notes, and a “Welcome to INTech” page with links to provide information for new hires. I had a database of all of the grants I applied for with the amount requested and the point of contact. It was GREAT.
Although I am no longer running a business, Notion is still useful in my personal life. For starters, all of my newsletters begin in Notion. I have a “brain dump” page where I list ideas for each section of my newsletter so that I am not starting from scratch every time I sit down to write. Additionally, I created a “Werk” page, that has an application tracker database, pages with interview questions to ask, salary negotiation templates and notes, an elevator pitch, etc.
The star of the show is the “Welcome to my Crib” page I created for all of my house guests. Instead of consistently asking me for the code to the wifi, I point you to the Notion document, which also includes information on how to get in and out of my house if you’re staying here and doing your own thing without me, as well as, check out instructions. And no, my house is not an Airbnb, but this helps me make sure you’re comfortable in my space without feeling like you’re bothering me by asking questions.
