Trying something different today. This Saturday. Maybe every Saturday from here on out.
Stealing like an artist—shoutout to Austin Kleon’s Top 10. Here’s my own weekly highlight reel.
1. Messy haircuts
On Wednesday, I was having my weekly call with a coworker. The theme we kept circling back to was this idea of accepting mess. She brought up cutting hair as an example. All the trials, tribulations, and trade-offs of doing this pretty everyday-ish human thing.
I guess that convo sparked something in me — because later that week, I wrote a whole post about sitting with and accepting mess as part of everything we do.
2. Featured image
Speaking of Mess… I really loved making the featured image for that post.
I like making my featured images in general. First off, they’re easy (hah!). I just write the blog title on a 3×5 index card, stamp it with the date, stamp it with my face, and we’re done.
But some posts ask for a little extra. This one did.
I went into my “shred inbox” (a box full of paper I need to shred), grabbed some scraps, crumpled them up, and dropped them on the table. Added a couple of pens. Then I played pretend photographer, nudging things into place until the composition felt just right.
3. 3×5 template
In Customize, I shared this latest “wild” thing I did to my desk — I Sharpied a 3×5 template on it to make prepping my daily index cards easier.
Not even a week in, and it’s already showing signs of patina — like a 10-year-old tattoo. Weathered from my hand, my mouse (or something?) grazing over it.
That just makes me like it even more. No regrets.
4. Callback
In Mess, I was able to make a callback to my earlier post Call (try saying that 5 times fast).
I love it when I can weave little intentional threads like that. One of the things I tried to highlight in Call was how important real conversations are — not just to solve the problem, but to help others feel less alone in their struggles.
In Mess, I shared a story that brought that idea full circle.
5. Grocery store
I’ve been sitting with this thought for a while: how ironic it is that most documents labeled “Living document” end up dying from lack of upkeep (guilty).
While writing that post, I wanted to distance documentation from formal systems and instead tie it to something tangible. Something ordinary. Everyday life stuff. I do this a lot.
Somehow, I landed on a grocery store. Specifically, the act of picking up a can of soup that fell on the floor.
Why a can of soup? I could’ve said “item.” That would’ve worked. But I like getting specific with visuals. Plus, the soup would probably survive the fall — unlike something more fragile.
This idea hit me late — almost done the draft. But I couldn’t let it go. So I reworked the post to build toward that image and wove the grocery store throughout.
Bonus: The featured image
This is my first highlight reel. I had no idea what to do for the featured image.
(Sidenote: I think it’s kinda neat how these featured images have taken on a life of their own. Back to the post!)
I started by listing out my top 5 highlights. Maybe a photo of the list would do?
Then I tried to name the post. Highlights? That’d make every Saturday post called Highlights. Nope. I needed a real title. A word. Something that captured the theme.
I looked at my list. The only word I could think of was… Mess. But I’d just published something called Mess, so that was taken.
Messy. Perfect.
Funny enough — I couldn’t bear to ruin my original handwritten highlight list. So I photocopied it, traced it, and cut out a duplicate. (As one does.) On that copy, I brushed in big bouncy letters: Messy.
My prototype. My MVP. Let’s see how it holds up in a week.
