I hit 10,000 followers on LinkedIn this week. 🎉

I've been watching that counter for months. Willing it to move. Because somewhere in those numbers, I've been hoping, are people who might eventually want to hire me for what I know. I need money. That part isn't a secret anymore.

So yes. I noticed.

What I didn't plan was everything else that happened in the same week.

Right now I'm writing this after having a huge breakdown because I can't seem to figure out how to get the presentation interview I have with ADP for tomorrow to show up on my Fantastical calendar. I mean, I KNOW I saved the invite (it's showing up on my iPhone calendar that I never look at because I need that huge 32-inch screen behind my laptop screen to keep me on track - somewhat - during the day.)

I had a meltdown last month when the calendar I'd been using (Morgen) made a change that I'm sure meant an easier time for them but ended up being the ONE THING my ADHD brain needed to keep my calendar appointments categorized for me. So I threw a hissy, and switched calendar services. Cue weeks of being confused, trying to figure out how to get 3 different email account calendars to show up on one calendar interface, create new booking links that don't look like a** and oh yes, create offerings that will make people trust me enough to hire me to train them how to use AI.

My poor hubby. He could hear me trying to stifle my sobbing and when I tried to explain to him what was making me lost he just gave me a huge hug and kissed my forehead.

Today started so promising. I've got a partnership with a fantastic fractional HR person and we're building this cool Executive AI offering. I spent the morning creating a landing page in Claude Code, then finding (and purchasing) a domain, hosting that on Netlify, figuring out how to capture applications in a Google Sheet with a Zap (Zapier) that will notify both of us when someone applies, and then sending them a welcome email acknowledging the application and promising a response in 48 hours. Got all of that done by 1PM. Then I was going to 'take a break' with some virtual cross-stitch and Britbox.

Well that break turned into chatting with OpenClaw via Telegram on my phone (something I learned about this past weekend in an epic 4-hour training put on my Dmitry Shapiro of MindStudio). And this is where I should have listened to the little voice telling me to stop trying to be impressive.

See, one of the things I pride myself on is creating a new freebie every week for this newsletter and my readers. Last week I was pretty impressed with my Lovable freebie and I let myself fall into that trap of 'bigger, better, brighter' and tried to create another Lovable thingie that was entirely too ambitious for (now 2:30PM) on a Sunday afternoon on the day my newsletter needed to go out. The next 3 hours can only be described as an epic battle of stubbornness where I wanted to create an Airtable and Lovable app all from my phone while sitting on the couch pretending to watch Shetland. I was actually pretty impressed with the way I worked around AI trying to send me down a path that was logical for it but was not very clever for someone who routinely has to figure out workarounds given my constraints (unemployed since March 2024, limited budget, executive function deficits, an ego the size of an elephant's a**).

Finally gave up around 5:30PM when hubby came downstairs and said we should eat something. So yes, another freezer-burn surprise for us (it's kind of a lottery - digging down into the depths of the chest freezer to unearth a box of something or other and praying it's decent after heating it up in the oven).

This week was wild, y'all. It started with my aforementioned colleague and I getting together to hammer out the details of the cohort we're putting on.

The next day I co-led a webinar with Jessie Schofer for which 581 people had RSVP'd and then in the afternoon did my third live podcast of Rails Optional with my ride-or-die Nicole Eisdorfer. And 3 potential AI coaching clients later still. Then Wednesday was a 2-hour 'Hangout & Tinker' in the R Generation community, followed by an absolutely brilliant session with Kristen Swanson from Anthropic where she showed us in real-time how to use Claude Code to vibecode an application (and she used my idea from a year ago - The Bureau of Unbothered Whimsy - that I had spent a Friday night in Notion trying to create as an interactive site before realizing Notion had locked that down - this was the night I realized how a chatbot’s LLM is always 6-12 months behind because I spent hours arguing with ChattyG about how what it told me I should see in Notion I absolutely couldn't see) - anyway, she made a site in less than an hour that was lovely and I was so inspired that I wanted to re-do the Whimsy Wall but then got distracted by the 1-hour live session I'd planned with the AI for HR Community to show my peeps how to use Claude, Projects, Artifacts, and Claude Code.

And somewhere in there I realized I was about to hit 10k followers and was stoked but also realizing that followers is actually a pretty meaningless metric.

What isn't meaningless? Showing up 38 weeks in a row. Even on the Sundays that try to take you out.

You don't have to feel ready to start.

You don't have to understand it to use it.

You don't have to get it right the first time - or the fifth.

The only thing that actually matters is that you opened the tab.

That counts.

💜

I don’t remember much of this past week (the gift and curse of having ADHD) but here are some links to things that either made me laugh, made me cry, or basically made me feel something other than stress.

How to choose the right AI (for anyone, really)

Last Tuesday I co-led a webinar with Jessie Schofer for 581 people. Yes, 581. Here's the recording. Don't let the HR in the title fool you - if you use AI for anything, this is for you. It’s a long one so don’t waste an hour of your life listening. Throw the transcript into a chatbot and ask it for the TL;DR.

Nate B Jones on Intent Engineering

2 minutes and 45 seconds. That's all I'm asking. This is the clearest explanation I've seen of why most AI initiatives are failing - and why it matters even if you're not running an AI initiative. You're just trying to get something useful out of a chatbot. Intent Engineering is a fancy phrase for teaching AI to want what actually matters. Watch it.

My new favorite cooking channel

NSFW. I stumbled across this woman and was snorting within 10 seconds. Half a million followers. Her accent is either Minnesotan or pure sarcasm - I genuinely can't tell. Either way, if you are DONE with figuring out what everyone is eating tonight, this one's for you.

Partner of the week

Turns out newsletters don't pay for themselves. Who knew?

This week's partner helps keep the lights on and I’ve been a fan for years:

The best HR advice comes from those in the trenches. That’s what this is: real-world HR insights delivered in a newsletter from Hebba Youssef, a Chief People Officer who’s been there. Practical, real strategies with a dash of humor. Because HR shouldn’t be thankless—and you shouldn’t be alone in it.

Sign Up Free

Real talk: I spent five hours today trying to build you something fancy.

Airtable. Lovable. API keys. A whole thing.

It didn't work.

So instead I made you this: a one-page permission slip for every woman who has ever opened ChatGPT, stared at the blank box, and quietly closed the tab.

You know that feeling where someone asks what you want and your brain just... whites out?

AI is surprisingly good at helping you find your own answer. Not giving you one. Finding yours.

Try this:

Role:

You are a thoughtful, patient thinking partner. You do not give advice or opinions unless I ask. Your only job is to help me figure out what I actually think.

Objective:

Help me work through a decision I'm stuck on by asking me questions - one at a time - until I get to something that feels true.

Context:

I'm trying to decide about [describe your situation in one sentence]. I'm not looking for a list of pros and cons. I'm not looking for the "right" answer. I just need help getting out of my own head.

Output:

Start by asking me one question. Wait for my answer. Then ask another. Keep going until I say "okay, I think I know."

The decision doesn't have to be big. What to do next. Whether to say yes. What you actually want.

Sometimes you just need someone - or something - to ask the right question.

✨ Try it in ChatGPT (free version works great)

Friday, March 6 | 10AM CST - 30 Minutes
Friday Jam Session with Joy Prompt Club. This is my weekly session with my Joy Prompt Club members. We’re a small but mighty group of midlife women who are ready to make AI our biaaaatch.

You showed up. So did I. Mostly.

Go try one thing. Just one. Nothing bad will happen.

💜

Take care of yourself, take care of each other.

Deb

P.S. Forward this to the woman in your life who keeps saying she'll try AI "eventually." The Anti-Tutorial is literally made for her.

P.P.S. Hit reply and tell me where you're stuck. I read every single one.