Marissa Brassfield

The 4-day workweek is still too many days. I've worked 3.5 days max/week for 36 months (as of Monday). Cofounded a multimillion-dollar business. Walk my kid to school every morning, and walk home together in the afternoon. The math works, so long as you're willing to subtract.

That meeting you're dreading? Your body already voted. Here's what I've learned about eliminating the meetings that drain you: Cancel it. Ask yourself: what would actually break if this meeting didn't happen? If you can't name something specific, it might not need to exist. Shorten it. Most hour-long meetings can be 30 minutes. Most 30-minute meetings can be 15. Or an email. Or a 90-second Loom or voice note. Propose the change. Change your role in it. Do you need to be there the whole time? Can you join for your portion and leave? Can someone else represent you? Move it. If the meeting has to happen, move it to a time when you have more capacity for it. Stop scheduling draining conversations during your best hours. Decline and offer an alternative. "I can't make this recurring meeting work, but I'm happy to review notes async and flag anything that needs my input." Pick one meeting this week and change something about it. If you're into simple experiments like this with a huge ROI, comment "Simplicity" - Every Tuesday, I'll be in your inbox, helping you build a life where your shoulders aren't permanently near your ears.

For those in L.A. who have been locked in on Claude code for weeks on end… the tulips at @DescansoGardens are popping off. The nature break will improve your creative thinking and quality of life

Comment SIMPLICITY and I'll send you my weekly newsletter where I talk about this stuff every week. Real life, real systems, nothing precious.

I built a schedule around what I actually want my days to feel like. And the wild thing is, my work got better. My creativity came back. My patience with my son stopped running out by 2pm. Your schedule either reflects the life you want, or it was built for someone who doesn't exist. Most of us are still running on the second one. If you're a mom holding it all together and wondering why it still feels like something's off: it's probably not you. It's probably the design.

Morning walks with your kid, deep work, and a short workweek aren't competing with each other.

Normalize sleeping on it. Your brain will rationalize anything... And it's very good at making terrible ideas sound reasonable at 1am. But your body doesn't lie. Sleep on it. Walk on it. Let it sit until the answer shows up in your gut instead of your head. The decisions I've regretted most were the ones I made fast because I didn't want to sit with the discomfort of not knowing. The best ones? I let them marinate until my whole system said yes.

This week, just notice. Where do you feel it first? What situations trigger it? You don't have to do anything about it yet. Simply tune in. P.S. I’ve spent 20 years helping people decode what their bodies have been trying to tell them. It all starts with 60 minutes to finally trust what yours is saying. And a clear next step to act on it. Ready? Comment “Clarity” to book your Strategic Clarity Session.

My body knew before my brain caught up. Every time. Your body has a tell. A specific place it sends the first signal when something's off. Ever noticed your collar is suddenly suffocating you? Or felt your shoulders creeping toward your ears? A team member once showed me her “anxious ear” - it would turn bright red when she was maxing out.

When something's off... where do you feel it first? Gut, chest, throat? That's your body's first alarm. Learn to listen.

@MehtabKarta @thesamparr Yes, same here. Once one person on the team has a better quality of life because of the new tools and workflows, there’s another spike of interest and commitment to adapting/learning.

@thesamparr The most effective method for us has been to show people how it eliminates the tedious stuff they hate doing the most. After that, buy in seems great.

How is everyone getting team adoption for Claude? I spent a lot of time on Twitter, as do you. We see all this AI stuff popping up. We're on top of it, or at least sorta. I know what's going on and are testing all these fringe ideas. But how are all you people getting your team to actually use it effectively without spending all their time on Twitter and learning, which we know they won't and probably shouldn't be?

@milesdeutscher I hang out with my friends to get a break from those subjects!

If your friends aren't talking about: • Claude • Perplexity Computer • Openclaw • Fitness • Investing • Ownership • Automated workflows It's time to find new friends.

@KayTeeElle @katienotopoulos Yeah, that’s the part I resent too.

@katienotopoulos The amount that I've had to change my natural writing style to avoid being accused of AI drudgery is truly annoying

Typomaxxing is the new meta. You've got to be making grammatical errors, random extra spaces, at least 1 "teh" per email or else people will think you're an AI-using workslop slinger and ignore you

@dullhawk @thereal_SnS Put this on a billboard. You’re spot on. This applies to so many contexts 😩

@thereal_SnS I think the more the realization hits about how stupid, irrational, unscientific, and unnecessary the ritual is, the harder it gets to adapt to it.

Is anyone else struggling more than usual to adjust to Daylight Saving Time this year, or is it just me?

@MittCPA This winter, including this last weekend, has been just so magical.

im sorry but I love Los Angeles

@roger @brockpierson Same - it got me to codify workflows, create better skills, make more comprehensive scheduled tasks, and conceive sub agents in a way I wouldn’t have otherwise. Kinda felt like skating to the puck given the latest releases from Perplexity, Anthropic, etc

What it did do for me was push me to start setting up better infra in general. Like right now I’m trying to set up a better orchestration system, migrating to OpenCode with CC and other stuff. I think over all it’s been an indirect win as it stimulated me to get off my duff and do more with what I already had conceived in my head.

Openclaw is one big grift. Nobody is building anything real. It's just grifting influencers telling YOU how to build stuff (but never build anything themselves). Interesting how you can be building 24/7 but have nothing to show for it... Check the track record of these snake oil salesmen. Same type of person who polluted crypto with their grifty ways. Selling a false dream and taking money from innocent people is disgusting. You can't change my mind.