I put the "Open to Work" banner back up on LinkedIn this week.

You know the one. It feels like swallowing your pride in public. Like a neon sign blinking the entrepreneurial thing didn't pay fast enough and maybe these 18 months of building something I actually love were just expensive procrastination from getting a "real" job.

Seven months unemployed. Again. Last time was 2009. Great Recession. I lost my townhome and lived out of two suitcases across Europe, Canada, and the US.

This time? I have mindfulness. Journaling. An ADHD diagnosis. All the tools.

And Friday night? I still spiraled.

Maybe it's fitting that it hit me full in the face on Halloween – a holiday I've never been a fan of. There was the year I was 11, dressed as Siamese twins with my friend Suzy in her dad's big coat, when some teenage dudes grabbed my pillowcase full of candy. (I chased them down and got it back. I've always been a bit feral.) Then came the years every female costume had to be "Sexy [Something]" and I – overweight and feeling unattractive – felt completely excluded.

Halloween and I have a history. So of course this is when the 7-month mark would land.

Friday my mood was rank. Not Fit For Human Consumption™. I could HEAR myself complaining. Watched myself abandon every practice I teach – abundance, growth, curiosity, gratitude. I knew I was off track… and knowing doesn’t always stop the fall.

Then my friend Nicole texted me about our podcast, Rails Optional, and I remembered: the goal isn't to never fall off the rails. The goal is to remember the rails were always optional.

Here's what I know. The job market is a friggin’ wasteland - rejection after rejection, a system that calls me overqualified and somehow not quite right at the same time. Meanwhile, I've built community, taught hundreds of people, and proven that I can make AI make sense for humans who thought they'd missed the boat.

None of that pays the bills this month.

But stopping it wouldn't make the money show up faster - it would just make me miserable while I wait.

So yes, the banner is back up. And yes, this newsletter stays. Because this is the part that's mine.

If you're 7 months in, 7 years in, or staring down your own version of unemployment dread: you're allowed to spiral. You're allowed to not be the person you teach others to be. You're allowed to need your people.

The mindsets don't fail. You're just human.

This week's freebie is about job searching - of course it is. But it's not another batch of generic prompts. It's a short lesson on how to build your own using ROCO, with your truth baked in. Templates fail when they ignore context. You don't.

Let's get into it.

Elyse Myers nails the chaos

Elyse Myers recreating her 4-year-old's stream-of-consciousness babble when she gets home is perfection. Exploding garbage trucks, cheese, when Wednesday happens, ordering Chipotle, pure glee at winking. This is what my brain sounds like most days.

Wyndo on building as a non-technical human

Wyndo (AI Maker on Substack) walks through his voice-memo-to-second-brain automation using WisprFlow, Notion, and a bunch of other tools. What I love: he's not technical. He's just using AI to learn what he needs as he goes. This is the "say yes first, figure it out after" energy in action – and proof you don't need to be a developer to build things that actually work for your brain.

Maria Keckler is doing the work

I met Maria through Archimedes, and she's been quietly inspiring me ever since. Her commitment to learning that's empathetic and human-centric – not just efficient or scalable – is exactly the energy we need more of. If you're not already following her, fix that.

Partner of the week

Turns out newsletters don't pay for themselves. Who knew? This week's partner helps keep the lights on – and their work is legitimately useful (I subscribe to this newsletter myself!):

ChatGPT is revolutionizing how we work, but most people barely scratch the surface. Subscribe to Mindstream for free and unlock 5 essential resources including templates, workflows, and expert strategies for 2025. Whether you're writing emails, analyzing data, or streamlining tasks, this bundle shows you exactly how to save hours every week.

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The Job Search Prompt Builder: How to Make AI Actually Useful When You're Desperate

I'm gonna be honest: most AI job search prompts are useless.

They're generic. They ignore your actual situation. They assume everyone's looking for the same kind of role, has the same energy, or can fake enthusiasm they don't feel.

When you're seven months in and applying to jobs you don't even want? Those templates don't cut it.

So instead of giving you another list of copy-paste prompts, I'm teaching you how to build your own using the ROCO framework (Role - Objective - Context - Output). Because the skill isn't having the perfect prompt. It's knowing how to make one that works for YOUR mess.

When you're stuck in the spiral - applications going nowhere, bank account doing scary math, that voice saying you're running out of time - sometimes you don't need a big plan. You need to know what one small, true thing to do next.

This prompt helps you find it.

Role
You are a wise, grounded guide who helps people find clarity when they're overwhelmed.

Objective
Help me identify one small, doable action that moves me forward without requiring me to have it all figured out.

Context
I'm feeling [stuck/overwhelmed/defeated] about [situation]. I know I need to do something, but everything feels too big, too hard, or pointless. I need help finding one thing I can actually do today that matters - even if it's small.

Output
Give me three concrete options for my "next right thing" - each one small enough to do in under 30 minutes today. For each option, give me the exact first step to take right now. No explanation, no motivation - just tell me what to do.

Why this works: Most prompts give you inspiration when you need instruction. This one cuts the fluff and gives you three concrete actions you can do in under 30 minutes. No therapy. No pep talk. Just the exact first step to take right now when your brain is too fried to figure it out yourself.

✨ Try it in ChatGPT (free version works great):

[FREE] Tuesday, November 18 | 8AM-9AM CST / 2PM-3PM UK

You don't need to be techy. Or trendy. Or totally confident.

You just need to be curious.

This is a warm, playful, judgment-free space for midlife women (and our favorite curious allies) to explore how AI might actually help in real life – without the overwhelm, the jargon, or the tech-bro energy.

In this 1-hour session, you'll:

No experience required. No question too basic.

Come as you are – this is AI, but make it human.

That's it for this week.

You're allowed to spiral. You're allowed to put the banner back up. You're allowed to keep building anyway.

The rails were always optional.

💜

Take care of yourself, take care of each other,

Deb

P.S. Forward this to someone who's seven months in, seven years in, or just needs permission to not have it all together. We're all just figuring it out.