Top 10 Resources for When You Want to BE Self Compassionate

These resources focus on both the self-compassion mindset AND actions. This list includes some cute office supplies, a podcast for overthinkers, and a quiz to see which type of perfectionist are you?

  1. Nine to Kind Daily Planning Notepad

    We love an easy, one-sheet planning tool to help simplify our workdays. This notepad includes prompts, a to-do list section, and free space to give structure without being overbearing. From the website: “The Nine to Kind Daily Notepad is your hub for your daily schedule and tasks. Just like the Possibility Planner, it includes prompts for mindfulness and prioritization. The pages can tear away, it can go with you on all your errands, and be your desk companion.”

  2. Pilot FriXion Erasable Marker Pens:

    Nothing like perfectly planning out your schedule only to realize you made a typo or that something already changed while you were listing it out. These pens are fully erasable while still showing compassion to your imperfections.

  3. Fuck That: An Honest Meditation:

    This is a 2 minute explicit meditation for those who find it hard to take guided meditations seriously. Meditations don’t need to consist of visualizing leaves on a stream in order for them to count as mindfulness.

  1. The Perfectionist’s Guide to Losing Control Book + Quiz

    This book by Katherine Morgan Schafler takes an unconventional approach of leaning into your perfectionism as self-care, instead of trying to fight it or get rid of it (a shame spiral waiting to happen). From the website: “You don’t have to stop being a perfectionist to be healthy. For people who are sick of being given the generic advice to ‘find balance,’ a new approach has arrived.” The website also has a fun “What Flavor of Perfectionist Are You” quiz that can help give you more info about your perfectionist part.

  1. The ACT Matrix:

    This 15-minute Youtube video does a great job explaining the basic foundations of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and leads you through an activity to help identify your values and what gives meaning to your life.

  1. Focus, Friend App by Hank Green

    This app is basically a tamagotchi for your ADHD – it entails your bean friend (aka “Bean”) knitting a scarf while you focus on your own task. It taps into the social accountability strategy of body doubling but instead of another human, it’s Bean. The app is free unless you want Bean to knit different types of clothing while you work.

  1. Nine to Kind Note to Self-Stick Notes:

    These are stick-able notes that simplify some of the strategies that perfectionists like to employ that activate their overthinking. There are four different notepads each catering to a different strategy: a self-compassionate affirmation, goal tracking, accountability by positive reinforcement, and future planning.

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  1. Real Self-Care

    This book, by Dr. Pooja Lakshmin, leans into the principles of ACT and clarifies that “self-care” is less about spa days, your next vacation, and a glass of red wine after work. Lakshmin explains that feeling contentment is more about honing in on what’s really important, and choosing intentional, values-based actions.

  1. Magical Overthinkers Podcast:

    This podcast is by Amanda Montell, one of the hosts of the podcast, Sounds Like a Cult. It promises “thought-provoking content for curious overthinkers,” who love it when things just make sense. From the website: “Complete with heart-on-their-sleeve personal stories, thought-provoking conversations, and actionable takeaways for how chronically online listeners can get out of their own heads, this podcast is here to make some sense of the senseless. To help quiet the cacophony in our brains for a while.”