Lead, Live & Start From Wherever You Are

The power of being right here, right now

This week in Live Your Opus:

A reimagined newsletter for 2025!

• This week at work & home: The power of meeting yourself and others wherever you are now

• Business: Should meaning be a new metric of prosperity? The first-ever Global Meaningfulness Index

• What I’m Exploring: Mel Robbins’ “Let Them” Theory has two parts; remember the second.

• Helping Others Live Their Opus:

  Jenny Anderson
  & Rebecca Winthrop on helping your “Disengaged Teen” to learn, feel, and live better.

• Vitality: Cold & flu season is here. Try essential oil-infused steam & revive yourself.

• Tiny Wisdom: From David Hieatt and the team at Hiut Denim.

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A terrific Opus Christmas gift for me made by my daughter.

Hi Friends,

2024 didn’t end the way I’d hoped. My dog, Toby, passed away from lymphoma on December 17th. A big, black labrador with a teddy bear heart, he was our partner-in-life for ten years. He traveled to six countries and lived in three, spreading joy and light wherever he went. Being at home was painful and too quiet, so we went to the UK to spend Christmas with friends and then to Chicago to ring in the new year with my daughter. The trip filled my heart.

As you can imagine, arriving back home in Provence was still challenging. A book deadline is approaching, and I ended the year a month behind in my writing. I was stressed, but I knew the sooner I started, the sooner I’d get back on track.

The problem was that I arrived home more depleted than expected and a bit sad. I was fighting a head cold and off-rhythm from holiday travel (and eating). Creativity and discipline weren’t coming quickly under those conditions, so I needed a different approach.

In my book, I share The Opus 8, eight principles proven to support you in achieving healthy, meaningful, sustainable success. One of those is Vitality, which is about nurturing and renewing yourself–physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually–so you can engage fully in your pursuits. In my case, a focus on Vitality was in order.

So, rather than diving into the work of 2025 as I might have hoped, I started exactly where I was. Sixteen days in, and my rhythm is nearly back on track. A mix of exercise, diet, meditation, sleep, time in nature, calendar planning, and patience and time has restored my vitality and lifted my mood. I’m back to writing six to eight hours a day, have the year nearly planned, and feel energized about what lies ahead.

We tend to think of beginnings as the shiny, fresh-start kind, but more often than not, they’re the messy, real-life kind. Indeed, one glimpse at today’s headlines is more than enough proof. And, although we like to think of our ‘work-selves’ and ‘life-selves’ as two different beings, despite best efforts to compartmentalize, the truth is that we’re each just one person with one mind and body.

What might it be like to meet yourself where you are? Instead of focusing on where you think you should be or where you’d hoped you’d be by now? To meet yourself exactly where you are–right here, now. Because every journey begins not in perfection but in presence.

You’ll notice something different in today’s newsletter. With the book coming out later this year, I’ve decided to reimagine this space—not only as a platform for essays but as a place for broader discovery, inspiration, and actionable insights about cultivating an Opus way of living–at home and work. I hope to offer something that meets you where you are: a blend of practical and inspirational reflections, resources, and tips for life, leadership, business, entrepreneurship, parenting, and everything in between. I’m especially looking forward to sharing bits from people whose lives and work I admire and who are living, or helping others to live, their Opus.

I’ll be experimenting with this new format in the coming weeks, and I look forward to hearing your reactions and learning what you find helpful, surprising, or, in some cases, what should be removed and left on the cutting room floor.

As always, I hope these ideas inspire you to take the next step to Live Your Opus, wherever you may be starting from.

• This week at work:

  • Insight: Leadership means fostering psychological safety. By acknowledging where your team is without judgment—energized, distracted, or overwhelmed—you empower them to show up authentically and contribute fully.

  • Prompt: How can you encourage your team to share where they are right now and help them feel seen and supported?

• This week at home:

  • Insight: Life can feel both cluttered and scattered after the holidays—physically and emotionally. Getting back in the swing of things doesn’t have to mean a full reset. Sometimes, it’s about starting small: tidying a single space, organizing your thoughts, or taking one intentional action that makes your home feel more like a sanctuary.

  • Prompt: What’s one small thing you can do today to create a sense of order or ease in your home?

Until next time, be well!

“Meaning is a more impactful metric for societal progress than economic growth.”

Voluntās’ 2024 Global Meaningfulness Index reveals a deepening crisis: people stay in jobs that drain them, while meaning feels increasingly elusive—even in the wealthiest, happiest nations. “The Global Meaningfulness Index (GMI) was born from the recognition that a more holistic approach to measuring societal well-being is needed—one that reflects not just prosperity and wealth but human flourishing."

Download the findings here and let me know what you think: Should meaning be a new metric of prosperity?

“The Let Them Theory is a proven method that teaches you how to protect your time and energy and focus on what matters to you.” - Mel Robbins

Mel Robbins’ “Let Them Theory” has taken off. But the theory has two parts: ‘Let Them’ and ‘Let Me’—and it takes both to help you Live Your Opus. Which one is having the most significant impact on your life?

Listen to The “Let Them Theory:” A Life-Changing Hack that 15-Million People Can’t Stop Talking About, or buy your copy of Mels’ new book here.

“Adolescents are hardwired to explore and grow, and learning is mainly how they do this. But a shocking majority of teens are disengaged from school, simultaneously bored and overwhelmed. This is feeding an alarming teen mental health crisis. As kids get older and more independent, parents often feel powerless to help. But fear not, there are evidence-backed strategies to guide them from disengagement to drive, in and out of school.”

To help your teen develop a healthy love for learning and life, read The Disengaged Teen: Helping Kids Learn Better, Feel Better and Live Better, a new book by Jenny Anderson and Rebecca Winthrop. Recently featured by OprahDaily and Drew Barrymore.

Read “Giving Your Kid Autonomy Has Some Surprising Results,” the NYT Op-Ed by Anderson & Winthrop here, or check out a recap of the book on OprahDaily here. You can order The Disengaged Teen here.

Once, I had the privilege of using a eucalyptus steam room while I had a head cold. Amazingly, it cleared my head and provided immediate relief from my symptoms. Sick, I found this Ayurvedic at-home cold remedy; the effect is as close as I’ve come to the healing effects of eucalyptus steam room. Keep it in your back pocket when you’re fighting a cold and your vitality needs to be quickly revived.

Fill a basin or sink with hot but not boiling water, adding 10 drops of peppermint and eucalyptus essential oils. Place your face above the basin, covering your head and the basin with a towel to trap the steam. Slowly inhale the steam until your nasal or chest congestion is relieved. It works wonders and leaves your skin tingly and refreshed.

“Why can’t businesses be happy to find their optimum rather than their elusive maximum?” - David Hieatt and the team at Hiut Denim

hiutdenim

A post shared by @hiutdenim

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I’m Janine Mathó, and I’m writing Live Your Opus, a book for ambitious people who crave deeper meaning, fulfillment, and direction but sometimes struggle to break through (forthcoming 2025). I publish on Substack and LinkedIn on Thursdays. Subscribe and join 700+ people reading my letters. You can learn more about me and my work here. As always, thanks for being here. If this resonates, please share this letter with others who might benefit. Thank you!

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