Take a moment to step back in time with me. We're hopping in our time machine back to the epic year of 1990. While I'm the youngest of three, by '90, I was the only kid left in the house. It's the year my mom brought out the poster board, markers and stickers to begin the era of the chore chart.

It didn't come without wincing and whining, but at this point in my life, it was made very clear that the new black and olive green Airwalk sneakers I was dying for were only going to be acquired from the act of "doing" and earning.

Now, my chore chart was mostly centered around room tidying and bathroom cleaning (the part I hated the most), and the only way to even BEGIN to summon the energy to execute these tasks was music. I dropped in the Wilson Phillips CD, and waited for the beat to take me over so I could get the chores done.

Now, as a parent, I have tried all sorts of things. Lots of charts, the Skylight calendar, rewards systems, you name it. But something has always felt a bit off. Why should I be rewarding for the basic act of helping?

Then I came across Same Kelly and her ​SamKelly_World​ instagram page and my mind was blown. She was teaching an audio course called Notice and Do–a program where you teach your children about the mental load at home. As in–Mom is not responsible for all the things–it's time to be on the family team.

HELL YEAH.

I messaged her relentlessly over months on IG asking her to work with me to develop a book proposal, and finally, she caved. HA!

That book, ​Notice and Do: Raise Capable Kids, End Motherhood Burnout, and Lighten Your Mental Load​, comes out October 20th, 2026.

This week on Bound & Determined, I welcome Sam to the show to share her methodology and dive into her book process. You don't want to miss it!

Also, Sam has some really incredible free gifts if you preorder before the 20th, so don't miss out!

Since so many people refer to their books as a baby, I'm going to lean into the metaphor for today's message.

It is certainly 9+ months to write and edit a great book, just like it is to create life. But when we give birth to our children, we don't walk out of the hospital empty handed and declare "Whelp, that was tough–hope that baby will be okay" and then continue on with our life.

No! We have to raise the baby!

The same goes for books. The job is JUST beginning when you finish writing it–now it's time to market that thing! This is part of why I always remind people that to be an author these days is to be an entrepreneur. There's no hiding behind the keyboard and just hoping people will find it. You have to do the work.

Unfortunately, a lot of authors feel deeply uncomfortable promoting their books and, even worse, they don't know where to begin.

Enter: This week's podcast guest! Joining me this week on Bound & Determined is Aryn Van Dyke of Book Rockstar. Aryn is a book marketing consultant and author coach who has worked on hundreds of book launches, including multiple New York Times bestsellers, spanning across multiple nonfiction genres. After getting her start at HarperCollins, Aryn founded Book Rockstar in 2019 to make book marketing strategy more accessible to all authors.

If even thinking about marketing your book gives you hives–listen to this episode.

If marketing doesn't scare you–tune in to hear what's working in the current climate.

We're just back from a week in Montauk where the agenda was quite literally no agenda. We lounged like beach bums under an umbrella and watched the waves dance in and out. As I soaked in the sun, I thought to myself: this is the real prize. The real winning at life. The real freedom. Using your time well. Because I'm the person who could easily talk myself out of taking the time–too busy, not enough money, all the what ifs. But these are the moments that make life worth living. As cliché as that sounds.

This week on the Bound & Determined podcast, I'm talking about just this. I sat down with Brian Herriot, author of Time Freedom: Rethink Your Work and Money to Create a Life You Love Now (out Sept. 15!), speaker, financial advisor, and entrepreneurship coach. He offers a new and different take on wealth-building, lifestyle design, and retirement, building customized, comprehensive Time Freedom Forecasts for his clients in just one day. Brian is working toward a world where everyone has the time and support to define what success means to them and focus on building character over building resumes.

The conversation left me thinking deeply about how I define success, what I want to do with my time, and even how I think about retirement savings. And we are NOT talking about "work-life balance" or even "financial independence"... it's far more nuanced than that.

If you're ready for some inspiration around a different way of living (one that aligns more with your values), this episode is NOT to be missed.