Once I learned to read independently, I read everything in sight. Cereal boxes at the breakfast table, books, anything with writing on it. And yes, I was the kid who used a flashlight under the covers to read after my parents thought it was bedtime. At the time, I thought reading was a guilty pleasure. […]
How Can Reading Help You Think, Live, and Solve Problems Better? Read More »
This is Johanna Rothman’s April 2026 Create an Adaptable Life Newsletter. The Unsubscribe link is at the bottom of this newsletter. While the global politics continue to maintain our never-ending chaos, something wonderful happened this week: Artemis II’s mission and the amazing images they sent back to us. (For all the images, go to this
When and How Can We Choose Wonder Over Drowning in Chaos? Read More »
How do you decide what to do next? Most of us find it quite tempting to continue whatever we have done, up until now. When we continue, we don’t need much adaptability or resilience. But what do you do when Something Happens? That something might be wonderful, such as a lifecycle event, or when you
How Can You See Your Adaptability and Resilience as You Make Decisions? Read More »
Do you feel as if all the changes are a little too much for you? I do. How do I keep going when the world is in such chaos? We keep on, keeping on. How? Here’s my “solution:” Choose one thing to do, something you have control over. Execute something against that goal. (For me,
Keep On Keeping On: One Small Step at a Time Read More »
It’s the “dark” time of year here in the Northern hemisphere. Especially for those of us in the eastern parts of our time zones, the sun is low in the sky much of the day. Sunset is quite early. It feels dark. (Worse, if you pay attention to the news, life seems quite dark.) We
How Can You Bring a Little Light Into Your World? Read More »
I have not been regular with my posts on this site because I have been learning a ton. That learning created delays in all my work. But I needed to finish this work, a Kickstarter for Effective Public Speaking, because it might change how I choose to write and publish in the future. While I
How Do All the Delays Help Us Get Through Our Learning to Finish? Read More »
This is Johanna Rothman’s September 2025 Create an Adaptable Life Newsletter. The unsubscribe link is at the bottom of this email. Do you like uncertainty? I don’t, and I’m not alone. That’s because uncertainty feels as if it’s an unmanageable risk. We even have sayings such as, “Don’t rock the boat,” to explain why we
How Would You Act if You Optimized for Uncertainty to Gain More Resilience? Read More »
This week, two things occurred that made me wonder about resilience and how that can help us be more effective. The first was a conversation with academics about the state of the 18-, 19-, and 20-year-olds in college. Because of the pandemic, they spent a couple of formative years isolated at home. The academics claim
How Can We See Where More Resilience Can Help Us Be More Effective? Read More »
I recently learned about three kinds of fun on a scale: Type 1 Fun, where the thing you do, this current experience, is fun right now. Type 2 Fun, where you thought this thing would be fun, but you get frustrated and possibly miserable as you go through it. Only in retrospect, when you see
How Can More Type 2 Fun Offer You More Resilience? Read More »
Every day, my inbox is overflowing with people who want to sell me something. I suspect you have the same problem. These sellers do not realize that the relationship comes first, then the sale. Worse, without the relationship, I will never buy from them. Do they realize that? I suspect not. Regardless of what you
How Early in a New Relationship Can You Offer Useful Value? Read More »