In last week’s question, How Do You Manage to Want to Keep Learning?, my last option was to sleep on the learning to reinforce what we learned. So an eagle-eyed reader asked this question: How do you force yourself to take that rest? (No one can continue to burn the candle at both ends—that’s not […]
How Do You Manage to Force Yourself to Take a Rest? Read More »
Warning: This is not my normal question of the week. This post is all about swearing. And I will link to NSFW media. Proceed at your own risk. Now, for the good stuff—swearing. I have rules about swearing: never in front of a microphone and preferably in private when I’m alone. I do have an
At Least Three Ways Swearing Is Actually Good For You Read More »
Regardless of where you are on the political spectrum, the US appears to be in chaos. I’m not even going to try to list everything, because that list would be out of date even before I publish this post. Let’s agree on this: Life is full of change. Sometimes, it’s change we want. Sometimes, it’s
How Do You Manage When “Everything” Is In Chaos? Read More »
This is Johanna Rothman’s January 2025 Create an Adaptable Life Newsletter. The unsubscribe link is at the bottom of this email. In general, I like structure in much of my life. I eat the same (or very similar) breakfasts and lunches every day. I extend that structure to my clothing. If you watch my YouTube
How Do Rules or Structure Help You Decide Which Decisions to Make? Read More »
We’ve all had terrible disappointments in our lives, personal, professional, and societal. Somehow, most of us find ways to live with the personal disappointments. I’m not going to discuss those because I’m not a therapist. Professionally, I’ve experienced several project-based disappointments. We either didn’t deliver what the customer wanted or we didn’t deliver it when
How to Acknowledge Our Disappointment and Decide How to Restart Read More »
Rejection is a fact of life. We don’t get the jobs we want. Or the date with someone who seems attractive. Plenty of magazine editors reject my short stories, even when the editor says, “I liked it. It just doesn’t fit.” Those rejections feel personal—and they are in matters of the heart. But more often,
How Do Rejections Affect Your Ability to Be Resilient and Adapt? Read More »
Mark and I just returned from a week-long trip to Switzerland and Germany to explore some of my family’s origins. We had a great—and exhausting—time. I learned a ton, not just about my family’s past, but about designing for the entire experience, and how my perseverance interacts with my learning. Design for the Entire Experience
How Can You Integrate What You Learned from Traveling to a New Place? Read More »
Fear, uncertainty, and doubt. Every so often, the three indicators of low self-esteem rise up and kick us in the guts. That happened to me a couple of weeks ago. That’s when I spent a week in Las Vegas. I participated in an Anthology workshop where I experienced fear, uncertainty, and doubt—along with the reality—of
How Can We Move from Low Self Esteem to Recognizing Reality? Read More »
One of my rollator wheels broke this past week. After a few days of frantic searching, the vendor who sold me the rollator found replacement wheels. (I also have generic wheels coming, that might or might not fit.) I’m on another freaking change journey. While this change journey is relatively small, it’s significant. I have
How Can We Embrace the Change Journey Instead of Wanting the Direct Route? Read More »
In the agile community, we have the idea of “Yesterday’s Weather.” That means that what happened yesterday is roughly what will happen today and maybe tomorrow. (We expect small or no Foreign Elements. See Where Are You In Your Changes? for more details about the Satir Change Model.) As assumptions go, that’s reasonable for progress. However,
What Would It Take for Us to Embrace Continual Change? Read More »