As I’ve processed the deaths of Dolly Parton and Tim Curry (fixed the bad reference) this week, I realized that I used the examples of their creativity and output as inspiration for my career. Not because I could ever “compete” with them and their careers, but to use their careers as inspiration for my own. […]
How Can You Tell the Difference Between Inspiration and Competition? Read More »
As I’ve challenged myself physically, I noticed I’m talking out loud, coaching myself. My most frequent word is “Okay.” Okay is short for: “Okay, you finished that piece. Now, it’s time for the next step so you can accomplish this entire thing.” I try to keep my self-talk positive because I want to reinforce finishing
How Do You Use Your Self-Talk to Finish Something You Want to Accomplish? Read More »
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 »
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 »
I just had a”Big Birthday,” the kind that ends in 5 or 0. So now, I am in the midst of a “senior life” crisis. It feels just like my previous crises, where I search to find a new role that fits my life now. In Secrets of Consulting, Gerald M. Weinberg said: It may
How Can We See and Steer Through Our Life “Crises” to Find a New Path? 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 »
This is Johanna’s November 2024 Create an Adaptable Life Newsletter. The unsubscribe link is at the bottom of this email. Many of my professional colleagues and dear friends are in chaos right now. They can’t seem to find jobs. No company or hiring manager seems to want what these people have to offer. This is
How to Pivot When Too Few People Want What You Have to Offer Read More »
This is the August 2024 Create an Adaptable Life Newsletter, from Johanna Rothman. The Unsubscribe link is at the bottom of this email. I’ve heard about a “level playing field” for many years. First, it was in school, where supposedly “everyone” had the same opportunities. If everyone has the same start, supposedly it’s up to
When Does a Level Playing Field Make Sense & When Should We Create It? Read More »
Last week on Mastodon, my friend and colleague GeePaw Hill wrote: “Music — art — is not a promise of perfection. It is a promise of effort, of risk, of commitment, to an unreachable ideal. Pablo Casals, in his 80s, asked why he practices every day. “Because I think I’m getting better.” If you create
How Often Do You Embrace the Joy of Practice, Not the Outcome? Read More »
If you’re a word nerd as I am, you might already know this word: homeostasis. It means that after an event, we return to a relatively stable state of equilibrium. Then, I read a book that offered me a new word: allostasis. That word means we use our emotional resilience to find a new state
How Can We Learn to Look Forward to a New and Possibly Unknown State? Read More »