My twenty-year-old pillow died several years ago. Instead of supporting my neck, my head just plunked down. That led to back pain and insomnia. I needed to sleep. The manufacturer is out of business and there was no straight replacement. That’s when I started to experiment. I bought many pillows. The image on the left […]
How Can We Realize the Experiment is Over and It’s Time to Clean Up? Read More »
Johanna Rothman’s Create an Adaptable Life Newsletter for June 2024. We use boundaries to choose who’s in or out of our families, our work, and our lives. Those choices help us decide our responsibilities to the people inside and outside our boundaries. However, those boundaries are not particularly static. The boundaries evolve as we move
What Responsibilities Do We Owe People In or Out of Our Boundaries? Read More »
As a consultant, I work with people who have plenty of problems. (No one calls a consultant when things are going well.) Many of these nice people feel as if they should be able to find a simple and direct solution to their problems. Simple and direct solutions assume we know enough about the risks
How Can We Move from Craving Simple Direct Solutions to Adapting with Experiments? Read More »
Regardless of our age, we all need good friends. Good friends allow us to discuss issues in a safe way. But sometimes, we outlive our friends. (Several of my friends/colleagues are dealing with that now.) While we cannot “replace” a person, we can leave ourselves open to finding new people with the potential to be
How Often Can You Make New Good Friends You Trust? Read More »
I could tell when my parents had overdosed on their favorite news channel. They said things like, “Kids these days…” Because I’m a bad, bad daughter, I used to ask, “Which kids? Can you name two or three? Do you mean our children?” (Their grandchildren.) “No, not our children,” they said. Their next favorite saying
How Can We Postpone Old (Age) Thinking and Create New Ideas? Read More »
International Happiness Day occurred this week. While I’m normally a fairly happy person, I cannot express how much I hate this holiday. I hate, hate, hate this holiday. Happiness puts too much pressure on people to be happy. When we’re happy, supposedly, we smile until our faces hurt. Or we’re jubilant and joyous all the
How Can We Create Alternatives to Happiness as Our “Best” Goal? Read More »
Last week, I took a fiction writing workshop in Las Vegas. It was five days of intense learning and writing. (I had a blast and can’t wait to take the next workshop.) The first time I took a writing workshop, I learned that I had trouble adjusting to the timezone. Add in the writing, and
How Can We Use the Knowing-Doing Gap to Help Us to Change? Read More »
Professionally, I work in the tech sector. Right now, when tech is making money hand over fist, many companies are laying people off. Not one here and one there, but significant percentages of people. In my experience, companies do need to make rapid-enough decisions about when to lay some people off to save the company
Who Benefits and Who Loses from Other People’s Actions or Decisions? Read More »
Last week, I had two major social interactions. First, I spoke at the Tech Leader Summit, which was great fun. I had a blast reconnecting with my colleagues and meeting new people. And I got to talk mostly about the Modern Management Made Easy books. A total win. My role was that of the expert. And my
How Comfortable Can You Be With Your Changing Role, Especially in a Social Setting? Read More »
At my instigation, Mark and I went to Norway last week to see the Northern Lights. We had a terrific time. (If you want to see just one image, go to the online version of the newsletter.) Mark found an accessible tour, so I saw the lights from two perspectives: standing in the cold—and sitting
When Do You Make Assumptions About Other People’s Abilities? Read More »