New Year’s resolutions? No, thank you. Radically rethink the way you set goals:
The Latest
Corporate Scapegoats: Beyond the “Greedy Corporation” Critique
Panasonic is currently running a commercial about climate change starring Michael Phelps. Phelps delivers a stilted and, in my humble opinion, wholly uninspiring pep talk. He warns us that the time for action is now when it comes to averting the climate crisis....
“All Parasites Have Value:” Why Valuing Those Who Don’t Work is Key to More Sustainable Work Practices for Those Who Do
"I haven't worked my whole life to pay for somebody else," said the woman in line at the antique store ahead of my husband. At the mention of the sales tax she owed, she began to complain about "moochers." The next day, we walked past a car with a bumper sticker that...
How the Push for Efficiency Changes Us
Layoffs are in the news. 21,000 at Facebook. 27,000 at Amazon. 12,000 at Google. 600 at Spotify. LinkedIn maintains a running list of layoff announcements in its News feature area. Every person laid off is a life disrupted in some way. And the potential ramifications...
Think Differently about Work, Culture, and the Economy
It’s easy to lose your way in the 21st-century economy. The world of work and business is changing so rapidly that you might be focusing more on how to keep up than how to live a meaningful life. What Works is a podcast for entrepreneurs, independent workers, and employees who don’t want to lose themselves to the whims of late-stage capitalism. Tara offers a distinctly interdisciplinary approach to the discourse around business, work, and personal growth.
A Radical New Approach to Goal-Setting
What Works: A Comprehensive Framework to Change the Way We Approach Goal-Setting
“Nuanced, rigorous exploration. What Works is a thought-provoking antidote to the overhyped productivity narratives keeping us stuck in shame and validation spirals. This book, and Tara’s oeuvre more broadly, serves as a brilliant guide for emphasizing presence and process over rigid metrics and external markers of success. A rich, hearty meal for the mind, I was only sad to put this book down when it ended.”
— Jenny Blake, podcaster and author of Free Time, Pivot, and Life After College
Humane Business
Go With The Flow: How Tracking Cash Flow Can Transform Your Business for the Better
It takes money to start a business. Money can come in the form of a loan, a credit card, a savings account, or even pre-orders. Or, time and sweat equity become a proxy for money until there’s enough cold hard cash to invest in growth. It also takes money to grow a...
What Worked in 2022: 4 Insights From A Rebuilding Year
I typically don’t do a big “year in review” routine—only because review and reflection are a big part of my work in practice. But last week, when Sean and I sat down to record a “quick” rundown of our favorite things from the year for the podcast, he preempted me with...
Hustle Culture: How did we get here? And what do we do about it?
American culture is hustle culture. We place extraordinary value on productivity, efficiency, and the willingness to suck it up and squeeze more in. Our heroes are entrepreneurs and artists who put in the work. We are educated in hustle culture from the time we start...
Future of Work
“All Parasites Have Value:” Why Valuing Those Who Don’t Work is Key to More Sustainable Work Practices for Those Who Do
"I haven't worked my whole life to pay for somebody else," said the woman in line at the antique store ahead of my husband. At the mention of the sales tax she owed, she began to complain about "moochers." The next day, we walked past a car with a bumper sticker that...
How the Push for Efficiency Changes Us
Layoffs are in the news. 21,000 at Facebook. 27,000 at Amazon. 12,000 at Google. 600 at Spotify. LinkedIn maintains a running list of layoff announcements in its News feature area. Every person laid off is a life disrupted in some way. And the potential ramifications...
Managing Mental Health in the Achievement Society
“I thought for a long time: is it capitalism, or is it my ambition? And I am a very ambitious person,” Mara Glatzel told me a couple of years ago. That distinction between the narratives of capitalism, individualism, and meritocracy on one side and the drive to create...
Culture & Economy
Corporate Scapegoats: Beyond the “Greedy Corporation” Critique
Panasonic is currently running a commercial about climate change starring Michael Phelps. Phelps delivers a stilted and, in my humble opinion, wholly uninspiring pep talk. He warns us that the time for action is now when it comes to averting the climate crisis....
The Economics of Meeting Your Needs
We all have deep human needs—for belonging, for autonomy, for creative expression, for safety and security. But modern life can make it a real challenge to get those needs met in meaningful ways. Instead, we’re offered products with flashy marketing messages. Kitchen...
How Does An Idea Turn Into An Asset?
What makes an idea valuable? What turns it into a product that can be bought, sold, or rented? Ideas turn into capital assets thanks to our system of intellectual property rights. But understanding IP isn’t simply a matter of learning what a trademark or patent is,...
Mindset & Identity
“But should you, really?” or, How to Challenge Your “Shoulds” and Get Back to What Matters
This is a should I can get behind. How many shoulds or supposed-tos do you utter in a day? How often do you put yourself down because you’re not doing something you believe you should be doing? And how many times do you think critically about whether taking those...
What Type of Goal-Setter Are You?
I've explored goal-setting and planning with small business owners, creatives, and independent workers for over 12 years now. That means I've observed many different types of goal-setters. Some confidently choose a new goal and get to work. Others rebel against...
What’s Your Type? Why Self-Knowledge is Big Business on Social Media
Two types of content dominate my Instagram and TikTok feeds right now. The first is users talking about different personality and developmental conditions. The second is all about personality types and astrology signs. I’m sure some of the prevalence of this content...
News & Recommendations
Making Media Social: 3 Ways We Behave Online
Twitter is a dumpster fire. Meta lays off 11,000 people while their ad product struggles and their metaverse product seems to be boring at best. Instagram continues to roll out TikTok feature clones. And TikTok continues to be owned by a Chinese corporation, raising...
Laid Off: What’s the future of social media?
When Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter finally became officially, he immediately fired the CEO and other top executives. That much is perfectly normal when a new owner takes over. But on Friday, half of Twitter’s workforce opened their personal inboxes to learn their...
READ: 3 Books for Remembering You Have a Body
“You have a body.” That’s the first principle of feminist business-building according to Jennifer Armbrust, founder of Sister and creator of the Feminist Business School. It might seem a strange way to begin a manifesto about business, but remembering that we’re human...