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The Latest
Working Together: What Economics Can Teach Us About How Work Relationships Get Weird
Relationships are critical to our ability to do remarkable work. Even if you’re a hermit like me, the people who collaborate with you, inspire you, and support you are indispensable. That said, relationships are a source of stress, too—especially when it comes to...
Why Care Work is Critical to the Value of Information
Imagine that I had a set of instructions for making $1 million. My instructions fit on a single sheet of paper. Font size 12. Double-spaced. No funny business. Follow every step to the letter, and a million bucks would be yours. What would you be willing to pay for...
To Quit or Not To Quit Social Media: Opportunity Cost Can Help You Decide
To quit or not to quit social media—that is the question. Is it nobler to suffer the fear of missing out on internet fame (and the middling fortune that might come with it)? Or to take up some half-baked “strategy” and, by posting, end it? How do you make a big...
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
Thinking Systems? Here’s What Every Small Business Owner Needs To Know
“I need to create some systems for my business.” It’s one of the key needs we hear from small business owners. Recognizing that they have something that works on some level, they’re looking to make it work better. Systems seem to be the way to do it. But then a...
A Different Perspective On Social Media & Content Marketing: Sensemaking
Sunday evening, I downloaded TikTok and made an account. I know, I know. I said I wouldn't do it… but I did. I have zero plans to post to TikTok, but I've been increasingly curious about the creators posting personal-meets-educational content. I was also super curious...
Before You Share Another Business Cliche, Consider This
Charge what you're worth. Stay in your zone of genius. That's just imposter complex talking. Quit playing small. We've all heard advice like this before. Heck, most of us have doled it out, too. These are the phrases we come back to repeatedly when faced with a tricky...
Future of Work
Personal Branding and The Crafting of Self
I remember the first time I had my picture taken professionally. The photographer belonged to an artists’ workspace in an old goggle factory. The top floor was an event space—just a big empty loft with the original flooring, exposed brick walls, and giant windows. I...
Work Doesn’t Have to Make Money to be Valuable
On a typical evening, you’ll find my husband, Sean, and I on the sofa. We eat dinner and crack up watching the latest Good Mythical Morning episode. After, we move on to whatever television show we’re binging–currently The 100. I work on a crossword puzzle or...
Always On: The Hidden Labor We Do Every Day
On April 11, 2022, over 15,000 Etsy sellers put their shops on vacation mode and went on strike. They spoke out against Etsy’s latest fee increase. They also protested a mandatory marketing program that costs additional fees and the Star Seller program, which tried to...
Culture & Economy
The Economic Functions of Busyness: From Convenience to Debt
I'm not a very busy person. I don't mean that as a weird flex. Nor do I say it as a way to eschew the elevated status of Very Busy Person. There simply aren't a lot of varying demands on my time. There is plenty that I want to do—books I want to read, ideas I want to...
The Satisfaction of Practice in an Achievement-Oriented World
An excerpt from What Works: A Comprehensive Framework to Change the Way We Approach Goal-Setting by Tara McMullin The rules had been constructed long before I was born, and I did not know yet I was allowed to break them or redefine them or ignore them entirely. — Jami...
The Body at Work: Why Self-Control is the #1 Rule of the 21st-Century Economy
The first time I recognized that my body should be controlled was when I was eleven or twelve years old. Thanks to some particularly nasty asthma medication, my body was already well on the “after” side of puberty by that point. A large three-way mirror, inviting...
Mindset & Identity
Taking A Break From Business: What I Wish Every Entrepreneur Knew
Do you ever get the feeling you're white-knuckling it through business ownership? Like if you just squeeze the wheel hard enough and focus on what’s in front of you, you can keep your business from ending up in a serious fender bender (or worse)? I’ve certainly felt...
Finding A Way To Take Up Space
Building an audience requires you to take up space. And that can be pretty difficult (even dangerous) for many of us. Whether because of gender, race, sexuality, neurodivergence, disability, or individual trauma, there is no small number of us who learned to take up...
Understanding Mindset: Trade-offs, Heuristics, and Navigating Change
Every choice we make has a trade-off. When I decide to lace up my running shoes and log 4 miles before work, I’m trading another 45 minutes in bed for the energy I get from moving my body before I sit down at the computer. When I choose to knock off a couple of hours...
News & Recommendations
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