Photo by Gloria Villa on Unsplash So much of paid work today doesn’t look much like work. Most of us aren’t making things, filing things, or meeting about things 8 hours a day. There’s networking, education, and creative practice in the mix. And because so much of...
A lot of the work we do today doesn’t much look like “work.” The divide between work-life and life-life is flexible and porous. So what does that mean for the way we spend our time? Or how we earn a living? In this episode, I share designer, coach, and consultant Anne Ditmeyer’s story of rethinking how she works thanks to a big move to Paris. And, I argue that perhaps we need a radically different way of thinking about what work is—instead of a better “work-life balance.”
I've been wearing an Apple Watch since late 2016. At first, I didn't pay much attention to the Activity Rings. The rings represent how much you've moved, exercised, and stood in a day. When I got the Watch, I was objectively inactive. That January, I started to...
The systems we operate in all have different incentive systems: our business models, the social media platforms, our economy, the culture at large… And many of these incentive systems have become simplified and gamified—changing the way we view the results of our work and the goals that we hold. In this episode, I explore how the philosophy of games can help us identify when we’re just trying to “game the system” instead of taking effective action based on our own values and goals.
Before entrepreneurship, there was retail. That's basically my career path in a nutshell. My retail jobs were pretty varied, a stint at CVS as a pharmacy technician, some time at Kohl's as a cashier and supervisor, a particularly mind-numbing engagement at a hotel...
Most of us learn the value of our time in our first jobs. Even as we get more experience and our hourly jobs turn into salaried jobs or freelance projects, the specter of selling your time for a particular wage looms. In this episode, I talk with Wealth Over Now founder & Money Files host Keina Newell about how she thinks about the intersection of time and money. I also offer up a light history of wage work and how that history influences as business owners.
What happens when time really is money? Not just that we’re trading hours for dollars, but when we start to see each minute of the day as an asset that could be sold to the highest bidder. In May 2021, a new app, called NewNew, dreamed up by entrepreneur Courtne...
I’ve been talking about the “new economy” since about 2010. But more and more, I recognize that the economic possibilities created through the internet aren’t nearly as new or innovative as I’d first thought (and hoped). It seems that the old economy is just making itself over as the not-so-new economy. In this episode, I explore 3 processes of the old economy—speculation, financialization, and liquidation—to pinpoint how they’re showing up in our digital world of independent work.
I weave together the housing market, creator economy, Great Recession, and crypto promises to help you situate yourself in this strange, not-so-new world. At times, it’s a bleak story—but ultimately, understanding where we’re at gives us a better opportunity to make different, more humane choices.
I need time to focus. I'd say it's actually one of my most basic needs in terms of quality of life. Food, shelter, focus. I'm easily overwhelmed by what seem to be conflicting needs or priorities. To be happy, I absolutely cannot do two things at once—let alone...
There’s more than one way to measure success—and there’s more than one way to measure time. How do you account for the time you spend working? And is it really the most effective—for you—to spend it? In other words, what constitutes quality time when it comes to the way you work? I talked with business operations coach Elisabeth Jackson about how she changed her overwork habit, how she measures quality time for herself & her clients, and why she doesn’t love the word “productivity.”
Host of What Works
Tara is a podcaster, small business community leader, strategist, and speaker. She’s been helping small business owners build stronger businesses for over a decade.