New Year’s resolutions? No, thank you. Radically rethink the way you set goals:
The Latest
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...
How to Feel Good About Going Slow
My weekends revolve around baking. Well, baking and running. So really, my weekends revolve around patience. It wasn’t always this way. I like to go fast. When I was a kid, I’d rather finish my homework or even a test in record time than take the time to check my...
The Future of Work: A Vision for 2023 (and Beyond)
Work was in the news this year. Whether it was labor organizing at Starbucks and Amazon, layoffs at tech companies, the eyeroll-inducing “quiet quitting” trend, or the absolutely bonkers “productivity paranoia” scare, people who make the future of work their work have...
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
You Can’t Grow an Audience Like You Used To (and That’s Okay)
You might have noticed that building an audience on social media doesn't seem as easy as it was promised to be. The truth is that things have changed. And that business influencer who is promoting their top tips for growing your follower count on Instagram? Well,...
Media, Messages, and Meaning: Is it time to rethink content marketing?
Pundits, journalists, and your Uncle Joe all wring their hands about the state of discourse online. Too siloed. Too promotional. Too empty. Too rage-inducing. The list could go on and on. I truly don't want to add to that particular conversation. But I will admit that...
Refund Policies: What’s Fair and What’s Not For Online Businesses
“If you don’t see results, you didn’t want it bad enough.” That’s become the prevailing narrative of the online business refund policy. Of course, it’s nearly impossible to guarantee results. And there are reasons to remind customers and clients that, no matter what...
Future of Work
Busyness Decoded: How to Limit What You Say “Yes” To
If you feel overcommitted or overwhelmed regularly, you’re not alone. In a 2022 survey, Gallup asked Americans to gauge their stress levels. Nearly half of the adults polled responded that they felt stressed daily. In a Pew survey in 2018, 60% of U.S. adults deal with...
Putting in the Reps: A Love Letter to Podcasting & Practice
This week, I celebrated both the release of my book and the 400th episode of my podcast. It’s been a big week. Just about seven years ago, my production team at CreativeLive and I launched this little podcast baby out in the world. For the first 120 or so episodes, we...
Why Entrepreneurs & Freelancers Should Consider Quiet Quitting, Too
You've probably seen the headlines. If you haven't, here's what's up: the youngsters are talking about quiet quitting. Essentially, quiet quitting is no longer going above and beyond at one's job. Instead of working beyond the job description (or...
Culture & Economy
Revisiting Remarkable Content to Consider Digital Ecology
I consume a lot of content. Like, a lot. At the risk of this sounding like a humble brag, let me give you a taste of what I mean by “a lot.” I’m currently reading 3 books: a sci-fi novella, a book about bureaucracy, and a book about economics. I listen to about 2...
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...
Mindset & Identity
Why It’s Time to Radically Rethink Goal-Setting
Nothing puts a spring in my step quite like setting my sights on a new target. I’m a goal-oriented overachiever from way back. And like many overachievers, I often end up overcommitted and burnt out. About five years ago, I hit a breaking point when it came to some of...
Why I Took A 4-Month Break From Business—And What I’m Doing Next
I've run iteration or another of the same business since 2009. The business model shifted, the team changed, and the focus evolved—but one iteration flowed right into the next. But by the end of 2021, I needed to break the cycle. I realized I had built...
Money Is A Shared Delusion: Why How We Think About Money Matters
“Time is money.” It’s a phrase you’ve heard before. And probably a phrase you’ve accepted as truth. And it’s certainly true that there are plenty of ways that time and money relate to each other. But a few months ago, I started to wonder: Is time really money? And if...
News & Recommendations
Listen: A Podcast About How Podcasts Make Big Money
The business of how podcasts make money is relatively opaque. Lots of podcasts never make a dime. Plenty support marketing efforts at small businesses and large corporations. Still others maintain complete editorial independence by utilizing crowdfunding. And that...