What Works

The proliferation of derivative nonsense on various social media platforms begs the question: Is it possible to make a TikTok video, Instagram post, or LinkedIn update that's remarkable ? Is it possible for repetition to be an asset? For repetition to even be remarkable ? In this episode, I take a deep dive into gimmicks—the formulaic and repetitive media that can help us think in new ways. Specif...

Last week, Vox published an article by internet culture reporter Rebecca Jennings about how everybody needs to be a self-promoter now—and we all hate it. Then, I read a response by writer and book coach Leigh Stein, who was quoted in the Vox piece, in which she admitted to actually enjoying creating her social media content. Stein said that she was considerably more optimistic about the state of t...

Layers. Unless we're talking about cake, you  can have too many layers. In today's episode, I share a recent metaphorical revelation I had about sound and sensory sensitivity. And then, I introduce you to a different way of thinking about stress that can help you identify better ways to manage it. Footnotes: Rethink Work : an 8-week cohort-based course The Highly Sensitive Brain by Bianca Acevedo...

So, you're stressed. Or work feels  intense . Or you're putting more energy than you should into manifesting a day with "no surprises." But why? Even if you're not working on an especially challenging project or hustling to get in under a deadline, the work we do can be stressful in a sort of ambient and ambiguous way. And we might downplay that stress because, hey, aren't we just lucky to have a...

Why is it that our bodies and brains tend to function on so much outdated code? Our personal algorithms and mental shortcuts are often stuck in a different time and place. We jump to conclusions or inadvertently flood our systems with cortisol because some stray line of code gets triggered. In this episode, I examine the tricky way that our beliefs have a way of creating our reality—not just descr...

The only sure bet is uncertainty. As we start a new year, I want to take a closer look at navigating uncertainty and how we can normalize not knowing. In this episode, I introduce you to a nerdy, wire-rimmed-glasses-wearing badass of a German pastor and guide you through 4 questions you can ask whenever you're navigating uncertainty (which is all the time...). Footnotes: Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Wikip...

Today, a short meditation on time, the end-of-year season, and how we might carry what we experience now into the next season of work. Footnotes: Dr. Who: the " Wibbly-Wobbly, Timey-Wimey " speech Time On Our Side , featuring essays by Tim Jackson and Barbara Adam (among others) Daniel Dombeck's 2018 study of mice and time Exhalation , including "The Lifecycle of Software Objects" by Ted Chiang Re...

This is the 3rd edition of Cold Pitch , an experimental project from YellowHouse. Media exploring media, curiosity, and identity. I'll be sharing one more episode from this project next week before returning to the usual What Works program in 2024! How do you feel about "showing up" in online spaces? What fears or anxieties do you have about hitting the publish button or connecting with strangers...

Planners and project management apps reinforce linear, chronological thinking. What if we used a completely different medium to plan for growth? I'm hosting a workshop on Thursday, December 14 at 12:30pm ET/9:30am PT for premium What Works subscribers. If you'd like to learn more about planning as a learning process and make a syllabus for your next learning project, upgrade for just $7 per month:...

This is the second edition of Cold Pitch , an experimental project from YellowHouse. Media about media, curiosity, and identity. In this edition, Sean and I talk about our favorite daily YouTube show, Good Mythical Morning . It's the backbone of our evening routine, the content we rely on to draw a thick line between the workday and rest time, and, as you'll hear, a rich text . Footnotes: Good Myt...

Over the next few weeks, I've got something a wee bit different for you! This is the very first edition of Cold Pitch, an experimental media project from YellowHouse. Media. Cold Pitch explores media, curiosity, and identity through a variety of forms and methods. In this first edition, Sean McMullin (my husband & partner at YellowHouse. Media) and I talk about, well, cold pitches . A cold pit...

This is the final installment in Strange New Work, a series that uses speculative fiction to explore radical work futures. Power. Some fear it. Others hoard it. Some with power speak softly. Others carry a big stick. Power is charisma, or coercion, or violence. Power is name recognition, or money, or computer code. Regardless of your definition or perceptions of it, power plays a critical role in...

This is the penultimate episode of Strange New Work, a special series from What Works that explores the future of work through the lens of speculative fiction. What's the most undervalued skill of the 21st-century economy? Moderation. I very well might be forgetting something. But with more of our lives and work showing up online every day, the way our feeds, data, and connections are moderated is...

I've got something short, sweet, and really special for you today. Sean, my husband, my go-to extrovert shield, and the co-founder of YellowHouse. Media has a new project that is pretty cool, if I do say so myself. It's a hotline! Or rather, it's a weekly call-in prerecorded pep talk. It's sort of like a podcast, but you have to call a phone number to hear it. Trust me, this is a very Sean thing t...

This is the 6th installment of Strange New Work, a special series that uses speculative fiction to explore radically different work futures. Find the work you were born to do. Do what you were meant to do. Discover the work that makes you feel alive. We've all heard these messages. Crack open any career, self-help, or personal development book on your shelf, and you're sure to find a similar messa...

This is the 5th installment of Strange New Work, a special series that explores how speculative fiction can help us imagine radically different work futures. Think the future of housework looks like Rosey the Robot from The Jetsons ? Or maybe just a fleet of Roombas keeping every inch of a house free of dust or dirt? Think again. Housework is ready for a much, much bigger disruption. Of course, ho...

This is the 4th installment in Strange New Work, a special series from What Works that explores how speculative fiction can help us imagine new ways of working. Social and professional norms aren't natural or innate. They're political. Those in power exert their preferences on those who aren't, and throughout history, have exerted social, cultural, and physical violence to either force subjugated...

This is the third installment in Strange New Work, a series that explores how speculative fiction can help us imagine the future of work.  Today's work happens in tiny slivers of time. And we try to optimize each minute or hour for all its worth. But remarkable work? Well, that takes time. And lots of it. The kinds of work that are central to our evolving economy—care work, maintenance work, creat...

This is the 11th edition of This is Not Advice, a "not advice" column for premium subscribers of What Works. In this episode and essay , I tackle the assumed quid pro quo that's at the heart of content marketing. It's that quid pro quo that causes us to see the ideas, information, and stories we share online as a favor that demands something in return—follows, subscriptions, and sales. When we say...

This is the second episode in my new series, "Strange New Work." Artist and writer Morgan Harper Nichols is a world-builder. She says, " Worldbuilding, for me, [is] a form of expansive hope—a necessary imagination for being alive." What is world-building? It's the process of creating secondary, fictional worlds. There's world-building in all sorts of fiction—but especially science fiction, specula...

The future of work doesn't have to be an extension of today's reality. This is the first installment in Strange New Work, a new series from What Works about imagining radically different ways of working and doing business. In this episode, I take a closer look at speculative fiction and its role in the collective imaginary. Is science fiction all space operas and apocalyptic battles? Not hardly. S...

Join Tara McMullin for a journey into the far future of work, and consider how we can create more humane, inclusive, and supportive work environment. The first episode of Strange New Work drops September 14!  You can find Strange New Work wherever you listen to podcasts—and each new episode will drop in the What Works feed, too! Support the show at: whatworks.fyi Strange New Work is brought to you...

Today’s episode is a sneak peek of Work In Practice , my new 12-week training program for guides of all kinds. This program offers a toolkit for identifying the beliefs and stories that make a more sustainable relationship with work possible. If you’re a coach, consultant, manager, or trainer who works with people rethinking how they work, this is for you . *** "Anyone can succeed if they work har...

There are rules you know about—and rules you don't. Some rules are written down—and other rules are "just the way things are." And there are rules that make things clear to everyone—and rules that exclude through their lack of clarity. Charlie Gilkey is on a mission to bring those unclear rules and unspoken agreements out in the open and improve the way we work in the process. His new book, Team H...

Play, learn, work, retire—those are the four stages of what Mauro Guillén calls  the sequential mode of life . In his new book,  The Perennials: The Megatrends Creating a Postgenerational Society , he proposes a new story for moving through life. It's a story that actually reflects the facts on the ground—rather than our grandparents' idea of what life was supposed to look like.  In this episode,...