Doing What Works

Where does your mind go when it wanders? If those reveries skew negative we have some ideas for you in this edition of Doing What Works.

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“I Worried” is a poem by Mary Oliver.  

Improv Wisdom might inspire you to commit to the bit.  

Mel Robbins suggests you ask yourself this: “What if it all works out?”

Katie successfully weathered her quarter-life crisis, and now she does her best to help me with a lifelong crisis of my own. This edition of Doing What Works is a study in contrast we hope you’ll find relatable.

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“There should be more rituals!”

Can you relate to what Gregg Levoy calls a low-grade, background anxiety about death?

Seth Godin suggests you ask whether something is a problem or a situation.

When he watches video of the 1982 Boston Marathon, Dick Beardsley still hopes for a different outcome.

What Color Is Your Parachute? author Dick Bolles said our gifts are meant to be shared.

Is it possible to move through the world without lying? Do you bristle at people who claim they do? And are white lies really that innocent? We do our best to give you honest answers to those questions in this edition of Doing What Works. We also inspire you to evaluate the quality of your relationships by how grounded they are in truth.

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“Be impeccable with your word” is the first agreement in The Four Agreements.

The Honest Truth About Dishonesty might inspire you to realize you lie more than you think.

Does wearing fake designer sunglasses prime you to be dishonest in other ways?

White lies are a gateway to bigger lies.

There’s more to life than speeding it up. So much more! And in this encore edition of Doing What Works we’ll give you a list of inaction items.

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Humanity isn’t a hack.
 
Silence is the only true religion.
 
Erma Bombeck wrote a lot of clipworthy columns.

Kites, bubbles, even triangles. To find more pockets of joy, we suggest you start with this edition of Doing What Works.

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Characters at Disney are told never to let go of a hug first.

Joyful: The Surprising Power of Ordinary Things to Create Extraordinary Happiness.

If you never watched Seinfeld but care what spongeworthy means!

Did you hear the one about the homeowner who was told to hide his boat behind a fence?

Don’t grow up. It’s a trap.

Kinetic sculptures add whimsy to your décor.

The latest version of Tour Guide Katie joins us for this edition of Doing What Works, and we dare you to find a better example of doing what works.

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The 1939 and 1964 New York World’s Fairs captured Katie’s imagination.

Jane’s Walk!

Your physical possessions. Your financial history. Your digital files of (thousands of?) photos. It’s the spring cleaning edition of Doing What Works, just in time for summer!

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Bob Culbertson plays the Chapman Stick.

The younger the child, the fewer the filters. Great, right? Well, sort of. But you’ve probably been the recipient of some not-filtered observations that really stung. And that’s only the beginning. Hearing critical voices without taking them too much to heart is, as Katie says, part of being human. We try to help with that in this edition of Doing What Works.

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Being Perfect might inspire you to stop carrying around a backpack full of bricks.

Dogs aren’t in a walk for the walking; they’re in it for the sniffing.

The Untethered Soul might inspire you to tell the voices inside your head to pipe down.

Even five minutes of meditation might help you quiet those voices.

“Tears are a sign of the presence of God in that moment.” ~ Dick Bolles

Do you believe life is out to get you? Or are you convinced you can have a really fun ride, almost no matter what? It’s a choice worth examining, as you’ll hear in this edition of Doing What Works.

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“Right now, it’s like this.”

“When you’re young, you have no perspective. Everything is happening to you for the first time. You’re the primitive human. The sun goes away, and you don’t know why, or if it will ever come back.”

“When you’re single, things happen to you. When you’re married, everything just kind of slows down to a crawl.”

When someone I admire started a podcast and admitted how much he had to learn, I guessed he wasn’t alone. We tap our producer, Darrell Anderson, for suggestions in this edition of Doing What Works. Darrell hosts a farm show that airs on 240 radio stations across the country, and he’s known for his impeccable editing. Even if you aren’t in the broadcasting (or podcasting!) business, you want to sound your best -- and we can help.

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Joshua Turek recently started the Turek Books Podcast.

The Secret Life of the Unborn Child inspired me to have Darrell read to Katie before she was even born.

Why you might have had difficulty hearing what people were saying if you say Oppenheimer in a theater.

Rick Rubin suggests riding the wave when inspiration hits; Chris Shea compares it to a dye lot.   Anne Lamott suggests you ask yourself, “Why am I talking?”