Doing What Works

If you feel like you should have X,Y, and Z going by the time you’re a certain age you’re bound to be disappointed. If you’re anything like Katie, you might head off perceived disappointment on the part of others with self-deprecation. In this edition of Doing What Works we give you permission (not that you need it!) to own a transition, even if there’s nothing particularly unique about it.

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Executive coach Marshall Goldsmith hopes you won’t fall prey to the “I’ll be happy when this happens” mindset.

“Comparison is the thief of joy.” ~ Katie’s boss, and others!

“If you compare yourself with others you may become vain or bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.” ~ Desiderata

If you didn’t catch it the first time we hope you won’t miss it this time, my interview with Katie about the greatest adventure of her life. Thanks for listening to this encore edition of Doing What Works!

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“Notice I’m tensing up, decide that can’t be good, tense up even more.” If that describes you as perfectly as it does us, you’ll enjoy the line we walk in this edition of Doing What Works. How do you share something important with a worrier that might worry that person more?

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Dumb Ways to Die!

Have you ever caught yourself racing through one part of your day in order to get to a supposedly better part? I did that only hours ago, eating a salad. Why was I in such a hurry? Was a mastodon going to sneak up from behind and snatch it away? I mean, really. Slow down, as we suggest in this edition of Doing What Works, or you might miss your life.

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Barbara Sher used to say the passage of time drives you crazy when you know you’re not using it right.

Elizabeth Perkins played a kindergarten teacher in About Last Night and talked about parallel play.

“All money gets you is a nicer place to watch TV.” That’s Maureen’s mom.

“Is today the day I die?” A question Morrie from Tuesdays with Morrie suggests you get in the habit of asking.

Don’t take your phone into the bathroom with you. Don’t feel like you have to be productive all the time. Make appointments to do nothing and keep them. In this edition of Doing What Works you’ll get more suggestions like these. If you try even one? You may decide doing nothing is a worthwhile way to spend your time.

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The not-so-typical item on Maureen’s bucket list!

The Doodle Revolution might inspire you to look at doodling as deep thinking in disguise.

When you micromanage your child’s experience at a science fair or museum visit they’ll learn a lot, but probably not what you hoped. It’s much better to step back and watch the thrill of the unfolding, and we encourage you to keep the “fun” in “functions” in this edition of Doing What Works.

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Would you like an entertaining discussion of whether schools kill creativity?

Why do you call someone crabby when they’re grumpy?

Just when I thought I knew my daughter, she surprises me -- but not as much as she surprised a recent date. We’re talking party hats, noisemakers, even a certificate that’s signed and dated. Listen to this edition of Doing What Works to find out if there will be date #2 with Date #500.

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You can hardly do anything these days without being asked to rate the experience. So add us to the list! In this edition of Doing What Works we ask you to consider rating the show and/or reviewing it and/or sharing it with others. But wait. There’s more! We also wrestle with how difficult we sometimes find it to ask for what we need. Maybe you can relate.

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Staying the Course: A Runner’s Toughest Race is the memoir of former marathon champion Dick Beardsley.

The War of Art is a book of encouragement for creatives.

Papyrus is a greeting card company.

Profitable Podcasting is, as our producer jokes, science fiction.

The Career Clinic: Eight Simple Rules for Finding Work You Love is a collection of stories about happy career changers.

Our friend Patricia Rossi is the reason you have show notes for these episodes, because they were her suggestion!

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As a kid, when Katie had difficulty falling asleep, she used to get out from under the covers and move her pillow aside for a few minutes. She found that once she put that bedding back it was easier to revel in the sudden comfort and fall asleep after all. Maureen’s been finishing off her hot showers with blasts of cold water. Get comfortable being uncomfortable, as we suggest in this edition of Doing What Works, and worst case you can be proud of yourself for the reaching.

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Cryotherapy is Maureen’s latest experiment, inspired by someone in the comments section of a recent “Writing Wednesdays” post by Steven Pressfield.

How much of your life do you attribute to luck? It’s a discussion even our producer, Darrell, couldn’t wait to weigh in on in this edition of Doing What Works!

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How Not to Be Wrong, by Jordan Ellenberg, is a book about the power of mathematical thinking.

“I cleaned out my refrigerator and now I can switch careers.” ~ Someone told Gretchen Rubin that, and Gretchen knew exactly what she meant.

Brooks Palmer suggests you move something to a different room to see it for what it is (probably clutter).

“Leave equal time for action as reflection.” ~ That’s from Dick Bolles.