What Works

Try as we might, many of us can’t shake the overwhelming sense that we're just too damn busy—that feeling that there’s something we’re forgetting about, somewhere we should be, some person we should be checking on.

Busyness is sticky. And that’s because busyness is more than the amount of stuff we have on our to-do lists or the appointments on our calendars. Busyness is social, structural, and even political—though our go-to “solutions” for it tend to be individual. This episode examines busyness on a deeper level—and in doing so, offers ideas for how navigate it with more care and grace. And I can think of no better way to start than by talking about The Pitt. 

First, we’ll explore a nuanced theory of what busyness is and why we experience it. And then, we’ll distinguish between two forms of busyness and why differentiating between the two matters for how we navigate our responsibilities. Finally, I have a few recommendations for how we can approach limiting the harms of busyness without isolating ourselves.

Footnotes:

• Read the written version of this episode.
• The Pitt on HBO
• The Social Life of Busyness by Clare Holdsworth
• "Hers" by Barbara Ehrenreich in The New York Times (1985)
• Midlife by Kieran Setiya

How we think about a problem or goal really matters. The variables we include, the relationships we draw between them, the flows of influence or resources—they change the interventions we choose. They change what interventions might even be possible.

Today, an episode about crosswords, coffee shops, and rethinking your assumptions.

☞ By the way, just 3 spots remain in this cohort of Making Sense! Registration closes September 12, but I expect those spots will be spoken for by then. If you want to communicate with more clarity, help others rethink their assumptions, and make a bigger impact with your remarkable ideas, check out this 8-week interactive workshop.

Footnotes:

• Read the essay version of this episode.
• Thinking in Systems by Donella Meadows
• "The Trouble with Models" by Tara McMullin
• "3 Ways to Avoid Acquiescence Bias" by Tara McMullin

• (00:00) - The Whole Bean

I'm pretty sure The New York Times is trolling me.

Footnotes:

• Read the written version of this episode.
• "Hobbies Too Relaxing? Try 'Leisure Crafting'" by Lora Kelley in The New York Times
• "Research: How 'Leisure Crafting' Can Help You Recharge" by Alexander B. Hamrick, et al., in Harvard Business Review
• "Our Yearning for Competence" by Tara McMullin
• "Always Be Optimizing" by Tara McMullin
• Self-Help, INC by Micki McGee

Turn your meaningful ideas into remarkable media—and help others make sense of chaos. Join me for Making Sense. We start September 16!

"Competence porn" is an indistinct genre of media that showcases people doing their jobs (loosely defined) exceptionally well, often using niche skills or uncommon expertise. You've no doubt seen it in documentaries, in short-form video, and even in a courtroom procedural or medical drama.

What is it that's so appealing about competence porn? And why call it "porn?" And what can it tell us about what's missing from our work? This episode gets into all of that. But first, I gotta tell you about the day I became a boulderer.

There are just 6 open spots in my next cohort of Making Sense! If you'd like to communicate more clearly and help others make sense of our complex and oft-confusing world, check out this 8-week interactive workshop. Get all the details and register here: makingsense.fyi

Footnotes:

• Read the written version of this episode.
• "My Summer of Strategic Incompetence" by Kate Manne
• Free Solo (2018 film)
• "Competence Porn is Comforting" by Rachel Ayers in Reactor
• LFG (2021 film)
• "The Uses of the Erotic" by Audre Lorde
• Teaching to Transgress by bell hooks
• The Society of the Spectacle by Guy Debord

• (00:00) - Desperately Seeking Embodied Competence

In the last episode (written version), we talked about how "sensemaking starts with chaos" and that chaos arises when our expectations don't match reality. That mismatch occurs because the mental model we have that creates our expectations doesn't work for the situation at hand. To alleviate the frustration (or at least make sense of it), we need a new mental model.

Well, in this episode, I want to share 3 mental models that I use to make sense of things that frustrate people I care about.

These models aren’t even the tip of the iceberg when it comes to all the different ways we can make sense of the world. But I do think they’re ones you can apply broadly and start using quickly. Or, you might notice that they’re models you’re already using and now can be more conscious of how you deploy them.

Speaking of which, if you want to communicate with more clarity, create more persuasive messaging, and stand out from the crowd with rigorous thinking, check out Making Sense. Making Sense is my 8-week interactive workshop that walks you step-by-step through creating media that helps others make sense of the world. Whether you’re a writer, podcaster, creator, academic, marketer, or any other kind of media maker, you’ll learn new tools for producing content that offers others some relief from the confusion and frustration they feel.

To learn more and register, go to makingsense.fyi.

Footnotes:

• Read the written version of this episode.
• "Wait, I Think You're Platform-Pilled" by Tara McMullin
• "Normalization" via Wikipedia
• "Buying Freedom and the Freedom to Buy" by Tara McMullin
• "Refund Policies" by Tara McMullin
• "The Dark Side of Fitness Trackers" by John Toner
• "Value Capture" by C. Thi Nguyen

• (00:00) - Introduction

"Sensemaking starts with chaos," says organizational theorist Karl Weick. Chaos is the confusion and frustration we feel when things don't turn out the way we expect them to. To make sense of the chaos, we have to look past the results and examine how we came to expect what we did.

This is the first part in a miniseries on sensemaking and media. Next week, I'll share some of the mental models I use to make sense of what feel chaotic to me.

This miniseries is good on its own—and even better with MAKING SENSE, an 8-part interactive workshop about turning meaningful ideas into remarkable media. Learn more about the program here!

Footnotes

• Read the written version of this episode.
• Karl Weick

If you're like me, you often think about what you would have done to prepare for... this job, this economy, this political climate, this financial situation, etc... if only you'd known. But you didn't know (I didn't know). And you (I) couldn't know. Some of the loudest shoulds and supposed-tos we face are those we couldn't have achieved due to the time we were born or the family we grew up in.

In this episode, I reflect on the rapid changes occurring in work and the economy in the 21st century and how they relate to how I guide my now 17-year-old daughter. Then, I share my interview with sociologist and political economist Mauro Guillén about his book The Perennials: The Megatrends Creating a Postgenerational Society.

Footnotes:

• Read the written version of this episode.
• The Perennials by Mauro Guillén
• The Folded Sky by Elizabeth Bear
• Midlife by Kieran Setiya

***
Making Sense is back!

This 8-week online seminar is a step-by-step framework for turning your meaningful ideas into remarkable media—and helping others make sense of our complex and often confusing world. Whether you're a creator, academic, marketer, speaker, podcaster, or any other kind of communicator, this program is for you.

The program is limited to 15 participants and runs from September 16 to November 4.

Enrollment opens soon! 

No job is safer than a government job, right? Well, not anymore. At least not in the US.

I’m paying special attention to the fight over government jobs (or, as the administration might put it, “bloat and inefficiency”) because it’s part of a more comprehensive narrative project—one that shapes how we think and talk about work, and therefore think and talk about who we are and how we fit into society. Questioning the narrative that government workers are lazy or that bureaucracy is bloated and unnecessary is one way to question the narratives we perpetuate in our own work lives. And that's what today's episode is all about.

Footnotes:

• Read the essay version of this episode at whatworks.fyi
• Justice Jackson's dissent in Trump v American Federation of Government Workers (7.11.25)
• Michael Lewis on Cautionary Tales and his new book, Who Is Government?
• The Partnership for Public Service
• "Breaking the Validation Spiral" by Tara McMullin
• "All Parasites Have Value" by Tara McMullin
• Astra Taylor's book The Age of Insecurity and her interview on the Current Affairs podcast
• Mythocracy by Yves Citton

I wanted to drop in with a quiet interlude about re-reading (or re-watching, or re-listening) and its value in a world obsessed with new and different.

Footnotes:

• Read the essay version of this episode.
• "Murderbot Gets Us In Ways Humans Don't" by Tara McMullin on Motley Bloom
• "Broken Links" by Tara McMullin
• Liquid Modernity by Zygmunt Bauman
• Capital is Dead: Is This Something Worse? by Mackenzie Wark

Why is it that it seems like no amount of work, accolades, or achievement is enough? Why do we keep signing up for more, even as our capacity becomes ever more depleted? Why do we settle for mediocrity when we yearn for excellence?

In today's episode, I revisit an idea from my book—the validation spiral—and provide a framework for understanding why we become stuck in it and how we can break free. Add to that a healthy dose of Audre Lorde's feminist theory, and you've got a satisfying mental model for rethinking your commitments.

Summer Seminar starts Monday, June 9! Learn more about this flexible, brain-tickling program that combines speculative fiction with systems thinking: click here!

Footnotes:

• Read the written version of this essay (with visuals!)
• "The Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power" by Audre Lorde from Sister Outsider
• What Works: A Comprehensive Framework to Change the Way You Approach Goal-Setting by Tara McMullin
• Melissa Febos on The Feminist Present