It sucks right now. You’re stuck in your house. You’re running out of toilet paper. Your 401(k) is tanking. Why is this happening? I recently mentioned the problem while working out with my personal trainer. (We’ve moved out sessions from the local gym to a field outdoors — I bring all my own equipment, and…
I’ve advised CEOs. I’ve stood by the bedside of loved ones and helped make health care decisions. In a lot of ways, it feels like the same thing. In both situations: The decisions are important and have long-lasting consequences. People must often make decisions when they are tired. Competing experts offer conflicting advice. It’s hard…
I have a network that I didn’t set out to create. Curiosity and a specific type of work environment created it. I just needed to do my job and not be too much of an asshole. I’m terrible at networking. At events, I struggle to introduce myself to people. I don’t drink. I like to…
Tomorrow you will get to read my first ever horror story — and it’s a paid gig. Here’s how that happened and why it probably was inevitable. My ghostwriting agency, Gotham Ghostwriters, regularly sends out emails with specific ghostwriting needs. I’m very selective about which ones I pitch, because my value is in writing tech-focused…
In six decades on earth, I’ve learned that these things are worth doing. Learning. Because knowing a thing you didn’t know before is a joy in itself. This is as essential to me as it was when I was small — it keeps me going. Teaching. Because that is how you can bring the joy…
What does it feel like to file a complaint that something’s just not right and watch the process unfold? What’s happening right now in DC is unprecedented, and the stakes and risks for the person who filed the whistleblower complaint are very high. The person who reported on Trump’s activities in the call with Ukraine…
After Hurricane Dorian reached 200-mile-per-hour winds, it basically stopped on top of two islands in the Bahamas and pounded them for 24 hours. Five people are dead, and they’re going to find more. Here’s how it looks. Grand Bahama Island, one of the two devastated islands, is 55 miles from the coast of Florida. The…
Strategy generates better, cheaper, more permanent solutions. But it does require thinking a bit . . . I had a problem. There were raccoons in my ceiling. Next to my basement there is an unheated, unfinished space with a dirt floor. They burrowed into this space, squeezed into the ceiling above it, and then migrated…
Within each set of parentheses below, choose one option. “I was sorry to hear about (your/your wife’s/your husband’s/your child’s/your father’s/your mother’s) medical situation. “(Addiction/Allergies/Anxiety/Autism/Cancer/Chronic back pain/Constipation/Depression/Erectile dysfunction/Grief/Lice/Lyme Disease/Struggles with weight loss) can be so unpleasant and difficult to deal with. “I know how you feel. (I/my wife/my husband/my mother/my father/my brother/my sister/my child/my friend/my wife’s…