“If change is the only constant,” says author Jenny Blake, “then let’s get better at it.” This is how Blake concludes the introduction to her second book, Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One (Penguin Portfolio). This line is also a microcosm of how the entire book takes form: motivation to accept […]

During fall of last year, I was warming up for a career pivot. I split my time between writing for online magazines about business and entrepreneurship (including Ideas by We) and consulting on marketing strategy for startups. I’ve always loved startups—that process of identifying a challenge and providing a solution that creates delight or helps […]

Many of us have a morning routine to help us launch into the day and arrive at our desks feeling jazzed. Common favorites: coffee, cold-pressed juice, podcasts on the train, or hitting the gym before your body has time to say no. And more coffee. But an important part of starting a new day and […]

It’s life-affirming to do something novel or unexpected: going out on your own as a solopreneur, joining a startup as an early team member, or moving to a new city, for example. Once you’ve embarked on a new adventure, you may feel moments (or longer stretches) of doubt. That’s normal, of course. The good news? […]

We’ve all had “crappy jobs”—as restaurant servers, part-time personal assistants, or tanning salon desk attendants. While some of these jobs are just a grind, many are valuable, positive experiences. They can teach us a new or unusual skill set, they can position us to observe human behavior from a different vantage point, or they can […]

You finally finished your novel, and all the literary agents who read it said it’s a “strong start.” But another year of wordsmithing doesn’t interest you. Or perhaps you wanted to learn to code, but realized it wasn’t at all a match for your core competencies. All that’s fine. But did you take a moment […]

No one wants to be Peter Gibbons. The main character in the widely-loved (and oft-quoted) movie Office Space was open about how much he hated his job at Initech Industries and how that affected his motivation (“I’d say in a given week, I probably only do about 15 minutes of real, actual, work”). And yet […]

There is something juicy and life affirming about having a startup, a creative calling, or a passion project that you work on regularly. That is, of course, when said venture is not at a conceptual impasse, or losing money, or giving you agita. Thankfully, when working on creatively demanding projects, there is a geographic solution. […]

The best writers’ group I ever belonged to reminded me of something you see in movies. We ate hummus, grapes, olives with pits, and hunks of dark chocolate as we gave each other updates on what we were working on. Then we would write for 30 minutes and share what we’d just created on the […]

The man who worked on a novel before clocking in for work. The freshly showered woman who brings a gym bag to the office. These people aren’t that different. Like working out, having a side project has manifold benefits for the person who makes the time and shows up for it. A side project gives […]