“One thing I wish I knew even earlier in my career came from a business coach of mine, who said, we tend to make the mistake of assuming that which we know is obvious to everybody else. But actually, that which seems so obvious to you is your gift. And you should be charging the most for it.” — Pria Parker, NY Times Executive producer, Together Apart podcast.

What is so obvious to you it is your gift?

For me, it is easy to take some photos and write captions. It is so easy; I don’t think about it. It…

If to think well is to write well, it will come as no surprise that a Supreme Court Justice is masterful at writing. The role of Judge is to persuade with a clear and convincing argument.

What may come as a surprise is to hear a Supreme Court Judge explain writing in terms of singing.

Coming to terms with the immense impact of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s life after her recent death, I stumbled upon a lovely post by someone who had worked with her as a Supreme Court law clerk. …

Vivid image. Reminded of refugees from Libya to Europe.

When I was sorting out my bookshelf, a scrap of paper fell out from one of my old textbooks. It was a note on a psychological study I read some years ago. The study depicted two types of people.

Man A was a well-dressed man surrounded by telephones, secretaries, paperwork, and the bustle of people while sitting at an enormous desk. While Man B was a well-dressed man sitting alone in a village cafe with a newspaper, a coffee, and a cigarette.

Virtually all Americans judged man A to be the success. Nearly all Italians, man B.

Whenever I am…

In 1983, a thirteen-year-old Dave Grohl snuck into a small bar in Chicago with his elder brother. On stage he saw four punks thrashing fast three-chord music on guitars. About 75 people moshed and crawled all over each other in the audience.

And this changed his life.

By the time he was 14, he says, “All I wanted to do was leave school, jump in a van and tour shitty basement clubs with my punk band.”

He began arranging pillows on his floor. …

Your usual email scheduling may not be keeping up with the pace of the changes in the world out there. In a global crisis, you might find your emails to customers go clunk.

(That’s the sound of your email stats falling off a cliff.)

But what’s happening? Let’s start with the state of your current email list today. Here’s a snapshot of possible customers:

• Customers preparing to start up their business again
• Customers that have gone out of business
• High levels of personal and financial trauma
• Only high levels of general inconvenience
• No savings left
• More savings than ever

Overnight…

I’ve been trying to figure out why, exactly, I’m so drained at the end of every Zoom meeting — and now we know. A new study last month from Stanford University in California has found it’s because a screen, unlike reality, doesn’t give you the chance to do anything else while you’re paying attention.

Suppose you’re a regular Zoom user or take many video calls in general through platforms like Slack and Google Hangouts. In that case, you might be familiar with what the researchers at Stanford University called “Zoom fatigue.”

It’s that sick feeling you get when your eyes…

Meeting the right person at the right time. Experiencing something you weren’t necessarily expecting. Taking a chance in the moment.

You may follow all the rules and work very hard, but does your success come down to something as random as being in the right place at the right time?

Why bother working hard at all, then? Let’s go back to the sofa, you may rightly say, to spend the rest of the day under blankets like a cozy human burrito.

But understanding the unplanned and the unexpected has never been more crucial. …