Category Archives: Self-management

Real-life disclosures on the myth of work/life balance

by Rebecca Thorman on February 1064 Comments
Knowing yourself Relationships Self-management Work/life balance Get the free newsletter: sign up

I just got off the phone with Zeus, and I’m angry. This isn’t a surprise because I’m quick to anger, quick to forgiveness and quick to just about every emotion, really. The emotional roller coaster of being a woman and all.

Zeus and I have been engaged in phone warfare. Which also isn’t all that surprising considering that he works for a start-up and now I work for a start-up and well, life is busy.

You will understand this even more when I tell you who Zeus is – that is, Zeus is Ryan Healy, co-founder of both Brazen Careerist and Employee Evolution.

Read more…

Starting over in the same city

by Rebecca Thorman on July 2824 Comments
Knowing yourself Self-management Work/life balance Get the free newsletter: sign up

Hercules moved away. I don’t feel left behind by Hercules, but by my own life which seems to have somehow escaped me. I am beginning to feel engulfed by this when my friend Maria Antonia comes over.

“Transition periods… they suck,” she reminds me. “I can’t think of a transition period that didn’t suck.”

“Uh huh,” I smile. Maria Antonia is incredibly practical. This sucks, but it will pass. We try on dresses, talk business and girly things, and go out for the night. I come home early. Socializing seems silly when all I can do is think of myself.

Another night I visit with Belle and her fiancé.

Read more…

What Generation Y fears the most

by Rebecca Thorman on May 2829 Comments
Blogging Generation Y Self-management Get the free newsletter: sign up

Some might say Emily Gould is a twenty-six year old attention-craving narcissist. But I empathize with her. Nay, after reading her cover article in the New York Times magazine, I adore her (via Penelope Trunk).

Then I read the response. So not worthy of the New York Times the commenters declared in unison. Obviously. Because the world is so much cooler, smarter, and better-looking than Emily Gould.

Which is sad because if Emily Gould’s voice – a voice for bloggers everywhere or merely for herself – is muffled in the world than the world is going to get a lot more lonely.

Read more…

Don’t make career plans – here’s why

by Rebecca Thorman on March 3156 Comments
Career Knowing yourself Self-management Get the free newsletter: sign up

I thought something would happen the last week of March, but what was supposed to happen didn’t.

See, I was supposed to figure out who the man of my dreams was this past week. Stop laughing. This is serious business. Last year, I felt overwhelmingly that this would happen in March or April, and as time went on, I began to believe that it would happen in the last week of March.

I told a couple people about this craziness – my mother, Belle, Hercules. They all humored me while explaining in a good-natured way that I shouldn’t count on it.

Read more…

Figuring out your next career move without settling

by Rebecca Thorman on February 2622 Comments
Career Generation Y Self-management Get the free newsletter: sign up

Penelope Trunk’s latest post on steps to figuring out your next career move only makes sense because most people don’t want the responsibility of change. They will read what she has to say, feel a bit uncertain, but will nod along anyway.

This is good for those people, most people. Most people either don’t have the balls or are not well-equipped to do what they want.

The can cross off the “career-equivalent of winning the lottery,” because that dream was making them feel anxious anyway. And while they love to write, they can see that it gives them some sort of peace to admit that they may not really love it if they never make time for it.

Read more…

My non-advice for the New Year

by Rebecca Thorman on January 0822 Comments
Inspiration Knowing yourself Self-management Work/life balance Get the free newsletter: sign up

I’ve been writing a lot of crap lately. No, really, I have. You don’t know because I have been gracious enough not to post it, but it’s been crap. Complete and utter sh*t.

I think it’s because I feel obligated to write an inspiring New Years post, but regurgitating what the rest of the world is saying makes me nauseous. And also, I haven’t been too inspired lately, and this blog is supposed to be happy, angry, inspirational, controversial, exciting – anything but depressing – but depressing is the only way to describe my writing as of late.

I was going to show you my calendar of the nineteen meetings I have this week, which is typical.

Read more…

36 hours to making a new friend

by Rebecca Thorman on December 0711 Comments
Networking Self-management Get the free newsletter: sign up

“Should I bring my scarf?” Sam Davidson of Cool People Care asked me. He had just arrived to Madison from Nashville to give a speech to my organization.

“Yes,” I replied.

“Should I bring my gloves?”

“Yes, bring everything warm that you have,” I said. Sam went up to his hotel room and came back with his scarf, his gloves and nothing else.

“Where’s your coat?” I demanded.

“This is my coat,” he said. I looked down at his suit jacket and back up at his face, confused.

“Okay,” I said finally. “Come on then.” I walked outside, a little worried how Sam and I were going to get along if he didn’t even understand the meaning of the words “Wisconsin” and “Winter” in the same sentence.

Read more…

What passion looks like

by Rebecca Thorman on November 2926 Comments
Inspiration Self-management Get the free newsletter: sign up

When I got sick, one of the first things I had to do to get better was learn to give myself shots in the stomach. The very first time I had to do it, I sat on a hospital bed with Johannes across from me and the nurse beside me, and I cried. And when I say cried, I mean I bawled harder than I have ever bawled in my adult existence. My whole body heaved with the impossibility of the task.

Johannes sat cringing next to me. He had just spent four years studying to be a doctor, and for him, this was like opening your eyes in the morning.

Read more…

Purge first. Creativity second.

by Rebecca Thorman on November 1920 Comments
Creativity Productivity Self-management Get the free newsletter: sign up

For creativity, you need to get rid of the crap. Your surroundings are a reflection of who you are, and the state of your environment is a reflection of the state of your mind.

I work best when everything is in its proper place. At this point, I should make a disclaimer. Everyone works differently. You might work well in crap. I cannot. The piles and dust and general disorder weigh on my mind. Like a big stinky dump truck with tin cans tied to the bumper that clang against the sides of my brain. No, I do not work well with disorder.

Read more…

Life as a Gen Y leader – week eleven

by Rebecca Thorman on November 1417 Comments
Leadership Self-management Work/life balance Get the free newsletter: sign up

I texted Skinny last Friday night, “I’m just not up for it.” Which really meant that I had sixteen meetings last week, and I was exhausted, and however appealing a nice relaxing dinner sounded, Skinny would have just been a landfill. I would have dumped my entire life on him. And who is that fun for? No one.

The thing is, I’ve been saying “I’m just not up for it,” to my friends more often than not, and I’m quickly losing whatever semblance of balance I used to have. Big Brother claims he keeps his personal life separate because it’s difficult to be a public figure, but I’m increasingly wondering if the real reason is because he doesn’t have one.

Read more…

How to be productive when you’re sick

by Rebecca Thorman on November 0212 Comments
Self-management Get the free newsletter: sign up

I’m sick. My throat hurts. My nose is a faucet. And my head is squeezing in on itself. For no apparent reason. Except maybe in a vain attempt to expel my persistent cough.

And I’m never sick. Oh, sure. I’ve alluded to the one time when I had some strange freak condition that landed me in the hospital. But besides that.

I never get sick.

When other people tell me they’re sick, I raise my eyebrows like, are you really sick you poor thing, or are you just a big wimp? Because if I have a little sniffle, I work through it.

Read more…