In Granada, I relearned what I keep forgetting: productivity isn’t about speed. Sometimes the most important work is waiting for the bill and getting lost on purpose.
Life Hacks
Frenzy ≠ Productivity: What I learned by saying “no”
At IDEO, we were often told to resemble ducks. No matter how hard we were paddling underwater, we should look serene and glide gracefully above the surface where everyone could see us. Was I tried to look serene but was still the frenetic duck. My wings thrashing, my...
What I’m Grateful to AI For This Thanksgiving
A humorous take on modern AI dependency—from rewriting co-parent texts to late-night TV analysis spirals. What happens when artificial intelligence becomes your overeager life coach? One parent’s satirical gratitude list.
Dancing out of Perfection
When a dance floor in San Francisco taught me more about success than a decade of striving Perfection crazed much? Well, something about being in your 40s forces you to look back on your life. The mistakes, the missed opportunities, the things that slipped away versus...
Dating in Your 40’s: Stop Chasing Fireworks. Start Building Fireplaces
“From fireworks to fireplaces: why dating at 40 means choosing stability over sparks. A working parent’s guide to standing in love, not falling.”
What My Daughter’s Halloween Costume Taught Me About Authenticity
Authenticity at work and home? It's all about the snakes.... I'm sitting on my living room floor with Vivi, hot-gluing rubber snakes to a black swim cap. We've been at this for an hour. The glue isn't strong enough for the heavy serpents, and they keep dropping to the...
Navigating A Relationship Transition with Grace: Personal and Professional
I go crazy each holiday. I have multiple bins of Fourth of July, Valentines, Easter, Halloween and Christmas decor that would make Santa's workshop jealous. After each holiday, I carefully wrap each decoration like I'm tucking babies into bed, lovingly placing them...
Why I’m carting my 7 year old around Portugal
🚋 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗹 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗞𝗶𝗱𝘀 🚅 This week, I'm in Portugal with my daughter. She's learning how to say obrigada, slurping her first razor clam, and enchanted by everything that feels…well…different. Travel isn't just a change of scene; it's a crash course in...
The Productivity Myth: What If Distraction Is Actually Useful?
I was listening to the Ezra Klein podcast while folding my daughter's 47th unicorn t-shirt when Kathryn Schulz said something that made me stop mid-fold. She was talking about the philosopher William James and how he described thoughts like birds: "Sometimes they're...
What My Uber Driver Taught Me About Real Community
My phone was at 17%. I had 40 minutes until LAX. I could keep texting and drain the battery—or put it down and do something retro… like talk to another human. 📵 Pre-iPhone me used to do this all the time. I was a Chatty Cathy with every cab driver I met. I’ve heard...
“Why I’m Saying No More Often—and Creating My Best Work Yet”
Lately, I’ve been subtracting....also known as saying no. Not because I’m burnt out (though I’ve been there). Not because I’m chasing “balance” (whatever that means). But because I want more meaning. I want to FEEL the purpose inside every minute. For years, I ran...
Why I Flew to Costa Rica for a 4-Hour Meeting
Sooooo........I’m flying to Costa Rica—in and out in 24 hours Why? Because the CEO of a company I’m working with lives there. And sometimes, face time really does matter. Sure, we live in a remote-first, Slack-pinging, Zoom-layered world. And yes, I’m a fan of the...
Why Thinking Time Is the Most Underrated Competitive Advantage
The Overworked, Underthought Executive Do you actually have time to think? 🤔 Or are you just bouncing from Zoom to Zoom, Slacking mid-meeting, and holding your pee until 6pm? That used to be me—in the “before” era. When my calendar looked like a losing game of Tetris...
Microproductivity: Lessons from Piano Practice
Can you learn microproductivity from piano lessons? When my 7-year-old daughter Vivi first tackled piano, each new song overwhelmed her. Sight-reading notes while grasping rhythms and mastering hand placements simultaneously felt impossible—because it was. Let's be...
Can AI Read the Room?
Do you think AI has emotional intelligence? Last night I found myself tucked into a cozy corner at The Moth in San Francisco, soaking up stories that shifted and evolved in real-time. As the audience laughed, sighed, or leaned in closer, each storyteller skillfully...
The Judgement Yoga Class that Changed My Judgy Outlook
Judgement Yoga I go to hot yoga at 9 AM, where we sweat out our Bay Area neuroses onto our mats, twisting our limbs into accomplishment. Fifty of us pack into a 105-degree room, arranging our mats just far enough apart so we don’t drip sweat on each other. It’s a...
Pumping Up (and monetizing) Your SuperPower
I’ve spent much of my life on autopilot, barreling forward—until one day, I looked up and thought: Wait, am I even on the right train? Am I leveraging my true superpower, or am I just coasting on some mediocre “bleh” journey? What if there’s a more fulfilling track?...
The Magic of Liminal Spaces: Why Pausing Can Lead to Your Next Big Break
Yoga, mediation, breath-work, Reiki, Woo woo? Or a powerful recharge in a much needed liminal space. After working non stop I went to Tulum Mexico to recharge. I am not the only way that finds creativity in liminal spaces, so did Steve Jobs, JK Rowling, and many others.
The Power of Culture: From Family Traditions to Business Success
Culture is as important at home and in the office. When my daughter Vivi returned from her two-week adventure out east with her dad’s family last summer, we both felt the "missing" deeply. But we turned that longing into something positive by creating a list of all...
Patience is Better than Botox
🎂 Tomorrow is my birthday. 🎂 No I am not going to go off and get botox... As I get another year “younger”, I’m deeply reflecting on how I want to evolve. It’s never too late for reinvention or growth. In fact, continual change can help signs of aging more than botox....
The Power of Unplugging: Why a Vacation Boosts Success
I recently returned from a European vacation with one huge milestone — I went without my work laptop. Yes, you read that right. For the first time ever, I left my Mac behind and turned off Slack. At first, it was tough to shake off the Type A urge to be constantly...