What Works

Try as we might, many of us can’t shake the overwhelming sense that we're just too damn busy—that feeling that there’s something we’re forgetting about, somewhere we should be, some person we should be checking on. Busyness is sticky. And that’s because busyness is more than the amount of stuff we have on our to-do lists or the appointments on our calendars. Busyness is social, structural, and even political—though our go-to “solutions” for it tend to be individual. This episode examines busyness on a deeper level—and in doing so, offers ideas for how navigate it with more care and grace. And I can think of no better way to start than by talking about The Pitt. First, we’ll explore a nuanced theory of what busyness is and why we experience it. And then, we’ll distinguish between two forms of busyness and why differentiating between the two matters for how we navigate our responsibilities. Finally, I have a few recommendations for how we can approach limiting the harms of busyness without isolating ourselves.Footnotes:Read the written version of this episode.The Pitt on HBOThe Social Life of Busyness by Clare Holdsworth"Hers" by Barbara Ehrenreich in The New York Times (1985)Midlife by Kieran Setiya ★ Support this podcast ★

How we think about a problem or goal really matters. The variables we include, the relationships we draw between them, the flows of influence or resources—they change the interventions we choose. They change what interventions might even be possible.Today, an episode about crosswords, coffee shops, and rethinking your assumptions.☞ By the way, just 3 spots remain in this cohort of Making Sense! Registration closes September 12, but I expect those spots will be spoken for by then. If you want to communicate with more clarity, help others rethink their assumptions, and make a bigger impact with your remarkable ideas, check out this 8-week interactive workshop.Footnotes:Read the essay version of this episode.Thinking in Systems by Donella Meadows"The Trouble with Models" by Tara McMullin"3 Ways to Avoid Acquiescence Bias" by Tara McMullin (00:00) - The Whole Bean (20:39) - Credits ★ Support this podcast ★

I'm pretty sure The New York Times is trolling me.Footnotes:Read the written version of this episode."Hobbies Too Relaxing? Try 'Leisure Crafting'" by Lora Kelley in The New York Times"Research: How 'Leisure Crafting' Can Help You Recharge" by Alexander B. Hamrick, et al., in Harvard Business Review"Our Yearning for Competence" by Tara McMullin"Always Be Optimizing" by Tara McMullinSelf-Help, INC by Micki McGeeTurn your meaningful ideas into remarkable media—and help others make sense of chaos. Join me for Making Sense. We start September 16! ★ Support this podcast ★

"Competence porn" is an indistinct genre of media that showcases people doing their jobs (loosely defined) exceptionally well, often using niche skills or uncommon expertise. You've no doubt seen it in documentaries, in short-form video, and even in a courtroom procedural or medical drama. What is it that's so appealing about competence porn? And why call it "porn?" And what can it tell us about what's missing from our work? This episode gets into all of that. But first, I gotta tell you about the day I became a boulderer.There are just 6 open spots in my next cohort of Making Sense! If you'd like to communicate more clearly and help others make sense of our complex and oft-confusing world, check out this 8-week interactive workshop. Get all the details and register here: makingsense.fyiFootnotes:Read the written version of this episode."My Summer of Strategic Incompetence" by Kate ManneFree Solo (2018 film)"Competence Porn is Comforting" by Rachel Ayers in ReactorLFG (2021 film)"The Uses of the Erotic" by Audre LordeTeaching to Transgress by bell hooksThe Society of the Spectacle by Guy Debord (00:00) - Desperately Seeking Embodied Competence (20:00) - Credits ★ Support this podcast ★

In the last episode (written version), we talked about how "sensemaking starts with chaos" and that chaos arises when our expectations don't match reality. That mismatch occurs because the mental model we have that creates our expectations doesn't work for the situation at hand. To alleviate the frustration (or at least make sense of it), we need a new mental model.Well, in this episode, I want to share 3 mental models that I use to make sense of things that frustrate people I care about.These models aren’t even the tip of the iceberg when it comes to all the different ways we can make sense of the world. But I do think they’re ones you can apply broadly and start using quickly. Or, you might notice that they’re models you’re already using and now can be more conscious of how you deploy them.Speaking of which, if you want to communicate with more clarity, create more persuasive messaging, and stand out from the crowd with rigorous thinking, check out Making Sense. Making Sense is my 8-week interactive workshop that walks you step-by-step through creating media that helps others make sense of the world. Whether you’re a writer, podcaster, creator, academic, marketer, or any other kind of media maker, you’ll learn new tools for producing content that offers others some relief from the confusion and frustration they feel.To learn more and register, go to makingsense.fyi.Footnotes:Read the written version of this episode."Wait, I Think You're Platform-Pilled" by Tara McMullin"Normalization" via Wikipedia"Buying Freedom and the Freedom to Buy" by Tara McMullin"Refund Policies" by Tara McMullin"The Dark Side of Fitness Trackers" by John Toner"Value Capture" by C. Thi Nguyen (00:00) - Introduction (05:38) - "Man Behind the Curtain" Framework (12:53) - The Process of Normalization (19:50) - The Theory of Value Capture (27:33) - Last Thing (29:14) - Making Sense: An 8-Week Interactive Workshop (29:57) - Credits ★ Support this podcast ★

"Sensemaking starts with chaos," says organizational theorist Karl Weick. Chaos is the confusion and frustration we feel when things don't turn out the way we expect them to. To make sense of the chaos, we have to look past the results and examine how we came to expect what we did. This is the first part in a miniseries on sensemaking and media. Next week, I'll share some of the mental models I use to make sense of what feel chaotic to me.This miniseries is good on its own—and even better with MAKING SENSE, an 8-part interactive workshop about turning meaningful ideas into remarkable media. Learn more about the program here!FootnotesRead the written version of this episode.Karl Weick ★ Support this podcast ★

If you're like me, you often think about what you would have done to prepare for... this job, this economy, this political climate, this financial situation, etc... if only you'd known. But you didn't know (I didn't know). And you (I) couldn't know. Some of the loudest shoulds and supposed-tos we face are those we couldn't have achieved due to the time we were born or the family we grew up in.In this episode, I reflect on the rapid changes occurring in work and the economy in the 21st century and how they relate to how I guide my now 17-year-old daughter. Then, I share my interview with sociologist and political economist Mauro Guillén about his book The Perennials: The Megatrends Creating a Postgenerational Society.Footnotes:Read the written version of this episode.The Perennials by Mauro GuillénThe Folded Sky by Elizabeth BearMidlife by Kieran Setiya***Making Sense is back!This 8-week online seminar is a step-by-step framework for turning your meaningful ideas into remarkable media—and helping others make sense of our complex and often confusing world. Whether you're a creator, academic, marketer, speaker, podcaster, or any other kind of communicator, this program is for you.The program is limited to 15 participants and runs from September 16 to November 4.Enrollment opens soon!  ★ Support this podcast ★

No job is safer than a government job, right? Well, not anymore. At least not in the US. I’m paying special attention to the fight over government jobs (or, as the administration might put it, “bloat and inefficiency”) because it’s part of a more comprehensive narrative project—one that shapes how we think and talk about work, and therefore think and talk about who we are and how we fit into society. Questioning the narrative that government workers are lazy or that bureaucracy is bloated and unnecessary is one way to question the narratives we perpetuate in our own work lives. And that's what today's episode is all about.Footnotes:Read the essay version of this episode at whatworks.fyiJustice Jackson's dissent in Trump v American Federation of Government Workers (7.11.25)Michael Lewis on Cautionary Tales and his new book, Who Is Government?The Partnership for Public Service"Breaking the Validation Spiral" by Tara McMullin"All Parasites Have Value" by Tara McMullinAstra Taylor's book The Age of Insecurity and her interview on the Current Affairs podcastMythocracy by Yves Citton ★ Support this podcast ★

I wanted to drop in with a quiet interlude about re-reading (or re-watching, or re-listening) and its value in a world obsessed with new and different.Footnotes:Read the essay version of this episode."Murderbot Gets Us In Ways Humans Don't" by Tara McMullin on Motley Bloom"Broken Links" by Tara McMullinLiquid Modernity by Zygmunt BaumanCapital is Dead: Is This Something Worse? by Mackenzie Wark ★ Support this podcast ★

Why is it that it seems like no amount of work, accolades, or achievement is enough? Why do we keep signing up for more, even as our capacity becomes ever more depleted? Why do we settle for mediocrity when we yearn for excellence?In today's episode, I revisit an idea from my book—the validation spiral—and provide a framework for understanding why we become stuck in it and how we can break free. Add to that a healthy dose of Audre Lorde's feminist theory, and you've got a satisfying mental model for rethinking your commitments.Summer Seminar starts Monday, June 9! Learn more about this flexible, brain-tickling program that combines speculative fiction with systems thinking: click here!Footnotes:Read the written version of this essay (with visuals!)"The Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power" by Audre Lorde from Sister OutsiderWhat Works: A Comprehensive Framework to Change the Way You Approach Goal-Setting by Tara McMullinMelissa Febos on The Feminist Present ★ Support this podcast ★

If you subscribe to newsletters, listen to podcasts, or watch videos on YouTube, I've no doubt that you’ve been asked to support the person or people who created them. You can always support with a like or a share, of course. But generally, the support they’re looking for is financial.And for good reason, life is expensive. Jobs with good pay and decent benefit packages can be hard to find—especially in the culture industry.But I gotta tell you, I’ve always been a little irked by the word “support.” It’s not inaccurate. Not unethical. Not even gauche. I just think it’s the wrong word. Today's episode is in 3 parts: The first examines an article in the New York Times from May 10 about how much money we’re paying for newsletters. The second part considers a manifesto of sorts about the future of media organizations written by Substack co-founder Hamish McKenzie in April. And the third part will draw on a new English translation of Mythocracy by Yves Citton to make sense of it all. Whether or not you identify as a “creator,” whether or not you buy from creators, whether or not you even follow creators on Substack, YouTube, TikTok, or Instagram, I promise this will be relevant to you. Because, regardless of your personal or professional relationship with Substack and the so-called creator economy, their very existence and continued growth reveal a great deal about how we all work and consume in the 21st century.Footnotes:Read the essay version of today's episode."How Much Are We Paying For Newsletters? $50, $100... How About $3,000 Per Year." by Logan Sachon in The New York Times (gift link)Hope in the Dark by Rebecca Solnit"U.S. newsroom employment has fallen by 26% since 2008" from Pew Research Center"A Simple Vision for the Future of Media Organizations" by Hamish McKenzieMythocracy by Yves CittonLet's (re)think systems this summer!Join me for Summer Seminar, a 7-week program that combines speculative fiction with curiosity about our own lives and work. This year, we're reading Sofia Samatar's The Practice, The Horizon, and The Chain and venturing through 6 explorations of systems thinking. Learn more and register with choose-your-own pricing. ★ Support this podcast ★

No matter how fastidious you are about creating and executing a plan, working toward any big goal will require adjustments. No matter how diligent you are about documentation and maintenance, any process will break down over time. The work we do is always changing—whether because of the people we work with, the market we operate in, or the cultural context our work is received in. Even when it seems like smooth sailing is just one standard operating procedure away, things will shift.That can feel like failure, or at least like you're not doing quite as well as you should be. But really, it's an opportunity. You can embrace the confusion, the entropy, the breakdown... and learn. Today, I've unlocked and revised an episode I put out in February 2024 for premium subscribers. If you like it, you'll love Summer Seminar, a 7-week program that combines speculative fiction with curiosity about our own lives and work. This year, we're reading Sofia Samatar's The Practice, The Horizon, and The Chain and venturing through 6 explorations of systems thinking. Learn more and register with choose-your-own pricing.Footnotes:Read the written version of this episode.Learn more about Summer Seminar.Learn more about YellowHouse.Media (we currently have openings for new podcasts)."The Many Functions of Should" by Tara McMullinThe Donella Meadows ProjectSmall Arcs of Larger Circles by Nora BatesonThinking In Systems: A Primer by Donella Meadows (00:00) - Process Entropy & Evolution (19:26) - Credits ★ Support this podcast ★

Is an AI chatbot, like ChatGPT, a search engine? Does it scour the internet for helpful information so that it can respond to user queries? These questions were at the heart of a small kerfuffle on Bluesky last week between decorated speculative fiction writer Ann Leckie and a few prominent tech thinkers. Honestly, it bummed me out. But I found that the next morning, I had a lot to say about it. So I enlisted my dear husband, Sean, and I talked him through it.This episode is different than the last 6 months or so of episodes. If you have the same taste in podcasts that I do, you'll recognize the format. I've been wanting to try it for a long time, and this was the perfect topic to give it a go. It's far more casual than the last 15+ episodes, but just as rigorous. If you like it, reach out on Bluesky, and let me know! Sean is already asking when we can do it again.Footnotes:Read the essay version of this episode.Ann Leckie's original postCasey Newton's postAnil Dash's post (in response to someone agreeing with Leckie)Courtney Milan's post about the "card catalog effect"The Medium is the Massage by Marshall McLuhan with Quentin Fiore"On the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots: Can Language Models Be Too Big? 🦜" by Emily W. Bender and Timnit GebruJOIN ME FOR SUMMER SEMINAR!Summer Seminar is an intellectual oasis for creative thinkers and curious adventurers.It combines speculative fiction, big questions, and practical application. For Summer 2025, we’re reading Sofia Samatar’s critically acclaimed novella The Practice, The Horizon, and The Chain.We’ll pair it with adventures in systems thinking and cultural analysis. And we’ll apply what we discover by reflecting on the systems we create and encounter in our own lives and work.Summer Seminar is designed to fit into any schedule and explores critical thinking skills you can apply to any goal or challenge.To learn more, visit whatworks.fyi/summer ★ Support this podcast ★

"I have so many thoughts and not enough time to think them," I recently blurted out to my husband. For me, "thinking thoughts" means scribbling notes or writing messy paragraphs about whatever is on my mind. Of course, no one wants to read my scribbles or suffer through my unrefined musings. So once I've spent some time thinking thoughts, I have to figure out how to organize them. To structure them. To narrate them.That's what today's episode is all about. Whether or not you're a writer, content creator, or other media maker, I know that thinking thoughts and figuring out how to share them is important to you—and essential to your work. Footnotes:Read the essay version of this episode.The Crisis of Narration by Byung-Chul HanRelated: "Temporal Bandwidth" by Tara McMullin (EP 489)Related: "An Ode to Exceedingly Complex Systems" by Tara McMullin (EP 480)NEW: The Return of Summer SeminarSummer Seminar is an intellectual oasis for creative thinkers and curious adventurers.It combines speculative fiction, big questions, and practical application. For Summer 2025, we’re reading Sofia Samatar’s critically acclaimed novella The Practice, The Horizon, and The Chain.We’ll pair it with adventures in systems thinking and cultural analysis. And we’ll apply what we discover by reflecting on the systems we create and encounter in our own lives and work.Summer Seminar is designed to fit into any schedule and explores critical thinking skills you can apply to any goal or challenge.To learn more, visit whatworks.fyi/summer(Today's episode is a significant revision of a piece I previously wrote for premium subscribers in April 2024.) (00:00) - EP 494: How Structure Transforms Ideas (22:37) - Credits ★ Support this podcast ★

"No one is ever completely safe from the critical gaze of a culture steeped in the makeover ethos." —Micki McGeeI have a theory that you can measure the decline of any social media platform by the time it takes for its feed to become a firehose of unsolicited advice. Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn are all sludge piles of advice now, but it took them years to devolve. TikTok took maybe 18 months. Substack Notes? Like 3 months. Threads? Instant.Most of us (I think) can agree that the vapid posturing that occurs through posting advice on social media makes a platform less enjoyable. I don't open one of these apps in the hopes that I'll learn the one weird trick that can turn my frown upside down or give me six-pack abs. What we once loved about these platforms is how people shared their everyday descriptions of life, love, family, and curiosity. But much of that mutual exchange of experience has been ceded to the commercial interest of advice.After all, we love advice. We also hate advice. We love it when someone can tell us what we should do next. And we also hate being told what we should do next. So what gives? Today, a description of why that is. But first, things are going to get awkward.Footnotes:Read the written version of this episode.Awkwardness: A Theory by Alexandra Plakias"Signs of social awkwardness and 15 ways to overcome it" via BetterUpSelf-Help, Inc by Micki McGeeSelf-Help, LLC - a special What Works series exploring the business and culture of self-help (00:00) - EP 493: Why We Just Can't Quit Advice Culture (19:44) - Credits ★ Support this podcast ★

Intractable challenges are often the result of a lack of imagination. That is, our solutions are constrained by existing systems and structures that likely created the problem in the first place. To dream up novel solutions that allow us to realize higher values, we need to build structures that enable and extend our imaginations.And sure, I'm talking about macroeconomic, climate, and political challenges. But I'm also talking about our day-to-day work and family lives.Footnotes:Read the written version of this episode."The WPA Federal Music Project in New Mexico" by Charles Cutter"The New Mexico Federal Music Project: Embodying the Regional Spirit of Roosevelt's New Deal" by Audra Bellmore and Amy S. JacksonProfessor YouYoung Kang speaks about the Federal Music Project at Scripps College (YouTube)"Transcript: Mark Zuckerberg Announces Major Changes to Meta's Content Moderation Policies and Operations" by Justin Hendrix, TechPolicy.Press"Values Aren't Chains; They Are Wings" by Tara McMullinFind more episodes and essays at whatworks.fyi. ★ Support this podcast ★

Many of us (most?) have an inner voice that loves to remind us that "If there's time to lean, there's time to clean" or that "Coffee is for closers." We nag ourselves about being more productive, working more efficiently, or hustling for more money. Even if we value rest, care, and comfort, that voice can be hard to ignore.Well, meet your Tiny Capitalist. Or rather, Tiny Capitalists: the Tiny Puritan, Tiny Manager, and Tiny Entrepreneur. Understanding the role they play helps us make better decisions about how we navigate the systems we exist in.Footnotes:Read the essay version of this episode"Is There a Tiny Puritan Living In Your Head? Tell Him to Get Lost." by Joy Marie ClarksonThe Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by Max WeberThe New Spirit of Capitalism by Luc Boltanski and Eve Chiapello"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" by Jonathan EdwardsClips from The Office, Severance, Office Space, Parks and Recreation (00:00) - Why Your Inner Critic Sounds Like a Bad Boss (17:24) - Credits ★ Support this podcast ★

Standardization is one of those ideas that, once you see it, you can't unsee it. It's a mental model that can explain, at least in part, many of our social, political, and personal challenges. Whether it's the clothes we wear, the language we use, the dates we go on, or the people we vote for, our choices are often unknowingly constrained by standardization.In this episode, an update of an essay I originally released for premium subscribers back in November 2023, I explore the role that standardization has played in our economic development, our relationships, and even our identities.Footnotes:Read the essay version of this episode"Butt Stuff" on RadioLabDoppelganger by Naomi Klein"Generation Why?" by Zadie Smith, The New York Review"The Bizarre History of Women's Clothing Sizes" by Laura Stampler, Time (00:00) - EP 490: Standardize This (24:22) - Credits ★ Support this podcast ★

This episode is about the long term—the commitments, projects, and relationships we can work on when our "temporal bandwidth" widens. How we perceive time and our ability to do what's meaningful to us in time does have to be constrained by the urgency of now. There are ways to feel more grounded and create more possibilities at the same time.Footnotes:Read the essay version of this episode.The Steerswoman by Rosemary KirsteinOn Freedom by Timothy SnyderBreaking Bread with the Dead by Alan JacobsHow to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell"Practicing the Future" by Tara McMullin"Wibbly-Wobbly, Timey-Wimey Stuff" by Tara McMullin"Busyness Decoded" by Tara McMullinFind the What Works archives and subscribe to the newsletter at whatworks.fyi. (00:00) - Time Flies (02:34) - The Steerswoman (06:20) - "Temporal bandwidth is the width of your present" (10:12) - Making the difficult choice (15:02) - Credits ★ Support this podcast ★

Most of the work I do that's not this revolves around coaching, editing, and/or thinking with people who have meaningful ideas they want to better express to the world. In this work, the question I hear most often is about making sense of a complex idea—the kind of idea that contains many smaller, supporting ideas and stories and research. The sort of complex idea best expressed in a lengthy essay, a book, a podcast series, or a documentary.How does one make a plan for tackling that kind of idea? How does one get started writing or designing that complex idea? How does one keep track of all the bits and bobs that go into a massive project like that?From my perspective, three biases tend to trip us up when working on a project of this sort. I'll call them the linearity bias, the stick-with bias, and the waste-not bias. I'll explain how each gets in the way of big, messy projects—but first, I have to tell you about HONEYDEW.Footnotes:Read this episode as an essay12 Bytes by Jeanette WintersonBird by Bird by Anne LamottThunder and Lightning by Natalie Goldberg"Making What Can't Be Sold" by Tara McMullinI work with people who want to turn their meaningful ideas into remarkable content. Whether you want feedback or thought partnership in a 90-minute strategy session or you've got a more hands-on project involved, I'd love to help. Click here to learn more about working with me. (00:00) - Honeydew (Or, 3 Biases That Derail Meaningful Ideas) (19:10) - Credits ★ Support this podcast ★