My wrists started to hurt a few weeks ago. At the time, I thought it was all the walking I did outside while I was in Florida. Then, I went to my doctor for a checkup. I lost another inch of height! (I was too damn short (TDS) to start with.) But now? Oh. I […]
What New Thing (Data, Event, Emotion) Surprised You This Week? Read More »
This is Johanna Rothman’s March 2026 Create an Adaptable Life Newsletter. The Unsubscribe link is at the bottom of this newsletter. I’ve been drinking green tea in the morning since 1998, when a fellow workshop participant introduced me to it. It’s now part of my delightful morning tradition. Before then, I drank coffee or black
How Can You Create a New Perspective on a Problem? Read More »
I’ve had several interesting conversations with people over the past few weeks about how useful they feel at work. They feel as if their management treats them as commodities: “You do this work and we will pay you and give you health insurance.” That’s a transactional way to think about work. However, useful work requires
How Can We Know if We’re Doing Useful Work? Read More »
This is Johanna Rothman’s August 2025 Create an Adaptable Life Newsletter. The unsubscribe link is at the bottom of this email. Leaders often struggle with their actions. How hands-off should they be? When should they walk around and listen? Can they trust people to do their jobs? Can they support the people they lead and
How Can We Tell the Difference Between Real Leadership and Leadership Theater? Read More »
This week, two things occurred that made me wonder about resilience and how that can help us be more effective. The first was a conversation with academics about the state of the 18-, 19-, and 20-year-olds in college. Because of the pandemic, they spent a couple of formative years isolated at home. The academics claim
How Can We See Where More Resilience Can Help Us Be More Effective? Read More »
By the time we start school, most of us have heard the word “no” a lot. Parents tell children not to do unsafe things—a form of rejection. Most of us learn from these rejections and decide what to do next. In school, we experience a ton of rejection. As a short child with zero athletic
When Can Rejection Help Us Create a Better Life? Read More »
This is Johanna Rothman’s May 2025 Create an Adaptable Life Newsletter. The unsubscribe link is at the bottom of this email. A few weeks ago, I met a friend, Dave, for lunch. We’d had to cancel that lunch two weeks in a row. The first time was because I was sick. While I selfishly decided
How Do You Know When a Selfish or Generous Decision is Best? Read More »
I feel as if I’m living the Satir Change model. I’ve had “Monday” every day this week. My computer keeps rebooting itself (sigh). My website hosting provider had a snafu, so my website needed some changes. Then, this morning, I screwed things up with my (other) site. (It’s all fixed now.) My car died on
How Can More Adaptable Thinking Create More Success for You? Read More »
Do you feel as if the world is so complex that you need to somehow make it simpler—just to decide what to do next? If so, you are not alone. However, making things simpler is often not enough. Instead, we need to bring more critical thinking skills to bear on the various problems. We have
How Can We Embrace Complexity Thinking Instead of Wishing for Simple Solutions? Read More »
(I wrote this post on March 5, 2024. I will have more to say about the future of AI later on in this post.) AI is all the rage these days. People use what they call “generative” AI for all kinds of things: fact-based research, generate alternative ideas, and to correct the work they created.
How Much Do You Trust AI to Make Good Decisions for You? Read More »