Well-Being

At Work

Collaboration

Sustainability

Local

New Stand

I’ve never thought of myself as a self-help book person. That changed last year when I found myself reading the first 50 pages of a novel over and over (and over!) again, unable to focus and move forward. My scattered brain and the weight of just 

 led me to seek some written advice on feeling better. And, honestly, a lot of it involved changing how I perceive my value when it comes to work and being better at unplugging. Hearing other people describe the very thing you’re struggling with is also extremely satisfying, and it always helps to know you’re not alone.

So if you’re feeling low-key (or high-key!) stressed, anxious, or in a funk, and need something not-too-heavy that can still do some mood lifting, consider this list of soothing and informative reads. They’re less traditionally “self-help," i.e. don’t be surprised if the cool shop-person at your local bookstore gushes over your choice. And who knows, one may even change how you think. Take your pick based on if you…

, comedian Quinta Brunson details her unexpected, often hilarious path to becoming a meme queen. If you’re into the way she perfectly captures coworker dynamics on her “mockumentary” sitcom, you’ll love her stories of becoming an internet fave.

Can’t bring yourself to mentally clock out

A manifesto of sorts by artist/writer Odell, who dives deep into why we’re all addicted to being so 

 all the time—and what to do about it. Published (prophetically?) in 2019, its floral cover has been front and center at booksellers since. A great antidote to the attention economy that suggests that by changing how we define productivity, we can rediscover that relaxation is just as valuable as output. Also, it made me want to befriend some crows. What’s more intriguing than that?

 by Charlie Warzel and Anne Helen Petersen

It’s truly wild that this book was in the works pre-pandemic, and we need it now more than ever. If you, like me, are both very into not having to commute but also trying to figure out what it means when your living room is now your office, pick up this guide to help you navigate.

Don’t want to face packing for that beach vacation

For me and everyone I know, the last couple of years have been strange ones when it comes to feelings about food, bodies, and confidence, especially as some of us are seeing our colleagues in person again (maybe for the first time!). This new title is more of a diary than a sit-down read, but it’s rich in short essays that double as enlightening pep talks, images designed to inspire, and writing prompts to help you heal negative self talk and go back out into the world truly feeling yourself. Maybe the perfect chill thing to add to your morning routine?

Think of this as a book of gripes that’s a nice balance to any toxic positivity you may be experiencing. Akin to the satisfaction of hearing a friend go off about something that drives them crazy, it’s a cathartic read that’s also a genuine attempt to help us understand how our current culture came to be, and why we’d be better off if some of it just…went away.

Need YOUR creative MUSCLE to stop leaving you on read

Adam J. Kurtz, aka Adam JK, has patented a cute-but-not-saccharine style of real talk that’s the perfect thing to pick up when your thoughts are spiraling. It’s a compact little book you could even take on your commute, if you have one, and is kind of like sitting down and having coffee with your wisest, funniest friend. It’s great if you’re feeling jealous of other people’s success or weird about not knowing what your all-caps PASSION is, with gentle reminders that trying is cool, even if you fail.

This book is a reminder that the only way you’ll find time to do the stuff you love is by making time, and there’s no moment like the present.

Feel weird about the commodification of feeling better

Technically this book doesn’t come out until June 14, but it’s worth preordering. Poet and author Fariha Róisín addresses the elephant in the room when it comes to American wellness culture: that much of our modern healing tools, from yoga to ashwagandha, were appropriated from other cultures and stripped of their origins. The book aims to set the record straight, while offering gentle guidance and practical advice for caring for yourself and others outside of the latest trends.

Want to radically shift your perception of time (non-psychedelically!)

Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals

Okay, the premise of this book is that we all, if we’re lucky, have about 4,000 weeks to live—and if that is the opposite of calming to you, please know I felt the same at first. But Burkeman makes a great case that never actually having time to do everything is liberating, as opposed to terrifying. This book is a reminder that the only way you’ll find time to do the stuff you love is by making time, and there’s no moment like the present. Set those boundaries and let yourself off the hook!

Worry you’ll never have a great idea again

If you’ve ever finished a movie or used a product so good it makes you wonder how someone even came up with it in the first place, add this to your library list. Johnson explores how historic innovations like batteries and the printing press came to be, and digs deep to see if there’s any commonalities in how these great ideas came to be. It’s inspiring, and also rich in conversation-starters for the next time you’re making small talk before your next meeting.

9 Non-Fiction Books for a Mental Health Boost

The internet is a spam-bot for ways to be more productive. But in this age of “self care” (whatever that means?), a lot of us could use more help focusing on the things that keep us feeling grounded and alive. Our ongoing series, How I Stay Human, shares the best work-life balance advice

Working in the media industry blurs the lines between career and personal interests until they feel indistinguishable. It’s one of the reasons burnout is so common—if you love movies and become a film journalist, the prevailing wisdom says you should never get sick of movies. But the reality is rarely so simple, as 

has learned throughout her professional life.

Gore, 28, and I first met as contributors to the music blog Pigeons & Planes in 2017. After years profiling pop stars and indie rock darlings for outlets like Highsnobiety and MTV, her interests shifted toward design and wellness, specifically how trends in those industries speak to our cultural moment. Covering 

she also established her curatorial sense with the Instagram account 

Her writing and refined eye caught the attention of the people at 

who offered her a staff position in the spring of 2021. Before accepting, Gore had to consider whether it was worth disrupting her successful rhythm as a freelancer. In the end, she says, “It was a risk worth taking. [I had to have] the confidence to know that if the vibe’s not feeling right, I can walk away and be okay. I’ll have learned from the experience.”

, the kind of dual role that can cause your free time to evaporate. I texted her to see if she’d be up for sharing how she maintains that separation, and she offered the tips below in her own words—including using the out-of-office message (even as a freelancer!), knowing when you’re in a creative groove, and being frank about when you need more time.

Establish your own “office hours”—and stick to them

[While freelancing] I started using that app Calendly; it became like my assistant to help me have an organized schedule. It connects to your calendar and you can set a certain number of hours where you’re available, so if people are like “Can we hop on a call?” or “Let’s do this interview,” you can send them the link so they know when you’re open. Wednesdays I’d give myself off. If I wanted to just rest or meditate I could do that, and if I did want to work then I could, but it was no pressure. And I wouldn’t take any meetings on Wednesdays.

Distinguish between you, the employee, and you, the person

It’s important to have a life outside of work. Not to say that you shouldn't be passionate about the work you’re doing—being driven and ambitious and motivated in that respect is amazing and I fully support that. But when it becomes a little too intertwined, that’s when people lose themselves and get wrapped up in this internal dilemma of “my entire identity is based around my job or profession.” After my first job I was like, “Wait, everything I am and do has been about this brand. Who am I without it?” Slowly I realized, “This job doesn’t define me or make me who I am.” You’re a person and a job is a job.

I learned recently that in human design there are energy types, and I think everybody should look into this. It gives you a better understanding of the kind of quote-unquote worker that you are. I learned that I’m a projector: Basically, I absorb all the information and then, as the name implies, I project it. I digest it for people to better understand and then I put it out there, but I can’t be on-on-on, working 24/7. After I do that, I need time to chill out and recharge. So for me, that’s why the 9-to-5 constraints aren’t the most productive.

In the beginning [of work from home], I was really bad about remembering to eat lunch. You’ll blink and it’s 3 pm and you’re like, “I haven’t eaten since I made that omelet this morning.” I always give myself a lunch break, I think that’s really important and helpful. Even if I don’t want a full lunch, I go grab a matcha. I usually do that in the morning to start my day, but sometimes I wake up and immediately want to work, so I go in the afternoon and give myself a little space to step away from the screen, get some fresh air, and move.

I tend to reach a point in the early afternoon where you feel the wheels in your mind starting to slow down and then you’re like, “Okay, I’m kinda done for the day.” I’ll light some incense or palo santo, try to get a scent moving through the space, and allow myself to slowly turn off a little bit.

After my first job I was like, “Wait, everything I am and do has been about this brand. Who am I without it?” Slowly I realized, “This job doesn’t define me.” You’re a person and a job is a job.

Build restorative habits into your free time

Weekly meditation classes have been a really grounding practice for me. I live near Central Park so whenever I have the energy, I’ll go for a walk to clear my head. I’m an earth sign so being immersed in nature is essential. I also listen to music throughout the day. When I can’t see friends in person, music is the next best thing—it’s my favorite companion for moments of solitude.

[My work modes are] like being a taxi with the light on or off. When the light is off, I’m zooming. I’m in that creative flow, no interruptions. When the light is on, I’ve got nothing, I need a distraction. I will pretty much procrastinate. And that’s the thing—I read something recently that said people want you to think you’re a procrastinator, but really they just want you to feel bad because you’re not burning yourself out.

Especially when you’re working full-time, there are a lot of administrative tasks you’re expected to do and I’m always like, “If I could just remove all of these things, all of these meetings, this would be great.” So when I’m really not feeling creative or like I want to write, I lean into those tasks. I’m still doing my job, just not the creative part. I make sure I have the time and space when the flow is there so I can get done what I need to.

Don’t be afraid to ask for an extension when life interferes with your ability to work

When the racial reckoning was happening [in the summer of 2020], I had a couple assignments I was working on and I was just so mentally, physically, emotionally exhausted that I did not have a fiber in my being that could do them. I contacted my editors and was just like, “Look, I really am not up for working on this story right now. I still want to do it, but I’m not going to be able to meet the deadline. Would it be okay if I extended it by a couple weeks?” All of them were very cooperative, had no problem with it, and allowed me to do that. When the time came and I was finally up for the task, the stories turned out really, really great.

It doesn’t help anybody if you’re struggling in your personal life and then you’re trying to work on something. I’ve had writers who’ve had something going on and didn’t tell me and I’m following up a million times just being like, “Hey, what’s going on?” Once they told me what the situation was, I of course was like, “Let’s extend this” or “Don’t worry about it, let me take this off of your plate.” But if you’re not comfortable communicating that to your editor/manager, that affects your reputation and makes people think you’re not able to get things done.

I like to give people a little something to smile about in their inbox, with the hopes that they genuinely will not bother me and respect the out-of-office.

Setting an out-of-office message was something I didn’t do for a long time when I was a freelancer because I was like, “Well, I set my own hours, so I don’t really need to do that.” And then I realized there were some days I really didn’t want to be bothered, so I should just set an out-of-office so people aren’t emailing me and following up wondering what’s going on. I started doing that more and it was great. And when I’ve had these salaried positions, I always make a point to make the OOO as amusing as possible. I share songs, a GIF—I switch it up every time. Email can be mundane and I like to give people a little something to smile about in their inbox, with the hopes that they genuinely will not bother me and respect the out-of-office.

How This Design Editor Stays Human

I’m a creative thinker, with thoughts popping up as quickly as bubbles, and rainbows of ideas swirling overhead. My mind is cluttered by nature, and working partially remotely has added a layer of never-ceasing technology that’s only thickened all that mental mud. Slack, Asana, Google Suite, spreadsheets, Keynote. Wait what… was I… supposed to be doing? Then I stumbled across an article about productivity hacks. Mapped-out techniques designed to help anyone—even me?—crank out work without losing track of time, losing their way, or losing their minds. Deadlines looming, red mist gathering; I gave a few of them a go.

The super-popular Pomodoro method is simply a timer system in which you break your working hours into 25-minute chunks separated by 5-minute mental “rest” breaks. These intervals are referred to as pomodoros. After about four pomodoros, you take a longer break of 15 to 20 minutes. A quick search returns free sites with the very basic timer function, which is all you need.

Usually I can get stuck underwater for hours, but when I heard the first '

,' I felt both relief and a bit of glow for “earning” it with the quick work I’d just banged out.

; I was shocked at how effective this was for me. (Okay I may be late to the party on this one, but showing up fashionably late is still cool I think.) At its heart, Pomodoro is all about automatically building in short, sharp deadlines for given tasks, so you don’t get lost in them. It creates an effective sense of frisson and pressure, which can be helpful if you’re driven by the last-minute panic of a scary close deadline.

Twenty five minutes was perfect timing for me to dive into a copy writing task. I also found it helped to write out a list of specific to-dos beforehand, one for each block of get-to-it time. Usually I can get stuck underwater for hours, but when I heard the first 

, I felt both relief and a bit of glow for “earning” it with the quick work I’d just banged out.

 Learning about this from TikTok completely validates the hours I’ve lost to the app—when I’m not Pomodoro-ing, that is.

) and the internet touted it as the solution for creative thinkers like myself. 

 Then, I read the instructions. To paraphrase: Flowtime is a time-management tool for people whose work requires deep concentration (say, developers, students, writers, kind of everyone at some point?). You pick a task, work on it until you get tired, and then take a break. Then you, uh, continue doing the thing, repeating the cycle until it’s finished.

Wait, what? You call this a technique? It seems kind of like just…doing stuff. Until you get tired. Which I definitely already do—and

no thanks! Working until my brain or body feels fried is exactly what I don't want to happen. Plus, as a creative struggling to keep it all together, I find 

 structure to be most helpful. Boundaries and guidelines are good for my jumpy, distracted mind, which I’m guessing is likely why you’re looking for help focusing too.

It’s a no from me, and yes I’m taking the liberty to speak for all creatives (and people who don’t like being tired). Everyone else, let me know if Flowtime is a good time, for you.

I, like most living humans, am not energized by sitting all day, laser-staring into a computer screen.

I, like most living humans, am not energized by sitting all day, laser-staring into a computer screen. I also know that when I succumb to mindlessly scrolling during breaks, my cognitive function and productivity are exasperated. More input—

penguin video-inspirational quote-Kardashian-ad-recipe-news thing-meme

—revs up the anxiety engine every time. So when I’m working from home, I try to use that in-between time to stand up and move instead. At the top of every hour, I make a point to start jumping around. During calls I do random arabesques in the kitchen. While writing I stretch, flex, etc.

Lots of studies go on and on about the benefits of even light exercise during the day, and the CDC is a big fan of physical activity breaks. I’m going to keep incorporating this one into my everyday routine. Just 60 seconds of intentionally bopping around has helped me shake off writer's block, would-be panic attacks, and spacing out.

 This isn’t about looking cool (no one’s watching, probably), so do whatever feels good and enjoy the subsequent endorphins.

This one is less technique, more common sense, but the construct of it is still something when you’re getting a whole lot of nothing done. It’s also worth pointing out that this isn’t unlike Pomodoro in that they’re both about forcing yourself to focus for a set amount of time. But the 2 Minute Rule is particularly about accepting that you’re feeling lazy. Don’t wanna do it, but as the clock ticks, crisis inches closer.

The no-brainer how-to: Commit to whatever task you need to do for just two minutes. (Didn’t see that one coming, huh?) Tax form. Awkward email. Project that makes you want to poke yourself in the eye. Whatever it is, this mind trick is just saying to yourself, 

All I have to do is work on it for two minutes and that’s it.

 Once those two minutes are up? You can decide what to do next.

Surprisingly, yeah! Even two minutes of work made me feel calmer and more confident about the project I was avoiding. That tiny seed of work I put in was all the incentive and starting point I needed to get over my resistance.

All that annoying “just start” advice is unfortunately kind of true. (Ugh.) But apparently we 

 all write that novel, invest like a boss, and start our own business; it’s just going to take two minutes at a time.

I Tried 4 Popular Productivity Techniques—Here’s What Worked 

Say what you want about birth order, but the classic stereotypes definitely hold true for me and my older sister, Trina. Her, the type A perfectionist, and me, too laid back for my own good. My sister is extremely put together, from her grayscale closet organized from black to white, to building a computer in her free time (I guess that’s something you can do?). And I’ve maintained a perennial pile of clothing in the corner of my room.

And the neatest thing about her? Her notes. Trina’s entire life is planned and organized in perfect script in a Leuchtturm notebook. While I do keep notes and journals, they never end up being as organized as hers, and I often struggle to follow through on finishing a notebook. So, I called my (data analyst) sister to get her tips for taking notes that keep you organized and balanced throughout your work week.

Keep separate notebooks, and a master one

If you’re going to use my sister’s advice you’re going to need to purchase a lot of notebooks—I should know, I have her Amazon password. “One has a lot of my personal things, the other notebook has all my work stuff, and then it all gets oriented into my main planner,” Trina said on a recent Zoom call. “I pick from each of those specific lists what needs to get done each day and that list goes into my main planner.”

Each of her notebooks has its own style. While Trina’s work notes come out “stream of consciousness” and sometimes in “indistinguishable scribbles,” her personal notes come to life in list format. Moving from the more purpose-specific notebooks to the daily planner is how she translates her thought snippets into fully fledged tasks, to-dos, and takeaways. Her method of keeping things in separate notebooks and then creating tasks in a main planner is an easy technique you can replicate to keep the different parts of your life organized.

You should probably design your own page framework

There’s probably not a perfect planner out there for you. Accept it! If you really want to have notes you can come back to and tap effectively, consider formatting a notebook for yourself.

While you may not need to make yours as detailed as my sister's, you will likely benefit from breaking down blank (ruled, grid, whatever) pages into smaller sections to make them work for you. Start with the date and then figure out what’s most important to you. Your water intake? What time you wake up and go to bed? A section to note how you feel every day? Start building your framework based on what really matters to you and will be most helpful to keep track of. If something doesn’t work, don’t be afraid to add or subtract from your framework as you go.


Write in a way that’s legible to you (no one else matters)


I found out for the first time while talking to my sister for this story that she writes in her own shorthand. While I’ve seen her notebooks before, out of deep respect and my inability to read cursive, I never really tried to read them. It turns out I couldn’t have anyway. “So like, this just says ‘e’ then ‘v’ then ‘ng’ but I know that means everything,” Trina explained. It literally just looked like scribbles to me.

It’s a good lesson: If no one else is going to be reading your notes, go ahead and shorten your words, use abbreviations, skip some letters. It’s all good as long as you can read and understand it later on. Especially while trying to keep up with someone who’s talking, brevity in note-taking is key.

One of my biggest struggles in adopting a note-taking system is that when I mess up, i.e. when I miss a day or take “ugly” notes, I give up. Missed one day on my monthly habit tracker? My brain, immediately: “Well January is a wash, so next month is my shot at being perfect, I guess.” Trina’s way around this problem is genius in its simplicity. By making every day of her main planner a two-page spread, if she misses a day, takes bad notes, or forgets something, she can simply flip the page and start anew on the next day.


The finished pages are clipped together and hidden. Even on her personal and work notebooks, she’s dedicated to only looking back on the pages to create lists of unfinished tasks or check off to-do boxes. “I’ve built in this clip,” she said, showing me her main planner. “This is a critical piece of my planner. I pin together all of the days of the months that have passed. I don’t want to look back at them. As soon as they’re clipped, I’m done.”


9 Non-Fiction Books for a Mental Health Boost

How This Design Editor Stays Human

I Tried 4 Popular Productivity Techniques—Here’s What Worked

Note-Taking Tips From My ‘Type A’ Sister