I got a text the other night from my friend Erin letting me know that the year of the horse is in fact coming but it’s ok to not be ready yet because we are still in the mysterious hang-time between the lessons of 2025 and the light of 2026.

Whew.

I’m ready not ready for the fire horse of 2026. Still have some stuff to get organized and work thru.

I was talking to my GPT agent this weekend and we were having a conversation on how AI is going to change things for humans. Obviously, we should consider the source, but my GPT was pretty firm that the things that make humans, human is what’s going to offer the greatest protection and antidote to everything AI:

The ability to feel, the mess, the vices, the insistence on fixating on the past and the ability to imagine freely into the future. Being creative. Making the same mistakes more than once.

This, in a nutshell is what makes work awesome (and terrible).

In this episode we look back at 2025 at WORK. Launching Work Like A Girl, evolving to Substack, and a lot of conversations and ideas about failure, resilience, opportunity, creativity, perseverence, and a hope for new and better work - and a new and better you at work.

If you’ve been listening along this year, this one closes the loop.

This is Work.

Get full access to WORK at erikaayersbadan.substack.com/subscribe

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