What Works

Do we really have the same 24 hours as Beyoncé? Yes. And no. And… it’s complicated.There is a never-ending stream of advice about how to make the most of your time. And honestly? Most of it is just bullsh*t. That’s because there is no way to hack yourself or your work to produce more in less time if your emotions are fried, your energy is drained, or you’re dealing with the effects chronic illness.This conversation—originally broadcast as a Spotify Live—is an unflinching look at what it means to consider our multidimensional capacity in the realms of work and life. You’ll hear from my friends Jenny Blake, author of Free Time, and Charlie Gilkey, author of Start Finishing—and me, too!Note: the audio quality on this episode is totally listenable—but it’s not our normal podcast quality.Footnotes:Get What Works: A Comprehensive Framework to Change the Way We Approach Goal-Setting by Tara McMullinFind out more about Jenny BlakeBuy Free Time by Jenny BlakeFind out more about Charlie GilkeyBuy Start Finishing by Charlie GilkeyWritten versions of our podcast episodes land on Thursdays at explorewhatworks.com. Get them delivered straight to your inbox by subscribing at explorewhatworks.com/weeklyIntroducing Recovering Overachiever ClubRecovering Overachiever Club is a 3-week deep dive into why we strive and what we can do differently in the new year. Join us November 29-December 20 for exclusive essays, podcast episodes, and conversation—oh, and earn a few merit badges, too. Learn more! ★ Support this podcast ★

It’s been almost exactly 7 years since this podcast first launched as Profit. Power. Pursuit. Since then, we’ve produced 400 regular episodes (with some bonuses here and there). You know, I’ve written many more than 400 blog posts and emails. But we don’t number those—plus, they are published across different sites on the web, so I never have a handled on just how many times I’ve hit “publish.”400 episodes is a lot. It’s more than the vast majority of podcasters will ever make. The only reason I bring that up is because today’s episode is about the power of practice. Developing a podcasting practice is the only way to consistently put out a strong episode week after week. But developing a practice of any kind was not something I knew how to do 7 years ago.This episode dives into what I’ve learned about practice from 7 years of podcasting. Plus, I share an excerpt from my book (out today!) about the satisfaction of practice in an achievement-oriented world.Footnotes:Join Tara TODAY for a live reading and Q&A about the bookBuy What Works: A Comprehensive Framework to Change the Way We Approach Goal-Setting wherever you buy books!Listen to Tara’s interviews about the book on this Spotify playlist ★ Support this podcast ★

Hustle. Grind. Boss up. Do more. Love them or hate them, these words are embedded into the ways we think about work and entrepreneurship. But as we’ve seen with the enormous growth of the r/anti-work subreddit and the panic about quiet quitting, more people than ever are thinking about different ways to go about building their lives, careers, and businesses.As we close out the Self-Help, LLC series, I wanted to address where our productivity hang-ups come from, who our productivity really benefits, and how we might go about doing things differently. This episode is in 2 parts. The first half or so is an introduction to how employers (including self-employers) profit from unpaid work and why the productivity-wage gap has become so immense. The second half of the episode is my conversation with Jadah Sellner, about the vision for business she lays out in her new book, She Builds.Footnotes:Find out more about Jadah Sellner and her new book, She Builds.“TikTok ‘5-to-9’ Trend Shows Quiet Quitting Hasn’t Killed Hustle Culture” on BloombergDolly Parton rewrites her working woman’s anthem for SquareSpaceTHE ULTIMATE MORNING ROUTINE (parody)Revolution at Point Zero, essays by Silvia FedericiData on the productivity-wage gap (Economic Policy Institute)Self-Help, INC by Micki McGeeDebt: The First 5,000 Years by David GraeberEssay versions of each episode of the podcast come out on Thursdays at explorewhatworks.com and in my newsletter. Sign up free: explorewhatworks.com/weekly ★ Support this podcast ★

I wanted to include an episode on bodies in the Self-Help, LLC series because so much of our modern discourse around productivity, empowerment, entrepreneurship, and personal growth includes messages about our bodies. These messages might not be explicit, but the messages are there—and our brains pick them up loud and clear.Similarly, we might not realize that we’re sharing messages that insert themselves into how others perceive their own bodies—but many of us are. It’s impossible to talk about self-discipline, accountability, or efficiency without those concepts leaving their marks on our flesh.This episode covers a tiny sliver of all the ways that the medium of self-help acts on our bodies. But my hope is that it will encourage you to think critically about the messages you receive about your body and the messages you share that might impact others’ bodies.You’ll hear from independent beauty culture journalist Jessica DeFino, body confidence influencer Tiffany Ima, and Flaunt Your Fire founder India Jackson.This episode contains frank talk about bodies, weight, beauty, dieting, and related topics. I know that these subjects can trigger harmful thoughts and behaviors for me if I’m not careful. So please, take care while listening to this episode.Footnotes:Subscribe to Jessica DeFino’s newsletter about beauty culture and the beauty industry.Follow Tiffany Ima on Instagram.Listen to the Flaunt Your Fire podcast and learn more about India Jackson.Erica Courdae on reconsidering your normal, as well as “Normal is a Life with Michelle Kuei” on the Pause on the Play podcast.“Body acceptance stops at the skin. Why?” by Jessica DeFino“The Skin as an Antidote to Consumerism” by Jessica DeFino“How White Supremacy and Capitalism Influence Beauty Culture” by Jessica DeFino in TeenVogueWhat We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Fat by Aubrey Gordon“Postscript on Societies of Control” by Gilles DeleuzeSelf-Help, INC by Micki McGee“Rachel Hollis Part 1: Hashtag Relatable” on Maintenance Phase“The Trouble with Calories” on Maintenance Phase“Bodybuilding vs Powerlifting vs Weightlifting” on ShapeConfidence Culture by Shani Orgad and Rosalind GillLet’s Get Physical: How Women Discovered Exercise and Reshaped the World by Danielle Friedman3 Books for Remembering “You Have a Body”: On disability, on chronic illness, and on our bodies in society ★ Support this podcast ★

We form an impression of our voices early in life. While it might shift some as we age, those impressions tend to stick with us. For many of us, what we learn about our voices is how their don’t quite measure up to the ideal: too high, too low, too soft, too loud, too this, too that. This is especially true for women, queer people, transgender people, non-native English speakers, Black people, people of color, indigenous people, and really anyone whose voice doesn’t fit into the white, male baritone mold.So what do we do? We try to sound more like everyone else. And that can not only mess with our ability to use our physical voices, but it messes with our ability to use our metaphorical voices and confuses our sense of self.Samara Bay, a Hollywood dialect coach who’s worked on blockbusters like Wonder Woman and Guardians of the Galaxy, is on a mission to help everyone find “permission to speak.” In this episode, we dig into how the self-help imperative to “own your voice” might be more complicated than it sounds.Footnotes:Find out more about Samara BayPre-order Samara’s book Permission to Speak“I still have a voice” by Alice WongSamara Bay on Anna Sorokin and Elizabeth Holmes’s voicesWomen and Power by Mary BeardMore about African American Vernacular English on Pause on the PlayCollege students talk about their relationships to their Southern accents on Dolly Parton’s America“The Magic of Voice Transitioning with Nicole Gress” on Camp Wild Heart with Mackenzie Dunham“Me minus me” on This American Life (Sandy Allen’s vocal transition)“If you don’t have anything nice to say” on This American Life (complaints about female voices)More on the mid-atlantic accent ★ Support this podcast ★

There’s an influencer for every thing these days. Camping equipment? Sure. Nutritional supplements? You bet. Miniatures? You know it. College admissions? But of course. In this episode, though, we’re going to focus on one of the original influencer niches: MOMS.The rise of the influencer ushered in a new outlet for self-help. Now, not only are there motivational books and talks, there’s a product endorsement to help you live your best life. Influencers give us, perhaps, the direct line between personal growth and consumer capitalism. I talk with the author of the forthcoming Momfluenced, Sara Petersen, about all of that and more.Footnotes:Subscribe to Sara Petersen’s newsletterPre-order Momfluenced“Life After Lifestyle” by Toby Shorin“The Rhetoric of the Image” by Roland BarthesThe Society of the Spectacle by Guy DebordEpisode 393 with Kelly DielsEpisode 395 with Steph Barron Hall“The Influencer Industry: Constructing and Commodifying Authenticity on Social Media” by Emily Dean Hund ★ Support this podcast ★

If your Instagram feed or Explore page looks anything like mine, then you likely see a preponderance of posts about personality types, conditions, or other self-knowledge. We’re hooked on learning about ourselves! And perhaps even more hooked on sharing what we’ve learned—which means that the Instagram algorithm (as well as TikTok’s and Pinterest’s algorithms) has learned to love this kind of content, too.In this episode, I explore discovering ourselves versus making ourselves, why self-knowledge is big business on Instagram, and how creating viral personality content can wreak havoc on the creator’s psyche. To dig into this with me, I invited @ninetypesco creator, Steph Barron Hall, onto the show.Footnotes:Find Steph Barron Hall on Instagram (@ninetypesco)Learn more about working with StephHow to be Authentic by Skye ClearyLearn more about the Enneagram and find your typeThe Nine Types of RestSelf-Help, INC by Micki McGee“Double consciousness”“Looking glass self”Essay versions of each episode are posted at explorewhatworks.com every Thursday. Or, sign up FREE at explorewhatworks.com/weekly to get them delivered straight to your inbox. ★ Support this podcast ★

Our quest for self-improvement requires us to decide who (or what) to trust with our time, energy, and money. What book do you decide to read next? Which coach do you hire? What accounts do you follow? Our consumer choices seem endless—so finding someone or something to put your trust in might feel like an Olympic feat. On the flip side, as business owners or independent workers whether explicitly or implicitly in the business of self-help, our goal is to cultivate trust. Why would someone trust us with their business, their marriage, or their hopes and dreams for the future?In this episode, I sit down with sociologist Patrick Sheehan to talk about his study of career coaches and the role they play with job seekers. We examine the roles that both credentialed and experience-based experts play in society and why uncertainty and instability might inspire us—for better or worse—to put our trust in prophets rather than priests.Footnotes:Edelman Trust Barometer 2022“Confidence in US Institutions Down; Average at New Low” Gallup“Fatigue, traditionalism, and engagement: the news habits and attitudes of the Gen Z and Millennial generations” American Press Institute“We’ve stopped trusting institutions and started trusting strangers” by Rachel Botsman (TED Talk)“The Change Rules of Trust in the Digital Age” by Rachel Botsman (HBR)“Where did all the coaches come from?” by Patrick Sheehan (Work In Progress Sociology)“The new economy as multi-level marketing scheme: career coaches and unemployment in the age of uncertainty” by Patrick Sheehan (Work in Progress Sociology)“Gun Culture and Wellness Culture Come From the Same Place” by Alan Levinovitz (Huffington Post) ★ Support this podcast ★

It’s not only self-help or entrepreneurship products that are sold as tools for “empowerment” today. It’s just about everything: makeup, clothing, workout equipment, vitamins, office supplies… Whole brands are built around the promise that a purchase won’t just solve your problem, it’ll make you a better, more fulfilled person. But empowerment isn’t for sale—only the status quo.In this episode, I talk with writer and coach Kelly Diels about empowerment marketing and what she calls the “female lifestyle empowerment brand.” You’ll also hear from independent beauty writer Jessica DeFino about how empowerment is leveraged by the beauty industry.Footnotes:Learn more about Kelly DielsLearn more about Jessica DeFinoTrick Mirror by Jia TolentinoThick by Tressie McMillan CottomHow to be Authentic: Simone de Beauvoir and the Quest for Fulfillment by Skye ClearyHelen Gurley Brown as quoted in Self-Help, INC by Micki McGee“The Rhetoric of the Image” by Roland Barthes ★ Support this podcast ★

It’s hard to escape the language and politics of self-help today. Whether you’re browsing your LinkedIn, Instagram, or even TikTok feed, there’s a very good chance that the first post you see offers up some idea for living a better life or growing a more successful business. Shoulds and supposed-tos are cultural currency. We gain social capital sharing advice or “giving value.” And that’s left me wondering: are we all in the self-help business now?Today’s episode kicks off an 8-part series called Self-Help, LLC which will explore that question from a number of different angles. In this episode, I’m taking a close look at a particular construction of personal growth and entrepreneurship culture: winners and losers.Footnotes:Dr. Rick for ProgressiveWhy does the insurance industry have so many mastcots? on Planet MoneySelf-Help, INC by Micki McGeeMore about Marshall McLuhan (”The medium is the message”)Nixon’s universal health care plan proposalReaganism & ThatcherismThe Old is Dying & the New Cannot be Born by Nancy Fraser ★ Support this podcast ★