My blog has moved…
I’m now doing all my blogging on hillaryrettig.com. Please visit me there! Thanks – Hillary
If No One Falls Over, We’re Having a Great Class!
One of my recent newsletters discussed a misguided essay (and now, regrettably, book) by a prominent philosophy professor on his notion of “constructive procrastination. I’m happy now to refer you to this essay, I’m With Stupid, by a writer who is not, to my knowledge, a prominent professor, but who…
No Such Thing as “Good Procrastination”
The Wall Street Journal recently published an article extolling the benefits of what the author calls “structured procrastination.” In “How to Be a Better Procrastinator” John Perry, an emeritus professor of philosophy at Stanford University, says: “But are procrastinators truly unproductive? In most cases, the exact opposite is true. They…
All Your Work Should Be Sand Castles
The wonderful and much-missed writer and writing teacher John Gardner wrote in On Becoming A Novelist: “If children can build sand castles without getting sand-castle block, and if ministers can pray over the sick without getting holiness block, the writer who enjoys his work and takes measured pride in it…
The True Cost of “Time Poverty” (perhaps the most important article you’ll read this year!)
Hi Everyone, There was another newsletter in the hopper, but this is too important to pass up. This week, Beth Teitell at the Boston Globe wrote an outstanding article summarizing a study that showed vividly how a lifestyle grounded in consumerism and time poverty makes people disconnected and miserable. Her…
Is Perfectionism Keeping You From Getting Fit?
Perfectionism and Exercise Fascinating New York Times blog post on exercising. Turns out perfectionism is a barrier to many people’s getting in shape. Specifically: “One of the biggest misconceptions is that exercise has to be hard, that exercise means marathon running or riding your bike for three hours or doing…
People Remember Negative Events More Than Positive Ones
Interesting New York Times article on how we tend to remember rejections and criticism much longer than praise. Absolutely true! Most underproductivity is catalyzed by toxic rejections that the person retains years, and even decades, later. Excerpts: “The human brain handles negative and positive input differently, psychologists say, which is…
The Demise of Pink Slime
Yeah! Schools are dumping “pink slime”: ammonia-treated beef waste packaged as food. Activists make the world better for everyone. Link
A “Joyous” Life Without Money: Greece
“They’re quite joyous occasions,” she said. “It’s very liberating, not using money.” At one market, she said, she approached a woman who had come along with three large trays of homemade cakes and was selling them for a unit a cake. “I asked her: ‘Do you think that’s enough? After…
Why You Can’t Quit
Interesting article by Daniel Gulati in Harvard Business Review on why people have trouble quitting even jobs and businesses they hate. Everything he writes would apply to activist campaigns, too, and probably relationships and other areas of life. The author neglects to mention, though, that timing a quit is hard….
Welcome! My goal is to help you recognize and overcome any disempowering forces in your work and life so you can reclaim your joyful productivity, and achieve your personal and professional goals more quickly and easily than you ever imagined! Thanks for checking out my site, and I always welcome your comments, suggestions, and questions at 
