I started teaching music lessons because it was a skill I had that matched what people were looking for.

Once I moved to my new city, it took a few months for people to find me, but after that, I had all the students I needed.

I didn't leave it there, though. I took a next step: What about all of the people whom I couldn't serve because I already had too many students? I needed to find a solution for them.

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I was talking with a friend who has been working with a mindset coach.

She had been sensing a problem with her business and thought that maybe she could be achieving more. Now, she’s trying to figure out what’s next. Some things have become clear, and some are still uncertain.

That will likely always be the case. We never achieve the perfect mindset — we can always keep growing and getting better.

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Being Gen X is funny. There are so few of us.

I grew up on Baby Boomer culture—the music, the TV ads, the general worldview—and now find my life dominated by the culture of Millennials (no thanks, Mark Zuckerberg, for Facebook) and Gen Z. The rules are changing fast, and my generation is not the one that is changing them.

It’s fascinating to watch top athletes like Naomi Osaka and Simone Biles (both Gen Z) decide to do what they want instead of what’s expected of them.

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I’m building a new business, and I’m finding it hard to shake the feeling that I need to be moving faster.

In the past, when I’ve created a new offering, it was often accompanied by the desire for a quick return on investment. I wanted to launch a thing because I needed some money coming in.

But now, despite COVID, things are more stable. I’m creating something new because I want to, not because I’m desperate and digging myself out of a hole. And that means I can take my time. However, I still feel that underlying sense of urgency. And this urgency carries a cost.

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Years ago, I accompanied my grandmother’s choir on a trip to Italy. It was one of those regional tours that involve early wake-up times, many hours trapped on a charter bus, and surprise trips to Tuscan wineries for which your tour leader gets a kickback.

I have a number of grim stories to tell from the experience, but one mundane one always stands out: As I was tearing my way through Audrey Niffenegger’s inspired novel, The Time Traveler’s Wife, my grandmother was poking her way through a thriller by a second-rate author. She would read half a page, grumble about how boring the book was, and read a little more.

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