Jul 13
Companies That Got Rid of Performance Reviews
The annual review was built in 1917 to rank army officers. The companies that made it gospel have dismantled it. Stop waiting for the verdict.
5 min read
Marissa Brassfield
Trusted advisor, simplifier, and loving catalyst of your biggest and best initiatives. Discovering how to stretch time, maximize ease, and optimize work-life alignment.
Jul 10
Golden Handcuffs: Why Leaving a Job Costs So Much
Your health insurance is tied to your job because of a 1942 wage freeze. The cuffs that make leaving costly are policy accidents. Pick the lock.
5 min read
Jul 09
How to Use AI to Save Time as a Founder
AI reliably buys back founder hours in five places. The freed time only becomes a shorter week if you eliminate before you automate.
7 min read
Jul 08
Why Do We Work 40 Hours a Week?
The 40-hour week is a 1938 payroll line that reached 40 only in 1940. It never measured good work. Here is how to get paid for results.
6 min read
Jul 07
What grows when you stop selling
Every interest I've had for 20 years got the same evaluation. This one broke the pattern.
2 min read
Jul 06
The Rules You Never Chose: Who Made Them Up
Most rules you live by, from the five-day week to retirement at 65, were invented by one person for a narrow reason. Here is how to audit yours.
7 min read
Jul 03
Why Is the Weekend Only Two Days?
The two-day weekend is barely 150 years old and was built to sell cars. A medieval peasant likely rested more than you. Here is how to take it back.
5 min read
Jul 01
The Mid-Year Tax on Everything You Left Half-Done
The work you finish costs you once. The work you half-finish keeps charging you every day it stays open. A mid-year audit of your open loops gives the attention back.
7 min read
Jun 30
39 months in: it was the habitat all along
The constraint I thought was my goal turned out to be the habitat my goals grew in.
2 min read
Jun 29
The Kitchen That Taught Me About Staying Too Long
In the summer of 2015, I stood in my kitchen mid-demolition and started crying. The renovation was long overdue.
11 min read
Jun 26
Mid-Year Pruning: Releasing What Stopped Thriving
June 30 is the literal middle of the year, the natural moment to prune. A seasonal ritual for releasing what stopped thriving, with three prompts to find the cuts.
7 min read
Jun 24
Why "Set Better Boundaries" Is the Wrong Advice for Working Moms
The fix for an overloaded life starts by reviewing the commitment load itself. A one-hour elimination audit, and the three nos that gave me back Tuesday mornings with my son.
8 min read