Kids who quit have stronger careers

Kids who quit have stronger careers

Educated parents have their kids in an average of five hours of activities per week. That’s a lot of driving around to swimming lessons and dance classes, so I understand why people think it’s important to stick with this stuff. I’m like that, too. I drive 20 hours a week to my kids’ music lessons.

But I still say that if you want to raise a really successful child, you should let them quit things. Often. Read more

A famous person emailed me to ask about personality type. I don’t get a lot of emails from famous people. But I do get some. Like, when Melissa was being an executive assistant to billionaires, I was Melissa’s reference.

I could write fifty posts about giving those references, actually, because I was like, “Don’t hire Melissa, because she’ll quit. She can’t work for anyone for more than a year.” Read more

Photographer Dita Pepe has a series of photographs where she shows what she’d turn into with the different types of men she could could have married. The series is often hilarious for it’s ability to make fun of such a wide range of families that think they’re unique but are actually just living out their socioeconomic telos. Read more

As a bulimic in college, the cafeteria was my focal point. At first, it was where I gained fifteen pounds. Not that anyone saw those pounds on me. In college I had the body of a model. Not that anyone saw that, either, because I wore an A-line skirt down to my ankles and an extra-large sweatshirt. Every day. A guy once asked me if I was an Orthodox Jew because I was so covered up all the time. I thought he was an idiot. That’s how big an idiot I was. Read more

Some days I am gung ho about entrepreneurship and I’m spending the day with my kids while money comes in from my blog and my coaching and I think “I’m great, I’m living the 4-hour workweek,” and for one minute I forget that I hate Tim Ferriss. Read more

My husband tells me that when the tractor was invented, farmers who spent their lives learning to be great with horses had to rely on young farmers who understood machinery. It was an era when young people looked like experts in farming almost overnight. Read more

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This course is a peek into the inner workings of my life; how I figure out how to make money no matter what situation I’m in. My personal life shifts quickly, in big ways, and I have had to be able to shift my financial life to keep up with that. Most of my tactics for financial survival have been quick launches of online businesses, one after another, depending on what my needs are in that moment. Read more

I am a child of the feminist revolution. My mom tells me this story.

She hated being home with kids. She always dreamed she’d be a journalist. She she got a full scholarship to go to college. But when she was graduating, she realized that if she didn’t get married she’d have to go home to her impoverished family. Read more

I spend a lot of time complaining to my husband that he never leaves the farm. When I was dating him I thought it was charming that he talked about how “city traffic is exhausting” when he was driving in Madison, WI. Read more

Here they are: The five posts from 2014 that had the most readers.

What does it really mean to work full time?

Leaving your options sets you back

Men with families feel more trapped than ever. Here’s how to fix that.

3 Cheers for women who say they don’t want to work. At least they’re honest.

5 Traits of high earners that will make you not want to be one

All five of the posts in this list are about people grappling with the expectations we put on smart people. Read more

© 2023 Penelope Trunk