beat back bland.

With your time machine safely concealed in an alley under an old paint-splattered tarp, you sit back, draw in a pungent lungful of fishy air, and take a moment to soak it all in. At first, nothing stands out. All you see is the daily bustle of life on the harbor.

The hedonic treadmill is a metaphor that helps explain why happiness fades, why keeping up with the Joneses is exhausting, and how to set more rewarding goals. Ever heard of the hedonic treadmill? Nope, it’s not the latest and greatest Peloton cardio contraption. It’s a metaphor from behavioral psychology, and it might just offer up some useful insights on your happiness, and how to build a healthy work-life balance. But before we get to metaphorical treadmills, let’s talk about baked goods.

Four in five people reading this article will have a steaming cup of coffee within easy reach. Now this, admittedly, is an entirely made-up statistic. But it’s probably not that far from the truth. After all, as a species we seem to be passionately … greedily … hopelessly infatuated with the bitter tang of heated coffee bean juice.

Most freelancers learn pretty early on that good branding wins gigs. First impressions count, particularly when you’re a lone writer for hire and constantly on the lookout for fresh opportunities. But success as a freelancer isn’t just about the adrenaline rush of winning new work. It’s also about nurturing existing client relationships. In fact, for many freelancers (this one included), that slow burn of building up a long and productive association with a client is a lot more rewarding, finan

It is the year 2055. It has been a tempestuous few decades for the human species. Supply chains have waxed and waned. Artificial intelligence has breathed new life into scientific discovery, pushing back the boundaries of human knowledge beyond anything our meager minds had hitherto imagined. Oh, and Coca-Cola released a popular new flavor variant — Berry Blast — boasting a playful hint of elderberries. We are now an interplanetary species. The first tentative forays into space colonization b

I can’t remember the last time I didn’t wake up in pain. I don’t mean to sound sorry for myself; I’m sure I’m not the only forty-something whose decades of sedentary desk work have taken their toll. But recently, the pain became harder to ignore. COVID-19 is at least partly to blame. Thanks to the “New Normal,” I now work exclusively at home, and my little hobby room/office just wasn’t built for the daily nine-to-five. My desk is an awkward contraption, procured eight years ago from Ikea becaus

Ever had a moment in your life when someone offered a wholly unexpected and “out of the box” approach to solving a problem? The latest example for me happened just last week, when through a series of catastrophic yet completely understandable miscalculations, I locked myself out of my garage.