I have heard the word “uncertainty” more in the past month than in the last decade combined. And for good reason. Everything is “uncertain”: Will prices continue to increase? Will tariffs remain in place? Will we enter a recession? Will the stock market continue to drop? The list goes on and on. It surprises me [...]
emmett.freedman
Five Months Off and Seasons of Life
My five months of parental leave ends on Monday. It’s hard to overstate what a gift the time has been. It is rare to get months away from work as an adult, and even rarer to get to spend that time with Anne, soaking up every minute with our new babies. Besides time with our [...]
Pressure Valves
The worst place to be in a negotiation is under pressure. For example, imagine that you are in desperate need of a tuxedo for a wedding this evening, and the store clerk you hope to buy one from has already hit their sales quota for the month. Who is better poised to walk away with [...]
Ten Years Later
Anne and I celebrated the tenth anniversary of our first official “date” last month, on Valentine’s Day. We have been married for three and a half years, and spent the remaining time in a number of different phases: dating long distance, living separately in New York, living together (with and without roommates) in New York, [...]
My Creativity Sidekick
A few months ago, I hired a creativity sidekick. They do everything for me – help with research, organize my thoughts, brainstorm ideas, and edit my writing. The best part? They work 24/7, never have a bad day, and only cost me $20 per month. My creativity sidekick is a premium subscription to ChatGPT. I [...]
No Day Like Today, and a New Project
I owe a few of you readers a good deal of gratitude for your responses to last week’s post. One of you described what I wrote as a church homily; another said that it reminded you of a Catholic version of Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting. Both comments, taken together, gave me some inspiration. [...]
Rules for Life
No matter what you think about our current president, it is undeniable that Donald Trump operates under a very specific worldview. In The Apprentice, a movie about Trump’s early career in the 1970s and 1980s, the real estate mogul outlines three rules for life that he has followed faithfully ever since: Attack, attack, attack Admit [...]
Kind Words
Last week, Anne and I experienced a rite of passage for new parents: We traveled with infants. The trip went as expected, and then some. We checked bags for the first time in years, held up the security line with our double stroller, and changed diapers on a hard plastic seat at the gate. We [...]
Surviving 2025 and Beyond
If it feels like the world is coming apart at the seams, you’re not alone. Trump is back in the White House. Crypto is at all-time highs and the stock market is ripe for a correction. The geopolitical landscape is unstable and global power conflict seems imminent. Perhaps most unsettling, AI is reshaping our lives [...]
New Dad
I am a new dad.