On today’s solo episode of Honing In, Dr. Kate Henry walks listeners through her process for setting summer goals by referencing her free workshop “How to Effectively Reach Your Goals this Season.”

Kate shares that when we aim for effectiveness over efficiency, we make a plan that acknowledges our individual needs around time, energy, and focus. In doing so, we  strategically chip away at our tasks with intention, versus racing to finish, which may cause overwhelm and burnout.

Join Kate for her reflections and a-ha moments, then try out the workshop prompts yourself to plan truly effective goals in this season of your life!

Kate hones in on:

• The benefits of using the framework of a “season” for project planning 
• How Kate defined effectiveness this season and set criteria that supports her relaxation
• The predicament of balancing personal, creative, and professional goals
• An invitation to bring more compassion to our productivity approach 
• How Kate would update the workshop in 2026

Mentioned in today’s episode:

• FREE WORKSHOP: “How to Effectively Reach Your Goals this Season” 
• Honing In Episode: “How to Set More Realistic Goals” 
• Honing In Episode: “Bringing Our Humanness to the Table with Jen Carrington” 
• Blog post: Jen Carrington’s “The Eight Seasons of Business”
• Newsletter: “What to Share and What to Keep: Reflections on the Creative Process” 
• Newsletter: “Is Your To-Do List Clear Enough: It’s all in the Verbs” 
• Newsletter: “I Need to Just Do It! Exploring Aversive Tasks” 

More from Kate:

⭐ Productivity Coaching with Dr. Kate Henry

💌 Sign up for Kate's free newsletter

📚 Download Kate's free Sustainable Productivity Planner

Podcast editing and support by Softer Sounds Studio.

Theme song by Melissa Kaitlyn Carter.

As a neurodivergent, multi-passionate person, the challenge of balancing various projects creates the precise level of interest that Taylor needs to stay fully engaged in her work. Plus, the flexibility of being a portfolio careerist allows for designing a life that supports self-exploration and self-care…both of which Taylor is deeply passionate about.

In today’s episode, we explore what it means to build a portfolio career, and how diversifying both income streams and skillsets has created the room for Taylor to pursue multiple degrees and dive deep into what it means to be a leader in today’s social climate.

Together, we hone in on:

• What a Portfolio Career is and how Taylor has intentionally configured hers 
• How building a portfolio career has supported Taylor’s neurodivergence 
• Multical as a solution for overlapping schedules and how Taylor created it
• The importance of leaving behind archives as a portfolio careerist 
• What Change Leadership is and why Taylor pursued a PhD in the field 

More From Taylor:

• Taylor’s Website
• Taylor’s Newsletter
• Taylor’s LinkedIn
• On Portfolio Careers
• Multical (scheduling tool)
• Women Facilitating 

More from Kate:

⭐ Productivity Coaching with Dr. Kate Henry

💌 Sign up for Kate's free newsletter

📚 Download Kate's free Sustainable Productivity Planner

Podcast editing and support by Softer Sounds Studio.

Theme song by Melissa Kaitlyn Carter.

Harpinder Mann, RYT-500, SEP (she/her), is a trauma-informed yoga teacher, Bhakti student, and author based on Tongva land (Los Angeles). Rooted in her Sikh spiritual background and Panjabi ancestry, she shares yoga as a sacred path of remembrance and liberation. Practicing since 2013 and teaching since 2018, she guides students in weaving sādhana and the eight limbs of yoga into daily life to cultivate resilience, meaning, and connection. Her work bridges social justice and healing, honoring collective liberation. Her book, Liberating Yoga: From Appropriation to Healing, invites readers to reclaim yoga as a practice of integrity and wholeness.

Here are some of the things Harpinder and I discuss:

• Challenging the packaging of yoga and mindfulness as relentless self improvement
• Why working with students and clients doesn’t feel like a project to Harpinder
• Decolonizing yoga through honoring where practices have come from
• Harpinder’s book journey and the sense of responsibility she felt while writing Liberating Yoga
• Giving yourself space between projects to allow ideas to come to you
• The many ways we can deepen and practice yoga

Resources & Links:

• Harpinder’s website
• Events with Harpinder
• Harpinder’s book, Liberating Yoga: From Appropriation to Healing
• Harpinder’s Instagram
• Harpinder’s Podcast (we referenced Episode 3: Understanding Yoga Exclusion, Fatphobia + Racial Trauma with Leah Saliter)
• Books mentioned: Edward Said’s Orientalism and Bessel Van Der Kolk’s The Body Keeps the Score.

SUPPORT FOR CREATIVE THINKERS
⭐ Productivity Coaching with Dr. Kate Henry
💌 Sign up for Dr. Kate's free newsletter
📚 Download Dr. Kate's free Sustainable Productivity Planner

Podcast editing and support by Softer Sounds Studio.
Theme song by Melissa Kaitlyn Carter.

Amelia Hruby is a feminist writer, educator, and podcaster with a PhD in philosophy. She is the founder of Softer Sounds podcast studio, and the host of Off the Grid, a podcast about leaving social media. Her new book, Your Attention is Sacred Except on Social Media is out now.

Here are some of the things Amelia and I discuss:

• Amelia’s 2026 sabbatical as a way to set boundaries with her work and spark creative energy
• How our academic training affects the way we think and make sense of things
• Valuing theoretical and embodied knowledge when it comes to business and marketing 
• Big questions folks are asking about social media, big tech, and AI
• Amelia tells us all about "COME TO CLASS: How to teach & sell online with confidence & care" (see you there!)

Resources & Links:

• Amelia’s website
• Amelia’s book
• Amelia's interview with the APA about feminist public philosophy
• Off the Grid podcast
• Off the Grid AI series
• Off the Grid business predictions: Predictions for Social Media and Predictions for Marketing Trends 
• Softer Sounds podcast studio
• Come to Class info + waitlist

SUPPORT FOR CREATIVE THINKERS
⭐ Productivity Coaching with Dr. Kate Henry
💌 Sign up for Dr. Kate's free newsletter
📚 Download Dr. Kate's free Sustainable Productivity Planner

Podcast editing and support by Softer Sounds Studio.
Theme song by Melissa Kaitlyn Carter.

Shivani Mehta Bhatia is a facilitator, advisor, and writer based in New York City. She works with senior leaders at justice-rooted organizations -- especially queer folks and women of color -- helping them use conflict as diagnostic information about power, culture, and what needs to change. She came to this work after a decade inside public health, crisis response, and community-based care, where she kept noticing the same pattern: the most persistent strategy problems were almost always relational ones, rooted in power, story, and unaddressed conflict. She is also the writer and host of Intimate Practice, an ongoing research project on tending, thresholding, and what it means to move through transition.

Here are some of the things Shivani and I discuss:

• Shivani’s background as a facilitator in public health focused on birth, sex, and death
• Why learning to disagree better is key to building the world we deserve
• Accountability as an invitation into deeper relationship, not moral judgment
• How systemic dimensions of privilege and oppression live in our intimate interactions
• Claiming agency and making meaningful change in this political moment

Resources & Links:

• Shivani’s website
• Cody Cook-Parrott’s class, Quilt in a Weekend
• Shivani’s essay, How Conflict Becomes a Design Input
• Sign up for Shivani's newsletter, Intimate Practice

SUPPORT FOR CREATIVE THINKERS
⭐ Productivity Coaching with Dr. Kate Henry
💌 Sign up for Dr. Kate's free newsletter
📚 Download Dr. Kate's free Sustainable Productivity Planner

Podcast editing and support by Softer Sounds Studio.
Theme song by Melissa Kaitlyn Carter.

Jillian Hess is Professor of English at Bronx Community College, part of the City University of New York. She is the author of How Romantics and Victorians Organized Information, a 2022 book from Oxford University Press about commonplace books, scrapbooks, and albums. She also writes the weekly newsletter, Noted, exploring how brilliant people have taken notes and she is currently writing a new book, "Noteworthy" which uses the history of note-taking to offer an expansive how-to guide to note taking--forthcoming from Penguin Life in the US and Viking in the UK. 

Here are some of the things Jillian and I discuss:

• Jillian’s newsletter Noted as public intellectualism and an extension of her role as a teacher
• The experience of writing an academic book vs. one for a general audience
• Why reading creative thinkers’ notebooks humanizes them and empowers us
• The iterative and expanding nature of inherited note-taking styles
• How Jillian keeps the commonplace book tradition alive with the Commonplace Book Club

Resources & Links:

• The Noted Substack
• Jillian's Commonplace Book Club
• Explorations of notes by Octavia Butler and Samuel Taylor Coleridge
• Jillian’s academic book, How Romantics and Victorians Organized Information

SUPPORT FOR CREATIVE THINKERS
⭐ Productivity Coaching with Dr. Kate Henry
💌 Sign up for Dr. Kate's free newsletter
📚 Download Dr. Kate's free Sustainable Productivity Planner

Podcast editing and support by Softer Sounds Studio.
Theme song by Melissa Kaitlyn Carter.

New Year’s Resolutions not going as well as you’d hoped? Stuck in a cycle of laying out elaborate project plans only for them to get derailed in two weeks? Optimism Bias and the Planning Fallacy are likely be to blame! This solo episode is all about why we set unrealistic goals and how we can use the 3-step Proactive Plans and Acute Actions framework to navigate productivity obstacles. Please enjoy this treasure trove of academic resources and real-world examples!

In today’s episode, I cover…

• Why cognitive biases cause us to set unrealistic goals
• When Optimism Bias can help us vs. when it causes us to underestimate risk
• How the Planning Fallacy can make us underestimate how long a task or project might take
• Unique challenges of cognitive biases for people with ADHD and depression
• That time I thought I could do my comprehensive exams in 3 weeks
• Applying the Proactive Plans and Acute Actions framework with a real-life example

Resources & Links:

• Neil Weinstein: Unrealistic Optimism About Future Life Events
• Kendra Cherry: Understanding the Optimism Bias
• Optimism Bias and Climate Change
• Systemic Effects of the Optimism Bias
• Optimism Bias and Major Depression
• Overview of The Planning Fallacy, including Inside and Outside Views
• Thanks to Taylor Allbright, PhD, Executive Functioning and ADHD Coach, for recommending the following resources: ADHD and Time Estimation and ADHD and Reward Pathways
• A 17-minute video lesson and guided reflection prompts for the Proactive Plans and Acute Actions framework can be found in my free workbook, How to Build Purposeful Productivity Sessions!

SUPPORT FOR CREATIVE THINKERS
⭐ Productivity Coaching with Dr. Kate Henry
💌 Sign up for Dr. Kate's free newsletter
📚 Download Dr. Kate's free Sustainable Productivity Planner

Podcast editing and support by Softer Sounds Studio.
Theme song by Melissa Kaitlyn Carter.

Today's episode features brand new theme music, created by Melissa herself!!!

Melissa Kaitlyn Carter is a Brooklyn-based musician, performer, and creative facilitator. She is the frontwoman of the indie-folk project Hattie, described as “achingly honest and full of heart.” As a performer, Melissa has worked across the United States with artists including Mary Zimmerman and The Bengsons, and in theaters such as Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Z Space, Joe Goode Studio, and The Huntington Theater. She has been an artist-in-residence at The Sable Project and Paul Dresher Ensemble Artist Residency. She has received funding from The Awesome Foundation and Musicians Foundation, and was a Music/Sound Artist Fellow for the New York Foundation for the Arts.

She is the owner and operator of Making Audio Magic, where she teaches songwriting, music production, and DIY-At-Home Recording. When she's OOO, she aims to spend her time practicing yoga, learning about herbs, reading tarot, and bathing in nature. Learn more about Melissa’s musical projects: Hattie & Rosalind.

Here are some of the things Melissa and I discuss:

• How our early creative training influenced our artistic journeys
• Melissa teaches Kate different audio components in her favorite songs (this was so fun!)
• Learning new things about yourself through making art
• Melissa’s act of generational healing through her musical project, Hattie
• The magic that happens when we trust our relationship to creativity

Resources & Links:

• Melissa's website
• Melissa's newsletter
• Melissa’s bands: Hattie and Rosalind
• The North Node
• Elizabeth Gilbert’s talk about “having a genius”
• Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way
• “Nobody” by Hattie

SUPPORT FOR CREATIVE THINKERS
⭐ Productivity Coaching with Dr. Kate Henry
💌 Sign up for Dr. Kate's free newsletter
📚 Download Dr. Kate's free Sustainable Productivity Planner

Podcast editing and support by Softer Sounds Studio.
Theme song by Melissa Kaitlyn Carter.

Gabrielle Felder (she/they) is a writer, data analyst, and aborisa born and raised in Orange County, California and is currently based in Los Angeles, California. She explores the history of the African diaspora, drawing from her interdisciplinary background in ecology, anthropology, and data analytics. Passionate about community work, she has trained as a postpartum doula, worked in community gardens, and led Afro-Indigenous ceremonies. She’s shared her work through speaking engagements with UC Davis Women’s Resources and Research Center and the Feminist Center for Creative Work.

Here are some of the things Gabrielle and I discuss:

• Gabrielle’s journey from digital essayist to published author
• Sacred poetry and nature-based traditions behind The Five Blessings of Ifá
• Understanding Ifá through herbalism, family, queer parties, and witchcraft
• How coding and anthropology feed Gabrielle’s writing process
• Gaining freedom through self-trust and the permission to fail

Resources & Links:

• Gabrielle’s Instagram and website
• Gabrielle’s book, The Five Blessings of Ifá: Reclaiming Black Futures Through Afro-Indigenous Spirituality
• Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

SUPPORT FOR CREATIVE THINKERS
⭐ Productivity Coaching with Dr. Kate Henry
💌 Sign up for Kate's free newsletter
📚 Download Kate's free Sustainable Productivity Planner

Big thanks to Softer Sounds Studio for podcast editing and support. 

Catherine LaSota is a badass creativity facilitator, and she is here to help you build and sustain a creative practice that works for you, taking into account your resources, capacity, deep desires, and unique vision. 

She parents two young children in Queens, NYC, and in addition to her MFAs in Sculpture and Creative Nonfiction, she is trained as a coach and has a variety of music education and performance experiences. Catherine is a certified advanced SCUBA diver, former bartender and retail manager, and the founder of the LIC Reading Series and Resort writing community. She also brings a couple decades of experience working in higher education into her practice and currently serves as Associate Director of Social Practice CUNY. Catherine offers 1-on-1 coaching for writers and anyone building a creative practice; online workshops; in-person writing parties; and occasional retreats. She likes being in conversation and listening deeply, and you can hear more from her on Feed the Art, her podcast about nourishing your creative practice.

Here are some of the things we discuss:

• Projects and assignments as scaffolding to support your creative practice
• Why your creativity should be treated as a fluid, long-term relationship
• On being your own daddy and following your own vision
• Moving beyond scarcity to understanding there is always space for you
• An invitation to try bizarre techniques to spark creative inspiration

Resources & Links:

• Catherine’s website and weekly(ish) newsletter
• Feed the Art podcast
• Part of the Practice podcast
• LIC Reading Series
• Dorothea Lasky’s chapbook Poetry is Not a Project

SUPPORT FOR CREATIVE THINKERS
⭐ Productivity Coaching with Dr. Kate Henry
💌 Sign up for Kate's free newsletter
📚 Download Kate's free Sustainable Productivity Planner

Big thanks to Softer Sounds Studio for podcast editing and support. 

Jen Carrington is a gentle business coach and specializes in supporting small business owners to build and run simple and spacious businesses where they can honor their humanness whilst also making a steady and thriving income.

Jen has spent the past decade working with hundreds of clients as they bridge the gap towards their version of more flexibility, ease, and intentional growth in their business and has designed her business to only ask very part time hours from her each week whilst also being the breadwinner for her family so that she can prioritize the needs of her health as a human who lives in a chronically ill body.

Jen lives in Manchester, UK with her husband, son, two cats and their dog and is always happiest when curled up with a good book.

Here are some of the things we discuss:

• How Jen created a business that centers her humanness
• Accepting the season of life that our bodies, minds, and capacity ask of us
• Ethical approaches to marketing rooted in long-term relationships
• Decentering work in favor of healing, rest, and romantasy books

Resources & Links:

• Jen’s website, Substack podcast, and Instagram
• Jen’s framework, The Eight Seasons of Business
• Jen’s free mini-toolkit, 100 Hell Yes People
• Quicksilver and Brimstone by Callie Hart
• The Empyrean book series by Rebecca Yarros

SUPPORT FOR CREATIVE THINKERS
⭐ Productivity Coaching with Dr. Kate Henry
💌 Sign up for Kate's free newsletter
📚 Download Kate's free Sustainable Productivity Planner

Big thanks to Softer Sounds Studio for podcast editing and support. 

• Conscious and unconscious approaches to time management
• My own opening and closing routines for my days
• How to reverse engineer a solution when you have an obstacle with your routines
• Taking a rhythm approach based on your personal resources
• How to use time blocking and timeboxing
• Prompts to help you develop your own routines, rhythms, and rituals

RESOURCES AND LINKS

• Opening and closing routines
• Gamification
• Pomodoro timer
• Newsletter on the Planning Fallacy, Parkinson’s Law, Time Blocking, and Timeboxing
• Bullet Journal post on time management
• Batching
• Golidlocks Approach to Productivity
• “Let it Be” episode about Rituals

SUPPORT FOR CREATIVE THINKERS
⭐ Productivity Coaching with Dr. Kate Henry
💌 Sign up for Kate's twice-a-month newsletter
📚 Download Kate's free Sustainable Productivity Planner

Big thanks to Softer Sounds Studio for podcast editing and support.

Stephanie Graham is a Chicago-based lens-based artist and podcast host whose work explores social class, subcultures, race, and gender—often blurring the lines between truth and fiction to spark conversation. She's fascinated by how we connect and how our shared experiences shape who we are. Stephanie hosts noseyAF: conversations about art, activism, and social change, a podcast featuring candid conversations with artists, activists, neighborhood visionaries, and everyday people creatively shaping a better world. When she's not behind the lens or mic, you'll find her curating film screenings, collaborating with artists to expand access to the arts, or catching up on The Real Housewives—a favorite source of inspiration and cultural analysis.

Stephanie and I talk about...

• How research factors into story telling in art
• Enriching ideas and developing connection and visibility through collaboration
• Stephanie’s journey making her podcast, noseyAF: conversations about art, activism, and social change
• A behind-the-scenes look at Stephanie’s art making process
• The importance of creating online and in person community spaces 

RESOURCES AND LINKS

• Stephanie’s Website
• Stephanie's Instagram
• Stephanie's LinkedIn
• Golden Kids
• Love You Bro
• noseyAF podcast
• Artist Admin Hour
• Avalon Park Film House 

SUPPORT FOR CREATIVE THINKERS
⭐ Productivity Coaching with Dr. Kate Henry
💌 Sign up for Kate's twice-a-month newsletter
📚 Download Kate's free Sustainable Productivity Planner

Big thanks to Softer Sounds Studio for podcast editing and support.

Rebecca "Bee" Scolnick (she/her) is a writer, witch, and weirdo, who wants to help make meaning out of mess. Her books The Witch’s Book of Numbers: Enhance Your Magic With Numerology and Marriage by the Numbers: Planning Your Wedding Using Numerology are out now, and she pens swimming in the soup on Substack. She is also one-third of Call Your Coven: Practical Advice for Nonsensical Times, a new podcast that blends numerology, astrology and the tarot into one monthly forecast. Bee lives in Los Angeles with the loves of her life: her wife and their pup. Follow her @beescolnick on Instagram and Bluesky.

Here are some of the things Bee and I discuss:

• Navigating a career shift from production to self-employment
• Bee's lifelong journey and study of numerology
• Approaching writing as "idea first" or "container first"
• How to find your yearly cycle using numerology
• Grounding yourself in a weekly practice
• Bee reads the numerology for my wedding!

Resources & Links:

• Bee's website
• Bee's Substack, swimming in the soup
• Bee's books, The Witch’s Book of Numbers: Enhance Your Magic With Numerology & Marriage by the Numbers: Planning Your Wedding Using Numerology
• Bee's podcast, Call Your Coven: Practical Advice for Nonsensical Times
• Book a tarot reading with Bee on Moonlight
• Contact Bee directly for a numerology reading
• Bee's Numerology for Witches lecture
• The Rebis, Devil Edition
• The Secret Language of Birthdays by Gary Goldschneider and Joost Elffers
• Christine DeLorey

SUPPORT FOR CREATIVE THINKERS
💻 Please join me and Dr. Katy Peplin for AcWriMo in November! Sign up here for a month of free resources to support for your writing practice.

⭐ Productivity Coaching with Dr. Kate Henry
💌 Sign up for Kate's twice-a-month newsletter
🎃 Download the free 100 Pomodoros in October workbook

Big thanks to Softer Sounds Studio for podcast editing and support.

Dr. Eric Darnell Pritchard (they/them) is an award-winning writer, cultural critic, and Brown Chair in English Literacy and Associate Professor of English at the University of Arkansas. They are also on the faculty of the Bread Loaf School of English at Middlebury College. They earned their BA in English-Liberal Arts (magna cum laude) from Lincoln University, the nation’s oldest historically Black college and university (HBCU). They also earned an MA in Afro-American Studies and a PhD in English (with distinction) from the University of Wisconsin – Madison.

Dr. Pritchard’s research and teaching focuses on the intersections of race, queerness, sexuality, gender and class with historical and contemporary literacy, literary, and rhetorical practices, as well as fashion, beauty, and popular culture. Originally from Queens, NY, they are an award-winning writer, teacher, cultural critic, and self-described Black queer feminist alchemist. Their newest book, Clothes to Make You Smile: Patrick Kelly Designs His Dreams, will be published on January 13, 2026.

Here are some of the things Eric and I discuss:

• Eric’s journey of studying Patrick Kelly and relaying his life with honesty and compassion
• How studying an artist can help us re-see ourselves as artists
• Biography as an intensive labor of love, an ancestral relationship, and an act of necromancy
• The collaborative artistic partnership for Eric’s forthcoming picture book, Clothes to Make You Smile
• The classroom as place to create the world we want to live in

Resources & Links:

• Eric’s website
• Eric’s first book, Fashioning Lives: Black Queers and the Politics of Literacy
• Pre-order Eric’s forthcoming picture book in collaboration with illustrator Shannon Wright, Clothes to Make You Smile: Patrick Kelly Designs His Dreams
• Eric’s chapter in The Oxford Handbook of African American Women’s Writing
• Eric will be speaking on October 9th for the School Library Journal Day of Dialog
• Eric will be signing copies of their book at the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Conference in Denver this November
• The Community Literacies Collaboratory and their magazine, The Sandbox
• The Uses of Anger: Women Responding to Racism by Audre Lorde
• Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert
• How to Not Always Be Working: A Toolkit for Creativity and Radical Self-Care by Cody Cook-Parrott
• Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Democratic Vision by Barbara Ransby

SUPPORT FOR CREATIVE THINKERS
💻 Please join me and Dr. Katy Peplin for AcWriMo in November! Sign up here for a month of free resources to support for your writing practice.

⭐ Productivity Coaching with Dr. Kate Henry
💌 Sign up for Kate's twice-a-month newsletter
🎃 Download the free 100 Pomodoros in October workbook

Big thanks to Softer Sounds Studio for podcast editing and support.

It’s my 39th birthday! This solo episode is about the reflection and intention-setting practices I engage with every September. I explore theme words that have guided me, the interplay of my yearly tarot card, and the practices I want to focus on during Quarter 4. Curious about choosing your own theme word for the next year, month, project, week, or day? I close out today’s episode with tangible tools for finding and committing to your own.

Here are some of the things I cover:

• How theme words and metaphors can simplify decision making
• My journey to selecting a theme word for 39, “Again”
• Tarot as a tool for reflection and choosing guiding themes
• Four practices I want to focus on this year
• Practical steps for finding your own theme word

Resources & Links:

• My The Tending Year blog
• Brooke McAlary’s 1% Experiment
• The Devil Tarot Card
• Learn more about reflection and selecting a theme word in my free New Year Reflection and Planning Workbook

SUPPORT FOR CREATIVE THINKERS
⭐ Productivity Coaching with Dr. Kate Henry
💌 Sign up for Kate's twice-a-month newsletter
📚 Download Kate's free Sustainable Productivity Planner

Big thanks to Softer Sounds Studio for podcast editing and support.

Michelle Pellizzon is a writer, researcher, and intuitive business advisor. Her work spans mediums — podcasting, publishing, teaching — and often explores the liminal space between mysticism and pragmatism. A former professional modern dancer and Feldenkrais practitioner with a background in tech, she blends somatic expertise with creative entrepreneurship.

Here are some of the things Michelle and I discuss:

• Seasons of learning and metabolizing ideas
• How Michelle built and curates an intentional online community for creatives
• Practicing new skills and finding the fun in being bad at something
• Moving with self-awareness through the Feldenkrais Method
• Honing in on what it means to have ruthless clarity and agency

Resources & Links:

• Michelle’s Holisticism website and Instagram
• The North Node community membership and waitlist application
• The Twelfth House Substack and podcast
• Cosmic Valley Girl with Michelle and Emmalea Russo returns this month
• Bunny by Mona Awad
• Notion for organizing projects into boards
• Ira Glass on the gap between taste and skill
• “Use it or lose it!” Dementia research article from Swiss Med Weekly
• Seven of Cups tarot card
• The Feldenkrais Project and their “pelvic clock primer”
• Alexander Technique for mindful movement

SUPPORT FOR CREATIVE THINKERS
⭐ Productivity Coaching with Dr. Kate Henry
💌 Sign up for Kate's twice-a-month newsletter
📚 Download Kate's free Sustainable Productivity Planner

Big thanks to Softer Sounds Studio for podcast editing and support.

Emilia Richeson-Valiente (she/her) is a performer, writer, teacher, business-owner, and the creator of punk-feminist aerobics practice, Pony Sweat. She has cultivated a loyal following through her “fiercely noncompetitive” dance aerobics format, which celebrates anti-perfectionism, self-expression, and the liberation of all bodies. Alongside her Pony Sweat work, Emilia writes about music and somatic practices and is published in Dopamine Press's 2025 WITCH Anthology, and she currently performs with her dance troupé Haaagz. From 2017-2021 Emilia performed with the band Object As Subject. She has choreographed music videos for Alice Bag, Hayley Williams, Wallows, and Scrunchies, and has performed her work at Weirdo Night(s), SORORITY, and many many punk shows. She holds a BFA from Emerson College in Boston, and is an AFAA certified aerobics instructor. Originally from WI and VT, she moved to LA in 2006 to pursue her dream of becoming Weetzie Bat. She lives in the San Gabriel Valley with her wife and pup.

Tune in to learn more about:

• Pony Sweat’s origins, evolution, and amazing core values
• Emilia's creative practice of making mixed tapes and dance moves
• How building one project can beget other projects
• Honoring our past selves through music
• The important of creating and protecting a queer-centered space
• Honing in on loosening your grip

RESOURCES & LINKS

• WITCH Anthology
• Object as Subject
• Pony Sweat’s core values
• Pony Sweat’s newsletter
• Across Time + Space online video subscription (Includes Exercising and Listening to Records)
• Pony Sweat’s Instagram
• Pony Sweat’s YouTube Channel

SUPPORT FOR CREATIVE THINKERS
⭐ Productivity Coaching with Dr. Kate Henry
💌 Sign up for Kate's twice-a-month newsletter
📚 Download Kate's free Sustainable Productivity Planner

Big thanks to Softer Sounds Studio for podcast editing and support.

Gabrielle Ione Hickmon is a Black woman from a middle place—Ypsilanti, MI. A visual artist and History PhD student at the University of Michigan, Gabrielle's practice is concerned with African American and Indigenous histories, presents, and futures in the Great Lakes Region. As a breast cancer survivor, Gabrielle’s practice also engages illness, disability, and health toward an attempt at clarifying her experience to herself and exploring cancer's intersections with history and culture. She is concerned with breast cancer, its aftermaths, and its impacts—especially on Black women. Her writing has appeared in Vox, Condé Nast Traveler, The Baffler, The Pudding, and Literary Hub. She has exhibited ceramic work domestically and internationally. Her ceramics are in the private collection of the North Carolina Historic Sites Division and the Modern Ancient Brown Foundation. Gabrielle has been an artist-in-residence at Pocoapoco, Mas Palou, Mudhouse, John Bauer Ceramics, the Visual Art Center of Richmond, and the Modern Ancient Brown Foundation. She lives, works, and studies in her hometown, Ypsilanti, MI.

Tune in to learn more about:

• Differentiating projects, practices, and offerings
• Integrating place and family history into an art practice and scholarship
• Calling attention to young Black women’s experiences with breast cancer
• Working with different materials and techniques as a visual artist
• Gabrielle’s rituals and routines in her ceramics studio (this was such a delight to hear!)

RESOURCES & LINKS

• Gabrielle’s website and newsletter
• Gabrielle’s offerings, including Applications for Artists
• WORKING PROCESS podcast
• The Cancer Journals by Audre Lorde
• The Cancer Quilts
• Imerman’s Angels
• Worthwhile Paper Inquire Within deck
• Nala Sinephro (Gabrielle’s reading music)
• Sisters of the Yam by bell hooks
• When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chödrön

SUPPORT FOR CREATIVE THINKERS
⭐ Productivity Coaching with Dr. Kate Henry
💌 Sign up for Kate's twice-a-month newsletter
📚 Download Kate's free Sustainable Productivity Planner

Big thanks to Softer Sounds Studio for podcast editing and support.

Today's episode is a fun exploration of creative processes with Sadie Dupuis, the guitarist, songwriter & singer of rock band Speedy Ortiz, as well as the producer & multi-instrumentalist behind pop project Sad13. Sadie also heads the record label and journal Wax Nine, and is a founding organizer of United Musicians & Allied Workers and its local UMAW Philly.

Tune in to learn more about: 

• How a personal process can fuel collaboration with other artists
• Sadie's process for building collections of poetry and albums
• The importance of harm reduction in nightlife
• How to best support musicians as a consumer

RESOURCES & LINKS

• Sadie's website
• Sadie's writing
• Poetry is Not a Project by Dorothea Laskey
• Sixteenth Minute (of Fame) Podcast
• My Year in Mensa Podcast
• Couplets by Maggie Millner
• “How the Music Community is Fighting the Drug Overdose Epidemic” (Pitchfork article)
• Be The Place
• United Musicians and Allied Workers
• Living Wage for Musicians Act
• Run the Song by Ben Ratliff
• Calling All Crows

SUPPORT FOR CREATIVE THINKERS
⭐ Productivity Coaching with Dr. Kate Henry
💌 Sign up for Kate's twice-a-month newsletter
📚 Download Kate's free Sustainable Productivity Planner

Big thanks to Softer Sounds Studio for podcast editing and support.

I dive deep into four key psychological concepts of self-efficacy and talk through how each of them has shown up (or not!) in my past and current projects. 

Tune in to learn more about: 

• Navigating cognitive biases that skew our self-efficacy
• Managing the emotional ups and downs of a project
• The ways self-efficacy affected my creative, academic, an personal projects
• How accountability helps me to keep up with my projects

RESOURCES & LINKS

• Kate's newsletter, Believing You Can Do It: self efficacy and thought patterns
• The Tending Year blog
• Amelia Hruby
• Landscapes co-writing group with Cody Cook-Parrott

SUPPORT FOR CREATIVE THINKERS
⭐ Productivity Coaching with Dr. Kate Henry
💌 Sign up for Kate's twice-a-month newsletter
📚 Download Kate's free Sustainable Productivity Planner

Big thanks to Softer Sounds Studio for podcast editing and support.

Here are some of the things we get into:

• How to do studio-based research (this was new to Kate!)
• The layering work that goes into multidisciplinary projects
• The intersection of artistic practice, research, and public scholarship
• Prioritizing an audience’s access point to your creative project
• Camila’s exciting new consulting and advising venture, Structured Knowledge

Resources & Links:

• Structured Knowledge
• Camila's website (check out her art and writing)
• Our Friend the Computer podcast

If you’d like to learn more about my work, check out my website and download my free Sustainable Productivity Planner.

Big thanks to Softer Sounds Studio for podcast editing and support.

I love how Le Cunff makes scientific frameworks accessible for non-neuroscientists like me, and I found her book to be inspiring and refreshing in a sea of books that ask readers to hyper-optimize ourselves. Le Cunff's approach to experiments rooted in curiosity, discovery, and self-compassion—which we need more of when it comes to productivity!  

Here are some of the things we get into:

• When to choose an experimental mindset over traditional goal setting
• The difference between projects and experiments
• Viewing “failure” as helpful data (instead of judging ourselves)
• How curiosity is necessary for experimenting
• Learning in public (one of my favorite chapters in the book!)

Resources & Links:

• Ness Labs newsletter
• Order Tiny Experiments here

If you’d like to learn more about my work, check out my website and download my free Sustainable Productivity Planner.

Big thanks to Softer Sounds Studio for podcast editing and support.

Rebecca Maillet (she/they) is a queer, working class, first generation farmer / floral designer / and a seeker of Poetry in its myriad forms. She is the Founder & Creative Director at Many Graces Farm & Design based in Hadley, MA, and a co-owner of Sub Rosa, a Botanical Lounge & Flower Shop located in Northampton, MA. Rebecca lives in Western MA on the unceded land of the Nipmuc & Pocumtuc people with her beloved partner & their dog, Goose. 

You can learn more about Rebecca's work at Many Graces here and about Sub Rosa here.

This episode covers many things, including:

• Poetry as a lived experience
• Leaving academia to pursue self-employment
• Working with the land and the seasons
• The joy of creating beautiful spaces
• Aligning our purpose for our work with our values

Resources Mentioned

• John O'Donahue's Discussion on Beauty
• Many Graces Flower Subscription

If you’d like to learn more about my work, check out my website and download my free Sustainable Productivity Planner.

Big thanks to Softer Sounds Studio for podcast editing and support.

Kalin Morrow is an American actress and dancer based in Europe. She earned her BFA in Performing Arts from the University of Oklahoma before futher studying acting at the Mulholland Academy in Amsterdam. In 2023, she was honored by her alma mater with the Arts Luminary Award in recognition of her contributions to the arts. Recently, she garnered critical acclaim for her role as The Hooded Woman in NEON’s film CUCKOO, directed by Tilman Singer, and now works internationally in film, tv and commercials. Beyond acting, Kalin is a professional dancer with over 20 years of experience. She continues to perform while also teaching workshops and repertoire internationally for companies and schools. In 2024, she was awarded the prestigious Swan Prize for "Most Impressive Performance" at the Dutch Days for her role in The Previous Owner by Dunja Jocić. 

You can learn more about Kalin here.

This episode covers many things, including:

• Kalin’s journey as a dancer, teacher, and actor
• Making art as a collaborator and contributing to other creators’ projects
• The mental, emotional, and physical preparation for a performance
• Energy exchange when performing for live audiences
• Finding inspiration and support in community

Resources Mentioned

• Kalin's Dance Reel
• Kalin's Acting Reel
• CUCKOO
• The Previous Owner

If you’d like to learn more about my work, check out my website and download my free Sustainable Productivity Planner.

Big thanks to Softer Sounds Studio for podcast editing and support.

You can learn more about Dr. Briana Barner here.
 
This episode covers many things, including:

• The history of the Black Pod Class
• Working with ADHD instead of working against it
• Developing a compassionate approach to academic projects
• Exploring hobbies and letting go of perfectionism
• Navigating academia as a parent, scholar, and creative thinker

Resources Mentioned

• Jenn McClearen 
• Black Pod Class 
• Scrivener 
• Survival Is a Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde by Alexis Pauline Gumbs 
• Succulents LEGO set

If you’d like to learn more about my work, check out my website and download my free Sustainable Productivity Planner.

Big thanks to Softer Sounds Studio for podcast editing and support.

Cody is a writer, artist, teacher, dancer, quilter, and scholar currently pursuing an MFA at Naropa University. They’re the author of many books (including The Practice of Attention, forthcoming January 2026 via Sounds True), the host of the podcast Common Shapes, and they run a weekly online writing group called Landscapes.

You can learn more about Cody here.

In today’s episode, Cody and I chat about many things, including:

* Self-publishing and publishing with traditional presses

* Cody’s experience with projects, containers, experiments, and practices

* Boundaries around technology and social media

* Shifting between platforms when you run an online business

* The joys of archival research and Cody’s upcoming class on Joanne Kyger

Resources Mentioned

* Brick

* Wisephone

* Heather Anderson

If you’d like to learn more about my work, check out my website and download my free Sustainable Productivity Planner.

I’ll be opening my books soon to take on a few new Success & Accountability Coaching Clients to begin coaching packages in March 2025.

Big thanks to Softer Sounds Studio for podcast editing and support

I'm your host, Dr. Kate Henry. In this first episode, I share why I decided to launch a podcast about creative projects where I'll interview creative thinkers about the journeys they took to develop their art, books, businesses, and other endeavors.

I also walk you through a few productivity tips to help you explore your own creative projects with more agency and accessibility.

I invite you to check out my website and download my free Sustainable Productivity Planner.

Links

• Read Dorothea Laskey’s “Poetry is Not a Project” courtesy of Ugly Duckling Presse
• Read Cody Cook-Parrott’s book How to Not Always Be Working

Thank you to Softer Sounds Studio for podcast editing and support