Once a month, I curate the best links on how to find work that you love, be excellent at what you do, and unlock any door that stands in your way. This month’s links feature advice from the unconventional, the experienced, and those whose careers took off later in life. The bottom line — just keep at it and never give up hope.

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK

• The great series Mad Men may have come to an end but here is its writer, Mathew Weiner’s advice to struggling artists.

• She calls is her Eat Pray Love moment without the love. Read Rose Marcario’s roundabout tale that begins with her burning out on a private equity job in 2006, segues to India for her inward journey, and ends with her as CEO of Patagonia.

• The idea that you’re supposed to have “made it” by the time you’re 30 — or even 40 — is unrealistic enough, even for ambitious women. But what about the idea that, at age 50, your biggest career successes are behind you? Or that your career is now stagnant? That was clearly not the case for these five outstanding ladies, whose illustrious careers reached new dimensions after 50.

• You’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time. You have finally mustered the courage to leave your job and start your new business. Now what? Career coach, Michelle Ward, lays out what you can expect when you change careers to become an entrepreneur.

• The multi-talented Dale Franzen “retired” this year and then promptly decided to raise several hundred thousand dollars and produce a new “folk opera” based on the Greek myth of Orpheus in the Underworld. The opera is called Hadestown. It debuts next year and the music is phenomenal.

• Don’t know what to do with your life? No need to panic. Take a deep breath and power through the moments of doubt and burnout with the help of these 9 TED talks.

• “Your wrinkles reflect the roads you have taken; they form the map of your life. My face carries all my memories. Why should I erase them?” Bonnie Hammer, chairman of NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment Group, writes about her 65th birthday – and her refusal to accept that she’s “past her prime.”

• What do you want to be when you grow up? These speakers have stalked out the coolest jobs – some you didn’t even know existed! My favorite: building a seed cathedral!

• New York and Silicon Valley are known as popular startup hubs, but there are other US cities that have become home to cool and successful tech companies too. Here’s a list of 25 of the hottest startups in cities across the U.S. There is even a company to warn you when drones are approaching (don’t laugh – someone actually gave them $150,000 in funding!)

• I just love reading about people that are working to change the world for the better. Hearts of Fire seeks to inspire people of all walks of life to join the social change movement by telling the stories of today’s visionaries and creating a community of like-minded individuals. Follow them on Facebook and Twitter. They spotlight new people each week.

• And if you are hungry for more- here’s one person’s guide to 50 more greats!

• Anyone that knows me – knows that I have a soft spot for school gardens. I dedicated 20 years of my life to building and nurturing them. That’s why I loved ths story about how a box of daffodil bulbs next to a classroom radiator germinated an idea for teacher Stephen Ritz — an idea that as led to national teaching awards, a viral TED talk, and an invitation to the White House garden plot.

• What’s it like to be a woman engineer? Check out this cool new site, Wogrammer. They interview women engineers and showcase the cutting-edge technology they’ve built. From the high school student teaching herself to code, to the CEO running her business, read the interviews of over 50 engineers from Cape Town to Silicon Valley in all types industries.

That’s a wrap for this month!

Find great work. Do great work. Unlock every door in your way.

Image: Willie Franklin

Once a month, I curate the best links on how to find work that you love, be excellent at what you do, and unlock any door that stands in your way.

Here’s your list for August!

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK

• The city of Melbourne assigned email addresses to various trees so that citizens could report problems, like dangerous branches. Instead, people wrote thousands of love letters to their favorite trees. (Note to self: visit Australia immediately. Obviously, its inhabitants are amazing!)

• The art of the simple “to do” list from bestselling author and time-hacker Tim Ferris. The secret to hiring a top-notch virtual assistant from finance expert Ramit Sethi. Just a few of the 28 Steal-worthy Tips From The Most Productive People on the Planet.

• San Francisco bakeries have tried and tried again to replicate the chewy, crusty perfection of NYC’s legendary bagels. They are still trying — to no avail! Which brings up the question that has kept great minds awake at night: Why Is It So Hard To Get a Great Bagel in San Francisco?

• You think you want to start a blog. But when it comes right down to it, you are just not sure. Alex Franzen shares 35 things you can do instead of starting a blog.

• “Create an affiliate program.” “If you’re selling anything on Amazon.com, upload a sales video to go with it.” These are just 2 out of 49 brilliant promotional ideas from Danielle LaPorte, who makes “marketing” seem effortless and even artful.

• Advice from the CEO of tech company Better Cloud: Keep pushing the envelope. Work beyond your résumé.

• Spend one hour outside every day. Have a family dinner. Get home on time. Counter-intuitive advice from very successful people.

• Not sure what kind of job you want? LinkedIn is adding new services to help you find a career path.

• The workplace seems to be getting younger and younger. But be careful not to discount the value of experience and maturity. Here are several good reasons why we need older women in the workplace.

• The media is brimming with stories about young kids in their twenties inventing apps that turn into billion-dollar businesses. But there’s another side to the story: Millennials living in (literal) poverty, crushed by student loan debt, strapped into unpaid internships with no promise of a paycheck. This article reveals it all: Millennial Poverty: How did we end up poorer than our parents?

• On a more uplifting note: two great new poems by spoken word poet Sarah Kay.

• It is hard to believe that in 2015, women are still paid less by men and are encountering sexism in the workplace (and everywhere else!). It’s hard to figure out how to break that glass ceiling. Here’s some wisdom from 25 women on being in charge.

• From Sarah Von Bargen: 12 of the most helpful articles about blogging / business / creativity. I agree with her: I love the 1-3-5 method for my daily to-do list!

• If you’re anything like me, you are always looking for fresh, invigorating new ways to start your day! Which is why I love this website: My Morning Routine. Inspiring morning routines from artists, entrepreneurs, early and late risers, travelers, and parents, delivered every Wednesday. Check out the archives. They’re chock full of interesting stories and ideas!

That’s a wrap for this month!

Find great work. Do great work. Unlock every door in your way.

Image: Willie Franklin

Once a month, I curate the best links on how to find work that you love, be excellent at what you do, and unlock any door that stands in your way.

Here’s your list for July!

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK

• Athlete, actor and activist Aimee Mullins talks about her prosthetic legs — she’s got a dozen amazing pairs — and the superpowers they grant her: speed, beauty, an extra six inches of height. A powerful example of how you can find grace, and even joy, in absolutely any situation. Just… wow.

• Here’s a quirky way to understand how your colleagues think and figure out ways to collaborate more effectively: ask everyone in your department to draw a picture of how they make toast. (Watch this TED Talk for clues on how to decode everyone’s drawings.)

• Feel like a traditional college experience just isn’t for you? Want to study online, instead, and also get real-world work experience and maybe even launch your first business? This could be for you.

• Travel hounds: if you want to explore a new city without keeping track of every turn, yet later call up the coordinates of that quaint patisserie you passed on that little cobblestone street whose name you can’t recall… This is the app for you!

• And while you are on the road… here’s how to have a $1000 day in Paris but for a tenth of the price.

• So many of us want to feel “popular” and “famous,” but sometimes, fame arrives later in life. Here’s a beautiful NY Times piece profiling fabulous female artists in their 70s, 80s, and 90s who are (finally!) receiving mainstream recognition for their work.

• Speaking of fabulous, visionary women… this woman dropped out of Harvard business school and now runs a company with 150 employees! Her message: “Most people don’t dream big enough.”

• Talking about dying isn’t easy. Journalist Ellen Goodman has started a new
nonprofit called The Conversation Project, dedicated to helping people talk about their wishes for end-of-life care. One conversation can make all the difference.

• On a related topic… what’s the “right” thing to do when a friend or loved one is grieving? My friend Alex has a few wise words.

• On a brighter note… are you looking for your dream job? Here are 15 stories from people who unexpectedly found theirs!

• Stuck in a cereal rut? Here are 15 make-ahead breakfasts that are so nutritious and pretty, you almost won’t want to eat them! (Except you will. Yum.).

• At the beginning of 1905, Albert Einstein was deemed a “failed” academic. Yet twelve months later, he radically transformed our understanding of the universe. A great lesson in perseverance!

• Headspace: a gym membership for your mind. Meditation made simple in just 10 minutes a day. (I’ve tried it — it really works!).

• Speaking of gyms (well, the other kind of gym!), I recently made a commitment to take a long walk every day and visit the gym 3x a week because I am training for a big trek across Ireland next year! I love to listen to podcasts while I’m walking. My current favorite: Dear Sugar.

• Now here is a guy you would want to work for! Since 2006, Ryan Carson, CEO of Treehouse, has maintained a 4-day workweek for his employees. He believes that enforcing a 32-hour workweek is just “the right thing to do.”

• Michelle Poler has a LOT of fears: going a day without her cell phone, speaking in front of a crowd, even piercing her ears. In her 100 Days Without Fear project, she has set out to conquer them all — and she’s documenting each experience with a short video. What’s a small (or BIG) fear that you’d like to conquer this week?

That’s a wrap for this month!

Find great work. Do great work. Unlock every door in your way.

Image: Willie Franklin

Once a month, I curate the best links on how to find work that you love, be excellent at what you do, and unlock any door that stands in your way.

Here’s your list for June!

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK

• Having a horrible, no-good day? Want to throw in the towel and call it quits? Here are 16 questions to ask yourself before giving up. Hysterical and totally brilliant.

• The mad quest for perfection is killing us — and sucking the joy out of our lives. The great Elizabeth Gilbert has a few thoughts on how to stop the madness.

• One of my favorite talks from this year’s TED conference. Buckle your seat belts: future, here we come!

• An amazing conversation with Bill and Melinda Gates on their decision to give away most of their money. These philanthropists are truly walking their talk.

• Do you have a habit you want to change? Except you lose steam after just a few days? Leo Babauta lays out steps you can take to convert that temporary feeling of “determination” into lasting action.

• Are you a giver? Big-hearted? Always helping others? Great news: your charitable spirit could give you a major edge in your career.

• Love this: 25 famous women share their thoughts on getting older. Oprah’s insights are brilliant, as usual: “Every year should be teaching us all something valuable. Whether you get the lesson is really up to you.”

• I’m a die-hard coffee drinker, but all the recent buzz about matcha has got me intrigued. It’s a Japanese green tea powder that’s incredibly good for you — delivering a big boost of energy without a jittery crash. (Definitely on my must-try list!)

• 10 things that James Altucher learned from billionaire Richard Branson. My favorite gem: “Age isn’t as important so long as you are surrounded by people you love, doing things you passionately believe in.”

• We all get too much junk mail. Here’s how to “opt out” of everything — from credit card offers to reply-all email conversations to group texts you didn’t ask for. (Serenity now!)

• 3 great tools from The Muse to help you figure out what to do with your life. Best of all: they’re card games! Finding your “life purpose” just got a whole lot more playful.

Find great work. Do great work. Unlock every door in your way.

Image: Willie Franklin

Once a month, I curate the best links on how to find work that you love, be excellent at what you do, and unlock any door that stands in your way.

Here’s your list for May!

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK

Job hunting? Need inspiration? Here are 8 great TED talks to help you find the right job.

Want to feel “rich” without getting attached to a specific number in your bank account — or material possessions? One beautiful insight: collect experiences, not things.

From my dear friend Heidi Rose Robbins: How to show up with courage and grace even when you’ve got sweaty palms and feel overwhelmed with fear.

There are 76.4 million baby boomers in the United States — and they’re looking for smart products that can help them to live well and age gracefully. A neat side-effect: there’s a boom of hot new inventors over the age of 50.

I love reading obituaries, especially when they’re printed in small, quirky publications. Such an interesting glimpse into ordinary people’s stories. Here is what a small-town obituary writer can tell us about what it means to live a “good life.”

The humble story of this year’s Pulitzer Prize winner for poetry: Gregory Pardlo. After a long path riddled with alcohol dependency, odd jobs in restaurants, and failed businesses, he’s finally on top of the world. Further proof that the “road to success” is rarely smooth or predictable.

NPR never fails to deliver brilliant ideas. For a more organized life, desk, and workday — think like a chef!

10 words every girl should learn. I wish I had learned these when I was in my teens and twenties!

For entrepreneurial types: have you ever fantasized about creating your own line of t- shirts, coffee mugs, posters, and other print items? It just got a whole lot easier.

We all know that exercising is great for your body, mind and spirit. So why is working out such a joy for some people — and total drudgery for others? This TED Talk may reveal the answer. So fascinating.

Last but not least: From bestselling author and entrepreneur Danielle LaPorte: 15 tips for public speaking that apply to shining at work and just about everywhere else. My favorite: “Being prepared is an act of love. And intelligence.”

Find great work. Do great work. Unlock every door in your way.

Image: Willie Franklin