Did you ever sit down to complete a new or difficult task and think, "Hm. I'm not sure about this, but I can knock it out in an hour." It then takes you almost three hours to finish. You feel frustrated as you remark, "Wow. That took a lot longer than I expected." Why does this happen?!

When everyone was mouthing the words to "Driver's License" by Olivia Rodrigo a few months ago, I didn't join in. I didn't know the words because keeping up with popular music is something I no longer do. (Btw, I cringe to write "popular music" because I sound like the section of a long-defunct CD store.)

We need to get comfortable being uncomfortable if we want to make any progress. The alternative is staying cozy…right where we are.

Welp, we’ve been at this for over a year now. Quarantine. Forced remote work. As I’ve written in the past, I was WFH for several years before the pandemic and always loved it. Quarantine obviously presented new challenges, but as we start a new week, here are some reminders about why WFH really, truly, is awesome. (At least, in my opinion. Maybe some will resonate with you, too.)

I've wasted too much time worrying about what others think. And I'm done with it. Why? I realized that worrying about what others think gives them the power to define my self-worth. Relying on outsiders for validation? Eek! That's enough convincing for me.

If I asked you to go dumpster diving with me, you'd probably say, "Um, hard pass." But I'm going to ask anyway, so let me back up. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has heard 2020 described as a complete dumpster fire or seen gag gifts to that effect.

I was texting with a friend the other day and she was telling me that her family cancelled Thanksgiving due to the second wave of the virus in our area. She commented that all she could do was stay positive, despite how difficult it is in a year that's already been, well.... tough.

I know I’m not alone in my frustration at the inability to unlock my iPhone using Face ID while wearing a mask. Cut to me at the grocery, trying to pull up my notes folder containing my grocery list but realizing I can’t take my mask off. Instead, I’m taking off my antibacterial glove to type in the code when I really just want to high tail it out of there. <Sigh.>

I felt like Michael Bolton with the printer in the movie Office Space.

Like many of us, I've done some quarantine baking. One not-from-scratch recipe was a pineapple upside cake. The side of the Duncan Hines® said: "Be a pineapple. Stand tall, wear a crown, & be sweet on the inside." <Mind blown.>

I started taking piano lessons in second grade. I loved show tunes and learned to practice consistently and meaningfully every single day. I broke down each new piece into bite-sized chunks: I practiced slowly, measure by measure, line by line until I made my way to the end. Then, I would put it all together, eventually practicing the piece out of order so I started with a tricky passage and learned to master it. I let myself make mistakes and worked through them. When I wasn't practicing, I could hear the music in my head. While I was reading a book or watching tv, my fingers would often tap the notes on an imaginary keyboard.

This blog appeared as an Op-Ed on ROI-NJ.com on March 25, 2020.

Before COVID-19 (“BC”), we all sought mindfulness. We talked about slowing down and eschewed our “busyness.” We vowed to meditate, refocus, and connect with each other on a basic level.

The 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is officially a global pandemic. In a matter of days, employers implemented no conference policies, then no travel policies, and now flexible work from home (WFH) arrangements. If you’re an office worker who suddenly finds yourself a WFH employee for the foreseeable future, the change can be daunting. I know because I transitioned from a full-time office position to a full-time remote position over two-and-a-half years ago. Here’s how to transition to WFH like a pro.

We returned from a family vacation earlier this week and I’ve been thinking about gratitude a lot. As in, how grateful I am to be able to take a trip to sunny southern California in the dead of winter and disconnect from work to focus on quality family time. I also got to thinking that it shouldn’t take a cross-country trip for me to feel gratitude for my life.

I’ve been writing a lot of emails over the last week to spread the word about a women’s leadership summit that I’m co-chairing next month. The emails contain personalized messages to each recipient and then explain the basics about the event. It’s my habit to quickly scan each email before pressing “Send.” After all, spell check doesn’t pick up on some grammatical errors or other mistakes. Case in point: my unfortunate use of the word “just” when starting the email. Yikes.

I was overwhelmed with gratitude at the amount of friends, colleagues, former colleagues, acquaintances, and strangers who reached out to congratulate me on launching this site. Thank you! I had some great exchanges with many of you and am really humbled by the encouragement and support.

If you know me, you're probably chuckling at this title. If you don't know me, suffice it to say that I have a lot of curly hair. At the outset of my career, I worried about whether I would be taken seriously or look professional with such big, curly hair. But as I started working, I realized that what I was so insecure about was actually vital to my self-confidence. I needed to be “me” to be authentic, and in turn, confident.

I recently presented keys to success at a law firm as part of the Women’s Leadership Committee’s programming. These tips are things I learned along the way during my career, things I saw others doing, or things that I wish I had done differently or better while in practice since hindsight is 20/20.

When I was in high school, I wrote a column called "On Marino's Mind." The topics ranged from taking my driver's test to the vocabulary of the cast of Dawson's Creek. I thought I would be a writer. Then, I joined the mock trial team. That was it. I decided to become a lawyer.