Instead of disappearing, here’s exactly what to say — Everyone is a flake in 2020. You make outdoor dining plans, set deadlines on a work project, promise to proof a friend’s resume. But when the deadline arrives, so does the horrifying truth: It’s just not gonna happen. It’s understandable. When life is rapidly changing, it’s normal to believe next…

To make it easier, we wrote the responses for you — You can’t see them on the first page of your inbox, but you know they’re there. Your ancient unanswered emails lurk deep inside your inbox. Invitations you forgot, interesting opportunities you accidentally ignored, long messages you barely remember reading in the early days of the quarantine haze. …

How to master the art of the nudge — This story is part of Forge’s How to Write Anything series, where we give you tips, tricks, and principles for writing all the things we write in our daily lives online, from tweets to articles to dating profiles. I once waited eight months for a job offer. That’s 240 days…

The coronavirus pandemic can lead to an obsession with checking our phones. Here’s how to change your news habit. — We try to make sense of the biggest news event of our lifetime, it feels natural, even calming, to turn to one of our most trusted habits: the flick, scroll, click. …

How can you pull the thread today? I’m talking about something you actually want to unravel. As a chronic over-thinker who can become overwhelmed by logistics or decisions, I’ve often found myself stuck in the middle of projects. I get an idea but don’t know how I want to execute…

Begin low-key and think short term — For six years, I was a consistent runner. I logged around 25 miles a week, running 5Ks and half-marathons. I even ran a couple of marathons. But in 2018, after I swapped my freelance life for one in an office and also began a demanding two-year musical theater program, my…

Put your half-dead ideas out of their misery — I don’t know about you, but I want to enter 2020 with an empty brain — no half-finished tasks to stress over, no sense of guilt over lingering to-dos that have been perpetually pushed back. Of course, I know that’s not possible. Obligations are ever-changing, and opportunities arise all the…

After a year of creative moonshots and missteps, I discovered everything people don’t tell you about the other “F” word.

After an app revealed the depths of my media distraction, I turned to other creatives to see how they stay productive.