Mindset Archives - Catherine Johns

The Problem with Remote Work

Let us finish. Isn’t it frustrating when you’re trying to make a point in a meeting and somebody cuts you off? Chances are you know that feeling well. Especially if you’re a woman. Maybe you’ve seen the essay floating around social media about women being interrupted more often than men. It cites research in conference rooms and classrooms, and even the Supreme Court chambers.
The female justices are interrupted nearly four times as often as their judicial brethren.

Catherine Johns | Jun 24, 2026

group of happy engaged workers around a conference table

Mindset

Are You Breathing?

Are You Breathing? Chances are pretty good you’ll hold your breath sometime while you read this note. Not because it’s alarming or frightening, but just because you and I are communicating through a screen. It’s called “screen apnea” and it’s a stress response. There’s nothing stressful about our exchange here. But screen apnea happens when we do, well, almost anything in front of a screen.

Catherine Johns | Jun 10, 2026

Shot of a senior man meditating in an outdoor yoga class.

Communication, Mindset

Our Mothers Were Wrong

Our mothers were wrong. “Don’t talk to strangers,” they warned us. And, okay, it was undoubtedly a smart lesson for a young child to learn. Now that we’re adults, that conditioning to keep our head down and our mouth shut when we’re with someone we don’t know isn’t doing us any favors. It turns out that talking to strangers makes us happier than we expect Nicholas Epley, a behavioral scientist at the University of Chicago, stumbled across that proposition sitting next to a woman in a red hat on his commute into Hyde Park. Instead of staring at a screen and scrolling, he told her how cool her hat was. They wound up chatting all the way into the city. And he started his workday in a surprisingly good mood.

Catherine Johns | May 27, 2026

Row of young people absorbed by focusing on their cell phones.

Communication, Mindset

Sometimes You Amaze Me

Sometimes you amaze me. You had a lot to say about the notion of getting older and … weirder. All of it was positive, and much of it was zealous. I wondered with you about the notion that we become more authentic over time. More comfortable and confident about who we are and what we believe. And much less inclined to hide our true selves, to hold back, to wear a mask. And you confirmed the hypothesis. Enthusiastically. A bit of backstory here.

Catherine Johns | May 13, 2026

Photo of Catherine Johns' Facebook and Lined In posts from May 6 2026

Communication, Mindset

Older and Wiser? Maybe Older and Weirder.

Older, wiser, weirder. The young guy was bagging my groceries at Whole Foods when he complimented me on my teal glasses. He was doubly impressed to observe that they matched my teal cane. “I hope I’m that fly when I’m your age,” he said. That “fly???” Yes, “fly.” Often used informally to describe someone as stylish, sharp, or well-dressed, as the dictionary explains. “Thanks,” I told him, “I’m not going quietly.”

Catherine Johns | May 6, 2026