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5-Minute Habit That Changes Your Career I read something about networking that hit me hard… Here’s the thing, I’m 26 and still learning about how to navigate my career. Lately, I’ve been making more of an effort to connect with people in my industry — both chatting with peers at events and introducing myself to leaders I look up to. I’ve always known the importance of sending a thank-you letter after interviews, but I typically didn’t do anything else until I read this: “I’m just stunned at how few people know how to follow up on a connection,” Tina Brown, former editor of Vanity Fair and The New Yorker, recently told The Cut. “Make sure that you stay in touch with the people you’re interested in, make sure they’re aware of you, that you stay on their radar… It’s remarkable how much these people appreciate hearing from you when you don’t want something from them.” It’s so true, right? Sending emails just for the sake of staying in touch changes everything. It makes me think back to how

  Life’s a Party, Not a Race Some months back, a friend sent me a debut novel she’d read and loved. It had a splashy cover with a jaunty typeface, like the literary equivalent of a Fanta commercial. My reaction was a mix of interest — of course I wanted to check out the buzzy book — and envy. Another twenty-something wunderkind author. How do they do it? I wondered. How do they find the focus? What wisdom do they draw upon when they’ve only been alive for, like, five minutes? I pictured the “about the author” page, a cherubic face smiling atop a list of prodigious accomplishments. Because I am apparently a masochist, I looked them up. The author was in their 50s. There is nothing surprising about this story except my blatant, ridiculous ageism. People write all kinds of books at every age. As one who aspires to debut well into my 30s, and hopes to write forever, I certainly don’t believe that lively covers nor buzzy books are the exclusive domain of the very young. So, why did I make t