📵GREAT NEWS! This email makes no demands on you.

Hello, friends!In this issue: an embarrassment of writings, a rant about constant connectivity, and news for Chicagoans/local-TV enthusiasts.I’ve been broadcasting my Businessladylike thoughts into the world a lot this past month, so here’s a link roundup. I wrote a new column that draws on the medical ordeal that consumed my life seven years ago. FastCompany published two excerpts from my book: one on gracefully dodging blame for a work mistake that wasn’t your fault, and another on taking feedback from a boss who rubs you the wrong way.I was also featured in Simon & Schuster’s weekly advice newsletter talking about “unbusting your ass” and achieving work/life balance. And in a moment of serendipitous collision between my career-counselor persona and my day job, I ended up stealth-griping about smartphone addiction after interviewing a philosophy professor who’s investigating the essential qualities of a fulfilling life.Those last two pieces are especially meaningful to me, because—as someone who’s put a lot of thought into drawing boundaries between worktime and downtime—I’ve come to really resent the ubiquity of smartphones. I say things like, “don’t check your work email after hours” and I think that’s great advice (if I do say so myself). At the same time, I know how painfully difficult it can be to implement in practice.I’ve been trying to force myself to stop checking in after I wrap up my workday, but I keep wanting to. For no reason! I knew there can’t possibly be anything urgent in my inbox, and yet I find myself wondering, “what if?” (Fearing, basically, a message reading, “Hi, Please send me a list of fellowships within the next 15 minutes or you’re fired. Sincerely, the Dean.” Highly plausible.)I'm starting to yearn for the era when you could be truly unreachable during your off hours. It’s actually kind of stunning when you remember how that used to be the norm for most professional positions. Now, we check in with job-related media without even thinking about it, and just accept the constant little pings of stress it produces in our minds.It’s too late to banish smartphones entirely, but I’m resolving to be more rigorous about keeping a firewall between my leisure-time self and my work email. It’s one thing to be reachable when your colleagues or clients need you. It’s another thing to distract yourself from the movie you’re watching at 9pm because you read a non-urgent note from your boss while you were in the bathroom. Willfully tolerating these micro-interruptions doesn’t make you a better employee, and avoiding them doesn’t undermine your overall responsiveness (or at least, it’s perfectly fine in the vast majority of industries).Speaking of unplugging, I’m about to embark on a massive road trip that’s 20% work 80% fun. I’m getting VERY excited. In addition to seeing family, friends, and a Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers concert (all on the agenda), the job-related part means yet another return to Chicago, where I’ve managed to line up some book events.On Monday, June 5th, you can catch me LIVE on WGN Midday News sometime between 11:15am and 11:45am (which non-Chicagoans can watch online). And on Tuesday, June 6th, I’ll be signing copies of Is This Working? at the University of Chicago bookstore from 1pm to 2pm—tell your friends, and come say hi to my face!~court, AKA BusinessladyCORRECTIONS! An Unnecessarily Recurring SeriesThere aren't really any corrections this week (well, I noticed my footer was missing a comma after "NY" but even I don't think that's a big deal). However, I did briefly think I’d lost a fancypants, limited-edition coin purse—a treasured gift from my sister-in-law—containing three pairs of earrings with substantial sentimental value. While it’d actually rolled to an obscure sector of the car, it was a reminder of my terrible track record with dumping things off my lap onto the ground, never to be seen again. While nothing beats the rush of recovering a seemingly lost-forever object, the emotional devastation of the losing part is pretty crappy. So I’m considering this a lesson to STOP. DOING. THAT.Finally, photo time! There’s a good picture of me from the author event I did for Independent Bookstore Day…and then there are these, haha. I’m sure my late grandma would be proud that I wrote a book, but she hated it whenever I talked with my hands, so I imagine her looking down on me with perfect neutrality.