On Adulting: How Millennials (And Any Human, Really) Can Work Less, Live More, And Bend The Rules For Good

by Katina Mountanos

Overview

The go-to guide for millennials who are confused about growing up—and need advice on how to do so in a mindful, happy way. 
 
If you feel like the moment you entered adulthood your entire life has become a negotiation rather than a choice, you're not alone. Millions of adults around the world feel like they're not living up to their potential. 
 
But, mindset coach and creative entrepreneur Katina Mountanos has a secret: it's possible to get off the work-gym-sleep hamster wheel—and never look back.
 
In On Adulting: A Guide To Growing Up In A Mindful, Happy Way, Mountanos shares her exact formula for crafting an adult life that's full of choices. Through her wildly popular blog and community, she's helped thousands of millennials start telling the truth about what they actually want their life to look like. And now, she's helping readers everywhere escape the rat race, make bill-paying and laundry more fun, and live a life they're passionate about.
 
You'll learn Mountanos's blueprint for being a mindful and happy grown-up, which includes:

• Why you're addicted to collecting praise and trophies from a scientific perspective - and how to put an end to it
• How to stop following "the rules" even when it feels impossible because you're chained to your paycheck
• How to figure out what your passion is in less than 24-hours using a little known creative exercise
• Learning a mindset shift that you can apply to boring adulthood tasks such as paying off your loans or meal prepping on Sunday evenings
•  How to navigate the shift in relationships—friendships, familial, romantic—as you grow, through advice from experts
• Developing a clear personal mission statement that guides who you want to be when you grow up, not only what.

On Adulting is packed with tactical tips, real-life stories, and expert advice in order to live a mindful, happy, and conscious life. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781510758827
Publisher:	Skyhorse
Publication date:	11/24/2020
Pages:	264
Sales rank:	1,097,374
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Katina Mountanos is the founder of On Adulting, a viral blog and community of over 22,000 millennials who are figuring out how to navigate adulthood in a conscious, happy way (@onadulting). She is also a mindset coach, startup advisor, and creative entrepreneur. Her work has been featured on HuffPost, Fast Company, Teen Vogue, Elite Daily, Mindbodygreen, and others. She started her career in environmental sustainability at Goldman Sachs, and since then has helped thousands of humans develop conscious decision-making skills through her coaching, workshops, and free resources. Mountanos resides in New York City with her fiancé & puppy.

Table of Contents

Preface: A Note to the Human Reading These Pages vii

Introduction: Adulting: Trust Me, It's Scary + Confusing + Weird for Everyone xv

Part I Welcome to The Club 1

1 Things Are Not Always What They Seem 3

2 Let Me Tell You a Secret 23

Part 2 You're Not Here by Accident (Even If You Wish It Were So) 37

3 It's Not (Fully) Your Fault 39

4 Trophies, Awards, and Lies, Oh My! 51

5 Stop Living in the Safe Lane 65

Part 3 It's Your Life, Dammit 83

6 It Starts with Telling the Truth 85

7 You Won't Get in Trouble for Daydreaming Here 103

8 So, What Do You Really Want? 125

9 Mo' Money, Mo' Problems 139

10 Changing You Means Changing Relationships, Too 159

11 Throw Your Five-Year Plan Out the Window 177

Part 4 Let's Get It 191

12 Practice Being Kind to You, to Your Bank Account, To Strangers 193

13 Having Fun Is Underrated 203

14 You Are Exactly Where You Need to Be 213

Epilogue: Who Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up? 225

Acknowledgments 229

Resources 231

Notes and Background Reading 233

About the Author 239

Editorial Reviews

Oh, to have had this book when I was in my 20s! Katina is Saturday night, Sunday brunch, and Monday morning rolled up into one: that unicorn friend with whom you can party all night, share your deepest insecurities, and get down to the nitty-gritty on money and career. I hope that my mentees, younger cousins, and friends' Millennial kids have a Katina in their life; even if they do, I'm buying this book for them. In fact, I'm keeping a copy for myself, because the questions and exercises in On Adulting are ones that all of us should be exploring—no matter what our age and stage.”
—Christine Bader, author, The Evolution of a Corporate Idealist: When Girl Meets Oil

"With clarity and compassion, Katina Mountanos digs deep into the pressing issues that millennials are facing today. This book is an invitation to take a closer go beyond what’s holding us back in pursuit of sustainable growth."
—Morgan Harper Nichols, artist, poet, and author of All Along You Were Blooming: Thoughts For Boundless Living

"This book is refreshingly honest and I think goes straight to the heart of the anxiety and fear that many young people feel. Written with authenticity and wry sense of humor, it offers real, concrete tactics to help you face your fears and get past them. I've been an adult for 30 years, and it was still an enjoyable read."
—Celeste Headlee, journalist, TED speaker, and best-selling author of Do Nothing: How To Break Away From Overworking, Overdoing and Underliving

"Katina Mountanos offers a candid personal assessment of the structural roadblocks of modern life through her personal lens.  On Adulting is a roadmap and an invitation to take off the training wheels and get off the hamster wheel of life that imprisons so many miserably 'successful' people."
—Craig Hatkoff, Co-founder: Tribeca Film Festival; Co-founder: Disruptor Foundation; New York Times bestselling children's book author
"Reading Katina's wise and wonderful book, On Adulting, is like having a best friend who is a little older, a little wiser, and knows exactly how to help you thrive."

—Dan Tomasulo, Author of Learned Hopefulness:  The Power of Positivity to Overcome Depression; Academic Director & Core Faculty Member Spirituality Mind Body Institute Teachers College, Columbia University

 

From the Publisher