Kat scanned her key card to unlock the door and stepped into the office building. Her heels clicked against the polished marble floor of the foyer, the sound echoing through the empty corridors as she made her way toward her office. The sun had barely risen by the time she arrived at her desk, ready to start her day. Over the past eleven months, this routine had become second nature—arrive before anyone else, dive into the day’s tasks, and keep going until she was the last one in the building.

As Kat sat down at her desk, she spotted a handwritten note resting atop her keyboard. She picked it up, scanning its contents. Mitch, the owner of the marketing firm, asked her to pop by his office when she had a spare moment. She scrunched her brow. What could this be about? She always tried to give her best effort at work. Even so, a part of her was always worried that she wasn't proving herself, that she wasn't doing enough.

Doing her best to shake off the negative thoughts, she logged into her computer and opened her calendar. The entire day was booked, a typical occurrence for Kat. Knowing Mitch would be upset if she couldn’t make time for him, she moved her 11:30 vendor call to her lunch break. This allowed her to shift a few other activities so she could be in his office by 10:00. With a calendar invite sent and rescheduling complete, she dove into the first tasks of her day.

At exactly 10:00, Kat rose from her desk, grabbed her notepad and pen, took a deep breath, and marched down the hall to Mitch’s office. She arrived at his door to find it open, with Mitch busily typing away on his computer. When he didn’t notice her right away, Kat reached out and gave a gentle knock on his door frame.

“Oh, Kat!” Mitch smiled, looking up and spotting the woman standing in his doorway. “Just the person I wanted to see. Come on in, and close that door behind you.”

“Of course, Mr. Conner,” Kat replied, stepping inside and closing the door. “What can I do for you today, sir?”

Mitch chuckled. “Well, for starters, you can sit down and get comfortable. Once you’ve done that, you can drop all that formality nonsense. I’ve told you before, it’s just Mitch. No need for ‘Mr. Conner’ or 'sir’ or anything like that. Capice?”

“Yes, sir. Er, Mitch,” Kat said, blushing slightly as she took a seat across from the man and readied her notepad. “So, what did you want to see me about?”

“No, no, no. You won’t need that,” Mitch said, gesturing for her to put down her notepad. “This is just a friendly little chat.” He waited for her to set the notepad on the desk, then continued. “That’s better. Now, Kat, I’ll be blunt. I asked you to come in today to discuss your performance. I’ve seen how you work, and frankly, I have some concerns.”

Kat gulped hard as she sank down in her chair. “Sir, I’m so sorry if I’m not living up to your expectations. If there’s something more I can do in any—”

“Hold on, hold on,” he said, cutting her off. “I want to be really clear on this. Not living up to my expectations isn’t the problem. Not in the least. If anything, you’ve vastly exceeded my expectations, and then some. You’re fresh out of college, not even a full year out, and you already outperform every last person in this office. Most kids your age can’t resist checking their cell phone every five minutes. In striking contrast, you’re like some kind of machine that never stops working.

“The real problem, as I see it, is that you’re on an unsustainable path. I can respect a good hustle; that’s what got me where I am today. But what you’re doing is next-level madness. You’re here hours before anyone else every day. You stay late nearly every day of the week. You almost never socialize with anyone in the office; everything you do is business. You’ve been here almost two years between your college internship and taking my job offer, and nobody has a clue about who you are outside these walls. You might be able to do this crazy nonstop routine now because you’re young, but give it a little time and you’re going to find yourself imploding.

“Here’s the thing. Next month, when Bill retires, we’re going to need a new creative director. Although you may be new and young, I believe you have a lot of potential for that position. I won’t go into all the details, but you’re very high on my list of potential candidates. I would personally love to see you step into that role. That being said, there’s no way on Earth I could give that sort of responsibility to a workaholic who is racing toward burnout and incinerating in a ball of flames. Does that make sense?”

Kat was dumbfounded, not only at the revelation that she was being considered for Bill’s position but also at the news that Mitch thought her to be a workaholic. Kat genuinely enjoyed her job; in her mind she was just trying to prove herself worthy of the role by working hard and spending extra hours in the office.

“I, um, yes, yes, it makes sense,” she stuttered after a slight pause. “It’s just a lot to take in, and I’m not sure I know where I should start.”

Mitch smiled warmly. “Here’s my suggestion. It’s Friday. Anything left to do can wait until Monday. Clear your calendar for the rest of the day. Spend a little bit of that time reflecting on what you can do to establish a healthier balance in your life. When that’s done, take the rest of the day off with pay, go home, and enjoy a long weekend. Capice?”

“Um, yeah, for sure. Capice.” Kat replied.

Mitch chatted with her a few minutes longer before sending her back to her office. After saying their goodbyes, Kat plodded down the corridor, almost in a daze. Mitch was as close to a father figure in the company as she could ask for. He had been instrumental in helping her navigate her internship in college. When she was hired, Mitch was always approachable, even though Bill was technically her immediate supervisor. He was always straight with her, so she took his words seriously.

“Hey, girl! Get in here!” came a familiar voice from the cubicle she was passing. Stopping in her tracks, she turned to see Janelle at her desk, a bright smile on her face as she waved Kat inside. Smiling back, she stepped into the woman’s workspace. The two girls had been in the same graduating class at college, and they were the only interns that Mitch kept on after graduation. As a result, Janelle was the closest thing Kat had to an actual friend in the office.

“Hey, yourself,” Kat said, doing her best to smile. “What’s up?”

“Whoa,” Janelle joked in a shocked tone. “Did you just ask me what’s up without reminding me that you have fifty things on your agenda that you absolutely must get to ASAP? Are you sick or something?”

Kat let out a little chuckle. “Or something, I guess. I’m probably still in shock. I just had a pretty heavy meeting with Mitch.”

Janelle raised an eyebrow at her friend. “Hmm, a meeting with the big boss. Let me guess—he called you in there to tell you that you’re overworking yourself, you’re on a path to destruction, and you really need to loosen up a bit before you pop.”

Kat’s jaw hit the floor as she stared at her friend.

“Oh, come on,” Janelle continued. “Don’t act all surprised that I figured it out, girl. You've been flying around this place at ludicrous speed since the day we were hired. Mitch is not the only one who has noticed. Pretty much everyone around you sees it.”

“Really?”

“One hundred percent. I’ve actually wanted to say something for a while now. You gotta slow down, Kat. You’re trying to do too much all by yourself. You work crazy hours, you never stop, and sooner or later it’s gonna catch up to you. If not here, then at home. I can’t imagine that Skip enjoys eating dinner by himself every night while you’re here, working yourself to the bone. You’ve gotta unwind a little bit.”

Kat considered her friend’s words. “Yeah,” she began. “I mean, I hear you, but like I told Mitch, I don’t have any idea where to start. He basically told me to take the rest of the day off, but where do I go from there?”

Janelle’s eyes lit up. “I know just the thing,” she shared enthusiastically. “You need one of these!” She lifted her arm, pulled back her shirt sleeve, and revealed a sleek, modern smartwatch.

“Wait, a smartwatch?” Kat asked, slightly confused. “Are we still on the same topic?”

“Just hear me out,” she laughed. “This thing isn’t just a regular smartwatch. It’s called the Goalminder, and it’s incredible. I just got mine delivered yesterday, and I’m already in love with it. It has every feature any other smartwatch can offer, but the big deal is their goal-keeping app. Their website says it uses artificial intelligence and subliminal conditioning to help you achieve your goals. You could tell it to help you find a better routine at work and boom, problem solved!”

Kat chuckled at her excited friend. “Whoa. Easy, there, girl. I’m sure it’s a great watch, but that pitch sounds just like the marketing hype we’d write for one of our clients. I can’t believe you’d fall for it.”

“I thought it was just hype, too,” Janelle admitted, “but then I started using this thing. I’m serious, it really works. For example, I set a goal to get better at speaking my mind. I haven’t had this on my wrist for 24 hours, and I’ve already had three separate conversations that I normally wouldn’t start, including this one right now. Seriously, Kat, just let me send you the link. I think it’s worth looking into.”

“Okay, fine, send me the link,” Kat said. “I won’t promise anything, but I’ll look at it. Okay?”

“Yay!” Janelle squealed, wrapping her arms around her friend in a hug. “I think you’ll love it!”

Arriving back in her office, Kat took Mitch’s advice and set about rescheduling her appointments for the rest of the day. Shortly after finishing her rescheduling, Kat checked her email for the final time before logging out for the weekend. As she promised, there was a message from Janelle practically begging her friend to go to the linked site and order her own Goalminder.

Choosing to trust Janelle, Kat clicked on the link. She had to admit, whoever did their marketing was on point. The assertions they presented appeared implausible, yet they evidently recognized this, providing references to studies that bolstered their credibility. In spite of herself, Kat was intrigued. Could this watch really assist her in setting and achieving new goals?

After staring at the screen and debating for what felt like hours, Kat decided to throw caution to the wind and give the smartwatch a chance. After a few moments, she ordered it, and it was on its way, with free next-day shipping included. As she shut down her computer for the weekend, she couldn’t help but wonder if she’d just made a mistake. At the same time, however, she wanted to show Mitch that she could back off and have a little balance in her life while still being a terrific employee. If this watch could help her do that, it was worth the investment.

As promised, the smartwatch arrived at Kat’s home the following day. As she carried the package inside, she couldn’t help but feel relieved that her husband had decided to spend his Saturday out fishing. The night before, she mentioned to him that she ordered a new watch, but she decided not to go into detail about its supposed capabilities, just in case it really was too good to be true. With him out for the next several hours, she’d have time to explore its functions and get it all set up without too many questions.

She brought the package into her bedroom, opened it up, and removed the watch from its padding. Kat pressed the button on the side, and it sprung to life with a welcome screen. A moment later, a setup program began, walking her through the steps of syncing the watch to her phone and customizing a number of settings. “So far, so good,” she thought to herself as she continued following the prompts on the screen.

After completing the basic setup, a message appeared, indicating that it was now time to establish the objectives that the watch would assist her in achieving. Kat scrolled through the instructions, reading them closely. She could set up to three different goals. Once she had set her goals, the watch's AI software would scan her environment for opportunities to progress towards them. Subliminal conditioning and watch notifications would then motivate her to achieve her goals. The instructions ended with a button to set the first goal.

Kat hesitated for a moment. She still couldn’t quite believe that she was actually trying this. At the same time, she thought about the potential if it did work. This could help her be a better, more balanced employee at work. She could prove to Mitch that she had what it took to step into Bill’s role when he left the company.

Setting aside her hesitation, Kat ran and grabbed the notepad where she’d been working out a couple thoughts on how to improve her work-life balance. With her notes in hand, she tapped the button to add a goal. On top of her notes, she had written down that she should work on delegating tasks. On the tiny watch screen, she tapped out “delegate trivial tasks to other qualified coworkers when possible.”

Upon hitting the button to continue, the watch flashed an error saying that the goal exceeded the maximum character limit. Kat sighed. Apparently she’d have to be more succinct. Thinking for a moment, she replaced what she’d written with “delegate tasks.” This time, the watch accepted the goal and took her to a screen where she could enter a second goal or indicate that she was finished adding goals.

Kat looked over her notes as she considered how she wanted to express her second goal. She knew that she needed to lighten up around the office in order to be a little more carefree. Mitch mentioned that she could be so focused on her work that her coworkers barely knew her. Ideally, she would be able to let loose a little, unwind, and get to know her coworkers better. She tried writing it out a few different ways, but each time, the watch said she was exceeding the character limit. Finally, she decided to settle for “have some fun” as her second goal, which the smartwatch accepted.

After entering the second goal, Kat paused to consider an idea. What if she used the third goal to work on something in her personal life? While she and Skip were fairly happy as far as things went, she knew there were areas she could work on. Skip wasn’t one to complain, but he’d mentioned more than once that he’d like more intimacy in their relationship. Kat’s work-driven attitude often left her feeling worn out at the end of the day. As a result, sex was barely a once-a-week thing anymore. Even little things, like flirting or dressing sexy, had fallen by the wayside.

The more she thought about it, the more Kat realized this was something she needed to work on just as much as her work goals. After a few attempts, she was able to sum up her goal so it would fit into the limited number of characters. Clicking “continue,” a summary screen popped up, which Kat read through.

“Goals set!” It began. “Along with common smartwatch features such as sleep tracking and fitness monitoring, Goalminder’s AI will look for opportunities to help you delegate tasks, have some fun, and be more sexy. The AI will notify you of the goal to work on when it spots an opportunity. In addition, our patented subliminal conditioning will give you the motivation and desire needed to carry out your goal. This concludes your product setup. Enjoy your Goalminder smartwatch!”

Kat tapped the “continue” button at the bottom of the page, and the display switched to a stylish clock face. Kat let out a satisfied sigh, hopeful that the time spent setting up the smartwatch would pay off. She put it on her wrist, checked the time, and went about her typical Saturday afternoon activities.

For most of the day, the watch remained silent. Every now and then it would buzz on her wrist, letting her know about a notification on her phone, or it would give her an update from the health tracker. Other than that, it was unobtrusive, and the woman quickly became comfortable wearing the device.

The first time she received a goal alert, it came early in the evening. Skip called to let her know that he was done fishing and would be on his way home shortly. When she hung up from the call, she felt her wrist vibrate gently from the smartwatch. Kat’s eyes darted to the watch, and she read the notification. “Goal: Be more sexy” shone on the display.

As she read the words, Kat felt a sensation travel through her that she could only describe as a sense of extreme motivation. She should be more sexy. It was an absolute, inescapable truth. Slowly, an idea began forming around the statement, and a smile formed on the woman’s lips.

Around thirty minutes later, Skip opened the door to his home, discovering it completely dark and silent. At first he assumed that maybe Kat had gone off to run an errand, but then he realized his wife’s car was still in the driveway.

“Babe?”...