RadReads n°155
This week: DIY Podcasting, The business of wellness, happiness troughs, information scarcity [SUBSCRIBE]
Sup #RadFam! 💚
The weekend is here and I’m excited to share this issue with you. We cover many of the usual bases, turning passion into business, the unbundling of the career, and time scarcity.
Thank you to our two new Patrons: Kyrill 💥 and Matt ⚡️. Support the growth of the community for as little as 3 sips of a Juicepress juice 😂 by clicking here.
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From the trading floor to the yoga mat
Rad Awakenings | 64 Mins | iTunes | Google Play | Stitcher
There’s the cliche of leaving Wall Street to “follow your passion” to pursue, say, yoga. Or should you save some money and relegate that passion to “hobby status?” Lauren Imparato was an FX salesperson at Morgan Stanley before she left to start RETOX. We discuss the sunk cost fallacy of leaving a rocket ship (and high paying) career, the pendulum shift of hating on corporate jobs, and how to be entrepreneurial without being an entrepreneur. S/O to @nickturchyn for helping produce this episode.
Beware the lessons of growing up Galapagos
11 mins | Remains of the Day
I’m pretty obsessed with the implications of moving from digital information scarcity to abundance — the infinite amount of high quality content that is approaching a price of zero. How does this impact choice? Retention? Monetization? Learning? Here’s a very nuanced take on the impact to sports, the NFL and NBA in particular. Even if you’re not a sports fan, consider reading this piece, the implications extend to so many industries. And I need to follow @houseofhighlights on Instagram ASAP! The author @eugenewei is my favorite bloggers rn.
Disappointed and pessimistic: planning for life’s happiness trough
9 mins | Abnormal Returns | HT: @katebednarski
The U-Bend of happiness kills me. It basically states that our happiness troughs at age 18 for about 40 years, before restarting its upward trajectory in our late 50s. There are many “valid” reasons: unreal expectations, youthful idealism, the demands of parenting — but I think it’s rife with life lessons that are applicable to any age group. One of my favorites, rejecting the idea “that we can be Someone Who Matters to the World and instead embrace the idea that we must be Someone Who Matters to the Pack.” (Or my favorite, being a Tribe of 1.)
The Real Future of Work
16 Minutes | Politico Magazine | HT: @rishiganti
The future of work is often discussed in the context of the gig economy or the unbundling of the career. I did not realize the bigger issue in the re-alignment (or destruction?) of the employer-employee contract: the contingent workforce, which represents all net job growth in the past decade. How can policy be adjusted to support this shift? One idea: portable benefits.
DIY podcasting isn’t as cheap as you’d think
10 mins | Quartz at Work
Side projects are sexy and sensationalized by many (including yours truly). But behind the “shiny toy” narrative there’s a f*ckload of hard work, money, and the limits of distribution. I naively thought producing a podcast would be easy and in this article I break down the stunning math (30 episodes, $5k, 300 hours) for a project that by internet standards has zero reach (~2k downloads per episode). Yet it’s the work I’m most proud of. It’s an important reminder that side projects need to be pursued for the journey — and not the goal.
PSA
I’ve written a bunch about securing your digital accounts. Just this week, a prominent VC got hacked (experiencing it in real time) when someone impersonated him and walked into a T-Mobile store. Here’s how to begin protecting yourself.
Below the Fold
LONG READS
📹 Raising a Social-Media Star (10 mins, The Atlantic): A lens into a bizarre, lucrative, and (somewhat) terrifying world of the teenage YouTuber — from the parents’ perspective.
⚙ Beyond the Bitcoin Bubble (37 mins, The New York Times): An excellent primer on what gets lost in the crypto euphoria: the corrosive incentive structure of our current Internet. The writing is so also lucid and engaging.
FROM RAD.FAMILY
💑 Choosing rituals over habit formation in your relationships (2 mins): The dangers of letting your best relationships become “habitual.”
🎙 Thomas Page McBee (Podcast): Thomas explored the world of white collar boxing through the lens of a trans man.
💼 RadJobs: Another insane week where the jobs just keep coming. 💥 Roles this week include some unique openings at IVY, Adobe, StratiFi, Paladin, Adventur.es, and Luke’s Lobster. If you’re looking to have your dream job delivered directly to your 📲, sign up here!
LAST WEEK’S MOST READ
🗣 The Best Advice of the Year (3 mins, WSJ): Create a “f*ck it” list.
