RadReads n°149
This Week: 44 tools for full-stack free agents, compounding mindfulness, Mikaela Shiffrin
Good Morning, RadReaders 💚
The holidays are arriving (thanks to all who came to the NYC holiday party) and we’ve got a great issue today, featuring two guest blurbers.
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The Tiny, Compounding Adjustments of Mindfulness (Holly Rogers)
Rad Awakenings | 62 Mins | iTunes | Google Play | Stitcher
Today’s episode should be called mindfulness for hyper-driven skeptics with no time. Holly Rogers is a psychiatrist at the student counseling center at Duke University and the co-founder of the center for Koru Mindfulness. Holly breaks down (with scientific evidence) the benefits of mindfulness, such as improving cardiovascular health, building a tolerance for discomfort, and my personal favorite: noticing tiny pain points with clarity and making adjustments that compound over time. We also discuss the “lowest effective dose” (10 minutes for 4 weeks), why today’s college students are so anxious, and why the mid-life crises are hitting folks earlier in life.
Cities and Ambition
13 mins | Paul Graham
Paul Graham puts a finger on something we’ve always suspected, which is that each of the major cities of the world has a personality, and their ambitions irresistibly shape those of their denizens. Plenty of “aha!” moments in this short essay. (blurb’d by Rishi Ganti)
The Rise of the Full-Stack Freelancer (Part II)
9 mins | Praxis
A major component of the unbundled career is the breadth of creation and collaboration tools that can massively scale one’s work. Longtime RadReader (and podcast guest) @fortelabs shares his 44 tools (which cost him $381/month). They range from web highlighters to teaching platforms and don’t just apply to free-agents; a huge subset of these tools can jumpstart any career.
“Don’t Worry About It and You’ll Be Great Said Nobody Ever”
13 Minutes | Outside
I’ll admit, I didn’t know who Mikaela Shiffrin was until I read this — but she’s on the path to Jordan, Serena, Lebron, and Phelps status on the ski slopes. This profile of the 22 year old is a story of parental dedication, sacrifice, the pursuit of excellence, competition, and, yes, napping.
Jim and Andy: The Great Beyond
94 mins (Movie) | Netflix
On the surface, this is a behind-the-scenes documentary based upon Jim Carrey’s approach to playing Andy Kaufman (in 2004’s Man on the Moon). He takes method-acting to the extreme and literally becomes Andy Kaufman 24/7. But Jim Carrey goes deeper, openly grappling with his identity, his various masks (pun intended), the meaning of life, fame, and his relationship with money. Carrey is also the purveyor of a RadReader favorite: “I wish everyone could experience being rich and famous, so they’d see it wasn’t the answer to anything.” (Blurb’d by @canthardywait)
Below the Fold
LONG READS
🌎 The fatal flaw of neoliberalism: it’s bad economics (20 mins, The Guardian): Neoliberalism is a slippery, shifting concept yet forms the basis of all flavors of policy (while sharing the blame for the world’s growing inequality).
🖥 First Round State of Startups 2017 (14 Min, First Round): On harassment, ICOs, hiring challenges, a shift in power (towards investors) and … character.
ICYMI
💬 RadJobs: Join our Rad Team (as part time copywriter!). Find other opportunities this week from Flipboard, Balderton Capital, and Limekiln Real Estate Advisors. If you’re looking to have your dream job delivered directly to your 📲, sign up here!
🌞 A 4-Week Koru Mindfulness course: RadReader Maria Lambert is teaching a 4-week, at a highly discounted rate for our NYC community. (Affiliate)
LAST WEEK’S MOST READ
🏺 Death: The double-edged source of motivation (4 mins): “Secularists are ill-equipped to confront their own mortality.”
🤑 Money makes you more of what you already are (Podcast): RadReader Ted Seides reflects on greed, envy, ego, and change in the hedge fund industry.
