Good morning -
Greetings from the Bahamas, where we’re having our first kids-centric vacation and where I got to meet Shane Parrish!
Looking for a coach? Check out our new curated list of Rad Coaches. And don’t miss our free webinar on How to Start Blogging on March 9th.
You are what you repeatedly do
1 hour | Rad Awakenings | iTunes | Google Play
My happy place is interviewing a high energy meditator who curses like a sailor. Jeff Warren is a meditation teacher and the co-author of Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics with Dan Harris. The two of us bounce of the walls in this fun conversation. We talk a lot about mental health and how, yet’s its possible for a longtime meditator to really struggle from ADD. We talk stories, à la Sapiens with real examples about how stories can shape our realities. And Jeff answers the long time RadReader pushback about why one should welcome inquiring into your fears, with one of the best meditation metaphors ever.
The Tyranny of Convenience
7 mins | The New York Times
Convenience is a good thing, n’est-ce pas? After all, our lives are unquestionably getting more convenient — but with it can come conformity. Is there a benefit to having to strive and suffer to get certain things? Tim Wu, a total polymath (listen here) argues that convenience is “all destination, no journey” (see last week’s postscript) and “threatens to erase the sort of struggles and challenges that help give meaning to life.”
If You’re So Successful Why Are You Still Working 70 Hours a Week?
6 mins | Harvard Business Review
Did you know that firms explicitly target and recruit “insecure overachievers?” (my life all of a sudden makes a lot more sense 😜). This bunch is driven “by a profound sense of their inadequacy, typically stemming from childhood.” (Ahem, cuddle puddles!) Paradoxically, they don’t blame their employers, because impostor syndrome kicks in, and somehow everyone around you appears to be coping better than you are. This post is brutally incisive.
Why We Forget Most of the Books We Read
9 Minutes | The Atlantic
There’s a distinction between reading for knowledge and for information. Thanks to digitization, “recall memory” (the kind one uses to crush Trivia night) is no longer important. Yet, we continue to binge on information, be it Netflix series or even the written word, with very little of chance of the information actually “sticking” — and becoming knowledge.
What is the mindful response to a school shooting?
4 mins | Kottke
Like everyone else, I’m sickened and saddened the Parkland shooting (and maybe there’s a glimmer of hope that social media helps effectuate some sort of change). This article is about mindfulness, from Robert Wright’s newsletter about resistance. Oftentimes people confuse mindfulness with acceptance or resignation. This couldn’t be further from the truth — it’s the practice of cultivating a “clear, alert, acutely aware mind.” I found this article highly practical in response to both mass shootings and the clarity required in activism. (I’ve also written about Wright’s book Why Buddhism is True.)
Below the Fold
ICYMI
🎙 Abby Raphel founder of the Redwoods Initiative on knowing your shadow: Abby’s circuitous journey to educating the uber-wealthy about, well, wealth.
🖥 The cost of being the best (4 mins, The Mission): Last week’s postscript on winning 5 or 1 Super Bowls. No, this isn’t a takedown of excellence.
💼 RadJobs: If you haven’t polished up your resume this year, now’s the time. Roles at Trax, Waymo, X (Google), Luke’s Lobster, and a sweet family office gig at Raga Partners. If you’re looking to have your dream job delivered directly to your 📤, sign up here!
LAST WEEK’S MOST READ
💔 The Marriage Decision: Everything Forever or Nothing Ever Again (27 mins, Wait But Why): What’s the best heuristic to use for the biggest decision of your life?
