William Deresiewicz (The Atlantic) - The Death of the Artist and the birth of the Creative Entrepreneur
Very interesting read about the changing role of an artist these the past centuries. From the low-class artisan to the artist as a solitary genius. And what are the implications of the current form of creative and diversified entrepreneurs? Where 10,000 contacts are more important than the 10,000 hours. Where it is every man for himself and art becomes a commodity. Becomes entertainment.
Dan Pallotta (TED) - The way we think about charity is dead wrong
NGOs have to play by different rules than companies. NGO’s have to be very conservative in areas like compensation, marketing, taking risks, the time pressure and profits. The nature of working with donations causes some of it. But when we see that it cripples these organizations that do good work. Why do we continue with this story? Dan Pallotta delivers a great and clean talk to address this.
Otto Scharmer - As systems collapse, citizens rise
A great articulation on the reaction of a system (regression or muddling through) to a crisis and the alternative response from the citizens (empathic-human response)
Mark Boyle - Living without money: what I learned
"I discovered that my security no longer lay in my bank account, but in the strength of my relationships with the people, plants and animals around me.”
Paul Jarvis - There’s no such thing as a big break
"What appears to be a big break for other people is really just the result of not knowing the backstory."
Brainpicking - An Antidote to the Age of Anxiety: Alan Watts on Happiness and How to Live with Presence
"To be secure means to isolate and fortify the “I,” but it is just the feeling of being an isolated “I” which makes me feel lonely and afraid. In other words, the more security I can get, the more I shall want.”
Sara Goldstein - 30 questions to ask your kid instead of “How was your day"
Ah! My favorite hobby. Questions :). "How was your day”. Eeeh “fine” is about as far as you can get. It’s not a very powerful starter. It lacks context. Great alternatives in here. Like "What was the nicest thing you did for someone else?” Or of course: "Which one of your teachers would survive a zombie apocalypse? Why?” And the best part, this must work for grown-ups as well!
Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic (HBR) - Why do so many incompetent men become leaders?
This article tries to explain why we have so many more men in management than women. It goes about it differently than the usual they’re incapable, they’re uninterested or glass ceiling reasons often given. And that is most welcome! It looks at the way we choose leaders. Turns out, the criteria that make candidates look good are exactly the ones that make bad leaders. We just seem to like self-centeredness, overconfidence and narcissism. And these ‘qualities’ are not equally present in men and women.
Veronique Greenwood (Wired) - How the body’s trillions of clocks keep time
A bit technical, but so cool. Almost all your cells have clock mechanism in it. No Swiss radars of course. But proteins that regulate the behavior of the cell over the day. A biochemical horn blows from parts of the brain that react to light and darkness. A few proteins get together in the cell’s nucleus. They lead thousands of genes to transcribe to proteins. That wakes up the cell. And makes you feel hungry. Or open your eyes.
Margaret Atwood (for Matter) - It’s not climate change, it’s everything change
The second THE article of the year about climate change. It dives into the two extreme pictures on how our transition to new energy resources can go. And goes into how it will go down depending on where we are in transitioning. About how the conversation has shifted the last few years. But what struck me most is that this transition is about the human psyche. How when you just think about it as climate change, you miss the psychological change that is needed for this transition. How our values and the way we view ourselves are dependent on how we create energy. From "I am what I make", to "I am what I buy”, to “I am what I save and protect”.
Tim Ferriss Show - Brené Brown on Vulnerability and Home Run TED Talks
A great first dive into that balance between acceptance and improvement can be heard in the conversation between Brené Brown and Tim Ferriss. A great episode throughout. About her Ted talks, vulnerability and shame. But from minute 31 it really gets into that balance. How do you keep your drive to compete when you accept that you are enough? Her point is that you need to be centered in acceptance in order to have a healthy competitiveness. It unleashes her to strive for excellence. Not acting from that center results in a need for validation. And I couldn’t agree more.
Jon Westerberg - 10 Hard Truths About Making Things
Jon writes a lot of nice posts. But I decided to share this one. He shares 10 things about being a creator that are hard lessons to learn. So read this and be on the lookout! The 9th one spoke the loudest to me: Talent won’t mean anything if you don’t finish anything. “Nothing has to be perfect, just put it our there”. The funny thing is, the next point is to "make each creation count". I think that navigating that fine line between acceptance of the imperfection and striving for improvement is going to end up being another blog post soon.
Robyn Scott - The 30 second habit with a lifelong impact
Productivity hacks are all around on the internet. But just reading about them doesn’t make you more productive. So I’m going to experiment with a few. In these two articles there are 4 tips for productivity:
The 20/20/20 formula - Start your morning with 20 minute blocks of exercise, prioritizing and learning.
The 90/90/1 rule - For 90 days, spend the first 90 minutes of your day on your number 1 priority
The 60/10 method - Work in 60 minute sprints and relax for 10. You can use Pomodoro for that.
The 30 second habit - Take 30 seconds after every meeting to write down the most important points for retention.
Robin Sharma - The Methods for SuperHuman Productivity
Productivity hacks are all around on the internet. But just reading about them doesn’t make you more productive. So I’m going to experiment with a few. In these two articles there are 4 tips for productivity:
The 20/20/20 formula - Start your morning with 20 minute blocks of exercise, prioritizing and learning.
The 90/90/1 rule - For 90 days, spend the first 90 minutes of your day on your number 1 priority
The 60/10 method - Work in 60 minute sprints and relax for 10. You can use Pomodoro for that.
The 30 second habit - Take 30 seconds after every meeting to write down the most important points for retention.
The New Yorker - Why Startups Love Moleskines
Yes for offline and first-order-access!! In times of "disruption-worshipping techno-utopianism coming out of Silicon Valley” Moleskine just doubled sales in the last 4-5 years. Revenge of the analog!