Reading & Thoughts from March

Mar 27, 2019

erik's newsletter

Issue #6 // March 27, 2019
Read in Browser

“I can’t give you a sure-fire formula for success, but I can give you a formula for failure: try to please everybody all the time.” - Herbert Bayard Swope

#READING

Workism Is Making Americans Miserable (9 min read)
//theatlantic
I am at fault of being a workaholic at times, there is always more to do, and I love to be “busy” (more on this later…)—but it isn’t healthy. Whenever I meet someone new, somehow work always gets brought into the conversation within the first 5 minutes. We associate our identity tied to a job, “I do 123 for XYZ company”. It’s boring, but I know you’re not boring, you’re just protecting yourself by sticking with something “comfortable.”

Here’s a homework assignment. Next time you meet someone new, see how long you can go without bringing up what you do. I bet it will lead to a better conversation.

The power of doing nothing at all (7 min read)
//medium
I get a lot more done when I am doing “nothing” than when I am doing “something.” Thinking, ideating, planning tend to fall under the “nothing” bucket, while meetings and operational work fall under the “something” bucket. OK, back to the word, “busy”—I have grown to hate this word a little bit. Busy is now just another word for being in the “something” bucket. We throw this word around whenever someone asks us how its going. It doesn’t really mean anything and has become a filler word.

What is your nothing:something ratio?

How to Get Startup Ideas (15 min read)
//paulgraham
We are natural problem solvers, and we want to come up with a sexy new idea. But where’s the problem? Is there a pain point? What could be easier for you?

This cartoon explains how the rich got rich and the poor got poor (8 min read)
//vox
Would our economy be better if the wealth was distributed better among people? It could possibly lead to more spending rather than hoarding. It could lead to entrepreneurship, small businesses, local businesses. It could take people out of the jobs that they are forced into to provide for their family, maybe instead they could pursue their passion rather than doing something they hate.

How to Be Thankful For Your Life by Changing Just One Word (2 min read)
//jamesclear
How many times do you think to yourself, “ugh, I have to do ABC”—I would guess all of the time. You don’t have to read this article. You get to. Change your state of mind, you’ll be a lot happier. I know I was.

#PODCASTS

Cat Scam (23 min)
//planetmoney
I used to do a lot of dropshipping in the early days (>10 years ago), and now it is incredibly saturated. They touch on a really interesting thought in this podcast: middlemen. Our entire economy is based on middlemen (think: Airbnb, Uber, probably everything you use) and we drive money to this sector out of pure laziness. So is it really a scam if humans are driving that behavior? And the better question is: what are other ways we can take advantage of this?

#RANDOM

Infographic: It's never too late to become independent
//linkedin

Wage Stagnation: Much More Than You Wanted To Know (Mostly Graphs)
//slatestarcodex

Got forwarded this from a friend?
Subscribe to this list here

Want to forward this to a friend?
You can do that here!

Hate this (feel free to unsubscribe) or love it? What reading was your favorite? What do you want more or less of? Other suggestions? Let me know! Just reply back to this email.

And as always, send your favorite readings my way!

Erik’s Newsletter

Discussion about this post