End of 2019
I initially wanted to end my year by writing a few posts since I've learned and done a lot in 2019, and it is definitely the most productive year of my life. I will instead condense it into two posts, and I will throw out my 2019 accomplishments post because the people who I want to share those with have been aware/informed anyways. The two posts I'll condense are one of words I've thought about a lot this year, and the other being my favorite media-related things from the year.
Happy new year in advance and I hope your 2020 is awesome!!
Words
1) Onlyness
- The idea that we should pursue in life what it is that only we can offer to the world.
2) Trust
3) Values
4) Commitments
- Thinking about where you focus your mental and physical energy.
5) Incrementalism
- Can be both good and bad. Bad in an example like bureaucracy, where things can be so entrenched that it's harder to change. Good in that making slow progress in your personal life by doing a little each day is better than shooting for the moon and failing.
6) Range
- You need range to navigate difficult times, and our future depends on us having range.
7) Unlearning
8) Payoff
- What exactly are you working towards? You need an endpoint to feel good about.
9) Intent
10) Uncertainty
- I think I'm good at leading people and being assertive during times of uncertainty and high stress. I kind of thrive in that from living with anxiety.
11) Communication
12) Build/momentum
- If you build a strong foundation and work a little bit each day, you'll be in a much better position to deliver an impressive result when you go to pull an all nighter and are freaking out in the days leading up to a deadline.
13) Experience
- How long you have been in one place or position doesn't mean shit.
14) Impressions
- No matter how much I've fought this, first impressions do matter in how people perceive anything. Whether it's you personally, or things like propaganda. It takes a long time before someone sees your actions to truly understand who you are.
15) Crisis
Media
- There's too much to love with this piece, and I need to read the Epstein book. The main takeaway is how most of our lives are wicked environments which reward range, and we generally should learn as much as we can to be as adaptive as possible.
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Do you find it scary to live into your onlyness? It’s okay to name it; It’s okay to start on journey to find where you belong. And while it’s 100% normal to worry we’ll never find that place, that maybe it doesn’t exist, have faith it is there. You will find it when you walk away from people who don’t get you, and towards those who do.
Khruangbin with Trey Anastasio - Evan Finds the Third Room
- Khruangbin is I think the most universally loved band right now. Anyone who's heard them only has good things to say. They're just so wonderful. Trey sitting in with them for a set was all sorts of epic, and Evan Finds the Third Room immediately became my favorite song.
2006 Self Made Man: Norah Vincent chooses Female Privilege over Male Privilege
- Interesting video about a lesbian feminist woman living as a man for over a year. She concludes that it's much easier to live as a woman than as a man.
Statement from Medill Dean Charles Whitaker
- When I think of what I want to be if I'm ever in a leadership position, this statement embodies all of that. I hope I can grow up to be Dean Whitaker.
- Interesting post that changed my perspective a little. Most women will disagree about the role they play in love, and that's a larger conversation about love languages and how different people receive love. Though as a guy, I related to playing an active role in love. My takeaway was related to my exercise in thinking about my values, and that I need to be a bit more assertive and communicate better what those values are to my partner.
Could Chasing Happiness Actually Be Making Me Unhappy?
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Eleanor Roosevelt said it best: “Happiness is not a goal, it is a by-product.”
What makes a good life? Lessons from the longest study on happiness
- I don't remember what this was about, but I remember enjoying it enough to bookmark it.
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Our moral structures have been based on individualism emphasizing self-fulfillment, self-actualization and “fixing yourself”. What we would really need is a relational mindset emphasizing interdependence and connectivity
13 Life-Learnings from 13 Years of Brain Pickings
- Maria Popova is always great.
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If you don’t like change, you’re gonna like irrelevancy even less.
(Why Millennials are) America’s First Poor Generation
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America is the world’s first poor rich country. And millennials are the first generation of new poor in it, the first full generation to experience the terrible, swift, shocking decline from prosperity to precarity. Young people without opportunities, chances, savings, incomes, safety nets, relationships, a future, the dream. They don’t know it perhaps, and no one seems to talk about — but they are learning what it means to live in poverty. And in that way, they are teaching the world, too, about what it really means to be a failed society.
Smart Cities: Civic Evolution Or Tech Dystopia?
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Kurtzman agrees. “Smart cities are not just about the public right of way, infrastructure and the built environment, it’s also about being smart as a city, as a city hall, and making things easier and faster for city staff to receive efficiencies in how we operate,” he said. “A lot of these projects are empowering folks across the city to be more civically involved and engaged, and give them the tools and resources they need to participate and thrive within the systems that we’ve created in the city.”
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This is what will get you out of your depression. Not remembering that you are special, but remembering that you are the same as everyone else. You cannot comprehend this now, at 17 years old, but I promise you that real courage is showing weakness and not being ashamed. You deserve the gift of life, Gigi. Just as everyone does. Remember this. Things are connected in ways that you are too young and naive to see now. My only regret is that you did not open your mind to the world sooner. Perhaps this is just who you are. At 41 years old, you will still feel this burning inside. You will still not be satisfied, I am sorry to say. Even holding the World Cup trophy in your arms will not soothe this feeling. Until you have a season where you don’t let in any goals, you will not be content.
These are the skills to learn for the future of work, according to the World Economic Forum
- A 2022 Skills Outlook from the World Economic Forum with the 10 growing skills and 10 declining skills listed.
What the “Best Companies to Work For” Do Differently
- In order: put people first, help workers find and pursue their passions, bring people together on a personal level, empower people to own their work, and create a space where people can be themselves.
How To Challenge The Status Quo In Traditional Leadership Behaviors
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Challenging traditional leadership behaviors is incredibly important to create an industry which embraces diversity and fosters environments of inclusion. If we do not openly and rigorously challenge the way things are or have been, it’s highly unlikely we will move to an industry which truly does value everyone—which is not just a business priority, but very much a priority for wider society.