🔥 The Fireside #9

👨🏻‍💼 On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs

Have you ever secretly thought your job is meaningless and contributes nothing to the world? In this article David Graeber argues that we all could be working 15 hour work weeks, but we’ve invented tons of bullshit jobs and bullshit work to fill the space, much of which would have a negligible impact on our lives if they disappeared tomorrow. Podcast available here.

🙊 1 simple rule to figure out which advice you should follow

From yours truly: We like advice we can understand and stories or examples are an easy way to explain something. However, we must be conscious of anecdotal arguments because this way of thinking carries dangerous consequences by disguising bad advice as wisdom.

🤬 Kathryn Schulz: On being wrong | TED Talk

The first thing we usually do when someone disagrees with us is that we just assume they are ignorant. When it turns out those people have all the same information and they still don’t agree with us, we think they’re idiots. And when that doesn’t work, we think they are evil and deliberately distorting reality for their own malevolent purposes.

💡 The Trajectory of Great Ideas

Speaking of being wrong, only people who dare to be wrong can believe in big ideas and achieve amazing results. Unfortunately, this character trait also makes these people blind to new ideas that they can’t comprehend.

💎 30 things I've learned in 30 years

A month ago I turned 30 and since nobody asked for it I decided to write a blog about what I’ve learned in my life (spoiler alert: it’s not much). I’m not sure why people have existential crisis when they turn 30 and feel the urge of sharing life lessons with the world. Lucky for you, I am no exception.

Other things from the interweb

(That may or may not make you look smart at dinner parties)

😴 How to Fall Asleep in 120 Seconds

A scientific method developed by the U.S. Navy Pre-Flight School to fall asleep under any conditions, even after drinking coffee, with machine gunfire being played in the background.

💪 Fight Through the Suck

Have you ever experienced feeling like you’re getting worse as you improve some area of what you’re already good at? (eg: getting worse at workouts the more you go to the gym). Justin Mares explains why that could be and how to overcome it.

💰 Forbes 400 Churn Rate

You might think super rich are an elite group, always at the top, when in fact the Forbes 400 list of billionaires has 60% turnover per decade!