Life

Bennett Notes

People Who Are Obsessed With Success and Prestige

What does it look like to be obsessed with success and prestige? It probably looks a lot like me at the moment. A guy who …

Derek Sivers

Time is personal. Your year changes when your life changes.

A new day begins when I wake up, not at midnight. Midnight means nothing to me. It’s not a turning point. Nothing …

Jeremy Maluf

Indefinite Backpack Travel

In 2015 I got rid of everything I owned that didn’t fit in a laptop backpack, and I’ve been living at this level of …

Cornell Chronicle

A lifetime of social ties adds up to healthy aging

The cumulative effect of social advantages across a lifetime – from parental warmth in childhood to friendship, community …

Newsweek

Americans Are Using PTO to Sleep, Not for Vacation—Report

A large number of Americans are using PTO to sleep rather than take a vacation, according to a new report.

An Amerisleep.com …

Noema Magazine

The Last Days Of Social Media

Social media promised connection, but it has delivered exhaustion.

Locally Optimal

Social anxiety isn't about being liked

There’s this popular idea that socially anxious folks are just dying to be liked. It seems logical, right? Why else …

Nathan Brown

What would you do with 52 hours a week of discretionary time?

I’m not a huge hustler. I’m not necessarily advocating that you spend your 52 hours/week building a startup or …

NBC News

Priced out of traditional housing, more Americans are living in RVs

Moving into an RV may seem like a way to save money, but it can come with unexpected costs and trap families in a cycle of …

Behavioral Scientist

Why We Spiral

You’re 12 minutes late to the weekly staff Zoom. Once you’ve “joined audio,” the first thing you hear is the boss’s voice. …

Harvard Business Review

You Need to Be Bored. Here’s Why.

You need to be bored. You will have less meaning and you will be more depressed if you never are bored. I mean, it couldn’t …

The Guardian

Don’t like joining in? Why it could be your superpower

Some people spend their lives feeling out of place in groups – but this tendency comes with unique opportunities.

The Wall Street Journal

Nobody’s Buying Homes, Nobody’s Switching Jobs—and America’s Mobility Is Stalling

The paralysis has left many people in houses that are too small, in jobs they don’t love or shackled with ‘golden handcuffs.’ …

The Wall Street Journal

Adults Are Going to Sleep-away Camp to Make Friends. It Seems to Actually Work.

Overnight camps are increasingly catering to solo travelers who are looking for in person connection

The New Yorker

A.I. Is About to Solve Loneliness. That’s a Problem

The discomfort of loneliness shapes us in ways we don’t recognize—and we may not like what we become without it.

Experimental History

Face it: you're a crazy person

When people have a hard time figuring out what to do with their lives, it’s often because they haven’t unpacked.

Useful Fictions

How to increase your surface area for luck

One distinguishing feature I’ve noticed among people who are unusually successful is that they just try a lot of stuff — …

learning-loving & meaning-making

Being too ambitious is a clever form of self-sabotage

There is a moment, just before creation begins, when the work exists in its most perfect form in your imagination. It lives …

The Guardian

The life swap dream – or a marketing gimmick? The Italian towns selling houses for €1

Frustrated with my life back in the US, I was captivated by the idea of a new home – and new life – for less than the price …

The New York Times

When Humans Learned to Live Everywhere

About 70,000 years ago in Africa, humans expanded into more extreme environments, a new study finds, setting the stage for …

Clearer Thinking

Believing you only have one option is dangerous

Often when we only see one option, there really are others that we’re not considering. So, read on to find out some of …

The Guardian

Almost half of young people would prefer a world without internet, UK study finds

Half of 16- to 21-year-olds support ‘digital curfew’ and nearly 70% feel worse after using social media.

Harvard Kennedy School

The Friendship Recession: The Lost Art of Connecting

According to the American Perspectives Survey, the percentage of U.S. adults who report having no close friends has …

Simon Späti

Finding Flow: Escaping Digital Distractions Through Deep Work and Slow Living

A personal guide to reclaiming focus in the age of endless temptation.

Harimus blog

Kakizome, Japanese way of new-years resolution

Instead of “I’m going to read one book at least, per week” you can do “It’s the year of reading”. Instead of X days per week …

Architectural Digest

Should More of Us Be Moving to Live Near Friends?

For these six people, the realest consideration in real estate acquisition was the friends they made along the way.

Harvard Business Review

Will You Make Good on Your New Year’s Resolution?

We all tend to make resolutions that are aspirational—and thus quickly abandoned. And when societal systems are failing—in …

The Times

Why conversations are better with four people

Three might be a crowd but four appears to be the magic number when it comes to conversation. And, according to an academic …

CNN

Tokyo government gives workers 4-day workweek to boost fertility, family time

The Japanese capital is set to introduce a four-day workweek for government employees, in its latest push to help working …