The Drop №. 101 with Chase Hobby

VRB’s weekly list of things to read, watch, listen to, and try that have helped us live better and be better. Brought to you this week by Chase Hobby.

Breaking Free of the Cult of Productivity

 Listen to this Harvard Business Review podcast titled “Breaking Free of the Cult of Productivity.” Madeleine Dore, an author and podcast host, offers a cure for “productivity guilt.” That’s the cycle of dejection she says many of us suffer from when we never reach the end of our lengthy to-do lists (even with modern technology to make us more efficient). Instead of trying to optimize our time, she suggests ways we can step back, listen to ourselves, and plan our days around delight. Sign me up for that.

Commitment over browsing

Watch this Harvard College commencement speech. The speaker argues that people who are always browsing for something better often miss out on committing to something worthwhile. If that sounds a lot like you (…guilty), this is an argument you need to hear.

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You Should Stop Caring What Other People Think

Read Why you should stop caring about what other people think. Almost nothing we're socially scared of is actually scary and nobody knows your intentions and goals as you do. What's more, nobody...really nobody is paying attention to you. Live your life and don’t worry about what others think.

Economics 101

 Try reading one chapter a week of the open-source textbook, “Economy, Society, and Public Policy,” published by the nonprofit CORE Econ. This textbook is not only free, but it offers real-world applications that students find more useful than what’s typically discussed in traditional textbooks. Rather than focus on dry, technical subjects like gross domestic product or deficit spending, the textbook is centered on vital, larger problems of human welfare, including inequality, climate change, automation and the future of work, to name a few. The textbook uses empirical data, not just theoretical models, and it doesn’t spend a ton of time focusing on topics that are likely to be confusing or irrelevant to everyday life.