An Essay by Einstein -- The World As I See It "How strange is the lot of us mortals! Each of us is here for a brief sojourn; for what purpose he knows not, though he sometimes thinks he senses it. But without deeper reflection one knows from daily life that one exists for other people -- first of all for those upon whose smiles and well-being our own happiness is wholly dependent, and then for the many, unknown to us, to whose destinies we are bound by the ties of sympathy. "I have never looked upon ease and happiness as ends in themselves -- this critical basis I call the ideal of a pigsty. "My passionate sense of social justice and social responsibility has always contrasted oddly with my pronounced lack of need for direct contact with other human beings and human communities. "My political ideal is democracy. "This topic brings me to that worst outcrop of herd life, the military system, which I abhor... "The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. See also Einstein's Third Paradise, an essay by Gerald Holton
Nine Things Successful People Do Differently - Heidi Grant Halvorson Learn more about the science of success with Heidi Grant Halvorson’s HBR Single, based on this blog post. Why have you been so successful in reaching some of your goals, but not others? If you aren’t sure, you are far from alone in your confusion. It turns out that even brilliant, highly accomplished people are pretty lousy when it comes to understanding why they succeed or fail. The intuitive answer — that you are born predisposed to certain talents and lacking in others — is really just one small piece of the puzzle. In fact, decades of research on achievement suggests that successful people reach their goals not simply because of who they are, but more often because of what they do. 1. To seize the moment, decide when and where you will take each action you want to take, in advance. 3. Fortunately, decades of research suggest that the belief in fixed ability is completely wrong — abilities of all kinds are profoundly malleable. 7. 8. 9.
Kensho The 10 Best Questions to Ask at a Job Interview Karen Burns You’re interviewing for a job. After 20 or 30 minutes, you’re asked: “Do you have any questions?” The worst thing you can do is ask, “What is it your company does?” (Hey, it has happened.) The next worst thing you can do is say, “Um, nope, I don’t have any questions.” [See 21 secrets to getting a job offer.] You need to ask some questions! Bottom line: Don’t make the interviewer do all the heavy lifting. [See 50 tips for surviving your worst work day.] So what should you ask? 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. [See more career advice at the U.S.News Careers site.] 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. P.S.
Five Manifestos for the Creative Life by Kirstin Butler How a numbered list can start a personal revolution. Some days everyone needs a little extra encouragement. We’ve long been fans of the amazing work of Frederick Terral, the creative visionary behind design studio Right Brain Terrain. You may not be a Picasso or Mozart but you don’t have to be. We can’t imagine more sound advice. Guidelines to get you from Point A to finished product, The Cult of Done Manifesto was written by tech guru Bre Pettis (of MakerBot fame) in collaboration with writer Kio Stark in 20 minutes, “because we only had 20 minutes to get it done.” Pretending you know what you’re doing is almost the same as knowing what you are doing, so just accept that you know what you’re doing even if you don’t and do it.” With iteration at the heart of its process, The Cult of Done Manifesto will banish your inner perfectionist (and its evil twin, procrastination). This is your life. There is an enemy. Even better, Do the Work is free(!) Donating = Loving
Have Job, Will Travel: 6 Jet-Setting Career Paths | The Daily Muse While many might fancy a corner office and steady hours, my ideal workplace is 33,000 feet above sea level and travels at 500 miles per hour. For others, it’s spending their career working on the shores of Thailand, traveling through South America, or city hopping all over the world. You might think these sorts of jobs are limited to people in international relations, but that’s not true. You can find positions that let you travel no matter what your background. So if you have that “anywhere but here” mindset when it comes to your career, check out these paths for inspiration. 1. Teaching English in a foreign country is a great way to really get to know a place—you’ll be there for a year (or longer!). 2. Career options in the airline industry fall into several categories—pilot, flight attendant, ground crew—but no matter which area you work in, you’ll get incredible travel options (free flights anyone?). 3. 4. 5. 6. If travel is your passion, why not make it part of your career, too?
David Foster Wallace - Commencement Speech at Kenyon University Organization: Alexa Crawls Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period. this data is currently not publicly accessible. Transcription of the 2005 Kenyon Commencement Address - May 21, 2005 (If anybody feels like perspiring [cough], I'd advise you to go ahead, because I'm sure going to. This is a standard requirement of US commencement speeches, the deployment of didactic little parable-ish stories. Of course the main requirement of speeches like this is that I'm supposed to talk about your liberal arts education's meaning, to try to explain why the degree you are about to receive has actual human value instead of just a material payoff. Here's another didactic little story. The point here is that I think this is one part of what teaching me how to think is really supposed to mean. Everyone here has done this, of course. But it will be. You get the idea.
Start Here By Leo Babauta I know a lot of people who fall into a slump, losing the habit of exercise, procrastinating with work, slipping into a bad diet, and generally not feeling motivated. It’s hard to get out of a slump like that. It’s hard to get going again, to get started when all the forces of inertia are against you. Here’s how to get started, in just a few easy steps. Pick one thing. With every single step, you’ll feel better. Just announced: Dealing with Your Struggles video course.