My New Job + 9 Rules for Not Being Outraged All The Time
Hello friends! You likely signed up for this after reading one of my essays on Medium. I send this thing every few months, mostly a wrap-up of stuff I'm working on and the best reading from around the web—all ending with a sweet flag. See past issues here. Now, to the newsletter:
Above: Last month, my wife and I drove from Windhoek, Namibia to Cape Town, South Africa. Above is a rain storm gathering on route B1, the main north/south artery in Namibia as we approached the South African border. Namibia is only second to Mongolia in lack of population density, so the drive is full of sprawling, big sky landscapes like this one — kinda like driving through a Road Runner cartoon.
Personal Update
Big news: Way excited to share my next move. Starting in March, I’ll be the Editor in Chief of Growth Lab and I Will Teach You to be Rich. More to come, but I’m super excited to work with Ramit Sethi and his first-rate team helping young people build amazing businesses, careers, and lives. This also means that my travels are coming to an end, I’ll be back in New York City soon after a week-long stop over in Austin, Texas.
…Speaking of building amazing careers, I spent a lot of the past few months interviewing folks for a career advice-based project I was working on. I'll be shutting that down to focus on my new gig. I learned tons in my research there. Perhaps the most frequent theme was the desire for autonomy to work on the things we want to work on and live the life we’d like.
One of the reasons I’m excited for my new chapter is that I Will Teach and Growth Lab both aim to help millennials have greater personal autonomy by getting their finances under control and starting a business, respectively. HUGE thanks to everyone that Skyped with me about their careers. I promise to take that mission forward into my new gig and make you proud.
And lastly, I completely revamped my personal website. I archived all my favorite writing of the past few years and will host most of my future essays there. Check it at SeanBlanda.com.
Our Broken News Cycle
We’re one month-ish into the new presidential administration and surely it feels longer. Each day there is a seemingly unprecedented news event to get hyper emotional about. Staying at outrage level 11 all the time isn’t tenable, so how can you stay sane and still be informed? Here are some still-in-progress “New Rules” that (mostly) help me stay sane while following the news in the era of Trump:
The Links
These days, Twitter is less a tool for connection or sharing, than it is a tool for judgement. Real Life Mag on how Twitter has left us over exposed to mob rule and the effect it’s had on our discourse.
Part of the reason our national conversations are feeling fruitless is that, for too long, we’ve let political hypocrisy off the hook. Many of us look the other way when our “side” does something against our values only to blast the other team when they do the same. Jonathan Bethune explains how we got here and why we all need to do some soul searching.
Also: I’ve really enjoyed following Sean Davis of the Federalist on Twitter for a sober (and combative) viewpoint on why many disdain the media for this reason.
How did sportswriting become a liberal profession? And isn't that a bad thing?
The most isolated place on Earth is "Point Nemo" an area in the South Pacific Ocean that is home to hundreds of decommissioned spacecraft.
Uber drivers can’t set their own prices. Amazon can goose its search results to show their products first. Google and Facebook have tight grips on the advertising and content we see. These companies, once the promise of a free open market, have instead created what Anil Dash is calling “Rigged Markets” – it’s a counterintuitive argument that more regulation could actually result in freer, fairer commerce.
Sure, hiring managers like a good resume and cover letter. But for a real "in," show them your relevant side projects. Example? My buddy Tom Critchlow wrote about his side project got him in the door at Google.
Are Identity Politics bad? Or necessary for justice? In this dense essay, Daniel Denvir and Thea N. Riofrancos look at the history of race and gender issues with some scathing viewpoints on the missteps of Bill Clinton:
Relevant to above: Good intentions often backfire. It’s time to consider the actual effect of our actions rather than our hoped-for outcomes. One solution: think like a hacker and “break” stuff before going ahead.
Books I’ve enjoyed the past month: Antifragile by Nassim Taleb and Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman.
Official Newsletter Flag (for now)
Above is the flag of the Holy Roman Empire, the precursor to modern day Germany (where I wrote most of this newsletter). From the 10th Century until 1806, Germany and some surrounding territory was known as the “Holy Roman Empire” even though it didn’t have much to do with the Romans. Info varies, but the double headed eagle seems to be most closely associated with the Byzantine empire (which was the Eastern half of the old Roman empire) thus its flag and name were more of a Dark Ages-era branding exercise to recall the glory days of Caesar and co. Personally, we don’t have many yellow and black flags and double headed eagles are pretty rad.
But, not as rad as you, dear reader. Thanks for allowing space in your crowded inbox for this ol’ thing.
-Sean
Above: Last month, my wife and I drove from Windhoek, Namibia to Cape Town, South Africa. Above is a rain storm gathering on route B1, the main north/south artery in Namibia as we approached the South African border. Namibia is only second to Mongolia in lack of population density, so the drive is full of sprawling, big sky landscapes like this one — kinda like driving through a Road Runner cartoon.
Personal Update
Big news: Way excited to share my next move. Starting in March, I’ll be the Editor in Chief of Growth Lab and I Will Teach You to be Rich. More to come, but I’m super excited to work with Ramit Sethi and his first-rate team helping young people build amazing businesses, careers, and lives. This also means that my travels are coming to an end, I’ll be back in New York City soon after a week-long stop over in Austin, Texas.
…Speaking of building amazing careers, I spent a lot of the past few months interviewing folks for a career advice-based project I was working on. I'll be shutting that down to focus on my new gig. I learned tons in my research there. Perhaps the most frequent theme was the desire for autonomy to work on the things we want to work on and live the life we’d like.
One of the reasons I’m excited for my new chapter is that I Will Teach and Growth Lab both aim to help millennials have greater personal autonomy by getting their finances under control and starting a business, respectively. HUGE thanks to everyone that Skyped with me about their careers. I promise to take that mission forward into my new gig and make you proud.
And lastly, I completely revamped my personal website. I archived all my favorite writing of the past few years and will host most of my future essays there. Check it at SeanBlanda.com.
Our Broken News Cycle
We’re one month-ish into the new presidential administration and surely it feels longer. Each day there is a seemingly unprecedented news event to get hyper emotional about. Staying at outrage level 11 all the time isn’t tenable, so how can you stay sane and still be informed? Here are some still-in-progress “New Rules” that (mostly) help me stay sane while following the news in the era of Trump:
- If a story confirms your worldview, take a second. Especially if that story quotes anonymous sources.
- In quest to be fast, even “legit” media misreports things. Take a few hours before reacting after reading something that pisses you off/excites you.
- Flip the sides. If Obama/Bush, Pelosi/Ryan, or Schumer/McConnell did this, how would you feel? This helps separate actual principle/partisanship and makes any future reactions by you have more impact on those around you.
- As much as possible get upset over actions and not speeches, writing, or overtures.
- Read opinions in the most charitable way possible first. Even if it hurts. Give people the benefit of the doubt you wish to receive yourself.
- Most times, people that disagree with you are not morally bankrupt. In many cases they have considered effects, unforeseen consequences, and externalities that you couldn’t see. Take a second and consider things you may have missed.
- Don’t box people into either being Frasier Craine or Larry the Cable Guy. People are complicated!
- Something is not “breaking norms” just because you can’t remember if it ever happened before. Look first.
- Remember: most media has an incentive to get you all riled up and quickly. More on that in my essay about the reason we all hate the news these days.
The Links
These days, Twitter is less a tool for connection or sharing, than it is a tool for judgement. Real Life Mag on how Twitter has left us over exposed to mob rule and the effect it’s had on our discourse.
Part of the reason our national conversations are feeling fruitless is that, for too long, we’ve let political hypocrisy off the hook. Many of us look the other way when our “side” does something against our values only to blast the other team when they do the same. Jonathan Bethune explains how we got here and why we all need to do some soul searching.
Also: I’ve really enjoyed following Sean Davis of the Federalist on Twitter for a sober (and combative) viewpoint on why many disdain the media for this reason.
How did sportswriting become a liberal profession? And isn't that a bad thing?
The most isolated place on Earth is "Point Nemo" an area in the South Pacific Ocean that is home to hundreds of decommissioned spacecraft.
Uber drivers can’t set their own prices. Amazon can goose its search results to show their products first. Google and Facebook have tight grips on the advertising and content we see. These companies, once the promise of a free open market, have instead created what Anil Dash is calling “Rigged Markets” – it’s a counterintuitive argument that more regulation could actually result in freer, fairer commerce.
Sure, hiring managers like a good resume and cover letter. But for a real "in," show them your relevant side projects. Example? My buddy Tom Critchlow wrote about his side project got him in the door at Google.
Are Identity Politics bad? Or necessary for justice? In this dense essay, Daniel Denvir and Thea N. Riofrancos look at the history of race and gender issues with some scathing viewpoints on the missteps of Bill Clinton:
Worth a read to contextualize for a view on how we got to where we are now.The Democratic Party elite, with an eye toward demographic trends, complacently believed that class politics were unnecessary because there were too few white workers and workers of color had nowhere else to turn. But demography is not destiny. People of color, hammered by economic crisis and mass incarceration, were stuck with voting Democratic or staying home—and many did the latter.
Relevant to above: Good intentions often backfire. It’s time to consider the actual effect of our actions rather than our hoped-for outcomes. One solution: think like a hacker and “break” stuff before going ahead.
Books I’ve enjoyed the past month: Antifragile by Nassim Taleb and Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman.
Official Newsletter Flag (for now)
Above is the flag of the Holy Roman Empire, the precursor to modern day Germany (where I wrote most of this newsletter). From the 10th Century until 1806, Germany and some surrounding territory was known as the “Holy Roman Empire” even though it didn’t have much to do with the Romans. Info varies, but the double headed eagle seems to be most closely associated with the Byzantine empire (which was the Eastern half of the old Roman empire) thus its flag and name were more of a Dark Ages-era branding exercise to recall the glory days of Caesar and co. Personally, we don’t have many yellow and black flags and double headed eagles are pretty rad.But, not as rad as you, dear reader. Thanks for allowing space in your crowded inbox for this ol’ thing.
-Sean
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