The value of time. Information consumption habits. Go for a walk. Learning versus passing the test. Learning versus cheating. Beautiful and exotic words. Get a job, kids.
“Reading is essential for those who seek to rise above the ordinary.”
– Jim Rohn
7 Takeaways is working. By that I mean the weekly deadline is achieving its goal of forcing me to consume better content. Even when it comes down to the last minute (as some weeks it does), I never regret the time I spend looking for and reading interesting stuff. It goes beyond what you see here, of course, since I don’t mention everything I read.
Hopefully you’ll find this stuff interesting as well, but more than that, I hope it inspires you to consume better content too. I think we could all use more of that these days.
Take care,
1. “We systematically undervalue time”
How to Spend Money So It Actually Makes You Happier – Daniel Pink – (YouTube)
Some of this is pretty well known. Experiences generally trump possessions, for example. But the one that caught my eye is about buying time. Examples he includes:
Hiring someone to clean your house twice a Month, paying for grocery delivery, living closer to work, even if the rent is a little higher, choosing the direct flight instead of the cheaper one with a 5-hour layover.
Yes, I understand that not everyone can afford to “buy time”, but it’s a very worthwhile thing to consider when possible.
Spending money to save time will make you happier.
Do this: Evaluate where you spend your time and your money. Remember that only one of those is finite in the end.
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2. “We can’t out-discipline a reflex”
A Field Guide to Information Overload – Hana Lee Goldin, MLIS – (Card Catalog)
I think most people’s knee-jerk reaction to information overload and general overwhelm is to think that they need to be more disciplined about information consumption. In a sense, that’s true, but the idea here is that much of how we consume has become habitual. And habits, as we’re also very well aware, are incredibly difficult to change.
The “field guide” offers specific manifestations of the problem, and for each, a “why” it happens, what it does to us, and strategies for addressing the issue. I found them fascinating.
Overload is the condition of the world we’ve been handed. But what we get back by seeing it clearly is room to think: the attention to follow an idea to its end, and to have thoughts that are ours and not just reactions to whatever reached us first. That clarity is what lets us live in this world on our own terms.
Do this: Get intentional about handling information and overload.
3. “I have never returned from a walk and regretted it”
This Won’t Solve All Your Problems (Just Most of Them) – Ryan Holiday – (Blog)
Much like the 7 Takeaways’ origin story, this post is mostly for me. As I continue to recover from my fall, walking has become an important part of my continued rehab. While I’m 90% back to normal, that last 10% seems to be taking 90% of the time, and most of it is rebuilding my stamina and strength for walking.
Of course, you don’t have to be on some recovery journey for walking to benefit you. Especially today, it’s a common recommendation for many reasons.
Sitting at our computers, we are overwhelmed with information, with emails, with one thing after another. On a walk, the mind, relieved of all those inputs, can wander, drift, reflect, process, imagine, make connections, have ideas, or simply get a little peace and quiet.
Do this / note to self: go for a walk.
4. “Why are you taking this class?”
Enrollment and learning – Seth Godin – (Blog)
This paragraph got my attention:
One honest answer is, “I have to get a good grade to get to where I want to go.” That means certification, compliance, regurgitation. It means enrollment in the outcome, not the process. When this happens, we’re seeing a failure of the system we call education. Because that’s not learning.
So much of “education” is not learning something because you want to learn it; it’s learning something because you’re required to. As Godin states, that’s not learning at all.
This is why people cheat. This is why people use AI to write their papers for them. They’re not interested in actually acquiring knowledge; they’re only interested in getting the grade, passing the class, or getting the certificate. That those grades are built on a lie is irrelevant; they got what they set out to get.
Do this: Learn because you want to.
5. “The students who said cheating is wrong were in the minority.”
Building Integrity in the Age of Normalized Cheating – Brené Brown and Adam Grant – (The Curiosity Shop)
Serendipitously, related to the Godin takeaway above, I ended up listening to this podcast episode this week, and it was quite the eye-opener. It’s a reaction to Grant’s New York Times Op-Ed There’s Really Only One Way to Stop Students From Cheating (gift link). AI is enabling cheating at a level we’ve not seen, and those using it don’t seem to see it as a bad thing.
Most of the students made excuses.
They said, well, you know, an Ivy League school is a pressure cooker and we’re just, we’re stressed and everyone cheats.
And so it’s like, it was almost like they were major league baseball players during the doping era.
And they just said, look, you got to use Chad GPT as your performance enhancing drug.
This is how you win.
I didn’t make the rules.
I just winning.
This is a broken system and we are doing what we need to do to survive in it.
And I was just appalled that there was no mention in a lot of the essays of integrity. There was no, there wasn’t even in a lot of cases, any guilt or shame about cheating …
I’ll call back to the statement I made above: too often the student’s goal in our education system isn’t learning, but passing the test. Those are two very, very different things, and our education system is optimized for the latter. As is cheating.
Do this: I’d actually recommend reading the Op-Ed, and perhaps listening to the podcast (I’ve linked to the transcript above, but there’s also an audio player); it goes into the topic deeply. Then consider how we make education about learning again.
6. “The strange wistfulness of used bookstores”
Between the Covers – Susie Dent – (Words)
I became acquainted with Susie Dent after watching a British show, “8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown” (via BritBox in the US), apparently a comedic riff on “Countdown” (not available in the U.S. as far as I can tell). They’re both game shows that include a dictionary-based twist. Dent is a linguist on both shows, and I later found that she had her own Substack. Her fascination with language is infectious.
To hurkle-durkle, from Old Scots, is to linger beneath the covers long after you should be up. Guilty as charged on that particular day, although I’m not sure ‘guilt’ is the right word for every instance of hurkle-durkling. Sometimes it feels entirely necessary, and this is particularly true when there is a book involved.
‘Vellichor’, … is ‘the strange wistfulness of used bookstores, which are somehow infused with the passage of time [……] a hidden annex littered with thoughts left just as they were on the day they were captured.’ It would be hard to put it more eloquently.
If language is of any interest, you might find her writings fun and educational.
Do this: Go ahead, hurkle-durkle. You know you want to.
7. “The ones who have done a form of blue collar work treat those around them best”
You should send your kids to work – Adam Singer – (Hot Takes)
If this were a text message thread, I’d be responding with 👍👍👍💯💯❤️❤️‼️‼️ and more. (And if character encoding weren’t such a complicated beast, all of you would be able to see what I just did. If you don’t see emojis, visit the web archive of this email.)
Probably the most frequent observation I have here is that the ones who have done a form of blue collar work treat those around them best, including those they manage or hourly workers they encounter throughout the day. They’re never unnecessarily rude, they’re more patient and kind, they empathize more (with people who actually deserve their empathy, not randomly).
I spent four and a half years working in a grocery store, and in my own experience the work — everything from stocking shelves to working with the public — was invaluable in shaping who I was to become. I would prefer never to do it again 
, but I’m immensely grateful that I did.
This is in light of news that summer employment for youth is down to its lowest levels in some time. That means many are not learning important skills that will aid them later in life, regardless of what their eventual path might be.
Do this: I’m tempted to go all boomer and say “Get a job!”, but I know it’s not that simple. I’ll just say, consider what and how you can encourage kids to learn.
Random links
Other things I found interesting this week.
- Understanding the tech giants’ oversized influence in American schools – via NPR’s Fresh Air
What I’m reading now
- Neuromancer – William Gibson (Re-read)
- Good Writing: 36 Ways to Improve Your Sentences – Neal Allen, Anne Lamott
My Reading List – everything I’ve read since 2021.
My Sources Page – the common sources I scan/read regularly.
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