Putting the 'happy' back into content
In her New Yorker article about bibliotherapy, Ceridwen Dovey touches on the notion that reading can make you happier.
Reading has been shown to put our brains into a pleasurable trance-like state, similar to meditation, and it brings the same health benefits of deep relaxation and inner calm. Regular readers sleep better, have lower stress levels, higher self-esteem, and lower rates of depression than non-readers.
So, put down your phone and pick up a book (or at the very least your Kindle).
I’m a huge fan of Shane Parrish’s Farnam Street blog and in a great post about how to make good decisions, he talks about the power (or not) of the crowd:
Is there a wisdom of crowds? Some say yes, others say no. My view is that crowds can be very useful if individual members of the crowd are able to vote independently or if the environment is such that there are few repercussions for voicing disagreement. Otherwise, I think signaling effects from seeing how others are “voting” is too much evolutionary force to overcome with sheer rational willpower.
In other words, the herd mentality often outweighs the benefit of lots of views.
This week I read Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell and also watched 20 Feet From Stardom, which in their own way both tell the same story.
That story is that, no matter how talented you are, there are so many other factors that will determine whether the level of your success.
20 Feet From Stardom is a wonderful documentary about backing singers – specifically those who have quite remarkable voices – but who never quite made it.
Continue reading “Why talent isn’t enough”