Boundless #24: How did I end up burning out?
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#1 | Revisiting Burnout...
On the final day of my last full-time job (almost 18 months ago now) I sat down and just let the words flow. What followed was an emotional mess of words combined with a tinge of resentment and some digging into what burnout actually was.
This weekend I sat down and revisited those thoughts, trying to make sense of what was really going on and putting some perspective on my resentment (I'm over it now).
I have also started to wonder what percent of burnout is driven by systemic issues and what percent is due to circumstance, mindset and other factors including luck.
Burnout wasn't suppose to happe to me (read full essay)
#2 |BoundlessPod - Jacqueline Jensen
Jacqueline Jensen on sabbaticals, rethinking work and building a “calm company”
Jacqueline Jensen has been a digital nomad for 3.5 years, living and working globally. It might surprise you to find out then, that she’s written a book called “Travel Isn’t The Answer.” While counterintuitive, she argues for a return to awe and wonder with what is already around us. She talks about different moments of wonder she has experienced (including a breathtaking view in Montenegro) and different techniques for how people can “Live With a Sense of Curiosity, Passion, and Awe Anywhere and Everywhere” (the subtitle of the book).
Web • Itunes • Stitcher • Spotify • Google Play • Overcast • Player FM
#3 |Quotes & Thoughts Worth Pondering
“‘Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom" - Kierkegaard.
"To know what you are, and what you want from life. This is, of course, the oldest advice in the book: know thyself. For thousands of years, philosophers and prophets have urged people to know themselves. But this advice was never more urgent than in the 21st century, because unlike in the days of Laozi or Socrates, now you have serious competition. Coca-Cola, Amazon, Baidu and the government are all racing to hack you."
- Yuval Harari
Question of the week: Have you ever had an unplanned or planned period of rest or "doing nothing" in your life? How was it? How hard do you find it to create space in your life now?
#4 |Things Worth Checking Out
Bullshit Jobs?
I created a set of slides for the virtual book club discussion on "bullshit jobs" - I got a bit carried away on the slides. Grab the slides here. This one was the highlight:
Reads
Boundless Reads Issue #90 - my weekly newsletter of five good reads every Sunday, going on almost two years.
Articles
The Death of The Liberal Arts?: When I was looking at colleges in high school, I did not understand what “liberal arts” colleges were for. How did people get jobs? I was practical and majored in business and engineering in undergrad. I was highly employable, but I still knew little about the world. In grad school, I took a class called “literature, ethics & authority” taught by an English professor that blew my mind open and pushed me down a path that led me to a wider range of literature, history, and philosophy. I’m quite grateful for that push.
Should universities be solely in service of the economy or do some of these liberal arts colleges have it right? Andrew Taggart tackles this question better than I could in Quartz => How workers killed the liberal arts
Below The Thin Line
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