3.2.15

Work Is Bullshit: The Argument For "Antiwork" | Co.Exist | ideas + impact

Work Is Bullshit: The Argument For "Antiwork" | Co.Exist | ideas + impact

Be honest: Do you actually need to do your job?

If you're like most employed Americans, you hate your job—or, at best, you're checked out at work.
But as much as you might complain about the place where you spend most
of your waking hours, there's a good chance you don't ever question the
fundamental idea that you should be working.

A fascinating essay by U.K.-based writer Brian Dean argues that we need to reframe the idea of work itself—and maybe replace it with "antiwork" instead. He explains:
Antiwork is a moral alternative to the obsession with
"jobs" that has plagued our society for too long. It’s a project to
radically reframe work and leisure. It’s also a cognitive antidote to
the pernicious culture of "hard work," which has taken over our minds as
well as our precious time.

1.2.15

"Survivorship Bias and the Psychology of Luck" - 2014: David McRaney,




How to be lucky. Unlucky people are narrowly focused, goal oriented,
seek security and control, and prefer routines. Lucky people are open to
new experiences, easily abandon routines, and fail often. Lucky people
go to a different tree in the apple orchard every time. Luck is just how
people interact with chance and "lucky" people are better at
interacting with chance than "unlucky" people.

Advice from successful people isn't as useful as everyone thinks because they don't
truly understand why they are successful because of survivorship bias.
Most success boils down to serially avoiding catastrophic failure while
routinely absorbing manageable damage. But in order to know how to avoid
catastrophic failure, you need to know about the failures, not just the
successes, but you never know because the failures disappear leaving
only the successes. Survivorship bias causes a "missing data" problem
that leads to incorrect decisions.