Why you’re always busy (with nothing to show for)


Hey Reader,

We hope everyone's having a Rad weekend. This week I wrote about meta-work, a sneaky form of procrastination.

We're also celebrating the 6 month anniversary of our consulting business, The Rad Studio. If you're looking to help your teams navigate the choppy waters of hybrid work (with ease and without burnout) please reach out for a discovery call.

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Why you’re always busy (with nothing to show for)

I’ve got a confession.

I write tasks on my to-do list just to check them off.

And I know you do that too.

Now there’s nothing wrong with a little momentum to put some wind in your sails. After all, Honest Abe wisely proclaimed:

“If I only had an hour to chop down a tree, I would spend the first 45 minutes sharpening my axe.”

But what’s really happening is meta-work.

Low-value you work that doesn’t move you any closer to your goals.

And it comes in many flavors.


Here are this week's top reads:

// one

Why you'll probably never run out of money

10 minutes | Mr. Money Mustache

There’s a running joke on Wall Street about the best time to quit:

After next year’s bonus.

For anyone looking to walk away from a high-earning job, the fear of going broke is real. (I’ve seen it viscerally experienced by folks with 9-figures in their bank account.) No one wants to run out of money, but is this an instance of our lizard brains running amok?

Read the post

// two

The difference between busy and non-busy people

15 minutes | becoming minimalist

So busy” has become the new answer to the question “how are you?” It’s our default state. But is being busy improving our lives? Contrary to popular belief, busyness is also not inevitable — what questions do unbusy people ask themselves? What do they understand? Their purpose, how to say no to things, that they have choices, and the importance of rest.

Read the post

// three

How to buy a $20mm business with no money (or experience)

9 minutes | LinkedIn

Products are worth nothing without their packaging, and no one knows that better than Sarah Moore. In her twenties and with basically no work experience, she founded Eggcartons using all debt, after hiring 50 interns to look through 400,000+ prospective businesses to buy.

Read the post

// four

Book review: Four thousand weeks

5 minutes | Sasha Chapin

During my 20+ year obsession with productivity, one thing’s become crystal clear: you will never, ever be able to cross off all the tasks off your to-do list. Is that a reason to despair? Or incredibly liberating? Oliver Burkeman argues the latter in his book Four Thousand Weeks (which has quickly become an absolute favorite for RadReaders). No time to read another business book? Here’s a review with a twist.

Read the post

// five

Why so many children of immigrants rise to the top

4 minutes | New York Times

Contrary to some of the toxic anti-immigrant rhetoric, children of immigrants are quite good at moving up the economic ladder. The argument that immigrants are stealing native-born Americans’ jobs is simply outdated: there is little competition for the jobs that less skilled immigrants are taking, and, in most cases, highly-skilled immigrants actually create more jobs for native born Americans (by starting businesses or inventing things).

Read the article


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Below the Fold

ICYMI

LAST WEEK'S MOST READ

And finally, Kendrick brings a security guard to tears during his tour.

With gratitude,

Khe

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