How to rest well

Rest helps you feel better, work more effectively, and become the person you aspire to be. Yet, for a myriad of reasons, many of us find it difficult to rest well (myself included). Sometimes, all we need is a simple reminder, which is far better than the alternative of collapsing after being pushed beyond our limits. Hopefully, this article can serve as that reminder.

Rest is as essential to a good life, and a productive career, as work. Overwork is bad for individuals and organisations: a long period without adequate rest burns people out and wrecks company productivity. A deep dive into the lives of history’s most accomplished scientists, writers and even generals reveals that they laboured far fewer hours than do many people in today’s industrialised Western societies, and they crafted daily routines that balanced periods of intensive labour with downtime.

Why I changed my mind about volunteering

It's easy to channel frustration with the system towards the system, but changing the system is much harder than changing one person's life. Volunteering and charity have fallen out of vogue in favor of organizing and trying to enact sweeping change, but the opportunity to help is always there, even without fixing the entire world.

I’d been covering homelessness in America and knew that even the sprawling support organizations that have been working on outreach for decades had failed to end the crisis. My mind immediately went to systemic solutions, like voting for candidates who prioritize building more housing, or supporting efforts to loosen zoning codes.

Why did I think only about structural change and disregard more immediate help? And why don’t I do more of those day-to-day charitable things, or know many people who do, either?

I did growing up. I have clear memories of bagging meals at food pantries, of cleaning up parks, of Walking for the Cure. I sold lemonade for Darfur and baked brownies for victims of Katrina. In Hebrew school, I learned about giving tzedakah, a form of charity, and our obligation to “repair the world.”

Do not try to be the smartest in the room; try to be the kindest

Sometimes the simplest ideas are the most powerful. This post isn’t very long, so I won’t spoil too much of it for you. Instead, I suggest a quick read to understand why such obvious advice may require a bit of work to master.

This might seem like obvious advice, but in the business world of winning and losing, that many people still use "war" concepts to refer to meetings and negotiations. This soft skill is a game changer.

Here's what I expect from someone kind in a meeting, we cold call it "The kind Framework" or "El Framework Güenagent”.