Things to Read While Pretending to Work – Dec, 11, 2015

If you haven't seen this before, here's what it's all about: Things to Read While Pretending to Work is a weekly column compiling interesting and useful articles from across the interwebs.  Instead of going on Facebook or skimming random news sites to to kill the time, each week you can use these three articles / resources to turn your "dead time" into something more productive.

As always, please let me know your requests and suggestions by replying with a comment.  Which link is your favorite?  What do you want more or less of?  Let me know!

Enjoy the weekend!

Alistair

Work

The way we think about charity is dead wrong -- Have you ever thought about quitting your job and going to work for a charity?  I have, but was deterred by the low pay and uncertain career path.  Most people would love to work a meaningful job, but aren't ready to take a pay cut that puts them near the poverty line.

This TedTalk provides a better way to think about charity.  (My secret hope is that sharing this will also stop the ridiculous obsession with ranking charities based on what % of your donation goes to the cause vs. the overhead).

Pair this video with a movement called Effective Altruism, which uses data and reason to determine how you should donate to maximize the impact of your giving.

Life

Minimalist Gift-Giving -- If you're struggling to think of gifts to give this holiday, check out this article.  Not only does it have some great suggestions, but it might also completely change how you think about gifts.

The article is from a site called The Minimalists, where the authors write about living a meaningful life with less stuff for 4 million readers.

Fitness

Examine.com -- If you want evidence-based, no-b.s. advice on supplements and nutrition, then you will love this site.  Examine.com is an independent company, meaning they have no connection with supplement companies and will break through the hype and tell you the facts.

Here are a few common nutrition questions they've answered using crazy old-fashioned techniques like "science" and "evidence": Are Eggs Healthy?, How Important Is Sleep?, or How can I increase testosterone naturally?.

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Is this post useful? What do you want to learn about next week? Let me know in the comments.


Alistair Clark is a former management consultant that runs worklifefitness.co.

2 Comments
 

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