Best of Ben

I’ve written over a million words on my blog – these are the posts that stand out.

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RANDOM 10

The Expected Value of Being a Hedgehog vs. Fox – Some of us do one big thing really well, some of us do many things well.
Unconventional, Entrepreneurial Lives and the Challenge of Loneliness – It’s great to trek on your own path, but be prepared to face lonely moments
Slowing Rate of Change and Tech Innovation – Why has tech change the past 50 years been so dissapointing?
A Rising Tide Lifts All (Nation-State) Boats – Why we should be supporting China’s economic growth.
Retiring Old Friends to Make Room For New Ones — Should you ever? How?
Who Should and Should Not Be Going to College? – Depends on which of three groups of students you fall into.
The Most Natural “You” Emerges When Masks Collapse – Technology is making it harder to project different versions of yourself to different audiences.
The Quarter Life Crisis – Today’s flavor of youthful existential angst, and a round-up of all my posts on 20’s career/life strategy.
In-Person Conversation Skills – Everything you need to know to be an engaging conversationalist.
Easier to Deny or Rationalize Behavior than Evolve Your Own Identity – “Speak the truth, even if your voice trembles”

ENTREPRENEURSHIP / BUSINESS

Farmers Didn’t Invent Tractors. They Were Busy Farming. How innovation can come from outsiders.
What separates a talker and doer? – I outline what doers do that talkers don’t.
Is killer instinct necessary in business? – And if so, how much is too much?
My personal finance infrastructure – How I manage my money
The Expected Value of Being a Hedgehog vs. Fox – Some of us do one big thing really well, some of us do many things well.
The Myth of One Giant Eureka Moment – We don’t need to have a groundbreaking idea on day 1.
Essay on Entrepreneurial Capitalism – And a review of the book “Good Capitalism, Bad Capitalism”
Networking: It’s Too Late to Get to Know a Fortune 500 CEO – Don’t reach out to famous people. Find hidden gems.
Can You Be Shy and Still Succed in Business? – It depends.
Best Reference Check Strategy Ever. – Call references at lunchtime and ask them to only call back “if the candidate was outstanding.”
Unconventional, Entrepreneurial Lives and the Challenge of Loneliness – It’s great to trek on your own path, but be prepared to face lonely moments.
When Personal Brands Become More Important than Media Brands – Will star journalists become agnostic to journalism institutions?
Culture Matters to Entrepreneurship. The best reason to be bullish on America.
All my Entrepreneurship posts. All my Business posts.

PSYCHOLOGY

Is original thinking orthogonal to cognitive speed? – Would you rather be swift/derivative or slow/original?
Real World Reality: No One Cares What You Think – You have to make people give a shit.
Easier to Deny or Rationalize Behavior than Evolve Your Own Identity – “Speak the truth, even if your voice trembles”
To Be At Once Serious and Self-Mocking – Some ambitious types are unbearable because they can’t laugh at themselves
I’m Scared to Death. But Supremely Confident. – Mike Tyson on confidence and the positivity of fear.
How to Make Past Experiences Meaningful – Humans will do what it takes to assign meaning to the events in our lives.

TECHNOLOGY

The “Do You Blog?” Litmus Test – And other microtests to figure out whether you’ll have rapport with someone.
It’s a Transparent Society, So Get Naked – Privacy is an antiquated concept. My commentary for NPR.
RSSted Development – My 4,000 word essay on information culture and the web and review of Tyler Cowen’s book.
RIP Privacy and Identity Synthesis on the Web – Identity synthesis will drive people to maintain different profiles
Slowing Rate of Change and Tech Innovation – Why has tech change the past 50 yrs been so dissapointing?
The Age of Early Self-Conception – The consequences of hundreds of millions of young teens writing their bios on Facebook.
How Blogging Increases Helpful Empathy – Dealing with criticism.
All posts under Web/Tech category.

CAREERS

Someday I’ll Pursue Higher Things. First, I Make Money. – Liberal arts grads who say they will first make a lot of money, and then pursue their real passion of writing poetry (or painting, or whatever).
In-Person Conversation Skills – Everything you need to know to be an engaging conversationalist.
Scalable vs. Non-Scalable Careers – Scalable professions (like writing) tend to be winner-take-all markets, whereas non-scalable professions (like being a dentist) offer more distributed outcomes.
The Quarter Life Crisis – Today’s flavor of youthful existential angst, and a round-up of all my posts on 20’s career/life strategy.
Do You Want a Calling or a Family? – The truly devoted don’t have work life balance
Career Lessons from Elena Kagan vs. Richard Posner – One pursued a safe careerist path; the other a riskier more exciting path.
30 Steps to Mastery. Keep. Fucking. Going.
How to Draw an Owl. Understanding progress at learning a skill.

EDUCATION

Three Things to Unlearn From School – The importance of opinion, the importance of solving given problems, the importance of earning the approval of others.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur in College – My commentary on NPR.
One Difference Btwn College and Real World – College is an information-rich environment that makes it easy to track progress.
The Children of Overbearing High Stress Parents Hit Singles – Singles and doubles, but not homeruns (and not a strike out).
Three Observations about Western European Higher Ed – Key differences from European education philosophy and U.S.
Organizing the Rhetoric Around Why to Go to College – The reasons for college are always scattered. They fit in three main categories: knowledge, connections, and credential.
Disrespecting Credentialism – If the importance of your credential does not decrease with age, you are not achieving very much in the real world.
Why So Many Struggle to Find a Job or Calling – School dulls your natural interest radar.
Comparing Modern Education to a Placebo – What if we just told students that they were learning?
Colleges Work to Maintain an Information Deficit About Their Effectiveness — Shouldn’t that ring alarm bells?
Who Should and Should Not Be Going to College? – Depends on which of three groups of students you fall into.
What 17 Million Americans Got from a College Degree – 317,000 waiters and waitresses have college degrees.

PHILOSOPHY

What Does Society Overcomplicate? – Just because something is hard doesn’t mean it’s complicated.
The stability/stimulation tradeoff – The most stimulating jobs are also the least stable
Getting the lowest A possible – Settle for “good enough”
When can you generalize from a specific experience? – This is a BIG philosophical question.
Do Only Negative Emotions Count for Depth? – Does saddness stretch you more than happiness?
Explain Your Opponent’s Perspective – One of the easiest way to probe the depth of a person’s understanding on an issue is to ask him to explain the opposing view
Do People Change? – Or do people stay the same all throughout their lives?
Regret Aversion – When in doubt, say ‘Yes.’ Regret is painful.
The Deadly Earnest Hunt for Identity – The young-person “identity crisis” and tedious reflective period.
Shedding the “Spiritual but Not Religious” Label – Why it’s too ambiguous for me.
The Most Natural “You” Emerges When Masks Collapse – Technology is making it harder to project different versions of yourself to different audiences.
The Ethos of Casualness – Why I like casualness and how it plays out in my life.
The Wisdom of Your Former Self – More terrifying than being embarrassed by youthful writings, is finding youthful writings similar in quality to adult expressions.

BOOKS

2005 Book Roundup – My 2005 reading
2006 Book Roundup – My 2006 reading
2007 Book Roundup – My 2007 reading.
2008 Book Roundup – My 2008 favorite books.
How I Think About Books – How I pick what books to read and how I read them
Optimize Activity for Location – Where to read (planes, at home, trains, etc).
Remembering David Foster Wallace – My personal reflection on DFW’s death. Here are my favorite parts of Infinite Jest.
Email Dialogue with Josh Kaufman on Business Books, Mental Models, and Self-Education
The Paradox of Attitudinal Self-Help Books – The folks who really need an attitude adjustment are not reading popular biz books
Check out Book Outlines to see some notes friend and I have taken on business books.
Check out the full list of books I’ve read the past few years. All my (many) posts on books.

RANDOM

Are you smartest guy in the room? – Probably not, so how do you add value?
How to build resilience – A transferable quotient. If you’re resilient on the treadmill, it can transfer to the board room.
In Praise of No Names – Sometimes the best mentors/teachers are folks you’ve never heard of.
Collective Generational Consciousness is Overrated – Gen Y bullshit
Being the Doer vs. Analyzer – Some professions are about doing, some about observing/analyzing. Which are you?
So You Want to Get On the Speaking Circuit? – Tips for those looking to do paid public speaking
Failing Forward: Dealing with and Learning from Failure – Notes from the Junto
14 Thoughts on Advice Giving and Receiving – Assorted wisdom.
The “I’m Proud of You” Litmus Test. – When someone tells you they’re proud of you, it means they know you well and are higher status.
The Sweep of Nostalgia – When you call upon dormant memories, you change them in the process.
All posts under category “Random”

RELATIONSHIPS

Would You Trust Less a Biz Partner Who Cheats on Spouse? – Or do you firmly separate personal and professional?
Six Habits of Highly Effective Mentees – How to be a good mentee (protege).
How Friendships Evolve Over Time and the Quest for Platonic Intimacy – What you’re looking for in a friend changes as you get older
Retiring Old Friends to Make Room For New Ones — Should you ever? How?
The Capacity for Surprise – What to look for in a friend: the person’s capacity to…surprise you.
Intellectual Stimulation in Life and Romance – Should your partner stimulate you intellectually? How?
Regrets of the Dying. What do people on their deathbed regret not doing?
Is Being in a Relationship a Time Sink? – No! At least compared to being single and looking.
People Don’t Want to Be Blamed for Giving Bad Advice – If someone gives you advice and it doesn’t work out — you may (if unconsciously) blame them.

CURRENT AFFAIRS / PUBLIC POLICY

Who’s Benefiting from National Service? – NPR commentary against national service.
The Role of Speechwriters on Public Policy – They do more than just communicate policy. They create it.
Notes from Speakers at Claremont Spring ’08 – Notes from many think tankers.
Why I Oppose Prop 8 (and Support Gay Marriage)
John Stuart Mill on Elitism, Eccentricity, and Sarah Palin – A long essay.
A Rising Tide Lifts All (Nation-State) Boats – Why we should be supporting China’s economic growth.
Inequality and Perceived Social Mobility – Inequality becomes a political issue if people don’t think there’s upward mobility. American myth is that there’s tremendous social mobility so no one is concerned with inquality.
Elitism vs. Populism in Politics — One of the richest themes right now in politics.
One of the Best Anti-Poverty Programs: Immigration
The Jammed Career Escalator: Old Premises, New Realities – For the last sixty or so years, the job market for educated workers worked like an escalator.

TRAVEL

Reflections on 3 months of international travel – A roundup of my international travel
What I learned in China – Lessons and reflections from 2.5 weeks in the country
The psychological beating of the third world – A reflection after day 1 in India
What I learned from 1.5 weeks in Colombia – Including notes from meeting President Uribe
What I learned at St. Gallen 2009 – Notes and impressions from the Swiss conference.
Urban Nomadicism: Sources of Unhappiness for Serial Travelers – Rootlessness, shallow relationships, identity confusion.
Experiencing the 8.8 Earthquake in Chile – First hand impressions from a disaster zone.
Guilt-free, Pain-free Solitude When Abroad – One of the benefits of international travel: low expectations to socialize.
Lessons and impressions from Indonesia. – Two weeks of traveling there.
Lessons and impressions from Brazil.
See my travel blog for lots of on-the-ground travel posts

PERSONAL

18th birthday responses – Dozens of friends tell me what they regret not doing when they were 18
A Morning of Self-Consciousness – Trying to shut off that internal monologue
2008 Personal Executive Summary – A brief recap of the year 2008
Damn It Feels Good to be a Lefty – Oh, to be left-handed.
Chinese Masseuse Plays Shuffleboard on My Ass – A story from a massage parlor in Beijing
Why Have I Not Done Drugs? – And Should I?
Reflections and Impressions from a 10-Day Meditation Course – Recap of my experience spending 100 hours meditating and 10 days in complete silence.

Best Of

I’ve written over a million words on my blog – these are the posts that stand out.