Rise and Swim (Welcome to the Grind)

Read more in A+.

The six paths of the typical US college graduate—and why they’re all wrong

"There are currently six prominent paths for achievement-minded recent college graduates: financial services, management consulting, law school (still), med school, and grad school/academia. The sixth is Teach for America, which continues to draw approximately 5,000 graduates (and 50,000 applicants) a year from universities across the country."

Read more in QZ. Thanks, +Clare Murray 

Learning to Love Criticism

Read more in the NYT. Thanks, +Alessia Bhargava 

Students Twice as Likely to Choose Andover Over Exeter

Just saying... and it was published in the Exonian.

8 Unique "Camping" Experiences In Cali

I want to go to all of these. Read more in Pure Wow.

The Best Part Of Life Is Realizing Why It's Better That Things Didn't Work Out

This line:

Everything in your life must have happened in order for you to exist – every single, little thing. You would not be the exact same person if any of your past experiences were different. Even the littlest, most unpleasant things have a way of shaping us into the individuals we were always meant to be. 

The greatest moments of clarity in your life will come when you look back at your journey and conclude that it was all necessary and that it’s all beautiful. 

That moment you realize that your difficult youth was necessarily difficult.

Read more in Elite Daily.

Sense: Know More. Sleep More.

Sense is a simple system that tracks your sleep behavior, monitors the environment of your bedroom and reinvents the alarm. Check-out the Kickstarter Campaign.

Precrastination: Worse Than Procrastination?

Never heard of "pre"-crastination before, but makes a lot of sense. Read more in the Atlantic.

How Karen Kaplan went from receptionist to CEO

"The Hill Holliday CEO finds herself leading the Boston-based ad firm after working her way up the corporate ladder." Read more in Fortune.

How your spouse's personality affects your success at work

"Turns out who you married could be the reason why you didn't get that promotion." Read more in FastCompany.

Fox News presenters mock female pilot who took part in campaign against Isis

Sigh, but why? Read more in the Guardian.

9 Life Lessons For Ambitious Women, By Established Women

My favorite:

1. There’s value in sharing your darkest experiences. 

In disclosing her lifelong struggle with an eating disorder in Glamour magazine, Zosia Mamet’s goal was not to scapegoat the media for her body image issues, or to advance her career through scandal. Mamet wanted to encourage women to discuss their demons rather than bury them. This is something I’ve long believed in, so it was reassuring to hear the sentiment seconded. In a culture that practically demands cultivating a phony-happy social media presence, sharing the dark stuff is arguably now more important than ever.

Check out more in ThoughtCatalog.

Thanks, Olivia

Spent: Looking For Change (Documentary)

Spent: The Documentary has finally launched on YouTube. Check it out.

Watch John Oliver Sing “The Circle of Debt” to Explain Predatory Lending

Read more in Slate.

Thanks, +Ted Gonder 

Tzafar

"Greek filmmaker Nancy Spetsioti directed Tzafar, a powerful short film about casual, every day racism. Its subtlety underscores a powerful and timeless message about how we treat other people."

Read more in A+.

Fighting to Honor a Father’s Last Wish: To Die at Home

Read more about end of life care in the US in the NYT.

The Jewish Food Taste Test

Thanks, +Alexandra Wouk 

Hunter S. Thompson on Finding Your Purpose

In response to the Wall Street hazards article, +J.J. Raynor sent me this letter written by Hunter Thompson in 1958.

An overview:

What makes his response all the more profound is the fact that at the time, the world had no idea that he would become one of the most important writers of the 20th century. Therefore his beliefs about purpose were hypothetical—they were statements of faith. But if it’s true that our beliefs really do become our reality, then there’s no better example of a life fully realised than the one of Hunter S. Thompson.

Occupational Hazards of Working on Wall Street

An excerpt that resonated strongly:

...Technology entrepreneurship will never have the power to displace big Wall Street banks in the central nervous system of America’s youth, in part because tech entrepreneurship requires the practitioner to have an original idea, or at least to know something about computers, but also because entrepreneurship doesn’t offer the sort of people who wind up at elite universities what a lot of them obviously crave: status certainty.  

“I’m going to Goldman,” is still about as close as it gets in the real world to “I’m going to Harvard,” at least for the fiercely ambitious young person who is ambitious to do nothing in particular.  

The question I’ve always had about this army of young people with seemingly endless career options who wind up in finance is: What happens next to them? 

Read Michael Lewis's piece in Bloomberg View. Thanks, +Ashby Foltz 

Miss a Payment? Good Luck Moving That Car

So many thoughts:

... But before they can drive off the lot, many subprime borrowers like Ms. Bolender must have their car outfitted with a so-called starter interrupt device, which allows lenders to remotely disable the ignition. Using the GPS technology on the devices, the lenders can also track the cars’ location and movements. 

The devices, which have been installed in about two million vehicles, are helping feed the subprime boom by enabling more high-risk borrowers to get loans. But there is a big catch. By simply clicking a mouse or tapping a smartphone, lenders retain the ultimate control. Borrowers must stay current with their payments, or lose access to their vehicle... 

...Some borrowers say their cars were disabled when they were only a few days behind on their payments, leaving them stranded in dangerous neighborhoods. Others said their cars were shut down while idling at stoplights. Some described how they could not take their children to school or to doctor’s appointments. One woman in Nevada said her car was shut down while she was driving on the freeway...

Read more in DealBook. Thanks, +Nate Gonzalez 

The Devil's Financial Dictionary

These are hilarious, and a little background:

This glossary of financial terms is inspired by Ambrose Bierce’s masterpiece The Devil’s Dictionary, which the great American satirist published sporadically between 1881 and 1906. Like Bierce’s brilliantly cynical definitions, the explanations presented here should not — quite — be taken as literally true. Some of these entries are adapted from articles published previously in Financial History, Money, and The Wall Street Journal.

Read the Devil's Financial Dictionary. Thanks, Vini

The sexual threats against Emma Watson are an attack on every woman

Amanda Taub writes:

In her famous 1996 commencement address, writer Nora Ephron warned the new graduates of Wellesley college that they were entering a world that was hostile to women's achievements and begged them to "take it personally." 

"Understand," she said, "every attack on Hillary Clinton for not knowing her place is an attack on you." We must all take such attacks personally, she argued: "Underneath almost all those attacks are the words: Get back, get back to where you once belonged." 

On September 21, actress and UN Goodwill Ambassador Emma Watson stood up at the UN Headquarters in New York City and delivered a powerful speech condemning the harm that gender discrimination causes to both men and women, and inviting men to become active participants in the global struggle for equality. The next day, anonymous individuals set up a website targeting Watson with sexual threats, counting down the five days until, we were meant to presume, her private nude images would  be made public. The threats against Watson are an attack on me — and I take them personally. We all need to.

Read more in Vox.

Can women fix capitalism?

"Gender equality at the top of business has stalled, and trust in business is alarmingly low. Putting more women in charge could well be the key to a better future for business and society alike."

Joanna Barsh's McKinsey Quarterly article. So many good things in there about purpose-led companies and conscious capitalism. Thanks, +Alessia Bhargava 

A Mother in Jail for Helping Her Daughter Have an Abortion

An excerpt:

On Sept. 12th, Jennifer Whalen, a 39-year-old mother of three in the rural town of Washingtonville, Pa., went to jail to begin serving a 9-to-18-month sentence. Whalen’s crime was, in effect, ordering pills online that her older daughter took in the first several weeks of an unplanned pregnancy, when she was 16, to induce a miscarriage. The medication was a combination of mifepristone (formerly called RU-486) and misoprostol. The drugs have been available from a doctor with a prescription in the United States since 2000 and are used around the world to induce miscarriage.

Read more in the NYT. Thanks, Cassie

Why the mantis shrimp is my new favorite animal

Check out the Oatmeal Comic Strip. Thanks, Brendan

Why Girls Tend to Get Better Grades Than Boys Do

New research shows that girls are ahead in every subject, including math and science. Do today's grading methods skew in their favor? The Atlantic article brings up a sensitive question:

Are schools set up to favor the way girls learn and trip up boys?

Read more in the Atlantic. Thanks, +Alessia Bhargava 

HBR Daily Stat: Melanoma Incidence Is Much Higher for Flight Crews

Sigh... another reason to minimize flying:

Airline pilots’ and cabin crews’ incidence of the dangerous skin cancer melanoma is about twice that of the general population, and their death rate from the disease is 42% higher, according to a New York Times report of a scholarly analysis of 19 studies. The reason is unclear, but the researchers point out that exposure to the sun’s ultraviolet A radiation, a melanoma risk factor, is twice as great at 30,000 feet as at ground level, and airplane windows provide only minimal protection. The researchers suggest that crews wear sunscreen when they’re aloft.

Read more in HBR.

Meet the College Women Who Are Starting a Revolution Against Campus Sexual Assault

Read more in NY Magazine.

Watch Emma Watson Deliver a Game-Changing Speech on Feminism for the U.N.

Emma Watson launched the UN's Campaign to bring more men into the gender discussion called #HeForShe. Liked her take on why it's important to have conversations on "feminism" -- men struggle with society's gender norms, too.

Watch her video on Vanity Fair.

Missing Men in U.S. Workforce Risk Permanent Separation

Read more in Bloomberg.

Thanks, Tom

After Surgery, Surprise $117,000 Medical Bill From Doctor He Didn’t Know

These bills are ridiculous. Read more in the NYT.

How Likely Is It That Birth Control Could Let You Down?

Check out the interactive graphs in the NYT.

Curbing Climate Change: The Deepest Cuts

This chart puts a lot of things in perspective:

Read more in the Economist.

Thanks, +Zuhair Khan 

Amy Cuddy Takes a Stand

If you haven't seen Amy Cuddy's TED talk, which is now the #2 most watched TED talk of all time, check it out.

The New York Times wrote up the background story and what's happened in the two years since the TED talk was posted online.

Thanks, Andrea S.

Realizing the power of talented women

In 2010, eBay embarked on a journey to bring more women into its top ranks. It found that commitment, measurement, and culture outweigh a business case and HR policies.

Read more in the McKinsey Quarterly.

Thanks, +Kevin Gardner 

Reframing Your Way To Happiness At Work

All about perspective:

Does an overflowing inbox stress you out? You’re not alone – but according to Shawn Achor, author of Before Happiness: The 5 Hidden Keys to Achieving Success, Spreading Happiness, and Sustaining Positive Change, some subtle shifts in mindset can dramatically increase your happiness and productivity: “An overflowing email inbox could be a soul-draining activity, but it could be an opportunity to connect with people or a source of leads.”

Shawn notes there are five things you can do to train yourself to be happier: 

• Writing down three new things you’re grateful for every day;
• Journaling about positive experiences for two minutes;
• 15 minutes of cardiovascular activity, which is “equivalent to taking an antidepressant”;
• 2 minutes of watching your breath go in and out; and
• “The most powerful one is we have people write a two-minute, positive email praising or thanking someone they know for 21 days in a row,” says Achor. “Not only do you see happiness significantly improve, but you see stress levels drop and social support increasing. Social connection is as predictive of how long you live as obesity, high blood pressure, or smoking, so it’s pretty incredible.”

Read more at Forbes.

How The Most Successful People Manage Their Time

1. Do a time log. See how long things take and when your best windows are. (I use Atracker)
2. Plan the whole week. Focus on your core competency and what makes you happy.
3. Have a morning ritual that gets you closer to your long term goals. 
4. Set 3-5 anchor events for the weekend. (My favorite)
5. Plan something fun for Sunday night.

Check out more in Barking Up the Wrong Tree.

Thanks, +Megan Gardner 

All Work, All the Time: What a CEO and a Barista Have in Common

An notable insight for couples trying to build a two-career household:

Among professionals, the expectation that work always comes first has meant that work hours on are on the rise, especially for men. This comes at the expense of personal and family time. As Rob Newman, a technology executive told me one time, “The negative obviously is that family dinners during the week are totally nonexistent.”  

And as work hours among professional men go up, so too do the odds that their wives will quit working. Research by University of Indiana professor Youngjoo Cha found that employed mothers whose husbands worked over 50 hours per week were 44% more likely to quit their job than employed mothers whose husbands worked less.

Check out more in LinkedIn.

Thanks, +Anu Parvatiyar 

Why Millennials Should Have Kids—and Soon

Thought this was surprising, especially considering that my Facebook newsfeed is blowing up these days with adorable wedding, engagement and baby photos:

... In fact, just over one-in-four Millennials tied the knot between the ages of 18 to 32, according to Pew Research Center... 

Friedman’s study looked at the views Generation Xers had toward bearing children as they graduated college in 1992 and Millennials in 2012. Almost eight in 10 Gen Xers said they planned to reproduce, Friedman found, compared to only 42% of Millennials.

Hmm, maybe FOMO is bigger than I thought. Read more in TIME.

Thanks, +Zuhair Khan 

‘A National Admissions Office’ for Low-Income Strivers

QuestBridge has quietly become a force in college admissions. On some elite campuses, 1 in 10 students come from the program.

Read more in the NYT.

Thanks, +Julia Chou 

The Cool Kids in School Are "Losers" in the Real World (Study)

#110627569 / gettyimages.com

Read more in StyleCaster.

Thanks, +Zuhair Khan 

Punishment or Child Abuse?

Michael Eric Dyson cautiously reflects: 'too many black parents believe beatings make kids better people."

THE indictment last week of the N.F.L. player Adrian Peterson by a Texas grand jury for reckless or negligent injury to a child has set into relief the harmful disciplinary practices of some black families. Mr. Peterson used a “switch,” a slim, leafless tree branch, to beat his 4-year-old son, raising welts on the youngster’s legs, buttocks and scrotum. This is child abuse dressed up as acceptable punishment. 

While 70 percent of Americans approve of corporal punishment, black Americans have a distinct history with the subject. Beating children has been a depressingly familiar habit in black families since our arrival in the New World. As the black psychiatrists William H. Grier and Price M. Cobbs wrote in “Black Rage,” their 1968 examination of psychological black life: “Beating in child-rearing actually has its psychological roots in slavery and even yet black parents will feel that, just as they have suffered beatings as children, so it is right that their children be so treated.”

Read more in the NYT.

Leaving Home, but Not the Folks

Read more in the NYT.

Thanks, Dad

To Curb Violent Tendencies, Start Young

Working with aggressive children prevents some from becoming violent, criminal adults. Read more at DukeToday.

Jerry the Bear: Reinventing Diabetes Education Through PLAY

Hannah Chang, one of the co-founders of Design for America (DFA), is helping kids with Type 1 Diabetes learn how to take care of themselves -- by taking care of Jerry.



I love this company's mission. If you have the ability to support the team, check out their Indiegogo campaign.

Thanks, +Cassandra Coravos 

Turn your car's windshield into a computer screen

Navdy's high-tech GPS system:

Whoa!! Check out more at Navdy.

HBR Daily Stat: People Are More Selfish and Dishonest After Doing Math

Sigh:

Research participants who had spent 15 minutes solving math problems were 4 times more likely to lie for personal gain in an ethics game than those who had answered randomly selected verbal questions from a standardized test, says a team led by Long Wang of the City University of Hong Kong. The act of calculating appears to crowd out people’s social and moral concerns, resulting in behavior that is more self-interested and even immoral. Stimuli such as family photos that prompt thoughts about social values appear to diminish these negative effects, the researchers say.

Read more in HBR.

The Eisenhower Decision Matrix: How to Distinguish Between Urgent and Important Tasks and Make Real Progress in Your Life

I've been using this method for years -- but think this is one of the best descriptions I've seen of it yet.

Check out more in Art of Manliness.

Thanks, +Inoh Choe 

The Insane Double Standards for Women Working in Tech

Even women who earn overwhelmingly positive performance reviews are told that they have ‘personality flaws,’ a new study finds. The double standards at play are staggering.

Read more in Inc,

Thanks, +Samantha Pearlman 

Why the Gender Gap Will Eventually Close

"Research shows real differences in men’s and women’s economic behavior, but suggests more equitable times to come." Read more in the NYT.

Thanks, Dad

10 Time-Tracking Apps That Will Make You More Productive In 2014

Read more in FastCompany.

Thanks, +Megan Gardner 

I love everything about this.

...and apparently Taylor did, too.

I'm personally inviting all of these guys (and a date!) to a show on tour next year, it's on me. Nailed it, bros! http://t.co/PuBjqkf27n

— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) September 12, 2014

Thanks, +J.J. Raynor 

29 Puppies Who Are Totally Pooped Out

Read more at BarkPost.

Thanks, +J.J. Raynor 

CBS's James Brown Calls On Men To Improve The Way They Treat Women

Read more at Deadspin.

Five ways to learn in without burning out

"The answer to getting more done and leading a balanced life isn't in beating yourself up about ambitions."

Read more at FastCompany. Thanks, +Amira Choueiki Boland 

How Unplug is making meditation chic (and easy)

Check out more in Well+Good.

Thanks, +Samantha Pearlman 

'Girls Who Invest' Would Change Wall Street

Like the Warren Buffett reference, too.

Read more in Bloomberg. Thanks, Jill

The Theory of Everything Official Trailer

Yes, there’s a movie about Stephen Hawking, and yes, it’s a romantic drama. Starring Eddie Redmayne (Les Misérables, My Week with Marilyn), this biopic (which has Oscar written all over it) follows the famous physicist as he falls in love with his wife-to-be in the late 1950s--and learns of his debilitating disease.

Read more: Flick Picks | PureWow.

Dear White People | Official Trailer (HD)

Warren Buffett’s 5-Step Process for Prioritizing True Success (and Why Most People Never Do It)

I love the "avoid at all costs" list.

Read more in Live Your Legend.

4 odd yet effective ways the smartest people prioritize their days

You've tried everything to organize your priorities better, and still end up scattered. Try these outside-the-box ideas for sorting your day. Read more in FastCompany.

Thanks, +Jordan Dods 

How to speak so that people want to listen

Interesting -- the "7 Sins of Speaking"

1. Gossip - speaking ill of someone
2. Judging - evaluating
3. Negativity -creating low energy
4. Complaining - spreading viral misery
5. Excuses -blame thrower who never take responsibility
6. Lying - exaggerating facts and situations
7. Dogmatism - confusing facts with opinion

Profits with purpose: How organizing for sustainability can benefit the bottom line

Becoming a sustainability leader requires big changes, but the effort is worth it— in both environmental and economic terms.

McKinsey Quarterly takes deep look at the common practices of 40+ high-performing companies on sustainability and shared characteristics of these leaders.

Negotiation tips for executives

Everyone's an amateur when it comes to negotiation; executives master the art of business deals, but some don't bargain well for themselves.

Read more in the WSJ. Thanks, +Jordan Dods

Taming the Mammoth: Why You Should Stop Caring What Other People Think

Unbelievably true, and funny. Read more in WaitButWhy.

Thanks, +Ashby Foltz 

Dog And Guy In His Underwear Dance On The Couch Like No One Is Watching

Heartbreaking Video Captures Bride's Last Dance With Her Dying Father

Post by David Haliburton Wilson.

Warning, will make you cry.

Read the story in HuffPo. Thanks, +Claire Packer 

The Motherhood Penalty vs. the Fatherhood Bonus

"A Child Helps Your Career, if You’re a Man"

This was interesting:

There was one exception in Ms. Budig’s study: Women in the top 10 percent of earners lost no income when they had children, and those in the top 5 percent received bonuses, similar to men. She speculated that in these rarefied jobs, employers see high-performing women as more similar to men, and that women might work more and negotiate for higher pay in order to afford household and child care help.

Read more in the NYT. Thanks, +Megan Gardner 

How to Be Alone: An Antidote to One of the Central Anxieties and Greatest Paradoxes of Our Time

“We live in a society which sees high self-esteem as a proof of well-being, but we do not want to be intimate with this admirable and desirable person.”

Also, this was fascinating:

In the Middle Ages the word “spinster” was a compliment. A spinster was someone, usually a woman, who could spin well: a woman who could spin well was financially self-sufficient — it was one of the very few ways that mediaeval women could achieve economic independence. The word was generously applied to all women at the point of marriage as a way of saying they came into the relationship freely, from personal choice, not financial desperation. Now it is an insult, because we fear “for” such women — and now men as well — who are probably “sociopaths.”

Read more in BrainPickings. Thanks, +Elaine Choi 

Taking a Naked Selfie? Your Phone Should Step In to Protect You

While I personally think Lena Dunham said it best:

The "don't take naked pics if you don't want them online" argument is the "she was wearing a short skirt" of the web. Ugh.
— Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) September 1, 2014

If you did want to have more controls on your phone, this is an interesting argument in the NYT.

Grade Expectations

An “A” is not what it used to be. Read more in the Economist.

Thanks, Tom

Grade Inflation at American Colleges and Universities

Read more at GradeInflation.com

Thanks, Tom

How to Get Into an Ivy League College—Guaranteed

Read more in BusinessWeek. So much pressure for kids at such a young age.

Thanks, +Zuhair Khan 

What a ridiculous app // the Somebody App

Thanks, +Cassandra Coravos

‘Yes’ Is Better Than ‘No’

Michael Kimmel and Gloria Steinem on Consensual Sex on Campus:

SUPPOSE someone you know slightly arrives at your home, baggage and all, and just barges in and stays overnight. When you protest, the response is, “Well, you didn’t say no.” 

Or imagine that a man breaks into your home while you sleep off a night of drunken revelry, and robs you blind. Did your drinking imply consent? 

Until now, this has been the state of affairs in our nation’s laws on sexual assault. Invading bodies has been taken less seriously by the law than invading private property, even though body-invasion is far more traumatic. This has remained an unspoken bias of patriarchal law. After all, women were property until very recently. In some countries, they still are.

Read more in the NYT.

Thanks, Ahsha

Beyond 'no means no': the future of campus rape prevention is 'yes means yes'

"Survivors from California to New York say universities are failing students. But a once-in-a-generation moment might be upon us" Read Jessica Valenti's post in the Guardian.

Thanks, Brittany