Mental Pivot #50: Personal Narrative Podcasts
My favorite podcasts featuring real-life stories from everyday people, tips for beating procrastination, and design paradigms in social media.
A good story can be many things, but at the top of my list a good story is surprising, insightful, entertaining, and emotionally satisfying.
While I enjoy the big, iconic stories about historical figures, business titans, sports stars, and scientific geniuses, I also appreciate the smaller, intimate, everyday human stories of people far removed from the spotlight.
This latter category is sometimes referred to as the “personal narrative. It’s a form of storytelling that author and expert raconteur Matthew Dicks (Storyworthy) describes as “true stories told by the people who live them.”
The personal narrative is a form that is tailor-made for the podcasting medium. And avid story-listeners should delight in the abundance of programming available. What follows are some of my favorite podcast programs in this genre:
The Moth Radio Hour: If I had to pick one story-telling podcast, this would be it. Episodes feature multiple story-tellers that are thematically linked but always eclectic. The podcast has been running since 2009, so there’s a huge back catalog to enjoy. Matthew Dicks, who I quote in the paragraph above, has won numerous Moth competitions and is worth listening to if you want to hear a master of the craft (archive of Matthew Dicks Moth episodes).
StoryCorps Podcast: This non-profit’s self-proclaimed mission is to preserve and share the stories of Americans from all walks of life, a mission in the same tradition of oral historian Studs Terkel. Most episodes clock in at under 20 minutes—a much appreciate feature given how many podcasts feature bloated runtimes.
Snap Judgement: This program is hit or miss for me, but when a story is good, like the first two stories in the recent “Fall Guy” episode, it ranks right up there with The Moth. The other two stories in the “Fall Guy” episode fall in my “miss” category.
The Stoop Storytelling: Similar to The Moth, a diverse range of people get up on stage and tell their personal stories at live events. The podcast then bundles multiple stories into thematically related episodes.
The Mortified Podcast: This program has adults reading from the diaries they kept as kids—a refreshingly different format from the other programs on this list. The awkward experiences, youthful humiliations, and naive ideas are completely universal and relatable.
Risk!: This show frequently pushes the boundaries of propriety; many of the stories lean far too heavily on shock value and cheap laughs. That said, when the stories are good (and not fishing for the “lulz”), they’re as impactful as any other program on this list. The recently re-aired episode, “Let the World Know Why,” is a good example of Risk! at its best.
When I want to be surprised, inspired, moved, or entertained, a well-crafted personal story isn’t a bad place to look.
Now onto this week's recommendations…
Thinking Tools:
A Simple 5-Step Method for Beating Procrastination: I’m skeptical that there’s a simple solution for solving this persistent problem, but Justin Bariso’s approach might inspire us to keep at it.
Good Leaders Know You Can’t Fight Reality: “Acceptance is about acknowledging the facts and letting go of the time, effort, and energy wasted in the fight against reality.” Consultant Scott Edinger highlights three key types of acceptance: 1) accepting results, 2) accepting circumstances, and 3) accepting one’s own failings and/or those of your peers.
How to Strategically Choose What Nonfiction Book to Read Next: Iyalo Durmonski shares his meticulous approach to reading. If your reading is strongly tied to specific or professional outcomes, then this might be helpful to you (I prefer a little more serendipity—but to each his or her own).
How to Write 10,000 Words a Week: Even if you don’t consider yourself a writer (at least by conventional standards), give this one a chance. Author Drew Margary asserts that writing is the process by which he organizes and develops his ideas and plays an essential role in the act of thinking. Seen from that vantage, 10,000 words is not so much an improbable end-goal but a natural byproduct of regularly engaging with his thoughts.
Articles:
And You Will Know Us by the Company We Keep: Eugene Wei explores the key design paradigms—the “graphs” of how we connect people and interests—of the current generation of social media incumbents. Wei is particularly interested in the contrasting approaches of Western vs. Eastern companies: Western companies like Facebook conflate social and interest graphs, while Eastern companies like TikTok manage to decouple them. It’s a long and rambling piece that ultimately rewards patient readers with keen observations about social media product design.
Darwin’s Barnacles: We usually associate Darwin’s theory of evolution with the iconic Galápagos finches, If any species is to lay claim to a principle role in Darwin’s breakthrough, it was the lowly sea barnacle. Darwin meticulously studied the marine arthropod over nearly a decade. Findings from these studies were instrumental in the formulation of his scientific theories.
The Death and Birth of Technological Revolutions: Ben Thompson considers the theories of Carlota Perez vis a vis the current state of the internet, mobile computing, and cryptocurrency. Perez authored a seminal work, Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital (2002), that continues to influence scholars and professionals in technology, business, and venture capital.
I Was Married with a Full-Time Job, Then I had to Move into My Car: Cheryl Landes’ moving account about her spouse’s mental health problems, the dissolution of her marriage, and her resulting homelessness and financial woes. It’s a reminder about how quickly everything can go wrong and an uplifting story about getting back on your feet.
Making a Living: The History of What We Call Work: Aaron Benanav’s lengthy piece is an in-depth review and highly informative look at anthropologist James Suzman’s latest book, Work: A Deep History from the Stone Age to the Age of Robots. The article explores a wide spectrum of economic and historical questions: Is unending economic growth a defining characteristic of being human? What can be learned from early hunter-gatherer societies about free time and money? How did Malthus’ scarcity postulate influence the economic narrative of the modern era? How do we conflate absolute needs (e.g., food) with relative wants (e.g., luxury handbags), Why has the Keynesian future (whereby absolute needs are met and time-freedom is abundant) yet to pass?
Stepping out of the Firehose: Benedict Evans wrestles with digital abundance and poses an interesting philosophical question to ponder.
Odds & Ends:
For better or worse, this week’s links are all finance-themed. Money on my brain?
Global GDP by Region is a recent infographic from the Visual Capitalist (bookmark worthy site!) showing economic output by state, province, and city where applicable. It’s also a reminder of the outsized economic influence of key urban centers.
Spend Bill Gates’ Money is an amusing (albeit silly) interactive tool that lets you go on a spending spree with Gates’ $100 billion USD. Scroll down the page to see the most expensive items. Based on the tool, one could purchase the entire NBA (National Basketball Association) and still have 30 billion left over.
The 2021 Corporate Tax Haven Index is a ranking of “jurisdictions most complicit in helping multinational corporations underpay corporate income tax.” Alternatively, this list might prove helpful for startups seeking favorable locales to domicile their business entity—I’m not here to judge. The report is published by an international team of tax lawyers, researchers, and economists at the Tax Justice Network.
IEEE-Spectrum’s 2021 Engineering Salary Survey (USA) was recently published. Based on 5466 respondents, the report details income by speciality (e.g., machine learning, data science), job satisfaction, regional income differences, gender, and ethnic background.
Cross-Promotions:
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