9/25/2020 Recommended Issues: Skills, Prioritizing Content, Wikipedia Trends
Good day!
Each week we handpick newsletter issues by independent writers you may have missed that provide new or unique perspectives.
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Here's what's worth reading this week...enjoy!
TRENDING CHANGES IN WIKIPEDIA
The WEEKLYPEDIA by Stephen LaPorte and Mahmoud Hashemi
I recently discovered this newsletter and find every issue fascinating. Weeklypedia highlights the 20 most edited/changed articles on Wikipedia in the past week as well as the ten most actively edited new articles. Assuming that Wikipedia represents popularly trending global topics, it’s super interesting to see what has been most important, evolving, or inspiring to people around the world in the past week..so much so that they’re writing and updating en masse. You’re also guaranteed to learn about something you probably should have known already, but didn’t. And in the globalist of natures, this newsletter is also available in 26 OTHER languages(!!!). Hats off to Stephen and Mahmoud for bringing some awesome transparency to Wikipedia data. Read this week's issue...
WHAT CONTENT TO CONSUME FIRST?
Media Minimalism in Mind & Machine by August Bradley on September 20, 2020
This is a short read that will make you think about how you’re consuming content online and whether that’s really the best approach. Most people skim a lot and then go back to what they are interested in later. Is that bad? No, not inherently. Is it efficient?..most fulfilling? Likely not. He has a simple point: you should actually consume the media you’ve saved or know you like FIRST and then go looking for more shiny or new content after that-- so you can actually get to what you know you care about and that you've already told yourself is interesting/worth consuming. You may or may not agree with August, but it’s certainly an interesting perspective to consider-- and might be worth challenging yourself to try...and see how it goes. (775 words; ~3 minutes) Read it (it’s the long-form part at the top under "Media Minimalism: Less is the New More"; skip the rest if you're short on time)
ADJACENT AND COMPOUNDING SKILLS
Create a Career of Compounding Gains in Further by Brian Clark on Sept 23, 2020
Adjacent Skills in Maker Mind by Anne-Laure Le Cunff on Sept 24, 2020
It was thought-provoking to see both of these newsletters discussing the importance of investing in yourself from a skills and knowledge perspective. While that may sound cliched and kind of like ‘duh’, what both writers are trying to get you to think differently about is the WHY behind it. Brian (Further) suggests that, similar to investing money with compounding interest, your initial investment in your own skills/knowledge will have compounding effects on your career and earning potential -- but you may not have thought about it that way yet. Anne-Laure (Maker Mind) provides compelling explanations for why growing skills adjacent to your own strengths (or current work skills) will enable you to succeed/exceed in your career: you’re better able to relate to those that you work with, to come up with solutions from different perspectives, to broaden the roles you can step into or manage next, etc. You will find both newsletters helpful to validate WHY investment and continued growth is valuable. Read them: Compounding Skills & Adjacent Skills
I hope you enjoyed some interesting kernels of knowledge in these newsletters! And yes, I do recognize the irony of calling out a newsletter which suggests you stick to familiar content when this is a newsletter about discovering new content :).
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Thanks and all the best,
~Jessica