October 26, 2020

Good Sunday Evening All,

Our book for November is Give and Take by Adam Grant, author of Originals and Sheryl Sandberg's coauthor for Option B. You can get a pretty thorough overview of the book's main ideas here.

The Weekly Three

1. Something about volunteering from Give and Take: A few months ago I was very much missing my old pets back in Boston and found myself looking for nearby animal shelters to go visit. As luck would have it, there is one down the street from my office and they happily accepted any application to volunteer. Now I go two to three times a week and I can honestly say it's the highlight of my day everyday I go in. From my own experience and from what Grant shares below, I think that now during such stressful times, volunteering can be just the ticket (and if you're at high risk for COVID or prefer not to go places in person, there are a surprising number of volunteering opportunities that can be done remotely).

“Research shows that if people start volunteering two hours a week, their happiness, satisfaction, and self-esteem go up a year later. Two hours a week in a fresh domain appears to be the sweet spot where people make a meaningful difference without being overwhelmed or sacrificing other priorities."

"One study of more than 2,800 Americans over age twenty-four showed that volunteering predicted increases in happiness, life satisfaction, and self-esteem--and decreases in depression--a year later...It seems that giving adds meaning to our lives, distracts us from our own problems, and helps us feel valued by others.”

2. Something honest about an artist and staying sane and creative during the pandemic: This interview with Hallie Bateman came to my attention by way of Mason Currey's Subtle Maneuvers newsletter. If that name rings a bell, it's because we read his book Daily Rituals Women at Work over the summer. Bateman's candor is well demonstrated when she states that "overall [she's] managed to stay pretty much collected [and that the] key ingredients to that are therapy, weed, anxiety medication (I’m on Lexapro), friendships, and art."

3. Something that has nothing to do with COVID, WFH, the election, etc: an old gem of an article in praise of bad coffee

Thank you for reading,

Amber