Love Your Work

A short note for you listeners. I got kicked out of Colombia. I hope to keep bringing you a high-quality show. Thank you so much for your support. If you want to help keep the show coming, please support on Patreon at kadavy.net/donate

Is the educational system a waste of time and money? Most people can agree that schools are inefficient, boring, and expensive. I personally love learning, but I always hated school.

Yet, if you're like me, you're probably initially resistant to the idea that we should spend less on the educational system.

Our guest today, Bryan Caplan (@bryan_caplan), wants to make the case for spending less time, less money, and less human energy on trying to educate people. He's author of the new book, The Case Against Education: Why the Education System Is a Waste of Time and Money.

Bryan says that people aren't making more money after earning a college degree because they learned more. It's just the piece of paper itself that employers care about. If we didn't push so many people to earn college degrees – and to rack up debt in the process – degrees wouldn't be a base-level requirement for survival in today's job market.

Intriguing isn't it? In this conversation, you'll find out:

• What's the difference between the "signaling" and the "human capital" models of looking at education? Why is this the key to seeing education as a waste of time and money?
• If we cut education, won't inequality get worse? Bryan tells us why he thinks cutting education spending would actually bring more opportunity to the underprivileged.
• What is the "social desirability bias?" Bryan tells us why this bias leads us blindly into wasting time and money on so-called education.

It's a thought-provoking conversation. You're bound to hear something you don't agree with, and you'll be forced to think about it. Hopefully you enjoy that as much as I do.

I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools

Donate on Patreon Supporters are currently covering more than half of production costs for Love Your Work. Support the show, get early access to episodes, as well as bonus masterclasses and office hours with me. Sign up at kadavy.net/donate.

Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me [email protected].

Sponsors

http://skillshare.com/loveyourwork http://weebly.com/loveyourwork

Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/bryan-caplan-interview/

As humanity progresses, we're always finding new resources to optimize. Time is one resource we optimize. But the idea of time management has become so ubiquitous, it's hard to imagine what it's like to not manage our time.

By understanding that time management as we know it hasn't been around forever, we can be prepared for the next resource to be optimized.

I talk more about that in this week's essay.

I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools

Donate on Patreon Supporters are currently covering more than half of production costs for Love Your Work. Support the show, get early access to episodes, as well as bonus masterclasses and office hours with me. Sign up at kadavy.net/donate.

Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me [email protected].

Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/time-management-invention-podcast/

Drew Ackerman (@dearestscooter) has a podcast so boring, it will put you to sleep. That's why it's so successful.

Almost five years ago, decided to make a podcast. Drew suffered from insomnia, so he wanted to make a podcast that would help people fall asleep.

Drew wrote stories and droned on, and gradually began to earn new listeners. Today, he's produced over 650 episodes. He's kept up a pace of about three episodes a week. Drew's show, called Sleep With Me, has millions of listeners. He's one of Patreon's top creators with almost 4,000 patrons. Sleep With Me has been featured in The New Yorker, The Washington Post, and The New York Times.

While Sleep With Me is an incredibly successful podcast, you'll see in this conversation that the success is no fluke. Drew has worked incredibly hard. Find out:

• How did Drew motivate himself to finally get started, even after procrastinating for years.
• How did Drew use Motivational Judo to trick himself into making one episode after another?
• What self-talk did Drew use to keep himself going and finally quit his day job, even after making the podcast for three years, without pay?

This conversation is like a perfect blueprint of my latest book, The Heart to Start. If you've read the book, you'll see lots of familiar concepts playing out in Drew's story.

I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools

Donate on Patreon Supporters are currently covering more than half of production costs for Love Your Work. Support the show, get early access to episodes, as well as bonus masterclasses and office hours with me. Sign up at kadavy.net/donate.

Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me [email protected].

Sponsors

http://skillshare.com/loveyourwork http://weebly.com/loveyourwork http://theprepared.com

Show Notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/drew-ackerman-interview/

I've written a couple of books now, and the process is nothing at all like I expected it would be. I think misconceptions about how to write a book prevent many people from writing their books. Just imagine all of the unwritten books that are locked up inside of people around the world because of these misconceptions.

So in this week's essay, I share what I wish I had known about writing a book.

By the way, I have a "short read" about how to write a book. It's called How to Write a Book. It's on Kindle, paperback, and it's now on Audible! So if you enjoy this essay, check out that short read. It takes less than an hour to read so it won't get in the way of you writing your book.

I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools

Donate on Patreon Supporters are currently covering more than half of production costs for Love Your Work. Support the show, get early access to episodes, as well as bonus masterclasses and office hours with me. Sign up at kadavy.net/donate.

Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me [email protected].

Sponsors

http://theprepared.com

Show Notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/three-things-book-writing/

Charlie Hoehn (@charliehoehn) was on top of the world. He was working with popular authors like Tim Ferriss and Ramit Sethi, and he was helping launch books to the top of the New York Times best-seller list.

The problem was, Charlie was miserable. His need to succeed drove him to sacrifice sleep and abuse performance-enhancing drugs. His body was breaking down, and he became crippled with anxiety.

Eventually, Charlie found a way out of anxiety, and a way into not just a healthy work/life balance, but a healthy work/life integration.

Charlie's secret weapon: Play. If you're anything like me, your initial thought is: Huh? Play? I don't need to play, I'm an adult!

Charlie is such an advocate of play that he's written two books about it: Play it Away and Play for a Living.

In this playful conversation with Charlie, you'll find out:

• What does Charlie mean by "play?" I hadn't realized how central play was to my life and work until I had this conversation.
• How can play actually help you build skills? Being playful can sharpen your skills in reaching goals.
• How did Charlie overcome workaholism and adjust to a healthy relationship with a high-profile life?

We'll also talk about what Charlie learned working with Tim Ferriss, how to think up irresistible book titles, and the power of improv.

Sponsors

http://skillshare.com/loveyourwork http://weebly.com/loveyourwork http://theprepared.com

Show Notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/charlie-hoehn-podcast/

I've talked on the show many times about how creative work gets paid for. The "free" mentality forces the hand of creators, and it's often not healthy for the people who read their words. Reading everything for free is like eating every meal at McDonald's.

I talk more about my own journey of avoiding "factory-farmed" words, instead buying "free range" words, in this week's article.

I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools

Donate on Patreon Supporters are currently covering more than half of production costs for Love Your Work. Support the show, get early access to episodes, as well as bonus masterclasses and office hours with me. Sign up at kadavy.net/donate.

Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me [email protected].

Sponsors

http://theprepared.com

Show Notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/free-range-words/

Cy Wakeman (@cywakeman) is the founder of Reality Based Leadership. She wrote a book called No Ego.

No Ego is a leadership book, which is an unusual read for me since I'm a solopreneur, but I couldn't put it down. You might hear me talk about ego from time to time. I think my conversation with Ryan Holiday back on episode 31 was the first time I was really thinking about ego. He wrote the book Ego is the Enemy.

Since then I've come to realize that ego is the number one enemy that can hold you back from reaching your creative potential. Your ego will keep you from being accountable to yourself and what you want to accomplish. It will direct your attention outside of you, and cause you to blame others. It will cause you to make limiting excuses for yourself.

But if you're able to bypass your own ego, something magical happens. You start to concentrate on what you can control. You start to see a connection between your actions and the results you get.

This is what I loved so much about Cy's book, No Ego. It's a powerful book for keeping ego from ruining your workplace, but at the same time it's a powerful book for keeping ego from ruining yourself and sabotaging your own potential.

To add the Love Your Work skill to your Amazon Echo, say "Alexa, enable Love Your Work." It's very important, by the way to use the word "enable," and not "add." Also, you can search on the Alexa app, or visit kadavy.net/alexa

New Short Read: How to Write a Book I just published a little "book." It's more of a pamphlet, really. It's a Kindle Short Read called "How to Write a Book." It will show you how to use self motivation to overcome writer's block and make your book real. Buy How to Write a Book at kadavy.net/wab. Again, that's kadavy.net/wab

Donate on Patreon Supporters are currently covering more than half of production costs for Love Your Work. Support the show, get early access to episodes, as well as bonus masterclasses and office hours with me. Sign up at kadavy.net/donate.

Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me [email protected].

Sponsors

http://skillshare.com/loveyourwork

Show Notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/cy-wakeman-podcast/

Today's essay is about the power of taking your own advice. I've got an interview coming up next week with Cy Wakeman (@cywakeman). Cy is the founder of "Reality Based Leadership." She wrote a book called No Ego, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Today's essay is based upon a quote from that book.

To add the Love Your Work skill to your Amazon Echo, say "Alexa, enable Love Your Work." It's very important, by the way to use the word "enable," and not "add." Also, you can search on the Alexa app, or visit kadavy.net/alexa

New Short Read: How to Write a Book I just published a little "book." It's more of a pamphlet, really. It's a Kindle Short Read called "How to Write a Book." It will show you how to use self motivation to overcome writer's block and make your book real. Buy How to Write a Book at kadavy.net/wab. Again, that's kadavy.net/wab

Donate on Patreon Supporters are currently covering more than half of production costs for Love Your Work. Support the show, get early access to episodes, as well as bonus masterclasses and office hours with me. Sign up at kadavy.net/donate.

Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me [email protected].

Show Notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/take-your-own-advice-podcast/

I'm very glad to have my friend Maneesh Sethi back on the show. You first heard Maneesh way back on episode 13. Maneesh is the founder of Pavlok.

Pavlok started out as a wearable device that shocks you out of breaking bad habits. You may have heard me talk about using [Pavlok] to break my Facebook habit. It's very effective, because being shocked is not pleasant.

But what really excites me about what Maneesh is doing is he has a much larger mission. He says he wants Pavlok to "upgrade humanity." He wants to use technology to change behavior for the better.

The ill effects and broken economics of technology is a topic I've talked about often. I dreamt of a "behavioral revolution" wherein technology might change behavior for the better, back on episode 22.

But, I lamented that the economics were broken, something I debated with Nir Eyal, who is author of Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products back on episode 21.

Now here's where I go on a long aside, and I might sound a little more angry than usual, but I think it's important.

Three years now after I first wrote about the behavioral revolution, there's starting to be buzz in the mainstream media about the ill effects of technology. I think the most recent election and the rise of fake news made people take notice, and they're starting to get it.

There was a recent piece in the New York Times, "Early Facebook and Google Employees Form Coalition to Fight What They Built," wherein many Silicon Valley elites are featured, talking about their "union of concerned experts called 'Center for Humane Technology.'"

Truthfully, I didn't read the whole article. Their mission is noble, but my general understanding of the topic is that they believe there should be a sort of designer's "code of ethics," that product designers would somehow magically follow. I say this because I've long been familiar with the work of Tristan Harris, who is the founder of the Center for Humane Technology. Tristan used to be an in-house ethicist at Google.

I did invite Tristan to be on the podcast a couple of years ago. There was talk of him coming on, but I think it eventually fell through the cracks for him. He's obviously had no problem finding more press exposure, with this New York Times piece.

He was even on Sam Harris's podcast, so you can listen to that one if you want to learn more.

I don't have anything to add to that conversation, though I was annoyed that the conversation was entirely focused on this idea of ethics, and there was no talk of the economics that force the hands of tech companies and the people who work at them.

I believe ethics can only take you so far. As long as there are big companies that answer to shareholders, what is profitable will be what gets done. The larger an organization becomes, the less you can rely upon the consciences of the individual actors.

I shouldn't be surprised that the Silicon Valley elite are calling attention to themselves over the very problems they created, and coming up with what I think are hamfisted solutions for those problems.

After all, those of us with a conscience refused to do the damage in the first place. I left Silicon Valley more than ten years ago. It would be revisionist to say it was because of the damage technology was going to do.

I didn't know precisely where technology would lead, but I did know that after being involved in the initial excitement of the Web 2.0 movement, which was all about using technology to connect people, my work in tech felt increasingly without purpose nor positive impact. I talked more about these feelings in episode 16, entitled Earn it.

So, if the Silicon Valley elite had been able to detect the vacuousness of the companies they were building, if their hunger for meaning had been stronger than their hunger for wealth, they wouldn't be in the positions they are in. And since they ended up in these positions through this blindness, they're coming up with these inelegant solutions.

No, I don't think ethics will solve the problems of tech. I think the economics need to be fixed. As long as it is profitable to build products that divide us and affect our emotional and physical health, those are the products that are going to be made.

But a shining star of hope has emerged, and that is blockchain technology.

Blockchain technology may enable what is good for us to become profitable.

I've talked about blockchain technology and its potential to fix these economics. I discussed it with Steemit CEO Ned Scott on episode 46, and have shared my experiences with earning from my writing in my Steemit tutorial on episode 110.

By the way, a Bloomberg columnist reached out to me based upon that Steemit tutorial. I was quoted in a Bloomberg article "Websites That Pay Users With Blockchain Aim to Disrupt Facebook."

My quote:

I feel like I'm in the Stone Age when I'm on Facebook or Twitter. They have no value without what you're contributing to them. If Facebook doesn't respond to this, things can change very quickly. They should be very concerned.

I explain a little more what I mean by that in my Steemit tutorial on episode 110. To sum it up: Blockchain platforms like Steemit are a community garden. Facebook is digital sharecropping.

I'm being a little harsh, and I even detect in myself some sour grapes here. There is some value to ethics, and I'm glad awareness is growing. I just think much better solutions are right under the noses of these powerful people. I can't tell you how annoying it is to me that Medium, for example, is holding onto this subscription model when the blockchain is right there.

So, enter Maneesh Sethi, and why I'm so glad that he is in the world. Maneesh is trying to incentivize good behavior with the blockchain. You can earn "volts" on the Pavlok mobile app, for tracking your sleep, doing a gratitude journal, or building pretty much any habit you wish.

As you'll hear in this conversation, Maneesh quietly built volts on the blockchain way back in 2014. His users have been earning volts, with no value, ever since. He tells me volts will actually be released as a cryptocurrency sometime later this year, meaning people could actually earn money building good habits and breaking bad habits. And also that the volts that they've already earned may suddenly become valuable. It's an attempt to fix the broken economics of technology.

It's huge, and exciting and I can't wait to see if it works.

This conversation is long, and rambly, like this intro, and we interrupt each other a lot. But, I love talking with Maneesh so I left it mostly unedited. Hopefully you appreciate some of the tangents we go on.

New Short Read: How to Write a Book I just published a little "book." It's more of a pamphlet, really. It's a Kindle Short Read called "How to Write a Book." It will show you how to use self motivation to overcome writer's block and make your book real. Buy How to Write a Book at kadavy.net/wab. Again, that's kadavy.net/wab.

Donate on Patreon Supporters are currently covering more than half of production costs for Love Your Work. Support the show, get early access to episodes, as well as bonus masterclasses and office hours with me. Sign up at kadavy.net/donate.

Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me [email protected].

Sponsors:

http://skillshare.com/loveyourwork

Show Notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/maneesh-sethi/