Friday, March 16, 2012

Weekend Reading: The Inspiration Edition

This week, I have some links that I find inspiring, and a link that wants to be inspiring, but I just find interesting.
First, the inspiring ones:
And now the sort of inspiring but really just interesting one, which my husband (a TED talk junkie) sent to me:



First of all, I completely disagree with him about velcro. That was an awesome invention, and my husband tells me it is taught as an example at engineering school. I think he is suffering from a bias against practical innovations in favor of theoretical advances. In truth, the world needs both.

I'm also not sure what to make of his assertion that you don't want to let your family stand in the way of your success. I like the line about not treating your spouse and children as jailers- but what solution is he advocating? Not having a family? Reaching for "it all"? Being a crappy spouse/parent so you can focus on your career? It is unclear. He should have talked less about how he is not a child-hater and more about what he actually meant here, I think.

Personally, I am not just aiming for a great career. I am aiming for a great life. And for me, the components of a great life include family and career.  I think that neither having a great career nor being a great parent are all-consuming pursuits. In fact, for me, I would do worse as a parent and worse at my career if I tried to make either of these things all-consuming. So maybe I agree with him- but it isn't clear if this is also what he is arguing.

And, also courtesy of my husband, The Real Housewives of Disney isn't inspiring at all but made me laugh.

And finally, the discussion of giftedness, etc., in the comments section of my last post may well be more worthwhile than the post itself... go check it out if you find the topic at all interesting.

4 comments:

  1. I found that quote by Ira Glass late last year.

    I liked it so much I framed it and put it on our wall.

    I really wanted to expose the kids to it. My older two are perfectionists and get very angry with themselves when their endeavors don't turn out as they want them to.

    It is a good reminder for me too!

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  2. Thanks for the great links. We saw The RHOD skit when Lindsay Lohan recently SNL and it was so hilarious!

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  3. Thanks so much for linking! Curiously, I wrote that post about taking time to think and then...got an offer for a major project out of the blue in my inbox the next day. Guess I was being productive without even knowing it!

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  4. Whoops, blogger just ate my comment. I was posting to say thanks for linking, and that also, after I wrote that post about just thinking, I got an offer for a big project out of the blue in my inbox the next day. Very funny.

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