Nice dream

Noise Reduction has been going for a year. It's been an interesting experiment. What happens next? The usual links to fun, inspiration and guidance within.

I started this Substack last March. I had just published my third book, but the first with a major, mainstream publisher: Penguin Random House. Things were looking good and my writing mojo was rising. I wanted to see if I could make a living out of writing by connecting directly with you, my audience. Because you sure can’t make it out of writing books. Not the majority of mere mortals anyway, without mega-fans built through a string of successful books.

A regular newsletter on the publishing platform that Substack was providing seemed like a good idea. Substack were supportive, even giving me a place on one of their accelerator programs.

All was going well until it didn’t. It started going off track when I took time off to visit family in the UK in October 2022. I took a trip earlier in April / May and I kept writing during that one. But I needed more uninterrupted time to connect with family and friends in that October trip.

My readership metrics never recovered from that time off.

When I returned to writing, readers started to leave in droves. I’m not sure why. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to figure that out and understand what I need to do. But now that I’m a year into this experiment, I’m accepting the result that it’s not possible for me to make a living out of writing. Not in this form, anyway.

I tried. I really did.

But I can’t afford to continue this experiment any longer. I need to reallocate my time to different projects and consultancy work. I need to pay the bills.

So, my publishing cadence for newsletter is changing.

It’ll now be about once a month-ish, with the occasional bonus post or issue. It will also be free, but with an option for people to donate or subscribe if they wish to support my writing. I hope you can understand my reasons for this change.

Thank you to all my paid members. I’m emailing you separately with a special gift to show my appreciation of your support in the next day or two. I hope you can use it.

Enjoy this month’s issue!

Oliver Burkeman @oliverburkeman

anxiety-inducing

The rule of 3

Here’s the recipe for public speaking: make no more than three points, explain difficult ideas in three ways, and repeat key points three times. Mix this with a genuine desire to connect with people and you have the magic formula. More from science communicator and actor, Alan Alda, here, including audio and YouTube video too.

Credit: Annelisa Leinbach

Psychology Today @PsychToday

Here's why the brain's ability to identify and interpret signals from the body is so important for our physical and psychological health bit.ly/3dYuEK0

Kung fu nuns and environmental activism

Ms. Lhamo and the other members of her religious order are known as the Kung Fu nuns, part of an 800-year-old Buddhist sect called Drukpa, the Tibetan word for dragon. Their time has come in this great photo essay.

Nuns participating in Nolsang, prayers offered for the sick or deceased.

Today, Drukpa nuns not only practice Kung Fu but also lead prayers and walk for months on pilgrimages to pick up plastic litter and make people aware of climate change.

Every year for the past 20, except for a hiatus during the pandemic, the nuns have cycled about 1,250 miles from Kathmandu to Ladakh, high in the Himalayas, to promote green transportation.

Along the way, they stop to educate people in rural parts of both Nepal and India about gender equality and the importance of girls.

WeRateDogs® @dog_rates

This is Nick. If you won't maintain a healthy work-life balance, he'll do it for you. 12/10

Why Gen Z faces workplace ‘tech shame’

They may be digital natives, but young workers were raised on user-friendly apps – and office devices are far less intuitive, and the structural components tend not to change as fast as apps do. Printers, right?

How would they know how to scan something if they’ve never been taught to do it?’ Illustration: Esme Blegvad/The Guardian

Dell used its own survey of respondents between the ages of 18 and 26 to find that 56% of respondents said “they had very basic to no digital skills education.” A third of them said their education had not provided them “with the digital skill they need to propel their career”. What they know comes from the apps they use on their own time, not the tech supplies at Office Depot.

Brian Klaas @brianklaas

In this video, produced by @bigthink, I explain why we get the wrong leaders, why psychopaths rise to power, why humans are irrationally drawn to strongmen, and why the key to fixing it lies with changing systems more than people. Take a look:

How are you doing?

Click through for a powerful and interactive journey of emotional awareness, where you uncover the power of naming and visualizing your feelings. Who knew– you can feel more than one feeling at once?

Daily Stoic @dailystoic

"There is no evil in things changing." — Marcus Aurelius