The Great Resignation ends?
The cost of living crisis means that GenZ & Millennials are looking for jobs they left just months ago. Maybe our choices aren't as free as we thought they were. More guidance and inspiration within.
People who were considering leaving their jobs and heading for pastures new are having to think again. Although employment rates are relatively high in western economies, the cost of living is increasing. People who may have been swept up in the Great Resignation maybe starting to wonder if they made the right decision, especially those in Gen-Z, and Millennials too.
When Meredith, 31, left her corporate job as a product manager, she didn’t predict that leaving her “unfulfilling” role would result in her searching for the same position months later as a recession looms.
“I own a home with my boyfriend and our energy bill recently went up to £177 a month. It’s just the two of us but we have what we consider good salaries. We’re scraping by,” she said.
I think we may be seeing an increase in dissatisfaction in people’s work lives as they start to tip towards staying put in unfulfilling rules rather than risking being “last in and first out” somewhere else. Recessionary forces are on the loose and we don’t yet know how the economic picture will look. Many people may begin to prioritise stability rather than adventure. For now.
By the way, if you’re relatively new around here - welcome. And if you’ve been in this community a while now, thanks for sticking around.
I love writing this Substack and really appreciate your support in enabling me to do so. If you haven’t become a paid member yet, I’d love you to take the plunge and do that - so here’s a 20% coupon to help you do just that. But I know times are tight - only do this if you can afford to. Offer lasts until the end of this weekend.
36 ways to live differently
You want to make changes in your life, but you either can’t think of anything to start with, or you’re overwhelmed for choice. Chris Guillebeau — author and host of the “Side Hustle School” podcast has got your back.
When struggling with a decision, consider each outcome and see how it physically feels. This is a learned practice, and one that I was unable to do for many years. An early therapist kept asking me to describe events and would ask, “How does this make you feel in your body?” and I always gave an intellectual answer. The goal is to find the somatic sensation.
Pick and choose which ones work for you. But if you’re looking to make a change, the best thing to do is start.
Can artificial intelligence really help us talk to the animals?
Earth Species Project (ESP), a California non-profit group wants to harness the power of machine learning to decode communication across the entire animal kingdom. But the project has its doubters.
The problem, he explains, is that while many animals can have sophisticated, complex societies, they have a much smaller repertoire of sounds than humans. The result is that the exact same sound can be used to mean different things in different contexts and it is only by studying the context – who the individual calling is, how are they related to others, where they fall in the hierarchy, who they have interacted with – that meaning can hope to be established. “I just think these AI methods are insufficient,” says Robert Seyfarth, Professor Emeritus of psychology at University of Pennsylvania. “You’ve got to go out there and watch the animals.”
Check out the full story here.
[LISTEN] Befriending your inner voice
You know that negative voice that goes round and round in your head, keeping you up at night?
When that negative inner voice gets switched on, it's hard to think about anything else. Psychologist Ethan Kross has a name for it: chatter. He says it's part of the human condition, but there are ways to keep our negative emotions from morphing into chatter.
More on our planetary cohabitants: The consciousness of bees
Experiments indicate that bees have surprisingly rich inner worlds.
…the latest research indicates that even tiny-brained bees are profoundly intelligent creatures that can memorize not only flowers but also human faces, solve problems by thinking rather than by trial and error, and learn to use tools by observing skilled bees. They even appear to experience basic emotions, or at least something like optimism and pessimism. The possibility of sentience in these animals raises important ethical questions for their ecological conservation, as well as their treatment in the crop pollination industry and in research laboratories - Professor Lars Chittka, Queen Mary University of London
Check out more in this article from Lars, author of The Mind of a Bee, here.
You won’t live longer or better by diet or exercise alone
Yup, you need to do both at the same time.
Most people know that working out and eating well are critical components of overall health. But a sweeping study published this week in the British Journal of Sports Medicine suggests that hitting the gym won’t counteract the consequences of consuming fat-laden foods, and mainlining kale can’t cancel out sedentary habits.
Here’s the summary from the New York Times, made free for readers of Noise Reduction via my subscription.
We underestimate how much others appreciate being reached out to
We seem to systematically underestimate how much people appreciate being reached out to, according to new research published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. This is particularly true in situations where people are not expecting to be contacted.
It appears that we love surprises. Who knew?
“We also found that people underestimated others’ appreciation to a greater extent when the communication was more surprising, as opposed to part of a regular communication pattern, or the social ties between the two participants were weak.” - Professor Peggy J. Liu, the Ben L. Fryrear Chair in Marketing at the University of Pittsburgh Katz Graduate School of Business.
MTV Launched on August 1981
OMG this feels like such a long time ago. Because, it was such a long time ago. Remember this? It was the first video they played on launch.
The second played track was the lesser known “You better run”, by Pat Benatar.
Reading, watching, listening
Watching: You can see why Severance has been nominated for several awards. We’ve just finished watching it. A truly disturbing take on work-life balance. A remarkable series and so very well made. Can’t wait for season 2.
Reading: Comparonomics by Grant J Ryan, and accessible and interesting way to look on the brighter side of life. I’m not sure it stands up to tighter scrutiny, but worth a dip.
Listening: I’ve been enjoying the Open Country podcast by BBC Radio 4 from time to time - a countryside magazine featuring the people and wildlife that shape the landscape of the British Isles.