š My Generation Sucksā¦
Meet the GOAT of blogging, build resilience, & become a better teacher
This is the Bagel Bites version of Bread Crumbs where we cook up little nuggets of knowledge for you to chow down on before heading into your week.
Todayās estimated read time: 4 minutes & 45 seconds.
This is written by Paul, the Clancy kid who has broken the most bones.
One Cool Website
Explore the coolest thing humans have ever builtā¦the internet!
My generation sucks at maintaining intellectual integrity. We are more concerned with being right than identifying what is true. Optimizing for ārightnessā vs truth is dangerous. You will see the world through a distorted lens which will make your life worse.
Todayās media landscape is the manifestation of this sad state of affairs. Newspapers, podcasts, and blogs tell the same story with drastically different details.
But, there is one small glimmer of hope in todayās media landscape.
That glimmer resides in a small corner of the internet where stick figures and word counts run unrestricted. Where intellectual integrity shines bright and great storytelling is on full display. That place?
The Wait But Why Blog by Tim Urban.
I have not encountered another writer who can hit on the perils of being human with such boyish enthusiasm and wise commentary. My favorite piece by him is āThe Tail Endā. Check it out and let me know which posts you like the most!!
- Paul
One Thing Iām Working On
Practice makes progress.
This past June, I hit an inflection point in jiu-jitsu. I got my blue belt! As a blue belt, I am still super early in my jiu-jitsu career. Iāve got 3 more belt promotions (and many years of training) before I earn my black belt, which is the ultimate goal. But in the jiu-jitsu community, there is a phenomenon known as the āblue belt bluesā.
The blue belt blues describe when people quit entirely or train inconsistently after receiving their blue belts. Why? Their ego gets hurt.
As a blue belt, you are expected to perform at a higher level and grapple with higher belts. That means you get your a** kicked regularly. But just before getting promoted, you were likely smashing other white belts. You got used to dominating. And now, you are back at the bottomā¦getting smoked.
Recently, Iāve started to feel these blues. Do I still love jiu-jitsu? Yes. Do I love getting rocked at my training sessions? No. The problem is not that Iām getting smashed, itās my perception of getting smashed. It needs to be put into the right context. I need to remember that every black belt went through this exact same experience.
How did they get through it? They embraced the suck. They understood that progress is not linear. There are plateaus. Hell, there are even regressions. The key is to be persistent. And thatās what I am working on. Becoming relentless in my pursuit by embracing the suck. Putting my ego aside and acknowledging that this part of the journey is brutal BUT itās going to pass.
So, whatever area of life you might be feeling the blue belt blues, just know you arenāt alone. Letās embrace the suck, get through it, and come out the other side. We wonāt be stuck in the blue belt blues forever. Iāll see you on the other side!
- Paul
One Prediction For The Future
Life is changing fast.
By 2030, the best teachers will become āinternet-enabledā. The term internet-enabled typically applies to hardware devices that are capable of accessing and using the internet. When I was in grade school (circa 2006), the internet was in its infancy. Teachers despised it. Books are where you learn, not Youtube!
Fast forward to 2022 and that take sounds a** backward. Need to learn a new skill? Google is your first choice but YouTube is a close second. The resources donāt stop thereā¦blogs, podcasts, newsletters, hell even Twitter! The internet offers access to the worldās best resources. The problem? Thereās also a lot of bullsh*t to sift through.
Thatās where āinternet-enabledā teachers come in. The next generation of teachers grew up with the internet! They arenāt scared of it. It likely got them through college! These teachers are savvy internet users and will help students find the best resources on the internet to further explore topics. The teachers get 2 benefits:
They can supplement their teaching with internet resources.
They keep students more engaged.
Why? Because the best content creators are awesome storytellers. Imagine your world history class taught by Dan Carlin, your health education class by Andrew Huberman, and your finance class by Patrick OāShaughnessy. Todayās teachers can get access to world-class subject matter experts with the click of a button. The smart ones will use that access to their advantage.
- Paul
Bread Believer Of The Week!!
You da realest
The Bread Believer of the week is ā¦..drum roll please š„ā¦ Heather Clancy!! Aside from being a GOAT-level aunt to myself and Luke, Heather has been been a loyal supporter of Bread Crumbs since its inception. Sheās given great recs for books and articles to read. She also helped us with a product we will be launching to the Bread Crumbs community very soon š
Plus, she owns the best-decorated house in all of Chicagoland, so she deserves all the spotlight!! Thanks Heather ā¤ļøš!
- Paul
1 Great Book
There is no better bargain than a great book.
Since everyone and their mother is talking about the economy. Iām recommending The Devilās Financial Dictionary. It depicts the finance world in a hilariously cynical but soberingly accurate tone. Whether you are a novice or a finance professional, youāll get a few laughs and many lessons out of this tiny little book.
It provides witty definitions for all the financial terms youāll ever need to know. Iāll pick it up and flip through it from time to time when Iām looking to learn or just have a good laugh.
- Paul
Photo of the Week
Thatās me and Johnās tall, handsome friend Joey Kratz at Arcadia Bluffs (iykyk). Sorry ladies, heās taken!!
Thatās it for this week. See yāall next Sunday. Enjoy those pumpkin spice lattes!
- Paul & Luke