# My New Job + 9 Rules for Not Being Outraged All The Time

*Hello friends! You likely signed up for this after reading one of my
essays on Medium. I send this thing every few months, mostly a wrap-up
of stuff I'm working on and the best reading from around the web—all
ending with a sweet flag. See past
issues *[*here*](http://tinyletter.com/blanda/archive?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=my-new-job-9-rules-for-not-being-outraged-all-the)*.
Now, to the newsletter:*\
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![A highway in Namibia](../images/0eba7fc6e2f6.jpg) \
*Above: Last month, my wife and I drove from Windhoek, Namibia to Cape
Town, South Africa. Above is a rain storm gathering on route B1, the
main north/south artery in Namibia as we approached the South African
border. Namibia is only second to Mongolia in lack of population
density, so the drive is full of sprawling, big sky landscapes like this
one — kinda like driving through a Road Runner cartoon.*\
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***Personal Update***\
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**Big news: Way excited to share my next move. Starting in March, I’ll
be the Editor in Chief of *[Growth
Lab](http://growthlab.com?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=my-new-job-9-rules-for-not-being-outraged-all-the)*
and *[I Will Teach You to be
Rich](http://iwillteachyoutoberich.com/?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=my-new-job-9-rules-for-not-being-outraged-all-the)***.
More to come, but I’m super excited to work with Ramit Sethi and his
first-rate team helping young people build amazing businesses, careers,
and lives. This also means that my travels are coming to an end, I’ll be
back in New York City soon after a week-long stop over in Austin,
Texas.\
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**…Speaking of building amazing careers**, I spent a lot of the past few
months interviewing folks for a career advice-based project I was
working on. I'll be shutting that down to focus on my new gig. I learned
tons in my research there. Perhaps the most frequent theme was the
desire for autonomy to work on the things we want to work on and live
the life we’d like.\
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One of the reasons I’m excited for my new chapter is that *I Will Teach*
and *Growth Lab* both aim to help millennials have greater personal
autonomy by getting their finances under control and starting a
business, respectively. HUGE thanks to everyone that Skyped with me
about their careers. I promise to take that mission forward into my new
gig and make you proud.\
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**And lastly, I completely revamped my personal website**. I archived
all my favorite writing of the past few years and will host most of my
future essays there. Check it at
[SeanBlanda.com](http://seanblanda.com/?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=my-new-job-9-rules-for-not-being-outraged-all-the).\
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***Our Broken News Cycle***\
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We’re one month-ish into the new presidential administration and surely
it feels longer. Each day there is a seemingly unprecedented news event
to get hyper emotional about. Staying at outrage level 11 all the time
isn’t tenable, so how can you stay sane and still be informed? Here are
some still-in-progress “New Rules” that (mostly) help me stay sane while
following the news in the era of Trump:

1.  If a story confirms your worldview, take a second. Especially if
    that story quotes anonymous sources.
2.  In quest to be fast, even “legit” media misreports things. Take a
    few hours before reacting after reading something that pisses you
    off/excites you.
3.  Flip the sides. If Obama/Bush, Pelosi/Ryan, or Schumer/McConnell did
    this, how would you feel? This helps separate actual
    principle/partisanship and makes any future reactions by you have
    more impact on those around you.
4.  As much as possible get upset over *actions* and not speeches,
    writing, or overtures.
5.  Read opinions in the most charitable way possible first. Even if it
    hurts. Give people the benefit of the doubt you wish to receive
    yourself.
6.  Most times, people that disagree with you are not morally bankrupt.
    In many cases they have considered effects, unforeseen consequences,
    and externalities that you couldn’t see. Take a second and consider
    things you may have missed.
7.  Don’t box people into either being Frasier Craine or Larry the Cable
    Guy. People are complicated!
8.  Something is not “breaking norms” just because you can’t remember if
    it ever happened before. Look first.
9.  Remember: most media has an incentive to get you all riled up and
    quickly. More on that in my essay about [the reason we all hate the
    news these
    days](https://medium.com/@SeanBlanda/medium-and-the-reason-you-cant-stand-the-news-anymore-c98068fec3f8?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=my-new-job-9-rules-for-not-being-outraged-all-the). 

I’d love to hear how you’re managing to stay sane and informed.\
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***The Links***\
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**These days, Twitter is less a tool for connection or sharing, than it
is a tool for judgement**. *Real Life Mag* on how Twitter has left us
[over exposed to mob
rule](http://reallifemag.com/jury-duty/?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=my-new-job-9-rules-for-not-being-outraged-all-the)
and the effect it’s had on our discourse.\
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**Part of the reason our national conversations are feeling fruitless**
is that, for too long, we’ve let political hypocrisy off the hook. Many
of us look the other way when our “side” does something against our
values only to blast the other team when they do the same. Jonathan
Bethune explains how we got here and [why we all need to do some soul
searching](http://thefederalist.com/2017/02/16/left-right-political-hypocrites/?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=my-new-job-9-rules-for-not-being-outraged-all-the).\
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*Also: I’ve really enjoyed following* [*Sean
Davis*](https://twitter.com/seanmdav?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=my-new-job-9-rules-for-not-being-outraged-all-the)
*of the Federalist on Twitter for a sober (and combative) viewpoint on
why many disdain the media for this reason.*\
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**How did sportswriting [become a liberal
profession](https://theringer.com/how-sportswriting-became-a-liberal-profession-dc7123a5caba?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=my-new-job-9-rules-for-not-being-outraged-all-the)?**
And isn't [that a bad
thing?](http://theweek.com/articles/680886/arrogant-thinking-liberal-sports-writers?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=my-new-job-9-rules-for-not-being-outraged-all-the)\
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**The most isolated place on Earth** is "Point Nemo" an area in the
South Pacific Ocean that is home to [hundreds of decommissioned
spacecraft](http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20161004-the-place-furthest-from-land-is-known-as-point-nemo?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=my-new-job-9-rules-for-not-being-outraged-all-the).\
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**Uber drivers can’t set their own prices.** Amazon can goose its search
results to show their products first. Google and Facebook have tight
grips on the advertising and content we see. These companies, once the
promise of a free open market, have instead created what Anil Dash is
calling “Rigged Markets” – it’s a counterintuitive argument that more
regulation [could actually result in freer, fairer
commerce](https://medium.com/humane-tech/tech-and-the-fake-market-tactic-8bd386e3d382?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=my-new-job-9-rules-for-not-being-outraged-all-the). \
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**Sure, hiring managers like a good resume and cover letter.** But for a
real "in," show them your relevant side projects. Example? My buddy Tom
Critchlow wrote about his side project [got him in the door at
Google](http://tomcritchlow.com/2017/01/26/f-yeah-side-projects/?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=my-new-job-9-rules-for-not-being-outraged-all-the).\
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**Are Identity Politics bad? Or necessary for justice?** In this dense
essay, **Daniel Denvir** and **Thea N. Riofrancos** look at the history
of race and gender issues with some scathing viewpoints on the missteps
of Bill Clinton:

> The Democratic Party elite, with an eye toward demographic trends,
> complacently believed that class politics were unnecessary because
> there were too few white workers and workers of color had nowhere else
> to turn. But demography is not destiny. People of color, hammered by
> economic crisis and mass incarceration, were stuck with voting
> Democratic or staying home—and *many* did the latter. 

Worth a read to contextualize for a view on [how we got to where we are
now](http://inthesetimes.com/article/19902/heres-how-we-can-move-pastthe-identity-politics-debate-splintering-the-left?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=my-new-job-9-rules-for-not-being-outraged-all-the). \
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**Relevant to above: Good intentions often backfire.** It’s time to
consider the actual effect of our actions rather than our hoped-for
outcomes. One solution: think like a hacker and [“break” stuff before
going
ahead](https://points.datasociety.net/when-good-intentions-backfire-786fb0dead03?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=my-new-job-9-rules-for-not-being-outraged-all-the#.w45z44gw1).\
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*Books I’ve enjoyed the past month:*
[*Antifragile*](https://www.amazon.com/Antifragile-Things-That-Disorder-Incerto-ebook/dp/B0083DJWGO/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1487435208&sr=1-1&keywords=antifragile+things+that+gain+from+disorder&utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=my-new-job-9-rules-for-not-being-outraged-all-the)
*by Nassim Taleb and* [*Amusing Ourselves to
Death*](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0023ZLLH6/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1&utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=my-new-job-9-rules-for-not-being-outraged-all-the)
*by Neil Postman.*\
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***Official Newsletter Flag (for now)***\
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![Holy Roman Empire Flag](../images/280f7f04892b.png)Above is the flag
of the Holy Roman Empire, the precursor to modern day Germany (where I
wrote most of this newsletter). From the 10^(th) Century until 1806,
Germany and some surrounding territory was known as the “Holy Roman
Empire” even though it didn’t have much to do with the Romans. Info
varies, but the double headed eagle seems to be most closely associated
with the Byzantine empire (which was the Eastern half of the old Roman
empire) thus its flag and name were more of a Dark Ages-era branding
exercise to recall the glory days of Caesar and co. Personally, we don’t
have many yellow and black flags and double headed eagles are pretty
rad.\
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But, not as rad as you, dear reader. Thanks for allowing space in your
crowded inbox for this ol’ thing.\
 \
-Sean