Among the email newsletters I subscribe to, From the Curious Mind of Jocelyn K. Glei is one where I always find something that challenges my thinking and/or makes my life better. Glue curates “ideas for finding more creativity and meaning in our daily lives”, usually around a theme, then gives the brief gist and the link so you can follow the trail to the source, or not. Her graphics are great, featuring a different artist in each issue, like these images from Trüf Creative.  It’s a relief and pleasure to have an interesting selection that I don’t have to slog through.

This sampling of my favorite finds from her Best of 2018 issue give a sense of Gleis’ curator mindset:

How to do nothing. This essay by Jenny Odell is easily one of the most illuminating pieces I’ve read in a very long time. There are so many wonderful thoughts on deep listening, the creativity of maintenance work, the value of sabbaticals, and even bird watching! Plus, the photos are marvelous.

Every opportunity comes with a cost. A great piece by Paul Jarvis on saying NO: “As much as we’d like to be nice people, we owe others a lot less of our time than we believe we do. It’s your business, you’re allowed to be a little selfish with it, :especially when the net result of saying “yes” to everything to be “nice” is that you have less time to actually spend on your business and serving your customers.” (Paul also has a fantastic new book called Company of One that’s worth checking out.)

How to get a job. I agree with the proactive spirit of this piece 100%: “Most of those hires just showed up and sat in that exact same chair and did nothing remarkable. They did what most of us for most of our lives do: wing it. They let the interview dictate events rather than seize control of it — rather than earnestly make a pitch for what they think they can do.”

As widely as I read, I never would have found any of these. Digital artist Jenny Odell’s long, amazing How to do nothing is a treasure.