Best of Web - May 9th, 2020

We live in a time of abundance. Not just material abundance but abundance of ideas, thoughts, philosophies, experiences and insights. Exceptional content is both created at an unprecedented rate and is amplified by the ease of discoverability, through search, sharing and finely tuned recommendation engines. Following are some recent gems that I came across and the best way to thank people who helped me find these is to pass it forward.

1. McKinsey quarterly article on overcoming the identity mindset trap. If you like this, then you would love the Unlocking Leadership Mindtraps by Jennifer Garvey Berger

2. One of the Mindtraps that Jennifer cautions against is the trap of simple stories a point beautifully made in this inspirational ted talk by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

3. And if speeches inspire you, James Clear has been kind to collect and share his list of great speeches.

4. Stories are also best told using pictures. Visual Capitalist is a site dedicated to this idea. You can at a glance see how big tech is fighting COVID or how China overtook US as world's largest trading partner.

5. If you are inspired by the above site or by articles that have beautiful simulations, and feel like writing some code , you can explore Vega-lite, if javascript is your jam or Altair if you prefer python.

6. For the politics and COVID weary, this twitter thread has a bunch of things you can read that are not related to either topic.

7. If you'd like to read research papers but find them dry, you can subscribe to a weekly thoughtfully selected article from Fermat's library or browse the publications at distill.pub, a site dedicated to taking a modern approach to presenting research.

8. On the other hand, if you are looking to nourish your soul, the Tao of everyday life is a short book that you can read from anywhere.

9. If you are looking to get better at your craft, start with this article on why it is important to train like an athlete by David Perrell and then move on to reading Mastery by Robert Greene

10. If you wondering how to make time for all this, you could start with Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport the same author who wrote one of my favorite books on reaching fulfillment through Deep Work.

11. If you prefer listening to things over reading this excellent podcast with John Maxwell on developing the leader in you is packed with gems ranging from pursuing a life of significance over success and the importance of failure.

12. Finally, if the desire to be productive every moment stresses you out, get your favorite drink and read the lovely book In Praise of wasting time.