Your Favorite Ideas of 2024
Many people get goosebumps when enjoying beautiful music or art—they’re called aesthetic chills. I get them most often when I come across new insights and evidence that can enrich our lives.
It’s clear from your comments that many of you do too. Looking back on 2024, here are the articles that captured your attention and the conversations that stimulated your imagination:
Top articles:
1. No, You Don’t Owe Me a Favor
Generosity is not a loan to repay or a debt to settle. It's a gift to appreciate.
2. There’s a Place for Everyone
Why many people struggle to find their niche—and where yours might be hiding.
3. Writer Math
A short, hilarious take on writer’s block, procrastination, and looming deadlines.
4. Chicken Littles are Ruining America
Spreading doom and gloom is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
5. I Was Wrong About the Olympics
I used to think the ideal state of the world was transcending borders altogether. Going to Paris reminded me that rejecting negative nationalism doesn’t require us to abandon positive patriotism. You can love your people without hating others.
Top conversations:
6. Overcoming toxic positivity with psychologist Susan David: Apple | Spotify | Transcript
7. Should leaders be feared or loved? with historian Niall Ferguson: Apple | Spotify | Transcript
8. A company is not a family with Airbnb’s Brian Chesky: Apple | Spotify | Transcript
9. The secret to success isn’t power—it’s status: Apple | Spotify | Transcript
10. Malcolm Gladwell on the importance of self-correction: Apple | Spotify | Transcript
Whatever 2025 brings, here’s to filling it with growth and generosity.
In solidarity,
Adam
P.S. This is the opposite of ikigai 😆
#4 called out to me. Doom and gloom predictions have been running rampant since the election in November. Lots of hand-wringing, crying, and predictions of disaster. People conveniently forget that the result was clear, and they still don't accept it. I didn't vote for the winners, and Taking the longer view and having lived through worse times, I know that one's individual choices have a far greater effect on how life turns out than anything else.
Thank you for consistently challenging us to think deeper!