Your Favorite Insights of 2025
On AI, introverts, career choice, learning and unlearning, saying no, and finding courage
We finally have evidence that bingeing TikTok reels may be hazardous to your well-being. Take it from 71 studies with over 98k people: The more short-form videos teens and adults watched, the more they struggled with attention, self-control, and stress and anxiety.
Long live longform. Deep engagement doesn’t just boost learning—it brings meaning and happiness too. Toward that end, here are your top articles and podcasts of the past year:
Read
1. The Case That AI Is Thinking (James Somers, New Yorker)
Probably the most thought-provoking article of the year for me on AI.
2. Introverts Should (Sometimes) Act Like Extraverts (Olga Khazan, Vox)
A look at the new science of personality change.
3. Your Brain Needs a Boxcutter (Adam Mastroianni, Experimental History)
Many people choose careers based on pay, prestige, and purpose, overlooking whether they’ll enjoy the process. The best path to a fulfilling job might be to unpack how you’ll spend your time.
4. No, You Don’t Get an A for Effort (Some Bald Guy, New York Times)
A growing number of students complain: “My grade doesn’t reflect the effort I put into the course.” Public service announcement: High marks are for mastery, not for motivation. The true measure of learning is not the time and energy you put in—it’s the knowledge and skills you take out.
Listen
5. Rewriting your story with Allison Sweet Grant: Apple | Spotify | Transcript
6. How to say no: Apple | Spotify | Transcript
7. Brené Brown on courageous leadership: Apple | Spotify | Transcript
In solidarity,
Adam
"The true measure of learning is not the time and energy you put in—it’s the knowledge and skills you take out."
There's more than one generation of students who don't understand this concept. Perhaps the "real world" will drive home the point.
Can you imagine a surgeon making that excuse to the family of a dead patient?!
School trains recall.
Life trains application.
I only learned once I was in the field.