No Stupid Questions

What’s the difference between being busy and being productive? Would you be better at your job if you cared a little less? And can somebody get Mike a cup of coffee?

RESOURCES:

• "State of the Global Workplace: 2023 Report," (Gallup, 2023).
• "What’s Really So Wrong About Secretly Working Two Full-Time Jobs at Once?" by Alison Green (Slate, 2023).
• "The Problem With Venting," by Ethan Kross (Character Lab, 2021).
• "Conan O'Brien's Final Monologue: 'Nobody in Life Gets What They Thought They Were Going to Get,'" by Lynette Rice (Entertainment Weekly, 2020).
• "Employee Burnout, Part 1: The 5 Main Causes," by Ben Wigert and Sangeeta Agrawal (Gallup, 2018).
• "Finding Solutions to the Problem of Burnout," by Christina Maslach (Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, 2017).
• "Maslach Burnout Inventory: Third Edition," by Christina Maslach, Susan E. Jackson, and Michael P. Leiter (Evaluating Stress: A Book of Resources, 1997).
• Burnout: The High Cost of High Achievement, by Herbert Freudenberger and Geraldine Richelson (1980).
• "Staff Burn-Out," by Herbert Freudenberger (Journal of Social Issues, 1974).
• "Dehumanization in Institutional Settings," by Christina Maslach and Philip Zimbardo (U.S. Office of Naval Research, 1973).

EXTRAS:

• "How Do You Cure a Compassion Crisis?" by Freakonomics Radio (2020).
• Charlotte's Web, by E.B. White (1952).

Do you get grittier as you age? What's worse for mental health: video games or social media? And do baby boomers make the best D.J.s?

RESOURCES:

• Generations: The Real Differences Between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, and Silents — and What They Mean for America's Future, by Jean Twenge (2023).
• "5 Things to Keep in Mind When You Hear About Gen Z, Millennials, Boomers and Other Generations," by Michael Dimock (Pew Research Center, 2023).
• "Lock Screens," by Jean Twenge (Character Lab, 2023).
• "The Blurred Lines Between Goldman C.E.O.’s Day Job and His D.J. Gig," by Emily Flitter and Katherine Rosman (The New York Times, 2023).
• From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life, by Arthur Brooks (2022).
• "The Great Resistance: Getting Employees Back to the Office," by Nicholas Bloom (Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, 2022).
• "Generations and Generational Differences: Debunking Myths in Organizational Science and Practice and Paving New Paths Forward," by Cort W. Rudolph, Rachel S. Rauvola, David P. Costanza, and Hannes Zacher (Journal of Business and Psychology, 2021).
• "Patterns of Cumulative Continuity and Maturity in Personality and Well-Being: Evidence From a Large Longitudinal Sample of Adults," by Frank D. Mann, Colin G. DeYoung, and Robert F. Krueger (Personality and Individual Differences, 2021).
• "Global Prevalence of Gaming Disorder: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis," by Matthew W.R. Stevens, Diana Dorstyn, Paul H Delfabbro, and Daniel L King (Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 2020).
• "A Majority of Young Adults in the U.S. Live With Their Parents for the First Time Since the Great Depression," by Richard Fry, Jeffrey S. Passel, and D'Vera Cohn (Pew Research Center, 2020).
• "Managing the Strategy Development Process: Deliberate vs. Emergent Strategy," by Clayton Christensen (Harvard Business Review Case Study, 2019).
• "Distinguishing Aging, Period and Cohort Effects in Longitudinal Studies of Elderly Populations," by Robert D. Blanchard, James B. Bunker, and Martin Wachs (Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, 1977).
• "Gaming Disorder," by the World Health Organization.

EXTRAS:

• "Why Can’t Baby Boomers and Millennials Just Get Along?" by No Stupid Questions (2021).

Does anyone really know what they’re doing? How do we reward the competent and not the confident? And what’s wrong with using TikTok for research?

RESOURCES:

• "Why Everyone Feels Like They’re Faking It," by Leslie Jamison (The New Yorker, 2023).
• "The Impostor Phenomenon Revisited: Examining the Relationship between Workplace Impostor Thoughts and Interpersonal Effectiveness at Work," by Basima Tewfik (Academy of Management Journal, 2022).
• "You’re Not an Imposter. You’re Actually Pretty Amazing," by Kess Eruteya (Harvard Business Review, 2022).
• "Workplace ‘Impostor Thoughts’ May Have a Genuine Upside," by Meredith Somers (Ideas Made to Matter, 2022).
• The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times, by Michelle Obama (2022).
• "Prevalence, Predictors, and Treatment of Impostor Syndrome: a Systematic Review," by Dena M. Bravata, Sharon A. Watts, Autumn L. Keefer, Divya K. Madhusudhan, Katie T. Taylor, Dani M. Clark, Ross S. Nelson, Kevin O. Cokley, and Heather K. Hagg (Journal of General Internal Medicine, 2020).
• "What Is Imposter Syndrome and How Can You Combat It?" by Elizabeth Cox (TED-Ed, 2018).
• "Is Resilience Only Skin Deep?: Rural African Americans' Socioeconomic Status-Related Risk and Competence in Preadolescence and Psychological Adjustment and Allostatic Load at Age 19," by Gene H. Brody, Tianyi Yu, Edith Chen, Gregory Miller, Steven M. Kogan, and Steven R. H. Beach (Psychological Science, 2013).
• “Emotion Generation and Emotion Regulation: One or Two Depends on Your Point of View,” by James Gross and Lisa Feldman Barrett (Emotion Review, 2011).
• "Good C.E.O.’s Are Insecure (and Know It)," by Adam Bryant (The New York Times, 2010).
• Pour Your Heart Into It: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time, by Howard Schultz (1997).

EXTRAS:

• "Reading Dostoevsky Behind Bars," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2023).
• "Can a Moonshot Approach to Mental Health Work?" by People I (Mostly) Admire (2023).
• "Why Do We Get Angry?" by No Stupid Questions (2023).

How much control do you really have over your body? Could understanding genetics help combat fat-shaming? And why is Mike’s life coach so happy all the time?

How do you practice self-care if you don’t have time for a break? Is it weird to talk to yourself? And does Mike need a bag of Doritos — or just a hug?

How final is a final offer, really? Does anonymity turn nice people into jerks? And should you tell your crush that you dreamed about marrying them?

Why would a successful person feel the need to stick it to the little guy? Is Angela a name-dropper? And why do rappers grab their crotches?

How do you deal with a close talker? Is Angela drinking too much water? And why can’t Mike keep his phone out of his bedroom?

Is it better to be the best player on the worst team or the worst player on the best team? How did Angela cope with her extremely impressive freshman dorm mates? And why won’t Shaquille O'Neal let Charles Barkley have an onion ring?

How well do you know the people in your life, really? Are you stuck having surface-level conversations? And should we all be in couples therapy?