Podcast 313: Help People Not Disappoint You, a Hack for Reading More, a Talk with Deepa Iyer about Different Roles to Play in Social Change.

Try This at Home

Help people not disappoint you. If you think that they might disappoint you, give them some help.

Happiness Hack

Many people feel that if they start a book, they have to finish it. A listener who felt this way added a new category to her list of completed books: “Didn’t finish.” That way, she gets a sense of completion so she can move on to books she’ll enjoy. This is a great hack for people joining us for the #Read21in21 challenge. She mentions being an “Upholder,” one of the Tendencies in my Four Tendencies personality framework. If you want to find out if you’re an Upholder, Questioner, Obliger, or Rebel, take the free, quick quiz here (more than 3.2 million people have taken this quiz).

Interview

 Deepa Iyer is a South Asian-American writer, strategist, lawyer, and racial justice advocate. She’s a Strategic Advisor at Building Movement Project and Director of Solidarity Is, a project that provides trainings, narratives, and resources on building deep and lasting multiracial solidarity.

Deepa’s first book was the award-winning We Too Sing America: South Asian, Arab, Muslim and Sikh Immigrants Shape Our Multiracial Future (AmazonBookshop). She also hosts a podcast called Solidarity Is This.

Deepa Iyer created the “Social Change Ecosystem Map” to identify the ten roles people play in helping to bring about social change.

If you want to read more from Deepa, I shared an interview with her on my website. Read it here.

Gretchen’s Demerit

Don’t chivvy! (I.e., don’t badger, pester, or nag.)

Elizabeth’s Gold Star

Adam worked long and hard to solve their problem with their cell service.

Resources


What we’re reading

Elizabeth: Still reading Warlight, Michael Ondaatje (AmazonBookshop)
Gretchen: Hamnet, Maggie O’Farrell (AmazonBookshop)

LATEST EPISODES

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE

DISCOVER MORE

Like what you see? Explore more about this topic.

Subscribe to Gretchen’s newsletter.

Every Friday, Gretchen Rubin shares 5 things that are making her happier, asks readers and listeners questions, and includes exclusive updates and behind-the-scenes material.