Hi, I'm Jason. I write about the art and science of resilience.
I’m a 3x startup founder, ex-NCAA gymnast, executive coach, and Fast Company contributor based in Brooklyn.
I build knowledge & productivity tools at Meta & help upstart nonprofits grow at 13 Fund. More on me.
Every Saturday, I share unexpected ideas, fun visuals, and curated resources on resilience—exploring how we build, adapt, and lead in times of change.
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087: Living Recklessly
🤔 Who do you depend on? 🧠 Joan Didion's UC Riverside Speech 🖼 Finding Peace (S&B 038) 👉 Gamma (a docs + slides mashup)
076: How an Ex-Stanford Dean Learned to Embrace Her Child's Struggle
🖼 Sweat Therapy (Scotch & Bean) + 👉 Bilal Mahmood for State Assembly
Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why
In Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why journalist Laurence Gonzales combines his own personal adventure history with time spent with white water rafting experts, mountaineers, fighter jet pilots, and wilderness survival guides to understand how people survive (or fail to survive) in extreme wilderness situations like plane crashes,
35
With the exception of 2020 because, well, the world was super weird, I have made it a habit to publish a set of reflections on what I’ve learned in the past year. For instance, here’s 33, 32, and 31. The third tenet of my resilience framework is “reflect”
Resilience Isn’t Who You Are, It’s What You Do
After living in San Francisco for many years, my friend and her husband decided to relocate to New York City. Jessica (not her real name) is an Asian American woman in her early 30s. She began her first shift as a nurse practitioner at the psychiatric ward of an NYC
How to Become More Adaptable
It’s no secret that adaptability has become a critical trait for knowledge workers. To stay on top of a rapidly evolving world, we must assess new situations, make intelligent decisions and implement them effectively. A 2014 research report by Barclays indicated that 60% of employers say adaptability has
Solve for the Harder Problem [Interview with Bilal Mahmood]
How ClearBrain’s CEO Used These 7 Lessons to Create a New Product CategoryBilal Mahmood is cofounder and CEO of ClearBrain, a Y Combinator backed predictive analytics company that’s used by firms like Chime Bank. He’s also a good friend of mine and someone I greatly admire for
![Solve for the Harder Problem [Interview with Bilal Mahmood]](/content/images/size/w1460/wordpress/2020/01/bilal-mahmood-woods-1.jpg)
Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World
I’ve always seen myself as someone with a ton of interests, with a lot of useful skills and knowledge but not a world class expert in anything. And while that’s served me really well, I sometimes wonder if it puts me at a disadvantage. Fortunately for me, I
My Op-Ed in Vox
Writing milestones don’t come often. I’ve been blogging since 2009, have had pieces blow up on Medium or hit front page of Hacker News. I’ve been interviewed for places like The Atlantic and NYTimes. I’ve had my writing republished on Quartz and I contribute pieces regularly
Professional Athletes Don't Train 70 Hours a Week and Neither Should You
Long hours are BSLots of people in tech are obsessed with putting in long hours. Elon Musk once said that “nobody ever changed the world on 40 hours a week” and suggested that the correct number was between 80-100 hours. Freelance marketplace Fiverr, with venture funding to the tune of
087: Living Recklessly
🤔 Who do you depend on? 🧠 Joan Didion's UC Riverside Speech 🖼 Finding Peace (S&B 038) 👉 Gamma (a docs + slides mashup)
086: Embracing Uselessness
🤔 How do you restore yourself? 🧠 Embracing Uselessness 🖼 Stress Management (S&B 037) 👉 A checklist to track 2022
085: New Year’s Edition
🤔 What does resilience mean to you in 2022? 🧠 bell hooks on the vulnerability of love 🖼 Intentions (Scotch & Bean #036) 👉 A Twitter 🧵 on annual reviews
Jason Shen | Cultivating Resilience Newsletter
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