Recommended Consumption: January 2014 edition

Longform:

• America’s angriest white men: Up close with racism, rage and Southern supremacy, by Michael Kimmel. Hard to think of a good reaction to this piece, but it's certainly evocative and provocative. An easy reaction for me to give is "Why don't these guys teach themselves 21st century skills; my industry can't get enough programmers and designers." But clearly it's not that easy.
• Chilling Testimony Of Death Row Executioners Casts Dark Shadow Over Entire System, by Laura Dimon. I'm looking forward to the day that America gives up this shameful practice. It's also a little disquieting to remember that California, supposedly a progressive state, is a place where the death penalty is practiced. Kind of makes me want to move back to Illinois, or to Alaska, or maybe New York.

Shortform:

• Why Most of Your Assumptions About Phone Calls are Wrong, from Mark.
• Rap Genius Explains Why Worse is Better, from the always-excellent First Round Review.
• The Saddest SaaS Pricing Pages of the Year, from Price Intelligently.
• Four posts that I really enjoyed from James Clear:
• How to Stay Focused When You Get Bored Working Toward Your Goals. Killer quote: "[The] ability to do the work when it’s not easy that separates the top performers from everyone else."
• Identity-Based Habits: How to Actually Stick to Your Goals This Year. Killer quote: "The reason why it’s so hard to stick to new habits is that we often try to achieve a performance or appearance–based goal without changing our identity. Most of the time we try to achieve results before proving to ourselves that we have the identity of the type of person we want to become. It should be the other way around."
• The Difference Between Professionals and Amateurs. Killer quote: "It doesn’t matter what you are trying to become better at, if you only do the work when you’re motivated, then you’ll never be consistent enough to become a professional."
• Are You Living an Urgent Life or an Important Life?. Killer quote: "Too often the urge to find a way to lose twenty pounds in six weeks (urgent) wins out over becoming the type of person who doesn’t miss workouts (important).... Nothing worth working for will ever seem urgent. That’s the nature of important goals. They don’t demand attention right now. They require a sense of purpose, a clear direction, and consistency over the long haul."
• How to motivate a young musician. This jives with James' post about identity-based habits; you'll become more successful at your chosen craft if you view practice as a crucial part of your identity.