We invest our working time in getting better at topics necessary for our (future) jobs, and our leisure time in mindless activities to numb ourselves. We become experts at fantasy series, video games, sports, celebrity news, and effortless jobs—unaware that none of these things will teach us anything about how to listen to our friends, how to become self-disciplined, and what to do with anger or grief. We confuse getting better at stuff with learning how to live, and how to be a good person.
