Advice for the Day- from Tyler Cowen
COWEN: I think the thing I’m recommending for a lot of people now is to find a sphere of activity, no matter how small or how local, that you feel you can control and you can do at home and you can contribute to. This feeling of powerlessness may set in, that will cause people to panic more or become too depressed or just make them much less productive, or spread to their families, or maybe cause them to go out and want to get drunk and become a spreader in some manner, so really to think long and hard. I’m not really counseling stoicism. I’m counseling a kind of action, something you can do. Even if it ends up only being a placebo, you will feel more in control. Of course, there’s a chance that will pay off and have some benefits. I think that’s an important idea to promote at this point.
ROBERTS: Well, I like the idea that while you’re home, if you’re not usually at home, to try to have a project that you’re… You’re alluding to that effectively, which is teach yourself a language, an instrument, learn how to draw. There’s just so many wonderful things you can do online now without having to go out of your house. You can make yourself get better at something. That’s your niche idea, right?
COWEN: Yes.
ROBERTS: Work at something. I’m doing a plank every day. I’m getting down on the ground, trying to improve my core. I’m taking a walk every day, which I didn’t otherwise do. I think it’s great to try to create those habits for yourself in this a window of enforced unusual behavior.