Seeing the Forest through the Trees
/One person’s journey from PhD to planting trees
Noam Osband spends a season planting trees in Canada. (Photo courtesy Noam Osband)
Overachievement. The word conjures up specific kinds of feats: high grades, promotions, success in the traditional sense. Things that are unambiguously good.
But what happens when you realize the quest to achieve has been holding you back?
On this episode, producer Noam Osband shares the story of something surprising that happened while he was researching his PhD dissertation. His story that takes us from the hills of Arkansas to the forests of Canada, and introduces us to the world of migrant workers whose job it is to plant the trees that feed our timber industry.
It’s a story that questions our desire to get ahead, and shows what happens when you're willing to take your gaze away from your goal.
“Hearing some Harvard schmuck complain about too much schooling is the most insufferable of first-world problems. But there’s also something universal ... about realizing maybe you don’t want the lifestyle that you’ve been taught is the good life.”
