Is the bicycle really an economic disaster?

A banker made economists think this when he said: ′′ A cyclist is a disaster for the country’s economy: he doesn’t buy cars or borrow money to buy. He doesn’t pay insurance policies. Doesn’t buy fuel, doesn’t pay to take the car to revision and repairs needed. Does not use paid parking. It doesn’t cause major accidents. Does not require multi lane highways. He doesn’t become obese

Healthy people are not necessary or useful to the economy. They don’t buy medicine. They don’t go to hospitals or doctors. They add nothing to the country’s GDP.

On the contrary, each new McDonald’s store creates at least 30 jobs, actually 10 cardiologists, 10 dentists, 10 diet experts and nutritionists, obviously as well as the people who work in the store itself “.

Emeric Sillo

Are entrepreneurs liars?

‘“A man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s a heaven for?”

— Robert Browning

Entrepreneur is a synonym for salesperson, and salesperson is the pedestrian term for storyteller. Pro tip: No startup makes sense. We (entrepreneurs) are all impostors who must deploy a fiction (i.e. story) that captures imaginations and capital to pull the future forward and turn rhyme into reason. No business I have started, at the moment of inception, made any sense … until it did. Or didn’t.

The only way to predict the future is to make it.’

Source: Tell Me a Story | No Mercy / No Malice

Retirement Plans

Entrepreneurs: Try Harder

Source: www.heavychef.org

On mindfulness and mental energy

“We’ve all come to work exhausted, or under the weather, or while experiencing some sort of physical pain. We power through it as best we can, unaware that our brains are redirecting critical resources to manage these issues. It’s a process that enables us to cope. But as Mike Christian, an assistant professor of organizational behavior at the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School, has found, these efforts take a toll on our performance. When our mental energy is depleted, we are less able to exhibit control over our emotions and behaviors — and are more likely to be disengaged, break rules, take part in deception, or even act unethically.

There’s also some interesting research showing that vacations help people get back to their full level of self-control. (They) have shown that whether you come back to work refreshed after a vacation depends not only on the amount of time you are away, but also on what you do during your vacation. People who engage in what they call mastery experiences — those where they learn a new skill, like scuba diving — are able to really disconnect and feel accomplished. When they get back to work, they are much more replenished than people who sit on the beach and might still ruminate about work.

Being able to focus on the moment raises your level of self-control, but it can also recharge you, better preparing you to meet your goals.”

 

Source: Mike Christian on mindfulness and mental energy

Exploring impactful business leadership

Does your business need a fixer? #044

Source: A podcast exploring impactful business leadership in today’s complex world

Retired homeowners can apply for a ‘reverse mortgage’

Retired South Africans who own homes but are cash-strapped may now apply for a loan, or “reverse mortgage,” suggested in a recent policy paper by the World Bank as a way to supplement pension income.

The home equity release finance plan offers pensioners access to a percentage of their home’s equity while they retain full ownership. The loan is settled on sale of the house or death and interest rates are substantially lower than unsecured loans.

Termed Freedom Finance, the loan is being offered to qualifying homeowners on Cape Town’s Atlantic Seaboard initially and will later be rolled out across the country.

Source: IOL

Financial solutions for retired homeowners

According to the World Bank: low-income senior homeowners may tap into their accumulated housing wealth to smooth consumption and increase their resilience against financial shocks, like this Covid 19 one. www.waterfinancial.biz

Do mindfulness activities really work? – FT

‘Some critics argue that mindfulness has been oversold or commodified and that people with mental health struggles are being exploited for commercial gain. In his book McMindfulness, Ronald Purser contends that it has become a new capitalist spirituality. He warns that mindfulness can, in some cases, lead to adverse effects, such as fear, panic and anxiety. He takes issue with what he calls the “pacification function of corporate mindfulness”.

“No one is asking why there is so much stress in corporate cultures.”

“We shouldn’t be told to sit in a corner and watch your breath instead of collaborating with co-workers to ask some difficult questions about what is going on in the workplace.”

…mindfulness is not an exact science: what works for one person will not necessarily work for someone else, and finding the time to fit it into a busy schedule is not easy.

Mindfulness can be hard work.’

Source: Financial Times

Experts Are Bad at Predicting the Future

“Getting a forecast from an expert may not be your best option, according to an article in The Atlantic, entitled “The Peculiar Blindness of Experts.” The article unpacks a 1984 study that lasted 20 years and examined how well experts could predict the future. The collected data comprised 82,361 probability estimates for future events, made by 284 experts who averaged 12+ years of experience in their respective fields.

The results? The 284 highly-educated experts were bad at making predictions. Really bad. Particularly when making long-term predictions about their own field. In fact, their guesses got worse as their level of education and knowledge increased, as if all of that specialized knowledge allowed them to rationalize any viewpoint they decided to adopt.

However, there was one subgroup of scholars who were able to predict the future more accurately than the rest: the generalists. The scholars who did not specialize in any particular field were more accurate than their specialized counterparts. These generalists tended to be more curious, read an unusual amount from eclectic sources, and ask more questions. They tended to learn more.

It pays to be curious in the oracle business.”

Max at StartEngine