More News is Good News

#223

Nice to see an article like "Things That Made the World a Better Place in 2022" popping up in the newsfeed for a change. Top stories I enjoyed reading the most:

1. More than 20% of electricity in the US now comes from renewables - hydropower, wind, solar, rather than coal and nuclear
2. The world's first fleet of trains fully switched to being powered by Hydrogen near Hamburg in Germany
3. Lab-grown meat (sans animal slaughter) and lab-grown hair follicles (to help with hair loss treatments without animal testing) techniques have been tried and tested with successful results
4. Wild animals (beavers, bisons, brown bears) are thriving in Europe via new legal protection laws
5. Women’s sports is surging in popularity wherein 91,000 spectators (record number) watched Barcelona vs Real Madrid (UEFA Women’s Champions League)
6. Those turning 18 in Germany received vouchers for their birthdays to spend on cultural visits such as museums and theaters, as an endeavor to revive the Arts and Humanities industries
7. Yvon Chouinard, the 83-year-old founder of the American clothing brand Patagonia donated $3 billion to non-profits that help protect the environment against climate change
8. 100 UK companies have made the 4-day work week (without any pay cut) permanent after an experiment conducted with 70 different companies proved higher levels of employee productivity and happiness 
9. Countries outside the US, such as Finland, Malta, Colombia, are easing abortion laws
10. People who have spinal injuries or dealing with paralysis are able to take first steps within hours of a nerve-stimulation spinal device implant 

Sources:

• https://www.dw.com/en/german-train-line-switching-fully-to-hydrogen/a-62907198
• https://www.wired.co.uk/article/lab-grown-meat-approval
• https://www.newscientist.com/article/2343357-hair-follicles-grown-in-the-lab-in-a-step-towards-hair-loss-treatment/
• https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/63049939
• https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jul/21/beavers-to-be-given-legal-protection-in-england
• https://www.forbes.com/sites/bradadgate/2022/04/07/popularity-of-womens-sports-has-been-surging/
• https://time.com/6236940/europe-germany-youth-culture-pass/
• https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/14/climate/patagonia-climate-philanthropy-chouinard.html
• https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/nov/27/a-hundred-uk-companies-sign-up-for-four-day-week-with-no-loss-of-pay
• https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/parliament-greenlights-abortion-law-first-vote.1002511
• https://edition.cnn.com/2022/02/07/health/spinal-cord-stimulation-study/index.html

The Art of Spending

#222

Key Takeaways from the author of The Psychology of Money, Morgan Housel's article on The Art and Science of Spending Money:

1. When CEO Jack Welch suffered a heart attack and recovered, what he regretted the most was ‘not spending enough money’!
2. Like revenge tourism post-pandemic, people who were born poor tend to ‘revenge buy’ to showcase how they’ve made it to the rich club.
1. "The more you were snubbed while poor, the more you enjoy displaying your wealth" - Robert Quillen
3. ‘Science’ to spending: making a budget, finding more economical options
4. ‘Art’ to spending:
1. Family background has a heavy influence on what you choose to spend on
2. Rather than using money to build your life, it ends up the other way round
1. Life built around money via devotion to expense regardless of pleasure
3. Frugality inertia: good saving habits and living well below your means for years leads to ‘spending aversion’
1. "Refusing to recognize that you’ve met your goal can be as bad as never meeting the goal to begin with."
4. Emotional attachment to large purchases
5. Joy of spending is inversely proportional to income due to less ‘struggle’ in purchasing something.
6. Asking $3 questions instead of the more important $30000 ones
1. Historian Cyril Parkinson coined the 'Parkinson’s Law of Triviality', which states: "The amount of attention a problem gets is the inverse of its importance".
7. Try new forms and ways of spending to know what might make you happy 
1. From Ramit Sethi: "Frugality, quite simply, is about choosing the things you love enough to spend extravagantly on—and then cutting costs mercilessly on the things you don’t love."

Reiterating from my previous post, remember to enjoy the little things in life and be okay once in a while to spend some money on things that make you happy.

The Little Things in Life…

#221

Once again, a happiest new year to you all!

On that note, I wanted to share that I read this amazing article from the Guardian on how to be happier with the little things in life. It lists a hundred different ways to make life better with minimal effort.

A few tried and tested from these that I'd '+1' on are:

1. Exercise on a Monday night (nothing fun happens on a Monday night). From my experience, Sunday mornings and Monday nights are the two best slots for a workout as they set the tone for the rest of your week.
2. On the fence about a purchase? Wait 72 hours before you buy it. Many a times, when I wait, I end up realizing I don't really need that item but it was a whimsical want at that point in time.
3. Sharpen your knives. This may sound silly or irrelevant, but there's nothing like the joy of experiencing a sharp knife slice through an onion or a tomato as though it were hot butter.
4. Buy a plant. Think you’ll kill it? Buy a fake one. Tried and tested with a set of miniature fake plants, which 'liven' up the 'living' room even more than bright-colored furniture!
5. Drop your shoulders. Instant relaxation technique. To that end, consciously also try loosening the muscles in your face. It works!

Here are some of my own ways to make a good day even better:

1. Relook at items from what I like to call the 'Memories' folder - it's a physical multi-compartment folder containing letters from my cousins written to each other when we were younger, birthday cards made before the age of WhatsApp wishes, and trip souvenirs that bring back fond recollections.
2. Browsing through a virtual folder of pictures and videos known as the 'Booster' folder - apart from family memories, also contain quotes from my favorite movies, TV shows, and the never-disappointing, ever-enlivening Calvin and Hobbes.
3. Mindfully make something, and when you eat it, relish and eat it.
4. Video call a family member or friend and ask them how they’re doing. Bonus: ask them about a specific thing they might’ve mentioned once and enjoy their pleasantly surprised reaction of you having remembered after all this time :) 
5. Sing your favorite song lyrics out loud and groove to them.