Extractive summaries of and key takeaways from the articles curated from TOP TEN BUSINESS MAGAZINES to promote informed business decision-making | Week 264 | September 30-October 6, 2022
Download this week’s edition in PDF
Download this week’s edition in Audio
Shaping Section : Ideas and forces shaping economies and industries
Markets are reeling from higher rates. The world economy is next
The Economist | September 29, 2022
The world’s financial markets are going through their most painful adjustment since the global financial crisis. Adapting to the prospect of higher American interest rates, the ten-year Treasury yield briefly hit 4% this week, its highest level since 2010. Global stockmarkets have sold off sharply, and bond portfolios have lost an astonishing 21% this year.
The dollar is crushing all comers. The greenback is up by 5.5% since mid-August on a trade-weighted basis, partly because the Fed is raising rates but also because investors are backing away from risk. Across Asia, governments are intervening to resist the depreciation of their currencies. In Europe Britain has poured the fuel of reckless fiscal policy on the fire, causing it to lose the confidence of investors. And as bond yields surge, the euro zone’s indebted economies are looking their most fragile since the sovereign-debt crisis a decade ago.
The primary cause of the market chaos is the Federal Reserve’s fight with inflation. Because the Fed has lost the first three or four rounds since prices began to surge in 2021, it is now swinging harder. The central bank expects to raise the federal funds rate to nearly 4.5% by the end of the year and higher still in 2023. The outlook for rates is rippling through America’s financial system. Yet it is outside America where the financial effects of the Fed’s monetary tightening have been most severe. The surging dollar is painful for energy importers that were already grappling with higher costs.
Part of the explanation for the pressure on advanced-economy currencies is that many central banks have hitherto failed to keep pace with the Fed’s tightening—but with good reason, because their economies are weaker. The energy crisis is about to plunge Europe into recession. South Korea and Japan are suffering the knock-on effects of an economic slowdown in China, brought about by its housing crisis and zero-covid policy.
A strong dollar, in effect, exports America’s domestic inflation problem to weaker economies. They can support their currencies by raising rates in line with the Fed, but only at the cost of even lower growth.
Even America’s economy, which has been resilient in the face of headwinds this year, is unlikely to keep growing through an interest-rate shock as severe as the one it now faces. A slowing economy is ultimately necessary to restore price stability—it would be madness for the Fed to tolerate annual inflation of 8.3%, much of which is home-grown. But higher rates will damage the real economy and cause suffering. The world’s financial markets are just waking up to that, too.
3 key takeaways from the article
- The world’s financial markets are going through their most painful adjustment since the global financial crisis.
- The primary cause of the market chaos is the Federal Reserve’s fight with inflation. Because the Fed has lost the first three or four rounds since prices began to surge in 2021, it is now swinging harder.
- Yet it is outside America where the financial effects of the Fed’s monetary tightening have been most severe. A strong dollar, in effect, exports America’s domestic inflation problem to weaker economies. They can support their currencies by raising rates in line with the Fed, but only at the cost of even lower growth.
Listen to the Extractive Summary of the Article
(Copyright)
Topics: World Economy, Federal Reserve, Inflation, Developing Countries
Big Government Is Back With Massive State Interventions
By Alan Crawford | Bloomberg Businessweek | September 29, 2022
Germany’s government made an extravagant promise as it announced its second multibillion-euro nationalization of an energy company in a week. Speaking in Berlin on Sept. 21, Economy Minister Robert Habeck pledged that “the state will do everything” to minimize disruptions in natural gas supplies.
The message was intended to instill calm at a time of high anxiety, with Europe scrambling to replace imports of oil, coal, and above all gas from Russia. But Habeck’s choice of words also underscored that we’re living in a new era of big government. Whether it’s replacing lost income for workers and businesses during pandemic lockdowns or ensuring that there’s enough fuel to heat homes and power industries, state intervention is back in vogue in a way we haven’t seen since the early 1980s, when a toxic combination of high inflation and ballooning fiscal deficits forced a retreat.
The sums involved are vast. The bill to taxpayers for the energy crisis in the 27 countries that make up the European Union plus the UK adds up to about €500 billion ($484 billion), according to an analysis by the Bruegel think tank in Brussels—and the number is bound to grow. To put it into perspective, combined outlays by EU nations are in the region of 2.5% of gross domestic product, or more than half the amount allocated to the bloc’s Covid-19 recovery plan.
The return of big government is not just a European phenomenon: From Washington to Tokyo, policymakers are going above and beyond to cushion the blow from surging prices on consumers and businesses. Some of this is tactical—fuel subsidies and food assistance programs can win votes—but the spending is also motivated by strategic considerations about economic competitiveness.
The scale of government action and its global nature is reminiscent of the financial crisis of 2007-08, when “too big to fail” became a catchphrase for taxpayer-funded bailouts of private financial institutions. But there was a political price to pay: In the US, the resentment bred by policies that prioritized Wall Street at the expense of Main Street helped pave the way for Donald Trump’s presidency, for example.
How far the current fashion for state largesse will go and how it will end is unclear. Nationalizations could, in theory, be reversed when the energy crisis recedes. Still, it’s hard to see a company responsible for importing more than a third of the country’s natural gas ever being allowed to leave German hands. In the meantime, having governments become stakeholders in this fashion may well accelerate the energy transition.
3 key takeaways from the article
- Germany’s government made an extravagant promise as it announced its second multibillion-euro nationalization of an energy company in a week. Speaking in Berlin on Sept. 21, Economy Minister Robert Habeck pledged that “the state will do everything” to minimize disruptions in natural gas supplies.
- The message also underscored that we’re living in a new era in which state intervention is back, we haven’t seen since the early 1980s, when a toxic combination of high inflation and ballooning fiscal deficits forced a retreat.
- The return of big government is not just a European phenomenon: From Washington to Tokyo, policymakers are going above and beyond to cushion the blow from surging prices on consumers and businesses. How far the current fashion for state largesse will go and how it will end is unclear.
Listen to the Extractive Summary of the Article
(Copyright)
Topics: State’s Interventions, Regulating, World Economy, Inflation
China is betting big on another gas engine alternative: methanol cars
By Zeyi Yang | MIT Technology Review | September 30, 2022
Earlier this month, on September 16, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said it would “accelerate the popularization of methanol cars” and “explore the ‘green methanol + methanol cars’ model.”
Commonly called “wood alcohol,” methanol is a simple organic chemical that can be produced from a variety of sources, including coal, natural gas, biomass, and captured carbon dioxide. As a fuel, its advantages are clear: methanol is as powerful as traditional fuel, but greener. It has already been widely used in racecars, for instance, because it gives the engine more horsepower while keeping it cooler. In some scenarios like long-haul transportation, methanol-powered vehicles can be more affordable and dependable than EVs.
For a decade, methanol fuel has been discussed and piloted in China as a way to transition the automotive industry into a future with less pollution and less dependence on fossil fuels. But its adoption has long lagged. Now the government’s recent moves, along with other state efforts in the last year to draft standards for methanol cars and support relevant industries, reaffirm that China is getting more serious about the alternative fuel. And methanol is finally capturing public attention as Chinese automakers look for the next industry-changing innovation—which, just like EVs, could become both a commercial success and a political boost to China’s climate-tech ambitions.
To reach carbon neutrality by 2060, as China has promised, the country can’t put all its eggs in one basket, like EVs. Popularizing the use of methanol fuel and the clean production of methanol may enable China to hit its target sooner. But the future is not all bright and green. Currently, the majority of methanol in China is still made by burning coal.
Beyond China, some other countries, like Germany and Denmark, are also exploring the potential of methanol fuels. China, though, is at least one step ahead of the rest—even if it remains a big question whether it will replicate its success in developing EVs or follow the path of another country with a major auto industry. In 1982, California offered subsidies for car manufacturers to make over 900 methanol cars in a pilot program. California officially ended the use of methanol cars in 2005, and there’s been no such experimentation in the US since.
3 key takeaways from the article
- Earlier this month, on September 16, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said it would “accelerate the popularization of methanol cars” and “explore the ‘green methanol + methanol cars’ model.”
- For a decade, methanol fuel has been discussed and piloted in China as a way to transition the automotive industry into a future with less pollution and less dependence on fossil fuels. Beyond China, some other countries, like Germany and Denmark, are also exploring the potential of methanol fuels.
- Popularizing the use of methanol fuel and the clean production of methanol may enable China to hit its target sooner. But the future is not all bright and green. Currently, the majority of methanol in China is still made by burning coal.
Listen to the Extractive Summary of the Article
(Copyright)
Topics: Energy, Clean Energy, China, Environment, Cars
Economic conditions outlook, September 2022
McKinsey & Company | September 29, 2022
In September, respondents in most regions cite inflation as the main risk to growth in their home economies for the second quarter, according to the latest McKinsey Global Survey on economic conditions. Geopolitical instability and conflicts remain a top concern as well, most often cited as the greatest risk to global growth over the next 12 months. Responses assessing the global economy are primarily downbeat, as they were in the last survey. Regional divergence in outlooks has emerged, as respondents in Europe express deeper concerns over energy price volatility and more somber views about their domestic economies. Respondents in North America, on the other hand, were less negative about their countries’ current economies than in the previous survey.
Regional differences also appear when private-sector respondents report on the cost increases that are most affecting their companies. Respondents in Europe most often cite the impact of rising energy prices, while those in India and North America tend to point toward wage increases. Overall, nine out of ten respondents say their companies have seen cost increases in the past six months, and a majority have raised the prices of their products or services. Most also foresee their organizations’ operating expenses increasing in the coming months.
After a particularly negative assessment of economic conditions in the June survey, responses to the latest survey are almost as gloomy. Looking toward the future, pessimism remains consistent with the previous findings, with about half of respondents expecting global conditions to weaken in the next six months.
Respondents’ takes on the global economy vary significantly by region, however. Those in Europe and North America offer a grim view of both current and future global conditions, whereas those in Greater China are primarily positive about the present and the future. Overall, for the third quarter this year, geopolitical instability and conflicts remain the most-cited risk to global economic growth, and inflation remains the second-most-cited threat. In a change from June, volatile energy prices have superseded supply chain disruptions as the third-most-cited global risk.
Supply chain challenges are now the fifth-most-cited risk to respondents’ home economies, surpassed by concerns about rising interest rates. Inflation remains the most-cited risk to domestic economies for the second quarter, followed by volatile energy prices and geopolitical instability and conflicts.
3 key takeaways from the article
- In September, respondents in most regions cite inflation as the main risk to growth in their home economies for the second quarter, according to the latest McKinsey Global Survey on economic conditions.
- Volatile energy prices and geopolitical instability and conflicts remained as second and third main risks. These followed by rising interest rates and risk emerging from supply chain. Geopolitical instability and conflicts remain a top concern as well, most often cited as the greatest risk to global growth over the next 12 months. Responses assessing the global economy are primarily downbeat, as they were in the last survey.
- Regional divergence in outlooks has emerged, as respondents in Europe express deeper concerns over energy price volatility and more somber views about their domestic economies. Respondents in North America, India and China on the other hand, were less negative about their countries’ current economies than in the previous survey.
Listen to the Extractive Summary of the Article
(Copyright)
Topics: Global Economy, Inflation, Geo-political risk, Interest Rate
Strategy & Business Model Section
Selling on TikTok and Taobao
By Thomas S. Robertson | Harvard Business Review Magazine | September–October 2022 Issue
In the 1980s the QVC and HSN cable channels, together with a host of infomercial producers, demonstrated the power of selling on television. Over the past decade the format has migrated to the internet, where online streaming video that offers the ability to purchase in real time—or livestream commerce—is fast becoming the medium of choice. Today brands can sell via video on a host of platforms, such as YouTube Live, Instagram Live, LinkedIn Live, Facebook Live, Twitch, Twitter, and TikTok. And a growing range of companies are beginning to offer products and services via livestream.
In China, where Alibaba’s Taobao platform provides an app that integrates product demonstration with the ability to purchase instantly, the livestream commerce market hit 1.2 trillion yuan (roughly $200 billion) in 2020, accounting for 10% of the online shopping market. It is projected to account for as much as 20% to 25% of online sales in 2023, according to iResearch China. In the United States, livestream commerce accounted for $6 billion in sales in 2020 and $11 billion in 2021, and growth is increasing dramatically: Revenues in 2023 are projected to reach $26 billion, according to Statista.
An obvious reason companies are embracing livestream commerce is to drive short-run revenue, but it’s not the only one. A range of companies experimenting with the format, there are five main objectives: generate immediate sales, reach new consumer segments, introduce new products, educate consumers, and create buzz.
As your company begins experimenting with it, here are the key factors to consider: integrate it into your marketing strategy, recognize the learning curve, run livestream events when there is news, select optimal platforms, select your influencers wisely, and measure your livestream success (in terms of audience size, audience engagement, short-run sales, and long-run impact).
To gain early mover advantage and reap network effects, companies need to start early, learn fast, and build large audiences before competitors can make significant inroads. The spoils will go to the companies that get it right quickly.
3 key takeaways from the article
- Over the past decade online streaming video that offers the ability to purchase in real time—or livestream commerce—is fast becoming the medium of choice. Today brands can sell via video on a host of platforms, such as YouTube Live, Instagram Live, LinkedIn Live, Facebook Live, Twitch, Twitter, and TikTok. And a growing range of companies are beginning to offer products and services via livestream.
- Reasons companies are embracing livestream commerce include is to drive short-run revenu, reach new consumer segments, introduce new products, educate consumers, and create buzz.
- Key factors to consider: integrate it into your marketing strategy, recognize the learning curve, run livestream events when there is news, select optimal platforms, select your influencers wisely, and measure your livestream success (in terms of audience size, audience engagement, short-run sales, and long-run impact).
Listen to the Extractive Summary of the Article
(Copyright)
Topics: Strategy, Marketing, Social Media, Digital Marketing
Leading & Managing Section
How to Fix a Toxic Culture
By Donald Sull and Charles Sull | MIT Sloan Management Review | September 28, 2022
More than 90% of North American CEOs and CFOs believe that improving their corporate culture would boost financial performance. But more than 80% also acknowledged that their organization’s culture was not as healthy as it should be.
If corporate culture is critical and needs work, why don’t top leaders do more to improve it? Part of the reason is that many leaders aren’t sure where to start. For many executives “fixing culture” feels like a hopelessly daunting and amorphous undertaking. Which specific aspects of corporate culture should they focus on fixing? What concrete actions can they take? And how can they measure progress over time?
The authors’ study identified five attributes of culture — disrespectful, noninclusive, unethical, cutthroat, and abusive — that rendered a culture toxic in the eyes of employees. Toxic workplaces impose serious and lasting harm on affected employees. Over time, a toxic culture also takes a heavy toll on organizational performance.
For leaders who want to detox their culture, the next question is where to begin. The authors’ research converged on three factors as the most powerful predictors of toxic behavior in the workplace: toxic leadership, toxic social norms, and poor work design.
Top leadership can use the following evidence-based interventions to effect positive cultural change throughout their organizations: quantify the benefits of cultural detox to keep it on the top team’s agenda, publicly report progress to keep the pressure on, model the behavior you expect from employees, Track progress with honest data.
To decrease toxic behavior among distributed leaders: coach distributed leaders on nontoxic behavior, make distributed leaders aware of the negative impact of their toxic behavior on colleagues, make behavioral expectations crystal clear, and deal with distributed leaders who deliver results but create toxic subcultures.
On improving toxic norms: let work groups define their own social norms, have distributed leaders lead discussions of social norms,and collect credible, granular data on subcultures and leaders.
When rethinking work design, it’s best to focus on elements of the job known to influence employee stress, such as the following. reduce nuisance work, clarify job descriptions and responsibilities, give employees more control over their work, help employees get a good night’s sleep.
3 key takeaways from the article
- More than 90% of North American CEOs and CFOs believe that improving their corporate culture would boost financial performance. More than 80% also acknowledged that their organization’s culture was not as healthy as it should be. If corporate culture is critical and needs work, why don’t top leaders do more to improve it? Part of the reason is that many leaders aren’t sure where to start.
- The authors’ study identified five attributes of culture — disrespectful, noninclusive, unethical, cutthroat, and abusive — that rendered a culture toxic in the eyes of employees.
- The most powerful predictors of toxic behavior in the workplace are: toxic leadership, toxic social norms, and poor work design.
Listen to the Extractive Summary of the Article
(Copyright)
Topic: Culture, Toxic Culture
Tim Cook says he uses ‘a very good formula’ to look for Apple employees—these are the 4 traits he seeks out
By Chloe Taylor | Fortune Magazine | October 3, 2022
Landing a job at Apple isn’t easy—but according to CEO Tim Cook, people who possess four specific qualities are much more likely to find themselves in the running. Speaking at the University of Naples Federico II in Italy—where he received an honorary degree in innovation and international management—Cook told students that it was important for incoming employees to care about the world around them. He then delved into the specific characteristics Apple seeks out in new hires, revealing that the tech giant prizes four traits in particular.
- Collaboration. A major skill anyone hoping to work at Apple needed was the ability to collaborate with colleagues, Cook told the audience. “We believe that strong individual contributors are really key, but two strong individuals that work together can do amazing work, and small teams can do incredible things,” he said. “So we look for the ability to collaborate with people—the fundamental feeling that if I share my idea with you, that that idea will grow and get bigger and be better.”
- Creativity. “We look for people that think differently, that can look at a problem and not be caught up in the dogma of how that problem has always been viewed,” he told students. “And so [we look for] somebody that will kind of walk around the problem and look at it from different angles and use their creative juices to come up with solutions.”
- Curiosity. “It’s a cliché, but there are no dumb questions,” Cook said, as he said Apple valued curiosity and sought out people with an inquisitive nature. “Curiosity is about being curious about something to ask lots of questions, whether you think they’re smart questions or dumb questions,” he said. “It’s amazing when somebody starts to ask questions as a kid would, how it puts pressure on the person to think through the answers really deeply. And so, we look for this innate curiosity in people.”
- Expertise. Finally, Cook noted that Apple wanted people with relevant expertise to join its workforce. “If we’re doing something in industrial design, we need somebody that knows industrial design and has a skill set in it either from their college days or through their work days,” he said.
2 key takeaways from the article
- Landing a job at Apple isn’t easy—but according to CEO Tim Cook, people who possess four specific qualities are much more likely to find themselves in the running. According to him it was important for incoming employees to care about the world around them.
- Apple seeks out four specific characteristics in new hires. These are ability to collaborate with colleagues, ability to think differently, be curious and have the expertise of his/her area.
Listen to the Extractive Summary of the Article
(Copyright)
Topics: Leadership, Skills, Success, Personal Development
Go Against The Grain To Make A Difference
By Jon Michail | Forbes | October 4, 2022.
We live in an age of superficial acceptance. People are resigned to going through the motions of life rather than cutting a path off the beaten track. Despite the gargantuan odds, the halls of history have enough exhibits to endorse deep thinkers who have swum against the tide to inspire future generations.
The three examples here are of female critical thinkers (and successful personal leadership brands) because they’re symbolic of a community that has been marginalized for the better part of humanity’s existence. They’re still battling for equality.
Claudette Colvin. Often overlooked in history, this African American schoolgirl left an indelible impression on society when she refused to give up her seat on a public bus for a Caucasian woman at the height of racial segregation on March 2, 1955 prompted a civil rights movement group.
Helen McCarthy. This historian depicts in her ground-breaking research how 75% of British mothers have made leaps and bounds from the Victorian era to be vital cogs in the contemporary working wheel as paid employees, but their roles at home haven’t changed.
Malala Yousafzai. On October 9, 2012, a Taliban terrorist shot this 15-year-old Pakistan schoolgirl in the face for daring to speak out against barring females from attending schools. Yousafzai survived the assassination attempt and decided to carry on her activism by establishing the Malala Fund to improve access globally to educate women. She went on to become the youngest recipient, at 17, of the Nobel Prize laureate in 2014.
So what can we learn from these pioneering women to get into intentional action ourselves?
- Be courageous. Remember, there are more than enough supporters/clients who want to do business with you. Keep on elevating your reputational currency, and in time, the people who matter will discover you.
- Do good in all your actions—it pays. Life is too short to do otherwise; therefore it’s wise to keep your core values in mind—and karma, too.
- Never give up. Trust your intuition and intentionally do what you have to do to elevate your life (and business). Enroll your networks, collaborate and leverage new possibilities.
It’s only through the tenacity and vision of such critical thinkers that the world can put mediocrity through the spin-dry cycle to wring out equality and fairness. Remember, we all have the personal power to make a real difference.
3 key takeaways from the article
- We live in an age of superficial acceptance. People are resigned to going through the motions of life rather than cutting a path off the beaten track. Despite the gargantuan odds, the halls of history have enough exhibits to endorse deep thinkers who have swum against the tide to inspire future generations.
- Claudette Colvin, Helen McCarthy, and Malala Yousafzai are the three examples of female critical thinkers (and successful personal leadership brands) because they’re symbolic of a community that has been marginalized for the better part of humanity’s existence. They’re still battling for equality.
- What can we learn from these pioneering women to get into intentional action ourselves? Be courageous, Do good in all your actions—it pays, and never give up.
Listen to the Extractive Summary of the Article
(Copyright)
Topics: Leadership, Personal Branding
Entrepreneurship Section
Emotionally Intelligent People Use 5 Simple Rules to Make More Friends and Build Stronger
By Justin Bariso | Inc Magazine | September 11, 2022
How do I make more friends? But to have true friends, you first need to be a friend. How do you do that?
Emotional intelligence can help. Emotional intelligence is the ability to identify, understand, and manage emotions. This ability can help you not only understand others better but also strengthen your relationships with them. Five simple rules of emotional intelligence that will help you make more and better friends, which can help you in business and life are:
The Milk Carton Rule. Instead of dwelling on what you can’t change, focus on what you can. This is helpful because no matter how good a relationship starts, it will reach the point where both parties’ habits start to get on the other person’s nerves. Your natural response to this may be to demand that the other person change. But most people won’t change, at least not when you want them to. By using the milk carton rule to focus on what you can control (rather than trying to change the other person), you reduce frustration for both yourself and your partner and make for a better relationship
Disagree and Commit. The point is to first encourage open discussion and healthy disagreement. In the end, though, once a decision is made, any who still disagree with the decision must “commit.” They should fully support that decision, and try their best to make it work. “Disagree and commit” helps strengthen both personal and business relationships because when you build a habit of going all in with people you trust, they’ll do the same for you.
The Rule of Rethinking. We all hate to be wrong. But we all are wrong–sometimes. When you adopt the rule of rethinking, you keep your feelings in check, which helps you benefit from others’ knowledge and strengths. This not only helps you grow, it helps grow your friendships, too.
Help First. The “help first” rule says that if you’re in a difficult situation, and you notice someone else is too, try helping first. By helping first, you benefit from the power of empathy. As they see your efforts to help them, they will then be moved to help you. You feel better about yourself, you get others to feel better about themselves, and you help create relationships that are characterized by trust and teamwork.
The Rule of the Chess Player. The rule of the chess player states: When you’re in an emotionally intense situation, your perspective will be drastically different than when you are not in that situation. Simply knowing this can help us show more empathy to the people in our lives. When we see them suffering, our default changes from “That’s not so bad; they just need to toughen up” to “How can I help?” And with this change from judgmental to helpful, you build a bridge instead of a rift. This makes an emotional impact on the other person, building and strengthening your relationship.
2 key takeaways from the article
- True friends are those who are there for you in good times and bad, who tell you what you need to hear, not just what you want to hear, and who help you be the best version of yourself–all of which can prove invaluable to entrepreneurs and business owners. But to have true friends, you first need to be a friend.
- How do you do that? Emotional intelligence can help. Emotional intelligence is the ability to identify, understand, and manage emotions. Five simple rules of emotional intelligence are: focus on what you can control (rather than trying to change the other person), disagree and commit, apply the rule of rethinking to check your feelings, help first, and apply the rule of chess player.
Listen to the Extractive Summary of the Article
(Copyright)
Topics: Emotional Intelligence, Entrepreneurship, Business, Personal Development
5 Simple Steps to Help You Finish What You Start
By John Peitzman | Entrepreneur Magazine | October 3, 2022
True inspiration does not come through the initiation of our actions, but through the completion of the tasks we embark upon. Real legacy comes from the fulfillment of an activity we set out to accomplish. Focus and follow-through are where many of us fall short. A common challenge of completing the tasks that we set out to do is that we are often distracted by other things that we perceive to require immediate attention e.g., replying to an email. Some of the most common reasons people fail to complete their goals are lack of specificity, lack of a clear plan, lack of proper motivation and lack of proper resources. Five tips to help finish what you start are:
- Establish the right mindset. Something that is important to you must be given priority. This means it deserves the proper amount of time, consideration and resources to be completed. It also means that taking steps towards its completion should not be set aside or replaced with urgent matters, unless absolutely necessary. And in the case where it is necessary, the time you missed needs to be rescheduled.
- Acknowledge the specific goal. The first step is to have complete clarity on your specific goal. What is it? Why is it important? What do you hope to accomplish? This will give you motivation and purpose. The second step is to share that goal with others. This creates a sense of accountability and a support system.
- Operate with purpose-driven action. We often accept staying busy as a substitute for being effective when it comes to time management. But anything important deserves a plan. What are the specific steps you need to execute to complete your activity? And how can you segment these steps into reasonable mini-steps that can be done each day? When you make positive action part of your routine, it becomes a healthy habit.
- Apply the “rule of one”. The challenge with bigger goals is that it often takes a longer time to complete them. Instead of feeling dejected and overwhelmed every day that is not completed, insert the goal of the “rule of one” to the task. Schedule 30 minutes every day that will be devoted to the task. Every day that you accomplish that one goal of working on it for 30 minutes means you have accomplished your goal for the day. Then the process becomes about accomplishing the steps towards the ultimate goal, keeps you focused and gives you a realistic benchmark each day.
- Celebrate your success
3 key takeaways from the article
- True inspiration does not come through the initiation of our actions, but through the completion of the tasks we embark upon. Real legacy comes from the fulfillment of an activity we set out to accomplish.
- A common challenge of completing the tasks that we set out to do is that we are often distracted by other things that we perceive to require immediate attention e.g., replying to an email. Some of the most common reasons people fail to complete their goals are lack of specificity, lack of a clear plan, lack of proper motivation and lack of proper resources.
- Five tips to help finish what you start are establish the right mindset., acknowledge the specific goal, operate with purpose-driven action, apply the “rule of one”, and celebrate your success.
Listen to the Extractive Summary of the Article
(Copyright)
Topics: Personal Development, Startup, Entrepreneurship