Forever Fitness

This is a wonderful project from Jon Connell, founder of The Week. A selection of news stories digestible in five minutes.

Good podcast on politics in the UK and abroad.

Their analysis on Boris Johnson is spot on.

Frankly I don’t think anyone who stuck beside him through his shenanigans should be running for prime minister.

Our political system is broken and needs to be re-evaluated and reviewed so that it stops being a popularity contest, promoting the most incompetent but loudest and most likeable candidate but rather candidates that are competent, serious and put their duty to the country ahead of their own self interests or the interests of their party.

In politics, like in most other positions of leadership, character matters.

One of the most common fears we experience everyday is fear of the unknown. This kind of fear can inhibit innovation and progress. We may end up doing things the same way we have always done them because we are afraid of failure i.e. what if this new way of doing something doesn’t work? It’s easier to stick within the realm of what is known and certain. But when new opportunities present themselves they often do so with a degree risk attached. The risk of failure can range from very low to extremely high and consequences of failure can similarly range from tolerable to completely undesirable. Assessing these variables and making decisions based on them is a fact of life and something most of us do on a daily basis.

I recently had to make a big decision based on very little information. The kind of decision where you only really know the detail of once you are committed. I felt the fear of failure. The consequences were undesirable but manageable—albeit at a high cost of time and money.

I decided to accept the risk and embrace the opportunity.

I can tell you that when I reflect on my decision a few months after the fact, I am extremely glad that I faced the fear, took the risk and embraced the opportunity.

Some of the things we tell ourselves — you don’t know how good you’ve got it. Why change what’s working? What if what you end up with is not as good as what you’ve got now?— demonstrate how fear can keep us from experimenting and embracing new things.

I have come to believe that the more we practice stepping out of our comfort zones and embracing new things, the higher our risk tolerance becomes and the wider the horizons of our lives open up as we embrace the opportunities that come our way.

I’m glad I did not stick with what I had for fear of never having it so good again. Time and again when I have committed to new opportunities I’ve found that the risk that I feared just did not materialise.

Life is too short to spend it worrying about other people’s opinions—what they might say, think, do, or how they might react. If there is a misunderstanding by all means try to clear it up but never waste even a second trying to please people or make yourself more amenable to them. We need you in your fullest capacity. We need 100% of you—not 70, 80, or 90. We need all of you just the way you are.

Measurement gives you transparency and accountability. Those things in turn help you to make game time decisions about what comes next. Without that you will be flying blind making decisions without any real objective data.

We are all prone to subjective biases in our decision-making but the more we can implement objective measurement in the things we do, the clearer our vision will be and there is nothing better for decision-making than being able to see the true state of affairs. Seeing things for what they truly are (based on objective data) is what good decisions are founded on.

Will we in 25 years time view alcohol in the same way we have come to view smoking?

Lately more studies are emerging with similar conclusions on alcohol—less is better and none might be better still.

There are of course caveats and conclusions appear to be always shifting depending on the variables but it’s becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the mood music (at least amongst scientists) surrounding alcohol consumption.

This is going to be controversial but at least worth consideration.

See also:

Alcohol is never good for people under 40

Alcohol is a direct cause of cancer

This was an entertaining watch tonight after a bbq and lubricating drink.

Here is a brief analysis.

Sunak lost nothing in this debate. Rather he might have bolstered his position as one of the more experienced and reasonable candidates in the race. Like him or not, he had the strongest showing.

Mordaunt appeared tamed by the occasion. Whilst she might do well under less pressure, here she struggled to put forth her best relatable self. If she were willing to put more distance between her and Johnson, it might also have helped her case. She would also have done well to have developed a stronger grasp of all the issues on the current political agenda.

Truss appeared robotic as she is often accused. She made plausible arguments and presented herself forcefully however, a dash of personality would have curried her more favour and made her case more appealing.

Badenoch occupied the position Mordaunt should have occupied – relatable, straight-shooting, happy to level with the public. Her lack of experience however, showed—particularly on the economy where she opted for generalities over specific policy detail. A strong showing from which she should only gain.

Tugendhat was on message and on-brand, carefully appealing to his military credentials, however overdoing it on the intonation and tone of voice thereby coming across more pretentious than genuine. His lack of experience also showed however his overall performance should only bolster his position.

Overall those with cabinet experience presented more strongly than those without when it came to arguments on the issues of the day. However they lost out to the less experienced in relatability except for Sunak who managed to somewhat fire on both cylinders.

-end-

Who would’ve thought that business cards would still be a thing in 2022?

Well it turns out that they very much are.

Last weekend I made a new acquaintance and in an effort to leave him with my number, he had to pull out his phone, hand it to me for me to punch in my name and number before clicking save and having him call me so I could get his number too.

Things should really be a lot easier than that in this day and age.

To be fair, it probably is and I’m just a dinosaur who has not caught up with the latest trend/tech in this area.

In any case, that experience prompted me to get some business cards printed.

Although it would seem anachronistic I actually like physical business cards because

1. You can physically give something to someone without them having to do anything—all they have to do is take it. Also if they don’t have access to their phone in that particular moment, or their battery has died or something, they can just take the card and add you as a contact later. It’s also easier to place it in someone’s hands just before they dash onto a train if they happen to be in a rush and don’t have time to pull out a phone.
2. It makes it easier for someone to accept your contact details without feeling obliged to contact you. Asking someone to take out their phone and take your number down seems a little more intrusive than simply handing them a tiny piece of paper. They can accept it and thereafter throw it in the bin if they so wish. Business cards punningly have no strings attached.
3. You can even add a QR code to your business card making it even easier for contact entry meaning that if you did decide to go the slightly intrusive route of asking someone to take your number down, at least the process can be a little more seamless. I went through Moo to get exactly this type of card.