Mingle-->23 Nov | Zadie Smith tips | How to organise email | ESG crazies survey | Participatory Video event | Disability Law Trustee search
Hi Arts - Investing - Personal/Autism
It’s on US Thanksgiving: next mingle 23 November, London –invite here if you are free do come, it’s super fun.
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How big does your email box need to get before it explodes? My work email is cruising at 68,293 unread email. If I spent 30 seconds on all those emails, it would cost me >566 hours or 56 working days assuming I did nothing else. Not feasible. See how I organise my email in this 2 minute post here.
My 2nd tip here, is to NOT make email the first thing you do when you sit at your desk in the morning. Make it anything else, preferably real world eg read a piece of research, a physical journal or assess your list of things to do; consider spending 10 to 20 minutes journaling thoughts, ideas, things to do.
My 3rd tip: for most meetings, lunches, dinners and dates leave your phone at your desk, or at least switched off and in your bag. Not visible or tempting on the table. (We need to take my own advice at the family table more….) post here. (2 mins)
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Zadie Smith writing tips
Work on a computer that is disconnected from the internet.
This is a core writing tip from Zadie Smith. (See all 10 tips in this 3 min post with video here) her 10th tip has become pretty quotable “Tell the truth through whichever veil comes to hand – but tell it. Resign yourself to the lifelong sadness that comes from never being satisfied.”
There’s also some video of her in conversation.
She was at my university, we only overlapped a year. We never met, just crossed paths in passing. I was a science specialist with a theatre and writing interest; she was in the Arts. She did edit the May Anthologies (as did Nick Laird, her now husband), which I did a few years after along with a friend. (I also in a different year had a poem published in them, as did Laird)… a little more pontificating on this here
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China warns about a Minksy moment. Most of the world thinks WTF? China’s central bank governor, Zhou Xiaochuan, warned this week of the risks of a “Minsky moment,” citing high corporate debt and suggesting household lending was rising too quickly. On the sidelines of a twice-a-decade Communist Party Congress, Zhou pledged to fend off such risks. (I actually thought that was bigger news than the well flagged confirmation of President Xi Jinping)
If you don't know what or who in the name of fried eggs is Minksy, then you should read my previous post here. (5 mins, but accessible even if you don't know economics).
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ESG Survey (by CFA): So if those acronyms mean nothing to you, skip this paragraph as one only for sustainability thinkers (though maybe break the silo and click through any way). I note 27% of investment professionals ignore ESG. Out of the 73% who do look at ESG, only 50% do so all the time.
Ben, if everyone looked at ESG information and properly assessed it, you’d have no competitive advantage. If everyone does something it becomes baked into consensus, right? But, it’s the right thing to do. Well, good job no one listens to you, eh?
What about all these academic papers suggesting ESG adds value, that active ownership and stewardship also increases stock returns and company fundamentals?
Ben, Ben, Ben… when was the last time anyone you knew actually read an academic paper outside the world of School? Read the whole paper, considered the evidence and then formed an opinion?
Oh good point. Have a look some of the survey here. (2 mins)
Zadie Smith writing tips
Avoid cliques, gangs, groups. The presence of a crowd won’t make your writing any better than it is.
Work on a computer that is disconnected from the internet.
Protect the time and space in which you write. Keep everybody away from it, even the people who are most important to you.
Don’t confuse honours with achievement.
Tell the truth through whichever veil comes to hand – but tell it. Resign yourself to the lifelong sadness that comes from never being satisfied.
Plus five more
(Read more here....5 mins plus video)
Organising email My work email is cruising at 68,293 unread email. If I spent 30 seconds on all those emails, it would cost me >566 hours or 56 working days assuming I did nothing else. Not feasible. See how I organise my email in this 2 minute post here.
Random: Oh and this crashed the Cambridge University archive servers this week.