|
1. How to wake up early. It’s one of the most agreed upon methods of productivity, and yet many of us simply can’t force ourselves to start our day sooner. Yet the benefits are undeniable. Numerous studies have concluded that participants who woke up earlier reported decreased feelings of stress and depression while felling increased levels of physical and cognitive energy. Try these tips for waking up earlier and tweak the process until it feels right for you. READ MORE
2. Hugs are back as restrictions relax. Hugging, dining indoors and catching a film at the cinema are part of a swag of freedoms people in England can enjoy from Monday as restrictions ease further. Children’s play areas, museums and conference centres will also open for the first time in 2021, and hotels, hostels and B&Bs can accept guests. Face coverings will no longer be required in schools, and universities can return to in-person learning. Pubs, bars, cafes and restaurants can serve customers indoors, fueling a surge in hiring, and international travel to green-light countries can commence. BBC
3. V for Vroom. Bank of England forecasts of a “V” shaped recovery were met with predictable skepticism at the start of the year. But according to the latest projections, that’s precisely what is going to happen. The Bank now expects output to soar away by 7.25% in 2021, leaving jobs relatively unscathed. The fizz has been building so strongly that the debate has moved onto the timing of when Britain will need to move interest rates up to counter inflation. The Bank believes that the inflation scare is overdone. But the fierce global recovery in demand for steel, semi-conductors, and oil - together with Brexit friction at the borders - could well send prices higher. The Daily Mail
4. Let’s stop saying “low-skill” jobs. Business leaders and policymakers alike need to rethink the low-skill job title, particularly after the pandemic revealed just how essential those jobs are. The negative connotations of "low-skilled" are perpetuated by our own biases against what is considered a "good job." The phrase obscures the fact that many workers in jobs that don't pay well may indeed have skills, they could just be so young that they lack training and/or experience. In addition, "low-skilled" also devalues the work of many and justifies massive wage gaps between professions. The Atlantic
5. Big data is big business. Every day on Earth, we generate 500 million tweets, 294 billion emails, 65 billion WhatsApp messages, and 720,000 hours of new YouTube content. The total data we create, capture, copy and consume in a year is 59 zettabytes. That’s 59 trillion gigabytes, and by 2025 it could triple. One zettabyte is eight quintillion bits. If each bit were a £1 coin, a 1 zettabyte stack would stretch for 1,980 light years. The world’s largest data centre is in China and it’s twice the size of Vatican City at almost a million square metres. World Economic Forum
|
