HOW CAN you be more productive? Instead of half-working all day, it’s better to work in focused stints, with breaks in between to recover. There are various ways to do this, but best of all…
What’s wrong with Pomodoro, and how to fix it
POMODORO is a popular way to manage your time. The idea is that instead of half-working all day, you work in intense 25-minute stints, with 5-minute breaks (or occasionally longer) in between, marked by an…
Coronavirus crash vs history
HOW has the coronavirus stock market crash compared with earlier ones? Is there a pattern? A year ago I looked at all previous US and UK meltdowns throughout history. Now we can include the 2020…
How & when to write a business plan
YOU’VE DECIDED you need a business plan — so where do you start? My previous article explained why you should write a plan — and what’s wrong with all your excuses for not doing so. Here I give tips…
Write a business plan already
90% OF START-UPS go bust, often due to poor planning. Founders know they should write a business plan, yet many never do — spouting lame excuses based on misconceptions and cognitive biases (see footnote*). Or else, they…
Stock market hints for 2021 from past crashes
WHAT MIGHT the past tell us about how stocks will perform over the next year and beyond? I previously wrote about the short-term aftermaths of crashes, which — despite wild variation — average out like a normal year. This…
Buy or sell? What 324 years of crashes tell us
WHEN STOCK MARKETS recently crashed, investors pondered whether to cut losses and sell, hold out in hope, or buy more shares while they were cheap. But could anyone tell which way prices would go? And…
182 benefits of coronavirus
WHILE THE HUGE harms of coronavirus are well-known — death, illness, lockdowns, unemployment, recession, etc. — less attention has understandably been paid to the benefits. Even clouds this dark have silver linings. Crises produce opportunities,…
Dying for a day at the beach
CHRIS, A 75-YEAR-OLD caller to a BBC phone-in (just before lockdown became compulsory) said she’d rather risk death than give up her simple pleasures. So she had visited the beach, laid flowers on her mother’s grave, and…
Coronavirus: how much is a life worth?
CORONAVIRUS may cause many deaths and a global recession, depending on what governments do. Millions could die if the pandemic isn’t contained — but lock-downs risk financial collapse. This raises a major issue in economics, ethics, and…