Link Roundup #93: 10 Things to Know This Week
1. How to Catch Up on Work When You’re Behind – Read Write
This article introduced me to something called the Eisenhower Matrix, a powerful decision-making framework. It works by listing all your tasks then assigning them in the right quadrant, based on their urgency and importance:
- First Quadrant: Do
- Second Quadrant: Decide
- Third Quadrant: Delegate
- Fourth Quadrant: Disregard
The image below is an example of how it looks like, I think it’s neat.
I also love all the other tips shared in the article, including the 2-minute rule and ‘switching gears’ strategy. Excellent article, worth a read.
2. How to end a conversation when someone won’t stop talking – Fast Co
The article also included specific tips to end conversations in ONLINE meetings!
Speaking of which, be aware of the human tendency to assign competence and leadership to those who talk the most.
3. This Little-Known Psychological Phenomenon is Affecting Your Productivity – Hive
This is an article about the Zeigarnik effect, which is “simply put, the tendency to remember uncompleted tasks more than finished ones.”
As I understand it, the Zeigarnik effect affects your productivity by making you feel anxious about the incompleted tasks while doing other work, and also during rest time. It also contributes to feelings of low self-esteem, as you don’t think you’re doing the best you could.
However, you can also use it productively by intentionally viewing projects you want to continually innovate as incomplete, so you will keep working on it.
Fascinating thing to learn about the brain today.
4. The (Marc)Use of Surveillance Capitalism in Fast Fashion – Malaysian Philosophy Society
I find this article intriguing. It’s published by the Malaysian Philosophy Society and links the ethics of surveillance tech in the context of fast fashion. It’s a bit jargon-y, but worth a read.
5. TikTok is full of alleged scam artists pretending to be real advertisers – Morning Brew
The most important part in the article: “Alleged scam artists are running ads and posing as real brands on TikTok, offering ludicrous deals to swindle unsuspecting users.”
Scammers posing as real brands is nothing new and exist on other platforms, of course. Just be aware that it happens on TikTok too, that’s all.
6. Earmarked paternity leave increases parental wellbeing– VoxEU CEPR
VoxEU CEPR, an organisation focused on ‘research-based policy analysis and commentary from leading economists’ studied the effects of paternal leave (leave exclusively granted to fathers), and they found amazing result to parents’ well-being, especially mothers:
Our results show that eligibility for earmarked paternity leave increases life satisfaction by 10.8 percentage points. Interestingly, this effect is much stronger for mothers than for fathers, despite the earmarked leave increasing the amount of leave taken by fathers, not mothers.
While both mothers and fathers benefit in terms of life satisfaction from being eligible to earmarked paternity leave, mothers’ life satisfaction increases by 30% more than that of fathers.
Those of you with paternity leave benefit + married to someone with one, you can look forward to a happier family life. It’s also not a bad idea to seek workplaces that offer this benefit, for your own happiness.
7. These companies are the most impersonated in email phishing campaigns – Tech Radar
According to Hornet Security’s Cyber Threat Report 2020/2021, the companies that are the most impersonated in email phishing campaigns include (the higher in the list, the bigger the volume/frequency):
- Amazon
- DHL
- DocuSign (!!!)
- PayPal
- Microsoft
- HSBC
- FedEx
- Ebay
Therefore, just double check when you receive mail from these entities. Being sceptical may save you a whole load of $$$ and headache.
8. Vehicle Depreciation by Color Says Yellow Rules – Autoweek
Interesting data of the week: According to Autoweek, Yellow cars depreciate the least in 3 years, while Gold cars depreciate the most.
(No idea if the same depreciation order is true for cars in Malaysia)
9. 3 ways to stop comparing yourself to others, according to a cognitive scientist – Vice
Awesome description of the social comparison phenomenon, which can be upward or downward:
…tendency to compare ourselves to other people is called social comparison, and it is a natural way for us to evaluate how we’re doing.
When we compare ourselves to others who are better off than we are, it is called an upward social comparison, and it tends to make us feel dissatisfied. If we feel that there is nothing we can do to improve our situation, then that dissatisfaction turns to frustration.
When we compare ourselves to people worse off than we are, it is called a downward social comparisons, and it may make us feel satisfied (or even smug), but it also tends to sap our motivation to work harder.
As for how to stop it, its nothing new or revolutionary. Just a reminder to go back to these golden advice:
- Focus on your path
- Enjoy (instead of envy) other people’s success
- Concentrate on gratitude
10. 3 Features in myASNB App You Should Know – Ringgit Oh Ringgit
And last but not least, just letting you know the video version of 3 Features in myASNB App You Should Know article is out 🙂 Do me a favour and leave an upvote (and subscribe to my channel if you feel super generous?)
