EDITION 902
17 JANUARY 2022

There is no escaping it: too much news is bad for you. It should come with a government health warning: “This intellectual diet is fine taken in small doses, and preferably in weekly instalments, via a well-balanced newsletter, such as 10 things from William Montgomery."

So, as another week slips by, here are 10 things which caught my attention and may have escaped yours. Please feel free to share on social media and forward to your colleagues and friends so they can also subscribe, learn and engage. I would be very grateful if you did.

William Montgomery
Editor and CEO of TEN

1. How to get your goals back on track. Whether you're on team New Year's resolutions or not, setting goals is a part of life. Some will stick to achieving them easier than others. And what we do when we trip up can set us up for future success. Instead of giving up, or succumbing to what's known as "abstinence violation effect" and relapsing, practice resilience and start over. READ MORE >>

2. Is January the best time to quit your job? January is often touted as the best month to leave a job, but there is actually no best time to leave your job. Covid-19 has disrupted the usual hiring patterns and only made it more difficult to pinpoint the best time to quit. While the pandemic has had an effect, it's important to remember that calendar-based milestones come at different times in a number of countries and looking for a job in a month like January can be more difficult as many people are also searching. BBC

3. Notifications making us nutty. Notifications, if not kept at bay, can do a number on our productivity, and perhaps worse, our psyche. If you're distracted by a message or a "like" on one of the social media networks on your phone, it can take about 25 minutes to get back on task. To help alleviate notification overload, the Journal suggests "quiet hours" where it's accepted for you not to respond and turning off notifications for a chunk of time. Work for 25 minutes, then pause to check up on what you missed (if anything). What are some tips you have for taming the notifications beast? CONTACT US >>

4. Cash levels lowest for eight years. Households in the UK have suffered the sharpest fall in available cash for almost eight years. Amid a worsening cost-of-living crisis driven by high inflation and rising energy bills, a study found that increasing living costs at the end of last year hit people’s pockets and led to the steepest decline in cash availability since the start of 2014. With inflation at the highest level in a decade, the government is under pressure to act on living standards. The Guardian

5. Angelou first black woman on quarter. Maya Angelou has become the first black woman ever featured on the US quarter. The poet and activist, who died in 2014 at the age of 86, was also the first black woman to write and perform a poem at a presidential inauguration. Coins are planned for other pioneering women - including an astronaut, a tribal chief and an actor - as part of the American Women Quarters programme. New York Times

6. Cannabis addiction up in over 55s. A record number of people over the age of 55 are seeking treatment for cannabis addiction. Over the past 15 years there has been a 777% increase in the number of people in the age group receiving substance misuse treatment for cannabis. However, the figure has fallen by 22% among people aged between 18 and 24. Dr Tony Rao, a consultant psychiatrist, said cannabis is “still regarded as a recreational drug with little awareness of the harm associated with its use”. The Daily Mail

7. Corbyn may form own party. Jeremy Corbyn is considering forming his own political party after privately accepting he will never be reinstated as a Labour MP, The Telegraph reported. The former Labour leader’s wife is among those who have urged him to upgrade his Peace and Justice Project charity into a political party and run under its banner at the next election. His team believes he has enough of a “personal vote” to win his Islington North seat without Labour’s backing. The Telegraph

8. Natural population growth ‘to end’. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has forecast that fewer births and lower-than-expected life expectancy will end “natural” population growth. By 2025 there will be more deaths than births in the UK, the statistics agency said. The ONS estimated in 2014 that the population would reach almost 75m by 2040. But statisticians now say it will reach just 71m by 2045. This means immigration will be the only driver of population growth from 2030 onwards. The Times

9. 2021 was world’s fifth hottest year. The last seven years were the world’s hottest on record, with the first analysis of global temperature in 2021 showing it was 1.2C above pre-industrial levels. Data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service shows 2021 was the world's fifth hottest year, and the past seven years were the hottest on record. US researchers also found that ocean temperatures were the hottest recorded for the sixth consecutive year, which scientists also attribute to climate change. The Guardian

10. The bottom line. Results from a Savanta ComRes poll revealed that two-thirds of voters believe Boris Johnson should resign over the latest Downing Street party revelations – including 42% of people who voted Conservative in the 2019 election. The i Paper