EDITION 876
5 JULY 2021

As another week slips by, here are 10 things which caught my attention and may have escaped yours. This newsletter is sent to 50,000+ subscribers each Monday at 10am. Please share on social media and forward to your colleagues and friends so they can subscribe, learn and engage. I would be very grateful if you did.

1. How to find your clarity. Can you believe we're at the end of June? The end of the month serves as an essential checkpoint for our lives. A new month helps us realise the upcoming professional and personal appointments, tasks, and, most importantly, a status report of our goals. Without doubt, clarity is an absolute prerequisite for success; however you define it. Focus is not something that comes naturally; it is a skill that must be developed. READ MORE

2. Nations agree corporation tax. More than 100 countries have agreed to accept a minimum corporation tax rate of 15%. The agreement between 130 nations, which account for nine tenths of global GDP, is part of a bid to call time on tax avoidance by multinational companies. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said the deal would end the “race to the bottom” and deliver $150bn (£109bn) more in tax every year for governments around the world. The Times

3. Shoddy workmanship law planned. Homeowners will be given up to 15 years to sue builders and developers for “shoddy workmanship” as the current time limit for bringing legal claims is more than doubled in length. In a move Robert Jenrick, the Housing Secretary, said this will hand residents “greater powers to seek redress from developers whose work is simply not up to scratch,” the Building Safety Bill will extend the current six-year period in which legal claims can be brought against developers. It will apply retrospectively. BBC

4. The tyranny of procrastination. Procrastination, for many, is the horse that can't be broken (I, for one, have been doing this, that and the other instead of actually writing this blurb). During the pandemic, procrastination took on a whole new meaning, as remote work blurred the work-life lines many of us had in place. Realising the root cause of your procrastination can help eradicate it. Here are some other tips [1] Create a space that's just for work. [2] Make sure you understand the task at hand and how to complete it. [3] Work off a daily to-do list. [4] Showing self-compassion and forgiveness often leads to less procrastinating. Editor

5. Queen gives NHS George Cross. The Queen has marked the 73rd anniversary of the NHS by awarding it the George Cross. She said NHS staff had worked “with courage, compassion and dedication” for more than 70 years. The George Cross, launched in 1940, is awarded for “acts of the greatest heroism or of the most courage in circumstances of extreme danger”. This is only the third time it has been given to a collective body, country or organisation, rather than an individual. BBC

6. Do we need to be told to log off? Home-working over the past 18 months has stretched everyone’s time spent on the job by more than 48 minutes each day. Whether it’s replying to extra emails long into the night, or pinging colleagues in never-ending group chats, workers worldwide feel sheepish about logging off. So what can be done to make sure people actually log off? Other countries have introduced laws or codes of conduct over the past years giving workers the legal right to disconnect. But is it a decision for governments to make? What’s the best way to ensure employees log off? Have your say in our poll. VOTE HERE

7. Parental regrets. Around 8% of parents say they regret having had children. A further 6% say they have regretted it in the past, but no longer do. 83% have never regretted it; the rest did not know or preferred not to say. Of the regretful, only a tiny minority (amounting to 1% of all parents) regretted it a great deal. Most (5% of all parents) only regretted it to a “small extent”. Regret was most common among younger parents. Among those aged 25 to 34, 13% regretted having children, falling to 6% of over 55s. The Independent

8. Lack of sleep linked to early deaths. A new study has found that people who do little exercise and sleep poorly are 57% more likely to die prematurely compared to those who exercise a lot and sleep better as a result. Bad sleepers also had a 67% higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease and a 45% higher chance of being diagnosed with cancer. The study was carried out by the University College London and the University of Sydney. Daily Mail

9. My latest read. Fall: The Mystery of Robert Maxwell by John Preston. The author of A Very English Scandal charts the press baron’s vast appetites, ambition and feud with Rupert Murdoch. It all ends on his yacht, the Lady Ghislaine – named after his now equally infamous daughter. Editor

10. The bottom line. The Bank of England held interest rates at 0.1% and left QE unchanged at £895bn, despite revising up its 2021 inflation forecast from a peak of 2.5% to above 3%. Inflation last hit 3.1% in 2017 and has not been higher since 2012. Financial Times