Wednesday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Kate Raworth discusses the need to orient ourselves toward measures of progress based on well-being rather than growth – both due to its…
productivity
Punctual Meetings are More Productive
It’s not just you who thinks there’s too much useless chatter at the start of the meeting. Meetings that don’t start on time are less efficient than those that do,…
Successful People are “Lazy”
It’s ok to be lazy. In fact, incorporating come lazy behaviours into your work might make you more productive. As counter-intuitive as that sounds, it’s true. There are certain tricks…
Towards a Green Social Democratic Economy
Background/Context Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Characteristics central to capitalism include private property, capital accumulation,…
Inspiration from the Past: Be Less Productive
The last century witnessed multiple calls for shorter work days (8 hours!) and more vacation time; this century we’ve been focussed on helping companies make more money. We presently live…
Four Day Work Weeks Increase Productivity, Decrease Stress
Working a job that is free of stress is rare, however there’s an easy way to make your current job less stressful: work four days instead of five. This is…
If You’re a Nice Person You Likely Have More Fun Than Others
Some people think that the way to get ahead in life is to be a pushy jerk, and those people are wrong. What you should be is nice. Yup, that’s…
Email, Productivity, And How You Feel
Dealing with an endless stream of emails is challenge in any office environment – even just socially it can be rather taxing. The solution to email always seems to be…
Look at Nature and be More Productive
Go ahead and let your gaze look out that window while you work. If you get caught, tell your boss that you’re just getting ready to be more productive! The…
Focus Less on Work to Improve Everything – Even Your Job
Stressed about not getting enough done at work? Don’t be. It turns out that you can improve how much you get things done at the office by not thinking about…
Someone is making slightly more than you and this report says it’s time for it to stop!
Here’s a familiar refrain: “Someone’s wages rose faster than someone else’s: report”. This depersonalized version sounds about as cynical as it should especially since the first someone is usually not…
Britain’s, Not France’s, Middle Class Is Being ‘Run Into The Dust’
http://www.social-europe.eu/2014/02/middle-class/ Filed under: Capitalism Tagged: Britain, Capitalism, France, investment, productivity
StatCan Debunks Small-Business Mythology
Canadian economic commentators often worship small business as the supposed source of economic dynamism and growth. This cult of small business has greatly influenced public policy, with federal and provincial…
Funding Cuts to Alberta’s PSE Sector: There Are Alternatives
It has recently been reported that the University of Alberta wants to “reopen two-year collective agreements” with faculty and staff “to help the university balance its budget…” This appears to…
The need for a global no-growth agreement
Trade agreements are all the rage among nations these days. And that might not be a bad thing if they were principally about trade rather than about empowering corporations at…
Canada Originally Intended All Education To Be Free
Out of Canada's 33 Fathers of Confederation, only one went to university.1It's not that Nova Scotia's Charles Tupper was the only intelligent one among them, other founders were businessmen, doctors,…
Canada Originally Intended All Education To Be Free
Out of Canada’s 33 Fathers of Confederation, only one went to university.1 It’s not that Nova Scotia’s Charles Tupper was the only intelligent one among them, other founders were businessmen,…
Canada Originally Intended All Education To Be Free
Out of Canada’s 33 Fathers of Confederation, only one went to university.1 It’s not that Nova Scotia’s Charles Tupper was the only intelligent one among them, other founders were businessmen,…
Canada Originally Intended All Education To Be Free
Out of Canada's 33 Fathers of Confederation, only one went to university.1It's not that Nova Scotia's Charles Tupper was the only intelligent one among them, other founders were businessmen, doctors,…
Why Health Care Should Be Privatized
It would be a risky claim to suggest health care should be privatized while education, from preschool to post-secondary, should be fully publicly provided, but considering the importance of education,…