More Than Just Data: Clickbait is not Reality, Solid Agreement, and That's a Really Big Number
We have officially hit the “forget it, this seems like a next year problem” phase of 2023. Take a deep breath; we made it. Now is the time to start looking forward to the “this is the year where I will ….” phase. There is always something exciting about the potential of a clean sheet to work with. Lessons have been learned and mistakes will not be repeated. The challenge is that we all know that this won't actually play out the way we plan, but that should not stop us from enjoying the potential of what could be. What is fascinating is that we are planning for the future with the full knowledge that we are going to over promise and under deliver.
This is decidedly different from planning for future behavior with no real knowledge. Before we had kids, I was one of those silently judgey non-parents. Why do you let your kids eat that crap? What do you mean you let your kids watch TV instead of learning calculus? But the biggest silent judgment was getting in a friend’s car who had kids and looking at the mess and thinking, “Where is your self-respect? My car will never look like this.” Fast forward a few years, and I’m pretty sure I did once actually say, “If you’re hungry, just look for some cheerios in the seats.” It’s easy to judge when you don’t really have first hand knowledge.
Future planning without knowledge or experience tends to never be a good look for most, but future planning with knowledge should be a more successful endeavor. Somehow, when it comes to next-year planning, we don’t often learn these lessons. Or am I the only one who hasn’t read 20 books, run 4 times a week, and cut out sweets this year without realizing it? So, with this in mind, here is my honest new year’s resolution list using past knowledge as my guide.
1)??? I will read at least three chapters in one of the ten books in my “to read pile”
2)??? I will wake up early to work out but then just hit snooze on most days
3)??? I will eat healthy food on all days ending in the letter y, unless the second to last letter is an a, then I will give myself the option of making a different decision
4)??? I will ignore my self-promised bedtime and watch just one more episode
5)??? I will not read every email from my kids' schools and I will absolutely forget that I signed up to bring something into class until 11pm the night before (at least once this year)
Now there is a list I am feeling good about achieving.
Happy holidays, everyone, and I hope everyone has some time to relax a little. We’ll see you in 2024.
As always, here is some of the data that caught our eye this week.
1)??? 13 + 6 ≠ 50+
领英推荐
In our world of “success equals clicks,” you would think that the American public is incredibly divided on what is happening in Israel and what the ideal outcome is for the current situation. Every college student is supporting the destruction of Israel and everyone over the age of 60 would like to see Israel control all of current day Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza, etc. The problem is that this is not even close to being the reality.
Currently, just 6% of Americans feel that the ideal outcome of the conflict is for Israel to no longer exist, while 13% feel that Israel should control all three areas. There are more people who aren’t sure what the best outcome is (24%) than there are to have one of these extreme views, with most Americans supporting a two-state solution. Headlines are not always designed to create accurate pictures of what is really happening.
2)??? 200 = < 1.5?
This week, 200 nations agreed to a deal at COP28 (otherwise known as the United Nations Climate Change Conference) that supports “transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner, accelerating action in this critical decade, so as to achieve net zero by 2050 in keeping with the science.” While the agreement does not call for an all-out move away from fossil fuels and has lots of loopholes, it is the first time an agreement of this level has been supported by this many countries.
Movement is likely to be slower than ideal, but recognition is an important first step.
3)??? Apple > France
It’s been a good week for the stock market, and this is especially true for Apple. The California-based company is now valued at $3.1 trillion, which is what some analysts describe as “quite a large number.” For context, the entire value of all the companies listed on the French stock market (the largest in Europe) is $3.2 trillion.
While Apple might be able to leapfrog the French market next week, France still has Paris, which I am going to put well above Cupertino, CA on the lists of cities I would like to spend more time in. In case you were wondering, Microsoft is #2 on the Market Cap list ($2.75 trillion), and Google’s parent company Alphabet is at a distant $1.67 trillion.
We hope you enjoyed this week’s edition and, as always, we look forward to your thoughts and hearing what stories caught your eye this week. Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!