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Seriously, What Are You Supposed to Do With Old Clothes?

Six takeaways:

  1. The public appetite for new clothing has expanded over the past two decades, as clothes have become cheaper, more abundant, and easier than ever to buy. This is largely thanks to the spread of fast fashion and online shopping. So what is the best way to dispose of the old clothes lingering in your closet?
  2. Mull notes quickly that there is no perfect, universally accepted solution to this problem, but there are a lot of options: re-sale, charitable donation, consignment stores, donation boxes, and more.
  3. Earlier on in American history, the problem of clothing waste was virtually nonexistent. For much of American history, most clothing was made at home and the accumulation of excess material goods was considered tacky.
  4. The rise of thrift stores has led to a creation of a secondary clothing market, which made donation/selling of clothing a more accepted and virtuous thing. However, thrift stores are now so popular that they cannot sell all of the clothes they receive, and approximately 80% of thrift store donations wind up in landfill.
  5. While donation to charitable organizations also runs the risk of ending up in landfill, it does have the direct benefit of helping the needy.
  6. Overall, it makes sense to consider disposal options when considering new clothing purchase. We must remember that “the garment industry has a vested interest in ensuring that the rest of us think of clothing as disposable,” and making sure fashion trends change.

From Amanda Mull at The Atlantic:
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Note: At the time of this posting The Atlantic offers five free article views per month.

This site may contain links to articles or other information that may be contained on a third-party website. Advisory Services Network, LLC and MAP Strategic Wealth Advisors are not responsible for and do not control, adopt, or endorse any content contained on any third party website. The information and material contained in linked articles is of a general nature and is intended for educational purposes only. Links to articles do not constitute a recommendation or a solicitation or offer of the purchase or sale of securities.

How Multitasking Erodes Productivity And Dings Your IQ

Five takeaways:

  1. This article examines the darker side of multitasking, something many of us might consider essential to the daily performance of our jobs and lives. Does it have harmful effects?
  2. Although multitasking purports to increase efficiency, it may only increase “busyness” – and sap effectiveness. Paying partial attention to multiple things might provide the sensation of accomplishment when, in fact, it is unproductive.
  3. Our attention should be viewed as a precious currency, and studies show that every time you switch tasks, you lose a little bit of your power to focus that day.
  4. Our brains are simply not wired to handle long term multitasking. Our brains first evolved, its stimulus-response incentive as a survival tool. But today, when multitasking triggers multiple stimulus-responses every hour, there is an imbalance.
  5. In the age of distraction, it is incumbent upon business leaders and managers to minimize the “scattershot” approach to task completion, and give your teams the chance to apply their innate human strength of focus.

From Curt Steinhorse at Forbes:
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Note: At the time of this posting Forbes offers 4 free article views per month.

This site may contain links to articles or other information that may be contained on a third-party website. Advisory Services Network, LLC and MAP Strategic Wealth Advisors are not responsible for and do not control, adopt, or endorse any content contained on any third party website. The information and material contained in linked articles is of a general nature and is intended for educational purposes only. Links to articles do not constitute a recommendation or a solicitation or offer of the purchase or sale of securities.

Nothing is Cooler Than Going Out to Dinner

Five takeaways:

  1. This fascinating article explores evolution in the cultural prominence of restaurants, and status-based restaurant culture– a shift that begins in the 1980s and has been on the rise in the social media age.
  2. Mull argues that the restaurant world has been completely shaken by social media, which fuels human competitiveness and materialism. Restaurants become landmarks through social media hype and in many cases begin designing their menus and interiors to cater to the Instagram set. The hype leads to reservations becoming harder and harder to get, which in turn leads to more hype.
  3. Restaurants did not always have this place in our culture. Before, restaurants had been viewed as a “side dish” to a night out at the theater or the movies. The 80s made them the “main dish,” as celebrity chefs like Wolfang Puck rode to fame and turned their restaurants into destinations.
  4. In the 2000s, writer and television host Anthony Bourdain asserted to the public that restaurants were themselves important cultural hubs, where worlds and cultures could be richly experienced. Restaurants became a part of being a cultured citizen of the world.
  5. Mull notes that the result has been a “reservation frenzy” in which people are desperate to get reservations at hot new restaurants. She also notes that this frenzy is less about the food than it is about status: “What matters is putting your butt in the seat that everyone else wanted.’

From Amanda Mull at The Atlantic:
Read the whole story.

Note: At the time of this posting The Atlantic offers five free article views per month.

This site may contain links to articles or other information that may be contained on a third-party website. Advisory Services Network, LLC and MAP Strategic Wealth Advisors are not responsible for and do not control, adopt, or endorse any content contained on any third party website. The information and material contained in linked articles is of a general nature and is intended for educational purposes only. Links to articles do not constitute a recommendation or a solicitation or offer of the purchase or sale of securities.

What We Gain from a Good-Enough Life

Five takeaways:

  1. This article discusses a new book called The Good Enough Life that makes a broad ideology of “Good-enoughness”– a healthy mental alternative to the burden of over-aspirational “greatness thinking.”
  2. While there is no problem with wanting to be great, the book argues that we must be conscious of clinging too tightly to extraordinarily lofty goals– and that doing so sets us up for both practical and emotional failure.
  3. If we can accept that frustration, roadblocks, and limitations both personal and external are unavoidable, the book argues, we begin to approach problems and goals in a much more practical way. This, in turn, brings us a feeling of momentum and positivity.
  4. “Greatness” thinking can be very limiting in interactions and effort in life– if we view our lives on a single tracked path to a distant “great” goal (say, winning an Oscar or publishing a best-selling book), then we are forced to devalue certain relationships and hobbies as wastes of time– even if they bring us overall joy.
  5. The “Good Enoughness” concept can be applied to external goals as well. For instance, the global scale of a problem like climate change can cause “inflexible” thinking about its eventual solution. Since we cannot do the great thing of solving it ourselves, we often overlook the smaller, shorter-term changes we actually can control.

From Lily Meyer at The Atlantic:
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Note: At the time of this posting The Atlantic offers five free article views per month.

This site may contain links to articles or other information that may be contained on a third-party website. Advisory Services Network, LLC and MAP Strategic Wealth Advisors are not responsible for and do not control, adopt, or endorse any content contained on any third party website. The information and material contained in linked articles is of a general nature and is intended for educational purposes only. Links to articles do not constitute a recommendation or a solicitation or offer of the purchase or sale of securities.
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