In finance, there is a practice known as compound interest.

Albert Einstein once commented, “Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it. He who doesn’t, pays it.”

Why is it interesting to study this practice? Is there any other area in life where we can apply it?

Mickey Mouse is an irreplaceable icon of Disneyland or Disney World. But if you’ve been to Disneyland, you might have noticed other icons. What I mean are flowers with faces or characters built from flowers.

Did you know that these icons were made on purpose? What’s the story behind it?

The 1960 US presidential election was the 44th quadrennial presidential election. The Republican nominee was the incumbent US Vice President, Richard Nixon. And the Democratic nominee was Senator John F. Kennedy from Massachusetts.

One time during his campaign, JFK was asked by a reporter. The reporter asked JFK what he remembered from the Great Depression.

His answer really affected the voters. He almost lost the election.

What was his answer? And what lesson can we learn from this story?

In the 1800s, there was a disease called puerperal fever that shocked the world. Many people died. The experts tried to find the cause, but they couldn’t find it.   Until one day, a man named Oliver Wendell Holmes made an observation and proposed a solution.  Unfortunately, his solution was ignored. It took years until some doctors realized the brilliance of his solution.  What leadership lesson can we learn from this story?

If you are a leader, then learning must be a part of your daily routine. We all know that adaptive and proactive learners are assets for our organizations. So, as a leader, you know how important it is to invest in your learning because both you and your organization will benefit from it.

But when talking about learning, what we imagine is acquiring new knowledge. The fact is there are 3 situations when it comes to learning: unlearn, learn and relearn. Unfortunately, it is an often-ignored skill.

The question is how do we develop this skill?

From a popular advertisement, we learned a scientific fact that it takes 21 days to develop a new habit. A habit is a system that we have to develop if we want to achieve our goals. Studies have shown us that we cannot just rely on our will. 

I think it is not a coincidence that we have almost arrived on the 21st day of January. This fact should then serve as a reminder. 

Are you still in the business of achieving your goals?

As of December 2021, Amazon is the biggest e-commerce in the world. 

What makes them very successful? 

Some say it's because of the culture Jeff Bezos, its founder, has developed over a period of time known as the Day-1 mentality. 

What is it about?

Someone once said, “Every day is a fresh start for you. That every sunrise is a new chapter in your life waiting to be written.”

New Year is a new chapter. As we step into this new year, we carry many valuable lessons from the past year.

How do we get the most out of those lessons?

Socrates said, “The un-examined life is not worth living.”

End of year, just like the other special days, gives us the momentum. It’s one of the best times to reflect.

Studies show that reflecting on work improves job performance.

The opportunity to reflect is luxury.

How do we make the most of our reflection time?