Factfulness: Gaining a Better (and More Hopeful) Perspective of Today's World

/ Rapid Business Plans/
Factfulness: Gaining a Better (and More Hopeful) Perspective of Today's World

In 2019, a step back to look at what’s happening is daunting - from dozens of mass shootings to economic uncertainty, volatile foreign powers, cyber-threats, questionable privacy, rapidly evolving technologies, cultural dissent, and more, a sense of being scared and overwhelmed seems reasonable. But are things as bad as they seem? Swedish statistician Hans Rosling and his son Ola Rosling in their 2018 book, Factfulness, take a step back from the fray to analyze trends and data to see whether our lives are getting worse or better, and show that in the grand scheme perhaps things are better and more hopeful than mass-media-fueled majority majority of everyday people might realize.

Factfulness is about understanding how our instincts program us to exaggerate situations and distort our perception of reality in ways that further exacerbate problems and how we react to them. In his book, Rosling outlines ten of these fundamental instincts and how to combat them to cultivate shift towards a perception based in fact that will ultimately alter the way we think, feel, and behave as a result.

Here’s a summary of some key insights and lessons for building a more “factful” perspective:

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Living Simplified - The Essence of Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown

/ Prior Business Consulting/
Living Simplified - The Essence of Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown

Success generates choices - both for people and societies. As Greg McKeown describes in his 2014 New York Times bestseller, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, any individual that becomes successful will have access to increasing choices as others come to recognize them as being capable of managing greater responsibility. Yet, even for the average person, technology and the success of modern American society as a whole has made a greater volume of choices accessible than ever before. Virtually limitless access to information, dozens of software-driven shortcuts to managing everyday tasks, high-speed travel, constant connectivity and more has left us with a dizzying array of options for how to invest our time and energies.

This article distills Essentialism into three core paradigm shifts proposed in his book that can help you understand the essence of what it means to be “an Essentialist,” and to live a more focused and meaningful life.

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Timeless Principles in a Social World: From How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

/ Prior Biz Consulting/
Timeless Principles in a Social World: From How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

Some ideas stand the test of time because they tap into something profoundly true buried deeply in human nature and even nature itself. Nearly a century ago, Dale Carnegie published How to Win Friends and Influence People, well before the boom of self-development and communication literature flooded the modern marketplace. His simple but incisive insights for dealing with people have sold more than 15 million copies worldwide, defined an entire genre of content, and been considered by Time Magazine and many other sources (even the Library of Congress), to be one of the most influential books in American history, and even all-time. 


Much of Caregie’s work was birthed from his belief that it is possible to change other people’s behavior by changing one’s behavior towards them. In a social world of unprecedented connectedness fueled by communication technology and mass media, these principles are as important and potent as ever. Never before in human history has it been possible for nearly limitless instantaneous interactions with people across the world, so here is a reminder of some ideas for dealing with people that may just change their behavior, and your life for the better…

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