Take the Fear Out of Risk-Taking
The Mission Newsletter, 8/6/18
“We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men.” — Herman Melville
The Barbell Strategy
Episode 70 of The Mission Daily
You can’t advance in life without taking risks, but risks don’t always have to be scary. Certain strategies can take the fear out of risk-taking, and Chad and Stephanie are going to guide you through the one they’ve been using forever — even before they realized it.
Listen to Episode 70 of The Mission Daily.
The Mission Daily is a podcast dedicated to accelerated learning and helping you become healthier, wealthier, and wiser. It is designed to help you learn — as fast as you possibly can.
Build The Skills You Need In The New Economy
Finding our own truth about whether or not we should go to college is challenging. But consider starting here: ignore anyone who says, “Everyone should go to college” and avoid anyone who says, “Nobody should go to college.” Neither view takes into account your individual unique situation, potential, talents, ambitions, personal agency, or existing skills.
Read: Build The Skills You Need In The New Economy by Chad Grills
News That Matters
Health
Passing by vacant lots or unused and abandoned outdoor space is having a negative effect on your mental health. It’s called urban blight, and the effects of the blight include feeling stigmatized and left behind, as well as depression and anxiety.
Researchers in Philadelphia are experimenting with how turning these abandoned lots can affect the health of residents. They found that turning the lots into green community spaces helped infuse positivity into residents individually and the community as a whole.
There is something about the green space itself that allows you to disconnect, to be present without a lot of stimuli coming in. Green space also allows residents to build relationships with one another, she added, and helps people cope with daily stress. — Eugenia South, senior fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine
Wealth
In stock trading, there is a strategy known as “buying the rumor and selling the news.” Few are better at leveraging this strategy that Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who uses Twitter to influence his company’s stock.
Essentially, Musk uses the loyal audience he’s built on Twitter to outsmart short sellers — short selling is the sale of a security that is not owned by the seller or that the seller has borrowed. Short selling is motivated by the belief that a security’s price will decline, enabling it to be bought back at a lower price to make a profit.
Musk often uses the social platform to hype up a Tesla or Boring Company project and, because he has built up such trust with his audience, when his tweets are positive, the company’s stock price appreciates.
Wisdom
It’s important to put yourself out there. Human connection is a vital part of life. Sure, there’s Tinder and Bumble and EHarmony and Match. But why use one of those when all you need to attract a mate is a t-shirt loaded with your scent? 👃
More and more in recent years, singles have been using the science of pheromonesto find their perfect match, and there’s some interesting data to back up the practice. Scientists have studied whether your nose can detect if your potential partner has desirable immune-fighting genes. Although tests were generally inconclusive as to how accurately your nose can detect the difference, women tend to choose mates with immune systems dissimilar to their own — this creates a more viable baby with better ability to fight off disease.
Regardless of whether or not sniffing a stranger’s t-shirt will lead to everlasting love, companies are cropping up everywhere that offer pheromone parties to give singles the opportunity to meet in a new, fun way. So if you want to get your stink on, check one out!
Join us at SIGNAL!
If you don’t have your ticket to SIGNAL yet, head over to signal.twilio.com and get your ticket for 20% off by using the promo code: MISSION20. The Mission team will be there, so please drop by and say hi! 👋
Tech Trends
3-D printing is quickly becoming a necessary tool in many industries. Although the technology has recently caused some controversy, it is very often used for good.
For example, one Home Depot in Maryland works with Dremel, a 3-D printer manufacturer, and e-NABLE, a community of volunteers who use 3-D printing tech to help those in need. Together, they have made more than 120 3-D printed prosthetic limbs over the last year and a half for community members in need. Just last week, a 5-year-old boy named Bradley was outfitted with one right in the store.
“At Dremel, it is our goal to inspire people of all ages and backgrounds to create. We are so touched to hear Bradley’s story and honored that one of our 3-D printers has helped make an immeasurable difference in his life,” Saad Alam, head of product development at Dremel, said in a statement. “Learning how our products are being used to impact others is what sparks us to keep innovating and pushes us as a company.”
Marketing Trends
Last month in Europe, Nestle’s KitKat brand lost a trademark battle with a Norwegian chocolate biscuit company that had been making their candy treats in a similar size and shape as the more famous KitKat. KitKat did originally have a trademark on the “four-fingered” shape; however, the trademark is no longer valid across the entire European Union. This means the chocolate wars will be amping up. 🍫
Disputes over shapes is complex in trademark law. It can be a more straightforward prospect to protect a word as a trademark–and the KitKat name itself is. Marks like KitKat are inherently distinctive, meaning they’re made up, so only have meaning in relation to that brand. But in the case of shapes, distinctiveness may need to be acquired through commercial use and the average consumer associating the shape with the brand. So with the KitKat shape, the court considered whether the use was proved to acquire distinctiveness.
Education Trends
At Syracuse University in New York, honoring the armed forces through military education programs has been an important part of their legacy since the 1940s.
Since 2007, SU has run the Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF), an interdisciplinary higher education institute solely focused on assisting military veterans and their families. Last year alone, 23,000 vets and families went through IVMF programs. Soon, the university will open the nation’s first National Veterans Resource Complex, “dedicated to advancing academic research, actionable programs, and community-connected innovation in service to the nation’s veterans and military-connected families.”
From community link programs, entrepreneurship opportunities, and certificate programs, the work that Syracuse does for vets continues to make an impact.
Opportunities
Jobscan is hiring for a UI/UX Designer! 🤗
Jobscan loves ideas, innovation, and experimentation. As a UI/UX designer, you will have freedom to use your creative chops to help job seekers land jobs faster and our user-focused culture will give you the opportunity to maximize your impact as a designer.
Click here to learn more about the job description and to apply!
The Best of What We Are Reading
“The story of the world is not the story of coups and revolutions. It is the story of lost keys and burnt coffee and a sleeping child in your arms. History is the untallied sum of a million everyday moments.” ―Eric Weiner
Read: The Geography of Genius: Lessons from the World’s Most Creative Placesby Eric Weiner
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