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Why Holiday Season ‘Self-Gifting’ Is Such a Huge Retail Trend
TIME: We’ve all heard that it is better to give than receive. During the holiday shopping period, there’s a new twist to this old adage: With the rise of “self-gifting,” many consumers are clearly big fans of the idea of “giving” — to themselves. The “self-gifting” trend, which has been gaining in popularity for years, will reach all-time highs this year. According to the National Retail Federation, the average shopper who is honest enough to admit they plan to spend on themselves over the holidays will drop $237 on “self-gifts.” That’s a 27% jump in five years. For retailers, this is significant. Over 20% of the average shopper’s gift kitty is expected to be self-designated in 2012.
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En entreprise, culpabiliser est une vertu (In business, guilt is a virtue)
Le Monde: On se sentait coupable de se sentir coupable. Cette éternelle impression que l'on aurait pu mieux faire — éviter une erreur comme d'avoir blessé quelqu'un inutilement, une gaffe, mieux se comporter vis-à-vis de nos collègues, collaborateurs, supérieurs hiérarchiques — empoisonnait doucement notre vie et celle de notre entourage. Et aussi bien à la maison, comme au bureau, où la moindre remarque était facilement mal ressentie et nous rongeait alors les entrailles. Ce qui ne facilitait guère les relations avec les tiers. Nous savions que ce sentiment n'avait pas lieu d'être.
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Playing It Too Safe?
The Wall Street Journal: The child who insists on running up the slide at the playground is doing it for a good reason. Chances are he's uninspired and trying to create more of a challenge for himself. And if the child is 9 or 10 years old, he is likely fully bored by the swings, slides and climbing gear. Some child-development experts and parents say decades of dumbed-down playgrounds, fueled by fears of litigation, concerns about injury and worrywart helicopter parents, have led to cookie-cutter equipment that offers little thrill.
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Breaking habits
The Miami Herald: You want to lose weight, but you can’t pass by the pastries and pastelitos that pop up at every desk, every cubicle, every dining room table at this time of the year. Before you go all the way, however, consider this. Research has shown that much of what we do in our lives is ultimately determined by habit. While changing those behaviors may not be a piece of cake so to speak, it may be easier than you think. In a bestselling new book, The Power of Habit (Random House, $28) , Charles Duhigg explores why we do what we do and how habits form and change. “What surprised me most was learning that any habit can be changed ... no matter how ingrained,” he said.
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The Shame of the Alcoholic
The Huffington Post: This month in Cleveland a woman was caught swerving her car onto a sidewalk, illegally passing a school bus full of children. A judge sentenced her to stand on the street corner wearing a sign that read, "Only an idiot would drive around a school bus." In Arlington, Tex., a billboard features mug shots of suspected johns, with the words, "This could be you." ... The scientists wanted to see if shameful body language correlated with mental and physical health, and especially with successful sobriety, four months later. This is the time window during which most newly recovered alcoholics will relapse, and indeed more than half the volunteers never made it back to the lab.
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Benevolent billionaires – why do they do it?
The Sydney Morning Herald: They have been hailed as the billion-dollar givers by Forbes in a new list of the world's most benevolent billionaires, but what inspires super-rich people to give most of their money away? Is it guilt, glory or simply the joy of giving? Topping the 23-strong list is Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who according to Forbes has so far given nearly half of his $US66 billion ($A63.5 billion) fortune away. His outlook on life seems to be a motivating factor. “We are impatient optimists by nature: we see the glass as 'half full' and are motivated to confront problems that others consider impossible to solve,” his foundation website states.
