Festive Seminar November 9, 2006
Posted by The Probabilist in : [News], Communication, Financial Literacy, Society, Politics, Studies, Speaking , 2 comments
I had the privilege of listening to the speeches of three great individuals today at the 180th year anniversary of a local bank that cooperates with the University I’m studying at. I wrote down many pointers on what they considered to be important in today’s global development, but I’ll only present the key information they wanted to emphasize.
Sweden’s former prime minister Göran Persson started by speaking about Scandinavia’s role and progress as a part of the EU. He expressed his concern about the culmination of global warming, energy price changes and the trade relationship with Russia. He also touched upon the need of alternative energy resources, EU’s process of expanding, The need for UN to get involved in the Iraq question and the risks of having today’s positive prosperity in Scandinavia. The substance in his speech didn’t offer much new information, but I found him to be a great speaker.
George Soros, Chairman of Soros Fund Management and Open Society Institute followed by sharing his view on Europe’s role in the world. He noted the problems USA is facing with its housing boom and the lost influence resulted by the war on terrorism. Funny how he didn’t mention the budget and trade deficits as well. Anyway, as he stated that the world order is gradually leading to world disorder he emphasized the importance of Europe to re-energize and strengthen its open society structure, which was a driving force in the creation of the EU. Being at the age of 76 and giving a speech without notes was worth a round of applause alone.
Last up was Sixten Korkman, CEO of ETLA giving a speech in Finnish about the future of the euro and the European Monetary Union. He pointed out the incongruence of development between the countries in the EU and if Italy is allowed or should leave the EU. Additionally he spoke about the lost focus in the Lisbon process and conflicts that the euro is going through. At times I had trouble keeping up with his thoughts, but he landed a couple of great jokes now and then.
It’s a strange coincidence that on the same week I happened to see a poster on the wall about the Helsinki toastmasters club and I actually didn’t know about this organization until a couple of weeks ago. I’ll probably go pay them a visit before the year ends, see what it’s like and find out what kind of speeches they give. It truly is a skill sharing your thoughts in a welcomed way and is definitely worth practicing.
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Tasks and Timing November 8, 2006
Posted by The Probabilist in : [News], Purpose, Studies, Time, Work , add a comment
As it has turned out that the courses I’m participating in at the moment are quite extensive and require a great deal of time and planning to follow through, there’s a high risk I won’t be able to post entries as often as previously. So far I’ve kept the pace at one post/day and I do want to keep it at that, but time will tell how it all proceeds from now on.
The time available to read books and write reviews is especially limited, but this is just a temporary phase. Between the Christmas holidays and early March I don’t have anything scheduled so I might be solely involved in kick starting this business and my personal development to a new level. However, I might also work part time in a local bank or growth company to gain more business and investment experience during that time.
It’s a funny thing trying to evaluate what choices to make in order to get the most value out of your time. Firstly, I have this website to keep expanding and enriching. Secondly, there are external resources to read through that expand my reality and personal growth. Thirdly, there’s my academic achievements and building a theoretic aspect of making a living. And fourthly, there are lots of employers that can provide valuable practical knowledge about the business world. Trying to organize and prioritize can be a handful.
Mostly I just go with the flow and take one task at the time. As long as the project I’m working on makes sense to me and I feel it’s guiding and teaching me something it doesn’t matter in what order they get done. Deadlines serve a very good purpose. This holds true to journaling and writing my thoughts down as well. If you sometimes feel out of place or don’t know what you’re supposed to do, write your thoughts down and push the scales.
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