Category: Your future

Posted on

Let’s make “CostPlus” the future

In 2018, Alexander Oshmyansky contacted Mark Cuban to invest in his vision of a retail pharmacy that wouldn’t bankrupt people in dire need of medication.

In 2022, the CostPlus Drug Company started trading and you can now buy your prescription medicine at a great discount. In the case of a 30 count supply of 400mg Imatinib, you will pay US $39 whilst the retail price at other companies is $9,657.30. Yes, that’s a whopping saving of $9,618.30.

Photo by Pixabay from Pexels

This information and prices are taken directly from the CostPlus Drug Company website. If you don’t believe that a saving this large is possible, then please go and check the last prescription you had to pay for and compare it to the price on on the CostPlus website.

How did that work out? Would you have saved going to this new company?

I think you would have. I even think that you would have saved a lot. Additionally, you still can order contraception medication, Plan B and medication deemed abortifacient even though you may be using them for an unrelated matter such as autoimmune disease.

So how good is that?

The good news doesn’t stop there. The company produces the medication locally and thereby provides jobs. They are even setting up a factory to provide additional medications currently not available via their website yet.

Why is this success so hard to believe?

Well, for one, public companies in the US are legally obliged to create the largest possible profit for their shareholders. If a company is found to make a profit but less than they could have, then the senior management team could still be personally liable for damages due to a reduced profit. How crazy is that!

This is where CostPlusDrugs is slightly different. It is registered as a Public Benefit Corporation. It still is a “for profit” company and should turn a profit along the way. However, profit is not the only legal driver. It is allowed to “include positive impact on society, workers, the community and the environment in addition to profit as its legally defined goals” [Wikipedia]

Let’s take a step back and think about this statement for a moment.

Currently, the vast majority of companies are for-profit companies and their only legal goal is to maximize profits for shareholders.

Let this really sink in.

It is not the customer, not the employee, not the community, not the environment and not even the country which should benefit. ONLY shareholders ought to benefit.

I call bullshit on this system.

Public benefit corporations are the future and if I had anything to say, I would turn all for-profit companies into public benefit corporations and make them include their impact on the wider community as their legally obliged goal. That’s the only way we will get to a better place.

Let’s make CostPlus the future!

Posted on

Learn to think. Then go and think yourself to a better life!

I’ve recently read the book “de Bono’s Thinking Course” by Edward de Bono. Turns out, I wasn’t proficient in thinking yet. This is important to me because making good decisions based on thorough analysis leads to a better life.

Source: “The Thinker” by Rodin, Wikipedia
CrisNYCa, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Then I ran into issues with my website and I definitely needed to think fast. Initially, I tried to fix it myself given that I have learned a lot about it this year. Then, the website completely disappeared due to a technical issue and I knew, I can’t fix it myself and had to ask for help. This also was a decision which I took based on knowing that I don’t have the expertise to fix it myself. Part of thinking is to understand the information you have at hand and what is missing. In this case, an expert fixed the issue and all is well again.

Why is thinking important in your life?

Being able to “think well” is always of benefit. It will help getting tasks done quicker at work or help you understand your friend’s point of view and are able to offer good advice or allows you to deal with official matters (insurance claims, taxes, applying for a student loan…) much more efficiently. Every area of life can benefit from better thinking.

Most importantly, it allows you to analyze and question your own beliefs and biases. This may just open your mind to new experiences and ways to view the world. As a result, you will be open to new opportunities and you can then plan to seek out those opportunities which will benefit you the most.

Types of thinking

Before going any further, it may be good to point out that there are different types of thinking, some of which may come more natural to you than others.

Daniel Kahneman’s book “Thinking fast and slow” is a prime example of a book showing different ways of thinking. Then there is critical thinking which analyses a given hypothesis and data set. This is generally the type of thinking we come across during our school years. Critical thinking is often contrasted with creative thinking which is often used to come up with novel ideas.

New business products and services are always in demand and they are the only way successful businesses stay in demand. The challenge is that it is hard to come up with new products which have never been seen before. After all, critical thinking which judges something that already exists, will not be enough at the early stages of coming up with creative ideas.

Small actions to take today to become a better thinker

All types of thinking can be learned and improved with intentional action. It also does not matter what education or certifications you have already. All that matters is your interest and willingness to improve your thinking.

If you are like me and have never needed to think about thinking, I recommend starting where you are and analyzing how you think at the moment. What type of thinker are you? How much time do you take to come to conclusions? When was the last time that you consciously changed your mind on an important topic? Have you noticed a difference between your approach to thinking and other people’s approaches? Which type of thinking would you like to improve?

Once you know your current thinking style, it’s worth learning about this style to see if there is anything you can improve upon it. I surely learned a lot from the “Thinking Course” book. When you are happy with your main thinking style, I suggest branching out and learn more about the thinking techniques which come less natural to you. I bet that with a little practice, you’ll get better and as a result, your life will get better also.

I encourage you to learn about thinking and better your life.

Posted on

Protest, march, make your voices heard! …. Then vote for democracy!

The situation in the United States of America is dire. The Supreme Court is selling out the country as if there is no tomorrow… and there may not be UNLESS you start acting now:

a) Call your Senator to support an abolished filibuster (Find your senator here and all telephone numbers here and how to prepare here.)

b) March and protest and show your support over the next few weeks and months.
Look at the Woman’sMarch website for a march near you.

Protesters in Foley Square defending the right to abortion following the leak of a draft Supreme Court opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade. Part of 2022 abortion protests in the United States.
By Legoktm – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=117660220

c) Get into politics, learn about elections, learn about your rights (NAACP, ACLU, Civil Liberties Defense Center, iAmerica) and possibly even run for office.

d) Register to vote or change or update your voter registration.

e) Vote in EVERY election you are allowed to vote in – all of them from the local, smaller elections to the midterms and presidential races. Most importantly, keep elections of school boards in mind since these have a huge impact on your children’s thinking and with that, on all our future.

There are of course those who say that it’s too late. They say that there are no possibilities to improve on the situation anymore. They show you pictures of violent behavior of domestic terrorist groups and tell you to better listen to them. Don’t trust these sources. They may have ulterior motives. They may benefit from the current situation and the misery it creates.

It never is to late to save your country! It ALWAYS depends on what you do next. It ALWAYS depends on your actions and we have to act now. So go and act!

What will you do to save your country?

Posted on

Here goes abortion, privacy, human rights… Now act!

What happened?

On Friday, 24 June 2022, Roe v Wade was overruled. Roe v Wade is a landmark ruling by the US Supreme Court in 1973 focusing on granting privacy to discuss healthcare needs for women including abortions. This meant that women were able to have abortions. Now this abortion (privacy) law is overruled and left to states (for now).

What does it mean?

At this point, abortion will potentially, soon to be or completely illegal in 16 states and legal for now in 35. These numbers are likely to change in the coming months – especially after the mid term elections in November. Also, given the legal quagmire, there are some institutions which will not save a woman’s life at risk from ectopic pregnancy even though they could.

What will the immediate impact / follow on be?

We know what will come next: “Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas says gay rights, contraception rulings should be reconsidered“.

Beyond that, nobody knows for sure. Looking into my hypothetical crystal ball, I would say that once contraception and gay rights are struck down, the next likely step – in my humble opinion – would be to stop women from traveling over state lines, interracial marriage and bring back segregation. Then, I guess, women and non-whites will loose their voting rights and who knows, Salem “witch” trials may be the norm again. Instead of witches, women with miscarriages will be the targets like in Texas, Mississippi (that was in 2006!), Oklahoma… and soon, near you.

This is not what we want!

This is not what I want!

Don’t despair, there are things we can do!

What to do now?

It does NOT have to be this way. You can and you MUST TAKE ACTION to build a better future. I am talking to everyone here irrespective of skin color: women, LGBTQ+ and MEN who care about the society they live in.

Here are my suggestions on how to safe our future:

1. Register to vote in November

2. Sign up to be a poll worker and volunteer on election days
It is important to have as many impartial poll workers as possible. The more liberal minded folks oversee the elections, the more likely that the elections will be fair. Or do you really want to leave it up to the people who overturned Roe v Wade?

3. In November, vote the GOP out!
It takes every vote and you cannot afford to stay home and leave it up to others. You must vote if you want a better future. You must vote at every level – local and federal – not only for senior politicians but also for smaller, local posts because this is where politicians often start their career. Also, local elections have a big impact on your day to day life.

4. Volunteer for human rights, women’s rights, abortion rights and similar – even one hour a month will help us all

5. Call and email your representative to tell them how they should represent you

6. Move to another state or another country if you can

7. Take care of yourself and those around you!
The situation will get better but it will take some time. In the meantime, you will need your strength to get through to the other end and see a better society.

Go and vote!!!

Posted on

Look at what they do – not what they say

Always, always, always look at what “they” do and not what “they” say.

First up, when I refer to “they”, then I’m thinking of people (e.g. Trump, Johnson, Putin) as well as companies. Any legal entity is able to be incongruent in their actions and words. For the rest of the article, I shall refer to “person” to cover all of these.

Now, why would you focus on actions rather than words?

“What you do speaks so loud that I cannot hear what you say.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

I’ve mentioned a few times that words are cheap and easy. Anyone can say any combinations of words and letters and sentences. The only conditions are the intentions and morals of the person. That is where the problems start.

Any person who is dishonest, immoral or simply not interested will tell you whatever they think you want to hear. You will be happy for a moment and they get their way. Then they break their promises, go behind your back or quietly ignore their previous statements. That is the point when it’s important to start observing their behavior and actions instead of their words.

A simple example is your spouse / partner who tells you that they love you and then break up with you the next day because they want to move in with their new partner.

Or it could be Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks, who says “We are in a battle for the hearts and minds of our people, and we are going to be successful” whilst shutting down a unionized Starbucks in Ithaca. In Europe, where workers’ rights are taken more seriously and where the laws are embedded in law, this would not even be an option.

There are many more examples where actions and words don’t match up and ultimately, if they don’t then trust erodes and relationships break down. Walking away from someone who continually breaks promises may be the only option. It is not a bad option either because it frees you for better connections, relationships and experiences going forward. I once had to walk away from what could have been a great job because my manager said one thing to my face and another behind my back. Turns out, walking away was one of the best things I have ever done and in hindsight, I should have walked away sooner.

Beware though: this notion of observing actions over words is also important when it comes to your actions and words. If you say that you will do something, then you better do it. After all, everyone will be paying attention to your actions over your words. That includes me also and let me tell you, over the years, I have become a lot more aware of what I promise. I’m also more cognizant of what I have to say No to. Do I want to catch up on sleep or do I want to have one more glass of wine with friends? Do I want to help you move house or do I want to go for a hike in the mountains? I can’t do it all and I need to choose and communicate my decision clearly.

“You are what you do, not what you say you’ll do.”

Carl Gustav Jung

Most importantly, observe the representatives and politicians you voted for! You voted for them based on what they said and possibly on previous actions. How do they act? What do they say? Does it match up? Do they represent you the way you deserve to be represented? If it doesn’t, I strongly recommend you look for better representation next time.

My suggestion to you is that you use next week to watch, observe and possibly even take note of what people say and then check what they do it. Does it match up?

Observe, compare, think. Then decide on how you want to deal with them.

Happy observing!