Sit back. Comfortable? Close your eyes and conjure up an image of lush greenery. Behind you, majestic mountains. Ahead, the sea. The air is clean, the food is fresh.
No, really, do this. Sit comfortably and sink into the image. Breathe it in.
Imagine liberating your mind, primarily from money – from money as incentive at the very least.
Money. It slows you down. Makes you miss the answers. Saps away your intelligence.
This is what behavioural studies have found when people are enticed by money or a similar reward.
Want proof? Let me introduce you to the candle problem.
You get a box of thumbtacks, a candle, and a matches sitting on a table. The goal is to attach the lit candle to the wall without dripping wax onto the table.
People were timed figuring this out. It took five to 10 minutes for participants to realise that the thumbtack box is the key. Take the thumbtacks out and tack it to the wall, stand the candle in it, light it, and hey presto. Sorted.
Now imagine two groups. Group A is told they need to work as fast as possible, that their time will be used as the benchmark for other groups.
Group B get a financial reward if they are the quickest at solving the conundrum.
Convention tells us that money as an incentive equals better performance. Perhaps you have this system at work.
Wrong. Every time experiments that delve into this are carried out, the group promised monetary reward is the slowest, least capable, least able.
In the case of the candlestick problem, group B were, on average, 3.5 minutes slower than group A.
Give groups small, medium and large monetary incentives, and who performs the worst? You got it. The ones offered the most.
Yes incentive works – when tasks are mechanical and repetitive. And obvious. But introduce any, even elementary, cognitive requirement and money means disaster.
I bring this up because, as expats, the appeal is usually monetary. Does this mean you’re hemming yourself in and missing the out-of-the-box element of your life?
Reward narrows our focus. If the tacks are taken out of the box and put on the table along with the candle, those with financial incentives do best. Because the solution is obvious.
So if money does not motivate us, what does? What we learn from this sort of thing is that three things are important to us: autonomy, mastery and purpose.
So what can you do about it?
Well, I think a big part of the solution lies in being still, really still.
What do I mean by this? I mean not getting into the car for something you don’t need. Not giving in to the urge to fill time with some unnecessary activity outside your home.
We’re scared of being – just being, with our self. Not filling time forces you to think of what to actually do with yourself. Funny thing is, it is what most people aspire to. Not having to do things, but still having things to do.
Let’s imagine what that is for you.
Ready?
Imagine living in a village with nothing on offer – other than the basics: food, shelter, a smattering of neighbours, views.
What would you be doing – reading, making something, contemplating?
I bet you the sky is spectacular at night.
Now imagine what it would be like to live like this. At the core, imagine that you don’t need to worry about money. That what you have is “enough”.
This could be yours – if you move somewhere like the village that hit the news last week.
The mayor of Bormida, an increasingly deserted village in Italy, offered €2,000 (Dh8,145) to anyone who took up residency in there next year. That, along with rent ranging between €50 and €120 a month, sounds like it is too good to be true.
And it was.
The mayor got more than he bargained for, and has been swamped with requests taking him up on the offer. He now states that his attempt to revive the fortunes of his village – population 394 – is only open to fellow countrymen and was misreported.
Regardless of where it is, if you were to live somewhere like Bormida, imagine what you could free your mind up to think, take on, figure out, if you had no monetary incentive to hem you in, and ideally no money worries in terms of affording life.
You would have self-determination. Freedom even. You grant yourself autonomy.
You could develop mastery – in something.
You could use this for a purpose. Something that’s about more than just you.
The desire to have purpose is the most mentioned thing when I talk to people who have liberated themselves from the shackles of daily money concerns and have arrived at their “enough”.
While you contemplate what that is for you, I’ll leave you with a smattering of comments from people who responded to the mayor of Bormida’s offer.
The last one nails it for most:
• Sounds wonderful. Trouble is with townies, they wouldn’t know what to do with themselves. I would paint, work on my art and live the country life. Would love it.
• Sounds interesting. Maybe I can grow some vegetables and herbs and lead a laid-back life, reading, writing and meditating.
• Where do I sign up? I could retire comfortably on that rent. Put my time towards something meaningful.
And here’s what holds us back: “I’m afraid it would Bormida death.”
Nima Abu Wardeh describes herself using three words: Person. Parent. Pupil. Each day she works out which one gets priority, sharing her journey on finding-nima.com
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Libya's Gold
UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
The biog
DOB: March 13, 1987
Place of birth: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia but lived in Virginia in the US and raised in Lebanon
School: ACS in Lebanon
University: BSA in Graphic Design at the American University of Beirut
MSA in Design Entrepreneurship at the School of Visual Arts in New York City
Nationality: Lebanese
Status: Single
Favourite thing to do: I really enjoy cycling, I was a participant in Cycling for Gaza for the second time this year
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A State of Passion
Directors: Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi
Stars: Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah
Rating: 4/5
Tuesday's fixtures
Kyrgyzstan v Qatar, 5.45pm
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
China and the UAE agree comprehensive strategic partnership
China and the UAE forged even closer links between the two countries during the landmark state visit after finalising a ten-point agreement on a range of issues, from international affairs to the economy and trade and renewable energy.
1. Politics: The two countries agreed to support each other on issues of security and to work together on regional and international challenges. The nations also confirmed that the number of high-level state visits between China and the UAE will increase.
2. Economy: The UAE offers its full support to China's Belt and Road Initiative, which will combine a land 'economic belt" and a "maritime silk road" that will link China with the Arabian Gulf as well as Southeast, South and Central China, North Africa and, eventually, Europe.
3. Business and innovation: The two nations are committed to exploring new partnerships in sectors such as Artificial Intelligence, energy, the aviation and transport industries and have vowed to build economic co-operation through the UAE-China Business Committee.
4. Education, science and technology: The Partnership Programme between Arab countries in Science and Technology will encourage young Emirati scientists to conduct research in China, while the nations will work together on the peaceful use of nuclear energy, renewable energy and space projects.
5. Renewable energy and water: The two countries will partner to develop renewable energy schemes and work to reduce climate change. The nations have also reiterated their support for the Abu Dhabi-based International Renewable Energy Agency.
6. Oil and gas: The UAE and China will work in partnership in the crude oil trade and the exploration and development of oil and natural gas resources.
7. Military and law enforcement and security fields: Joint training will take place between the Chinese and UAE armed forces, while the two nations will step up efforts to combat terrorism and organised crime.
8. Culture and humanitarian issues: Joint cultural projects will be developed and partnerships will be cultivated on the preservation of heritage, contemporary art and tourism.
9. Movement between countries: China and the UAE made clear their intent to encourage travel between the countries through a wide-ranging visa waiver agreement.
10. Implementing the strategic partnership: The Intergovernmental Co-operation Committee, established last year, will be used to ensure the objectives of the partnership are implemented.
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Bharat
Director: Ali Abbas Zafar
Starring: Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif, Sunil Grover
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
