Here is an assortment of articles that I found useful around the net. Peruse through them and maybe you would find them useful too. Some are related to the markets, some to general productivity and some to geo-political.

1. A Wall Street Journal Op-Ed Gets It Very, Very Wrong On Seasonal Adjustment – This is so wrong that it’s hard to know where to begin. First, seasonal adjustment isn’t entirely, or even primarily, about the weather. It’s about accounting for recurring patterns, whatever they may be. Tax preparation firms hire lots of people every spring and then lay them off after April 15. Landscaping firms employ far more people in the summer than in the winter. Automakers shut down their factories each summer to change over to the new model year.
2. Breedlove’s Bellicosity: Berlin Alarmed by Aggressive NATO Stance on Ukraine – The German government is alarmed. Are the Americans trying to thwart European efforts at mediation led by Chancellor Angela Merkel? Sources in the Chancellery have referred to Breedlove’s comments as “dangerous propaganda.” Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier even found it necessary recently to bring up Breedlove’s comments with NATO General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg.
3. Get ready for higher wages – According to the National Federation of Independent Business’s Small Business Economic Trends report, all signs point to labor market tightening.
4. How The Most Powerful People Get Things Done: 4 Tips From A White House Staffer -The modern world provides us with tons of information. All that data often makes simple decisions easy. But it can also make complex decisions feel impossible. How can we wade through all this info? It’s paralyzing. At The White House, decisions need to be made quickly because lives could be on the line. Paralysis isn’t an option.
5. 12 financial experts explain why Warren Buffett is so successful – “But one thing that always impresses me about him is how aggressively anti-stupid he is. It’s not that he’s not willing to take risks; it’s just that he has a great sense of behaviors that are, whether in the moment or in retrospect, plainly stupid — and yet many people are willing to engage in patently stupid behavior because they’ve somehow convinced themselves it’s not stupid.”
6. 10 things the most persevering people do – Ultimately, scientific studies reveal this secret is not necessarily a matter of talent, intelligence, creativity or strategy. As the winds of change continue to stir, the question of what it takes to achieve success remains as important today as ever. Interestingly, the answer to that question is also the same as it was 100 years ago.
7. I made 4 changes to my business, and our revenue tripled – I had to become THE expert in my industry so that when prospects came my way, I was the only firm they were going to talk to and it was more of a privilege for them to meet with me versus the other way around. This wasn’t all smoke and mirrors of course. I am THE expert when it comes to direct response social media marketing with a high ROI. There is no other person with the same expertise as me.
8. Steve Jobs said his life changed after realizing that anyone can potentially change the world (also this, and this, and this, and this) – “The people actually making these decisions every day, that are sort of running the world, are not really very much different than you,” Jobs said. “And they might have a little more judgment in some areas, but basically they’re the same.”
9. GUNDLACH: The tower of complex central bank policy will fall – Gundlach believes the interest rates will stay low, inflation will remain subdued, the US dollar will go up, and gold could rally to $1,400 this year.