I can find things. I charge for this service.

And other interesting things this week

Many years ago, I got really frustrated by my family members asking for help finding things that were right in front of their faces. I announced that I would charge $1.00 for my finding services.

When I tell people this story, they immediately laugh and then say that they would get rich. However, I have made very little money through my finding services because as soon as I assigned a price, members of my household discovered that they were capable of moving the milk carton to find the jar of salsa in the refrigerator. They remembered that could open drawers or lift a pile of school papers to find what they needed. They acted like the competent human beings that they are! I didn’t make much money, but I am definitely better off—and so are they.

On occasion, I have paid for their help finding things. I tend to misplace my keys and wallet, especially when I am under stress. There are times when my brain is so full of everything that there isn’t room to remember if I put my keys in the mug on my desk where they are supposed to go.

Here are other things to check out this week:

Things to read:

Wealth transfers: I had a piece on Insider about the myth of the Great Wealth Transfer. (Insider Discourse)

Jet lag: Skipping meals until breakfast time at your destination greatly reduces the symptoms of jet lag. Actual research proves it! (Northwestern University)

Just do it: You know you’ve been putting something off. Here’s how to get started. (Harvard Business Review)

Things to see:

Wealth transfers: The Insider story got some traction, and I made an appearance on CBS News. (The dateline is New Orleans because I was attending a conference there.) (YouTube)

Population pyramids: On my work blog, I wrote an explainer about this super cool data visualization. (AnnLogue.com)

Things to do:

Make yummy food: Chicago has a huge and growing population of people from Latin America, and a new web site features recipes to help recreate their food. (La Familia)

Cash in your hotel points: Max My Point is an amazing site that tells you the best deals for your hotel points. Bookmark the site because its SEO is terrible and never comes up in a Google search. (Max My Point)