The Insider Picks team writes about stuff we think you'll like. Business Insider has affiliate partnerships, so we get a share of the revenue from your purchase.

It's no secret that Britain has the worst foreign language skills in Europe. 

Learning a new language is hard, after all. It takes time, energy, and cash to splurge on a personal tutor.

That being said, not all languages are hard to learn for native English speakers. 

History, similar roots in languages, and geographical proximity make some languages a breeze to learn for British people. 

Not only that, but learning a new language could increase your chances of earning more, and will definitely come in handy when travelling the world. 

We've rounded up the easiest languages for Brits to learn, made even easier with a course from Udemy.

Right now, not only is online learning on Udemy convenient, but it's even cheaper as most language courses are only £15 with code "GIFTUDEMY". 

7. French

French takes an average of 26 weeks (or 575-600 class hours) to learn at a proficient level for English speakers. Not only is France geographically close to us, but French is also close to English lexically which makes the vocabulary easy to learn, and in some cases, is familiar.

After all, English vocabulary has more than 8,000 French-derived words like colour, excellent, barbecue, and many more. Unsurprising really, since a version of French was spoken during the Anglo-Norman period. 

Learn to Speak: Conversational French - Full Course, £15 (originally £95)[84% off with "GIFTUDEMY"]  

6. Spanish

Not only is Spanish the third most spoken language in the world, but it's also one of the easiest to learn. Spanish is spoken as it’s written, which makes pronunciation and reading a breeze for Brits. Another way in which Spanish is easier to learn than other languages is the fact that it only has 25 phonemes (English has 34), and only one hard yet fun letter to pronounce – 'ñ'.

Conversational Spanish Made Easy, £15 (originally £145)[90% off with "GIFTUDEMY"] 

5. Dutch

Dutch and English are both Germanic based languages, which means that some words, and pronunciations are eerily similar ("groen" and "green," for instance). Although it's fairly similar to German, Dutch is much easier to learn as it doesn't have any cases, and the grammar is simply much easier. Not only that, but it has also appropriated a lot of French words, which makes the vocabulary feel familiar for native English speakers. 

Learn Dutch Online | Get Started!, £15 (originally £35)[57% off with "GIFTUDEMY"] 

Editorial note: Business Insider just named its 2016 Car of the Year, the Acura NSX. In total there were 15 contenders for the award, narrowed down to six. We named five runners-up, but we also tested dozens of vehicles this year, not all of which we could consider for COTY. But some of them certainly made a lasting impression. So each member of the BI Transportation team is revisiting the car that they couldn't get out their head. For Senior Correspondent Matt DeBord, it was the latest generation of the Mazda Miata, a car he's loved for a very long time. Here's his second review of the MX-5!

I'm an unapologetic Mazda MX-5 Miata fanboy.

When I lived in Los Angeles, I owned one — a first-generation classic, with flip-up headlights — and I loved taking it out for jaunts up the Pacific Coast Highway and runs through the canyons.

As Mazda developed the car through subsequent generations, I thought it lost much of its essential roadster character and became more of sports car. But that all changed with the latest version of the peppy two-seater, the fourth iteration, which was unveiled in 2014.

We got a crack at the car over the winter, which wasn't ideal. But even after a snowstorm and on winter tires, the new Miata was still a blast: I put the top down and cranked up the heater and the seat-heaters. The car has lost 220 lbs. and now feels more like my old Miata.

The new Miata returned to my driveway recently and I got to take it on a proper autumn outing, in what for me is real roadster weather: when it's crisp and slightly chilly and a driving cap and maybe even some driving gloves make sense.

You already know that I adore the new MX-5. Here's a closer look at why, this time with more pictures:

SEE ALSO: The Mazda CX-3 is the cutest 'cute-ute' — and the perfect first car

It wasn't exactly convertible roadster weather when we got our first crack at the new Miata.

I made the best of it, however.

The climate was more favorable the second time around.

Americans' identities are shaped by shared experiences — and there are a handful of historically significant experiences that stand out above the rest, according to a survey from the Pew Research Center and A+E Networks' History channel.

The survey asked more than 2,000 American adults of different ages, races, political views, and education and income levels to list 10 events in their lifetimes they thought had the greatest impact on the country.

The respondents' answers typically varied by generation and other demographic indicators, but there were a couple of recent events that bridged nearly every divide.

From the Apollo 11 moon landing to the election of the nation's first black president, these are the events that were most often included in Americans' top 10 events that will go down as the most significant in the country's history:

SEE ALSO: Trump wraps up the last of his rowdy 'Thank You' rallies in Alabama

11. The Gulf War

Roughly 10% of survey respondents placed the Gulf War, which occurred during George H.W. Bush's administration, in the top 10 events that shaped their lifetimes.

The war was of particular importance to Generation X respondents, who were the only generational group to list the event. Gender-wise, the survey showed that 12% of men placed the war in their lists, compared to just 8% of women.

10. The Orlando shooting

The mass shooting that killed 49 and wounded more than 50 others on June 12, 2016, was also named by 10% of survey respondents, but was ranked particularly highly by Latinos and Millennials, appearing in 19% and 17% of each groups' lists, respectively.

The Pew Research Center notes that the attack, which took place at Orlando's Pulse nightclub on "Latin Night," disproportionately targeted Latinos, who made up 90% of those killed.

9. Gay marriage

The Supreme Court's decision to legalize gay marriage appeared in the top 10 lists of 11% of Americans, but was of most significance to Millennials — 19% of whom included the event.

Gender also factored into the respondents' view of the decision's significance, with 14% of women placing gay marriage in their lists, and just 8% of men.

2016 was a hectic year. 

We have seen insane political upheaval with the vote for Brexit, the election of Donald Trump as president and the resignation of Italy's prime minister. 

There have also been wild swings in financial markets as the pound crashed to a 31-year low against the dollar,US markets hit dozens of record highs, and China continued to devalue the renminbi. 

What 2017 holds is anyone's guess, but with elections in France, the Netherlands, and possibly Italy coming up, Trump moving into the White House, and Britain set to trigger Article 50, uncertainty will likely reign supreme once again.

All of this means that the global economic picture is muddier than ever before, with strategists scratching their heads as we approach the year end. Thankfully, Adam Slater, the lead economist at research house Oxford Economics has compiled a list of the 10 themes to look out for in 2017.

They range from accelerating worldwide growth to euro/dollar parity. Check them out below:

The renminbi will stay stable

China continued to devalue the renminbi during 2016, something that notoriously bearish Societe Generale strategist Albert Edwards called "the key global story to focus on," in October. That is going to come to an end in 2017, Slater predicts.

"We expect the renminbi to be stable in trade-weighted terms and to depreciate only modestly against the dollar next year, with the Chinese authorities clamping down on capital outflows."

Wage growth will return

Advanced economies have witnessed sclerotic wage growth for workers in recent years, but that is not going to be the case next year, Oxford argues, saying that conditions that have stunted growth are on the wane.

"Some of the factors that have held wage growth back such as changes in the composition of the workforce (especially strong entry into the workforce of low-waged workers) are starting to fade and measures of labour market turnover like quit rates have risen notably in the US, UK and Germany (but less so in Japan) – pointing to upward pressure on wages."

Stocks will outperform fixed income for a second year

All three major US indexes are at record highs, the FTSE 100 came within a whisker of its best ever level in mid-October. Stocks will continue to outperform next year, Oxford says.

"As a result of the sharp rise in yields after the US election, 10-year US bonds are set to give meagre total returns over 2016 as a whole, while equities are set to yield double-digit total returns. We expect this pattern of relative performance to continue in 2017. US total equity returns will be more modest at around 5% over the year but with US 10-year bond yields forecast to rise a further 30 basis points, total returns from bonds will be very low again."

When the Michelin guide awards restaurants with stars, they are split into three categories: One means "worth a stop", two means "worth a detour," while the highest accolade — three stars — means "worth a special trip."

It's safe to assume, then, that anywhere with more than 225 Michelin-starred restaurants is definitely worth planning a holiday around.

We've teamed up with the Michelin Guide to rank the most-starred cities in the world.

While Japan is leading the way in culinary tourism, with four cities in the country sharing a total of 557 stars between 429 restaurants — European capitals like London and Paris are still highly respected foodie destinations.

From Molecular gastronomy in Chicago to Fugu in Tokyo, here are 18 cities with the most Michelin stars in the world.

Note: Results were calculated by looking at the most recent Michelin ratings for each city.

=15. Madrid, Spain — 14 stars

Three stars: 1

Two stars: 5

One star: 8

Madrid has 14 Michelin-starred restaurants, and tied in last place with Rome. It is still one of the top European foodie destinations, with six restaurants receiving at least two stars. Diver xo is its only three-star restaurant serving experimental, contemporary cuisine.

=15. Rome, Italy — 21 stars

Instagram Embed:
http://instagram.com/p/BN9cw0RDnjl/embed/
Width: 658px

Three stars: 1

Two stars: 1

One star: 16

18 restaurants in Rome have been awarded a total of 21 stars. The most respected is La Pergola, which has the top accolade of three stars.

=15. Nara, Japan — 21 stars

Three stars: 1

Two stars: 3

One star: 12

Four Japanese cities make it into our ranking, including Nara, which is around one hour away from Kyoto and Osaka and is home to 16 Michelin-grade restaurants. Helmed by head chef Nobuharu Yamamura, Wa Yamamura— a small kaiseki restaurant(serving a series of small, traditional dishes) has three Michelin stars.

LONDON — As I lay in the inky blackness, a strange noise began to rise. Scratching, rubbing, alien and unplaceable — the only sound in a cocoon of total silence. Where was it coming from? I darted my eyes around the darkness, trying to identify it, and it only intensified.

And then I realised: It was the sound of my eyes moving in their sockets.

In September, I got a chance to try out "floatation therapy." It’s a far-out procedure that’s part-physiotherapy, part-new age spirit journey, part-relaxation technique.

It’s intended to cause extreme sensory deprivation: You lie in a closed pod in total darkness and silence, floating in water full of Epsom salts to aid buoyancy. It’s kept at body temperature, meaning you can barely tell where the water ends and the air begins: You just float there alone, suspended in a silent, indeterminate darkness.

It’s intensely relaxing, and without stimulation, your mind runs wild — meaning it can even be hallucinatory.

(Read on to see how I found it — but if you want a condensed version, there's also a video documenting my experiences here.) 

For my session, I visited Floatworks. Based in Vauxhall, London, It’s not much to look at from the outside.

Full disclosure: Floatworks let me float for free for this article. Normally a single session would cost £50.

But then, when you’re deliberately starving yourself of all sensory input you’re not exactly paying attention to the architecture.

I agreed to give it a go for an hour session — though experienced floaters can go for three or so hours each time.

It's holiday season, which not only means parties and nights out, but also the inevitable takeaway. 

However, it's not the typical curries and Chinese dishes that most Brits are ordering in.

We teamed up with British online food delivery company Deliveroo to find out the most-ordered dishes in the 20 most active cities in the UK on the service. 

From squid to the "Prince Charles is Overrated" burger, here are the most popular takeaway orders on Deliveroo across the UK, ranked by price, from cheapest to most splurge-worthy.

Birmingham: Chilli Squid from Yakinori, £4.99

Instagram Embed:
http://instagram.com/p/BF39BygKT2Z/embed/
Width: 658px

Belfast: Burrito Bowl from Boojum, £5.10

Instagram Embed:
http://instagram.com/p/BLgdqr0jLC_/embed/
Width: 658px

Edinburgh: Steamed Chicken Gyoza from Wagamama, £5.95

LONDON — Alistair Crane sold his first business, mobile apps agency Grapple, for close to £40 million aged just 27.

Now, three years later and after a stint in San Francisco, he's heading up a new venture, retail technology company Hero, and hoping it will be equally successful.

Business Insider caught up with Crane and Hero's founder Adam Levene, an early employee at Grapple, to get their advice for first-time founders looking to build a business.

Here are their four biggest tips:

Raising money: 'I actually feel sorry for the CEOs that go out and raise $5-10m+ in the early days'

Crane's main piece of advice when it comes to raising money is: don't raise too much.

"I actually feel sorry for the CEOs that go out and raise $5-10 million plus in the early days and they immediately have to build a $200-300 million business or the investors are saying you didn’t make me a return."

Crane's point is that raising too much money can put too much pressure on you to grow the business fast. When you're just starting out you only need a "shop window" to prove what you're doing is viable, Crane says. "I don’t think you need a NATO-sized war chest to go and do that."

"Off the back of that, you think very carefully about how you then scale," he adds. "You don’t want to ramp costs, although growth does involve cost. A lot of my friends are in startups and what I hear all the time is: 'I raised VC money, it’s great but they want me to hire 40 more people and I don’t know what I’d do with 4 of them.'"

Choosing investors: 'You want people with an appetite to do more rather than less'

This leads to Crane's next piece of advice — make sure you get the right investors.

"You want people with an appetite to do more rather than less," he says. "It doesn’t mean take as much money as you can, it means you want people who say we understand that you’re trying to keep as much equity as you can for the founders and trying to manage things to a budget but what we want you to know is we want you to do big things rather than small things and if you were to raise again we’d keep supporting you."

Hero has so far raised a "seven-figure sum," Crane and Levene say, mostly from investors who backed Grapple in the past.

Hiring: 'If you’re a startup and you’ve got to fund six months of getting to know you, you’re dead already'

"It’s people you know like and trust right?" says Crane on hiring. "If someone comes in and they don’t know you and they’re not used to your ways, you’ve got 6 months of getting to know you. If you’re a startup and you’ve got to fund six months of getting to know you, you’re dead already."

Levene adds: "If you can find people you’ve worked with previously — family is a common theme here because we’ve all worked together for so long. Our investors backed us in our previous business.

"My advice to anyone whether they’re an entrepreneur or in a company is building out that network so that when the time is right for them to take the plunge and launch something they can utilise that network to the max. It allows you to just go quicker and in technology it’s all about pace."

Yahoo's year-end holiday party was once a big flashy event, with last year's Roaring 20's-themed party costing millions of dollars.

But this year, Yahoo made it decidedly low key, hosting the event at its offices in Sunnyvale and New York instead (last year's was at Pier 48 in San Francisco).

The event, aptly called "Ultimate House Party," turned Yahoo's office space into a giant party venue, featuring an open bar, a dance floor, and lots of good food, based on the photos seen at this Flickr page created by Yahoo.

The toned-down atmosphere seems particularly appropriate given the difficult situation Yahoo's currently in.

Despite agreeing to sell itself to Verizon in July, Yahoo has been awash in bad news over the past few months, including a massive hacking scandal that's considered to be the biggest in history. Now, Verizon is even reported to be reconsidering the $4.8 billion price tag it agreed to pay for Yahoo.

Still, Yahoo employees seem to be dealing with the external turmoil pretty well. We've rounded up some pictures from Yahoo's "Ultimate House Party" so you can see what it was like:

SEE ALSO: Amazon is secretly building an 'Uber for trucking' app, setting its sights on a massive $800 billion market

This year's holiday party was called the "Ultimate House Party."

Instagram Embed:
http://instagram.com/p/BODkEnZBT-L/embed/
Width: 658px

The decorations were nothing like last year's party (seen below), which featured aerial flappers pouring drinks and roulette tables.

Instagram Embed:
http://instagram.com/p/-5eMjaxOob/embed/
Width: 658px

This year, guests had to find merriment in the reproduction of brick house facade.

Instagram Embed:
http://instagram.com/p/BOEACKrgq41/embed/
Width: 658px

Anyone who spent a lot of time online in the early 2000s will remember whiling away the hours popping in and out of chatrooms and instant messaging their friends. 

But in the years since AIM faded into obscurity, nothing has really replaced instant communication for teens. While Snapchat came close, Generation Z — the cohort born between the mid-1990s and early 2000s — has moved on to another app: Houseparty. 

Houseparty is a mobile app for live video chatting. Unlike Facetime or Skype, you can have up to eight people in a room and have several "parties" going at once. It's like a video version of a chatroom, and teens are going crazy for it: the app launched last February and now has more than 1 million daily active users. The app is the 18th most popular app in the App Store and the third most popular social networking app. 

Here's how to use it. 

SEE ALSO: A startup founder's 'comeback' app is catching fire with teens — and it just got a $50 million check

Houseparty is brought to you by the same team that launched Meerkat, the once-popular live-streaming app that exploded upon launching, but quickly lost steam when Twitter blocked the service and bought Periscope, Meerkat's rival.

But the Houseparty team doesn't shy away from the troubles Meerkat faced. "When we were able to pull away from the hype and look at Meerkat’s numbers, what was clear to us was that we hadn’t succeeded in building something that was a daily habit, that achieved our mission of connecting people in the most human way possible when physically apart," Sima Sistani, cofounder and COO of Houseparty, told Business Insider.

So the team stuck with the idea of live video, launching Houseparty on December 29 under a pseudonym. But Sistani says it wasn't about being stealthy — it was about "launching in a vacuum and really understanding our users," away from the Silicon Valley hype machine.

It's been nearly a week since new creatures were finally made available in "Pokémon Go."

Togepi, Pichu, and other "baby" Pokémon from the game's second generation of creatures are now available — but only by hatching eggs.

If you're unfamiliar with "Pokémon Go," you collect eggs by visiting Pokéstops, which are landmarks for physical locations in the real world that you can spin every five minutes to get more items. Players can hold up to nine eggs at once, and hatch those eggs by putting them in incubators, and walking around for a specified distance (2km, 5km, or 10km) until the egg hatches.

Pokémon Go creator Niantic Labs has teased that more creatures are coming to the game soon, and players have yet to see the powerful "Legendaries" like Mewtwo that were shown when the game was first announced.

We've gathered everything you need to know about the seven newest Pokémon in Pokémon Go, including their descriptions from the official Pokédex and information provided by members of The Silph Road on Reddit:

SEE ALSO: We learned about some more big changes coming to 'Pokémon Go'

Togepi

Description:"As its energy, Togepi uses the positive emotions of compassion and pleasure exuded by people and Pokémon. This Pokémon stores up feelings of happiness inside its shell, then shares them with others."

Evolves into: Togetic

Candies to evolve: 50

Egg distance: 5km

Togetic

Description:"Togetic is said to be a Pokémon that brings good fortune. When the Pokémon spots someone who is pure of heart, it is said to appear and share its happiness with that person."

Evolves from: Togepi

Cleffa

Description:"On nights with many shooting stars, Cleffa can be seen dancing in a ring. They dance through the night and stop only at the break of day, when these Pokémon quench their thirst with the morning dew."

Evolves into: Clefairy

Candies to evolve: 25

Egg distance: 2km

If you haven't mastered some of the most essential life skills already, it may be time to take a different approach.

Whether you're looking to listen better or negotiate for a raise, here are some of the most surprising ways you can master 152 essential life skills.

SEE ALSO: 13 TED Talks that can teach you how to live a happier life

DON'T MISS: 18 things you should accomplish before turning 30

Listening

It's a surprisingly simple yet underused concept: If you want to listen better, keep your mouth shut.

As Austrian pianist Alfred Brendel once said, "The word listen contains the same letters as the word silent."

Not only does thinking about what you're going to say next take your attention away from the speaker, but hijacking the conversation shows that you think you have something more important to say.

Conserving willpower

As Florida State psychologist Roy Baumeister details in his book "Willpower: The Greatest Human Strength," we all have a finite amount of willpower in a given day. The key to conserving it is to limit the number of decisions you have to make.

Startup founder Julie Sygiel, a very busy entrepreneur, follows in the footsteps of Mark Zuckerberg and President Barack Obama by wearing a uniform every day.

"Almost everything in my closet is black, gray, or blue and every top goes with every bottom,"she tells Business Insider. "The only question I ask myself when getting dressed is: 'Do I need fancy shoes today?' All of my sweaters and pants are versatile and can look casual or dressy, so my shoes are the key piece that determines the overall look.

"It's amazing how much quicker I get dressed in the morning, and it allows me to save more creative decision-making energy for important choices at the office."

Time management

Warren Buffett once said, "The difference between successful people and very successful people is that very successful people say ‘no' to almost everything."

If you don't prioritize your time over others', you'll find your productivity will suffer and resentment will mount.

You go to hug someone, but they're trying to shake your hand, so you end up backslapping them from a foot away.

You think the person next to you overheard you whispering about how cute they are, so you confess and apologize, but it turns out they never overheard you in the first place.

Even if you've experienced both those situations, chances are good that you're not nearly as socially inept as you believe you are. But simply thinking of yourself as an awkward person can sap your confidence in social situations.

To help give you the confidence boost you need, we checked out the Quora thread "What are the best ways to improve social skills?" and pinpointed some practical tips.

We can't promise you'll never have another awkward encounter, but hopefully this advice will help you to enjoy, instead of dread, social interactions.

Note that if social anxiety is interfering with your ability to function on a daily basis, you might consider seeing a therapist, who can give you more tools to overcome your nerves.

SEE ALSO: 7 simple social skills that will make you more likable

1. Be present

We're so accustomed to mental and physical multitasking that we might not even realize how off-putting it can be to conversation partners.

"When you're with someone, but you're distracted by other thoughts or emotions, people notice,"writes Eva Glasrud. "Maybe your eyes glaze over, or your reactions are a little off or delayed. ... Or maybe you're being super obvious about it and using a mobile device while 'listening' to them.

"This makes people feel ... bad. Like they're not important. Or like you're not being authentic."

The ability to focus on the here and now is a skill called mindfulness, which you can cultivate gradually through practices like focusing on your breath and the individual sensations you're feeling in a given moment.

2. Focus on the other person

"The best thing I ever learned to improve my social skills was to think of the other person/people instead of myself,"says Jennifer McGinnis. "Instead of worrying how I was 'performing' or coming across, I would think about the other person and how they seemed to be feeling or getting along."

Chances are good that your conversation partner is feeling just as uncomfortable as you are — and recognizing that could help you relax.

3. Act 'as if'

In other words, fake it till you make it.

Writes Deborah Crawford:

"Act 'as if' you have great social skills. What does that look like? ... Pretend you are the host of whatever gathering you are in and make someone feel welcome. Smile, make brief eye contact, and say hi."

If you want to join the ranks of billionaires like Richard Branson, the Barclay brothers, and media mogul John Malone, then you need to get your own private island.

Luckily, there are many islands on the market for under $1 million, which means your dream of having a completely private vacation spot — far from the noise of today's news cylce — could become a reality. Prices vary greatly based on where they're located, whether homes have already been built on the property, and how many acres are available.

Ahead, see 12 of our favorite islands that are currently for sale via Private Islands Inc. 

SEE ALSO: 17 photos that show why the rich and famous flock to St. Barts in the winter

Wild Cane Key island, off the coast of Bastimento in Central America, is listed for $360,000. The island is a total of 3.4 acres with multiple building spots available on the land. It's most easily accessed by helicopter.

See the listing »

The Swains Cay Andros Private Island is in the Bahamas and offers a two-bedroom, two-bathroom bungalow on its 2.2 acres of land. It's going for $525,000.

See the listing »

Nukudrau Island is near Fiji in the South Pacific. The 46 acres of land are surrounded by clear waters ideal for snorkeling, diving, and fishing. Price is available upon request.

See the listing »

With a net worth of over $70 billion, Warren Buffett is the second-richest person in the world, behind only his good friend Bill Gates.

But to those who knew him from the beginning, Buffett's success comes as no surprise: He was picking out stocks at 11 years old and had amassed the equivalent of $53,000 in today's dollars by the time he was 16. 

Inspired by a Quora thread asking "What are some mind-blowing facts about Warren Buffett," we rounded up 24 astonishing facts about the "Oracle from Omaha" and his massive amount of wealth.  

This is an update of an article originally written by Kathleen Elkins.

SEE ALSO: 15 quotes from self-made billionaires that will change your outlook on money

DON'T MISS: 13 bizarre sleeping habits of super-successful people

While his elementary school classmates were dreaming about the major leagues and Hollywood, 10-year old Buffett was having lunch with a member of the New York Stock Exchange and setting life goals.

Buffett's legendary career all began with an epiphany at age 10 when he was on a trip to New York City with his dad.

Dining with a member of the NYSE planted the idea in young Buffett's head to organize his life around money.

Source: Business Insider

He bought his first stock at age 11.

He purchased multiple shares of Cities Service Preferred for $38 apiece.

Source: GOBankingRates

When Buffett was a teen, he was already raking in about $175 a month — more than his teachers (and most adults).

He pulled this off by dutifully delivering the Washington Post.

Source: Business Insider

Africa's population is exploding.

By the United Nations' estimate, the continent will see its current population of 1.2 billion double by the year 2050. That's an expected growth of 42 million people — basically a brand-new Argentina — every year.

A number of important infrastructure projects are underway to make room for all those people, including railways, dams, and clean energy solutions such as solar arrays.

Here are some of the largest projects coming to Africa in the next several decades.

SEE ALSO: 33 giant Chinese infrastructure projects that are reshaping the world

In 2009, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa began work on the North South Corridor — a series of roadways and railways spanning more than 6,000 miles across seven countries. Its total cost is approximately $1 billion.

Tanzania's Bagamoyo Port will become Africa's largest port, capable of handling 20 million containers per year. With an estimated cost of $11 billion, a Chinese government construction firm expects to complete the port by 2045.

In 2013, Chinese development firm Zendai Property Limited announced it was building an $8 billion city outside Johannesburg, called Modderfontein New City. It will become a hub for Chinese firms investing in African infrastructure.

The good thing about getting to read a lot of books for work is that I'm constantly challenged to rethink my conceptions of happiness, productivity, and success.

The bad thing is that one time a stack of said books collapsed on my desk neighbor.

Without a doubt, the books that moved me most this year focused on psychology and behavioral science — and as 2016 draws to a close, I'm reflecting on everything I learned.

Below, I've rounded up the most meaningful insights from all that reading.

SEE ALSO: 11 mind-blowing psychology findings that explain the baffling choices you make every day

Money isn't enough to motivate us to do good work

In "Payoff," Duke University behavioral economist Dan Ariely argues that human motivation is a lot more complex than we might be inclined to believe. Case in point: Pizza motivates employees to perform better in the long term than money.

Managers especially should look to harness the power of intrinsic motivation — or the desire to do a good job for the sake of doing a good job.

Emotions always matter

Harvard psychologist Susan David wrote "Emotional Agility" to help people reckon with — not suppress or pass judgment on — their most difficult emotions.

Instead of looking askance at feelings as fluffy, David says it's important to recognize that our feelings hold important information about our values and our potential. We can draw on that information to make important decisions related to our career and relationships.

Plain old practice doesn't make perfect

The concept of deliberate practice— working with a teacher on specific goals and constantly pushing yourself beyond your comfort zone — has sparked a ton of controversy within the scientific community.

In "Peak," Florida State University psychologist Anders Ericsson and journalist Robert Pool argue that this process is the only sure path to expertise, whether in chess, ice skating, or anything else. (Some psychologists disagree.)

To be sure, Ericsson says, deliberate practice involves mistakes and failure and pain, but if you truly want to be the best in your field, it's worth it.

After the worst start to a year ever, the stock market surged to new highs in 2016. 

All the major indexes rebounded to records and defied the doomsday forecasts that preceded events like Brexit and President-elect Donald Trump's election.

For next year, no strategist at a top Wall Street firm forecasts that the bull market will end. Many expect America's largest companies to return to earnings growth, and to see other benefits from Trump's promises to cut taxes and ease regulations.

Near this time last year, the median year-end forecast for the benchmark S&P 500 index was 2,178 according to Bloomberg. On Thursday, December 8, the S&P 500 closed at 2,246.19, up 12% for the year, and higher than the forecast from the most bullish strategist, Fundstrat's Tom Lee. 

Here's what some of the pros are saying about 2017:

2,300* — Bank of America Merrill Lynch

Comment: "2017 may be the least certain in years, with higher-than-usual risks and a binary set of outcomes that have dramatically contrasting results: euphoria or fizzle, significantly higher or lower than the base case," said Savita Subramanian.

"As the likelihood of pro-growth policies waxes and wanes in the coming months, we see potential for big market swings. Risk/reward will be more important than absolute targets."

*2017 could be a binary year where the market falls to 1,600 in the bear case and rises to 2,700 in the bull case, Subramanian said. 

2,300* — Credit Suisse

Comment: "The key positive for 2017, in our judgment, is that investors are overweight deflation hedges (i.e. bonds) relative to inflation hedges (equities) at a time when policy makers are moving away from NIRP towards fiscal stimulus, and inflation expectations are set to continue rising," said Andrew Garthwaite.

"However, we see a down market in H2 2017, hence our year-end 2017 target of 2,300. The second half challenges include the potential negative impact of US bond yields above 3% (3% being the CS view for end-2017); the growing pricing power of US labor squeezing profit margins; and the risk of China refocusing on reform rather than pro-growth policies. We continue to prefer equities to both bonds and gold."

*2,350 mid-year 

2,300 — UBS

Comment:"Despite the potential for more volatility, we expect the Bull to celebrate its 8th birthday in March 2017," Julian Emanuel said.

"No recession is in sight, for now. However, the old saying 'Three Steps and a Stumble' could put stocks to the test when the Fed hikes again after a hike this December."

The Federal Reserve did the expected this week and raised its benchmark interest rate. 

If there are no sudden shocks to the economy, the Fed plans to continue lifting rates, after leaving them near zero for about a decade. 

In a note Friday, JPMorgan equity strategists said rising rates and a stronger dollar are the biggest risks to their bullish outlook for stocks in 2017.

"While the low interest rate environment has been a headwind for financials, it has been a boon for the remaining ten sectors that have $4 trillion in aggregate outstanding debt," said Dubravko Lakos-Bujas, head of US equity strategy. "We expect this benefit to gradually reverse with rising yields."

He added, "Industries more likely to be resilient to rising rate environment should be asset-lite and cash-rich (i.e., Financials, Software, Internet, and Healthcare Equipment.)." These companies would continue to have a low interest expense, or payments due on their lines of credit.   

"The companies screen as the having the highest average ranking across S&P 500 companies in the following three categories: 1) low average capex as % of revenue and low average PP&E as % of assets, 2) low average net debt as % of assets, 3) and high average net income margin."

The closer a company's ranking is to 500, the better.

Here are 19 of those companies that would benefit from rate hikes: 

Analog Devices

Ticker: ADI

Industry: Semiconductors

Total ranking: 397

Year-to-date performance: 33.1%

Source: JPMorgan 

Affiliated Managers Group

Ticker: AMG

Industry: Capital Markets

Total ranking: 407

Year-to-date performance: -5.2%

Source: JPMorgan

Ameriprise Financial

Ticker: AMP

Industry: Capital Markets

Total ranking: 394

Year-to-date performance: 7.5%

Source: JPMorgan

In "The Founder," Michael Keaton plays Ray Kroc, a struggling traveling salesman who goes from selling milkshake machines to becoming the mastermind behind expanding the McDonald's fast-food chain in 1954 after coming across the innovative hamburger stand created by brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald.

Taking the fast-paced kitchen and golden-arches design the brothers created, Kroc came onto the company as the person in charge of making McDonald's a franchise, and by the early 1960s he was responsible for expanding the company across the US. He ended up buying the company in 1961 in a shrewd deal for $2.7 million.

To accurately portray the origins of the McDonald's empire, "The Founder" director John Lee Hancock called on the services of two-time Oscar-nominated production designer Michael Corenblith to create the first restaurants for the movie.

Corenblith explains to Business Insider how he pulled it off.

"The Founder" is out in limited release Friday and opens nationwide January 20.

SEE ALSO: The 5 biggest winners and losers at the box office in 2016

"McDonald's No. 2 was built 50 minutes from where I live."

Corenblith began his research a month before production started. While he got his hands on training films, manuals, and reproductions of blueprints of the original restaurant designs that he got off eBay for $25, the last original McDonald's happens to be close to his home.

"It's in Downey, California, and it opened in August 1953 and has remained virtually unchanged in its exterior," Corenblith said. "So I had a working scale template."

Corenblith points out that the movie didn't have the approval or disapproval of McDonald's, so he did all of this under the radar. 

The filmmakers decided early on to create only one McDonald's set, which would stand in for all the locations.

"We took full advantage of the fact that every golden-arches franchise looked like every other golden-arches franchise," Corenblith said. "So we created the illusion that these were all individual restaurants that were popping up coast to coast when in actuality these were all clever reworkings of the exteriors of one built set."

The movie was shot in Atlanta, and Corenblith was tasked with finding a location within a 30-mile radius of its production hub.

"It becomes a needle in a haystack," Corenblith said. He took a month to find the right area. "We needed a location that was two parking lots wide and away from the airport so we're not interrupted recording sound."