I don’t need one. I know, I know it’s new and fun and it will change the world in many good ways. I love the idea of the ipad. And I love to follow the dynamic discourse about it. This David Pogue review of the ipad is great. And today’s review by Laura Miller at … Read more
A cute ad from UK dating site Match.com I wrote about how I joined a dating site a few weeks back, by way of applying myself to the process of consciously working out what I like doing and who I am and what I can offer to the world. You have to do this when … Read more
I reckon I’d rather be liked. Last week Facebook announced: In the next two to three weeks, the “Become a Fan” concept for branded pages will be replaced with the more prevalent “Like” button and brands will no longer accumulate “Fans,” but “Connections” instead…the “Become a Fan” verbiage will disappear, being replaced by the simple … Read more
I love this as as sign-off. “As you were”. My mate Gez says this to me when he hangs up from a good, deep chat. And someone emailed me this week, out of the blue, with some random feedback (actually, the delightful Gala Darling‘s ex boyfriend to give his thoughts on my contact submission form … Read more
This week I find my “right reason”…and get a little faith.
On Tuesday I sat with Mitch Albom. Which is lovely and fitting, really, because Mitch wrote Tuesdays with Morrie, a book about how he spent Tuesdays sitting with a bloke called Morrie. Not read it? Well, Morrie is Mitch’s former teacher and is dying. Mitch is a sports journo from Detroit. Each week Mitch visits Morrie who, as he faces death, shares his compassionate insights with Mitch. The end. Or thereabouts.
Much like when I look at a Splade or a pair of Crocs, I’ve often wondered what possesses someone to spend years of their life creatively and myopically dedicated to something that, on paper, isn’t exactly a commercial shoo-in. I mean a book of wisdoms by a dying teacher and a sports hack…who was he kidding? Indeed, countless publishers knocked the book back.
But perhaps you know what comes next. Tuesdays with Morrie was finally published in 2000 for a modest fee. It became the biggest selling memoir in history. And Mitch has sold a whopping 28 million books since.
So the question I put to Mitch: what kept him writing?
Happy Easter to all of you. I’m not doing much. My mission is to stay nice and still. My family back in Canberra is not doing much on account of, well, being a bit funeraled out. Friends are off up the coast with inlaws… There’s a certain satisfaction to be derived from not doing what … Read more
Weirdly – or perhaps not – a lot of people got excited about my column on how to hire a virtual assistant. For anyone wanting to give it a crack, Freelancer.com is offering this deal to three inquisitive, desperate-to-delegate readers…
Ideas are the new gossip. I like this. The Times recently wrote about how Brainy is Suddenly Chic and the “new vogue for intellectual pursuits” as a way of accessing happiness.
More and more we’re becoming interested in sharing concepts and being truly informed. Not so much to wear the badge “Hi, I’m Informed”, but to connect with other people’s thinking and experience.
To this end, a few experiences that you might like to sign up for. Sometimes life is improved by simply signing up. Committing, sitting, absorbing.
1. Get Motivated with a Daniel Pink Webinar. Daniel is author of Drive, the New York Times bestseller. I’ve read it. It’s all about how the new way to motivate to tap into creativity, and to access the new flow. Very fresh. So….The Australian Businesswomen’s Network is holding a free lunchtime webinar with him next Thursday at 12.00pm. It’s free, you just have to register and be at a computer to listen in on the day.
PS these webinars are supremely well run and incredible to be part of. I did last month’s Seth Godin webinar. A community of more than 500 people are Australia listening and tweeting comments…a nice little community experience. Try it!
2. Think big with TED Sydney. Have you checked out TED? Ooooh, you should. The VERY best thinkers around the world – in technology, entertainment and design – congregrate to talk, each for 18 minutes…under the banner “ideas worth spreading”. My favourite is Jill Bolte Taylors‘ account of having a stroke, explained in spiritual, metaphysical terms. I cry ever time I see it.
And so TED comes to Sydney Saturday 22 May at the CarriageWorks. There will be a live audience and anyone can go…some people will be able to participate as a member of the live Bay 17 audience. Here‘s where you would apply to be within that group.
TEDxSydney we are on the lookout for merit, moxie & diversity. Applications close on 12 April 2010 … and we’ll be letting people know one way or the other via email on 19 April.
3. Intelligence Squared Debate with Annabel Crabb: These debates are held in Sydney and Melbourne on a regular basis and are webcast at SMH and podcast on Radio National. Pretty much an old school debate with great big minds…including one of my favourite writers, Annabel Crabb. The next one in Sydney is April 13: The Senate is still unrepresentative swill
I am pretty much obsessed with how other people run their lives. Since I was a kid I’ve asked others what time they wake up, how they organise their mornings, what little things do they stick to to get through their day. Because I think these kind of details give an insight into their success, and the vulnerability of their character. And vulnerability is often the portal to connection. I find.
Me, I start my day at 6.30 and exercise for 40 minutes, generally at the beach because the ocean wakes me up and sets the mood for my day (my Qi Gong teacher said 15 minutes in the ocean is enough to ground you for the day). I don’t phaff around the house. It’s clothes on and out, down the hill, on my bike. Then I meditate for 20 minutes, generally at the beach.
My ritual works to this point. Then it’s chaos for the rest of the day. But so long as this start-t0-the-day is in place, most things flow OK from there.
This rundown of famous thinkers’ daily rituals from onlinecollege is inspiring right now. I’m really scatty with my rituals and it’s making me scatty all over.
I like how neurotic some of the rituals are (having to eat an apple under the Arc de Triomphe every morning). And how stringent most are in adhering to them.
Interesting observation: many famous thinkers go to bed by 9.30 every night.
Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway described his writing ritual as starting just as the sun began rising, then working straight through until whatever he had to say was said. He likens completing his morning of writing to making love to someone you love–being both empty and fulfilled at the same time. Upon completing that morning’s work, he would wait until the next morning to begin again, going over his ideas in his head and holding on to the anticipation of starting again the next day.
Fred Rogers. (from the long-lasting PBS children’s show). Each day he would wake at 5:30 and begin his day with reading, writing, study, and prayer. He would take a swim most days of his life, take a late-afternoon nap, and go to bed at 9:30 each night. Perhaps the most idiosyncratic of his rituals was that he kept his weight at 143 pounds his entire adult life. He saw his weight one day and realized it aligned with the number of letters in “I love you” and vowed to maintain that weight, which he did.
Here’s something to “Did you know…” your colleagues with this afternoon: Tonight it’s a rare Blue Moon. Rare? How so?As Adelaide blogger and healer Rebecca Dettman at psyched in stilettos helpfully writes:
One Blue Moon, every once in a while (every 2.5 years to be exact), is rare enough. But how about two in the same year — within three months of each other?! March 30 sees the second Blue Moon for 2010…
The term ‘Blue Moon’ is at least 400 years old. The definition of a ‘Blue Moon’ is two full moons falling within a calendar month…
So what? Well, Rebecca adds:
It’s a time of new beginnings, and of getting things right that you messed up or missed the first time through. Some groups use it as a period of initiation and re-dedication, so if there’s something new you need to start, now’s a good opportunity to do so.
