Month: May 2011

could you live on $2 a day?

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This is so hard to fathom. The extreme poverty line in this country is defined as living on less than $2 a day. It makes my heart just sink. Yours too?

You might be interested in the Live Below the Line campaign designed to draw attention and raise money for the over one billion people worldwide going to bed hungry every night.

Picture 6Via pinterest.com

The tirelessly passionate Julie Cowdroy, activist and academic, took up the challenge for five days and I got her to share how she did it. I’m going to give it a crack in a week or two….

I took my $10 to the supermarket and stocked up on

  • rolled oats
  • lentils
  • potatoes
  • a bag of carrots
  • an onion
  • two pears
  • one mandarin
  • a tin of tomatoes
  • green tea

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being great takes time…so take it!

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I’ve had a realisation this week. It’s simple – extend the time I think things take to get done. Chill. Then continue.

photo by Ann Le
photo by Ann Le

Much of my anxiety I realise comes from thinking things should go faster – the call to Bigpond, typing an email, this book I’m writing. My friend Gio who lives a languid life and is one of the most successful people I know (in the whole sense of the word) suggested this. He TRIPLES project times when he gets anxious. He’s a jeweller, a surfer, a bon vivant, a spiritualist, a wonderful partner, a fantasy property creator and he gets it all done…in the fullness of time. I’ve never seen him rushed.

Hofstadters’s Law states everything takes longer than you think (he also has some zany theories on consciousness). I read a study that said the biggest cause of procrastinating among successful people is underestimating how long things take. When they realise how long it will really take, they balk.

And lately I’ve noticed so many instances where things that are rushed through turn out so bodgy. Politics feels like this at the moment (pink batts etc). And I’ve read articles and books lately that feel this way, too. It’s deflating.

Anyway, I came across this. The cerebraly rich Ira Glass, host of radio show This American Life, offers this: excellence doesn’t come automatically, he says. “Being great takes time”…

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how to have a better morning routine

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This week I hone a morning routine

20110429-joggers
Photo by Aquabumps

Most mornings I wake up (no alarm; between 6 -7 am) and drink a dromedary’s hump worth of hot water. While doing this I check emails and read my feeds. Then I exercise (20-60 minutes). Then I meditate, shower and eat breakfast. It’s the best bit of my day.

Granted, that was all a touch over-sharey (although I did spare you the ablutative bits). But I’m gambling on something I’ve observed over the course of my career interviewing hundreds of philosophers, writers, politicians, scientists and celebrities: everyone – successful or otherwise – likes to share and learn how others do their morning routine. Another observation: successful folk always have discernible, nay rigid, morning routines.

Warren Buffet wakes at 4.30am. Winston Churchill worked in bed until 11am, dictating to his secretaries and taking a whisky and soda before rising. P.G. Wodehouse had to eat coffee cake and read a “breakfast book” – a mystery novel. It is fascinating stuff. How someone starts their day seems to provide the perviest of insights into a person’s acumen. Nay, their soul. We take note, to see if we can launch our days as successfully as they clearly do.

Which is exactly what I did this week.

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