For many years, whenever I’ve been asked what my goal in life is I’ve said happiness. However, I’ve never really thought through what that means. I think I always thought that happiness was something that happened to you, so one day I would wake up and be happy. Nice idea, but I’ve now learnt it is something you need to work at. I recently read Making Happy People: The Nature of Happiness and Its Origins Continue Reading …
Climate change, its more than energy usage
I’ve just watched The Inconvenient Truth. I first came across Al Gore when I read his book Earth in the balance* at university for one of my assignments. Now, when politicians are trying to out do each other on how green they are (in the UK anyway), I found it very interesting to hear that Al Gore’s interest in this subject is long standing and not for current political gain. Out of interest, my attraction Continue Reading …
Clear desk – is it the solution?
When I’ve read books and articles on introducing organisation into a workplace they often recommend clearing your desk at the end of the day. As a hot desker I question whether this is as good a policy as it is made out to be. Sure it is nice to sit down at a clear desk each day, but I don’t think it is that simple. How does hot desking work for me? When I get Continue Reading …
Beat stress and fatigue – book review
Patrick Holford puts forward simple suggestion on how to beat stress and fatigue. However all of them are long term solutions and not ‘quick’ fixes. He explains that stress and fatigue are both symptoms of 21st century living. Therefore to change them requires changes in lifesytle to reduce the stress to both the mind and body. His suggestions include reducing stimulants such as smoking and coffee, improving the digestive system so it is more effective Continue Reading …
Collecting ideas for an organisation system
Before Christmas things were getting busier and more hectic and I knew if I didn’t want to be stressing about my workload I had to review my system. For me, the way forward was to develop my own system incorporating ideas from other people as well as things that already worked for me. No one else know how my mind works or my working and home environments, therefore I do not believe that anyone else’s Continue Reading …
Ratcheting down my weight
I did a really good job of losing weight and toning up for my wedding. However in the year and a half since I’ve put on over a stone and I hate to admit it, but I now weigh more than my husband. Before the wedding I was doing at least five exercise classes a week and loving it. Unfortunately due to work commitments and injuries I didn’t get straight back into the routine after Continue Reading …
Making happy people – book review
Thanks to a bookcrossing ring started by urbanspaceman I had the opportunity to read Making Happy People: The Nature of Happiness and Its Origins in Childhood by Paul Martin. The book starts at the logical place trying to define happiness; not an easy thing. The author suggests happiness consists of three components; pleasure, the absence of displeasure and satisfaction and provides a convincing argument that satisfaction is the significant one; pleasure and displeasure reflect how Continue Reading …
In search of an organisation system
As a consultant working on multiple projects, task management is a key skill and one that I’ve never really been taught. Instead (after noticing the importance of the skill) I tried to improve by picking up tips from colleagues and general concepts on time management. As part of this hunt for improvement, I read Get everything done and still have time to play by Mark Forster a few years ago. I found it full of Continue Reading …
Learning from burning buns
I have a team meeting this week, so decided to prepare some muffins for the team to eat as an incentive to attend; especially as the meeting is booked in for an hour longer than normal because there is a video conference to another team, on top of the usual meeting. I decided to make peanut butter and snicker muffins, from Nigella Lawson’s How to be a domestic goddess because they are a favourite with Continue Reading …
