Taking a year off was the best decision I ever made
Today marks one year since I gave up my job, home and cosy social world. That was a hard move for a borderline-workaholic materialistic socialite. 365 days on, my approach to life has changed completely.
Weekly Challenge #35: achieve nothing
This week I plan to achieve absolutely zilch. This won't be an easy challenge for a self-confessed achievement addict.
6 lessons learned from 6 months in flux
Half a year ago today my wife and I hit the pause button on our careers, waved goodbye to everything and began our quest for a new lifestyle. For me it also signalled the beginning of My Year In Flux, and today is the half way point in this, my life experiment of a lifetime....
Rise of the photo zombies
Following a week experimenting with Mental Photography, I’m here to deliver the inconvenient truth: we spend too much time with chunks of plastic and glass in front of our faces. Forget the imminent threats of environmental catastrophe and economic meltdown, it’s the camera we should be worried about. For while our backs have been turned,...
How I overcame Impostor Syndrome
This piece over at Cyclone Life about Impostor Syndrome reminded me that I’d been meaning to write something on the subject for a while. Before My Year In Flux began I suffered from Impostor Syndrome (that feeling of being a dummy who is fraudulently out-of-his-depth and about to be discovered as a charlatan at any...
Weekly Challenge #23: mental photography
Mental Photography is the second of the two new challenges I’m undertaking this week. As with the brain training Memory Challenge, it has to do with improving brain function through precise, active use of the old grey cells. I’ll definitely be more brainy by the end of the week…if that’s even possible What is Mental...
Mental week: improve the mind with two brain training challenges
Following 7 days acclimatising-for-and-walking the Inca Trail in Peru last week, I collapsed in an exhausted heap and completely forgot to set a new Weekly Challenge. Come to mention it, I’ve also forgotten the last few hostels I stayed in during my recent month in Colombia…heck, I can barely remember what I had for breakfast...
Raw food diet: confronting a complicated relationship with food
Ah, the raw food diet: holy grail for dieters, vegans and Guardian readers everywhere. I spent a week on a raw food diet whilst traveling in Costa Rica and survived to tell the tale, but not without stark realisations about my own relationship with food… Food confession #1: fear of hunger I have a confession...
Shape your own future
Shouldn’t you be spending a bit of time every day trying to shape your own future? “The future is not some place we are going, but one we are creating. The paths are not to be found, but made. And the activity of making them changes both the maker and the destination.” John H. Schaar...
Weekly Challenge #17: speed reading
Speed reading is my Weekly Challenge #17 beginning today. Inspired by this piece by Four Hour Work Week legend Tim Ferriss I’m going to see how much I can improve my reading speed and comprehension in the space of a single week. If you haven’t read Tim’s book, you really should, right NOW: The 4-Hour...
