Personal Growth & Transformation

10 Things You Can Do to Make Today More Meaningful

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According to Benjamin Wiker and Johnathan Witt, authors of A Meaningful World, “…nature is a work of genius, like a Shakespearian play is a work of genius — both are rich, deep, and complex, full of meaning at every level.”

Do you find yourself wanting for more meaningful experiences?

Sometimes the best way to get what you’re craving is to give it first. Don’t wait for someone else to make the first move or for a situation to spontaneously occur. Be liberal with, and unrestrained in, whatever you share. Create your own meaningful moments, and your life will be all the richer for it.

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3 Ways to Identify and Master the Bug of Creative Procrastination

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Procrastination is the bad habit of putting off until the day after tomorrow what should have been done the day before yesterday – Napoleon Hill (1883-1970) American speaker and motivational writer.

Procrastination is a term that needs no introduction. I’ve lived much of my life battling this bug, and I have come to believe that it grows from a fear of action.

Creative procrastination is a trick our mind plays to defer things we should do now until the future with an abstract goal to banish our desire.

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7 Lifestyle Changes that Will Help the Environment

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Over the past few years, most people I’ve spoken to have become (or already were) environmentally conscious to some degree. What often begins simply as saving money – such as reducing the amount of electricity you use – turns out to have quite a positive impact. If, however, you want to do even more; there are several things you can do. Here are just 7 lifestyle changes which will help the environment.

1. Use the car less. This is perhaps the simplest change in this list – reduce the time you spend behind the wheel. In addition to the environmental benefits of doing this, you’ll probably find that you become slightly fitter; and have more money in your pocket at the end of the week. In short, there’s no downside. How do you do this? Here are a few suggestions.

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What Makes a Good Life?

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Some time ago now I came to realize that how we define particular words – success, happiness, love, etc – can have a major impact on the way in which we live our life. One term that I hear thrown around often is “good life”, eg “he lived a good life” . But what is a good life exactly? This term will mean different things to different people, and yet I believe there are some ingredients that all “good lives” share. Here are a some of these ingredients:

Being present in the moment

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Why a Strong Foundation is the Key to Change

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In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey gives some brilliant insights into living a truly effective life. The key is, before anything else, you must have a good foundation. This foundation is a ‘private victory,’ a self-mastery which comes before the success we aspire to achieve in our interdependent social environments – our work, our business, our family. This foundation is twofold, consisting of ‘habits’ which constitute the cornerstone of our lives. Without practicing these habits we build our life on quicksand, on the shifting, uncertain tides of a complex and ever changing world.

When we have mastered ourselves, when we have this foundation, we need not fear change. Indeed, we can embrace it and use it creatively, integrating new learning and insight into our lives, building greater synergy and reaching higher peaks of personal and social achievement.

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Finding the Path to a Meaningful Existence

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“As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.” – Henry David Thoreau

People want to be told what to do; they want to be “inspired;” they want to be influenced from external sources; and they want their “life instructions” to be delivered in neat and convenient little packages. Although our deepest desire is to find “the path to a meaningful existence,” it is our human nature to seek “the path of least resistance.” We prefer to take one sure step to find what we want, rather than taking many uncertain steps to find what we really need… Why?

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Yes We Can. Simple Ways You and I Can Make a Difference.

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Some people naturally care about their community, the environment and other people. For others, like myself, this caring does not come so naturally despite knowing that we should care. We need a little push to help us take action. If this is you, I would like to share some very simple ideas that will not only helps others and the environment, but also help you.

Recently I completed a driving test to attain my Canadian driver’s license. When I received my license in the mail soon after, I also received a request to sign up as an organ donor. I wasn’t an organ donor back in Australia, I guess because when I was initially given the option at age 17 (when I received my Australian driver’s license) I didn’t really care that a simple decision on my part could save the life of another human being.

Anyway, with my new outlook on life I have realized that being an organ donor is one simple way I can potentially make a difference in the world. After all, my organs aren’t much worth to me if I’m dead, right? Now if you don’t like the thought of being an organ donor, or you have some other reason not to be, that’s cool. There are many other ways we can each make a difference.

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Getting Over It, and Getting On With It

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In 2004 I returned to Perth, Australia, after a year of traveling overseas. I returned to a city with a ridiculously strong economy. Demand from China had driven commodity prices to record highs, and the mining industry was booming. For those unfamiliar with the geography of Australia, Perth is the capital of Western Australia, which is approximately one third of the land mass of Australia (ie it has A LOT of land for mining). In recent years, people have been flowing into Western Australia (in particular Perth) from across the country and, as a result, housing prices have soared. In fact, in November 2006 Perth overtook Sydney as the most expensive city in Australia with a median house price of $564,000 (I believe this has since reversed). Three years earlier, Perth house prices were less than half of those in Sydney.

During this period, there seemed to be endless news stories about the booming economy and soaring housing prices. Also, the banking job I had at the time meant I was dealing with housing appraisals every day. It was obvious that many people were becoming wealthy, but since I did not own any property and had little invested in the share market I was not one of these people. And for this reason, each housing appraisal or story of the booming economy was like a nail being driven further and further into my skin.

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One Year On. How Fatherhood Has Changed My Life.

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It is hard to believe that a year has passed since the most nerve-wracking, yet exciting and wonderful, moment in my life. It was a moment that seemed to take forever to arrive (in addition to the standard 9 months, Kathryn went 2 weeks overdue), but when it did I knew that my life would never be the same again. And I couldn’t have been happier….

In this article I want to share with you how fatherhood has changed my life. Although this is a very personal article, I believe there are many lessons that anyone can take away from my story. The realization that I was to be a father was a catalyst for change in my life, but I am sure there are a number of different paths people can take to the outlook I have today.

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Gradual Organization: How to Go from Slob to Productive

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I’ll admit it: I used to be a slob. Several years ago, I would have been lucky just getting my clothes in the right drawers. To-do lists, calendars and detailed systems for managing my energy and time would have seemed like a fantasy. Instead I had nothing written down or sorted, relying on memory to keep track of important dates and tasks.

Looking at the way I run my life now, it would be hard to recognize my prior messiness. I went from slob to productive, simplifying my life by…

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