I don’t know how long it will take before Insanely Interested gets active again so I suggest you move over to my active blog, JarkkoLaine.com, which will help keep your life insanely interesting during this blog’s hiatus. I know this is a bit ironic and some of you will tell me “I told you so” but yes, JarkkoLaine.com is my main blog once again. It even has a new tag line:

Exploring ways to create time for a sustainable, meaningful life that makes you and your neighbors thrive

So, head over to the active blog. I will make sure to let you know when Insanely Interested is back (and of course if you feel like it, feel free to stay subscribed).

I followed the cues and went to take a look at a referring site that had sent a bunch of users my way. I wasn’t expecting what I saw:

The article was written by me. But I had no memory of me writing this post. I hadn’t even been to the site before. Maybe this was just a coincidence: after all, I’m not the only Jarkko Laine out there.

Not a coincidence this time. This was something else. I skimmed through the article and at the end of the post, I saw my own face staring back at me!

This was a creepy moment.

I sent a note to the site owner. He took me seriously and promised that the post will be deleted soon.

It turns out that someone had contacted him pretending to be me to get a freelance writing gig on that site. I can’t blame the editor for accepting the offer (in a strange way, I’m proud that my portfolio worked that well).

Here’s the e-mail message I never wrote:

I’m Jarkko Laine, a web developer, freelance writer, and creative designer. I spend every minute of my spare time developing WordPress themes/plugins, developing attractive and usable websites, along with writing articles and/or tutorials.

I stumbled upon [name of the site] quite some time ago and would love the opportunity to write for your site.

With the following sites you can get acquainted with a few articles I’ve written, so that you can get a better feel of what I love to do:

Net.Tuts.Plus Author/Jarkko Laine

My contributions to Ruby on Rails

InsanelyInterested.com

I appreciate the time you’ve taken out of your busy schedule to read this email, I will gladly await your response.

Thank you-
Jarkko Laine
Insanely Interested

Not quite the message I would have sent, but still, this guy got most of his facts right: I did write those tutorials and you are reading Insanely Interested right now. The contributions to Ruby on Rails were not mine, but done by another guy with whom I have the honor of sharing my name, Jarkko Laine from Tampere, Finland.

How do you know that I am who I say I am?

I can’t understand know why this person decided that the best way for him to get started in the world of freelance writing was by pretending to be me. I have a feeling that this story isn’t finished yet, but there are some interesting questions that I want to discuss with you already.

I want to ask you two questions:

1. How can we know people who contact us really are who they claim to be?
2. How can we make sure people don’t misuse our names and hard-earned personal brands?

I trust people. And believing that you are you is the most fundamental part of that trust. Unless someone tells me he is  George Clooney, I have never seen any reason to doubt it. Until now, that is.

If you try to make yourself more interesting by pretending to be someone else, shouldn’t you pick the identity of someone interesting?

What do you think? Can we still trust each other? If we need proof, what could it be? How can we keep people from using our identities for their own purposes?

This was the first time I experienced the dark side of building your personal brand first hand, and I’m still processing it, so I don’t have big ideas to share. Instead, I’m curious to hear if you, as fellow bloggers and social media users, have experienced something similar, and what kind of thoughts you have on the topic.

Should we turn to technology and create a new kind of email? Would that solve anything? Should we doubt everyone?

Or maybe we should still just trust people.

A naive, hopeful thought it was. A thought that could make all the difference in this world. A thought that will be hard, if not impossible to make come true. 

But I thought I’d share it with you anyway.

Me, 20 years ago

Twenty years ago, I was eight. A bright-eyed kid just like the eight-year-olds you see when you take a look at schoolyards and families next door. Excited, full of ideas, believing everything was possible.

Me with my grandpa and two of my brothers

I was living in Senegal, the most West African country of all West African countries and couldn’t understand the difference between my two home countries: comparing the poor Senegal to one of the wealthiest of all, Finland, made the differences strikingly clear. In the mind of an eight-year-old the solutions are always easy, and so I thought building new houses and teaching local farmers to use their farms more efficiently would be the solution. Inside my head, I was drawing plans for how the farmers would need just a few new tractors, and how their houses could be made to be more like those I’d seen when visiting Finland on holidays.

Twenty years later, I realize that my solution back then would never have worked. We cannot just take our ways of doing things and bring them to Africa, hoping they will work there too.

Awakenings

I got back to thinking about Senegal when, last week, I read an article in the Helsinki University student newspaper, Ylioppilaslehti, about how young men around my age are doing all they can to flee Senegal (article in Finnish) and try their luck in Europe. All of this because the opportunities to make a living in Senegal (and the rest of Africa just the same) are growing smaller all the time.

When at the same time, the European Union does their best to keep foreigners outside of its borders, the situation gets unsustainable. We can travel anywhere we want, so we often forget that this is not the case for everyone. And the other side of the story, all young people moving abroad, hardly is a sustainable solution for the country either.

Then yesterday, I was reading Tim Flannery’s fabulous book on climate change, The Weather Makers. According to studies presented in the book, if we don’t change our ways, drought and heat will soon (by 2040) start to break the foundations of our societies. And as all the solutions (such as desalinating water or melting icebergs for fresh water) are expensive, the ones who need them most will also be the ones who are the least likely to afford them. This way, Flannery argues, this would be a genocide caused by pollution rather than guns. And we would be the ones responsible.

That’s a terrifying thought.

I don’t find it likely that we will stop our consumption soon enough to prevent this from happening. And for Africa, it might already be too late. Rainfall in the area has dropped dramatically, and will keep going down.

Don’t get me wrong: we need to do our best to prevent this — and at least minimize the effect of the climate change. But at the same time, we need to start preparing for survival. The big question is: how to handle the consequences of climate change ethically? How do we take responsibility of the less fortunate instead of just fighting for our own rights?

When the fire breaks, no one will be thinking about anyone except their closest circle of friends. 

We must act now, when we still care.

Arming Your Competition

A view from Senegal

The Internet is a funny place where New York and Culebra are just as close to Vantaa as are Jyväskylä or Helsinki.

But on a global scale, it is still an upper class country club for the most fortunate few. Or you tell me: how often do you meet a young pastor from Senegal or a farmer from Afghanistan when surfing on the information highway?

I am a firm believer in that people in the poorer parts of the world have the same intellectual potential as we do to do all the same things and strive for the goals as we do. What is missing is not the ability or will, but means and information.

The main reason why more africans are not making money online is that they don’t know how to get online — or what to do once there.

The biggest failure of the world wide web is that it is not world wide. The technology is there, but access is missing: If you are to use the technology, you need to know how to use it, and what you can do with it.

What does this have to do with preparing to the world after climate change?

Everything.

If we cannot stop the crisis, we need to make sure it doesn’t turn into a genocide. I don’t want my son to have to bear the shame of thinking that his parents and grandparents killed — murdered — the biggest part of the population of this planet.

And I believe the only way to do that is by arming the poor parts of the world to build their future and gather the resources they need to survive the future. This can only happen through fair, international business on free markets without trade barriers.

We need to arm our competition and help individuals in developing countries build businesses that change the world. We need to forget our fears of our jobs being shipped overseas to places like India and instead embrace India as a terrific example of what business can do to change the course of history.

When one young man from Senegal decides to start an online business, and with our help, gets it off the ground, things start to change for the better. He will be able to bring money to his home country through his own work. He will be able to hire more people to work for him. He will be able to teach others to do what he has done.

And then, when other men and a women join in, the speed of change increases. I don’t know what shape or form Senegalese Internet business will take, but I’m curious to see it. If we hand over the tools and share the ideas we have learned over the years, and give them our support, they will come up with their own, unique ways of changing the world — and in the end, everyone wins.

We just need to take the first step. It is our responsibility, but at the same time, it is our priviledge: because of the Internet, and because of our expertise, we have a chance to make a difference.

What do you think? Is this utopia? Am I missing something? Or would you join me and help me make this happen? Share your thoughts in the comments or get in touch through my contact form.

1. Apples (1 kg) in a plastic bag
2. Garnier total comfort (skin care product) in a plastic container
3. Cottage Cheese in a plastic box
4. Detergent for doing your laundry in a plastic bottle
5. Small tomatoes in a plastic box
6. Bread in a plastic bag
7. An apple
8. A banana
9. Ham slices in a plastic box
10. Yoghurt
11. Some more yoghurt
12. Cheese in a plastic wrap
13. Ice cream
14. Juice
15. Milk
16. Milk
17. Eggs
18. Some soft cheese in a plastic box
19. A special kind of Finnish bread
20. Grapes in a plastic box
21. Fruit cocktail
22. A set of three bell peppers in a plastic wrap
23. Groud meat in a plastic box
24. Salad in a plastic wrap
25. Cheese in a plastic bag
26. A cucumber in a  plastic wrap
27. A cucumber in a  plastic wrap
28. Two plastic bags

Notice anything interesting?

Now if you remind yourself of the fact that plastic doesn’t degrade that quickly (in fact every single piece of plastic ever made is somewhere on this planet — in the form of plastic), it becomes painfully obvious that we are putting a heavy load on the planet consuming something we in most case don’t need anyway – and throwing it away right after bringing the groceries home.

It’s time to try out our first group brain storming session here at Insanely Interested. Here’s how we will do it:

Come up with one or two ways to solve this problem of unnecessary plastic consumption. You can use ideas from other people’s comments and build on them, or create something completely unique. Write a comment to share your idea.

I will be collecting ideas throughout the weekend and the beginning of next week, and then we’ll do a roundup and see if some of the ideas could actually be implemented. But let’s not worry about that yet. First we’ll just have fun and create the ideas!

But all that thinking made it painfully clear to me that it’s time to stop playing with words and get my hands dirty. It’s time to get to work. This world is in quite a pinch, and we need permanent, practical, implemented solutions to make it a better place for more than just you and me. 

I believe we are the ones who can build those solutions (if you are reading this, you are part of what I call “we”). As curious, interested, creative idea people, we can come up with the ways to change our shared and personal futures, and through them create meaning and change lives.

Working Man Hands by The Newb

The Big Idea

Here is what is keeping me up at night:

1. This world is a troubled place: People are suffering from war, hunger, curable diseases, unhappiness, unbearable work loads, unemployment… All problems that could be solved if we only had the will. At the same time, our planet is on the verge of throwing us up: Its blue seas are becoming gray swamps filled with plastic bags and toilet seats. Its forests are being cut at a pace that’s almost impossible to imagine. We are spending natural resources on credit, forgetting that there is no way we can ever repay our loans.
2. The solutions are there: There was a time when we could honestly say we didn’t know what to do to change the course of things or that we didn’t know the severity of the damages we were making. That time is history. We know exactly what we need to do: cut consumption, lend out a hand and help our neighbors, spend our days focusing to the important instead of filling them with the urgent. But most importantly, we need to get serious about this.
3. We are a lazy bunch of people: In my next posts, I will share more of my adventures as I try to change my consumption habits. What’s interesting is that pretty much every one of the stories seems to have something to do with overcoming laziness. It’s unbelievable how deeply we have built consumption to be a crucial part of our society. Each of us can easily consume a plastic bag worth of wrappers and other material that is used once and then thrown away — every day. Same with electricity, water, heating, transportation, food, pretty much everything we touch. Even if we don’t seem to consume anything much, we are still filling our land with pollution that wouldn’t need to ever have been created in the first place! If there was a quota for consumption, there wouldn’t be any left for the things we really want to spend our money in (like the new book, laptop or iPod).
4. That’s why the traditional solutions don’t work: We have been getting educated about these things over and over again. All of us have friends who can’t stop talking about the world’s problems and how we need to change things to solve them. And most of us have read more than one book, watched more than a handful of TV shows talking about things such as the climate crisis, and heard a rock star talk about AIDS, poverty and justice. But there is a limit to how far education will get us, and I think we are pretty close to that limit now: Most people will never change their habits unless it’s effortless and they can clearly see how the change improves their personal happiness. They do care about the problems, but for one reason or another, they think that someone else needs to provide them with the solution, and that everyone else needs to go first. They don’t want to be the weirdos who cut back when everyone else is consuming to their hearts’ content.
5. So what do we do? We are idea people. We are creative. And we care. And now we also understand that the change has to start from somewhere. If we keep waiting for someone else to come up with the easy solutions for us to then use, we’ll have a long wait ahead of us. Let most people wait, they’ll do that anyway, but let’s make sure someone is creating those solutions people are waiting for.

Smart people tell me all the time: “I’m sure someone is working on a solution.”

Well, that’s great — assuming that someone really is working on the solution.

But I wouldn’t count on it. I’d rather walk an extra mile to make sure that I’m doing all I can to help and then notice that someone already came up with a better solution than wake up one day and notice that in the end, everyone was thinking the same way and there was no such someone out there!

Insanely Interested in 2009

This site, blog, or whatever you want to call it has been looking for its shape since October when I branched it off my personal blog. In hindsight, all that search has been about finding meaning. And now that it’s getting clearer to me, I want to do all in my powers to make Insanely Interested meaningful.

That means that this will be a blog that is all about action. Instead of talking about abstract things such as being interested, getting more focused or enjoying a good life, I want to make this a place where all that comes alive and instead of talking and thinking about these things, we are working to put these qualities into use and build the solutions that our friends are waiting someone to come up with. This is how we will make it happen:

1. Problems and opportunities: I will write about ideas that I want to pursue further, problems I think we need to address, and about cool solutions that I notice the someones around the world work on. Every now and then, I might still make a jump back to the more generic topics such as being curious and focusing, but all of that will be there for one purpose only: to enable the flow of ideas and help us turn the ideas into action.
2. IDEAS: This is what we need the most. Practical ideas for products and procedures that will make it easier for people to change their habits — so easy that they don’t even notice that they are doing something ecological and overly ethical. Being the business oriented guy I am, I am thinking products and services that improve the lives of the customers while at the same time helping fix our planet. But it can be anything, and I can’t wait to get to see what you will dream up!
3. Implementation: Innovation is what happens when ideas get implemented. And innovation is what changes lives. Without implementation, ideas are nothing more than a nice way to spend time. So, we need to take all the ideas that we come up with and look for some that we can build into real products and solutions. And then, we need to get to work. I’m not sure how this will happen, but what I hope to see this year is an explosion in the number and quality of ethical, ecological ideas that get implemented.

I get excited when I think about changing the world through business, because that’s something that takes the things that I’m most insanely interested in, and gives them a meaningful connection: entrepreneurship, human behavior, marketing, building things, and having an impact on peoples lives and surroundings. If that’s something that gets you going as well, join me in turning the dream into reality.

If this post gave you ideas, speak up! I want to hear it all. What do you think is needed to get the change started? Do you think it makes sense to even try? Or should we maybe try even harder? Thanks for listening, now the floor is yours, so speak up!

My one-and-half-year-old clearly belongs to the human species: he always wants more. Every time he is eating, be it a slice of bread or a nice, crusty cookie, he is already thinking about the next one.

While my wife and I try to teach the little kid to enjoy the one he is stuffing in his mouth, saying that he cannot even get a good taste out of the food if he only keeps wanting more. At the same time, I can’t help but smile as the way he acts feels so close to the way we grown ups act as well.

At my son’s age, it’s still sweet. But for someone my age, the best word to describe the behavior is greed.

1. When I go grocery shopping, I don’t just pick up the necesities and head home. I want more.
2. When I have been using a new computer for a few weeks, I start longing for a more impressive one. One with more power, or more style.
3. I want a Mac rather than a cheaper alternative that I could afford. And I’m sure that once I get that Mac, there is something more to long for.
4. And when it comes to houses, there could always be more square feet to walk on.

The list goes on: a new car would be nice, so would be visiting some place exotic, like Dubai, or getting a new TV and Nintendo Wii that would be so much fun for the whole family.

Luckily I don’t have the money to do all the things I keep adding to my list of mores. That way there is a natural limit to the number of resources I can consume every day.

More than Enough?

Yet, even at my current run-rate, I consume way more than my share of what this planet has to offer. My carbon footprint is way bigger than it should be, and so is my waste bin.

Cutting our consumption rates is the right thing to do if we are to stop destroying our living conditions and rise the world from poverty. There is no question about this. That has become clear to pretty much everyone in the industrial world during the many years of discussion about climate warming and pollution.

We need to make sacrifices if we want to act like grown up adults.

You knew all of that already before reading any of this.

But what I find truly amazing is that the nature is not the only one hurting from our continuous want for more material goods. We too pay a toll.

To get all the goods we long for, we need more money. We have two choices: we can ask for a raise, or we can work harder.

Most of us do both, and unfortunately, neither of the options is really that good:

1. When pretty much everyone gets a raise once per year, that means that prices go up and we end up with the same buying power as before the raise.
2. And when we always work harder, we don’t have any time or energy to enjoy the things we get with the money we make, not to mention the best things in life that are free.

Because others in our communities are buying more things, we need to do the same. When our neighbours buy huge bombs for New Year’s celebrations, we feel the urge to get something even bigger. Something that will show that we do belong to this group of neighbours.

And when other web developers buy bigger monitors, we need to get something like that as well.

Luckily, in the same way, a community — both on and off the line — has the power to make a positive change. I hope 2009 will be a year when that kind of global, grassroot level activity takes off and sets new standards for living. Things will not change overnight, but we need to start from somewhere.

And if there is a good time for starting over, it’s now, in the middle of a depression. Things are changing anyway, so we must make sure they change for better.

By focusing on enough instead of more, sharing instead of competition, and maximizing happiness rather than profits, we can start to change what it means to be human. Little by little.

Now, let’s dream up the ways we will make it happen!

Here’s what she said:

[...] For example, while I’m working on a task, there is a small zillion of thoughts flashing through my mind. I am generally thinking about “the things I should/could do after I’m done with the current task.” Since my thoughts go into details (of how am I going to tackle those future tasks) I always turn into writing them down.

Yes, I work with less efficiency. And yes, I am everything but focused.

But what happened to me when I tried to disregard all these “extra thoughts” and focus on my task or “single-task” is that after I was done with the work, I felt completely lost and “planless”. While the results were “much more perfect” and my time was much more efficiently spent, a gun pointed to my forehead could not make me remember all the things I “wanted to do after.” And in moments like those I tend to turn to “the simple over the important” things… And that’s how the time after the task gets less efficiently spent.

So, the problem, as Dren puts it is that “regardless of our striving to be in the zone, to single-task or to focus – it is our brains that are multi-tasking, whether we like it or not.”

But, while all of that is true and I can say the same about my own brain, there is so much evidence out there to support focus that it must be something worth striving for. That’s why I’m set out to find the perfect crossing point between these two ideas that seem to contradict each other.

In other words: How can we focus but still not lose the ideas that keep running through our heads?

Finding Ways to Focus

You are trying to focus to a task (for example, I’m trying to focus to this blog post right now) when a thought comes to your mind:

“My blog design could look great with a bright orange background color!”

Then another:

“I should write a tutorial on picking the perfect colors for a blog.”

And there you go, you have moved out from the original focal point to something quite different. What do you do?

I see at least three options, and if you think of more, add them in the comments and I’ll include them in this post. (This is a living blog post, right?)

Option 1: Ignore The New Idea, Just Focus

At first, I wrote that this idea is probably good for the people who don’t care about their ideas that much, and who anyway focus on one idea for so long that the time after completing that one seems distant enough to not worry about at all.

I also said that this idea is not that interesting as an option at all and was ready to leave it there and move on to the next idea.

But before I got to writing the next versions of ideas two and three, Mitro Patrikainen voiced an interesting idea, completely opposite to what I was saying:

In my opinion, random ideas, no matter how good they are, aren’t worth risking your focus. So I prefer the #1. Your brain is an endless well of ideas. You should just ignore the ideas that are distracting you and focus on the idea in front of you – the idea that’s soon to be real! If you discard an idea, you could lose it forever but you’ll always be able to create ideas as valuable – or more valuable – as the idea that you just threw away.

I’m not sure what I think of Mitro’s approach as a whole, but he has a few points that in my opinion make the idea worth considering:

1. Your brain is an endless well of ideas: Yes, there will always be new ideas popping up in your mind. So, it’s good to realize that the idea you decide to skip for now most likely won’t be your last.
2. The idea that’s soon to be real: I love the way Mitro puts this. The idea you’re working on will soon be real, so you shouldn’t risk not completing the idea. This is the very reason why I think there is something special about focus.

Where I still disagree with Mitro is that I don’t believe stopping to write down your idea has to risk your
focus. When done right, it’s possible to not lose the ideas but still keep your focus at (almost) 100%. That’s where option two comes to play.

Option 2: Write the new idea down as quick as you can. Then get back to the task you were focused in.

Let’s start with two Twitter posts from Scott Ginsberg (posted on December 4th):

@nametagscott Don’t make an appraisal of your idea before it’s written down. “How good or bad an idea is” doesn’t actually matter. Just get it down.

@nametagscott If ideas are your #1 source of income, you’ll love today’s post about “premature cognitive commitment” http://tinyurl.com/5vvuqs

In Scott’s second Twitter quote, there was a link to his blog post, Idea Not That Good? Write it Down Anyway, in which Scott says that no matter what the idea is and no matter when you get it, you should write it down, because you will never know if the idea you just overlooked was the amazing one unless you spend some time evaluating it.

I tend to agree with Scott on this one. Sure, like Mitro says, your brain is an endless well of ideas. But at the same time, I don’t think most of the ideas that come out of that well are that amazing. That’s why if it’s not possible to know a good idea from a worse one in advance, I don’t want to risk losing the gems by focusing too much.

Don’t get me wrong. I believe in focus. I just don’t want anything — not even focus — to stop my creativity.

Focus is fragile.

That’s why I think it’s a good idea to write down your new idea as quickly as possible so that you can safely forget about it for now, and return to your current task at hand. If you don’t do this, it could be much harder to let it go and keep the focus as the idea keeps haunting you while you try to actively push it aside.

In his comment, Steve C. from My Wife Quit Her Job says that “too many context switches are inefficient” and that because of this, he is in favor of option 1.

I think he has an important point: we should try to minimize the number of context switches as every single one of them leads us farther away from the state of focus. But what if your brain has already made the context switch as it came up with the new idea? Then writing the idea down before returning to the original task isn’t any more of a context switch than moving back straight away, is it?

Option 3: Let your focus move from one thing to the other

Where option one was at one extreme, option three takes the other extreme approach. I first saw it suggested in Barbara Sher’s book for people insanely interested in everything, Refuse to Choose.

What Sher suggests is that when you come up with a new idea, you should switch your focus for good not even trying to remain focused on the original idea. At first, this sounds like the complete opposite to the whole idea of focus.

But when you think about it more, and against the context of Dren’s original comment, “regardless of our striving to be in the zone, to single-task or to focus – it is our brains that are multi-tasking, whether we like it or not,” it starts to make sense.

Your brain is multitasking anyway.

You have two choices (with possibly a middle ground in option 2): try to silence your brain or play by its rules.

What I’m getting at here, is that silencing your brain is not easy. It drains your energy, and it hurts your focus. Even if you try not to let the new idea disturb you, your focus has already been weakened by it.

That’s why my question is this: Could it actually be beneficial for your overall focus to move your complete focus to the new idea that came to your mind, follow that idea to some logical spot, and then return to focus on the original idea, free from the nagging thought that there might be something you are missing on?

And right after I had posted this question, there came Joshua Clanton with his option 4:

Option 4: Use Your Intuitive Judgement

Most of the time, when I become distracted, I have an intuitive understanding of which idea is actually the most valuable. If both are valuable, then I write one down and focus on the one which I believe I can make the biggest difference with at this moment. I can always redirect my focus later if my circumstances or understanding changes.

I see this option as a middle ground somewhere between options 2 and 3: when you are sure the new idea is worth exploring more, you pick option three. When you are not, you follow the second approach and write down the idea, then move on with the original one.

But the question is, is it really possible to tell the different types of ideas just by intuition? And how do you learn such intuition?

Let’s keep talking!

Hide from External Focus Breakers

No matter which of the three options you adopt (or maybe there are more options that I haven’t even thought of), what is most important is to set yourself up for focus. If you decide to let yourself switch your focus when you get a new idea, that’s fine.

What is not OK is letting external noise such as TV, internet browsing, Facebook or instant messengers risk your focus. There is a time and place for them, but it’s not when you are working on your goals and focusing.

If you still get distracted by your own mind, that could be OK. And probably just natural.

But if you get distracted by a phone you forgot to shut down when starting to focus, that’s just poor preparation.

What do you think?

Postman Pat feels he’s a really happy man.

It was a lazy Saturday morning when all three of us (me, my wife, and our one-and-half-year-old son, Oiva) were sitting in front of the computer screen, watching children’s videos from YouTube. After an episode of Bob the Builder, my eyes caught Postman Pat in the list of related videos.

I don’t remember Postman Pat that well. I know I watched a few episodes as a kid, and that Pat always had his black and white cat with him.

But I remembered the song.

As we watched the song, my wife and I were looking at each other thinking the same thought: “This is how life should be!” I don’t know what our toddler was thinking, but for us, his parents, it was a touching moment of realization: There is something special about Postman Pat’s small, beautiful world. Something that we have lost on our way to maximum efficiency.

And I knew there was no other way for me but to blog about this very happy man.

The Good Life, by Postman Pat

Sing with me:

Postman Pat, Postman Pat,
Postman Pat and his black and white cat,
Early in the morning, Just as day is dawning,
He picks up all the post bags in his van.

Lesson number one: wake up early.

Pat starts his morning round just as the new day is dawning. This way, he gets to enjoy the fresh air, is not in a hurry, and can carry his work out without having to feel too stressed.

In a newspaper I read today, there was an interview of a real-life postman. This man has been delivering letters since 1966, and just like Pat, he loves his job.

One of the biggest reasons why he hasn’t switched jobs yet, he says, is that when you start your day early, you are also free to finish early. When you complete your day at 2 P.M., there is still plenty of time to spend pursuing your other interests or spending time with your loved ones — like Pat.

Lesson number two: Take your cat with you

But what I really love about Pat’s job is the way he does it: Pat takes his cat with him in the van, and no one is there to say that he should not do so. In fact, the song mentions the cat every time it talks about Pat.

Pat wouldn’t be Pat without his cat.

You may not want to take a cat with you to work. Maybe, like me, you don’t even have a cat. But I’m sure there are other things that make you who you are. Things that should always be mentioned when talking about you.

And sadly, many times, we are forced to leave those things behind. Because we are too busy. Or just because we feel we must be so very professional.

But when I think about Pat’s cat, I don’t see any reason why taking that big part of his personality with him to work would make Pat less capable of delivering the daily mail.

Let’s sing some more:

Postman Pat, Postman Pat,
Postman Pat and his black and white cat,
All the birds are singing, and the day is just beginning.
Pat feels he’s a really happy man.

Lesson number three: Hear the birds as they are singing

Sure, waking up early is important. But if you don’t use that time to enjoy the beauty of an early morning, what’s the use.

Maybe the real reason for waking up early is not to get more done during the day but to have more time to enjoy the beauty of life. Could it be that when you get a good start to your day, you don’t have to fill the day with even more tasks but can instead be less busy and stop to enjoy your daily tasks?

Ask yourself: Did I hear birds sing today?

Or was I too busy to notice?

Everybody knows his bright red van,
All his friends will smile as he waves to greet them,

Lesson number four: Take your friends with you

People love the friendly guy who has time for them. It’s as simple as that. And from what I’ve seen, it’s amazing to be that guy.

Pat is that guy.

Pat is never too busy. He stops to chat with his neighbors in this little town he lives in. And as a result, they all know and wave at him when he passes by in his bright red van!

Greet your neighbors, and don’t forget the people who matter to you on your way to success.

Maybe… You can never be sure,
There’ll be knock…[knock knock] Ring [ring ring]
Letters through your door.

Lesson number five: Don’t ruin the surprise

Jason Kotecki says this much better than I, so here’s a quote from his recent blog post, The Joy of Not Knowing:

It’s quite tempting to skip to the end, to sneek a peek, to make the magician reveal the the secret to his trick. Especially when you can. Resist, my friend. Don’t rob yourself of the misunderstood and unheralded joy of anticipation.

Because it’s never much fun to unwrap a present when you already know what’s inside.

Pat is in the profession of building anticipation. By delivering letters, he helps people dream that maybe today is the day when that precious letter from a loved one arrives, or the long-awaited Amazon orders bring you the book you have been waiting for months.

Don’t break the spell. Use mail instead of email every now and then. And enjoy every minute of the time you have to wait!

Pat feels he’s a really happy man.
Pat feels he’s a really happy man.

What Makes You Feel a Very Happy Man or Woman?

Postman Pat is happy doing his part in his little community, being surrounded by friendly people who appreciate what he is doing. All of these are pretty universal sources of happiness. We all enjoy knowing our work was well done, and appreciated.

Most of all, I believe Pat is happy because he is taking his time to enjoy what life has in store for him. Instead of rushing to the next experience he enjoys the one he is going through right now. He knows that there will be plenty of time for the next one too.

And Pat takes his cat to work with him.

But what is it that you’d like to do to lead a happy life like Pat’s?

For me, it could be many things: Opening my own bakery in a small town like Pat’s would be the closest I can get to this vision of a good life. But even just writing or running a business — or even going to my current day job — can be a part of a good life when I have my attitude set correctly towards sharing and noticing the happiness.

Now, the stage is yours. Do you think Pat has still something more to teach us? And what are you doing to lead a good life? Let’s discuss!

Fresh out of Sauna. A hot drink and a few cookies waiting next to my computer. All browser tabs closed. Just me, my writing, and a few thoughts that have been growing inside my head and want to get out at last.

Finally focused. Running out of time, yet not busy.

I wish I could say this comes naturally to me. But I can’t.

I am terrible when it comes to focusing and ignoring distractions. Sometimes I feel like a collector of distractions who loves to surround himself with all kinds of blinking gadgets and noisy widgets to keep himself busy and make sure he never gets anything done.

Always Busy

Try this: Whoever you see next — your spouse, your colleague, your hair dresser, anyone — greet her and ask the simple question, “How’s it going?”

Mark down the answer. If you have extra time, repeat.

I believe most will give you a variation of the classic:

Busy as usual.

It’s a fact of life. We are always busy. Always in a rush. And always hoping there would be time for some peace and quiet.

Yet, most of us are not getting that much done. And apparently the ones who get a lot done don’t feel that busy at all. What if there is no correlation at all between the feeling of being busy and productivity? Or what if the correlation is negative?

In this small article, I will present you a simple idea. And then we will discuss it.

Here it goes:

Could it be that we are busy only because we don’t know how to focus?

Let’s make it clear right now: When I say focus, I don’t mean the specialist idea of having just one or two interests and sticking with them for the rest of your life.

Naturally, there is a limit to how many things you can concentrate in during a human life time. But let’s not worry about that right now. It’s more interesting to try to find out the limit by trying.

I don’t believe in magical formulas and silver bullets, but this one is rather close to turning me into a believer: It’s simple. I didn’t invent it. Even scientists are backing it up.

The only downside that I’m aware of is that we are too used to the opposite way of handling our lives.

But I suggest we give it a try anyway. The trick is called single-tasking.

The Experiment

1. Pick a handful of your daily activities (I selected four because that looks nice on the blog).
2. Think about each of them and try to remember the last time you let yourself immerse totally in the activity and forget all about your other tasks and pressing matters. Was it different from the multi-tasked version?
3. If you can’t remember clear, take the experiment to a more practical level and live that moment. Focus one hundred percent and don’t let anything disturb you.
4. Review your experiences.

Here are my four activities:

To sum it up, I have learned that by single-tasking and focusing in one thing at a time, I can be more relaxed, happier and less busy than when I’m shuffling multiple plates at once. And most of the time, it also makes me a lot more productive.

Focus is Just What We Need

'Totally Focused' by Jarkko Laine

When I know that right now, this blog post is just the thing that I’m supposed to be working on, I can ignore the dozens of other projects and be sure that when I decide to work on each of them, that will be the most productive time to get that project moving on.

I believe this is what focus is best for.

Learning to focus makes it possible to have a huge amount of goals and projects at the same time and still not feel stressed out and busy.

In this sense, the skill of focus is most useful for us, the insanely curious and multi-interested. Maybe we won’t be focused for days, or even hours at once, but focusing for even half an hour or fifteen minutes at a time can make a huge difference!

I’m not there yet, and quite often, I still fall into the old ways of busyness. But I have seen what life can be when it’s not characterized by being busy but by living and doing. And I think it’s worth the learning curve!

   

2,932 Days Wearing a Name Tag… And Counting

Scott Ginsberg was seven years old when he decided he wanted to be an author. What he didn’t know back then was that the way to make that happen would be to put on a name tag – and wear it every day, for the rest of his life.

In 2003, Scott’s childhood dream came true and he started his career as an author with his first book, Hello, My Name is Scott.

These days, Scott divides his time between writing and speaking, always inspiring us to make the world a friendlier place.

He still wears his name tag.

   

Would You Trade a House to One Red Paper Clip?

This picture of “One Red Paper Clip” was the beginning of a great adventure. Little did Kyle MacDonald know of what was ahead of him when he posted the photo in his first blog post three years ago, in July 2005. Here’s what he said:

“I want to trade this paperclip with you for something bigger or better, maybe a pen, a spoon, or perhaps a boot.”

Today, Kyle owns a house. And he is ready to trade again. Kyle’s book, “One Red Paperclip” was published last year.

And yes, you can get his house.

Sometimes it’s the craziest ideas that get you the furthest.

If you were to make a joke on Scott Ginsberg by pulling off his name tag you’d probably be surprised to see him calmly pull a new one from his pocket. He always carries about ten spares with him, and he has never missed a day since he started back in 2003. This guy is serious. And he’s having a blast doing so.

Kyle MacDonald was always the kid who came up with the cleverest ideas — anything to keep him away from a regular 9 to 5. But even if his friends were used to him coming up with all these new things to try out, when he started trading his one red paper clip, no one would have guessed that only about a year later, he would be the proud owner of this house:

Photo by Kyle MacDonald

What does it take to decide to wear a name tag every day for the rest of your life or to start trading towards an impossible looking goal? And why is it that insane sounding ideas like these so often make the biggest difference?

That’s what we are going to try to figure out today.

I talked to Kyle and Scott, and dug into their blogs to find some answers.

Why?

Kyle MacDonald, according to his own words, was “someone who had nothing else going on and didn’t want to find a job.” He was determined to avoid getting a job, so he decided to try trading. “Trading things turned into a full time occupation, or obsession. It was lots of fun.” Kyle says.

At first, Kyle started trading items as an experiment. First there was the red paper clip. Then a fish pen. Then a doorknob. Followed by a coleman stove and one red generator. After a few trades, people started asking how far this was going to go.

Kyle had an answer in mind: “I said I was trying to trade up to a house, and then I had more of a fixed goal in mind. Having the goal really helped because I became the ‘guy who was trying to trade a red paper clip for a house’ instead of the guy just going around trading things.”

Scott first put on his name tag because he was attending to a seminar, and at events like that you wear a name tag. That’s hardly unique. But after the event, on a whim, Scott decided to try what would happen if he didn’t take off the name tag. The night, over 20 new people approached him and started chatting. Just because of the name tag.

That was eight years ago.

“I committed that night.” Scott says, and continues: “But when I got the tattoo, there was no turning back.”

Yep. He this guy really put all in. After wearing a name tag for five years, Scott decided to make sure he’d never stop, so in November 2005, he got himself a tattoo. With a name tag and the text, “Scott.”

How?

Scott Ginsberg started wearing a name tag to make the world friendlier. And Kyle MacDonald started trading — because it sounded more fun than working.

But how did they pull it off? And how did they turn these ideas into something bigger?

I asked Scott if I should start wearing a name tag too, or maybe a yellow helmet, to replicate his success.

Here’s what he answered:

“Name tags aren’t unique. They’re DIFFERENT. Making a career out of wearing a name tag, now THAT’S unique. I encourage people to find their own nametag, but remember that shtick will get you in the door, but only substance will keep you in the room.

Also if you wear a helmet people might think you have epilepsy.”

Scott is famous for his name tags. And that’s already something that requires a great deal of work. Scott attributes his success to “Commitment, consistency and the willingness to stick myself out there.”

But if that would be all, he wouldn’t be the star of the evening news. USA Today wouldn’t be writing about him. The joke would be old, and not even giant name tags (try googling that) could make Scott worth our time. He knows this, and realizes that it’s not the idea, but how he uses it, that matters. Scott takes his reputation as the “guy with the name tag” and uses it as a way of getting our attention.

What he does after that makes him remarkable.

How about Kyle, then? He had his share of doubts at the beginning: “I’m pretty sure everyone, including me, had complete doubts at first. When you have a red paperclip in your hand it’s kinda hard to ever imagine trading it all the way up to a house. But after things got going I had less doubts and I’m sure most other people began to see the idea take shape.”

But pretty soon pieces started to get together.

“Many other people have done this since, and will surely continue to do so. Anyone can do this, but it sure isn’t easy to do so. As for the idea being used, well, the likelihood of media outlets covering the story to help with exposure of the idea is probably a lot less, seing how some guy already did it before.” Kyle says.

But there is something more than a great idea or being the first at play here. Personality. It’s what got Kyle into trading in the first place, and it’s the very same thing that made people want to trade with him.

It’s the Kyle that says: “I have no idea what’s going to happen next and that’s what I find exciting!”

And the Scott that echoes: “I am excited about the prospect of (a) having no idea what I’m doing, and (b) having no idea what tomorrow will bring. Wouldn’t have it any other way.”

It’s the kind of attitude that takes life seriously, but doesn’t get all serious. An attitude that turns life into the adventure that it was supposed to be.

And this is where we introduce the third wacky idea of the day.

No room for imitators

You can’t copy what Matt (from Where the Hell is Matt?) is doing.

You can dance all around the world, film your performance, and post it on the web. But that won’t make you Matt.

Which reminds me of something that Seth Godin once told me:

“I’m lucky in that I’ve figured out how to be the best in the world at being me… apparently, there’s a market for that!”

The same applies to Matt. It also applies to Kyle. And it applies to Scott.

And I’m willing to be that the same will apply to you as well. All you need to do is to figure out how to be you. The rest will follow. (I hope.)

What’s next?

I have no idea what will happen next. And just like Kyle and Scott, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I can’t wait to hear what Scott’s next book will be about (he told me he has already finished his next five and that the next one which comes out in January will be more like a symphony than a book). I can’t wait to hear what Kyle will trade his house for. And I can’t wait to hear what you will come up with next!

Use the comments to share your thoughts on what you think is behind the success of these three wacky ideas, other wacky ideas that I might not have heard of yet, or the ideas that are brewing inside your head.

Let your mind loose. You’ll be surprised to see how far that can get you!