Q. What sort of a fool would say that we need more? 

A. The sort of fool who is sick of seeing the same copy-cat writing produced over and over again.  Can’t we do better than that?

The trap is that we believe that there is a direct relationship between what people want to read and what is currently being written.  There is a certain kind of twisted logic out there that tells us that because there are countless dollar formula paperbacks in print, that the world needs more dollar formula paper backs.  So writers set to work, and write some more. 

This is the Production Proves Demand paradigm.  It is all back to front.  The popularity hasn’t driven the production.  The production has created the demand.  The simple fact that formula paper backs are available everywhere for such ridiculously cheap prices, creates the desire to buy and read (to consume) them.

Is this the best way? 

Your other choice is to first work out where you have a unique perspective - what do you know.  When you have found what you know, then find out who wants to hear about it, how they want to hear about it and then set to work. 

Your unique perspective is a powerful thing.  You may see one aspect of the world in a way that has never been explored before.  Even something as mundane as your own personal hobbies or relationships can, if written carefully and thoughtfully, help others.

The best news about this is that there has never been a better time in history to be writing.  We have never been more connected as a species than we are today.  You can write for a worldwide audience no matter how small, and instantly climb into their consciousness via the internet.  While previously, your specialisation would have left you standing alone, today it is possible to link up with others in similar situations and share whatever you have learnt.

You may not write for a big audience, but if you write a careful and authoritative article about the breeding habits of caterpillars that are eating your lettuces then someone somewhere will value your work.  You can contribute to the pool of knowledge that is floating around the world and others will be able to put your work to the test.

The first stage in this process is in finding what you have to share with the world.  This is where blogging has developed from self conscious obsession towards genuine communication.  

A blog was a place where people would write simply because they liked the sound of their own words.  Times are changing.  Quickly we realised that blogs like this are never read and they only benefit the writer.  There is nothing wrong with this, if it is all you are after.  However if you want to share what you know, then the first step is to consider everything that you know and then subtract everything that is already been thoroughly written about. 

For example, I know a lot about long distance running and marathoning.  My first blog is still online (though rather dusty and neglected) at www.runningmonkeys.com.  I enjoyed writing it because I loved to write about my running.  After about 6 months I realised that out of everything that I had written only about 10 articles were actually unique, and I could see very few new unique articles in my future.  The problem was that I was simply writing about a fairly conventional, racing runner’s life.  The readers that I hoped to attract already knew what I had to say.  I had very little to write that was actually new to the world.  10 articles padded out with 100 others doesn’t make for compelling reading.  I decided to stop writing on runningmonkeys and focus on an area where I had a unique voice.

My second example is www.NoodlesandRice.com.  This is a blog that I took on because I wanted to share with the world what it is like to live with Japanese food.  I decided that the vast majority of Japanese food was being ignored by the world and that there would be real value in describing it, writing up recipes and making it more accessible to as many people as desired it.  Every week I write 6 short posts about Japanese food and I feel satisfied that I am able to share my unique perspective (An Australian House Dad living in Japan) with the world.

Finally my real passion is www.LifeGoalAction.com.  When I became disillusioned with writing about running, I decided that I should find out what I had to share with the world that would make a difference.  I decided that after years of defining and refining my life, I had learned some valuable lessons that were not widely available.  My lifestyle, situations, history and future gave me an uncommon perspective on how to achieve extraordinary things.  As I looked around, I saw some valuable things being written in the personal development sphere.  I found a market that was crowded with any number of different life philosophies and techniques.  I decided that what I had learnt would still be valuable if only I could break through the noise with my unique voice.  That is what is finally happening today.

Once you have found what you want to share with the world, then it is crucial  that you practice your presentation skills.  If you are writing, then this means master your use of words.  Polish up your grammar and your layout skills.  Grapple with vocabulary and practice economy.  Don’t wait until you arrive before you start to publish, but start progressing straight away. 

Then, when you have something to share and are polishing your writing skills, find yourself an audience.  Share what you know and share it well.  The simplest and most effective way that I know is to borrow someone Else’s audience.  This is my slant on guest blogging that I will write about another day.  Find an audience and speak to them.  Then you can communicate with the world.

If you’d like any help with identifying your expertise, putting it into writing or finding an audience then let me know.  I’d love to help if I can.  Otherwise please leave a comment below if you have found a way that helps you write for the world.

Thanks

Tom

Most of us live in highly advanced communities.  We live and die with technology, speed and precision that seems to distance us from the rest of our world’s plants and animals.  This is exacerbated by the fact that approximately half of us live in dense cities.  We are much more likely to exist without obvious relationships with  plants and animals because of the simple limits of space. 

Japanese life is somehow fundamentally different.  Of course this is a generalisation, but Japanese people seem to have retained a sense of connection with growing plants no matter how congested their living conditions.  Even the most crowded apartment blocks in polluted city streets will have balconies sprouting amazing greenery that is carefully nurtured by busy professionals or ancient grandparents alike.  Even on the main streets of Tokyo, people aren’t shy of setting up a little conglomeration of pots holding their favourite plants, on the sidewalk.   Where ever there is a space, someone will want to grow something.

Some people understand the value of growing things, others think it is just quaint.  What do you think?  If you are like the vast majority of Western society, you will probably assume that growing plants is something best left to the professionals.  However you just may be wrong.

This is where our concept of production versus consumption impacts reality.  The question I have to ask you is, are you connected with the production of the elements that sustain your life?

Connection, in a practical sense exists regardless of what we do.  We do breath the air, we do eat the food and we do feel the environmental effects of our natural world whether we like it or not.  What I am suggesting is that we take a more active roll in this connection.  All of us have the oportunity to enter into some degree of production to stop us from being passive consumers. 

Every plant grows somewhere.  Why not have one growing under your care?  A plant or a garden full of plants will give you a direct experience of the link between you and the rest of the living world.  Try it and you will see.  Take some soil and a seed.  Plant it in a pot to sit on your window sill and feed it.  Over time you will be able to watch something come to life.  One day after feeding it for a while, it may feed you something.  If not, that doesn’t matter.  You have still played a roll in the production cycle, and have moved from being a passive consumer to an active producer.  Make it your goal this coming year to eat at least one thing that you have grown. 

One nice side benefit from looking after plants is that gardening is a wonderful illustration of the growth of anything productive.  The parallels are limitted only by your imagination.  The first that springs to my mind is how only a few great ideas actually come to anything.  My small vegetable garden never grows everything that I plant in it.  It doesn’t get enough sun at some times of year for some plants.  I plant maybe 5 or 6 different vegetables in it, knowing full well that only 1 or 2 will really do anything spectacular.  This has become how I view my non-gardening ventures as well.  I now realise that no matter how good an idea is, it still might not take off, if the conditions are not right.  So I have come to accept a degree of non-success in my life.  I know that if I begin 6 things, on average 2 will work, 2 will work exceptionally well, and 2 will not even start to work.  This is my observation.  What is yours?

Growing something is one of the easiest things that you can do.  Growing something well can be significantly harder but nobody needs to be an expert.  All you need is a handful of soil in a tin can, a seed or a tiny plant, a scrap of sunlight and some water.  Then you can call yourself a gardener and you have crossed over from being a consumer towards being a producer. 

Are any of you gardeners already?  I’d love to hear a success story or two about production in your life.

Consumption was historically the term used for the disease we know as Tuberculosis.  It was called this because it was (and still is) a terrible disease that seems to consume people from within.  How ironic, that consumption as we know it today, does exactly the same thing. 

Today when we use the word consumption we are talking about purchasing, eating, listenning, watching and even experiencing things, passively.  This sort of consumption is best understood in opposition to production.  When you consume food you buy and eat.  When you produce food, you design, grow or cook.  When you consume music you listen or watch.  When you produce music you sing, play or compose.  Of course everyone has to consume food and most people want to consume music.  How is it, then, that this consumption can consume us?

Consumption, at its worst, is fueled by our inner desires, and our insecurities.  It is passed along by clever marketing and envy.   It is served up as an antidote to loneliness, aimlessness and plain old boredom.  The real problem with consumption is that the more we consume, the less it is clear who is consuming and who is being consumed.  The further we commit to a lifestyle that is based on consumption, the more our life is consumed by the mass of trinkets, snapshots and empty containers that we are left with.

A life of consumption effectively stops us from pursuing productivity.  Productivity is the act of producing something (physical objects, experiences, relationships, meaning etc.).  If we fill our lives with consumption then there is no time or energy for production.  Spending all night watching Youtube, means that you will have one less night to make your own video.  Feverishly following the latest fashions means that you will have no energy left to produce your own designs.

Production, not consumption, describes your identity.  Is it possible to be defined by what we consume.  I don’t think so.  I read an advertisement that said that my watch is supposed to communicate who I am.  I certainly hope that nobody will try and understand me by my watch.  It is an expensive and attractive watch, but it is sitting on my desk with a flat battery.  There is simply no way that I could possibly express very much about my identity by what I consume.  At best, our consumption gives off tiny clues about our priorities.  It is not what goes into us but what comes out of us that truly explains who we are.

Consumption is a necessary and wonderful thing, but it is also becoming a crippling and addictive drug for many.  Life offers so little when it is reduced to an endless stream of possessions bought and shown off, food eaten but barely tasted, and music owned as a display on your shelf, like trophies. 

Are you thinking about your own life when you read this?  Well you should be.  Excessive consumption involves all of us these days.  Even a habit as innocuous as consuming knowledge can be holding you back from a more meaningful and productive life.  But there is another way.

Why not try gradually replacing consumption with production. 

Right now, instead of continuing to search for new articles to read, why not write an article of your own.  I know I am shooting my own blog in the foot, but instead of continually consuming other people’s work, why not develop your own.  There is something that you can share with the world.  Work out what it is and write about it.  If you have nowhere to publish it, start a blog (there is a link down the bottom to a free blog set up.  If you don’t want a blog, write it up and send it to me.  I will be your audience if that is what it takes to get you producing.  Start it right now while the urge is still fresh.  Stop consuming and start producing.  Let this be the beginning.

There are endless oportunities for replacing consumption with production.  I am not advising anyone to take all of them on, just a few.  Of course we still have to consume to survive and have a fulfilling life.  I just think we should try to get back to a sense of production/consumption balance.

Here are a few types of production that are especially easy and accessible for most people:

1. Instead of being transported (consuming transport) why not produce transport by walking or cycling
2. Instead of buying a music CD, why not make one.  Or more simply instead of listenning to music, why not sing?
3. Instead of going out on a shopping expedition with friends, why not invite your friends in for a craft or writing or cooking night?
4. Instead of continually reading other people’s blogs, why not start your own?
5. Instead of reading my list of examples, why not make your own list

Production isn’t the answer to all of our problems but it will help us to enrich our lives and build our self esteem.  Every night we can go to sleep knowing that we have done something with our day instead of just being a spectator.

 This is just an introductory rant about consumption.  Stay tuned for some more practical articles about productive living over the next 2 weeks.

2 Quick links to get you started (not that you need to consume more links)

 Make magazine  is a great place to find inspiration for what you can produce with your hands and your brain.  Use it to start, not limit your creativity.

Blogger.com is a very easy and free way to get up and running with your very own blog.  Start a blog, write an article, press publish and give it to the world.

Produce your own comment:  What is the most prevalent form of consumption in your life and what can you do about it?

Contrarian investing is all about buying when others are selling and selling when the world is buying.  It is all about timing and swimming against the stream.  This can be a useful strategy for investors with courage, but I believe that it can also revolutionize other areas of your life.

Consider Contrarian Career development.  Most people guide their careers by looking at the demand in a particular industry today and seeing what is hot in the market.  If an area looks promising, they head  back to school or start working on their portfolio.  When they are prepared, they take their shiny new qualifications or CV and stand in the queue with a billion other people who looked at the same predictions that they did.  Their newly enhanced professional portfolio, has just landed them in the same place that everyone else is.  They have gone with the flow and now they are in a career log jam.

How much better would it be to look for signs of industries that people aren’t interested in.  Pick an industry (perhaps residential construction) that has just been through a boom.  Now the big players are laying off their executives because there is an oversupply.  Every one will tell you that construction is a bad industry to be in.  Your contrarian ears prick up.  If it takes you 5 years to be ready for a job like this, then start training today.  In five years time, the 7 year real estate cycle will be on the upswing and you will be first in line with a shiny new career.  While everyone else is heading one way, you head the other and you will have your pick of the best jobs.

Another example might be your morning commute.  On average, people live out of the city and work in it.  Every morning people stream into the hub and every evening they race out.  A contrarian thinker might choose to live in the center and work in the suburbs.  This could give you a faster and a more relaxed commute as well as a totally different neighbourhood and increased employment oportunities.

A third example would be consumption.  Simply being contrary in your timing and patterns of consumption can really work wonders for your lifestyle.  If everyone wants a booking for 7:00, then book your table for 5:00.  You will be guaranteed a vacancy as well as getting better service.  If the supermarket is busy after work, go before work.  If the world celebrates Valentines day on the 14th, get in early and take your partner out on the 13th.  (which is a lot better than the 15th if you want to make it look deliberate).  Contrarian consumption might mean buying before the trend or buying out of season.  It might mean consuming with uncommon decision criteria.  It might even mean simply reducing your consumption in a world that tends to increase it. 

My last (but by no means the last) example is in production.  Imagine you were a strawberry farmer.  If you plant, fertilize and harvest at the same time as everyone else then your market conditions are the same as everyone else’s.  You will effectively be a market price taker (you will take whatever price the market offers you).  If you manage to harvest at the opposite end of the year - if you are contrary to the crowd - you will have little competition and will become a market price maker ( you have the oportunity to set your prices higher than normal because yours are the only strawberries on the market). 

Contrarian living can be applied to any area of your life.  Sometimes it makes sense, others it does not.  A little thought and practice will help you to see when to take a contrary stance and when to go with the flow.   

Bucking the trend is useless if you do it for its own sake.  Bucking the trend to get a better experience, a better deal, a better lifestyle is a secret that not many people systematically put to work.  In fact this is the only reason that it works.  If everyone wanted a Contrarian Lifestyle, there would be no such thing.  So lets keep this a secret.

Can anyone give me an example from their lives of where a little contrary thinking and action can make a big difference?

Thanks

Tom

Location, location, location - Bargain hunters take note.  Foreclosure forces sale of perfect Fixer-upper.  Run down, but with plenty of potential.  In need of TLC.  Apply with in.  Price on Application

When you buy something like a house, you are faced with a mass of different choices.  You are forced to decide what is most important to you.  What are the essentials, what are the desirables and what are you trying to avoid?  This can be a handy way of evaluating your life.  It can really help you understand what is important to you and what you should change about your current situation.

Step 1 - Write an advertisement page.  Pretend you are going to put your life on the market.  You will be selling your relationships, work, lifestyle, possessions, experiences, physical self, psychological/emotion self, spiritual self and everything else that is part of your life.  If you like you can just make a list of points rather than spend the time writing convincing copy.  Make sure you include everything that is significant about your life.  This will end up being a sort of inventory of your life today.

Step 2 - Take out a highlighter.  Mark everything in your list that you would not want to be without, in one colour.  Mark everything that you’d be happy without in another colour.  Take some time over this and try to think about what is personally important to you, not anyone else.

Step 3 - Get out another colour and add to the list anything that is really important to you but is not there yet.  What is missing from your life as it is?  What people, experiences, satisfaction etc. is not there.

Step 4 - Hold the page as far away as you can from your face and let your eyes go out of focus.  Try to get a general impression of what colour shows up most on your page.  This will give you an idea, not only of how many of each different colour there are, but how much you wrote about each item.  If you are anything like me, you will write more quantity - be more specific - about things that are important.  What do the relative quantities of colour tell you about your life?

Step 5 - Put your page away for a day or two and come back and see if you agree with what you wrote.  If it still describes your life and the bits that are missing, then you have an extremely important document in your hand.

Now I am not advocating that you put your life up for sale, as I believe there has to be something illegal about that sort of thing.  Just imagining that you will put your life on the market will help you decide how you are going with crafting your ideal life.  No life is perfect, but how does yours compare with your ideal.  What are the big areas for life renovation?  What areas are you content with?  What areas are completely missing from your life today?  Now that you know the answer to these questions you are better prepared than most people, to be able to effectively pursue your ideal life.  So get to it. 

P.S. If anyone finds that they would like to sell their life after this analysis, I am in the market for a spare one.  I’d love to have another life to fill up with all of the things that I want to do but don’t have space for.  Just drop me a line.

Thanks

Tom

Pride comes before a fall.

This morning, not 200m from my front door, I crashed my road bike.  It was due to a mechanical failure that was entirely my fault.  There was no one else involved - just me, a t-intersection and the asphalt road.  That is, unless you count the school kids in the tennis court at the intersection who would have appreciated the unusual sight of a flying lycra clad Australian.

I have lost a little skin and my hip is kind of wonky, but the biggest injury was to my pride.  Imagine crashing on a flat road at slow speed, all by myself, because I didn’t fix my bike properly and imagine doing it in front of a receptive audience of school kids. 

There are a number of different ways to view my situation, and here are a few:

1. A pessimist would remember that cycling is dangerous and a person like me should not be taking risks like this.
2. A psychologist might tell me that my subconscious mind is sabotaging my attempts to reach a long term running goal tomorrow, so that I am not exposed to the potential for failure.
3. A Mechanic would tell me that I am better off leaving the maintenance of my bike (something that I love) to the professionals.
4. A Japanese person would just walk on by and try to not contribute to my shame.
5. An Australian person would probably mock me or kick me when I was down.
6. An optimist would be excited to survive another statistically probably accident.  He would love riding away from the scene without serious injury and would probably be taking careful note of how to minimize the chances of this happening again.

In reality I scrolled through bits of all of these responses, one after the other as I lay on the ground trying to catch my breath.  Pretty quickly, though, I rested on number 6 and that is where I stayed.  My habit is to view things optimistically, and within minutes of hitting the ground, I was already excited about how little my bike and my body were damaged.  I had diagnosed what caused the fall and how to avoid it.  I had gone over the situation in my mind in order to remember the details.  As I knew that within a half hour I would be riding through the hills with my team mates and all that would remain of the embarrassing moment would be some discomfort, a couple of lessons and a funny story to share with my friends.

My elbow will be healed within the week.  My hip, I hope will be back to normal in a day or two.  My self esteem is already repaired and all that is left is a memory.  This is the sort of accident that I like. 

Thanks

Tom

I was left in a kind of turmoil when I finished the novel.  I was glad to have read it and excited to have been transported back in time so effectively by such skillful writing.  On the other hand, it wrecked my day, leaving me in a sort of gloom and despair for the next couple of hours.  Fiction, as much as fact has the power to dramatically change my state of mind.  So does music, visual art, film, and all forms of performance.  Sometimes the change is positive and I am left energized and restored.  Other times, like today, I am left demotivated and in despair.

So I have a question that maybe you can help me with.  What part should these arts (fiction, music, film etc.) play in the life of someone who wants to squeeze the most out of their time?  Should we use the uplifting aspects to fire us up and avoid the terrible parts?  Should we steer clear of it all because the emotions that result aren’t “genuine” enough?  Or should we just experience the lot, because it is all part of a broader and deeper experience of life?

Experiences like these are too powerful to be treated lightly.  They go deeper than just entertainment and brush up next to life changing and revolutionary experiences.

What do you think?  What do you do?  What does it do for you? 

Thanks

Tom

Even though these people must have had a great time at school, I feel sorry for them now.  When school ended and they left for the real world, they would have got such a shock.  In the real world, nobody can excel at everything.  Nobody can win at everything.  Nobody performs all the time.

It is physically impossible for humans to do everything and do it well.  While the school system seems to imply that life is made up of only a few fixed activities, the real world is so much more complex than that.  We cannot go full tilt in every one of these areas and we are fools to try.  The only smart and sane way to live is to deliberately choose where and when we will excel.

This becomes a very hard decision.  How do you decide when to perform?  How do you decide what is important enough?  The only way that I know how to make that decision is to think about the effects of performing well and consider if they are worth the cost.  Every performance comes at a direct cost and also an oportunity cost.  Is this worth it?  Sometimes it is more valuable to settle for an average performance, as the cost will usually be much less and the benefits can still be enough.

Average performance in areas that aren’t important enough for us to strive for a top performance can actually be good for us.  An average performance can help us develop our humility.  We can begin to see that our lives are more than just succeeding at everything.  Our humility shows us that we are mortal, fallible and limited humans just like every one else. 

An average performance can help us recover.  If we push too hard at too many things we will eventually burn out.  Cruising to an average performance at work or play, will give our body, mind and spirit time to catch up.  High performance wears you down, deliberately choosing average performance sometimes, can rebuild you.

An average performance gives you the time and space to watch.  Proceeding at less than 100% gives you the chance to watch the world at work.  When you are flying at 100%, everything seems a blur, but if you are travelling at a more relaxed pace you have time to work on your skills, technique and competence.

Finally, an average performance lets you focus on achieving spectacular results in other areas.  Exceptional performances take a lot of time, energy, enthusiasm, and commitment.  Freeing up these resources by settling for some average performances along the way will help you reach your highest goals more effectively. 

The alternative is getting carried away with our pride and ego.  When this happens we see every situation, every encounter as a test of our abilities.  This very quickly becomes a frustrating and circular world where we seek to support our concept of ourselves by trying to prove our worth every time.  Pointless and impossible.

This idea tells us that sometimes we have to relax our expectations and how much we put into some activities.  It also warns us that some things, though impressive, are simply not worth what they cost.  Deciding which things to cruise and even which to back out of, is a very personal matter.  What is an easy decision for me might be a difficult decision for you.  This is simply because the cost and the value of anything are different for each of us.  This is one of the primary drivers of diversity in humans.  We are defined, in part, by our priorities and how they are expressed in our actions.  It is up to us to closely inspect our priorities so that we can honestly say that we are performing in areas that are important to us.

What do you put to much into, when you consider the cost and its value to you?  Where are you over-performing at the expense of what is really important to you?  

Thanks

Tom

The story works like this:

1. You receive some bad news, and file it in your memory
2. Shortly afterwards, you receive another piece of bad news and file this in your memory. 
3. All of the sudden alarm bells ring in your head as you realise that you may well be 2 thirds of the way through the fabled 3 pieces of bad news.  Your mind becomes tuned in to look for this “inevitable” third piece and before too long, you find it.
4. Your belief in the old saying is supported by your experience and pretty soon that is how you see the world.
5. The next  time you receive even 1 piece of bad news you instinctively start to look for the other 2
6. You will find another 2, to complete your set because bad news is always close to the person who looks for it.

This sort of logic is a very negative and destructive way of seeing the world, but there is an equally powerful, but positive way that counteracts it.  What if we rock the saying a bit and bend it to our purposes.

Good News Always Comes in three’s

Now each time we receive some good news, we condition ourselves to look for the other 2 pieces of the set.  Good news is always close to those who seek it.  There is always something good, happening near us, or to us, or because of us.  All it takes is for us to be on the lookout for it and we will see it staring us in the face.  How much more productive will our lives become if we are expecting (and therefore looking for) good news rather than bad.  Imagine a day that is marked by 3 good pieces of news and consider how your mood, your motivation and your enjoyment would benefit.

Now of course, this is just a mind trick.  We are all rational people and we understand that there is no such cosmic rule that makes good or bad news come in threes.  However, we must also admit that there is a lot more good news out there than we realise, a lot more oportunities than we take and a lot more celebrating than most of us enjoy.

Try this, this week.  Instead of looking for bad news, make a conscious effort to search for good news.  You needn’t be a head in the clouds dreamer, just a positive, optimistic realist.  If you look for good news, I am sure that you will find a lot more than you expect.  Let me know how you go.

Thanks

Tom

A Useless Passion is something that will never pay off in a conventional sense.  It is something that you love and look forward to.  It is not an obsession that wears you out but a pleasure that refreshes you.  A useless passion is more of a sensory, emotive sort of pleasure - its power comes from within you.  A useless Passion is like a neck tie - it has no purpose but it makes all of the difference.   

My favourite Useless Passion is jewellery making.  I have little need for jewellery.  I make no money from my creations.  I never enter my work in competitions or take commissions from others.  And I never, never, never work productively.  For me, cutting, soldering, shaping and crafting jewellery is simple and absorbing.  When I sit down to my tools I am 100% in control of my time.  I am not working to please anyone but myself and my level of satisfaction depends entirely on my progressive mastery of my craft.  As a passionate jeweler I am not an expert and I hope never to become one.  I am a student and a researcher of silver-smithing.  I take personal (private) pride in the surfaces and textures that I laboriously bring out in the metals that I work, and I express my craft in design that I find exciting and yet soothing.  On a good day, my jewellery is a satisfying and restorative passion.  On a bad day it is still good for me.

Why is a Useless Passion so important?  I firmly believe that too much work and not enough play make Tom a very tired, sick, stressed and unproductive boy.  I need recreation and I need the right sort of recreation.  My Useless Passions are perfect because they include the right proportion of satisfying elements with precisely no external pressure to perform.  While I am in my “Jewellers mode” the only pressure that I feel is my desire to find the perfect surface or invisible joint.  These desires are fed by honest and careful practice and there is no deadline.  I may never achieve the perfect joint, but that doesn’t matter in the least.  The whole restorative process lies in my journey.

Useless Passions are often journeys that you can pursue over many years or a lifetime.  For some people it could be music appreciation or music creation.  Others might study insects or practice their breath-hold diving.  Your passions could be private or public, but they should never be dependent on others and they should never, ever, feel like work.  What ever your passion it should be something that ignites your senses and makes you long for the next oportunity to do it.  When everything else seems to fall apart, your Useless Passion should still be there, offering to calm your mind and steady your composure.  Your Useless Passions should feel a little like selfish indulgence.  Blocking out an hour to pursue your passion should feel mildly irresponsible as if you were pampering yourself.  This is part of the reason why a Useless Passion is so powerful.  Even in a life that is crammed with efficiency and forward motion, you have found a shelter from the pace and a way to balance your mind.

Do you have any Useless Passions?  Things that you do purely for yourself.  That take time and focus and are part of a long term journey.  Please make a point today of writing a brief comment bellow telling us all a little about your Useless Passion.

Thanks

Tom