I had this thought in Melbourne. I think from visiting the marvellous State Library of Victoria and the National Gallery of Victoria. Melbourne is regularly voted one of the most liveable cities in the world, and I thought what if we could take the elements that make Melbourne (and other great cities) and apply that at the micro-level, the individual level. So here’s a stab at what makes a great city: A great city has: Superb art galleries Excellent libraries Magnificent parks Great architecture Good schools and great universities Bustling markets full of great produce Strong sense of culture and identity Food that you would travel for Wonderful music performances Quiet spaces Proximity to water World class sports teams What about what makes a great country? There’s going to be a lot of overlap from the list above. But here’s some other factors I can think of: Strong defence capability …[Read More]
I learned to swim at 39 years old. Here’s how I did it
I’ve always been a terrible swimmer. I never learned as a kid. And the times that I’ve swum, I’ve more thrashed about than technically swum. I remember two times where I’ve swum in the sea and both times felt like I was in serious trouble. I thought that I might well have died. In fact, without help around me, I could well have died. (I’d never thought about that until writing this just now. Oops.) The first was in 2009 in the Great Barrier Reef off Queensland, Australia. Me and my mate Grant were backpacking and decided to do a boat trip. We did some snorkeling which was okay. But then we had the chance to do some scuba-diving. With some rudimentary instructions on signalling and breathing, we were off. I didn’t feel nervous because I felt that with flippers, I’d be able to swim easily. At least, it looks easy in …[Read More]
Invest in yourself and compound the investment!
Warren Buffett said that the best investment you can make is not in the markets, but instead, in yourself. That’s pretty deep and until today I had no idea what he meant. Yes, you could learn a new skill like data analysis and translate that into more money at work or something, but I think Buffett meant something slightly different. He’s big into the power of compounding. Remember Einstein said that compounding is the eighth wonder of the world. To get the full power of compounding, you have to start something (like investing) early, and do it for a long time, so that you start making money on the money you make. Imagine that you learned a new skill like touch typing early in life. Think on just one variable, time-saving, just how much that would have saved you. Imagine that I had done this at 19, and not at …[Read More]
What’s really holding you back? Truly?
If we start from the position that we all have potential, then why is there a gap between where your potential self is and where you are at the moment? How big is that gap? What is your true potential? It might be that your true potential is way more than you think it is. In which case, the gap is even bigger than you know. Step one is where you are now. Step two is looking at where you think your potential is. So this might be being a writer or being an artist. Step three is discovering where your true potential might be (and you would need help from outside to discover this). This might be being a rocket scientist, climbing the world’s highest and most difficult mountains. Step four is addressing how to bridge that gap and narrow it as much as possible. Do you think that …[Read More]
Slow the fuck down. How taking your time a bit more will help you enjoy your day.
I’m generally rushing and multitasking most of the time. I want to squeeze in a podcast in the shower, watch self-improvement videos on YouTube, read business books on the bus to work. I cook quickly, wolf it down and wash up like a dervish. Two things I’ve read recently have made me question this mode of doing stuff. Firstly, I read a great article on Medium by Aytekin Tank (which I haven’t fully digested yet). It’s called: Why reading 100 books a year won’t make you successful. In it he says reading as many books as possible in the shortest amount of time won’t make you successful, and that actually it harms the very reasons why we should read in the first place: (1) it destroys reading for pleasure. The best books I’ve ever read are probably the classics such as War and Peace, The Odyssey, and The Iliad. There’s no way I read these …[Read More]