The secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine

"The secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine" 

Like most good quotes you hear them and realise they are so obvious you kick yourself for not thinking of them first. Despite my lifelong fear of the word routine this was no different. Up until hearing this quote I have always thought of routine as a thing people who wore suits to work did and something I would try to avoid in my life at all costs. However when you actually think about it maybe a routine isn't so bad.  Obviously if I have a daily routine whereby I wake up whenever I want, sit on the sofa all day and eat ice cream the future is probably not quite going to pan out how I envisage it. However if my routine was to wake up on my own piece of land, go for a surf with friends, tend to my animals, harvest some fresh fruit and veg before having a nice organic, homegrown brunch with the family I think I would be pretty content. So maybe there's something to this routine business after all.

With that in mind I'm going to start changing my daily routine to see if I can make progress towards being the change I want to see. I'm going to challenge myself to take on a new routine every month that will push me in the right direction. Why a month?  I can't exactly set it at a random number of days! I'm a sucker for a neat bundle of time. So it's either a week, a month or a year.  A week seems a bit too easy and a year seems a bit extreme to get me started. I figure a month will give me enough time to get through the honeymoon faze, into the stage where I wish I hadn't decided to do it and then hopefully at the end will either leave me with a new routine or at the very least with a new lesson learnt.

I was thinking for a while what my first challenge would be, I wanted it to be something that would be a big step towards where I want to go. I have decided to try to watch the sunrise every morning for the month of July.

There were quite a few reasons for choosing this but the main ones are:

1. Waking and working by the sun is what the majority of the world does. In modern society, especially in cities we have become so used to relying on unnatural light to get by, we go to bed at the same time throughout the year regardless of what the sun is doing. For me this has always seemed strange and is a perfect example of our disconnection from nature. This challenge will be a good reminder and way to spend a little time each day observing mother nature doing her thing. It will hopefully also reduce my electricity usage too as I won't need lights for as many hours during the day.
2. I have always wanted to get up and do more in the mornings, I'm way more productive in the morning than at the end of the day. I am interested in establishing a morning routine of work, exercise and meditation so this will give me lots more time to do this.
3. Sunrise is a beautiful time of the day. It seems a shame to miss it for so much of the year.

I'll post a blog at the end of the month to let you know how it goes.

Reduce your working hours to follow your dreams

I have never been overly motivated by money. It's not that I don't use it and value it, its that I have always valued my time far more. However up until recently that hasn't stopped me mostly working 5 days a week for the last few years. I never really questioned it. It's what we are supposed to do. We work 35-40 hours a week (lots more for some) because that is what society says we should do. When did that get decided? And why 5 days a week, why not 4 or 6? Even though our wage usually increases over time or as we move from job to job most of us keep the hours the same. Why do we do this? We survived on our wage when it was x amount a year ago and now that we have potentially been given a pay rise or got a new job why not reduce our working hours instead of take the monetary incentive?  We often complain that we are too busy to follow our dreams/get fitter/spend more time with the family but in reality the solution is right in front of us if we just dared to take it. It doesn't have to be a drastic change, why not reduce our week just by a half or full day to give us time to pursue what really matters to us? When we look back at our lives what will be most important the fact that we made more money so we could afford an extra extension on a house that is already too big or that we achieved our wildest dreams?

Here are some answers to the excuses you are probably already thinking of:

• My boss will say no - Have you even asked?

• It will  make me look bad and will prevent me from getting promoted in the future - Possibly, but what is more important achieving your dreams, YOUR ACTUAL DREAMS!!!! or getting promoted so you can make more money and be even busier doing a job you don't care about? Besides most people will admire that you aren't afraid to do something different to what is expected and you will learn a lot of extra skills that can be used in your current job.

• I can't afford it - Take a look at how you spent your money over the last month. Apart from food and rent for you and your family what else is essential? Where can you make savings? If you are still unsure why not put aside the money you would lose reducing your hours for a couple of months and see how you get on. 

• I enjoy my work and don't want to reduce my hours - Would you still do it if you won the lottery? If you can hand on heart say you would then I am truly pleased for you. Make sure you take the time to appreciate the position you are in because I believe very few people can honestly say their circumstances wouldn't change. Why settle for anything less than your dreams?

• What about my pension and making enough money so I can retire - Nothing is permanent. Why not try it for 6 months or a year and if it doesn't work out go back to 5 days a week. You may put off your retirement by a few months at worst but the way things are going we will all be working until we're 100 anyway. What sounds better to you; do work you love and don't actually want to retire from or count down the days until you can retire and then do something you love? 

The reason I know the answers to these excuses is because I have been using them for the last few years. I have always done work I have enjoyed and so I used the excuse that because I was doing work that was helping people or raising money for charity that it was enough, I was doing my bit to make the world a better place. But if I'm honest with myself it wasn't enough. It wasn't my true passion and I was't doing enough to be the change I want to see in the world.  I no longer use those excuses. I recently took the opportunity to brake free from what society expected of me. I have dropped my hours at my current work to 4 days a week so that I can spend time volunteering at Farmers on 57th an organic urban farm in Vancouver. Every week I get my hands dirty learning about the organic food industry, grow food for the local community via a CSA program and spend time outside with nature. It's not a big change but it's a step in the right direction. Perhaps because I have made that change this time next year I will have reduced the hours further or even all together, perhaps not. I won't know until I try it.

I realise there are some people who genuinely could not afford to reduce their hours as they are still chasing security and fighting to afford to put food on the table. That is not right. If more of us weren't still chasing money long after we reached that level of security there might be more hours and money to share with those in need too.

The benefits of getting a new perspective

In August it will have been 2 years since I left the UK to move to Vancouver. I know it's a cliche but it is crazy how time flies by. In some ways it feels only last week in terms of time away but it feels a life time in terms of how much I have changed as a person since arriving. It's a funny thing when you look back at who you were a year or two ago. The change is drastic. I didn't notice the change happening although it clearly happened. If I look at myself yesterday I feel confident I am the exact same person, but perhaps not. On some microscopic level perhaps I am a new version of myself with slightly altered views to the person who went to sleep. Over time those small steps lead to a bigger chasm of change.

I also can't put my finger on what caused the change. When I left the UK the direction I thought I wanted to take my life was very different to what it is now. Now while I wasn't completely ignorant to healthy eating, environmental and ethical issues I was a fairly stereo typical English male. If there wasn't meat on my plate it wasn't a proper meal, I thought organic was a good way to waste money, I didn't put much thought into how things were packaged, and yoga and meditation were for people who hadn't discovered running. Now however, I eat meat maybe once a week at most, I try to only eat organic, I have fits of rage when I see food in unnecessary packaging and it can be the highlight of my day when someone says "time for Savasana". What happened?

Taking myself out of the bubble of the UK has led me to be able to hear alternative views on how to live your life. I liken it to when I went to University. Up until then I had spent all my time with my school friends being influenced by each others interests and hobbies. We had all had fairly similar upbringings and so inevitably we were all quite similar people. We weren't exposed to as many alternative ways of doing things. Then I went to Uni and my mind was opened, I mixed with people I hadn't before then, they come from different parts of the country, had different opportunities and therefore offered new ideas. I was able to pick what truly resonated with me from a bigger pool of ideas and beliefs and so changed as a person more inline with who I truly was. Moving to another country has been the same only this time the pool of ideas is bigger and I am able to discover my true self much clearer.

The thing is I don't really know where this change is headed. Have I peaked? Am I changed already?  I feel there's more to come if I open my mind to it. I don't know what that looks like or where it will lead me but I feel I have to explore it. It's an exciting thought to think that in two years time you could look back at yourself now and think how inexperienced and naive you once were.

I look forward to finding out.

Changing my ways to be the change I want to see

So turns out if I change nothing, nothing changes. Now I know that sounds an obvious statement. But this is pretty much the epiphany which has led me to start this blog. It is so stupidly evident that not only do I feel a bit silly saying it out loud it is almost worth not mentioning as surely you are all a lot smarter than me and realised this ages ago. However, I am sharing it as for me it's an important part of this journey. If I change nothing, nothing changes. For quite sometime I have felt an almost daily annoyance with some form of modern society. Everyone has the things that get under their skin and pisses them off. Yours might be middle lane drivers mine just happens to be a long list of things that are mostly unsustainable, unethical or unhealthy. When something ticks all the boxes, such as a non organic, pre-peeled, banana wrapped in plastic, I lose my shit.

Now the realisation I had is that while having a mini tantrum in a supermarket because I've just seen the latest ridiculous idea for packaging can be fun it unfortunately achieves very little. If I want to see this change, I have to change my ways. Sure, I've made some sacrifices and have been inconveniently peeling my own bananas for a while now, but I do still buy food that is part of that system I so detest. As much as I complain about that system, I support it with my hard earned money. I may buy mostly organic, local and seasonal (in that order of priority at the minute) but until recently I have been buying my food from the same supermarkets that sell stuff I disagree with and whose organic produce still mostly comes in plastic anyway. In all fairness to the supermarket if people keep buying the food wrapped in plastic and only having moderately quiet rants about it in the aisle then why would they change their ways? As far as they are concerned I gave them cash so I must support and need what they are offering. What mug would give money to something he disagreed with?

If I want to see change, I must change my ways. If I don't support and like how supermarkets package their food, pressurise farmers to lower their costs, stock unseasonal food, waste food, etc, etc. then I need to change my routine and habits so that I am not supporting them with my money. If I need to buy food I will buy as much as possible at a local, organic, independent store rather than the more convenient and closer supermarket. It might not stock as much stuff and it might be further away from my house but it will be inline with my views and whats more important convenience or conservation?

This "beef" isn't just for my local, unsuspecting supermarket, it needs to be for everything I spend my money on. It isn't going to be an easy process but it still needs to happen. I am now reassessing every aspect of my life to see where else I have been bending over and supporting things I disagree with. It's quite a lengthy ordeal so if someone can make an app for it I'd be very grateful.

And to the naysayers who say "Whats the point? What difference will one person make?" I'm not looking to change the whole world, just my world. If I change nothing, nothing changes.

Convenience v Conservation

"Would you like a water?" a friend offered. I was really thirsty, I'd been working outside all day and had forgotten to bring water. The thirst could so easily be quenched with a bottle of water...seems a pretty obvious solution. However the bottle I was offered was made of plastic. Before this journey to be the change I want to see began I wouldn't have thought twice about simply connecting the dots, I'm thirsty, here is some water, problem solved. But now I seem to have acquired an environmentally conscious little voice in my head "for someone who is trying to reduce your plastic consumption you're not very good at it". I am facing more and more decisions like this since starting down this path of trying to be more sustainable. I could easily drink the water, ignore the voice, and choose convenience over conservation, or I could make a minuscule step in the right direction towards the change I want to see.

The problem is it's not just water bottles that creates this internal debate, it is with everything. We as a society seem to have started a war, convenience v conservation, and convenience is winning. We are presented with so many choices as a consumer and each time we have an option, choose the convenient option or sacrifice that for the sustainable option. Buy a takeaway coffee, forget your reusable bag at the store, whatever it is very rarely it seems is the convenient choice the most sustainable.

The convenience option is to take the water bottle which creates waste from the single use plastic . The conservation option is to go thirsty, I'm sure I'll survive, after all, it was my fault I didn't bring a refillable bottle. I realise this might seem a silly debate to have and am well aware that drinking water is important. However I can't help but feel a bit arrogant in deciding that my need for water that day far outweighs the damage of leaving that piece of plastic around for future generations.

"No thanks" I replied.

I went to a nearby washroom and drank the warm water from the tap, it tasted horrible, but I looked in the mirror and grinned.