New stuff coming soon…

/in , ,

It’s been a while since I posted on this blog, and that’s mainly because I’ve had my head down working on a load of different projects, as well as in running my agency ChangeStar.

The good news is that these projects – including a video on ‘The problem with consumerism’, a new Life Squared guide on ‘How to eat and exercise well’ and the first in a series of exciting new publications for Humanists UK – will be seeing the light of day very soon!  I’ll post some more here when each one is launched.

For now though, here is a nice little feature Ethical Consumer Magazine has published this month about the ‘Problem with consumerism’ guide I wrote for Life Squared.

The commodification of wisdom

/in , ,

I like what the School of Life is trying to do – bringing philosophy, wisdom and broader thought into our daily lives.  Indeed, Life Squared shares a similar aim in much of its work.

Where we differ (apart from size, finances etc!) is that Life Squared is a not-for-profit organisation that aims to offer its ideas and output to anyone who needs it, regardless of their ability to pay – whereas the School of Life is a business, offering its wisdom only to those who can afford it.  This is not a criticism in itself – it’s a business with a positive social outcome.

But I worry that the finance-generating side of the business could be diluting the credibility of their content.

It was seeing some of their new products in a local shop that made me feel sufficiently queasy to write a post on it.  These products include 6 pencils, each embossed with a ‘key word’ (such as ‘tragedy’) from psychoanalysis, literature and visual art – all for the sum of £12.  Or a set of 3 essentially blank note books for £15.

Not only does this seem like a lot to pay for very little, but surely it also contradicts some of the wisdom and ideas that they are trying to spread to people?  And also by commodifying these ideas in a rather throw-away manner like this it feels like the SOL leaves itself open to accusations of being inauthentic, which may reduce its credibility as a source of wisdom and stimulating, challenging ideas.  Just a thought.

Consuming experiences, not stuff, is still consumerism

/in , ,

I went to an interesting talk at the RSA today by James Wallman who has just published a book called ‘Stuffocation’. His basic argument was that in the society of scarcity of around a generation ago, what mattered in life was having more stuff – i.e. in a society of scarcity, materialism is not a dirty word.

But as we have moved into a society of plenty, materialism and ‘more stuff’ are no longer the answer to the question of ‘What will make us happy?’. So far, so good.

He goes on to suggest that, in our society of plenty, what we do is now more important than what we havein terms of its contribution to our happiness. He therefore advocates the idea of ‘experientialism’ – of seeking experiences rather than new stuff.

He made some interesting arguments but the trouble is he didn’t go far enough. He was careful to state that he didn’t want his ideas to be seen as anti-consumerist – but why not? The only way they would have any real value is if they wereanti-consumerist. Otherwise, he is simply shifting the problem of consumption from stuff to experiences. We’ll be on a treadmill seeking the next new experience and trying to find the money and lifestyles to enable these experiences to happen, and rather than enjoying our experiences our lives will become a list of experiences to try and tick off. It’ll be no different to our attitudes towards stuff today. And in fact we already have this attitude towards experiences! See the forthcoming Life Squared booklet ‘How to achieve less’ – out at the end of the year – for more details on this issue.

The problem we have in the modern world is about much more than having too much stuff and the fact that this doesn’t make us happy. The broader problem is the fact that our lives are focussed on acquiring this stuff and of chasing a particular vision of ‘the good life’ that seeks us to acquire more. The point is that we’re making too many sacrifices in terms of our personal identities, autonomy, stress levels and fulfilment in order to chase this pointless acquisition.

We live in a bubble in the modern world. We need to help people burst this bubble and live truly autonomous lives. That is the only way we’ll lead the fulfilled lives we really want – and sadly just changing our consumption from stuff to experiences won’t do this.

Life versus adverts

/in , ,

I had a much-needed day off recently and decided to visit a few places in London – like the London Library (wonderful) and Westminster Abbey (claustrophobic in its conservativism).

I ended up at the Westfield shopping centre at Shepherd’s Bush to meet a friend for dinner before going to a gig, and I had to write a blog entry for it because I’ve never seen anything like it.  It’s a cathederal to consumerism – a building on such a massive scale that it seems to go on forvever.

All the shops and ads surrounding them are of course glossy, but the place (like most shopping centres) feels fake; a place that sucks meaning out of one’s life rather than adds it.

All of the pictures in the shops and adverts are of people doing real things – from walking in the country to laughing with friends – yet almost none of the products they are advertising are actually essential for undertaking these activities.  It is as if the retailers know very well that buying their wares won’t make anyone happy, so they have to sell them by associating them with the simple, authentic activities that actually do give us fulfilment – like walking in nature or having fun with friends – in order to sell them to you.  Yet their wares won’t contribute at all to your enjoyment of these activities – so in the end they are simply void, vacuous, worthless.  It’s worth remembering this when you’re feeling yourself being sucked in by an advert!

Overall, the experience leaves one with a sense of emptiness and a desire to get back to the real things in life that actually do matter!

Time management – some caveats

/in

I’m now a couple of weeks into my new time management regime (as are one or two others who are trying it out) and I’m quite pleased with how it’s going!  A few caveats have occurred to me over the last few days on the advice in the previous post though:

  • It’s all about discipline – you could read a million ‘how to manage your time’ blogs but you’ll never  do any of them properly unless you exercise discipline over your time (like stopping yourself browsing the web when you need to focus on a task) – as that’s what they all involve;
  • The effects of implementing this time management plan may not come as a sudden, obvious ‘wow – everything works!’ but as a longer term sense of calm and satisfaction that you’re getting a bit more done
  • Some of the advice may seem counterintuitive, time-wasting and boring when you’re doing it – like spending 10 mins sorting out your priorities and to-do list at the start of each week/day but the time it saves over the course of the day could be huge!

Time management

/in

One of the most challenging things to deal with in my work life is the number of things there are to do – from the mundane but important stuff to the meaty, interesting and fulfilling stuff. It can be a real challenge to make sure that I’m getting to do a bit of the interesting stuff regularly, and to not get swallowed up by the endless mundane but important stuff.

So, I’ve made myself a plan of how to manage my time each day and I thought I’d share it in case it’s useful, as I know loads of people have similar time management issues!

Here are the principles I’ve set out for how to manage my time in the new year:

1. Each year/month/week/day – stand back for a bit at the start/end of previous one and set out a few big things I want to achieve in each – and amid all the detailed cack do them.
2. Note these in diary. Note detailed action points as they come up on another piece of paper.
3. Allocate good chunks of time each day to do priority tasks – and focus on them properly (get immersed) when you do them. Enjoy and focus on this meaty stuff whilst acknowledging you have to do the other stuff.
4. Only 3 email review sessions a day (and tell others I’m doing this – if they need a quick reply, call me)
5. Only 3 web browses a day (really important) – and only in spare time.
6. Be disciplined (inc say no, don’t do things immediately to please people or because they’re easy – do them when they fit for you) and don’t get distracted. Then your priorities will be clearer, work will be more enjoyable and you’ll get more of the important stuff done. If a call comes in during your ‘priority’ time, answer it if you need to, but add more priority time at the end of the session to make it up. And allocate any action points to after your priority session if you can – only rarely will things be so urgent that they can’t wait.
7. Above all – stay calm and remember you’re in control of all of this – it doesn’t have to control you.

Two days into the year and this arrangement seems to be working – we’ll see how it’s going in another month’s time! Let me know how you get on with it if you try it!

The religion-shaped hole

/in ,

I’ve just been to see AC Grayling talk about Humanism at the Lewes Speakers Festival. It’s reminded me of a point I’ve been thinking about for a while. As religion becomes less of a central force in people’s lives (in the UK at least) there is, for many people, a ‘religion-shaped hole’ in their lives. Not that they miss religion, but that, for many people there are very few other places in modern society where they can get opportunities to think about the meaning of their lives, their values or have the chance to reflect generally. As the founder of Life Squared I naturally think these things are very important, but so far nothing (apart from consumer capitalism) has really come in to fill this religion-shaped hole for most people, and I think the movement best suited to filling it it humanism. It is not yet however in a position where it can assume this position, as it is still on the defensive – seeking to argue against religion and protect the secular state from religious excess. It needs to move into a position where it is also taking a more constructive role – helping people to think about these bigger questions and supporting them in this journey – as there is a great need for this role now, and it would be of benefit to millions of people.

The value of reflection

/in ,


Good to see this interesting post by Matthew Taylor, Director of the RSA, outlining the value of reflection in our rational decision making processes. One paragraph in particular caught my eye:

Instead of ‘nudging’, which seeks to change choice architecture (for example, putting healthier food more easily in reach than unhealthy in canteens), the RSA’s ‘steer’ approach aims to give people the understanding and tools they need to change their own behaviour.

This is exactly the approach we are pioneering in a range of areas of people’s lives at Life Squared – from our consumption of resources to the way we approach our lives in the first place. We’ll soon be applying these principles to another important topic, which I can’t announce yet, but hopefully can in a couple of weeks!

For now though, check out Matthew’s post as well as Jonathan Haidt’s book he refers to, as his previous book ‘The happiness hypothesis‘ was very good.

The wonders of the universe

/in ,

Everyone seems to love the latest BBC popular science programme ‘The Wonders of the Universe‘ and it’s no surprise – apart from having everyone’s favourite former-pop-star-prof as a presenter, it provides an awe-inspiring view of the universe that we live in.

I think having a regular dose of this sort of perspective is important in our lives. It helps us to retain a sense of balance and context for our lives, and to appreciate both our relative insigificance in the great scheme of things and the remarkable fact that we are alive in the first place. See this link for an article on the value of perspective.

At Life Squared, we’re currently redeveloping our website, and one of the new features the new site will carry is an interactive tool to help people see various aspects of their lives in a broader context. Apart from simply being very interesting, it may well encourage users to think about their lives and how they live them. Keep checking the site in late April/May to find out more…