The 1% Solution

Image from domainehome.com.  Oh to have this office!

I came across an online newspaper article recently explaining something called The 1% Solution.  It piqued my interest and had some great information in it.  Unfortunately I cannot find the article again to reference but I’m pretty sure it’s tied up with a book of the same name by Tom Connellan (which I haven’t read yet but plan to).

I’ve used the 1% Solution with success at work so far.  The basic premise as I understand it is that so often we either do all, or if we can’t do all, we do nothing.  There is no in-between.  The 1% Solution proposes that it’s actually more beneficial to make tiny changes. 

If you’ve been staying up until midnight every night, rather than make a grand statement that you are going to be in bed by 10pm every night, just aim for half an hour earlier – 11.30pm.  Or instead of saying you’re going to get up at 6am every morning rather than your usual 7.30am, set the alarm clock for 7.15am instead.  It’s more do-able and you’re more likely to do it.

At work I feel constantly behind.  I know I don’t help myself sometimes by dithering around or looking up non-work-related things on the internet which little by little chop into your work time.  But I often think, ‘I haven’t got time to complete that entire job today, I’ll start it another day’.  Well you know that day never comes, as the only day you have is today.

The 1% Solution also helps me with my ever-increasing filing.  I pay all the bills, so my in-tray is constantly receiving invoices and statements.  My goal is to have them hole-punched and put in the right folder every day so the in-tray is clear, but that doesn’t seem to happen. 

But even if I don’t have them time to do them all, I can do some.  It’s a far better idea than my previous method of operation which involved putting it off until the 20th rolls around when I have to pay our suppliers.  It’s a big squeeze once a month which is rather stressful.  Plus if there are queries on anything I have to sort that on the day too.

At home the 1% Solution can be used with housework.  Rather than save it all up for a once a week gut-buster (sorry, horrible word!), why not do a little bit each day.  I want to clean the windows in our living area but then I think to myself, the entire house needs its windows done.  Is that a helpful thought?  Non.  I will do the living room windows and that will be a start.

When it comes to any self-improvement project you’d like to do, aim for small changes.  They will be easier to motivate yourself to do, you’re more likely to stick to them, and over time the small changes add up to bigger changes.  Our life is made up of small moments, small changes and small habits which all add up.

We are setting ourselves up to fail (or never even start) if we wait for that perfect time when we are geared up to make that giant change.

The reviews on Amazon for Tom Connellan’s book are great and contain some really useful tips from the book.  Here are a few quotes on one of the reviews.

'1. The difference between exceptional and EXCEPTIONALLY exceptional = 1 percent.

2. You can't be 100 percent better than everyone else, but you can be 1 percent better at hundreds of things.

3. You may not win all the time, but you can have a winner's heart if you do something better today than you did it yesterday.

4. Not everyone can be great, but everyone can be better than they are right now.

5. Aim to be swifter, higher, stronger - not swiftest, highest, strongest.'

I admit I am a person with all-or-nothing and perfectionist tendencies, that if I can’t do something perfectly and all at once I abandon the idea altogether.  This does nothing for the stress levels in my life.  So The 1% Solution is good for me to remember.  Just do 1%.  So simple!

Update 9 May 2015:  Incredibly enough, it seems that two men named Tom have written a book about the 1% idea.  I have just borrowed a book from our library called The 1% Principle by Tom O'Neil and it sounds much more like the article I initially read.   I borrowed the Tom Connellan one when I first wrote this post and... it was really dry and wordy.  But if dry and wordy is your thing, go read it.  For the rest of us with short attention spans and who are looking for quick and fun ways to implement the 1% idea, see if you can find Tom O'Neil's book.

Book Review: Blessed Are The Dead

Pictured is the second book in Kristi's series.  I've already given the first book to my mum to read!

I am so excited and happy for my dear blog friend Kristi Belcamino.  Kristi used to write a fabulous lifestyle blog called La Bella Figura and I adored her Italian-American take on living a minimalist and beautiful life on a budget.

Kristi published a book by the same name based on her blog which I have and love too.  When she finished up with her blog a couple of years ago it was to move onto her lifelong dream of publishing a novel.  After hearing it was a crime novel I admit I was a little disappointed as this was totally not the type of reading material I usually went for.

I shy away from crime tv programmes as they’re too gory for me and for the same reason I had never tried mystery/crime/thriller/suspense novels.

Well, between then and now, something happened.  I don’t know why, but I started reading mystery and crime novels and really enjoyed them.  Can I say page turner anyone?  Among my usual diet of chick lit, chic lit and contemporary fiction, I’ve read and enjoyed Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, both Robert Galbraith’s (JK Rowling’s) novels The Cuckoo’s Calling and The Silkworm and also One Step Too Far by Tina Seskis.

So when Kristi’s first mystery novel Blessed Are The Dead was published in paperback recently I was amped up to read it!

From the first page to the last Blessed Are The Dead is well-paced and kept me reading on.  There are parts of this book which had my heart palpitating and me feeling as nervous as if I were in the actual situation with the characters before I brought myself back with ‘they’re just words on a page’ (truly!).  And I did rethink whether Blessed are the Dead should be the last thing I read before drifting off to sleep (but I did, I couldn’t help myself).

I loved the main character, Gabriella, in particular the details that Kristi gave her that made her very human and almost like a real person.  I loved to read about the clothes Gabriella might have thrown on that day, what simple yet delightful dish she cooked in her tiny apartment, her big Italian family and their boisterous dinners, and her wise Grandmother with old Italian sayings.

Something else I thought was very well done were the details Kristi included in this book about working in a busy newspaper office and how she interacted with the police and also the interviews in jail.  They seemed very realistic and Kristi has obviously done a great deal of research into the twisted mind of a psychopath in addition to recalling her time as a newspaper crime reporter.

Even though some of the subject material is quite grim, I left this book with a good feeling, like I’d met someone (Gabrielle) that I’d really like to get to know better.  And of course her developing new romance with Donovan is delightful as well.  I’ve just received the second book in this series and can’t wait to start reading it (both times I used Book Depository).   

Well done Kristi, on writing a series I would be happy to recommend to anyone looking for a great read.  You are a real inspiration to go after your ultimate dream.  Look what can happen!

Getting back into sorts

Along the Seine River by Karla Nolan

Coming out of winter here into spring I’m finding myself quite tired.  I am easy to irritate and have been forgetting things.  There seems to be a lot going on all around me – at work and home – and I find it overwhelming when I am not my usual self.

I know I’ve felt like this before and come out of it, but it’s not nice to feel out of sorts like I do currently.  But just making plans to help myself feels better though.  I know that more early nights, less computer time and more good foods (especially protein) will help me get back into balance.

Have you ever heard of adrenal fatigue?  I remember going into a health food store and talking with the owner more than a dozen years ago and he told me it sounded like I had that.  I had gone in for St John’s Wort as I felt quite flat, but he put me onto an adrenal support supplement instead so perhaps I’ll invest in another bottle (it isn’t too expensive and for me it will just be a short-term thing).

At the moment it feels a bit like my tank is running on empty, and normal everyday interactions and problems can feel like they are getting on top of me.

My life is quite simplified already, both time-wise and possessions-wise, but when I feel like I do now, it doesn’t feel like I lead a simple life at all!  I long to empty out my rooms at home and have as little as possible around me.  Those pictures on minimalist living websites (the pretty rooms, not the stark ones) sound like bliss to me right now.

I know all things to do with nature go in cycles and I know I’m in a strange one right now, but I see it as a good thing.  It helps me to know what I want and know how I need to treat myself.

So here is my feel-better plan:

Wonderfully early nights to bed.  My husband already knows that I don’t feel myself at the moment, so he’ll understand.  Often he has quite early nights too, so it might be sleepy-time at 9pm (or even earlier) rather than 10pm for a while.

Stay away from junky foods especially sugar (which you crave more when feeling flat I’ve found) and make sure to include good, natural protein at each meal.

Limit screen-time after dinner.  This means I watch one tv programme (which is the most I would anyway) and have the laptop shut down before dinner.

Investigate the purchase of a bottle of Adrenal Support supplement and start taking those.

Limit caffeine drinks and don’t have any caffeine after mid-afternoon.

Walk outside as many days as I can.

Don’t leave too long between meals.  Sometimes if I’m busy at work it could be 2-3pm before I eat some lunch.  Considering I had breakfast at about 8am and a soy latte mid-morning, that’s too late.  I need to be more organised with having lunch ready to go, rather than get to 1pm and start preparing it (and be ready for the inevitable interruptions that goes with retail).

Tidy up my surroundings (this is mostly for work for me at the moment).  Because it is coming into the new season we have many deliveries which means unpacking, pricing and photographing for my husband, and ‘cutting out’ the photos then loading onto the website for me.  As well as working in the store, doing all the admin and everything else that comes with running your own business.  This means less urgent work is pushed to the background, such as filing, tidying and organising.  But those things when left undone contribute to stress, so I am focused on doing the important as well as the urgent work.

Completing small tasks.  Don't you find it's the little things, unfinished, that bother you the most?  As I go through my day I am endeavouring to complete small tasks as I come across them, and I always receive a boost when I do.

Be around nice people.  Keeping away from people that get me down is important because they affect me more when I'm like this.  And worry and stress doesn't help you feel better!  It’s not always possible of course (I have to deal with many different types of people at work), but I’ve realised that dealing with horrid people who won’t be happy no matter what you do can be minimised.  It helps me to see it’s their problem not mine, and I can limit or eliminate my time with them.  Life is just too short to be around nasty people.

This article gave me some good tips for getting myself back into happy and healthy land so you might find it useful if you feel a little burned out yourself.

Swapping Stockpiling for Tranquility

Image

I know this is such a ‘first world problem’ to have, but in our Western culture of stocking up, stockpiling and overstocking, there is something very satisfying of having just enough.

I used to love stockpiling bargains on consumables such as pantry food items and toiletries.  But now in an effort to live more simply and have less noise around me, I’ve tempered my ways.

I’m embarrassed to say there have been times when I’ve gone overboard and it has taken us months to plough through whatever specially-priced item I stocked up on.

Our big box supermarkets often have enticements to ‘spend $200 and receive a petrol discount voucher’ which has regularly encouraged us to see what we need and stock up on it.  But in a household of two people and two cats, we really have to try hard to spend $200 in one go.  It was quite stressful just to gain a coupon that saved us about $10-12 (which isn’t to be scoffed at, I agree, but not worth it if you are crowded out of your house with grocery items!)

So I gave myself permission not to stockpile.  I gave myself permission to let something run out and see if I missed it.  Sometimes I did and sometimes I didn’t.  It is quite a lovely feeling to see space in the pantry and see what items I can use up to make a delicious dinner.

It is also refreshing to know that I can use up my many skincare and cosmetic items before I even need to think of perusing another specials brochure.  I don’t even need to look at that brochure because I already have enough skin cream/shampoo/body lotion. 

Speaking of body lotion, a couple of months ago I bought a 5 litre (1 1/3 gallons!) container of body lotion from a local skincare factory shop, how funny is that.  But I do go through it is vast quantities.

It’s quite fun to see how many days we can not go to the supermarket, and if we need something, it’s put on the shopping list for when we really, really need to go.  

We often pop into fruit and vegetable stores to get fresh produce, but the supermarket list can wait for quite a number of days until we have to go.  And it still might only be less than a dozen items.  It’s such a thrill not to have armfuls of grocery bags to bring into the house.  Plus, there is not money coming out of my wallet while I’m doing this.

When you think about it, I must live a pretty sheltered life if not stockpiling is acting in a risky way, so I feel very lucky about that.  Many people in other parts of the world would wish this was their most pressing concern.

Are you a stockpiler?  Bargain hunter extraordinaire?  Does the thought of having space on your bathroom/kitchen/laundry shelves make you nervous?

‘Not-stockpiling’.  It’s the new way to save time, sanity and money don’t you know.