We're all guilty of getting sucked into the black hole of the web. However, sometimes that black hole isn't such a bad thing. Recently, I've found that some of the articles I've happened upon have literally changed the way I think about my daily life. I thought I'd share three of those with you today in the hopes that they'll give you the same boost or that "aha!" moment that they gave me.
1 // Andrew and I bike a lot when the weather is nice, he even more so than I. As we have officially entered the season or gorgeous weather, he bikes to work almost every day and we try to ride our bikes as a way of getting to Orioles games, happy hour, the farmer's market, or wherever we are traveling locally. Last week, Andrew already had two very close calls due to drivers that were not paying attention to the fact that he was in the unprotected bike lane. Things would be much easier for all parties involved if we had a system like this ingeniously designed intersection for protected bicycle lanes.
Protected Intersections For Bicyclists from Nick Falbo on Vimeo.
2 // I think as whole our society tends to get burned out on the job. I loved this article about 5 simple office policies that make Danish workers more happy than Americans. The points made are absolutely true for many people. Especially important in my book, was point number five in which being happy with your work is an absolute priority.
3 // Some days, I find myself having an incredibly bad or unproductive day for one reason or another. This article about how to make your unproductive days better has some really great ideas on getting a restart and sums up a lot of the same strategies that I often use.
What new ideas have helped put things in perspective for you lately?
That Danish article was interesting!! As a person who has worked for several different types of companies, the one thing I see that they all have in common is that they don't really care for the employee. The notion is crazy because obviously you care for yourself but as soon as people get hired it becomes like a machine and the collective no longer cares for the individual.
ReplyDeleteI too love that Danish article. I work part time at this Engineering firm and I'm supposed to be here like 8 hours a day, but seriously, I only need 6 to get the work done. People spend so much time chatting around here. I'm sure if we had smaller workdays we'd work harder and get much more done. Sigh, I'm going to become Danish. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm going to have to watch the bike video tomorrow, definitely. Indianapolis has certainly improved its trails in the last few years, and they are always building more. (I actually either bike or walk to work every day, and take the same trail every day, as it leads directly to my office.) However, due to various circumstances, several cyclists in the last couple of weeks have been injured or killed while on the road! It's definitely made bicycling safety in the city an issue.
ReplyDeleteYes! I like what you say about companies becoming a machine. I feel as though so many companies become just that. It's no longer about the individuals, but rather how can I use these people to my advantage to get ahead.
ReplyDeleteYup, so many people have said the same thing! They feel as though they are a waste at work sometimes because they are supposed to be working, but don't really have enough to do. Over time they become less productive because of it all. If we had more vacation time, I'm sure people would become a lot more productive.
ReplyDeleteOh! So sad to hear! I really worry a lot about my husband or a friend getting seriously injured some day. We have a few bike paths in Baltimore, but it really could be made to be more bike friendly. A huge number of people are starting to bike now because the public transportation in this city is so terrible. However, there seems to be this group of blue collar Baltimore citizens that have lived here for generations that also don't want or like change. Those individuals scare me the most when they make comments about bikes needing to get out of their way. (Comparing a 2 ton vehicle to a 40lb bike--- eek!) When I watched that bike video, all I could think of was how amazing it would be to live somewhere with that sort of system-- it just made total sense. I have a hard time understanding why people wouldn't want someone to use a bike instead of a car, but I suppose that's opening a whole different can of worms.
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