Keep Calm and Carry On

Just like that, keep calm and carry on. I chose this a the title of today's post as initially this was a british motivational poster produced by British government in 1939 just before the IInd World War started. Back then, it was little known, because it wasn't distributed among british citizens on a large scale. However, nowadays there are lots of variations of this iconic poster. One of my favourite is the one on the picture (no surprise it's related to tea :))


So, now that I started with the poster, that would probably be my first thing on the list of 3 things I am really thankful for :

1. Harvard Business Review posters...man these are absolutely unique. When I was working in one of the biggest banks in Poland, we, as auditors didn't have a room for ourselves, so we had to work from Director's office who was on vacation at that moment. And, believe it or not, he had 2 of those extraordinary posters in his office. One of them showed a scene from the Matrix movie, where Neo refuses to say the destiny is a good concept for humanity. And on the second Don Corleone talked about the values and their importance in our lives..and I was both surprised and amazed...surprised beacuse I couldn't believe that a Director of a multi-million dollar company would hang posters on his walls (even if they're in fancy frames)...and amazed because these posters had such a deep message in them , while at the same time might have looked childish and ridiculous :D Anyway, I really liked those , and after some time managed to find them : 

(originally the text was in polish, but for the purpose of this blog I've translated it to english)

2. Steven Covey's Week Planner. Now that we're living in times when there's an app for each and everything you could think about, starting from meditation timer to shopping mall guidances, traditional ways of planning and managing your time are becoming less popular. And by traditional I mean those that are handwritten, or at least printed.
S. Covey's Weekly planner is a spreadsheet that was created according to the rules described in Steven's Book "7 Habits of highly effective People" which I've probably mentioned earlier.
It has a section for Roles, another one for Goals connected with these roles, and of course 7 days to plan your week efficiently and effectively.
The planner is a very useful tool, and was created by one of the most successful authors in the world, that's why I don't need to promote it somehow or try to persuade someone that it's better that some other tools for organising your time.


Of course you can create your own planner, but just in case you're willing to try this one out, it can be downloaded for free from :
http://www.diyplanner.com/node/6060
*(both files are ok, but the second looks better when printed, that's why I'd suggest file nr.2)
Once again my huge respect for Dr Covey's work in general, and for all the tools that he predicted to be useful even in times of rapid growth of high-tech and innovative products and markets.

3. Websites and apps that help you to find the best route to get from point A to p. B in a particular city. Of course such app as google maps is well known all around the world, but web pages that help users of public transport in big cities are relatively new , at least in Poland. And these are so helpful and so easy to use, that almost everyone takes them for granted as if they were created long time ago. But the truth is that previously the only way to find the best route in such city as Warsaw, was to simply ask someone , or go to the nearest bus/tram station and check when and where next bus/tram goes..sounds like stoneage, but, believe it or not, this how it was like only two years ago. And now you don't even have to know where you are at the moment - www.jakdojade.pl , or it's app for smart phone will do it for you. Moreover, it'll estimate the approximate time it will take you to get where you want to get (including the time you will spend waiting for the next bus/tram etc).
Big credit to those who came up with an idea of providing such service absolutely for free for all to whom it may be related.

That's it for today, the list has 3 key things I'm thankful for. I really believe that without these things my life would be much more chaotic and stressful ...luckily, it's not ;)

A good quote to start Monday  :

"Fear, uncertainty and discomfort are your compasses toward growth "
― Celestine Chua

Of course there might be some fear and discomfort along the way, that's a normal process I guess, but as the wise title of today's post says " Keep Calm and Carry On" :)

..And of course don't forget to have some fun :)
Take Care

Bryvus

What goes around comes around

It's been a long time since my last post... Got a new internship in one of the major corporations, found a new workout routine that takes me only 12 minutes a day to go through, bought new tea and almost finished watching White Collar TV series. All I can say is that I'm starting to appreciate the information flow around me, the very diversity of the sources of information which are absolutely free and easy to reach. One of these I'll mention in my list of things I'm thankful for.
                        
The title of the post - what goes around, comes around is from the J. Timberlake's song, that has the same title - "What goes around comes around". I'm not a big fan of his music, maybe a couple of songs featuring some other artists, but I do like the meaning of this phrase. What I like to do, on every Sunday before the week starts, is to write a phrase, on my printed schedule for the week, which will remind about something, some principle or universal law, that I might forget about because of everyday's rush. Two weeks ago it was "Do at least one thing that gets you out of your comfort zone each day", and last week it said "What goes around, comes around". I don't subscribe to labels, therefore I can't say I'm a christian, or a buddhist, or a muslim, or a philosopher. But phrases that somehow remind me of universal laws, principles that help us live better lives and make this journey more enjoyable, are really helpful.

So now it's time to make a list of the things that I personally believe to be really helpful in life or just make it better, as simple as it sounds. In this post I'll probably be more specific, so instead of just saying in general "magazines" I'd name particular name of the one that I like ;)

1. CARMEX lip balm (or chapstick). Now if anyone has ever experienced dry lips or cold sores, he or she knows how uncomfortable that might be. And, believe it or not, most of the chapstick are just not good enough to heal your lips and act as good moisturizer at the same time. Created by Alfred Woelbing in the early 1930s and first pots of this amazing lip balm were made in his kitchen. Ingredients are still the same, simple and well-know, such as beeswax and cocoa seed butter, but with the price of around 3 to 4 euros, it's the best thing I've ever found for the dry lips. Thanks to my friend from US, I'm still using this amazing lip balm as a bedtime treatment.

2. Twitter. Yeah...I have to admit it, I didn't like the idea of "following" people or "twitting" about some non-meaningful events and things that happen to you, but recently (it took me ages to figure it out) I've discovered that I can literaly stay in touch with latest news and events from all over the world by "following" magazines and websites such as bloomberg, nasdaq, wall street journal , not the people ..of course it doesn't mean that I don't care about my friends, not at all, I'm just thinking more in terms of long term and sustainable relationships with others, and this means meeting people and talking to them in real life, not on twitter. So the point I want to make is this - my life has changed tremendously as soon as I started using twitter to follow the latest news. Thank you guys for such a great opportunity to be well informed.


3. Dialy Art Android App - this one is of a great value for me. As I mentioned earlier, I found tv series "White Collar" very interesting and apart from the storyline I found myself really interested in art itself, especially paintings and famous painters of all times. Then I started to do some research on this topic and I found an app that is perfect for a person that wants to learn a small piece of information about a particular painting each day. It's updated daily, the descriptions are written in a nice and coherent way. No need for additional comments, all I can say is that I can't imagine my life without this app and a dose of art each day anymore.

4. Free MIT, Harvard and Georgetown courses - at Edx.org Thanks to the twitter, I found this amazing website. Free courses from best universities around the world that take you about 2 hours a week...that is something I could only dream about. And the topics of the courses can vary from "science in cooking" to "global sociology".. EDX.org, a non for profit organisation launched by Harvard and MIT (that eventually will charge students who want to pass the exam after the taken course and get a certificate that proves that the course was taken) is becoming my favourite social initiative, along with TEDx. A huge credit to all of those who were involved in the process of creating those organisations, and special thanks to Anant Agarwal (Edx President)  for letting us participate in it absolutely for free!


That would be it for today, a list was a bit longer than usual - 4 instead o 3 traditional points in it, but other than that it's still the same - simple thoughts and things that make my life better. Hope someone finds this useful for him or her.

As usual, a quote to start a productive and effective monday :

“Someone's sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.” 
― Warren Buffett

Plant your trees, sow your seeds, and find a nice shade after that, to enjoy the process of reaping.
Take care and don't forget to have some fun :)

Bryvus