Categories
Betterment Simplicity

The Power of One

Something I noticed the other day whilst purchasing new tyres, pedals and shoes for my upcoming Sydney to Wollongong bicycle ride *, was that for large items in my life, I have only one.

The reason for not having more than ‘one’ is borne out of a) not having space for more than one, and b), not having a need for more than one! I think it’s greatly enhanced my sense of living simply, as well as not looking at material possessions as any sign of status. Here are some examples:

  • I have one car
  • I have one motorcycle
  • I have one bicycle
  • I have one television

I do not have the need (or space) for anything more than this, and truly believe that the more you have, the less happy you are. I am also of the belief that you should (and most of the time can) make the most of what you have without needing to have more.

Do you agree? Is ‘more than one’ causing you sadness? Let me know your thoughts!

(Edit: I felt it best to include a link to Neerav’s post Too Much Stuff: Consumption Is Not A Way of Life, it brings up a lot of great points, all underpinning my thoughts on ‘Stuff’)

* More on my bike:  I have converted the mountainbike into a road bike through road tyres and clipless pedals. I know know other people who have dedicated bikes for certain jobs, and this is OK – If I was a professional cyclist or began taking up proper mountain-biking, I may then have a need for the second bike.

Too Much Stuff: Consumption Is Not A Way of Life

Categories
Betterment

Why am I here?

Hi Everyone,

I have been looking for a great way to kick off this blog and came across an awesome post by Stephen Mills of Rat Race Trap. The post is so simple & succinct, I felt it would be a great way to start MyProactiveLife!

Sometimes just a few words say about all that needs to be said:

  1. Your life is your own damn fault.
  2. Take responsibility for it.
  3. Learn what you need to do to fix it.
  4. Take action on what you’ve learned.
  5. Enjoy the results.

– Larry Winget

Some people may be offended by the use of the word ‘damn’ in the first point – That’s Larry’s way with words, so you will need to live with it 🙂

* Some of the earlier posts on this site have been imported from my personal blog, written earlier in the year and before I had formalised the idea for MyProactiveLife.

Categories
Betterment

Life Instructions

I came across this picture a while ago and saved it to my PC, never to think about it again…until I uncovered it. I think this summarises my thoughts on what MyProactiveLife is all about! Enjoy 🙂

Life Instructions

Categories
Motorsport

Channel 7’s 2009 Bathurst 1000 coverage

The 2009 V8 Supercars Bathurst 1000 has been run and won, by the best team on the day. They drove a faultless race and kept their heads throughout the day. There are many others out there who can write up the story very well, however I decided to dedicate this post to the TV coverage provided by Channel 7 (in Sydney).

In no certain order, here are my thoughts to Channel 7:

  1. Use one of your un(der)used ‘digital’ channels to broadcast the ENTIRE race non-stop – Have your ads picture-in-picture with the sound, BUT keep the main part of the screen active with the race. We may actually see some of incidents you happened to miss whilst showing the ads.
  2. Please provide a run-down of how each car is doing instead of switching to another ad break. A 5-10 second update on each car would be great. During your hourly update you told is how the FPR car caught fire, but little of the other players who struck trouble. Jason Bright got back onto the lead lap. How? We won’t know from your telecast because it barely rated a mentioned!
  3. Since the race is not beamed 100% live to our telly (2-3 mins delay from what I have heard, this is not substantiated, but we all know it’s a little behind) surely you could have timed your ads better. There were a couple of times where you had 3-min ad breaks sandwich 1 min of racing (albeit under the safety car). One way to think of it (courtesy of @erkpod on Twitter) “Ch 7’s ad campaign keeps getting interrupted by some car race #bathurst1000
  4. You had so many little cameras in great places but did not use them enough!
    • The wing-cam on the Kelly’s car was great, would have been great to see more.
    • Whatever happened to cameras out ‘over’ the track as in days gone by?
    • The camera in the footwell of the car, complete with external footage and the V8 sound is phenomenal – we need more of it. One great comment by @StevePizzati: “Dear Ch.7 please please show more on-board laps (with footwork) where all commentators shut the hell up! Signed V8Supercar fans #Bathurst1000“.
  5. Mark Beretta and Matthew White aren’t adding value to the commentary so feel free to deploy them elsewhere.

Many Many thanks go out to a number of Twitterers who helped make the 2009 Bathurst experience better than just watching it on telly: @VSSSCOM, @themolk, @queenslandchic, @FJBurlinson, @alikat2k, @erkpod, @stevepizzati, @TonySearl, @awhisper, @neop26, @obliterated, @talking_Stones, @TouringCarTimes, @Wakdem, @VenessaHunt, @terryicarter, @GTRoberts, @SherieheartsRob, @swgn, @psycik, @KeithSteelAU, @stevebiddle, @missmoochacha, @rosscity, @mavric35, @jodes77, @FraserIsland, @jimmysmalls, @sweeeet__x, @paul_marshy64, @gleno_, @eskimo_dan, @rhettblanch.

Categories
Betterment

Taming the ugliness (an apology)

Yesterday, I had gone for a ride with my 2 boys (4 & 7) along the bike path adjacent to Botany Bay starting in Brighton, down to Dolls Point and back. For those not familiar with this bike path, it’s a shared path with pedestrians for the most part, and cuts through 5 carparks.

In one of the carparks, there was a car blocking the bike path (it looked like the driver simply drove into the carpark and just parked the car across the bike path.

Getting Mr4 to look ahead and try and react early is impossible, and I had to speed up and ensure both of the boys stopped before hitting the car. Something in me snapped. I was infuriated at how pig-headed someone could be to park across the bike path!

  • I noticed that the driver was still in the car.
  • I decided (most likely unconsciously) to let the driver know what they had done, as they probably don’t realise it.
  • I approached the car and advised the driver that they were blocking the bike path and that my sons had almost hit the car. (That’s how I wanted it to transpire), but in reality I turned ugly 🙁 . I did let the lady know she was blocking the bike path and that she should move the car to a designated parking spot, but I am not sure I came cross in a non-threatening, friendly manner. I know I then began repeating myself louder…i.e. the refuge of the defeated.
  • Afterwards, I definitely did not feel like I had done a community service – in fact, I felt like crap, mulling it over in my head for the rest of the night.

I am writing this as an open apology to the lady + her passengers who had to see/experience the ugliness that is still within me. It should have gone differently, it could have gone differently, but it didn’t – and it’s my fault. The control of the situation was completely in my hands until I snapped and went down the ugly path.

You can read more about all my 2009 goals here.