WEEKLY UPDATE:Hot off the Urban Ascetic Press

Announcements

This site is being redeveloped please come back  In early March 2o11 for the site relaunch .

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Update

This will have to be a range of stuff maybe even introductory text on whats the latest and greatest in the world of Urban ascetic.net .

What would a quotable be like here? where we include some cool looking stuff

Consider replacing the news graphic with the sadow urban logo?

Make this whole post both really slick and tidy. This post has to be the slickest and most polished as it’s in effect part of the site structure. While  also being an ideal way to set and regulate the standard page length for posts before the more split is used.

Image of survivor courtesey of the Guardian

Effective disaster response

There  is always a lot of blogging about disaster relief   this is my contribution to that discussion. My primary concern is giving the right kind of help  in the right way. I hope you find it useful.
The Haiti Earthquake went to most peoples hearts.
Having saturated the news for a week,coverage will start to die away soon. The need for relief will not.

Haiti was one of the poorest countries in the world before this disaster. Life is even more perilous there now.
No matter what your circumstances you can make a difference.

OK what to do if you want to help long-term? – going out on a limb I’m going to say adopt a Haitian orphan…

OK that’s not going to fly for most people (me either), but even with limited funds you can still make a difference.

• Phase 1- Give what you can
• Phase 2- Support those that give
• Phase 3 – Get the message out and keep supporting

Phase 1- Give what you can

Most people even on a limited budget can afford to give something and I think most people have (I’d like to say thank-you now for everything you’ve given just in case the people you gave to didn’t have time).

I think you should give something if you can afford to give it. I’m not saying starve yourself, your life and your family are just as important. It’s not for show, you know your circumstances. If you can only afford a dollar give a dollar.

It’s good to know that your money isn’t being squandered so give carefully.

There are many great organisations the ones I support are:

Shelter box : Shelter box are on the ground now in Haiti providing Tents ,heat, light, shovels etc. They do exactly what they promise no waste. Your money actually buys a box (£490)a tent a shovel etc. You can see exactly what your contribution provides and even track your box.

International Red Cross : – Saving lives without hospitals is going to be a real challenge, both now and over the coming months. The international red cross and affiliates offer one of the only realistic ways of getting relief to these people.

World Food Programme : – Some food supplies are already there but they are going to need food when the current stocks finally make it out of the airport. The WFP already had one of the best support infrastructures in Haiti and they offer the best way to actually get food into the bellies of survivors in the medium and short term.

Haiti has many systemic problems but for now it’s just about buying the survivors enough breathing space to even consider some kind of future.

Phase 2- Support those that give

It’s not just about direct monetary donations. The red-cross and similar charity’s have shops supporting them. Supplying their stores with quality goods you no longer need is a great help.
Also consider buying goods at their stores (books, games, DVDs etc), charity shops have come a long way recently. It’s recycling, good for the environment and the money you spend can make a real difference. I’m not saying that all charities are equal, again the red-cross has a good record and is my charity shop of choice.

If you have time or skills to offer you could also apply to volunteer. Consider offering skills or services as well as just time. Even if you can only offer to help for a fixed duration you don’t know how useful that’s going to be until you ask. If you can’t afford to work for free how about offering a discounted rate. Don’t be offended if they say, no thanks.

Phase 3 – Get the message out and keep supporting

OK your helping where you can directly and indirectly what next? Get the message out and commit medium term.
See if you can get others interested in helping and keep useful interest alive beyond the immediate news cycle.

Don’t get me wrong giving money if you have it is important but there is always something you can do to help if you are keen.

Avatar a  Guilty Pleasure.

Shallow,flashy, replicable. Transformers not Godfather

Marketing 101: What do you do when your product becomes a commodity? You change the game or change markets.

Avatar is an enjoyable roller-coaster of a film with a cookie-cutter plot.

From the farside: Who says you can't buy happiness

“Fear less, hope more; Eat less, chew more; Whine less, breathe more; Talk less, say more; Love more, and all good things will be yours”- Swedish Proverb

When I was asked what the urban ascetic philosophy was for lifestyle the term “Lean Living” came to mind, this post explains what that is.

Lean living is the philosophy of urban ascetic as it applies to lifestyle. In essence Living more effectively with less.

I’ve been working this out for the last 6 years(sometimes I’m a slow study)  and I have some tips to help you avoid the common pitfalls.

I’m no angel but I am living my life by these guidelines and I’m a lot happier since I started.

I don’t pretend any of this is truly original but I do think it provides a useful summary of practical measures anyone can take if they are interested in streamlining  their life. I hope you find it useful.

Lean Living:

• is not about punishing yourself  it’s about doing more with what you have.
• will make you healthier, happier and will improve your ability to work and play harder
• will improve your cash reserves giving you more resources to pursue what matters
• means living a sustainable happy life based on what you need rather than what you want.

Do’s and dont’s

• Do plan your priorities (what are your three priorities ? number them).
• Do declutter (take time each month to get rid and give away) .
• Do cut down on impulse buys ( delay a day on small non essential purchases or a week on big ticket items)
• Do support and resource your priorites, cut down on the rest (spend on what matters most, save or give away the rest)
• Don’t get  conceited, this is something you are doing for yourself, something to make you happier and more effective (resist the temptation to anoint yourself  for sainthood).

Practical advice for Lean living

1. Eat less: seriously do you have to eat all those biscuits every day? (don’t have more on your plate than you are going to eat)
2. Buy less: you want it but do you need it? (buy less of everything )
3. Want less: Brands, gadgets, games and bling dont need’em dont want’em.(Avoid branded goods unless you know they add real value. Decide what you really want, you will want other stuff less)
4. Exercise more: Plan for a minimum of 15 minutes six days a week (walking is a beginning, alternate one day intensive one day active)

You can work on these things all together from day one but sometimes it’s easier to build up to it; adopting one  extra category or focus each week for four weeks.

You should try to make progress on any or all of them day by day.

Cutting down a little is better than not cutting down at all.

Take baby steps do what you can do. Early success motivates more than early failure. Look to make progress over time, it’s a marathon not a sprint.

The wanting less is in my experience  the hardest bit, if you really want something and you deny yourself you’ve still got a problem, it’s the wanting not the buying you have to work on.

Learn to Fail Successfully

When you fail (and everyone fails) treat it as a small setback not a game changer.

Learn to start again. Try something different if you run into problems, but start again tomorrow.

Developing and keeping your sense of humour is important. Learn to laugh at yourself (seriously this helps a lot).

Give yourself rewards along the way, but don’t reward failure.

If you fail suck it up start again, if after a week your still doing well then maybe a treat is in order.

Remember life is supposed to be fun (if you can manage it )not a constant trial. When you do particularly well, give yourself and your loved one’s a reward.

Dont lie to yourself, if you fail, you fail, think about it, accept it, then move on.

I will write additional explanations and hints on all four of the categories  in future posts.

In the mean time feel free to share your thoughts, questions or stories  in the comments section below.

“Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it.” – Greg Anderson (best-selling Author and founder of the American Wellness Project)

“Success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is often more important than the outcome.”- Arthur Ashe (grand slam winning tennis player)

Click to launch Video!

Christoph Rehage took a walk that Lasted one year and covered 4500k. He produced this amazing time-lapse video to document his journey. His trip was a failure if you consider his original goal was to walk from China to Germany, he didn’t even get close.

He met hundreds of people and changed his view of the world. It was a trip that helped him discover himself and more importantly what really mattered in his life. He stopped when he realised that travelling was preventing him from moving on.

Goals are good but the real trick is to stay alert, make the most of the journey and stop travelling when you realise you’ve arrived, even if where you’ve arrived at isn’t where you thought you were going.

Over the last few years my family have faced some really tough challenges. During this period I re-evaluated my life and spent two years thinking about what I should be doing. This site is one step along that journey.

I don’t know where I will end up with this urban ascetic thing but I am already sure the journey will be worth the effort. I hope it’s a journey we can take together.

To that end if you find anything in any of the articles interesting or if you want to request a post on a particular topic please speak up and write a comment. I can’t promise to respond to every comment but I will definitely read every one and where possible post something relevant.

The Road Goes Ever On

Still round the corner there may wait

A new road or a secret gate

And though I oft have passed them by

A day will come at last when I

Shall take the hidden paths that run

West of the Moon, East of the Sun.

The Road goes ever on and on

Down from the door where it began.

Now far ahead the Road has gone,

And I must follow, if I can,

Pursuing it with eager feet,

Until it joins some larger way

Where many paths and errands meet.

And whither then? I cannot say.

— J.R.R. Tolkien

My new remotes - IF ONLY !

When it comes to design this idea of  basic is good counts double.

When you are creating or making something that people are going to use simplicity of design is to be prized.

The amount of crazily over engineered stuff that we see these days is frightening. Feature creep can cause real problems especially if it distracts from core functionality and usability.

“A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple system that works.” – John Gall (American author and retired paediatrician)

In the design stages it is tempting to value features above usability. This is made worse by the fact that the number of features is often used during the sales process to sell a product or service.

In practice people value usability above all but the most essential features. It’s not the number of features that matters it’s the number of features you can use. It’s a question of alignment.

Simplicity and elegance of design help people master enough of a tool to make use of the more advanced features. It’s a sign of design excellence when advanced features are easy to access when you need them but don’t interfere with usability for novice users.

Some good advice from innovation guru Stephen Shapiro:

“Next time you are designing a process, a product, or a service, ask yourself, “What can I remove?” For most consumers, simplicity is more important than comprehensiveness (and complexity).

The concept of “taking away” is also a great time management technique. In addition to your “to do” list, be sure to create a “don’t do” list. Become masterful at killing products, eliminating non-value adding tasks, and removing old/pointless habits.”

So what I am saying here is that less is often more as long as its the right ‘Less’ for the person in question.

Less is more –  The notion that simplicity and clarity lead to good design.

“The art of simplicity is a puzzle of COMPLEXITY.” – Doug Horton (clergyman and academic leader )

One often has to really work through some complex and difficult problems to get to a place where a solution or a design can seem simple.

When it comes to design simple rarely means easy to accomplish.

Often simple means blood sweat and tears but it’s worth it.

Our goal is to eliminate complexity whenever possible while remembering Einstein’s advice.

“Everything should be made as simple as possible but not one bit simpler”

New math, less is more in action

 Eliminate complexity if at all possible; there is beauty to be found in clean lines and practical function.

In our modern world we often think of Basic as bad. Basic means forgoing the premium option settling for second best. This thinking is wrong headed. Choice is good exactly because it lets us choose what we need after considering all the options available.

Often we let ourselves be convinced that it’s important to have the most expensive or the most complex option all of the time.

We forget that simplicity is often a sign of quality. It’s a matter of learning to judge things on their real merits.

Will we actually make use of all that complexity?

We need to learn to appreciate simplicity as a virtue.

“Complexity is not a cause of confusion. It is a result of it.” – Jeff Hawkins (inventor, entrepreneur and business author)

“Man is an over-complicated organism. If he is doomed to extinction he will die out for want of simplicity.” – Ezra Pound (American Poet, Critic )

“The business schools reward difficult complex behaviour more than simple behaviour, but simple behaviour is more effective.” -Warren Buffett (American Investment Entrepreneur)

“While intelligent people can often simplify the complex, a fool is more likely to complicate the simple.” -Gerald W. Grumet (Author)

“Out of intense complexities intense simplicities emerge.” -Winston Churchill (British Statesman, Prime Minister)

This idea of simplicity as a virtue has many applications from how we live our lives to which stuff we buy to how we work or what we design.

I will cover many of these topic in future Urban Ascetic blog posts.

Keep your eye on the Prize!

Profound and inspiring  poster produced by  Alex Koplin in Collaboration with David Meiklejohn.

Looking at this poster is a reminder that it really does pay to keep things simple.

The philosopy illustrated in this image is applicable to both personal and worklife.

In essence it’s like the  principles of successful change, simple to state but difficult to impliment.

Making effective change is  about awarness and alignment.

Awareness

• Know what you want
• Know where you are

Alignment

• Change behaviours, systems and attitudes until they are in alignment with what you want
• Maintain awareness to help track your progress
• Work with what works; learn from and discard what doesn’t

(adapted from smart things to know about change, david firth, capstone publishing,1999)

In grand terms we could describe this as an example of systems thinking but  if you stop and think it through it’s really just common sense.

If you dont like where you are then decide where you’d rather be and work to get there,  rinse and repeat.

If we apply this  idea to society we pretty much have the Urban Ascetic philosophy in a nutshell.  It’s about simplifying life and focusing on what makes you happy and fullfilled, without wasting time, effort or resources on stuff that doesn’t matter or that actively gets in the way.

Happiness in this sense represents a  long term,  fullfilled, socially integrated and sustainable  kind of happy rather than a short term who ate all the pies kind of thing.

I’ll finish this short post with some smart things said by a very smart man on the same subject:

• Problems cannot be solved at the same level of awarness that created them.
• Everything should be made as simple as possible but not one bit simpler.
• Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.
• Truth is what stands the test of experience.

Einstein’s three rules of work

Albert Einstein Quotes from the Quotation page.

Stop the world I want to get off !!

Welcome to Urban Ascetic a blog about living with values in a material world.

Urban Ascetic is a site about trying to reduce life to the needful things, the stuff that matters to making your life more productive and value rich.

I will post whenever I can about sustainable, ethical or lean living and other stuff I think is related or just plain interesting.

I want this blog to be a bulwark against the instinct to scream ‘Stop the world I want to get off’

Who am I?

I am Warren Deer a Learning designer, diversity expert and former university lecturer. I love learning, laughing, books and film and I believe in the power of people working together to do good things.

This is  a blog for socially oriented people who want to do something but maybe haven’t figured out what that something should be yet.

Hopefully we can figure it out together.

W x

Stop the world I need to get on !

If you want to change the world you'd better get started !