Hazy Thoughts

Well, the haze is still floating around, though its severity has dramatically decreased. It seems that, in a way, Singaporeans have started to come to terms with this problem. There are far fewer publicly-made complaints and there is a slight feeling of "grin and bear it", which is, admittedly, hard to see under a N95 mask.

Of course, we should continue to fight the issue, despite the scathing comments of a certain person in a prominent leadership position in the government of a Southern neighbour. 

With a little time to think about it, though, it may be this person's words that brought everyone together. The thought of having someone with so little sensitivity and decision-making ability, such a large ego, and little to no sense of responsibility in a position of leadership makes us scratch our heads. It also causes us to feel compassion for the citizens under that brand of leadership.

Certainly, we hope that both our nations can work together to bring the problem to a stop. This does seem difficult due to political differences and a certain degree of mistrust.

It seems that good intentions are simply insufficient. More work needs to be done to repair relationships, and soon.

Another Book Update

The Introvert Teacher is written and self-edited! All except for the Quotes chapter, which I'm still working on.

Nevertheless, it's been quite a journey, and I look forward to completing the marketing materials and finalising the launch dates and launch event once it's printed.

Thank you for your support! I hope to see you at the event!

Organising Your Workspace (from The Introvert Teacher)

There is no need to alphabetise your files or colour code your stationery (unless you want to) as long as you have a proper place to put everything. Clutter creates stress, even unconsciously, and that is something you don’t need more of.

Your physical environment needs to be organised in a way that makes sense to you. Yes, some of us keep messy tables. My tables tend to get messed up too, but I have found that putting things away means I have fewer things in the way when I need to take stuff out. I won’t end up knocking things over or onto the floor then.

Here are seven suggestions for organising your physical workspace:

1) Dump the stuff you don’t need, don’t use, and/or don’t look at.

2) For storage solutions (tabletop cabinets, file holders etc.) I get containers from IKEA and Daiso. Sometimes, I use cleaned food containers, print paper boxes, or shoe boxes too.

3) Get your stuff in their respective containers and label them, even if it’s as simple as “Stationery” and “Files containing Reports”.

4) Put what you use most often within reach of where you sit. Items you seldom use can be put away.

5) Set “Clearing Dates” when you will look through the gathering clutter and discard unnecessary junk - perhaps on the 1st of every even month, every three weeks, or once every six months. It depends on you, really, and how messy your workspace gets.

6) Use binder clips to organise the mass of wires snaking all over your workspace. (http://www.instructables.com/id/Intro-49/) You can use them for a host of other things too – just Google “binder clip life hack”.

7) Every day, before you leave, reset everything so you come to a clean workspace the next day.

A Lesson from Mr. Bean

I was seated earlier this week at Teddy & Me - a café themed after Mr. Bean, and I really liked the ambience and location.

Without turning this into a café review, which I may decide to do at some point, perhaps on another platform, I thought I'd share something I learned while I was there.

They screened episodes of Mr. Bean, and I realised that it had been 25 years or so since the first episodes of the series came out. There was another screen of the animated series, which was not within view of my seat.

The incredible popularity and universal appeal of a near-silent character is remarkable. There is no ambiguity regarding his intentions on screen, and people from all cultures  understand the message he conveys using only his facial expressions and actions.

This is an excerpt from The Los Angeles Times (http://articles.latimes.com/2011/oct/20/entertainment/la-et-rowan-atkinson-20111020):

"They go to these African villages where there are four thatched huts," said Atkinson, 56. "There is nobody in any of them except one, where the entire village is crammed in there. There's a tiny black-and-white TV set being powered by a car battery, and there's a 'Mr. Bean' VHS tape being played."

Without doubt, the character Mr. Bean is an amazing communicator (so is the actor Rowan Atkinson, of course). His message is received willingly and accurately and my main takeaway was that this is the standard to strive for as a communicator - to be simple and intentional.