I am devoted to the Slow Movement. Slow food, slow travel, slow work. I once even tried to get traction on the idea of slow aid because I was frustrated by the push by donors to engender positive change in disadvantaged communities according to 12-month funding cycles. Sadly my devotion is, at best, one of…
Read more
So…2013 is kind of nuts. So far, it’s all about the work, with the occasional summer frolic and wedding (not mine) squeezed in. One of the downsides of the busy is that some of the small good things I do can fall away in the mad rush. Late last year as I careened towards holidays,…
Read more
I spent a fair chunk of my twenties studying and working overseas. It was the best of times and it was the worst of times (as they say). It was the best of times because I felt that glorious sense of ‘this is life!’ ALL. THE. TIME. I had days when it felt as if…
Read more
I grew up with Desiderata on the back of the kitchen door. My friend Lara had it on the back of her toilet door. We both memorised it, as you do when you are a kid, in much the same way that you would memorise the text on a Weet-Bix packet or every word in…
Read more
I’m going to take a guess that you feel ambivalent towards Christmas. I certainly do. Deep, wide-ranging, conflicting ambivalence that is harder to unravel than just getting through the season without asking too many questions. So I don’t. I struck it lucky in the personality and preferences lottery for this time of year. I love…
Read more
Today’s tip will be so obvious to many of you that you will wonder why I bothered writing it down. ‘Of course you should celebrate milestones!’ I hear you say, as you decorate a cupcake or write in a fancy card with a calligraphy pen. Take this opportunity to revel in your success at making…
Read more
I am a contemplative type. While some people are primarily doers, I am primarily a thinker. This has its advantages (I rarely get bored standing in a queue) but also notable disadvantages (I rarely find myself standing in queues because that would require doing something like running an errand). Knowing this about myself, I thought…
Read more
I started writing today’s tip curled up on a rattan chair in a gorgeous Balinese villa, surrounded by lush greenery and the clicking tails of geckos. Peace was in abundance. I, however, was unable to enjoy it. It was 3am and I couldn’t sleep. I’d made it to Ubud but was still running on Melbourne…
Read more
An important part of achieving an ambitious goal is taking time out to rest. As God rested on the seventh day of creating the world, I am going to rest on the seventh of 99 tips for a better world. I’m going somewhere quiet to sleep in, read books and go for long wandering walks…
Read more
Wednesday was World Kindness Day. Kindness strikes me as one of the most import conditions for a better world. Fortunately we are surrounded by acts of kindness every day. From holding the door for someone, to saying “don’t worry about it” when a colleague makes a mistake; kindness slips into daily life effortlessly. Unkindness, and…
Read more
Today’s tip struck me as I listened to a local coffee roaster talk about his motivation to start a café. He worried about the erosion of local community so he created a hub for the locals and got to know the neighbours – the grocer, the newsagent, the dry cleaner. As I listened to him…
Read more
I hate cold water. I wanted you to know that before we embark on a discussion about my complicated relationship with gratitude. Allow me to lie down on the therapist’s couch and tell you about it. As a kid, the nuns at my school would tell us, ‘Eat all of your lunch. Remember the starving…
Read more
This relatively new column is about the small things we can do every day to make the world a better place. Last week I talked about developing your own personal diversity strategy. The week before I talked about Fairtrade coffee. At first I didn’t think today’s topic fit so neatly into my “99 tips for…
Read more
“Friendship is the most powerful “diversity strategy” there is. There is nothing more important than creating meaningful and organic relationships with people across the various borders that have historically divided us. It is through these real relationships—whole, vulnerable, reciprocal—that we really learn about our own blind spots and the beauty of others’ perspectives.” – Courtney…
Read more
