Just Seven Things

Exploring why and how we do what we do, and how we can do it better

Archive for the tag “Control”

My Pursuit of Happiness – A Happiness Framework

I can’t shake my pursuit of happiness.  I referenced my Happiness System posts yesterday, and my challenges with the balance between being feeling led and thought led.

I entitled this post A Happiness Framework because I am going to explore in future Pursuit of Happiness posts, whether it’s a framework to work within rather than a system to comply with that is the answer (for me, at least)

So why and how is a framework different to a system in my thinking?

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The Balance between Listening to Thoughts vs. Feelings

This is very much a catch-up post. A statement of current feelings on a set of issues that have historically vexed, and continue to, vex me.

A series of thoughts captured in my Happiness System posts concerned a simple ‘brain-led’ set of principles to increasing happiness for me. Things that if I could set into habit, in my mind would make me happier. The problem – the resistance between head and heart. The failure to enter routine or habit. The lack of ‘draw-to’ the thing that I intellectually flag as being good for my happiness.

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Simple Feelings of Control

As mentioned in a previous post on the simplicity of the human brain in certain respects, I loved David Allen’s Getting Things Done from the moment when he identified that the foundation stone of effectiveness was a trusted system.

Since then, I’ve remained aware of the simple things that give a sense of control and a form of happiness because of that control.

Technopolis in the FT is a regular ‘(normally) expensive gadget’ review feature in the How to Spend It supplement magazine by Jonathan Margolis. Last weekend he featured two items which triggered my thinking again about the aspects of control.

One was a box called ‘The Sanctuary’ and the other, the less mysteriously named ‘Trekstor Datastation Microdisk’. Now this isn’t turning into a gadget review blog. Mr Margolis said they did their business. The business of The Sanctuary is to be a smart/ modern version of the bowl/ dish/ plate/ little area on the kitchen surface/ bookshelf/ bedside where you put your bits: keys/ money/ wallet or purse etc. It’s a £100 box. But it connect to the mains and has adapters for most mobiles/ PDAs and other battery-powered personal gadgets. So you come in and put your stuff into one place.

The Trekstor data station is a hard drive the size of a thick credit card. But up to 120gb (enough for about 100 films). No external power and high speed transfer via USB 2.0.

Mr Margolis rates them as two of the best things that he has come across in his 20yrs of ‘gadgeteering’. And why?

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