Is this the end of busyness ?
In their book Make Time: How To Focus On What Matters Every Day, Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky reference what they call ‘the Busy Bandwagon’. “The Busy Bandwagon is our culture of constant busyness – the overflowing inboxes, stuffed calendars, and endless to-do lists. According to the Busy Bandwagon mindset, if you want to meet the demands of the modern workplace and function in modern society, you must fill every minute with productivity.” Tim Kreider, in his 2012 article titled The Busy Trap, laments how ‘busy’ has become a boast, and writes, “Busyness serves as a kind of existential...
Maserati: The Strength and Vigour of Neptune
Towards the end of 2018, I travelled to Italy with Maserati South Africa to not only experience the Levante SUV, but also to gain some insight into the brand’s history. At the time, I wrote an article for the magazine that I was working for, but then it went out of business. I have decided to share that article, with some images here. Navigating the Italian Countryside It is a random Thursday autumn morning and I am driving relatively delicately over narrow gravel and dirt roads through the Italian countryside up the road from the Varano De’Melegari circuit, not far from Palma. Next to me is...
The power of journaling
I’ve been journaling relatively regularly for the last 3 to 4 years. It was prompted by finally getting around to reading Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way, in particularly the section on Morning Pages. On her site, she explains what these are: “Morning Pages are three pages of longhand, stream of consciousness writing, done first thing in the morning. *There is no wrong way to do Morning Pages*– they are not high art. They are not even “writing.” They are about anything and everything that crosses your mind– and they are for your eyes only. Morning Pages provoke, clarify, comfort, cajole,...
The Philips OneBlade
Hair Journey Every morning, I would stand close to the mirror, examining my upper lip with the concentration of an archaeologist searching for strands of hair. As a teenage boy, the transition into man was to be preceded by one’s voice breaking and, more importantly, the arrival of facial hair. And, when eventually came, there was still disappointment … peach fuzz on the upper lip, a couple of strands of hair on the chin right through to my 20s. Being born in the early 70s, I grew up around beards. My father sported an epic full beard. Isaac Hayes, Barry White, Marvin Gaye, Gil Scott-Heron,...
Interview: The POWER Lunch on Power FM talking Media
According to Technopedia, “Media is the plural form of medium, which (broadly speaking) describes any channel of communication. This can include anything from printed paper to digital data, and encompasses art, news, educational content and numerous other forms of information. Digital media, which makes up an increasingly vast portion of modern communications, is comprised of intricately encoded signals that are transmitted over various forms of physical and virtual media, such as fiber optic cable and computer networks.” It is an area I have worked in consistently over the last 15 or so...
Language is a tool
In the early days of Twitter, a regular refrain was “it’s only Twitter” when one took offence at the contents of another’s tweet. And then people started losing their jobs, or couldn’t get jobs, or couldn’t get into schools, all because of a view expressed on twitter that was considered beyond the bounds of ‘appropriate.’ Nowadays, we don’t hear that phrase much anymore, but too many people still operate as if social media does not have consequences, which it does, even if it isn’t felt instantly. I have had many a conversation with my 12-year old about the implications of what he shares and...
Redesigning Life
Reading Tim Ferriss’ The Four-Hour Work Week changed my life. Or, at least, changed my perspectives which had me re-evaluate my life. It introduced me to the idea of Lifestyle Design, which is a concept defined and popularised by Ferriss. According to www.dictionary.sensagent.com, “lifestyle design is the design of one's ideal lifestyle, especially an unconventional one, providing good opportunities for personal growth, leisure, and adventure. Detailed methods include career planning, entrepreneurship, and travel.” In the book, Ferriss shares...
Thoughts on Abstract: The Art of Design
Abstract: The Art of Design is, for me, one of the best documentary series available on Netflix. A good friend put me onto it when season 1 launched in 2017 and I binge-watched that season. Created by former Wired editor-in-chief Scott Dadich, the series explores the world of design in all its glory by delving into the work of designers from different areas. https://youtu.be/DYaq2sWTWAA I have always been fascinated by why and how people create which always gives great insights into what that they create. On my now-ended weekly radio talk show Life with Kojo Baffoe on Kaya FM, this was...
The art of reading
The Farnam Street blog has gradually taken an important place in my journey of self-discovery and understanding of self and the world around me. While I haven’t reached the level of paying member – conversion of dollar to rand currently puts it just outside my reach – I am an avid follower of the weekly newsletter and the podcast The Knowledge Project. FS Blog explores mental models, learning, leadership, decision making, and reading. The reading section has changed my life. While I have always been a reader – the bookworm who was also decent at sports -, I came to the realisation that I...
A case for daily blogging
The battle between quality and quantity is never-ending, especially when it comes to things like maintaining a blog. I used to follow all the sites, the ones with Tips and How-Tos and For Whys when it comes to blogging. I get it, I really do, but I don’t always have the time or, at least, with the other things on my plate, this isn’t my priority. Sometimes I will put up an interesting post on LinkedIn, or say something mildly profound on Twitter, or even tell a story on Instagram but end up beating myself because it wasn’t a blog post of a certain length. Clickbait passed me by because I am...
Life Soundtrack: Blk Sonshine ‘s Building
A friend was heading out for the night to the legendary Club 206 in Orange Grove to see 'some new group called Blk Sonshine'' and wanted to know if I would like to join him. I tagged along not knowing that this would be the start of a journey into the world of poetry and the Arts. I had been writing poetry for most of my life but it was more for therapy and never made it beyond my notebooks and the few friends I would let read. Blk Sonshine 's Birth Blk Sonshine was Malawian-American singer/songwriter Masauko and Soweto-born composer and librettist Neo Muyanga. Masauko was visiting South...
John Kehoe ‘s Mind Power on Kaya FM
The book Mind Power by John Kehoe is one of those books you often hear about and, through assumptions, decide where it falls in the general scheme of things. If you are open to the assumed thoughts, you may make a plan to read it. If not, you chalk it up as a random self-help book and move on. A lesson that life has taught me is that we manifest our thought. And there is a field of quotes from a diverse collection of people that, in essence, confirm that “whatever you think you are, you are.” This is also one of the thoughts at the heart of American filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan’s film Split,...
Creative Quest, Questlove’s Book On Creativity
Ahmir ‘Questlove’ Thompson of the hip hop band The Roots epitomises the exploration of creativity in all facets of one’s life. While his creative expression has been rooted primarily in music as a deejay, drummer and founder of The Roots, he continuously explores the edges of creativity. In his book, Creative Quest - which followed Mo’ Meta Blues: The World According To Questlove, his memoir of sorts, and Something To Food About: Exploring Creativity with Innovative Chefs -he unpacks not only his thoughts on creativity but also shares tools that he has learned over the years. At the same...
Motorcycle I Hope To Ride in 2019
Every year, the International Motorcycle and Accessories Exhibition (EICMA) takes place in Milan, Italy. It is a trade fair for everything related to life on two wheels and has been happening since 1914. While motorcycle manufacturers will often announce new bikes during the course of the year, many manufacturers use the attention around EICMA to share what’s coming in the next year and beyond. EICMA 2018 was no exception, although there were some bikes announced prior to the fair. We still don’t know exactly which will be coming to South Africa...
Breathwork with Dr Ela Manga on Kaya FM
A couple of months ago, I had Dr Ela Manga on my Kaya FM show, #LifeWithKojoBaffoeto chat about herself, her career, and the establishment of Breathwork Africa. Initially trained as a medical doctor, life experiences and the challenges of her patients led her to the world of integrative medicine, energy management and breathwork. The reality is that, with the increasing demands on our time, our attention, our bodies and our minds, many of us are struggling to keep things together. And are not operating optimally, whether physically, spiritually or mentally. We are living in an ‘always on’...
Life Soundtrack: Roots Manuva’s Colossal Insights
It was late November in 2006 when I 'discovered' Roots Manuva. MySpace was the dominant social platform, laying the foundation for everything else that followed. I had two pages - which I haven't been able to access for a decade because I have forgotten the passwords and don't have the email addresses I set them up with any longer. But, they are still out there: kojobaffoe and kojothepoet. I also had two blogs on Blogger.com: infinitepursuit and imperfectpoetry. The beauty of the Internet at that time was its ability to open up the world of poetry, which I was heavily involved in, in terms...