Rowan Spazzoli

Today was deadline day for one of my projects. I managed to write over 4000 words, edit various documents and produce a number of slides and diagrams. Our team of three must have written over 30 pages and more than 10000 words, which is an honours level thesis.

We didn’t make the deadline

But we accomplished so much today. And I’m proud of what we did.

I guess that’s the magic of deadline day.

Image was taken from my desk, sometime in May

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Song of the day: Chasis cars – Snow Patrol

I had two very deep conversations today, one with a person doing her masters degree in social work and the other with a close friend visiting from China. Something that popped up in both conversations was the realisation that a small amount of money in one person’s life can revolutionise another person’s life.

The Story of the Refugee

With the master student we talked about a refugee she was working with. She got him working at the clinic she was at but the clinic didn’t have enough money for the salary… of R2500 a month.

I said to her that this sounded like an incredibly small amount of money. But she said it would change his life as his current salary is around R200 a month.

Living off such a small amount is unfathomable to me, in both instances. But this man supports a family on that salary. And yet I’ll spent R200 on a meal.

The person in need

My friend from China said she spoke to a woman today who was really distraught. She was being evicted from her home because she couldn’t pay the rent.

It was overdue by 3 months with the total amount due being R300. Meaning this person was going to lose their home as R100 a month was too expensive for them.

My friend gave her some cash and the person replied that it was the first time she had been shown compassion regarding her situation

Small for me, big for them

Finally, this point was touched on in Obama’s lecture today. He said that some people have more money than they know what to do with. And that that money could change many people’s lives.

So it’s seriously time we start thinking about this. How do we correct this inequality?

Image was taken at a social entrepreneurship program called Siyaya that I used to run

Blog: 253/365

Song of the day: Dinka – Elements (EDX 5un5hine remix)

I had two magnificently long phonecalls today, both almost an hour long, while driving to Stellebosch and back. Before getting in the car I put my headphones in and can then chat during the commute.

The first call was with my mom, and we caught up on news and chatted about plans for the coming months. I often use long drives as opportunities for catch ups with her, and they make me feel great.

The second was with one of my best friends, Jess. We realised we hadn’t spoken in a few weeks and so managed to sneak in a call. Which ended up being 53min long. We spoke about work, relationships, mental health, Portugal and life. It made my heart so warm to speak to her again.

As life becomes more complex, people move around the world and we have less time for friends, it’s important to make some space for the relationships that matter.

So I’m going to aim to sneak in a few more calls whenever I get the chance. It’s much better than listening to the radio 🙂

Image is of me, Jessface and her brother when she had a sneaky visit to Cape Town 🙂

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Song of the day: Starley – Call on me (Ryan Riback Remix)

Jared and I managed our first week of healthy eating. It was tough at times, and I felt famished at certain points in the day,  but we pushed through.

We then had our cheat day that was not as intense as we thought it would be. We didn’t go overboard.

And today we were supposed to go back to the healthy eating.

But then there was this cake

It was the Doctor’s birthday party (happy birthday doctor) and this magical cake was presented to her.

It’s a four layered red velvet cake with special chocolates from My Sugar on top.

So we made an exception for it, and ate cake even though it wasn’t part of our diet

Exceptions

I think the useful thing about allowing exceptions like this is that it doesn’t make you feel trapped. We didn’t have to stick to the diet super strictly. And I also didn’t feel guilty about having cake.

Building good habits is tough, so allowing yourself some room for the exceptions is important. As long as the exceptions don’t become the norm.

Image is of the magnificent birthday cake

Song of the day: Seven Lions – Dreamin’ ft Fiora

Blog: 251/365

A close friend, Chantelle, sent me a message yesterday asking if I’d ever consider writing a book. Something along the lines of my business/strategy blog posts that I write.

I think I’d really like to do that.

I’ve wanted to write a book since I was in high school but the feeling I have is the same as I had then…. that I don’t know enough to fill up all the pages.

I think I’ll take it on as my next big goal, after the blog series 🙂 I’ll give it some thought

Image is of the notebooks at a stationery shop, taken in April 🙂

Blog: 250/365

Song of the day: Dropkick Murphys – I’m shipping up to Boston

Isn’t it curious that we have a cycle of 5 work days and 2 rest days? How was that decided? Was there a randomised control trial to determine if this was optimal?

I don’t work best in set hours. I’ll take a Tuesday off but work through a Saturday.

We fit people in to set times because it’s convenient, not optimal.

But to maximise output and performance, let work happen when the person is best able to work.

Image is a sneaky prom shot 🙂

Song of the day: Backstreet Boys – I want it that way

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Note: website was down last night, so I couldn't upload this :)

In life there can be a number of bumps that come out of nowhere. A car accident, a robbery or injury. Or even the bumps that are expected… doing personal admin, sorting out taxes or picking up a family member from the airport.

And these things will inevitably get in the way of a full time job, when you’re expected to be around from 8-5.

But companies and managers can choose how to react to these. They can either leave you some freedom and space to do life things or force you to stay around the office, regardless of you have work.

Giving that freedom might seem like time is being wasted. Like your employee is taking your time to do their thing.

In reality, allowing them that time means that they are likely to be more productive and more able to focus on their work. They’re also probably going to be more loyal and appreciative of the company.

It’s good to allow a little bit of freedom.

Image is of the sunset on the drive home this evening 🙂

Blog: 246/365

Song of the day: Gangs of Ballet – Breaking the silence

I have a bad habit of over promising and under delivering.

I don’t do it on purpose, I’m just overly optimistic about what I am able to achieve in a certain amount of time.

Sometimes the over promising motivates me to get going into work. But it often makes me feel overwhelmed and defeated when I don’t reach what I set out to do.

The way to fix this is to either promise less or deliver more. I’ve been working on the delivering more but I struggle with the promising less.

I think it’s about balancing optimism with realism. And understanding your own limits.

I’ll continue to work on this. And hopefully be able to get the balance just right

Image is of the England game I watched on the last day in Portugal. A little bit of over promising here too 

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Song of the day: It’s coming home – Red Lions