Rowan Spazzoli

Strategist. Lecturer. Consultant

Happy Birthday Jared 🎉

To the person who has given me so much support this year.

To the person who has shared many adventures with me.

To the person who listens to all my stories.

Thank you for the inside jokes, the paticulas, the capchas, the milo cereal sessions, the cigars, the chats, the prom walks, the ahhhh, the wizard jokes, the burger days, the cabrito jams, the big route pizzas and the general ridiculousness.

Happy Birthday Jared 🎉🐒🐧

Image is Jared at the prom yesterday 🙂

Blog: 196/365

Song of the day: Want you back – HAIM

(I know it was the song of the day yesterday but I listened to it on repeat for 2 hours today so you’re gonna have to deal with it)

Published by rspazzoli on | Permalink

Around and around we go

Yesterday Jared and I requested an Uber for a really short trip back from the shops. We wouldn’t normally have done this, but Uber has given us R25 off 10 rides for this week.

The driver that picked us up was Zimbabwean and we started chatting.

He said it had been a really slow day, as it was both a Monday and near pay day. So he hadn’t gotten close to his goal for the day.

So when we stopped, we asked him if he wanted to start a new trip. Just across the road. That way he could cash in a few of the coupons we had.

And so we requested a new ride.

He accepted it.

We drove across the road.

Ended the trip.

And then repeated.

We did this 6 times (3 times back and forth), meaning he got R150 worth of rides in just a few minutes.

And it didn’t cost us anything (except for the tip we gave afterwards).

It was sneaky but also really fun. And we made him a little money, on uber, in the process 🙂

Image was taken on the prom today 🙂

Blog: 195/365

Song of the day: Haim – Want you back

Published by rspazzoli on | Permalink

Zim

Anywhere. Anytime.

“Are you from Zim?”

That question will launch a whole conversation.

Nostalgia.

Political debate.

Economic policy discussion.

We may be scattered all over the world. But we all know where we come from.

And one day we will return.

Zimbabwe

Image was taken with my oldest Zim friend when we were in Oxford 🙂

Blog: 194/365

Song of the day: Grace Kelly -Mika

Published by rspazzoli on | Permalink

Switching off

This weekend I put no pressure on myself to achieve anything. No personal improvement. No work.

And no guilt.

There are lots of things I could and should have been doing.

But I left them behind.

I let myself indulge and recover.

And now I’m ready for the new week ahead 🙂

Image was taken in the Greenpoint park this afternoon 🙂

Blog: 193/365

Song of the day: Help me lose my mind – London Grammar and Disclosure

Published by rspazzoli on | Permalink

Morning Routine Review

This past week I started a new morning routine. The idea was to get up at 6, meditate and exercise before starting the day.

I managed to wake up at 6 or 6.30 every day of the week. And meditated almost all the days. The exercising was the most difficult thing and I only managed it once.

The routine evolved a bit. I now wake up, make coffee, shower and get ready. Then grab my blanket and sit with Jared and watch YouTube videos.

The routine really helped me get momentum at the start of the day and helped me feel like I was on top of things. The downside though was that I ended up being really tired and fading towards the afternoon.

Will give it another shot next week and see if I can keep up the meditating 🙂

Image was taken at the Emirates stadium in 2015 🙂

Blog: 193/365

Song of the day: HAIM – Valentine

Published by rspazzoli on | Permalink

My ratchet phone

After my phone was stolen I dug up my old iPhone 5.

The screen is cracked. It was really slow. The battery lasted an hour. And the cover was broken.

But it was what was available at the time.

And so I replaced the battery. And now it lasts the whole day. And it’s quite fast.

It has all the basic functions I need, including email, whatsapp and blogging.

And I kinda think I’m gonna stick with it.

It’s not an iPhone X… but it matches my needs. And so it’ll do 🙂

Image was taken in Newlands forest a few years back 🙂

Blog: 192/365

Song of the day: Budapest – George Ezra

Published by rspazzoli on | Permalink

In flow

Today I got into a state of flow for the first time in a while. And it felt great.

According to the person who came up with psychological flow theory, Mihaly Cziksentmihaly, flow exists where the challenge matches the skill level.

When a person’s skill is higher than their challenge, boredom follows.

But when the challenge is higher than the skill, anxiety ensues.

My work challenges have been higher than my skill level for a little while now.

And it looks like I’ve been able to up my skill.

And subsequently, find flow.

Image was taken in 2016 when I was finishing an essay on a flight to Italy

Blog: 191/365

Song of the day: Bye bye bye – *NSYNC

Published by rspazzoli on | Permalink

Reframe the critic

There are some people who are close to us who often end up being deeply critical of us. And it’s difficult to get away from this.

An example of this is a friend who’s mom badgers her about her personal decisions. Constantly telling her that she hasn’t done enough, that she should get married and that she should think about having kids.

And this friend doesn’t want to get married. Or have kids.

But this doesn’t stop the mom. And it also has an adverse affect on my friend.

It can be hurtful coming from someone so close.

So one way to combat this is to reframe who the criticism is coming from. Ask yourself if you’d take advice from them if you weren’t related.

In the case of my friends mom, the mom is an out of touch, self cantered person from a tiny town who bases her worth on the perception of others. She failed at her chosen career and now runs a small business.

She’s not the right person to give my friend advice about her law career, her relationships or whether she should have kids.

And by thinking of it this way, we’re able to deflect some of the intensity of the criticism.

If you wouldn’t take their advice if they were a stranger, don’t worry about their advice just because they’re related.

Image was taken at Babylonstoren a few years back 🙂

Blog: 190/365

Song of the day: If I could change your mind – HAIM

Published by rspazzoli on | Permalink