Welcome To The Green Living Blog

Let The Green Journey Begin

First Published Date: October 19, 2013 ADawnJournal.com

I believe it was Kermit the Frog who first said, “It’s Not Easy Being Green”. And he had a point, too, because it seems like hardly a day goes by without new information coming to light about something that we had previously considered to be perfectly acceptable, rendering that thing now completely beyond the pale. Trying to do our best by the planet is a tough job, but it’s also worthwhile. Fighting the good fight and keeping our planet in some sort of condition that we will be happy to hand over to our grand kids, though far from easy (we hear you, Kermit!), is something that, with a bit of forethought, can be done very efficiently, and can even be a lot of fun.

We will look to bring to light different ways of keeping yourself environmentally sound. Knowing how to harness things that are already freely available and use them in a different way can make you more environmentally friendly. There is also a certain amount of myth busting to be done – where people pay lip service to green issues and swear that they are environmentally aware, they should be made to put their money where their mouth is.

“Green Energy” is a big buzz phrase right now. With car companies looking to plant their flags on green territory by developing hybrid vehicles, and some going as far as to develop fully electric cars, it is dawning on everybody that we are living in changed times, and that the change is not over yet. What are the most environmentally friendly companies? Who are the most environmentally friendly governments? How can we ensure that we are doing everything possible to make the future environmentally sound? These are all things that we will hope to illuminate for you.

As well as all of this, we plan to provide a bit of a different slant on the Green world. How to eat Green, drink Green, travel Green – sure, we will have all of this, but there will also be tips on how to bring a green tinge to every other part of your life while not hurting your pocket and not having any less fun. Green issues may not have caught everybody’s imagination just yet, but as people come to realize that a Green life is compatible with the way they want to live their life, things will come naturally.

So welcome, and let us know what your views are on these issues and any others that play a part in the environmental debate. We want to know what you think, and what you want to see and read here. Do you find it easy being green, or do you find that it’s too hard to live a green life in a world that has gone so far down another path? We do not claim to have all of the answers, and if you have any that we do not, then we’re always happy to hear from you.

To streamline and minimize blog maintenance, I will be discontinuing maintaining the Thegreenlivingblog.com website (however, I will still hold the domain). I will gradually move all articles from this site to A Dawn Journal. This article originally published on the above website on Feb 6, 2009.

How Productive Are Canadians?

Canada’s Productivity

First Published Date: July 31, 2013 ADawnJournal.com

A recent report “The Future of Productivity” published by professional services firm Deloitte looked at productivity in Canada compared some other parts of the world. Today, I will go over some highlights from that report.

How does Canada compare to other parts of the world? We are productive and growing fast, but not as fast as some other nations. For example, from 2001 to 2009 Canada’s productivity growth was far below Australia’s and even from small countries like Austria and Israel. An average American worker generates $13 more per hour than a Canadian worker, a Norwegian worker generates $29 more, and an Australian worker generates $2 more. Countries like Korea and Russia sit on top of productivity growth, while countries like Switzerland and Denmark sit at the bottom.

When it comes to launching new start-ups, Canada has one of the highest levels of launching fast-growing companies by entrepreneurs. However, in terms of holding onto those start-ups, Canada is lagging behind. Canadian firms are not investing enough in R&D (Research and Development), which is essential to sustain growth and expansion. The top five OECD countries to invest in R&D are Israel, Korea, Finland, Japan, and Korea. The bottom five countries are Turkey, Slovak Republic, Poland, Mexico, and Chile. Canada sits somewhere in the middle and ranks below OECD average.

One interesting fact is that one in three Canadian companies do not know or understand that they are underinvesting in research and development, and in machinery and equipment that are vital for sustainability and growth. The full report The Future of Productivity – A wake-up call for Canadian companies can be accessed on Deloitte Canada website.

What Is The 80-20 Rule And How To Use It

What Is The Pareto Principle And How To Use It

What Is The Pareto Principle

The Pareto principle, or the law of the vital few, or the 80-20 rule was the work of an Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto. Pareto observed in Italy in 1906 that 80 percent of the land owned by 20 percent of the population. Later on, Pareto observed the same 80/20 proportion applies to many other aspects of life. This observation gave us the Pareto effect or Pareto law which has been known universally. Simply stated, the Pareto principle is – a large proportion of results come from a small proportion of works or causes (a vital few).

Why You Need To Know the 80-20 Rule

You need to know the 80-20 rule to use your time and efforts more intelligently and efficiently to become more productive. If you can track the 20 percent products or works that bring you the most (80 percent) results, you can emphasise on these 20 percent and cut down the other 80 percent unproductive, time wasting tasks you do. Knowing your productive 20 percent and unproductive 80 percent will put you on the edge and you will be better equipped to handle your entrepreneurial journey than anyone else.

Some 80-20 Suggestions

Here are some common scenarios where you can apply 80-20. These are just some example to show you. Find out your own situations where you can apply the Pareto principle and prosper.

– 80 percent of your sales come from 20 percent of your products. Find out these 20
percent and improve them to get more sales.

– 80 percent of your work is being done by 20 percent of your employees. Take good
care of these few employees and decide what to do with the rest.

– 80 percent of your errors come from 20 percent of causes. Fix these 20 percent
causes first.

– 80 percent of the things you do daily or monthly, only 20 percent are really
important. Do these important 20 percent with utmost care.

– 80 percent of your results (or income) comes from 20 percent of your works. Do
these 20 more often to get better results.

– 80 percent of the time you use (wear) 20 percent of your stuffs (clothes). Eliminate
the other 80 percent you never use and live clutter free and less stressful life.

– 80 percent of your failures are coming from 20 percent of your wrongdoings. Eliminate
these 20 percent and succeed more often.

– 80 percent of your health problems are coming from 20 percent of your unhealthy
habits. Cut these 20 percent bad habits and live a healthy life.

Well, I can go on and on with this list forever. But these should be good enough to give you an idea. Find your own situations to apply Pareto rule and prosper.

Some Interesting A Dawn Journal Facts In Light Of The Pareto Principle

Here are a few interesting A Dawn Journal facts:

– 80 percent of visitors are coming from 20 percent countries

– 80 percent of traffic is coming from 20 percent articles

– 80 percent ad revenues are coming from 20 percent keywords

Final Word

I do believe in Pareto principle, but I don’t believe the 80-20 matrix is always constant. I think it fluctuates and disperses from the exact 80-20; however, it stays very close to, or within plus or minus 80-20 range. For example, it makes sense to assume that lots of times 80-20 proportion will actually be 70-30, 65-35, or even 85-15.

Productivity and Feeling Happy

Feeling Good Increases Productivity

 Feeling good has lot to do with how productive we are. When you feel good and happy, your energy level gets a boost and increases productivity. Difficult tasks seem less difficult and endless problems resolve faster than you thought it would take initially. Our body releases several hormones when we feel good, such as Oxytocin and Serotonin, and we feel calm, cheerful, and in control – helping us to concentrate better with an increased level of productivity.

However, due to stress, day-to-day distractions, and various other factors, it may not always be possible to feel good and happy. I will go over some simple things you can do to overcome the negatives that prohibit you from feeling good and being happy.

Empty Your Mind - It’s hard to feel good with a clogged mind. A tangled and overloaded mind can’t make you happy. Here is more on How to empty your mind. 

Confidence - Confidence is one of the most important things you will need to be happy. When you are confident, you can face and tackle any challenges – and that’s when you become happy. Accept your weakness and learn how to become confident.

Better Yourself - Your learning journey and efforts to make yourself better should never stop. Changing yourself to a better person is not easy. But once you start the journey, you will be self contained and filled with joy and happiness.

Embrace Simplicity - Find happiness in simple things, live with less, and help others. You don’t need money to live a rich life. A rich life is living with minimal possessions and helping those who are in need. The good feeling you will get from doing so is something that money will not be able to buy.

Feeling good depends on various factors and most of these factors can be learned and practised. As you learn and start practising these factors, you will notice your positivity and good feeling will go up, along with your productivity.

How to Make Decisions

Steps to Make Decisions

We make decisions from the moment we wake up till we go to bed on a daily basis. Some of the decisions we make intuitively and some of the decisions we make by giving it a lot of thinking and consideration. Decisions have a huge impact on our lives. Some of the decisions we take can make the difference between being alive and dead within seconds (such as while driving) and some of the decisions can impact our life immensely after 10-20 years (such as investing in the right type of assets or getting married to the right person). Who we are today is based on the result of the decisions we made in the past. Who we will become tomorrow or in the future will be the result of the decisions we make now and in the future. It is important throughout our lives to make the correct decisions to increase our success rate of living a better life.

Decisions can be roughly categorized in two classes, regardless what sorts of decisions they are: Calculated decisions and non-calculated decisions. Let’s take talk about these two a little bit.

Non-Calculated Decisions – Emotional decisions, intuitive decisions, decisions based on past experience, and so on are all examples of non-calculated decisions. Most of the decisions we take daily are non-calculated decisions and we don’t think or spend much time on these types of decisions. Although non-calculated decisions seem to be not that important and we are in habit to decide on it fast, making the wrong non-calculated decision can ruin our life, just like calculated decisions.

Calculated Decisions – These are the decisions that are systematic, analytical, logical, and calculative. We take a long approach and do a lot of research and follow a step-by-step procedure to come to a conclusion. Most of the life’s big decisions fall into this class. Some examples are: Who should I marry? Should I quit my current job to accept another offer? Where should I retire? Should I be an entrepreneur or a 9-5 employee for life?

Now, is there any way to make a better decision? While there may not be a single, foolproof approach to make better decisions, here are some steps to consider in making good decisions.

1. Identify your decision or the purpose of the decision

2. Identify your objectives or what you are expecting from the outcome of this decision.

3. List all the possible outcomes that can happen due to this decision.

4. See yourself to the extent of each of these outcomes. Look at all the pros and cons that will come due to this decision.  Imagine yourself living with one or several of the outcomes that will happen due to your decision. You can add your past experience, knowledge, intuition, calculation, analysis, etc. to seeing yourself how things will be, how comfortable and happy you will be, and how better it will be for your future because of this decision.

5. Make the decision that you like best in number 4.

Sometimes decision making can be really tough regardless of how much thinking you put into it. Research has shown that it is incorrect to think that calculated decisions are always better than instant, snap decisions. There will be times in your life when you will need to make decisions beyond logic and calculation – based on your instincts or emotion. This is just fine. We humans are emotionally driven quite often and following logic or calculation will not simply make sense during those times. If you need to make a decision, whether it’s a calculated or an emotional one, make a solid decision, regardless of whether it makes sense to others or not. Stick to your concrete decision to the end – and if it happens to be a wrong decision, have no regrets. Just learn from it and move towards the future.