This post is one of the free bonus chapters that go together with my eBook “Expat Flow”. You can get the book here.
Work is one of the main forces keeping people where they are. Somehow, even in the modern world, it seems wrong to think that people can just work anywhere. With these three tools, a future expat or a digital nomad can easily achieve the middle ground. They can appear to be in their office, and get things done just as easily, while at the same time working anywhere.
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This post is a free bonus chapter to go with my book “Brave Language Learning.” You can get the full book here.
Today’s post is about one of the four language skills that’s really hard to practice: writing. Can you get more practice in foreign language writing without big changes to your routines? And how can you write more in another language when there is nobody to exchange writing with? These three changes can be easy to make.
This post is a free bonus chapter to go with my book “Greensplaining”. You can get the full book here.
Eating less meat is one of the steps you can take to live a little greener. (If you’re wondering why, go to the reading list below this chapter for sources). On paper, this sounds good: eat less meat, help climate change, maybe live a more healthy life. In practice, though, it’s hard. How can you tweak your diet to be less meat-reliant? Try these three questions, and ask them often.
This post is one of the free bonus chapters that go together with my eBook “Expat Flow”. You can get the book here.
If you wait until your project is 100% ready, you might wait forever. Ask anyone (Tim Ferriss is a good person to tell you this) – “someday” is not precise enough. But what to do when your expat adventure just needs a bit more clarity? What if you need to have some more security before you launch – what if just thinking about it is too complex?
“Agile” is a term I used to love to hate. Now I see that it’s actually a useful way of working, and I learn more about agile management every day. But can agile techniques be used in lifelong learning? And how can something as corporate as agile management help a person learn a skill?
This post is a free bonus chapter to go with my book “Greensplaining”. You can get the full book here.
Living a green life is sometimes as simple as picking the right solution for your everyday needs. These four Kickstarter projects will inspire you to think about the changes you can make – even if they don’t involve buying new green gadgets!
The excuse I often give myself is that it’s just hard to find something that fits the change I want to make – that I’m unique, and my problems are one-of-a-kind, and I have to stick to my non-eco ways because…you know the drill.
This may have been the case, but now it’s changed completely. A few years ago, it was a bit awkward to look at some home-grown solutions to ecological problems. Nowadays, affordable design and the network economy mean that more people get involved in each new green product more often – which, in turn, means better fit and better quality. Take a look at these four ideas to see what I mean.
This is simplicity itself. A better flip-flop is made from more sustainable materials, uses less pollution when produced, is made in a fairer environment and is kinder to your feet. It’s one of my favourite kinds of crowdsourcing: one idea and one product which does one thing well. Olli is already funded and is about to happen this summer. I’m not a flip-flop fan, although seeing the stylish design, I may flip-flop on this issue myself (geddit?).
As of April 2017, this project is only just kicking off, and could use your support. Using greener stuff to clean your houses and yourselves isn’t exactly new, and Common Good were a US brand that did well in this area. Their new project introduces bigger packs called refill boxes – good for you if you buy it (lasts longer) and good for the environment (you don’t end up using lots of packaging). Reminds me of old-time multi-gallon tanks of dish soap and washing liquid we used to have in my cornershop way back when…it’s curious that you need a Kickstarter to bring back a simple idea like that!
If Apple sold showers instead of iPhones, it would sell this. The shower is supposed to use 70% less water, give you a completely new way to experience showering – and it also looks seriously well-designed. The project got funded and then some, and is shipping in August 2017. (If this doesn’t appeal, try installing an hourglass timer in your shower to cut the showering time and save water!)
This is a gadget which helps you grow edible mealworms. It helps you feed them (they like veg scraps) and gets them ready for eating (by cleaning them up and sorting out the baby worms so they can grow into fully-grown meal-size worms). If this freaks you out, well, you’re not alone. But here’s the thing. Eating meat is going to become trickier and trickier. And as far as protein sources go, mealworms are pretty good (and don’t taste like much – believe me, I tried). LIVIN Farms hive is pricey, but that didn’t deter the backers who will now help make this a success.
These projects were started by people who saw an eco problem and turned it into a green opportunity. You can do that too. If you can figure out a way to live greener by “scratching a green itch” (however gross this sounds), then your solution can help other people out there. And if you’re not that ambitious, well, at least you switched one habit to something more planet-friendly.