WorkSpace: The Yoga Geek Desk

If a cluttered desk signs a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?

– Albert Einstein

There is a lot to be said about workspaces and their impact on the way we work and learn. The iconic Lifehacker blog even features customised workspaces regularly, showcasing how desks can be all they can be. This week Lifehacker founder and arguably one of the most powerful women in tech, Gina Trapani, blogged Why and How I Switched to a Standing Desk. The article had a massive and wide-ranging response. In response to my comment on it, I received a request from Terry J. Benzie in Taiwan for a picture of my desk setup. In the name of social media, I am responding with a blog post.

The Yoga Geek Desk

My workspace is built around my rather unique quirks and foibles. These involve comfort, cost, cleanliness and capability.

Comfort: I am most comfortable sitting cross-legged on the floor in a position known in Hatha Yoga as sukhasana, the “easy pose”. The desk is set up on a runner carpet on the floor, where I can Zen out to my heart’s content.

Cost: I love spending money on worthwhile things. Being semi-nomadic, furniture is not one of them. My desk is a simple coffee table where I set up my laptop with all the necessary gadgetry on hand (but usually out of sight). Storage space is provided by A4 photocopying paper boxes aesthetically reworked.

Cleanliness: Living in a desert, dust is the enemy, so I store my video camera, microphone, external CD writer and maintenance equipment where I can reach them but the dust can not. This also leaves my space uncluttered. (Unlike Einstein, I would say that a clear desk affords me a clear mind.) 

Capability: This setup makes it possible to do everything I need while working at the computer. I do find it important to get up and do something else every now and again. Rather than listening to and watching podcasts at the computer, I set up my Galaxy Tab on the monitor of my stationery bike and get moving.

This setup is perfect for me. One thing would make it even better: if I could elevate the whole shebang from this height to a sitting, or standing, desk when necessary. That is the next frontier. Meanwhile, I am perfectly contented.

What Gear? I am not a gear snob and live in a small, isolated town, so my choices are limited. However, my trusty gear serves me well. From left to right, an HP F2480 printer-scanner-copier, Shure PG58 microphone with X2U USB converter, my ageing but wonderful HP Pavillion dv6700 Entertainment laptop, Genius Traveler P330 mouse, Samsung Galaxy Tab, Edifier M1350 speakers, LG external CD drive, iPod Nano and Sony DCR SR200digital video camera. 

My New Love: The Samsung Galaxy Tab

This blog, as the title subtly reveals, is about learning (and my rather fanatical obsession with it). While learning is hardly a new thing, today there are new ways to learn that harness the knowledge and insight of individuals, groups, and ultimately, humanity. Hence my new love: the Android-powered Galaxy Tab by Samsung, on which I am blogging right now.

Technology is not a solution to learning problems, but developments like the tablet can empower us to grasp learning opportunities. Schools have started experimenting with tablets, and although I agree with the spirit of this, it strikes me as premature. When teachers do not yet grasp the medium, and materials are still in such early stages, I believe the time is not right. (Oddly, there has been a flood of interest in the iPad as the education tablet of choice despite the high costs and notorious incompatibility of Apple products. A great product, yes, but not suitable for mass education.)

The question does persist whether these devices will be used optimally by learners. That, I believe, is where educational organizations still have a vital part to play. How do we spark the quest for knowledge? How do we provide materials that are so compelling that learners will prefer education to entertainment?

In the name of science (as apposed to self-interested, technofetishist gadgetlust) I have taken up the delightful burden of experimenting with a tablet that holds promise for education in the future. Hence the Galaxy Tab. I truly do believe that the ultra-portable dimensions, open software platform, powerful memory and battery life and a multitude of other features make devices like these ideal for education. The actual challenge now becomes opening our minds to what is possible, and equipping educators for their new role in all this while we as a species learn the belated lesson of working together and playing nice.

I am off to play with my new toy, reminded that the Latin word for 'school' and 'game' were one and the same: ludus. Expect future posts on my ludic learning curve. Meanwhile, see the ebedded album for screenshots from the device. I plan to keep updating these as my discoveries continue.

If you are interested in the Galaxy Tab, you can get a biased view from the official site, but also see the official demo video and consider a few reviews - the good and the bad. I adore this device, but it will be eclipsed by better and cheaper gadgets running the tablet-specific Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) within a few months. Still, no regrets!

*Confession: This blog post was written on the tab, but links were added on my laptop. It can be done, but I am still learning. Which is the point of this whole blog, right?

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The Life Cycle of Dreams Come True (or: How to Get What You Want)

A key aim of lifelong learning, which appears in my work with both WorkshOPD and the ThinkGold Group, is making dreams come true. If this seems like a lofty pie-in-the-sky, self-helpy ideal, consider this: why do we learn? Is it not to make our lives and our worlds better? Those are dreams that deserve realisation.

Recently, I have been blessed to be surrounded by a blossoming of dreams realised. A spate of friends, family, acquaintances, colleagues have seen the fruition of the visions they have nurtured, from publications to new business ventures to major sponsorships and more. How did this happen? In this blog post I propose the life cycle of dreams realised. In the light of my previous post, let us think of a dream as a seed.

The Seed – The Sprout – The Seedling – The Fruit – The Quiet Season

1. The Seed

Our dreams, visions and ideals come to us as little nuggets of unformed potential. Those great ideas – the great novel, the catchy lyric, the foundation for world peace – are lovely, but the details are hardly clear. Like a seed, a dream is a slumbering universe of possibilities. What we do with it determines what will be.

2. The Sprout

If we nourish a seed with water, fresh air, warmth and fertile soil, it sprouts. If we nourish a dream with constant attention, it, too, begins to stir into life. Of course, mere dreaming is not nourishment enough. For a dream to sprout, it requires deliberate, systematic thought. And as much as a seed needs water to grow, a dream requires action. Passively dreaming is unlikely to yield results.

3. The Seedling

As sprouts grow into seedlings, they become bigger and stronger. As dreams begin to take flight, they build their own momentum. Yet neither should be left unattended: the necessary action must be taken. For many of the people in my life whose dreams have come true, this has involved proposing their plans to people who can make things happen.

(In my own case, this has involved approaching my college to approve a consultancy agreement with a local institute, to which, in turn, I proposed the benefits of running my WorkshOPD course. I want to emphasise that what made these proposals work was not that I asked for something, but that I showed those stakeholders how they can benefit from something that happens to be an avenue to my dream. Everybody wants to win: when you make that possible, things happen.)

4. The Fruit

Visit a farm at harvest time and you will find that the blessed bounty of a full harvest presents problems of its own. All that fruit must be sent where it is useful, or preserved for the quiet season to come. When it comes to dreams, we are often so concerned about failure that we forget to prepare for the challenges of success. A great example is small businesses, which often struggle to keep up with demand once they take off. When planning for our dreams, we should also plan how to make them feasible, sustainable and, like the farmers, provide for the quiet seasons ahead.

5. The Quiet Season

Nature shows us that everything has a natural life cycle. Plants reach the end of their lives – but they leave seeds that can once again spring into life for the next season. Dreams that have reached fruition may wane again. This is when it is important to have provided for the quiet season. It is also the time to go and look at that new batch of seed – the new dreams – and begin the process once again.

What, you may ask, of dreams that don’t come true? My belief is that if a dream is nurtured and a way to its accomplishment is intelligently and actively pursued, every apparent failure is valuable feedback that will lead to heightened success. If a goal is actively and intelligently pursued, and this feedback responded to, there may be delays, but success is on its way. The only failure is giving up.

May this be a year where many dreams are nurtured and, in good time, brought to fruition.

For more on nurturing dreams into life, see ThinkGold Productions.

For tools to make it happen professionally, see my WorkshOPD Resources.

Illustrations: Marie-Therese C. Le Roux
Disclosure: I am a member of the ThinkGold Group and creator of the WorkshOPD course. 

The First Treasure: Inspiration for a New Year

It is always good to start a new year with fresh inspiration. I hope 2011 has had a perfect beginning for you, and that it will be brimful with health, happiness and unprecedented success.

I am starting my year with a series of inspiring and thought-provoking activities. This really puts things in perspective for me. It is The Seven Treasures, an experiential guide to the classic text As A Man Thinketh by James Allen. As A Man Thinketh is an insightful and empowering text, but a heavy read. The Seven Treasures activities make the ideas practical, fun and easy to understand.

The First Treasure is a reminder of the origin of things, the great potential that sleeps within small beginnings, and the certain outcome determined by those beginnings. The first chapter of As A Man Thinketh shows how our thoughts mould our character, while character rules our actions, which ultimately determine the circumstances of our lives. The First Treasure really brings me to terms with this process. How? By sprouting seeds! Just as each seed can only grow into a certain plant, each thought can only result in a certain bent of character, matching actions and ultimate results. A seed can also only sprout if it is given the necessary attention: water, air, light, warmth and soil.

Over the past days I have enjoyed growing my symbolical mung beans and pondering what the thoughts are that I nurture in my own mind, how those thoughts sprout into character, action and results. Truly food for thought. The photo diary at the top of this blog post documents the adventure. 

The First Treasure is available as a free download at http://scr.bi/firstreasure. The full text is published exclusively by ThinkGold Productions at www.thinkgold.org. Make the Seven Treasures your own - and share them!

Disclosure: I am a founding member of ThinkGold Productions, publisher of this unique and original edition of the text. If I had not been reading this book for the past six months as an editor and publishing partner, I would have been reading it out of sheer fascination.