A short time ago, Janet Hopkins (otherwise known as mum) and a crew of willing supporters such as the guys from Hello Medical and the Young And Well CRC got together to run the second Lantern Mental Health 2.0 Unconference. A special thanks to Doug Millen, Eddie Harran and Brent Hall for being so involved and doing the heavy lifting in making it happen.

This years one looked even bigger and better than the first one and looks like the participants got a lot out of it. I wasn’t able to make it this year, but it’s been fun following it from afar. I already can’t wait for next years installment.

The guys from Hello Medical have put together an awesome video capturing the day, as well as the brilliant website unconference.org.au. Yes, unconference.org.au! How cool is that. Check it out.

Here’s hoping for a second award…

It’s been a really busy day for me the last few days. Busy in a good way. Work has consumed me, and that’s been ok. Sometimes this worries me, and it has at various times over the last few days, but I’ve reminded myself that it’s just part of the process of moving at velocity. As such, I’ve missed a few days of blogging (!), which disappointed me at first. Let me explain.

I’ve often spoken about being mindful and staying aware of your mind whilst you’re in the middle of a situation. I’m always working on getting better at this, because it’s something I think I’m not naturally very good at. I’ve often had anxious moments, often for hours or days at a time. Continued stress, in the traditional sense, often causes this.

But by stress, I want to instead talk about it being a consistant effort towards a particular goal. Defined in a more physical way, the word stress is used to point to a strain put on something in one particular direction. You may strain against a set of ropes, which causes them to become stressed. We are no different in work and life. We may strain to do the things that we do – in fact, we should be concerned if we’re NOT straining. When we strain against something, it means we’re probably pushing up against an edge that exists for ourselves. Chronic strain, however, is not a healthy thing for a human and this is where we begin to feel stress as we define it in a more mental health aspect.

So, I’ve been straining to deliver and understand things at work lately. And I’ve really been enjoying it. It’s still been something I’ve been very mindful of. I can feel myself changing tasks and the energy that drains from me. I’ve needed to keep my mind in the same place to get most out of it. And so, I decided to miss a couple of days of blogging because I could feel the amount of effort that would be involved in doing that and how that would add too much strain into my day.

But, as Nick Crocker says, missing a few days isn’t a bad thing when you’re building a habit. Just get back to it and in a beautiful way that’s probably what I’ve learnt most in the last 3 or 4 months that I’ve been working on blogging more. I know I can just pick it up back up again and get going.

So, to all those of you taking part in the #b03 this March and are worried you’ve missed a day, don’t worry about it. Just make sure you mark off your habit calendar tomorrow. 🙂

When I moved to Sydney two years ago I always hoped and planned on running a Trampoline here. Well, it looks like we’re about to do just that!

Working with the awesome Caroline McLaren and with some help from Pat we’ve just announced that Trampoline will be happening in Sydney on Sunday, April the 15th.

Photo by @jonathannen

Tickets will go on sale this Friday. Make sure you’re on the mailing list to get notified when that happens.

We’ll begin the day in the very cool Oxford St Design Store in Darlinghurst, and sessions will take place there and in the neighbouring co-working spaces Home/Work and Fishburners. A huge thanks to Alex, David and Josh for playing host to us at their respective spaces.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Joe Robens posted something quite a while ago outlining how he uses email. I’m always a fan of these posts because it gives me an insight into how serious operators (like Joe) manage the flow of opportunities, collaboration and ‘stuff’ through their lives. I’m a fairly big fan of the GTD methodology myself and have worked hard over the last few years to get better and better at managing my inbox, but I must admit at times it gets away from me. This past 2 weeks has been no different.

Things at Yammer have been heating up as we approach our Yammer On Tour events, as well as a number of awesome things happening with our clients. I also took a few days out to watch Rose swim to Rottnest Island. All of that is a recipe for an overflowing inbox. My personal inbox is in a state of disrepair at the moment – something i’ll need to fix this weekend.

So, reading Joe’s advice I’ve taken a few extra little hints with me to manage the inflow. Here’s a few things I’m going to try.

1) First up, i’ll be removing _every_ notification message I can from my stream and placing it in a label. I’ve tried doing this before, but to no avail. I’ll go through my inbox today and try to remove the things I like to read, but add noise, into another place.

2) I really love the idea Joe raises of moving any message I’m CC’ed on into another label. This makes sense as he outlines it, but I wonder how many times people would email me with a CC and still be expecting a reply? It can’t hurt to give it a try. If you need a response from me, address your email TO me.

3) Likewise, If I need a response from someone I’ll now be placing their name in the ‘TO’ box.

That’s it really. What did you think of Joe’s post? How do you use email?

I wanted to share probably the best photo I’ve ever taken with everyone. Those of you that know me know that I love going for a swim at the rock pool at Bronte. The way the morning air and sea come together is amazing and just has a way of resetting me.

This photo was taken just after dawn, after we went swimming with Rose’s parents Charles and Judy.

When you come and visit Sydney, or even if you’re a local, let me know if you want to visit.