I have long believed that habits are the easy way to success (or failure). So I constantly look at my habits.
One success habit I have is bringing my lunch on most days.
Today it is halibut (that I caught in British Columbia), squash (the last one from last year), lettuce and potato salad. The herbs used were chervil, basil, onion tops and chives - all from the garden. The only part of the lunch I did not grow or catch was an egg and a bit of mustard to make the mayonnaise.
I never thought I was a foodie but I think I am.
Reasons why the "bring your lunch" success habit is a success habit include:
1 - I eat healthier with normal portion sizes.
2 - Saves $. Does not seem like much but it adds up over time. Even $10/day would be $2,000/year.
3 - Saves time. I figure even eating very close to work would cost an extra 20-30 minutes so this habit saves me a full week plus in time over a year. But the doubters will say but it takes time to make lunch. Not really - I always take left overs from the night before and it takes no more time to make a bit more of everything.
4 - Gives some informal time with co-workers. One of my best leverages is to have staff who are productive. Lunch is an informal time where interaction occurs.
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One success habit I have is bringing my lunch on most days.
I never thought I was a foodie but I think I am.
Reasons why the "bring your lunch" success habit is a success habit include:
1 - I eat healthier with normal portion sizes.
2 - Saves $. Does not seem like much but it adds up over time. Even $10/day would be $2,000/year.
3 - Saves time. I figure even eating very close to work would cost an extra 20-30 minutes so this habit saves me a full week plus in time over a year. But the doubters will say but it takes time to make lunch. Not really - I always take left overs from the night before and it takes no more time to make a bit more of everything.
4 - Gives some informal time with co-workers. One of my best leverages is to have staff who are productive. Lunch is an informal time where interaction occurs.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
And a plug for one of the businesses Canrock has funded. SEO Pledge gets people/products/companies on the first page of Google or gets them off if that is a problem. Please email me if you know of any business that could use their services and I will make the introduction.
SEO Pledge believes in 100% utilization of resources. One way a services business can do this is by working on products with any "free" time where they do not have client work to do. It also allows them to experiment so the work they do for other clients is even better.
So they have a couple of new sites up. Kinds of and Types of.
That looks pretty good! Slash, I should develop better eating habits in general... find myself forgetting to eat lunch and now my body is used to it. Probably not that health in the long run.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that more and more people should grow their own food. Perhaps they would appreciate food more and would not take it for granted.
ReplyDeleteI was growing up in Soviet Union in 1980s (and later in independent Ukraine after the Soviet Union has collapsed). During that time, a lot of regular people would grow their own fruits and vegetables. They would usually do it in their summer cottages - famous "dacha". Back then, most people would grow their own food out of necessity. For most people (except the high Communist Party and government leaders) fresh vegetables and fruits were in limited supply and only during the warm days season (summer and a bit of fall). The vegetables in special vegetable stores (we did not have supermarkets which offered all kinds of food) were of lower quality and in limited supply. You would need to have special connections with the director of the store if you wanted to get the best stuff. So, if you wanted to have the best quality and fresh fruits, vegetables, and berries - you better grow it yourself.
A lot of people would spent their summers on "dachas" taking care of their own grown vegetables and fruits. In the fall, they would preserve their harvest to make sure they have supply during cold winter months.
As a kid I was helping my grandparents to take care of the fruits and vegetables on their small "dacha", that was a lot of fun (although, frankly, I hated it back then :). By the way, that was not always an easy job as it would require a lot of manual labor. For example, since we would not use any pesticides, we would have to carefully look at every potato plant and collect every single bug to make sure they don't destroy the plant (on the baking sun during hot summer days). We would have to do it every day we are on site. We would also have to take care of each of other 20-30 varieties of fruits, vegetables, and berries we would grow. For my grandparents that was a full time job, but they loved it (they were retired so they had time).
I guess in North America, with steady supply of fresh and good quality fruits and vegetables in supermarkets (although you never know how it was grown), most people don't really have a need (or desire) to grow their own food. Especially when all of sorts of other entertainment is available (sports, bars, television etc.). Also, a lot of people are busy in with their jobs and put a lot of overtime, which leaves them less time for gardening.
I think your idea to start a movement to encourage people to garden is great! Good luck with that if you really decide to do this :)