The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

  • Book review: Tyranny of the moment

    , ,

    Subtitled “Fast and slow time in the information age”, this book by norwegian Thomas Hylland Eriksen details the struggle between two kinds of experiences. Fast time is when you’re doing 10 things at the same time. You’re talking on the phone while reading email, listening to the radio and half-following another conversation in the room. Slow time is when you focus on one thing only. You take time to cook a nice meal, to play with your child or to do nothing.

    Eriksen argues that the information age is geared almost exclusively towards fast time and that consequently we have to make slow time for ourselves. Eriksen also argues that in any contest between fast time and slow time, fast time will win, because it is immediately gratifying and (not least) addictive.
    (more…)

  • Conference bike

    I really, really, really, really want to try the conference bike.

  • Back from Goa

    ,

    We’re now back from Goa after two wonderful weeks that seemed to contain a little of everything and a lot of pool-side relaxation. Here are some pictures, and here are some highlights from the trip:
    * Feeding, riding and washing elephants. Not to mention being washed by an elephant.
    * A bookshop so cheap, that I bought 40 books to take home and give away.
    * The incredible service at the hotel.
    * The food. Aaaahh, the food :o)
    * Finding that once again, the happy at work project inspires people. We may even get the happy at work project India going, and if that’s not an interesting idea I don’t know what is.
    * Stirring up trouble at the Open Space on Open Space conference :o)
    * The sunsets.
    * Meeting so many wonderful people – both locals and at the conference.
    * The insane traffic. Cars, trucks, scooters and motorcycles. And bicycles and pedestrians. And cows, dogs, goats and more cows.
    * Fooling around with the new camera. Excellent!

  • In Goa

    ,

    Well, Patricia and I are taking a break from lazing at the pool enjoying the Goan sun to sit in the business centre and write a few emails, and I thought I might give a short update for those of you not here and for those of you coming later for the Open Space on Open Space conference.

    Executive summary: This place rocks!
    (more…)

  • Going… going… Goa

    ,

    Expect light blogging over the next couple of weeks, which Patricia and I will be spending in Goa, India. We’ll take some vacation time and I will participate in the international Open Space on Open Space conference.

  • We the Media

    Dan Gillmor’s new book “We the Media”, can be read for free on the net. The book is about how

    Grassroots journalists are dismantling Big Media’s monopoly on the news, transforming it from a lecture to a conversation. In We the Media: Grassroots Journalism by the People, for the People, nationally known business and technology columnist Dan Gillmor tells the story of this emerging phenomenon, and sheds light on this deep shift in how we make and consume the news.

    Yay!

  • Quote

    The First Law of Mentat: A process cannot be understood by stopping it. Understanding must move with the flow of the process, must join it, and flow with it.
    – From Dune by Frank Herbert.

    Dune is one of my favourite novels. I read it for the first time when I was 15, and I must’ve read it at least 10 more times since. It has a depth that reveals new details even after many re-re-re-readings. Frank Herbert has created a weird and wonderful world in intricate detail: Technology, religion, politics, ecology, warfare, history and much, much more are all described in a way that is elegant, subtle and above all believable. It’s a world resting in a long-standing precarious balance between mutually opposing forces – a balance which is upset once and for all. There are more Dune-quotes here.

  • Wikipedia: Coolest tool on the net

    Of course there’s no way you could engage thousands of people world-wide in creating a comprehensive, up-to-date, on-line encyclopedia. If you simply opened up the system, so anybody could contribute to any subject, it would be completely impossible to protect the system against vandalism, jokes and random errors. Such an encyclopedia could never work.

    Except it does: The Wikipedia may be the coolest application of the internet so far. I use it constantly and I find it to be incredibly comprehensive. But don’t take my word for it.

  • Open Source

    Here’s another testament to the power of Open Source development. Sourceforge (home to 80.000+ Open Source Software projects) interviews the people behind Azureus, the project of the month, and check out this quote:

    What has been your biggest surprise?

    Olivier: When I started this project, I didn’t know anything about the Open Source world, at least not as a developer. My biggest surprise was to see how much support you can get, and how people can involve themselves into your project.

    Alon: The incredible community involvement that Open Source seems to bring. Besides the core developers, many other people donate their valuable time to submit patches, test code, write documentation, do translations, provide tech support, express their thoughts and recommendations, and even donate money. People love to get involved. Azureus was my first experience in Open Source development, and I’ve been very impressed with the process as a whole.

    The Open Source movement is based on the assumption that people want to be involved and are willing to give freely of their time. The currency in Open Source is not money but rather peer recognition and a sense of accomplishment, and I’m sure that as a model, it will be at least as succesful as the corporate model we’re currently familiar with.

    And why limit it to software development? I’m sure that wherever you can set up a similar system, you can get people to contribute in the same way. We’re doing just that with the Happy At Work Project, where all our intellectual source code is Open Source – we’ll give it away to anyone who wants to use it, and hope that they’ll make it even better.

  • Open Space World Map

    I’m on the map. Go see, and click on Denmark.

    Michael Pannwitz rocks for being behind such a cool tool.

Connect

Get our newsletter

“I can’t believe it – a newsletter actually worth reading!”
– Subscriber

Over 6,000 people subscribe to our newsletter with tons of tips about happiness at work.

Get our books

“It’s very, very good. It’s incredibly well written, full of insights, and there are exercises to improve your own happiness at work. You can’t ask for more than that!”
– David Maister, author of Practice What You Preach

“What an inspiring book. Every leader should read it. This type of leadership has been integral to our success and I know it will boost your results too.“
– Garry Ridge, CEO WD-40 Company

Get Our Free Newsletter

Over 6,000 people already get our free newsletter with useful tips, videos, links and articles about happiness at work.
Subscribe to our newsletter here.

Top posts last week

Non-inspirational quotesOctober 22, 2003
Our 5 best tips to beat the post-holiday bluesAugust 6, 2025
Top 10 reasons why constant complaining is so toxic in the workplaceAugust 7, 2007
The movie "The Secret" is entirely fakeMarch 15, 2007
How to handle chronic complainersAugust 24, 2006

recent Posts