A few years ago I watched the documentary produced by Leonardo di Caprio: Before the Flood.

I was fully convinced by the movie that climate change is the biggest threat facing humanity today and saw it as a perfect showcase of the extent to which politics and greed have destroyed this planet.

Here’s what I had written back then.

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So what can we do about climate change? We can, of course, support politicians and groups that are working to stop this wanton destruction of our environment. Moreover, we can vote with our money. What I mean is that the purchases we make help influence the supply chain of products.

If we continue buying meat, for example, we will encourage the big industrial agriculture companies to continue to rear the animals that give us this meat.

Did you know that the global livestock industry produces more greenhouse gas emissions than all cars, planes, trains and ships combined?

It might sound strange because we tend to think of pollution and climate change as being caused by machinery and means of transport. While those are certainly causes of pollution, the livestock industry is a bigger cause of concern.

Appetite for meat is rocketing as the global population swells and becomes more able to afford meat. Meat consumption is on track to rise 75% by 2050, and dairy 65%, compared with 40% for cereals. By 2020, China alone is expected to be eating 20m tonnes more of meat and dairy a year.

These are crazy and unsustainable figures. To put things into perspective, take a look at the chart below showing land use, freshwater consumption and emissions from agriculture and production for plant-based vs animal-based foods.

Diet shifts could have large benefits in terms of global warming, apart from being good for you.

I’ve always tried to stick to a healthy diet and lifestyle, but knowing the above I will now make further tweaks to my diet.

Entrepreneurs like Elon Musk are also working on the climate change problem. In this documentary, Di Caprio visits Musk’s Gigafactory in the Nevadan desert. The Gigafactory is the latest project of Tesla founder Elon Musk. Once at full operation by 2020, the vast factory aims to be producing annually 500,000 electric vehicles and batteries/cells equal to 85 GWh/yr. A hundred of these factories would produce enough sustainable energy to power the entire world.

Bravo Elon Musk, I love what he is doing and we need more entrepreneurs with grand visions like his.

Coming back to the topic of food, which I believe is where our choices can have most impact, here’s what action I’m taking.

I have decreased my consumption of beef; eating it at most once a week. I’ve also eliminated dairy completely apart from the occasional yoghurt.

I’ll also be trying to eat locally-sourced foods as much as possible. In this global economy of ours, food is transported over thousands of miles to reach us. This causes pollution from the means of transport, and of course, also means that that food is not as fresh as locally sourced food.

It’s good to see that change is happening, and I’m excited to be part of this change myself. If you love the documentary and want more material to dig into, I can suggest a great book that I’ve just finished reading myself: This Changes Everything by Naomi Klein.

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I like to look back at how my beliefs change over time. I’ve been growing more and more skeptical about hyped public opinions over the years, and the COVID mask and vaccine-mandate bullshit really illustrated beyond any doubt that most people are sheep and most politicians have perverse objectives, so one needs to be very careful when examining big ideas like climate change.

While my consumption of beef has always remained fairly moderate, and my lack of dairy consumption these days has more to do with optimizing my diet than saving the planet, I’ve come to revisit my opinions on climate change, and honestly, I’m not that sure of things anymore.

There’s one thing that stands out to me as being full of shit, and that’s climate policies. Here’s a podcast that addresses the issue. Another key things that springs to mind is that while there is a lot of talk about renewal energy, we are still ignoring our cleanest source of energy – nuclear. All this because people are scared of it and therefore politicians don’t want to touch the subject because they know they will lose votes.

It seems evident to me that the subject of climate change is a deep and nuanced issue so you need to spend a lot of time researching to have a strong opinion on the topic. I look forward to reading more myself, so if anyone has any good links to books or other materials feel free to drop them here. I think everyone should be interested in the topic both from an investment angle and as a more general future of humanity one (in our lifetime and those of our children).

I’m also old enough to have been through several climate change scares and narratives. This post is basically what I would have written myself about the topic so I won’t be repeating it. But as a reminder to myself, as a child we were indoctrinated to believe that:

• a 1-degree Celsius rise in global temperature would irreversibly damage our global climate
• a massive hole in the ozone layer is threatening our survival
• we need to curb our usage of fossil fuels because we will run out of them shortly after the end of the millennium
• forests were being depleted at an alarming rate

While all points had some element of truth, there was an alarmist attitude that I’ve grown to despise over the years. I love going into the weeds with any topic that I feel is relevant to my life (and the survival of our species would definitely count as one) but I don’t like being preached at with exaggerated claims just to be coaxed into whatever action governments wants me to take. And that’s my big issue with the climate change movement.

On the other hand, there is no question that the investment landscape has been affected by climate change policies, as highlighted in the podcast I mentioned earlier. On that front, I think one could find some juicy investment opportunities based on the policies that have been or will be implemented to prop up some industries and sectors. One could also be rightly incensed at the misinformed opinions about topics like Bitcoin mining, where climate change is unjustly used as a weapon to attack Bitcoin to further another agenda.

From a lifestyle and future perspective, it could inform our decision on where to live, also planning for our children’s future life. We’ve already seen some climatic changes over our lifetime that have made some areas more dangerous/troublesome to live in, so it makes sense to think about that. And on a more long-term vision, I think we could also spend time thinking and researching about our transition to an inter-planetary species. Climate change or not, I think humankind is destined for this move and I hugely respect Elon Musk’s thinking and vision in that area.

People who are very vocal about climate change will immediately point out that people like Mr Peiser in this podcast are climate change deniers. This is typical nonsense that you also hear as soon as someone expresses any concern about topics like vaccines. They are immediately labeled an anti-vaxxer. Peiser doesn’t come across as a climate denier to me, although it is also true that he is not a scientist and therefore that’s a valid perspective to keep in mind. He says as much in the podcast, but I also fished out an excerpt from a previous interview of his: “there is a general agreement on CO2 and greenhouse gas: that we are pumping CO2 into the atmosphere and that this will have a warming effect. This is agreed by everyone so that is not the real issue. Even the skeptics agree to that. So, this is a red herring, because no one denies the basic physics, no one denies the basic facts.”

We are living in an increasingly polarised and short-sighted political environment where popular opinions trump skeptical and more nuanced views, and there is absolutely silencing of non-popular opinions as well as the extreme pushing of certain agendas that might not be wrong in themselves, but become problematic when politicians take control and start the brainwashing engines. So it pays to be an independent thinker and move towards being self-sovereign in as many ways as possible.

To reiterate, on this particular topic of climate change, I’m keen on learning more about all the relevant angles, so I welcome suggestions on how I can deepen my knowledge on the subject.

We all know that once a certain level of basic income is reached, time starts to become the major constraint as everyone has the same 24 hours a day.

While our waking hours are more or less fixed, we can definitely optimize things to make the most of them. Do you think you don’t have time for some things you want to do? Think about the following:

Children aged 2-11 watch over 24 hours of TV per week, while adults aged 35-49 watch more than 33 hours, according to data from Nielsen that suggests TV time increases the older we get. The average American watches more than five hours of live television every day.

When I first read that I was shocked. While this study was done in the USA, I’m sure people in other nations are not doing a much better job at using their time wisely.

Booking your time in advance

I recently interviewed Curtis McHale on the Mastermind.fm podcast, and one of the key takeaways for me was the importance that Curtis gives to his time. In fact, he books time slots for the whole week in advance. I’m not just talking about his work day, but also time spent with his family, personal time etc. Absolutely everything must be planned for in advance.

This might sound like a rigid approach, but I like it a lot and am trying to implement it myself. Of course unexpected things will always crop up but then you can shift things around that. Most of our days are pretty regular and for most of us the unexpected big things will be few and far between.

Curtis’ method is especially useful for self-employed people and entrepreneurs who usually have almost total liberty on how to spend their days. Many times I struggle with seemingly stupid decisions that waste my time and use up energy that can be better employed elsewhere. For example, when I wake up in the morning, many times I have to decide whether to train in the morning or the afternoon, and what kind of exercise to do. This might sound silly to you but I’m sure you can find other areas in your life where you have a similar problem with deciding on how to best use your time.

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Like many other entrepreneurs, I suffer from the shiny object syndrome.

That’s a fancy phrase to describe the excitement I feel on a daily basis as I encounter stuff that I’d love to own, places I’d like to visit, and business ideas I’d like to pursue.

When I was younger and reading for my university degrees, this wasn’t so much of a problem. I could read about a lot of stuff and maybe try new things out here and there, but I had a clear objective every year: pass my exams and graduate to the next year of my course.

As I grew older and started my own business, I also achieved the freedom to work on whatever I want, wherever I want, and whenever I want. That sounds great on paper, but it also means that I have to take clear decisions on the what, where and when.

That’s when the shiny object syndrome can prove to be a huge distraction that has the ability to paralyze even the best entrepreneurs and lead to them only achieving modest success in life when they could have achieved much more.

I have to fight this sense of paralysis every single day as I can’t help myself from getting attracted to many subjects out there. It could be a simple email newsletter from an airline announcing some new destinations that leads to me dreaming for an hour or more about said destinations and planning my next trip. With no real barriers to me visiting those destinations, the urge to indulge in this daydreaming is high.

I could mention a thousand other examples. For example, in business, having a WordPress plugin development business leads to me coming across many small niches that could be catered for by a new business plugin. Perhaps there is already a plugin that I use for some purpose and it sucks, and I can easily see how I can improve on it. It doesn’t take much for me to start planning out a way to conquer that niche, leading to a few more wasted hours.

The shiny object syndrome as you can see can lead to a monumental waste of time as well as a depressed state of mind at the end of the day/month/year when I realise how much time I spent investigating different directions I could take but not having gone down any of those paths.

As I said, I still fight this syndrome on a daily basis, and this is just me sharing one of the things in life that I find most challenging, so I’d love to know from others who feel the same way as I do and how they handle it. On my part, I like to think that I’ve become a bit better at handling shiny objects.

Shiny Object Syndrome Antidotes

The most important change in my behavior has been my use of a virtual buffer zone. Let me explain by giving you a few examples.

Books

I come across many interesting books that simply scream out to me and beg to be read, be it at the local bookstore, library, or recommendations from friends and peers. Rather than order them all and then get depressed due to owning a large number of unread books, I now use Goodreads to create a to-read list that I can then get back to when I’m finished with the current book or two that I have on my shelf.

Articles

Articles are another potential shiny object for me, so whenever I come across a good article I’ll simply Pocket it. I will then get back to these articles during a commute or breakfast. That was I avoid getting distracted in my productive work hours. I also never end up reading all the articles, as things that looked amazing and irresistible have a funny way of becoming the plainest and most uninteresting things just a few hours later. Funny how our minds work.

Business Ideas

Being born with an entrepreneurial spirit and mind, I am quick to spot business opportunities. However it is impossible to act on every possible opportunity, although I’d love to do so. A good technique I’ve found is to keep a list for each month containing a number of items  I want to do for that month. The first two items are the two epics (the most important achievements) for that month.

They usually are the more meaty tasks that will take some time and concentration to complete. Every feasible business idea that I get first gets listed in a list of business ideas, and at the end of each month I will evaluate the current state of things and if I want to proceed with any of the ideas in the list I’ll see where I can fit them in on the monthly calendar. You can use Trello, Workflowy, or even have a manual whiteboard process for this.

That’s about it, some insights on how I deal with the shiny object syndrome. Would love to know your experiences and thoughts on this subject.

Update January 2023 – I’ve also stopped actively using Twitter (removed app on my phone) and Instagram. I was never very active on Instagram, but whenever I did happen to open the app I found it extremely addictive and invariably brought me down, as it highlighted all the amazing lifestyles everyone seems to be having and gave me major FOMO. So I created a new Instagram account just for my own art, where I only follow artists that exclusively post art, which I in turn use as inspiration. I also love to connect with artists and this is a good tool to connect.

I am also very active in my own community (The Good Life Collective) as well as other select communities I’m in.

Update January 2021 – I highly recommend reading this and this. I also found the documentary movie The Social Dilemma to be an excellent portrayal of the dangers and damage of social media.

Update March 2017 – I have now stopped using Facebook in any meaningful way. I still have my profile active, so I haven’t technically closed the account, however, I no longer use the platform and indeed have it blocked on all my devices using Freedom.to. If you want to block it without using Freedom, you can have a look at this post. I also stopped using LinkedIn.

After one month of taking this decision, I feel great and I don’t plan on going back. First of all, I’ve gained 30 minutes to 1 hour daily. This does not only take into account direct time checking out stuff on Facebook, but also the switching cost of going from productive work to checking Facebook and back. That’s up to 7 hours per week gained, which is absolutely awesome.

Secondly, I don’t compare my life to others as much. I’m not one who typically does that, but looking at all the photos and videos of other people is directly aimed at provoking such feelings, and it does take its toll in the end.

Thirdly, I have stopped oversharing and going into petty arguments with people online. There is no point really in sharing small random thoughts or photos on Facebook, at least not to me. I found that it promotes a culture of fast consumption, where the urge to post is almost a reflex action as soon as I get served a great plate at a restaurant, hear a nice quote, or visit some place with incredible views. Now I can just enjoy the moment and focus on sharing it with whoever is present with me, because that is what really matters. This slow living style has also helped me think about things in a deeper way, and consequently post in long form on my blog rather than post shallow statuses on Facebook.

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Every once in a while I hear of someone who has decided to exile himself from Facebook by closing off his account. I also know a few others who have never joined.

Myself? I’ve been a Facebook user since the very early days, having joined in 2006. That makes it 10 years of Facebook usage, yay!

When I hear that someone has left Facebook I almost always stop to think about it. A little rebel spirit inside me urges me to consider doing the same. We all know that Facebook is the biggest enemy of productivity don’t we?

Well, is it really?

I’ll be the first to admit that yes, at times I have spent way more time on Facebook than I should have. The problem wasn’t Facebook itself though, it was something deeper than that. As I have grown to be more organised and productive in general, the “spending too much time on Facebook” problem seemed to slowly fade away. I therefore came to understand that the real problem had been a lack of time management and also a lack of motivation to do the task at hand.

This year I am making a concerted effort to outsource those parts of my job which tend to bore me or slow me down, hence increasing the chances of me procrastinating and finding outlets like Facebook to entertain myself instead of doing that dreaded piece of work.

If we discount the typical problem of Facebook being a huge time sucker, the next thing to consider is whether this social network is of any value at all. Am I just part of the people watching herd? Do I use it for learning random useless tidbits on other people’s lives?

Turns out that no, I actually use Facebook for some very useful purposes.

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One of the most important places for a digital nomad (and indeed any worker) is his/her work space. Many choose to work from home or from cafes, but increasingly there has been a shift towards places that offer a better plug and play (work) solution.

Enter the coworking space.

I’ve tried countless spaces and on many an occasion had an “Oh this is a wondeful space, if only they had…” reaction to a coworking space. I’ve thus decided to dream up all the elements that would be part of my ideal coworking environment.

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