Thursday, July 31, 2008

We Are What We Do

I was pointed in the direction of a great site today: We Are What We Do. It is a simple way of reminding people that all of the little things that we can do every day will make the world a better place. (Here's my public action list if you're interested.)

The key thing here is the word 'better'. Far too many people find themselves paralyzed by the enormity of the task of making the world 'perfect'...lower your standards, and things actually get done!

And that is the lovely, simple premise of the book The Better World Handbook (already in its second edition!). I had the great honour of being involved in a wacky one-day festival in Vancouver a few years ago that was celebrating this book.

Now the word is getting around, and people are happily lowering their expectations to better the world.

What did you do today?

Lori

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

About lowering your standards: Denmark was recently rated the happiest nation on Earth, and a 60 Minutes segment discovered that it's because Danes have realistic (ie., much lower than American) expectations and are happier with their lives as a result.

I do like the site you linked to and their suggestion that we can pay more at a thrift store than the ticket price. As a big fan of thrift stores, I'm going to do that.

Lori said...

Also reminds me of the book Status Anxiety by Alain de Botton.

The Nag said...

What a great idea.

Anonymous said...

I like it too.