Unbalance the seesaw

Some things work better when they’re unbalanced.

A seesaw isn’t one of them.

Unless your goal isn’t to go up and down, but to elevate something and ground another.

If life was like an unbalanced seesaw, success comes when we hold our hopes lightly, and ground your expectations in reality. Elevate our hopes with anchored expectations.

Light hopes, grounded expectations. And on the seesaw:

High hopes, low expectations.

The beauty of preparation and planning

There are few baseline fundamentals when it comes to making the world a better place. Here's a couple:

1. It works better when we work together.
2. You never know what is coming.

Planning and preparation are key to both of these.

Prepare together. Align your thinking. Uncover your strengths and weaknesses. Learn to communicate. Resolve conflict. Agree on principles.

And then when an unexpected decision-making moment arrives: Check in on each other, check alignment, check strength, and act decisively.

Crucial moments rarely allow time to think everything through. So have 80% of the conversation before the moment arrives. And develop the skills to nail the last 20%. 

Cover off the basics of the decision using pre-established principles, and discuss the details that arrive in the decisive moment.

* This is more about life than about property, but I suspect you could apply a similar logic to a house project.

You, me and Johari

The Johari window is a simple framework that helps describe our relationships. Within the relationship, everything falls into one of four quadrants (of the window)

1. Things about me that we both know.
2. Things about me that I know but don't share (so you don't know)
3. Things about me that you know but don't share (so I don't know)
4. Things about me that I don't know, and you don't see.

These four categories can be labelled as Open, Facade, Blindspots, and Hidden.

One philosophical approach to life using this framework is to propose that our life's work is to fully open our window. This requires sharing, listening to feedback, and reflecting/seeking expert input.

If we use this framework to consider our (my/your) relationship with the idea of property ownership, we arrive at four interested questions:

1. What things are obvious and out in the open for all to see?
2. What attitudes do we have that no-one know's about?
3. What do our decisions, choices and conversations say about what we value in property?
4. Are we aware of our unconscious attitudes and external influences that set up our natural biases?

The things that draw us together

Connection is what counts in life.

Our homes can help bring us together in meaningful ways.

• When we live small and so share more.
• We we share food.
• And prepare food.
• In celebration.
• When creating, making and crafting.
• And also working, building and labouring.
• Shared silence in the lounge with a good book.
• A smile and wave while walking past.
• A cup of tea sitting on the deck.
• Talking past midnight, then crashing on the couch.

Our homes should help to make more of this happen, more often, for more people.