How to Live Your Values

(And Not Become a Cyborg!)

We’re so excited to share talk with Daniel Sih about some of the big problems facing community living and some of the solutions he’s come up with.

Daniel Sih is the co-founder of Spacemakers, a productivity consulting group for busy leaders. After experiencing physical symptoms that were the result of working in the “always on” culture of internet connectivity, Daniel became passionate about helping people make space in their world for the things that really matter - like family, reflection, rest, and recharge.

We’ll talk a bit with Daniel about his book, Space Maker: How To Unplug, Unwind, And Think Clearly In The Digital Age. It contains a whole new way to think about how we spend our time AND some concrete suggestions about how to reclaim some space in our lives through both ambitious and simple changes.

In addition to carving out more personal space for peace of mind, Daniel recognized that he needed to push back at the atomization and isolation in our culture and actively create a sustaining community for himself and his family. Over a decade ago, he bought land and built two adjoining houses with another professional couple in Tasmania, Australia.

We’re really interested in learning about how these two families (and their neighbors) learned to share life and land as an intentional  mini-community. It sounds like the community got a little spontaneous, too, as neighbors joined in. Over the years, Daniel and his extended family learned about the limits of good intentions and the importance of structure to keep a community healthy through all seasons. Their solutions are ones that you might find yourself thinking about, even if your intentional community is just one family sharing a house.

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Music Credits: “Colorado-Slinkies” by trout recording“Everyone-Everywhere” by_Jayme_Stone

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Key Takeaways: 

• Families and intentional communities are hard and require our full humanity and our dedicated participation. 
• Want to be more human? Reduce your screen time and increase your alone time AND your time with community
  • Don’t take your phone into your bedroom.
  • Eat dinner at a table w/o screens
• Make a commitment to community rituals and gathering and subsume your calendar to those commitments. ​

Connect with Daniel Sih

• The Space Makers Website 
• Book page: https://spacemakers.com.au/book/
• Free chapters: https://spacemakers.com.au/book/free-chapters/

 

• Guest’s Social Media
  • Facebook www.facebook.com/shiftthewayyouwork
  • Linked In profile – https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-sih-86944a12/
  • Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/spacemakerdan/

Sustainable living resources: 

• Arcadia Power - Switch to renewable energy

(Full disclosure: If you use this link to sign up, we get $10 off our electric bill!)

•  Hosting a Community Dinner - https://thefamilydinnerproject.org/guide-to-hosting-a-community-dinner/

Dive Deeper on the Topic: 

• Read Jean Twenge’s Book IGen - Why Today's Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy--and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood--and What That Means for the Rest of Us 

Read Cal Newport’s Book Digital Minimalism Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World