From idea to results

Many people get ideas. Wacky ones, silly ones, very unpractical or unfeasible. Then there are some that actually take shape and become reality. I have great admiration for people who achieve their goals from creating results from their nutty ideas. It’s a beautiful thing.

How about creating a restaurant out of thin air and wrapping it around a tree? Close to Warkworth, north of Auckland you will find a restaurant that’s very special. Tracey has achieved her goal: her restaurant is literally up a tree and she is taking bookings and recently, high teas as well. Check out her endeavors on: www.yellowtreehouse.co.nz/#

DIY or getting a specialist

Are you often wondering as well whether to tidy up your garden or have a guy come in to mow the grass and kill the weeds? My husband and I have had discussions in the past about our lifestyle block. What shall we do with all the paddocks and what are we going to put where?

To be honest I am always very happy to get someone on board who knows more about a specific topic then I do. This is because of two reasons:
1.) I like delegating (love it!) and 2.) I have a tendency to not want to rack my brains about things I know are way out of my league.

When I met Stefan Mutch, our landscape architect, I knew straight away I met a guy who knows his stuff. He showed me designs he had done and as a creative, I was impressed. Presto! I thought: no more discussing trees and paddocks and what natives to plant where and going over details that make my head hurt. Great! Please hand me my glass of wine thanks very much.

So we started off with a wee chat on the land and Stefan visited us and got onto it. He started describing his ideas with great gusto and we started to picture his Grand Vision for our modest block of green. Nico my husband was listening to him with a little sceptical glare in his eyes at first because of all this excitement but got into it when Stefan kicked it up a notch. He started to 'paint' the way the new driveway could go and how that would improve the privacy of our block and the setting of the house. True, it’s easier to move a driveway then a house of bricks and also it would give our house that ‘sitting on a hill nestling in the trees look’ satisfyingly snoring in the sun. I was straight away sold on the whole concept from start to finish. Brilliant!

It took another session of convincing my DIY husband that yes, Stefan was the expert not us and that yes its worthwhile investing in a professional who actually knows what he is doing. Why? Because 1.) Peace of mind as he does the working out what goes where and 2.) More time on our hands to deal with other stuff and to actually have time to go to the beach.

Isn’t life great? Don't you just love professionals...

The Smell of Coffee

Life is like a big stage. People come people go and you’re standing there blinking at the spot lights getting itchy from the layers of makeup. Do we conjure up lines as we go? Do we follow the script? Do we run screaming from the stage? Do we lie on the timber floor falling asleep? Which one are you?

I am not one for scripted ways of living but I have to say there’s a lot to be said for some planning. After all, if you do not know where you have been and where you are now, would you have a clue of where you are heading? If you have an inkling of where you like to aim for would you know what you’d be doing in a year’s time, two? Three? Ten? I always have some clear ideas about my designation (not destination in case you thought I put the wrong word). The point is to enjoy the trip while in transit. I have found I needed to re assess these field days however. Now I do this on a 2 month basis as my life keeps changing so quickly.
My eldest brother used to drive me mad with his overly planned life when I was a kid. He’s ten years my senior. I thought his planning was plain creepy. Whatdoyoumean you know what you’re doing when you’re 30, 40, 50, 60? Still, one grows up and starts to smell the coffee. So where from here?

I reckon it’s good to do a few things:
Self management (not others)
Prioritize activities
Set goals clearly
Know about The Now and the Horizon
Execute plans

Assess and Follow up. Right. Have we got that? Get set, ready, go!