Welcome to The Spark, home to everything Team Mission Drive has found fascinating this month.
Welcome back to The Spark. We hope your May was merry.
As usual, here are a few things our brains spent the month musing over. It turns out as a collective we’re rather enamoured with walking, puzzle solving, and the much neglected art of ‘random acts of kindness’ (very much needed in today’s funny old world).
So, find yourself a shady enclave, buy that cake you’ve been hankering after, kick back and read on.
If you’re new here, welcome to the club. If not, welcome back old friend!
And if you’re after a more practical read in the world of marketing, why not check out our twice weekly digest Little Missions? Take a look, and maybe even subscribe to get it straight to your inbox.
This month’s Big World Stuff
Why a random act of kindness can make someone’s day
At the start of the year, three of my friends decided it would be fun to enter a triathlon. One of the three didn’t own a bike. So a group of us all pooled some cash together and bought him a second hand one. The cost to me wasn’t huge but my friend was almost overcome with joy and happiness. He told us that it was the nicest, unexpected thing that anyone had ever done for him in his life.
Now I'm not taking the high ground here or even saying that you should go out and buy a bike for the next person you see, but my friend's response really got me thinking about how far a small act of kindness can go in making other people’s lives happier.
This led me to find the Random Acts of Kindness foundation, who provide free kindness resources to help you make kindness the norm. This small nonprofit wants to make thoughtful acts normal, and it offers kits and guides on how to do it at home, work, and school.
There’s inspo, blogs and free resources, all designed to make doing that nice thing easier. So, why not surprise someone today?
The benefits of walking
May was Living Streets’ National Walking Month where they encourage swapping your daily drive with a walk, and taking small breaks to fit 20 minutes of walking into your day. This month, I spent a few weeks in the Philippines, and fortunately, I was able to avoid the infamous Manila traffic just by travelling outside of rush hour and… walking!
I stayed in Boracay Island for my first week and I spent most of my days walking as everything you need is within a 15-minute walk. The only form of transportation they have are tricycles which are convenient and cheap. However, I took advantage of the sunny weather and the beautiful coastal views and walked everywhere. Although I’d recommend always having a bottle of water in hand because it was scorching hot.
It’s much harder to walk to and from places in Manila as a lot of things are only accessible by car, but the area I stayed in, which is Eastwood City, is much like a small city within a city. Everything is walkable and there are nice areas to explore just by foot. Every day I made myself get out and walk at least 20 minutes, and it made a big difference on my physical and mental health.
5 benefits of walking that I’ve discovered:
- Maintaining a healthy weight
Whenever I go back to the Philippines, I always eat so much food because everything just tastes so good, so walking has stopped me from gaining too much weight. - Discovering new places
My friend and I stumbled upon a whole strip of bars on an evening walk. We definitely earned those cocktails… - Increased energy
Since becoming more active, I’ve actually had more energy. I’ve felt less lethargic and sleepy during the day. - Improved sleep
I’ve always had problems sleeping, but since being outside more I’ve been able to sleep a lot better and for longer periods of time. - Improved mental well-being
Just getting fresh air and spending some time outside does wonders for your mental health, especially on days that feel more heavy.
How I Learnt to Solve a Rubik’s Cube and How You Can Too
I’ve always been fascinated by Rubik’s cubes, and have always wanted to be able to solve one. When I saw a cube in the sale at Sainsbury’s – I couldn’t resist. Bargains and puzzles are two of my favourite things.
I admit the cube did spend a few months in a cupboard before I picked it up and attempted to solve it. And I soon learned that using trial and error to find a solution was a bad strategy, given that there are more than 43 quintillion combinations for the regular 3x3x3 cube. To put that number into perspective, it has 18 zeros, and is close to what you’d get if you were to square the Earth’s population. So to stumble upon the correct solution by accident is (nearly) impossible. However, if you were to pick up the pocket-sized 2x2x2 cube, this version has a much less scary 3,674,160 combinations, which you could solve in just four months of random moves (if you fancied dedicating eight hours a day to the task).
With the trial and error method out the window, I did what any rational person would do and turned to Google for the answer. Google delivered in the form of a very informative 24-minute video from WIRED, which teaches you a foolproof method to solve any standard Rubik’s cube. It will, however, probably take you longer than 24 minutes to remember the process and apply it. The video delves into the patterns you make and the subsequent moves (algorithms) you must follow to solve the cube without fail.
My advice? This is dedicated. You may want to carve out a few hours on a weekend morning with plenty of access to the caffeinated beverage of your choice if you’re serious about acing this semi-impressive party trick. It takes a fair few attempts to commit it to memory. But reader – I did it. I now just need an audience!
This month's Big Recommendations
TV to talk about
I’ve never known anyone that has a bad word to say about David Attenborough. Why would you? He’s a national treasure who’s still working in his 90s – an inspiration to us all. His latest project, Wild Isles, focuses solely on Britain’s ecosystem, and I can guarantee you’ll be surprised by at least a few of the magical creatures that call our isles home. However, many of their natural habitats are under threat like never before. In the final episode of the six-part series, there’s a hard-hitting look at how we’ve affected our country’s biodiversity. However, The BBC decided to only make this episode available on iPlayer (for reasons known only to them!) So if you’re time short – I recommend starting with exactly that episode.
Music to muse on
If you’re not familiar with Lofi Girl, firstly where have you been? And secondly, you’re missing out. Lofi Girl is a Youtube Channel that live streams lofi music 24/7 so you always have something to relax, study, work, and sleep to. It’s great for those who find comfort in background music, or those who like to work with music on but find their normal playlists too distracting to listen to. Earlier this month, Lofi Girl released a brand new character in the Lofi universe – Lofi Boy, birthing a brand new genre ‘synthwave – beats to chill/game to’. I’ve been listening to it while working and gaming and it’s definitely helped my productivity and focus.
Youtube tales
Green Renaissance is a YouTube channel funded by patrons (via Patreon) featuring regular short films that explore what it means to be human. Each one features an interview with an ordinary person, sharing parts of their life, their thought processes, wisdom, wit, and the extraordinary things they’ve been through. Beautifully shot and produced, they’re food for thought in a wonderful way. A personal favourite is How Much is Enough – where our protagonist waxes lyrical against society’s demand that we seek status and happiness via success, wealth, and material possessions (and how this pursuit of 'stuff' often comes at the sacrifice of our physical and emotional health). And this one on letting go of the ego delves into what it means to become wise with age, and how it's healthier to take time to reflect when we're bored instead of distracting our brains with social media or shopping.
Know someone who might find our newsletter interesting? Forward it onto them!
Received a copy from an excited pal? Sign up here to get The Spark delivered to your inbox every month (and give your buddy a high five).
Take care and we’ll see you next time,
The Mission Drive Team
Did you know?
Mission Drive are proud B1G1 members. Each and every month, when someone signs up to our newsletter, we plant 1 tree in the world. Click here to sign up.
