Cataloging in Publication Data: A catalog record for this publication is available from the National Library of Canada.

Copyright 2009 by Inspire Enterprise. All rights reserved. First printing January 2009. Written by: Paul Edney Designed by: Sara Huber Creative team: Paul Edney, Sara Huber, Phil Solman, Debbra Mikaelsen, Martin Russocki, Bambi Edlund Images: Paul Edney and Dreamstime Stock Photography (www.dreamstime.com) Illustrations: Martin Russocki, Sara Huber and Steve Heynen Special thanks to: Rachel and James Edney, Jeremy Edney, Alice Kalia, Joel Kalia, Terran Orletsky, Bernice Raabis, Tom Atkins, Anika, Catherine, Scott, Elsa, Jessica, Ruby, Seth, Maia, Natasha and everyone else who made this book possible. Thank you. Printed in Canada by Hemlock Printers Ltd. Paperback ISBN: 978-0-9811596-0-7 Inquiries regarding requests to reprint all or part of Inspire Enterprise should be addressed to: Inspire Enterprise 3140 The Middle Road Nelson, BC V1L 6M3 Canada To order books or for any other inquiries, please visit our website at www.lnspireEnterprise.com

work

Work!is!a!big!part!of!life.

On average, we spend 96,360 hours of our lives at work. The only thing we do more is sleep. Why do we do it? For practical reasons: it pays the bills and keeps us busy. But beyond the practical, work fullls other fundamental needs: Our need to be creative Our need to contribute Our need to feel part of something bigger than ourselves And when we set our minds on achieving that something, weve proven, time and again, that nothing can stop us. This is the power of the human spirit. This book is dedicated to harnessing that power. Each action in the book is a small gesture that creates connection: Connection to ourselves Connection to each other Connection to the planet We believe that the secret to making the world a better place lies not in grand gestures or lofty mission statements, but in simple shifts in our daily lives. As the Chinese poet, Lao Tzu wrote: Begin difcult tasks when they are easy. Start great things when they are small. For the difcult tasks of the world were once easy. And the great things of the world were once small. And a thousand mile journey, begins with one step.

The journey starts here...

Simple ! Action:

Turn!off!the!tap!while! brushing!or!shaving!
Youd be surprised at how much water it saves.

BIG IMPACT
In fact, if 200 people were to do this daily, in a year theyd save enough water to ll a bucket the size of the average house. Thats one BIG bucket.

Simple ! Action:

Eat!a! proper! breakfast

What did you have for breakfast this morning? Be honest. We wont even ask if you were walking or driving while you ate it.

BIG IMPACT
Studies show that eating a healthy breakfast increases energy, lowers cholesterol, improves concentration, aids weight loss, keeps blood sugar levels stable and will undoubtedly improve your ofce olympics performance.

Simple ! Action:

Take!public!transit
Advantages: It saves money, no one cuts you off, you can read the paper, its good for the environment... Disadvantage: You cant sing as loudly as you would in your car. Unless you form a commuter choir. Bus Gospel anyone?

BIG IMPACT
Switching your commute to existing public transportation for a single day can reduce your CO2 emissions by 20 pounds. Thats more than 4,800 pounds in a year (which, simply put, is the weight of one elephant).

Simple ! Action:

Car!pool

What would you do with all the money youre not spending on gas? Heres an idea: for around 30 bucks you can give a goat to a family in a developing country. FYI, chickens are $15.

BIG IMPACT
Carpooling for a year, with 2 colleagues on an average short commute = 6,160 pounds of CO2 saved (which, simply put, is the weight of one really fat elephant). Not to mention those huge savings on gas, car wear and tear, parking, etc.

Simple ! Action:

Take!the!initiative
At school in 2001, Alex (then age 5) heard about a local project to save a large area of timberland near his home from logging. For four weekends in a row he set up a lemonade stand and sold lemonade from sun up to sun down. He made $134.50 and donated every penny.

BIG IMPACT
A week away from the deadline the project was $175,000 short. Things looked hopeless. That is until Alexs Grandma, spurred by his generosity, called up and donated ALL the needed funds. So pick an action youre passionate about and take the initiative. Sometimes the ripple you start turns into a wave.

Simple ! Action:

Dont!go!to!work

Not to be confused with Dont work. What we mean is, discuss the possibility of telecommuting with your boss. Obviously this is not going to work if youre a bus driver, a reghter or an astronaut. You get to save on commuting time, stress and cost. Your boss gets to rent out your parking space and cubicle. Everyones a winner.

BIG IMPACT
The average worker spends 12 days a year commuting to work and research indicates that staff who work from home actually achieve more, even if they do it in pink uffy slippers.

Simple ! Action:

Video!conference! instead!of!travelling
No, youre right, its just not the same. Theres no jet-lag, no table for one, and no aimless channel surng until 2am.

BIG IMPACT
For every 600 airmiles you dont collect youll keep the equivalent of 940 pounds of CO2 out of our atmosphere (the weight of your average male polar bear).

Simple ! Action:

Take!a!5!minute! break!and!do!nothing

You may be surprised to know that even doctors say doing nothing is really good for you. It reduces anxiety, stress and depression, while increasing self esteem and happiness. So, Dont just do something, sit there. Doctors orders.

BIG IMPACT
Studies show that workers who take regular, structured breaks actually get more done and are happier than those who keep plugging away non-stop all day.

Simple ! Action:

Use!a!mug
Next time youre out walking, take a look around. We bet youll see a few used cups crushed on the sidewalk, under a park bench, or sitting half-full on a ledge. Our culture seems to have this disposable attitude. Maybe its time we disposed of it.

BIG IMPACT
North America uses 50 million trees a year to satisfy its paper cup habit.

Simple ! Action:

Resist!the!urge!to!email
Why not pick up the phone instead? Or if at all possible, walk over and have a face to face conversation. Its so much more civilized.

Send

BIG IMPACT
One study showed that it takes an average of 30 minutes for people to get back to whatever it was that they were distracted from when responding to email.

Simple ! Action:

Praise!people
Im amazed at how quickly youre getting through this book. Well done, you!

Did I mention that agenda you sent through was sheer poetry?

Rarely have I seen such an organized work-space...

Feel good? Psychologists say that in order to have a satisfying relationship we need 3 positive interactions for every 1 negative. Now stop dilly-dallying. Get out there and change the world. Please.

BIG IMPACT
We could point to lots of research about the positive effects of praising people at work. But we felt that would take something away from the real motivation for doing it.

Simple ! Action:

Have!a!local!lunch
We suppose having lunch would be the rst step. The second step would be to take your full lunch break to eat it (AWAY from your desk). So, for advanced users who have completed one and two, step three is to avoid food thats travelled a long way. Not only does it help the planet, its better for you.

BIG IMPACT
The shorter the distance travelled, the more vitamins and antioxidants the fruits and vegetables have. Antioxidant-rich food help prevent various nasty diseases, boost the immune system and slow the aging process.

Simple ! Action:

Ditch! polystyrene! and! plastic

Arent you worth it?

BIG IMPACT
For every take-out polystyrene container NOT produced, approximately 6 pounds of CO2 is kept out of the atmosphere.

Simple ! Action:

Use!both!sides
The rst time I tried to print on both sides of the paper I got through 11 sheets before I mastered the machine. It seemed like a waste at the timenot to mention being mighty frustrating. But within a week Id saved 53 sheets of paper. This year Ill save 2,756. And thats just me. By myself. One person, in my little cubicle.

BIG IMPACT
A company of 500 employees could save approximately 1,300,000 sheets of paper a year. Thats 162 trees. A year. Every year.

Simple ! Action:

Go!outside
Take a deep breath. Cough, hack, splutter move away from the smokers. Take another deep breath. Feel the peace.

BIG IMPACT
Fresh air cleans your lungs. Deep breaths bring more oxygen into your cells. More oxygen brings greater clarity to the brain, which needs twenty percent of your bodys oxygen to function.

Simple ! Action:

Drink! fair! trade

Look deeeeeeply into this fair trade cup of coffee. What do you see? If you see a family able to make ends meet, send their children to school and feel proud of themselves, great. If you see a three-headed goat in a tutu, you need to get out more.

BIG IMPACT
Supported by proceeds from the sale of fair trade coffee, the National Coffee Fund in Colombia has built over 6,000 schools, enabling over 360,000 children to attend local primary school.

Simple ! Action:

Turn!the!lights!off
When you leave a room, turn off the lights. Even if you think youre coming back any minute. Chances are youll get distracted and itll take longer. Like the guy who stepped out quickly to buy milk and came back 3 months later...

Sorry it took so long, they only had skim.

BIG IMPACT
By turning off youre saving money. Youre saving energy. And youre giving a damn.

Simple ! Action:

Reduce
Things that should be reduced: energy (turn it off) paper (think before you print) travel (video conference)

Re-use...
Things that should be re-used: packaging (boxes, bubblewrap, etc.) paper (scraps for notes) envelopes

Exceptions: fruit & vegetable servings kindness consciousness

Exceptions: coffee grounds chewing gum toilet paper

P.S. Chocolate is NOT a vegetable

BIG IMPACT
For everything reduced or re-used you are: Keeping CO2 out of the atmosphere Reducing the amount of stuff going into landll Saving money

Simple ! Action:

!Recycle

BIG IMPACT
Printer cartridges take over 450 years to decompose in landll, OR they can be used to make plastic decking lumber that will pretty much NEVER rot. Five large plastic soda bottles can be recycled to produce enough polyester fabric for an XL T-shirt or one square foot of carpet. If the average westerner recycled all the newspapers they read each year, they would save around ve 35 foot high trees. Recycling one glass bottle saves enough energy to light a 13 watt compact uorescent lightbulb for over 30 hours.

Simple ! Action:

Unplug!your!cell! charger
It sucks power, even when it isnt powering your phone. And that sucks.

BIG IMPACT
If every one of North Americas 100 million plus mobile phone chargers were left plugged in they would consume enough electricity to power 264,000 homes.

Simple ! Action:

Take!the!stairs
Everest = 29,028 feet high 1 ight of stairs = 12 feet Did you hear that? Thats the sound of the gauntlet being thrown.

BIG IMPACT
Studies show that the risk of cardiovascular disease and death is lower among those who are regular stair climbers.

Simple ! Action:

Shut!down!your!computer! before!you!leave

Here are a few fun things you can plan to do when its booting up again in the morning: 1. Make a paper airplane and sail it across the ofce. 2. Make two cups of coffee, one for you and one for someone who looks like they need it (NOTE: Dont say you look like you need this when making the delivery). 3. Sing happy birthday at the top of your lungs. Its bound to be somebodys.

BIG IMPACT
By shutting down computers at night, a business with 100 computers could save up to $1,650 a year in electricity costs and keep approximately 6.5 elephants worth of CO2 out of the atmosphere.

Simple ! Action:

Walk!more
All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking. Nietzsche Either there or on the toilet.

BIG IMPACT
Walking reduces the risk of coronary heart disease and stroke, lowers blood pressure, reduces high cholesterol, reduces body fat, enhances mental well-being, increases bone density, helps to prevent osteoporosis, helps exibility and co-ordination, AND you get where you wanted to go.

Simple ! Action:

Dont!take!work!home
Does anybody have anything to add to the agenda this evening? Joey, youre on minutes. Katie, could you action ice cream for dessert?

BIG IMPACT
The average ofce worker could increase their family time by 6 hours a week if they stopped taking work home with them thats 300 hours in a year.

Simple ! Action:

Turn!your! cell!off
Being available 24/7 is nothing to be proud of. Being present in the moment is.

BIG IMPACT
Youve got to admit that it feels pretty special when someone starts a conversation with Im just going to switch my cell off so you can have my full attention.

Simple ! Action:

Volunteer
Why not start by volunteering to get a coffee for someone whos busier than you? Thats how Mother Theresa got started. (Allegedly.) And then when you get back to your desk, type volunteering in <<YOURCITY>> into your favourite search engine.

BIG IMPACT
Studies show that volunteering improves health, increases happiness and lengthens life expectancy. Its amazing how much you get when you give.

Simple ! Action:

Ask!someone! how!they!are
Meaningful conversation is a casualty of our speed-dial, fast food, 24/7 culture. So the next time a telemarketer calls offering you yet another credit card: How are you today, Mr. Mispronouncedname? Lay it on them, baby. Tell them about that persistent spasm in your left eyeball, the questionable sushi you had for lunch, and your aunts hip replacement. And if theyre still on the line when youve had your say, give them a chance ... but enough about me now, how are you?

BIG IMPACT
Asking gives a person the feeling that they are important to you. This leads to improved self-esteem, which, studies show, leads to a happier, healthier person.

Simple ! Action:

Spend!some!quality!time
Start with yourself. Then focus on someone you love. Make a list of everyone who is important to you and then go through the list one by one.

Kids Mom Dad Bro Sis Auntie Minnie Geor ge Clooney Angelina Cameron Diaz

BIG IMPACT
Research indicates that giving quality attention (not to mention receiving) leads to better mental health and reduced stress.

Simple ! Action:

Say!thank-you
Id like to thank the academy, mom and dad, my babysitter from grade 6, and everyone who made this book possible

BIG IMPACT
Grateful people report higher levels of positive emotions, life satisfaction, vitality, optimism and lower levels of depression and stress.

Simple ! Action:

Rip!up!this!book
Tear out these posters (carefully please). If theyve inspired you they are bound to inspire others. So go crazy nd a location and then pin it, stick it, tape it etc

BIG IMPACT
Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean. Ryunosuke Satoro

Now!what? 1. Take Action 2. Measure

Small actions have a BIG impact. Well prove it to you. Set up your own company Action Tracker at www.InspireEnterprise.com.

3. Involve
Involving colleagues is key to making change. It also makes it a lot more fun. Ideas and initiatives available at www.InspireEnterpise.com.

Need support? Inspire Enterprise will help: Workshops to explore and measure organizational vitality (Are you ready for change?) Consulting (How to make it stick.) Inspiring speakers (Ra, Ra, Ra.) Contact us: info@InspireEnterprise.com

The journey continues here

Inspire Enterprise connects, empowers and inspires people to change the world at work.
Looking at the world with levity, and using inspiration rather than alarmism, our objective is to encourage you, the people who make organizations what they are, to simply change the world at work. At Inspire Enterprise we recognize that the issues of environmental impact, team building, change management, and health and wellness are all interconnected. Organizational change is a journey, not a destination. This book is the rst step.

$19.00

ISBN 978-0-9811596-0-7