The following post is by MPFJ staff writer, Sally. Sally is the blogger behind TinyApartmentDesign.com, a blog about design, living well, and simple, tiny spaces. Enjoy!
Without really meaning to, I’ve spent my entire career working on different aspects of commercial and public infrastructure.
It’s ranged from the payments industry to transit/transportation and construction. I never connected the dots, but each of my jobs has been in industries that tackle big issues, albeit my role has been miniscule in the process.
Infrastructure is about putting the tools and systems in place to allow societies and individuals to meet certain needs. This can range from systems that allow you to use the same method of payment across the country, to creating public spaces that can be used for recreation, education and community events. It’s about having a network of roads, gas stations and more recently, electric charging stations to allow you to drive across country without it taking several weeks in a covered wagon. It made me think about what types of infrastructure do we develop as individuals? And is the infrastructure system we have in place a key to our success?
Infrastructure that Keeps You Healthy
If you can view your own life through the lens of infrastructure, it may help you save time and heartache by simply viewing your daily activities through this filter. You can ask yourself if you have created a system to keep your body healthy in a routine, simplified way. Do you have healthy foods on hand at home? Do you keep some snacks with you in your backpack, in the car, or at the office so you can avoid sugary snacks? Is it easy to reload these foods? Is your grocery store nearby or on the way home? Do you have a standard list of items you need to replace weekly?
Exercise is another part of your health infrastructure. Do you play a sport that can be practiced daily? Yoga, surfing, Pilates, tennis and swimming are just a few sports that you can take up as daily play. But you’ll need to make sure they fit your lifestyle. If the nearest yoga studio is 50 minutes away, and you don’t like to practice alone, then yoga may not fit into your current infrastructure. On the other hand, if you find a sport or class that you can commit to playing daily, especially in the mornings, then that may quickly become embedded in your infrastructure. From there, you can further establish this part of your lifestyle by packing your workout clothes the night before, and placing the gym bag where you will see it when you wake up. If the infrastructure makes sense, it will be used more frequently, and it will lead to more positive elements being added to this infrastructure: such as having all of the ingredients for a green smoothie ready to go in the mornings, or keeping a mix of upbeat music for your workout on hand in your car or as a playlist on your phone.
All of these must work together properly when it comes to infrastructure. If something wasn’t properly planned, it will be discarded and abandoned. We learned this quickly in construction. If you built a ticket machine for a light rail station on the opposite end of where all passengers entered the station, it would be abandoned for the machine nearby, where people were nearby to ask questions, or learn from as they bought their tickets.
In the next part of this two-part post, I’ll examine infrastructure as it relates to managing your finances and fitting them into your overall life infrastructure.
How about you all? Do you view your life as a system that can be organized and ordered? Or are you living in total and utter chaos?
Share your experiences by commenting below!
***Photo courtesy of http://www.sxc.hu/photo/66986
