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Aedas has unveiled its design for Abdul Latif Jameel Corporate Headquarters in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Currently under construction, the open plan office will provide a centralized facility for 2,500 employees for Abdul Latif Jameel (ALJ), the largest independently owned Toyota distributor in the world. Located on the Red Sea in the Saudi port city of Jeddah, ALJ’s headquarters will be on a site north of Al-Balad, the city’s historic center, near the airport and the Prince Majid Road, a north to south thoroughfare. The headquarters project will be adjacent to existing ALJ facilities including a Vehicle Service Center, workshop space, offices, a training center, and vehicle stockyard.
A distinct L-shape, the building will anchor the northwest corner of ALJ’s property, at the intersection of a secondary road with a main artery to the city of Jeddah. The facility walls adjacent to the roads are covered in a “protective” plaster, emulating the city’s traditional buildings, and limiting the structure’s exposure to harsh western light while mitigating street noise. Glass-clad offices on the interior side of the building contain open-plan offices, while the plaster-covered street facing volume houses support services including cores, conference rooms, canteens, a gym, prayer rooms, and bathrooms.
The building’s office floors occur in stacks of three, separated by an interim floor intended for more casual office meetings and interactions. The building’s podium is topped by an exterior garden and outdoor track. Large overhangs limit the building’s sun exposure, and all roofs are covered in plantings further mitigating solar gains. The project is scheduled for completion in 2018.
Greetings and salutations, fellow Lifehackers. I’m chuffed to be hosting my very first Friday Open a Thread; please be kind to me. The Friday Open Thread is brought to you by HackerSpace, a reader-run service of Lifehacker.
Rubbermaid leftover storage containers, a touchless toilet kit, and a $250 touchscreen laptop lead off Friday’s best deals.
The Australian Institute of Architects has this year awarded the country’s most prestigious architecture award to “controversial and contentious” studio ARM Architecture (+ slideshow). (more…)
June is drawing close, this is about the time New Year’s resolutions are laid to rest.
Buried under piles and piles of ‘to-dos’, the busy-ness of life and a waning belief in ourselves—that we can really ‘do it’ (clean eating and toned bodies are, after all, things that only happen to other people).
But…you know that something’s got to change. You can tell, because: You’re growing more and more uncomfortable in your own body as the months go by—the lingering lethargy, your growing waistline and uneasy dissatisfaction with how your clothes fit are crawling under your skin. You’re enjoying your food a little too much. In fact, you enjoy it so much that you turn to it whenever you’re feeling stressed or anxious. You’re also starting to feel anxious around food because it’s all you seem to think about 24/7.
So how do you get back on horse without falling off again just weeks or months later?
Here are five things that help get me back on my feet and moving forward when my journey towards my goals come to a halt:
I used to think that motivation was this bright, fiery flame of desire to do what’s good for me that would always be with me no matter what I did because well, if it’s important enough, you should want to do it all the time…right?
Not really. Now with more experience under my belt, I’ve come to realize that this desire tends to come and go over time. There will be highs where I feel like I’m on a roll, but there will also be slumps where I’ll feel like jumping off the horse because it feels like too much work to stay on it.
What really matters is that I make the decision to get back on the horse after I’ve jumped off it.
When I find myself reaching for the late-night pizza a little too often, or feel like I’m losing my will to keep up with my workouts, what gets me going again is to re-connect with my purpose, my big ‘why’.
Why did I start out on this journey in the first place?
Digging deep and re-focusing my attention on why I’m doing what I set out to do (hint: It’s rarely just about weight loss or other surface goals) get my feet moving even though they feel like lead, and keep me going even when I don’t feel like it, because it’s not just something I have to do—it’s who I want to BE.
This one’s difficult to do, especially when your heart’s not in it, but I find that once I get my body going, my heart follows, I always end up feeling glad that I did.
The recurring big lesson that I’ve learned from following through with this step over and over again? It’s that the worst thing you can do when you’re feeling unmotivated is to spend your time over-thinking things. It paralyzes you and keeps you stuck in a place of inaction.
The best thing you can do in instances like this is to just get up and start taking action. Chances are high that just the simple act of ‘doing’ will help you re-gain the motivation and momentum you’re looking for.
When I feel like putting one foot in front of the other feels almost impossible, I give myself permission to take a step back and take a break from certain things, like my intense workouts or putting pressure on myself to eat clean all the time.
Giving up on myself is never an option, but taking time out when I need it, is.
These ‘mental health’ breaks can range from a few days to a week or a couple of months, and to me, they’re crucial for dealing with and recuperating from life’s ups and downs, as well as giving my body and mind the space it needs to re-group, recover and re-gain the strength I need to feel ‘OK’ again.
When my motivation is dipping dangerously low, I sometimes forget about trying to get it back, I forget about the ‘shoulds’ and instead, turn to a gentler, more holistic and loving way of accomplishing my mission: A self-care ritual that I know will help me feel better and gradually help me get back 100%.
After all, the reason we’re driven to do the ‘right’ things are rarely just about calories, the exercises or chalking up 10,000 steps a day—it’s usually a part of a bigger puzzle that we’re trying to piece together.
My ritual is a three-point checklist that I tick off throughout the day (somewhat like a self-care instruction manual) so that I don’t have to think about it. And, it simplifies the get-well process with just these non-negotiables:
Do you feel like you’re losing your motivation to stick with your healthy habits? Which of these five strategies can you see yourself putting into action get it back? Share them in the comments section below.
The post 5 Ways To Make Your Healthy Habits Stick appeared first on Change your thoughts.
Sig Nordal 