Revisiting Pascal’s advice about solving all the world’s problems 

On the cover of his latest book Robin Sharma is paid the ultimate compliment by superstar Brazilian author Paolo Coelho who says through his books Sharma is "helping people all over the world lead great lives."

I'm with Paulo. Long before his bestselling 5am Club, Sharma was encouraging us to wake up before dawn and then dedicate that critical first hour to ourselves. In quietness. That being the perfect preparation for whatever this warp speed world would throw at us in the hours that follow.

From my experience, it works. Particularly if you include his advice that a third of that first hour be set aside for meditation and contemplation. With devices and other distractions out of reach, almost miraculously, solutions emerge with issues which overwhelm us during the hubhub of daily life.

A perfect segue to the wise inventor of the calculator, French mathematician Blaise Pascal who said: "All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone." Pascal was born almost 400 years ago. Suggesting much about our species never changes. It's just we who seem to forget.