• What 40 Days Without Alcohol Taught Me About Decisions
    It turns out National Quitters’ Day was January 17th and represents the day people typically give up on their New Year’s resolutions. I didn’t know it was a thing until I started seeing posts about it, then I had to look it up. I don’t make New Year’s Resolutions.  I did make a decision though …
  • YOUR BRAIN CANNOT PROCESS A NEGATIVE
    Try this: don’t think of a blue elephant. What did you see in your mind’s eye? An elephant perhaps? Maybe a blue one? Most people do and the reason is simple: So if you think “I don’t want to feel so tired”, your mind thinks tired. If you think “I want fewer hassle clients”, your …
  • 𝐒𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬: 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐯𝐚𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭?
    LinkedIn just signposted an article on the news about coming back to work after your summer vacation and the feelings around that. It’s an interesting article and intended to be helpful, but I found one phrase that shocked me.  It was this: “If you did take a holiday, the return to work can feel like …
  • 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐑𝐚𝐩𝐮𝐧𝐳𝐞𝐥 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐫
    I read a lovely post this morning (read it here https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jim-matlock-661506239_veterans-vfw-education-activity-7235291383375290368-xkRw?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop). The gist is that a US school teacher had 27 veterans bring in the desks for young children just starting school.  Her point was that the children only had the freedom to occupy those desks due to the service and sacrifice of people like …
  • WHEN DO YOU PLAY?
    𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐮𝐜k 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝, 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐛𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡? Play is how we begin our lives as children – we spend untold hours entertaining ourselves in stuff (or at least, I and my generation did). We explored the world, tried things just to see what happened. We used out imaginations to create worlds and games and …
  • I THINK WE ARE BORN SLOW AND CONNECTED TO OURSELVES
    We are born having very simple needs – comfort, food, to be clean and safe and warm. Over time, we are “educated” into fast and thinking-is-king and that results are the only thing that matters. We lose that connectedness, slow and awareness of our bodies and feelings. We become wedded to the idea that happiness …
  • WHERE DO YOU SEE PROFIT PUT BEFORE OTHER VALUES?
    A recent post received a lot of responses.  It was a thought experiment where a lower rate of return could be chosen to prioritise looking after people or a higher return that cost 1000 people their jobs.  I speculated that the most common decision was the higher return regardless of the adverse impact to a …
  • DO YOU LEAD FROM YOUR HEAD OR YOUR HEART IN BUSINESS
    Here’s a little thought experiment. Say you are a board member in the boardroom. There’s two proposals being put on the table. One proposal is going to make a return of 7% and it involves sacking 1000 people somewhere, closing down a location perhaps.   Another proposal on the table which is going to make a …
  • I HAVE A MISSION
    I have a mission.  It’s huge.  I have not spoken openly about this because I have been wanting to get the i’s dotted and the t’s crossed and all the details sorted out.  Which of course is code for procrastinate.  So I want to start writing about my mission just as it is now. It’s …