Rather than look to think too much about being frustrated and what I can and can’t plan for, I’ll anchor back to the word acceptance…
Self-Knowledge
Tomorrow may not be like today
Today is simply a reminder for me each day that tomorrow may not be like today.
It’s the not knowing…
When any of us face news or events which place us in a position of “not knowing”, we tend to be uncomfortable and take steps…
Risk, Psychology and Chemotherapy
A story today about how our mindset, notably our attitude to risk, can impact our choices, how we make decisions and the decisions we make.
Making sense of yourself with eight questions
What are some of the important questions that you are making sense of nowadays?
Hibernating and also getting ready for Spring activity
This year things are largely opened up, yet I have feel as though I am hibernating.
What a difference a day can make
I nearly used an image of my Wordle effort from today as a follow on from yesterday's post "I find being patient hard sometimes", where I shared my poor effort as an example of how I was struggling that day. Any slightly astute reader (and all my regular readers are...
I find being patient hard sometimes
I simply need to be patient. As the saying goes, “everything will be ok in the end, if it is not ok, it’s not the…
Wise books
Inspired by my friend Chip Conley, here are eight books I feel provide me with wisdom in and through life’s journey.
I only do what I want to do
I consider myself an expert at JOMO, having been a practitioner for many years. Recently, I’ve evolved to use the phrase: “I only do what…
Feel what you feel
One thing I have learned in years of coaching is that the first thing to do when we feel something is allow ourselves to feel…
Ladies and gentlemen…the weekend
I simply give you one of the gifts of Twitter, an account that exists simply to tweet this reminder: Ladies and gentlemen, the weekend.
Practice deep play
Winston Churchill, on the importance of what I would call deep play. He himself focussed on painting for this.
She turned the tables on me!
Yesterday my guest on this week’s #WhatComesNextLive was my friend Alex Barker, who turned the tables on me.
The only way to avoid criticism
Aristotle puts it best: “There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing”. I choose instead #BeMoreYou.
Always active, never busy
Whenever anyone asks me “are you busy?”, I always answer “no”, then after the ensuing awkward pause, add: “always active, never busy”.
The meaning of life is to give your gift away
The purpose of life is to discover your gift. The work of life is to develop it. The meaning of life is to give your…
To listen more, to share knowledge less?
This week I am attending an event online and was asked to note my speciality, to which I simply wrote: "Listening" Having come back from a short break and paused my daily posting for only the second time in a streak that has continued for well over 1400 posts, I'm...
Dance while the music is being played
Take a moment to be present to the “profound and galvanizing lucidity” of Alan Watts.
Surprises are a clue that you’re missing something
Surprises are a clue that you’re missing something. Dive in and figure out what.
Do you question what you have been taught?
…people are educated just enough to believe what they have been taught, and not educated enough to question anything they have been taught.
Just enough
This past week, in my conversation with Sam Duong, one of the topics he talked about was his exploration of the idea of “Just Enough”.
Being patient and kind when guiding those younger than you
I recognise how much we learn over time and, for those of us with more years, to be kind, gentle and patient with those earlier…
Easing back on from being “off off”
Friday, Sep 24th marked the 1444th day (ie nearly four years) in a row that I posted daily since beginning this blog. I then took ten days to "switch off", choosing a quiet and slowed down vacation at the location shown above. Yes, it was as peaceful as it looks. On...
Recovery is part of training
I recall when my two oldest sons were competing at swimming at a high level. They trained over well over 20 hours a week, then had university studies to do. Aside from that they mostly ate and slept. I learned from them that this was not aimless, it was planned out....
Thinking is really silent talking
“To look at life without words is not to lose the ability to form words- to think, remember, and plan. To be silent is not to lose your tongue. On the contrary, it is only through silence that one can discover something new to talk about. One who talked incessantly,...
Writing as a way to access one’s own mind
Joan Didion My profession is as a Sounding Board, to support them on their journey from Good to Great to Elite. A key part of my role is in a coaching space, to help them sound out their thoughts and gain clarity on what their message is and what they need to focus...
To play it safe or closer to the edge?
There is no growth without stretching, so if we play it safe all the time, we remain the same, we don't grow. The same applies to our impact on others. Do we want to always play it safe, to have comfortable conversations? Or, on occasion at least, do we want to move...
If you want to change the world start with yourself
"What do you have a burning desire to change in the world?" This was a question posed last week in a workshop I participated in. What came to me was: If you want to change the world, start with yourself.Gandhi Whatever we seek to change external to ourselves is and...
Noticing what your body tells you
Self-awareness and self-responsibility are at the core of self-leadership, which is at the very foundation of being a leader, as how we show up makes all the difference. Today then, a story linked to this. This week I attended an evening workshop (zoom, naturally)...
Are you tired or are you depleted?
"You can't drink from an empty cup" This adage around self-care seems simple enough, but in these continuing ambiguous and volatile times we live in, today I'd like to ask you to consider whether you are tired, depleted, or perhaps both, and to be able to distinguish...
I had a cloudy day
Last Saturday I had a "cloudy day". I learned this term later on in the weekend by reading a series of tweets from Carl Richards that I'm sharing today as I feel they are perfect in expressing how I too felt. From the start of the day on Saturday, I felt really down....
Settling in for the Winter
So, the U.K. is going back into lockdown on 5th November. Regular readers will know I predicted this on 20th September and a recurring theme since then has been to encourage preparation, “Proactive Resilience”. On Sunday I made the most of being able to visit stores...
Be an editor
Being an editor can give us more awareness in our lives. Chip Conley, in his focus upon Modern Elder, talks about how in the first half of our lives we focus on accumulating, but in the second half, we can turn our focus to editing. From a place of awareness, we...
Less is more
Today is a consciously quiet day for me, with absolutely nothing planned, a day out to rest in the middle of a busy period. So, a reminder today that sometimes less is more. I'll model that by making this one of my shortest daily posts ever. What could you do less of...
Too hot to think
Today at 8 am it is 27c in London and forecast to hit 39c by mid-afternoon. That is simply too hot. No air conditioning. I can't think in this heat. I could make up all kinds of cool metaphors for business and leadership, the beginning of one coming around the...