In the last few years, it’s become cool to be an ‘entrepreneur’. There’s a risk that we glorify the life of an entrepreneur, based on a small number of individuals with high public profiles. What we see looks fun and glamorous – and kinda easy. The reality is that running your own business involves hard work. Lots of it. It will rarely be glitzy or exciting, and there are way less parties than you might
“I’ve had this idea in my head for a while now…” How do we know whether it’s a good idea or not? With hindsight, it’s easy [of course]. But it’s very hard to tell in advance whether our idea is genius or disaster. However, when we implement something, we often get our answer very quickly. Hundreds of school parties visit the Isle of Wight between April-July each year. For years, I’d had an idea for
Seth Godin often talks about the importance of collecting dots … and how you don’t necessarily need to see the connections immediately. Collect enough interesting dots, and eventually the connections will become clear. ‘Dots’ might be meeting someone new, learning a skill, or understanding a concept. Quality control is important – some dots are more valuable than others … and don’t collect all your dots from the same place – variety is good. It takes
When I first read Stephen Covey’s ‘7 Habits’, one of the many concepts that jumped out was his ‘Maturity Continuum’. The core idea is that our emotional maturity is a progression, from You to I to We. ‘You’ is where we are dependent on others, thinking they control what happen to us. ‘They’ might include our boss, parents, partner, the government, ‘that idiot on social media’, or whoever. ‘I’ is where we are independent, and
What does it mean to be ‘the best’? Not many words have an absolute definition. ‘Ugly blue car’ seems to present a clear picture, but ‘ugly’, ‘blue’, and ‘car’ all depend on our individual perception and understanding. Where one person sees an ugly blue car, another might see a beautiful turquoise 4×4. There are some words where it’s important to define what they mean – for us. ‘Success’ is a good example. Using someone else’s
Change is inevitable, and happens in all areas of our lives. Right now, the world is definitely evolving – perhaps faster than ever before. Increasing polarisation. Social justice. AI. The climate crisis. The list can seem endless. We can, of course, ignore all this, but doing so risks getting left behind. So how do we find a way to ground ourselves? To respond, rather than react. The key is finding out what truly matters to us. At
Using the word ‘solution’ implies we can fix it [whatever ‘it’ might be]. We do something, and then the problem goes away. But what about more complex challenges like our relationships, or a company culture, or the climate? We can’t ‘fix’ any of these – there’s not a simple ‘thing’ we can do that will make the problem go away. Instead, we need a different approach – we need to think about a response, rather
Interesting read this week, helping me realise how much our language influences – and is influenced by – our perceptions and understandings of the world. As the authors say, “We act according to the way we conceive of things.” For example: Argument is War.“I destroyed his argument.” Time is Money.“I invested a lot of time in that.” Happy is Up. Sad is Down.“My spirits soared!” “I sank into depression.” Do we frame business as a
A jigsaw puzzle has a solution. There’s even a process for arriving at the solution – corners, edges, middle. Knowing what the puzzle looks like can help you solve it faster, but even without the picture, we can [eventually] solve a jigsaw. Once all the pieces are in place – it’s done. Complete. Finished. But lots of other things don’t have neat and tidy solutions – they don’t have a clear ‘end’. They are messy
It doesn’t matter if some people don’t get it – whatever ‘it’ is for you. Focus instead on finding the ones who do get ‘it’. As you search, be patient and open – both with yourself and the people around you. Celebrate the similarities rather than dwelling on the differences. It will likely take some time, and it’s unlikely that every member of the tribe sees everything the same way … [This is a good
Weekly [digital] email to help navigate the [analogue] world …
Weekly [digital] email to help navigate the [analogue] world …
