"When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be." (Lao Tzu)
We love stories. We love telling them. We love listening to them. We love creating them. We love being part of them. Stories define our lives and our experiences. They remind us of who we have been and help make us who we are. They also shape who we want to be.
"The art of life is a constant readjustment to our surroundings." (Kakuzo Okakaura)
"A wise man adapts himself to circumstances, as water shapes itself to the vessel that contains it." (Chinese proverb)
Too often, when there is a change in our surroundings, our environment, our organization, or our personal lives - one that impacts the status quo in a material way, we can be at a loss as to how to react.
"We are living in an increasingly digital world that craves analog sensation."*
Digital is ubiquitous. From our work to our hobbies to our entertainment to our commerce, the digital-to-analog ratio in our lives has ramped up exponentially over the last two decades. To the point where the promise of digital has now become very much a reality.
Listen more than you talk.
I heard this last week at a conference about retailers and consumer brands. The point was that, in a world of push-over-pull, persistent over-communication and rampant messaging, we need to spend more time with our mouths closed and our ears open.
It's natural to fall in love with your product. We spend a lot of time developing and nurturing them, cultivating them to the point where we are ready to put them in the market. And when customers are receptive to what we have to offer, once the uptake is there and the product is generating profitable margins, we double down.
This is freedom. This is love for what you do. This is where your work is your art.
Thom Yorke’s performance is open and honest. He’s immersed in his art, his work. He’s not afraid of being vulnerable.
My friend, Jane, shared a fantastic quote from Brené Brown on Facebook recently:
''I think midlife is when the universe gently places her hands upon your shoulders, pulls you close, and whispers in your ear: I’m not screwing around. It’s time...
So, as anyone who follows English football knows, my team, Arsenal, is going through a pretty bad patch right now. There are a host of contributing factors to this, which I won't get into, but they've all culminated in a lack of belief within the team when they're on the field.
I came across this video on Quartz, about a question posed by Mark Zuckerberg to Bill and Melinda Gates during the launch event of Bill and Melinda Gates’ 2018 Annual Letter, back in February.
There's a great scene in the TV show, Mad Men, where Don Draper stands his ground with a client who is stuck in his old ways, clinging to a set of ideas that may have once made his company successful but now leaves them trailing the competition.
I have a pet peeve. People - yes, maybe even you - are using the words "fewer" and "less" incorrectly. I don't know why but it's happening. I see it all the time.
There were less people at the event than I thought.
He'll be home in fewer than 5 weeks.
The year was 1984. Bruce Springsteen's Born In The USA album had just come out and I was doing my best to wear out the cassette on my Sony Walkman.
I remember sitting by the window in the tiny bedroom that I shared with my two older brothers in Hong Kong. Eyes closed, headphones on, volume on 10.
In sport, as in life, the safe play won't make you a champion.
It might help you avoid a loss, maybe even get you the odd win here or there, but it won't propel you to the top of the league.
The point of protest is to make you uncomfortable. It's about upsetting the status quo. About changing the (perceived) complacency, inadequacy, inappropriateness of the current situation. It isn't meant to be pleasant. It isn't meant to be accommodating. It sure as fuck isn't meant to be polite.
Nature or Nurture?
Karma or Free Will?
Which do you believe in?
Think. Plan. Commit. Work hard. Assess. Evaluate. Redirect.
We're taught that if we want to achieve success, those are the essential steps we need to follow. That if are to be successful, we must be methodical, diligent and direct. That it's all down to us.
If there is a truism in each and every one of our lives, it is that we will all suffer setbacks. Whether personally or professionally, something (at times, many things) will not go as planned.
That's life.
Emotion, in business, is not a dirty word. It's the natural by-product of passion.
Passion is not a sign of naivety. It's an essential ingredient for success.
When working with a team member, it's important to gauge whether the issue they're exhibiting is fixable or not. And the question to ask, in this regard, is whether it's a values-based problem or a content-based development issue?
Great songs can have multiple lives. When they come into our lives the first time, they are fully formed. The melody, the chords, the lyrics, the production. They cast themselves - cement themselves - in our collective consciousness, more often than not, affixing themselves to a particular point in time, a feeling, an emotion.
