A year and a half ago I was asked to present on the fly to a large group of people. This post is about how the simple practice of purposeful storytelling helped med present confidently on the fly.
The other day I came across a ghost. Here is that story and a few things it made me reflect upon when it comes to communication.
It’s 6am and I’ve just fed our two month old daughter, gone up, made myself a cup of coffee and opened my computer. It’s still dark outside and everything is peaceful.
Today I woke up with a new found energy and excitement that I can’t remember having had in a very long time.
If I lose $100 I’ll always be able to make that $100 dollars back, but if I loose 5 minutes, a weekend or a week, I’ll never ever get those 5 mins back. James Altucher, The Tim Ferris Show, Episode 18
Looking back at my years doing what I do there is one thing that stands out more than anything in terms of what I’ve found the most valuable and rewarding. And that’s having a good mentor to learn from and bounce work with.
Forget your perfect offering. There is a crack, a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in. Leonard Cohen, Anthem Image source: www.flickr.com/photos/31878512@N06/4945216951/in/photostream
Last year I wrote about how I wanted to have a summer where I was in control of my time. Where I was able to mix holiday with working on byflock and my consulting business. As of today I’m doing just that.
This afternoon there was a tweet in my Twitter stream that made me particularly happy. Not surprisingly it had to do with working in a café and how it can boost creativity.
Related to my post on moving away from a one size fits all in the workplace I’ve put together a survey about flexible working. It takes around 5 minutes to complete and once I have the number of answers I need, I’ll pull together the results and findings and share
The other week I tweeted a link to a post titled ‘Why employees shouldn’t have hours‘ and how I believe and agree with every single bit of it. As suspected it got a few comments so here is my slightly longer than 140 characters view on the topic.
[youtube id=”4q1dgn_C0AU” width=”475″] Dan Gilbert challenging the idea that we’ll be miserable if we don’t get what we want. Image source: www.flickr.com/photos/jdhancock/3383629917
I write a lot about flexibility and finding a work setup that means that life is balanced and makes you as happy and productive as can be. But it’s not just about the setup working for me. It’s also about the companies that I work with.
To win a Nobel Prize you have to produce something that others haven’t thought about – chocolate that makes you feel good might contribute a little bit. Of course it’s not the main factor but… anything that contributes to a better life and a better outlook in your life then
Over the last few years, and the last two in particular, I’ve thought a lot about what makes for a good working environment. As a freelance you experience quite a few different office setups and cultures and it’s a subject that I’m really interested in.
When something happens that is out of your control, having an employer that is understanding and supportive is worth everything.
Today, as I was sat in Dublin, tired and waiting for my evening flight home I was kicking myself. Yet again I’d put something else before my own well being and where had it landed me? Well, not in a place I wanted to be.
The picture above is of a small cat flap we found across from a restaurant up in Nolita on Manhattan. It’s for Thomas the Cat and, by the looks of it, made specifically for him.
Procrastinating and putting things off is something most of us do once in a while. Longer deadlines means we can keep putting things off a little longer. Shorter deadlines means any procrastination period is shorten substantially and sometimes that can be rather good.
Yesterday was one of those days where saying ‘no’ felt easier than saying ‘yes’ but where pushing myself to go against that and say, if not ‘yes’ so at least ‘why not’, resulted in a much more positive outcome than I’d thought possible.