With everything going on, it feels strange to say I took a few days off… but I did.

It was a bank holiday in Ireland, so I bolted on some extra time and enjoyed the incredible sunshine. And it was a complete switch off – so much so, I even gave myself permission not to send an email on Monday! 🙂

But not to let me completely off the hook this week, here’s something a little different.

What many people don’t realise is that optimism can be learned. And now is the time to step into it. (See ‘Learned Optimism’ by Martin Seligman)

What if you believed a much better future was coming? And that you could help create it?

We need to be in touch with reality. But we also need to be positive shapers of the future.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve most likely heard of ‘Normal People’, the Irish drama based on Sally Rooney’s best-selling novel.

The BBC series of the book has become a smash hit around the world, breaking all sorts of records. For example, the new series received 16.2 million views in it’s first week on the BBC streaming service. The opening week record was previously held by the first season of Killing Eve, which received 10.8 million total requests in its first week.

I wasn’t going to watch it until a friend of mine I wouldn’t have expected to like it, said he really did. So I was curious.

I’ve written before about our family dog, Sparky, who had anxiety separation whenever he lost sight of my wife, Judy.

Unfortunately for us, he came to the end of his journey on this planet last Friday. It was clear he was really struggling and he took a bad turn in the early hours of Friday morning.

So we made the decision as a family to send him to sleep.

If you’ve ever had a dog you really loved, I’m sure you know how tough that is.

May the 4th has been taken over by Star Wars as it’s official day globally, in a playful riff on the phrase ‘May the force be with you’.

In our home it’s an important date for different reasons, as it’s my daughter Jane’s birthday – and she became a teenager.

Because of the unusual situation we’re in globally, we did our best to try and make her day special.

With every day that passes, industry associations are coming out with recovery plan proposals to influence policy makers and help re-activate economies more quickly around the world.

It’s the right thing to do as no-one person in any government will have the answers and it’s critical that we can collaborate to create the best plans.

But it made me think about us as leaders and people interested in creating better lives, organisations and communities.

What is your plan for yourself and your team/family over the coming weeks/months?

If you’re on this mailing list a while you’re probably aware that in my mid-20s (now scarily over 20 years ago!) I went through a very challenging personal period – a time that was extremely difficult mentally.

And part of my journey out of that terrain, was to get some help through counselling. I was lucky that I was connected to someone who was perfect for me. And he helped me to gradually turn things around and in the process learn many priceless lessons – that still stand to me today and are as relevant in my business life as much as my personal one.

Something I discovered 20 years ago that has served me well in achieving goals, enhancing focus and reducing stress/axiety was the power of relaxation – done in a certain way to activate your intuition and unconscious mind.   I’ve used this approach with private clients for many years and recently have been doing a lot more of…

The very first ‘Inspire Me’ weekly email was in October 2008 – when the financial world had collapsed.

During that time, and over the following years I worked with many leaders as they navigated through turbulent waters – and we learned many things together.

But one of the most important take-aways from that time is the value of pain and disruption. There is always something to be gained in such a time, because when we are disrupted, the edge of possibilities available to us opens up.

I’m sure like me you’re hearing about and experiencing interesting moments during this ‘Corona Period’.

One I thought I’d share with you was from the weekend.