“Concentration is the key to economic results.

No other principles of effectiveness is violated as constantly today as the basic principle of concentration.”

A client told me last year of a story about his 9 year old son.

When asked what his father did for a living he replied with:

“He answers emails.”

While a funny anecdote, my client admitted that it was closer to the truth than he would have liked.

“It’s funny how everyone considers honesty a virtue, but no-one wants to hear the truth.”

A couple of weeks ago, my wife TLJ*, stopped me in my tracks early one morning by saying this:

“Can I give you some feedback?”

As far as I’ve seen in my life so far, it’s rare that I’m going to ‘like’ what follows from that little opener. But I’m not sure I had a choice in the matter… 🙂

“So we see, to play successfully the game of life we must train the imaging faculty.” – Florence Schovel Shinn

“But what do I do with this?”

A client had called me unexpectedly because something had happened that literally blew their mind.

They had been focusing for a couple of years on a visualisation of a house they wanted to live in. He was so passionate about it that he created was is now known as a ‘vision board’ and would frequently look at it and daydream. (Key point…)

Many business people can see something like this as childish, but it might surprise you as to how many don’t…

“True life is lived when tiny changes occur.” ― Leo Tolstoy

I was up early this morning and went for a walk around Wicklow, a harbour town on the east coast of Ireland.

It was cold and dark but the sound of something familiar but yet, unfamiliar, caught my attention and made me smile.

It was the sound of beer kegs being loaded onto a waiting Guinness truck, parked on the side of the street. My smile must have been evident as the two men doing the loading smiled back, I think almost in silent recognition at their own delight to be back doing their work.

“Sometimes ideas hold us down;
they become heavy anchors that hold the bark of identity fixated in shallow dead water. ” – John O’Donohue

I remember there being a time in my life where I would dread Monday mornings – luckily for me, that is no longer the case.

The morning I’m writing and sending out this email/post is Monday 17th January 2022 – the third Monday of the new year.

Already I’ve heard one radio station proclaim that ‘Blue Monday’ has arrived – the worst day of the year, apparently. Except there’s nothing to back that up. It was an idea originally made up by a travel company as a way to encourage holiday sales.

And the phrase stuck, and spread.

“The cave you fear to enter, holds the treasure you seek.” ― Joseph Campbell

“I’m not ready to do that.”

So said the experienced entrepreneur to me in response to me challenging them to look in the mirror in relation to some problems they had. So we stopped working together.

They wouldn’t admit it but they were afraid. There’s nothing unusual about that because the truth is that everyone I know experiences fear – albeit in different ways and at different times.

“Without questions, there is no learning.” – W. Edwards Deming

I’m not big on resolutions at the start of a new year.

But what I do enjoy is the symbolism a fresh year represents.

For example:

The opportunity to leave the past behind and start anew.
The closing of one chapter and the beginning of another.
The shedding of perceived limitations and the stepping into something new.
This year I encourage you to imagine the best in your life and for the lives of the people around you. And to step into inspired action in creating it.

“We’re so busy watching out for what’s just ahead of us

that we don’t take time to enjoy where we are.”

– Calvin & Hobbes

Someone shared the image above with me recently and I thought I’d share it with you today.

It captures perfectly 2 challenges we all have…

“Your big opportunity could be right where you are now.”

Napoleon Hill

“When does the race start?”

These are words that I never could have imagined my wife, TLJ* saying. But that’s the world we live in. Anything really is possible… 🙂

She was referring to the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi yesterday, which ended in one of the most dramatic finishes ever in the sports history.

“This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.” – The character Polonius, in Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

A very close friend of mine passed last Wednesday and I’d like to dedicate this weekly post to him.

His name is Derek Young and even though you’ve likely never heard of him it’s possible that his work has or will in the years to come affect your life or that of someone close to you.

In his work life he was a medical device inventor and entrepreneur, helping surgeons all over the world convert their ideas into products or devices that improved patient care.

He was only 51 and even though he did amazing work in the medical world his real legacy will be as a father, husband, brother and friend.