Archives for November 2019

‘All You Can Eat’ seems like a good deal at first.

For a fixed price, you get an unlimited quantity of the thing being sold.

But you can’t eat all the food at the buffet, nor can you use the gym 24/7, and you certainly can’t demand the consultant or agency to work outside the hours or terms of the retainer agreement.

When the seller faces the unavoidable trade-off between price, speed, and quality, and you’re the one paying the fixed fee, you can bet that quality or speed of service will suffer.

For companies with ‘All You Can Eat’ Business models, it’s helpful to question the value exchange before purchasing.

I’ve recently found myself including a simple, “Have fun,” in the odd note to friends and family.

Cards for those going on paternity / maternity leave.

Whatsapp messages to those with upcoming job interviews.

And in gifts for the holiday season.

And why not?

We’re often at our best when we’re having fun.

There is little downside to being reminded of that.

Balance is a buzz word. Its overuse has made it a trite conversational addition in the workplace.

Balance implies there’s an end state, a destination, and a world in which things usually go to plan.

But this isn’t true.

Life is chaos.

The moment we feel we’ve got things under control, there’s another Hydra rearing its head.

But perhaps satisfaction can be found in continuous balancing, rather than achieving a state of balance.

Much like riding a bike, we’re stable when we’re moving forward; constantly tweaking and adjusting our position. But arrive at a traffic light and it’s suddenly hard to maintain your balance without putting your feet down.

What would happen if we shifted our focus from trying to reach a state of balance, and instead tried to do small things each day to stay on the bike and keep moving?

There is currently much commotion about Transport for London’s refusal to extend Uber’s taxi licence due to ongoing safety concerns. Specifically, unauthorised drivers were using the accounts of authorised drivers to complete trips; this happened more than 14,000 times.

If this decision is upheld, it will have huge implications for Uber and Londoners.

London is Uber’s most profitable European city, and Londoners depend on Uber to shelter them from the eye-watering prices of the Black Cabs.

Sure, Transport for London has justified concerns about commuter safety, but they also need Uber. Ride-sharing is a key part of the plan to reduce emissions in the capital. Entire programmes, like the introduction of the Ultra Low Emissions Zone, work towards encouraging more ride-sharing.

Uber’s shortcomings, in this instance, are substantial, but I make a prediction: Uber will be fine. They’ll commit to improving their safety procedures, and their London licence will be extended. There won’t be a day without Uber drivers on the roads.

P.S. Part of the fun of daily blogging is making public predictions, watching the world unfold, and then reflecting on them. Uber has 21 days to appeal Transport for London’s decision, so I’ll report back when there’s an answer!

A friend of mine recently attended the ATP Tennis Finals in London and captured this exquisite serve from Roger Federer to Novak Djokovic.

What I love about this video is the angle; which is slightly lower than the typical television angle.

This allows the viewer to grasp Federer’s immense skill to execute such a challenging serve against one of the other greats of the game.

When we are used to seeing a subject from only one angle, it’s difficult to see it differently. However, when we go in search of a unique perspective, we can often discover newfound appreciation for the writing, code, art, music, meal, or tennis serve.

I recently came across two profound insights from psychologist, Carl Jung, on The Golden Rule, which is, “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

Firstly, the Golden Rule says nothing about being nice.

Doing what’s right and what’s nice can be the same thing, but it doesn’t mean they have to be.

Secondly, the Golden Rule is an equation rather than a command.

Correct equations balance, and the Golden Rule is a two way street. Treating others well but having negligence for one’s own self-care is a recipe for resentment and suffering.

“If you want me to give you a two-hour presentation, I am ready today. If you want only a five-minute speech, it will take me two weeks to prepare.” – Mark Twain

I love this quote by Mark Twain, and have reflected on it repeatedly over the years as its application goes far beyond public speaking.

Distilling a message, or any piece of communication for that matter, down to its essence is hard. And getting good at it is a life-long practice.

When we’re given the floor, it’s our responsibility to think deeply and carefully about what we need our audience to walk away with.

Twain’s challenge is to re-frame how we approach the preparation and practise of our message. Most importantly, for it to be normal to take an uncomfortable amount of time to prepare for even the briefest of moments with the people we seek to influence.

I received a wonderful gift from my family last week: 23andMe’s genetic ancestry test. The offering is simple: with a small saliva sample, you get access to an accurate report of your genetic ancestry. Sign me up!

The DNA sampling kit arrived in a petite package, and I was immediately impressed at how easy it was to provide my “samples” for testing.

I first took out the small test tube and registered it to my newly created 23andMe account. I then spent 3 minutes spitting into the test tube, which was the only part of the process that was harder than I anticipated. They ask for quite a bit!

I placed the test tube into a “Bio-Hazard” marked plastic bag for safe transportation, which then went back into the original box and was ready for postage.

The sampling process took less than 10 minutes, and in 3-5 weeks I should receive my results.

One thing I’m interested in understanding is the ancestry information on my mother’s side. She is, supposedly, the first person in her family to marry outside of the Chinese culture, so half of my lineage should be pretty homogenous. There is also a famous family story of a great-grandfather from the Canton region in China who was a stowaway on a boat to Malaysia a little over 100 years ago, so this region should feature heavily. I’m interested to see if the results from the test correlate with these stories.

See you in 3-5 weeks with an update!

When we come up against challenging situations we can ask ourselves, “Is this a latitude or a longitude problem?”

The sun, moon, and planets pass almost directly over the equator, making the placement of 0 degrees latitude undisputed.

Latitude is fact.

The placement of 0 degrees longitude, however, is a political decision. Throughout history, this line dividing the Eastern and Western Hemispheres has been located in Rome, Copenhagen, Jerusalem, St. Petersburg, Pisa, Paris, and Philadelphia, to name a few.

Longitude is perception.

So what situation do you have on your hands?

Have you been dealt a hand where the variables are out of your control? Or do you have the ability to change your circumstances?

Knowing the difference can give us the grace to endure, or the strength to fight, depending on what the situation requires.

P.S. This post is brought to you proudly from today’s visit to the prime meridian.

As winter closes in, and as it gets harder to find the motivation to cycle to work each morning, I’m reminded of a piece of advice a friend gave me on a kayaking trip in New Zealand.

“It’s best to start an adventure a little cold. Once you get moving, you’ll be comfortable in no time. But, whatever you do, don’t start toasty, as you’ll overheat before you really get going.”

There are a few lessons in here.

Cold starts are uncomfortable, but maybe we’re just getting used to something new.

And, better a cold start than a burnout.

Google Maps for cycle routes is still clunky. I’ve often had the voice-based directions stop halfway through a journey, requiring me to reset the route.

So I decided to give Beeline a try this weekend. Beeline is a hardware and app-based navigation tool for cyclists. Instead of giving the cyclist an explicit route to follow, the Beeline app provides a large arrow indicating a general direction of travel to get to a destination.

And the principle is simple: if you’re not in a rush, and as long as you are following the arrow, you’ll get to wherever you’re headed.

Unfortunately, Beeline disappointed.

Their underlying technology isn’t impressive. They use the Google Maps Platform (which isn’t a bad thing, as even companies like Uber use it for all their mapping), but it seems like their main “innovation” is simply removing the map and replacing it with an arrow. I found this unconvincing.

I was sent down wrong streets and into hairy situations. In one particular moment, I was prompted with little notice to cross a 4-lane street and then turn at an intersection with 6 different entry and exit points. If you’ve cycled in London before, you don’t need this additional stress.

The GPS wasn’t working. For some reason, Beeline always thought I was facing north, so I received multiple prompts to “turn around” and go the opposite way to my destination. I tried multiple times to reset the route to no avail. This was frustrating.

I expected Beeline to work “out of the box”. And when it didn’t, and especially when I started to feel unsafe, it lost its opportunity to impress me.

I got me thinking about how we expect technology to work immediately. And how those expectations have increased even compared to ten years ago, when we were willing to put up with a buggy product if it was new and innovative.

Creating an experience with “first time magic” is a thing, and I wonder what impact that will have on future entrepreneurs and designers launching the first versions of their products into the world. Will they continue to launch quickly with a passable Minimum Viable Product, or will success require a great first time experience?

This is the ‘I Goat Statue’ in London’s Spitalfields Market.

Despite walking past it every day on the way to work, it took two years before I noticed it existed.

In stark contrast, when my brother-in-law was visiting from New Zealand last month, the moment he set foot in the market he commented on the imposing goat that loomed above us. To him, the statue was unmissable from the get-go.

It’s highly likely the people you encounter today will see the world differently to you.

Your story, values, fears, dreams, and instincts, are not theirs. These differences can drive us apart, or they can help us build something better.

The first, and most important, step is to accept that we may see things differently, and that’s okay.

When a trained horse is out on the trail, the rider can lead, and the horse will go willingly. However, when the horse sees the barn door, its finish line for the day’s work, it races toward the stable; mind unchangeable.

This behaviour, the tendency to bolt for the finish line when it’s in sight, was coined as “The Barn Door Effect”.

Humans aren’t immune to its effects either.

A study conducted on pilots found that en-route and at altitude, they would reliably change their course to avoid a dangerous thunderstorm. However, with the runway in sight, pilots were more likely to fly directly under the storm if they’d seen a previous plane make the trip safely.

It wouldn’t be right to claim The Barn Door Effect as an official law based on multiple peer-reviewed empirical studies, because it’s not. But it’s easy to feel the impact of the law in our day-to-day lives.

In malls and retail stores, it is common to see, “Sale On Now! 3 Days left!” plastered on the windows to invite consumers inside.

In a B2B negotiation, it’s normal to hear the selling party say, “You’ll need to accept the terms of the agreement by the end of the week or else the deal is off.”

Or even when you’re rushing to get home for family dinner, to think, “I don’t need to check my work before sending, I’m sure it’ll be okay.”

When we’re faced with the cocktail of 1) a finish line in sight, 2) time-based pressure, and 3) a decision containing risk, the barn door effect can lead us to making poor decisions.

Being aware of the finish line, and the pressures others may place on you, or the pressures you place on yourself, can be the key to avoiding some hairy consequences.

Here is a rule I’ve used over the past year to avoid spending money on that which I want, but do not need.

When I see something I’d like to buy (that falls outside of “baseline expenditure” of rent, food, transport, books, and experiences), I set a reminder in my calendar for 2 months.

If at the end of the 2 month period, I still want the item with the same fervour, then it passes the test, and I buy it. In other words, it’s more than a whim.

Most of the time, 2 months down the road, I no longer want the item.

This rule ensures the physical things in our lives are of real value, and helps us avoid the clutter that comes with accumulation.

But perhaps its biggest benefit is in preserving optionality: I can do something in the future with the money I didn’t spend today.

I’ve lived a few stone throws from London’s famous Roundhouse Theatre for 3 years, but I’ve yet to see a show there.

Whenever I walk past it, I make a mental note to, eventually, pick a show and go.

It got me reflecting on how the most accessible experiences can often get sidelined. It’s not that the exotic or far-flung experience is better, but rather that what is close-to-home is “always going to be there.”

Maru came to the rescue by booking tickets for us to see Uruguayan musician, Jorge Drexler, at the Roundhouse in January. Slowly but surely, I’m getting round to the more local experiences.

Is there an activity close-to-home you’d like to make time for in the new year?