Archives for April 2024

I recently dealt with a small mould problem in a storage unit.

I wore gloves, masked up, and got scrubbing. It was grim work.

One spray and wipe wasn’t good enough. To make sure I had eliminated the problem, I kept scrubbing until there was no trace of mould to be found on a fresh wipe.

Anything less and I was inviting the problem to return.

The cleaning episode got me thinking about parallels in the workplace. When there is an issue, it’s important to roll up our sleeves and work until the issue is completely resolved.

A half-hearted job is a recipe for further messy work down the line.

Call it a weird relaxation habit, but I love listening to Lord of the Rings read by Andy Serkis.

Serkis, who played Gollum in the films, does all the voices and is a delight to listen to.

The thing is I’m not here for the ending. I know how it ends. I know the twists, and I know the turns.

I’m here for the journey. And that’s what makes it special.

Maru and I were putting together a cabinet yesterday for our new flat and we quickly fell into a rhythm.

Maru put pieces together and looked ahead to the next step. And I did the screwing and bolting of things into place.

We each played our role, knew what role the other was playing, and helped when the other person needed a hand.

It was a reminder for me about what a team needs: the right people in the right roles who think carefully and thoughtfully about both their work and the work.

Allow a little more of it.

Before you send out that document. Make a decision. Buy that item. Make that investment.

Go for a walk. Do some gardening. Listen to your favourite album. Read a novel.

The subconscious does great work if we give it space.

Most of us have items on our mental to-do lists. They could be for our jobs, for the home, for our finances, or for our family and friends.

These tasks aren’t critical, so we defer them. But over time our backlog builds, and with each day that passes a small amount of energy is required to maintain the list.

One thing I’ve realised is acknowledging the mental load exists is a helpful first step. The second thing is blocking out a period of time to get these things off my plate. Ticking off items in a piecemeal fashion just adds to the stress, but getting a handful of things done in one go helps to alleviate the mental load.

It may be a scratchy throat, a twitch in the eye, lethargy, or brain fog.

We all have physical signals that tell us we’re pushing too hard and that we need to ease up.

The hard part is acknowledging these signals and responding to them with the required rest and change in pace.

When working towards a goal, it’s easy to get swept up in optimism, and to think that we’ll get a tailwind.

On the other hand, hunting for downsides is hard work. It’s uncomfortable to go in search of the risks, mistakes, and disadvantages that could scupper the project.

But it’s essential work. We avoid many headaches by hunting for downsides.

A good friend recently told me a story about Van Halen and Brown M&Ms. If you haven’t heard it before, buckle up, it’s a good one!

Big bands and artists are famous for having absurd demands for their backstage set-ups in their contracts.

One such demand was Van Halen’s for a bowl of M&Ms with all the brown ones removed. Apparently, there was even a clause in their contract that said if any brown M&Ms were present, the promoter would forfeit the show at full price.

Seemingly absurd, the request was for a reason. Van Halen was one of the first bands to take huge lights with them on tour—at the time, it was the biggest production that had ever been taken on the road. Their set-up was heavy and complex to install, and it would be dangerous—perhaps fatal—if it fell mid-show.

So the bowl of M&Ms was the litmus test for how attentive the promoter was to implementing the contract. If the bowl of M&Ms had no brown ones (a seemingly unimportant detail), then the band would have confidence the rest of the contract had been read, and the heavy equipment installed with diligence and care.

It reminds me of the saying: how we do anything is how we do everything.

The little things add up.

Whether it’s a suitcase, a cupboard, a closet, your team’s plans for the year, or a vacation, fill it up to 80%.

There will always be a temptation to add more things, but when the container is bursting at the seams, there’s no flexibility. When there is little room to move, creativity is stifled—instead of finding new ideas, time is spent rearranging everything currently on the list.

Fill it up to 80%, and save 20% for serendipity.

Our direction of travel matters much more than our progress on any given day.

A leap in the wrong direction is far worse than a single step towards the goal.

Keep that chin up.

Every time I’ve made a wrong turn on the road, I’ve still reached my destination. Albeit with a delay and a bit more spent on fuel.

It’s not always so simple in life. The destinations often change whilst we’re on the journey, and the detours may be large and long.

But the learning is the same: little good comes from getting frustrated at the detour.

The Drumeo channel on YouTube is great. The company uses content marketing to sell their drum lessons and courses, and their content is excellent.

One of their best series is getting well-known drummers to listen to a song they haven’t heard before without the drum parts, and getting them to create their own parts; culminating in a single, final take.

After the drummer finishes their recording, they get to listen back to the original track, now with the original drum parts included. There’s always a mixture of surprise and delight. The drummers are usually in admiration of the original part, and equally happy at their own version.

Today I came across Jess Bowen’s take on Bulls on Parade by Rage Against the Machine (I saw RATM at a music festival when I was sixteen and have always had a soft spot for their music). She recorded one take and nailed it on the first try. Apart from being musically impressive, she’s also having a blast! And that’s the essence of the Drumeo Formula.

Great video. Great series.

Getting better is all about trying again. Over and over. Inching forward when we can, and not slipping too far back when we make mistakes.

Harry Craddock, the father of the cocktail, had a strong point of view about how you drink one.

His recommendation was to drink it, “Quickly, while it’s laughing at you.”

A cocktail isn’t to be sipped. It should be consumed decisively and with intention. This is when the temperature of the drink and the ratio of ingredients are at their best. The drink isn’t watered down due to ice, and it hasn’t warmed up due to sitting in the glass for too long.

Craddock’s approach is opinionated, and I like that.

Try it next time you make or order a cocktail and note the difference.

The most important metrics are often the hardest to move.

Customer retention. Net promoter score. Customer lifetime value.

They are the cumulative impact of many micro decisions made consistently and patiently. They can’t be gamed. They can’t be boosted at short notice. They are lagging indicators that show the value of doing the right thing over and over and over.