Archives for 2024

The more storage space we have, the more we keep.

We justify holding on to a large number of things we don’t need simply because we have the room to hold them.

But with every additional thing, there’s a mental maintenance cost we need to pay. Even if that cost is small, the pennies add up.

Sometimes there’s value in having less storage space: it helps us discern which are the essential things and which are the things we can let go of.

The first 5-10 minutes of exercise is for warming up. It seems obvious, but it’s so often ignored—and I’m writing about it today because I need a reminder.

Pace? It doesn’t matter.

Heart rate? It doesn’t matter.

Weight? It doesn’t matter.

What matters is listening to our bodies, easing into it, and enjoying the workout.

Winning is no longer about coming first, it’s about being able to turn up tomorrow.

The moment someone loses their cool, their odds on winning the debate fall close to zero.

This is because losing one’s cool is perceived as showing a lack of respect towards another person or people in the room.

And most positive progress, at home, at work, and with friends, is built first on a base of mutual respect.

Keeping one’s cool, building on a foundation of respect, and working through the tough stuff. That’s the game.

A colleague and I were discussing what it’s like to go surfing after an extended break, say more than 1 year between sessions.

The first time you get back in the water with a board, you fall off all the time and feel uncoordinated.

After a few hours, you get back into the swing of things, and hopefully are a little more ready for the next session.

It got me thinking about one of the biggest benefits of keeping a daily blog. Each day is like a wave rolling in, and each blog post is a decision to ride it. If you do it every day, you rarely feel uncoordinated.

That doesn’t mean one has no room for improvement. There’s always a new wave coming and a better way to catch that wave.

Sometimes, we’ll need to go the long way round.

That’s when there’s no shortcut, no quick win, and no panacea.

The long way round requires grit, resilience, and the ability to dance with tough trade-offs. It puts us to the test and asks us if we’re willing to put in the work to get to our goal.

The best views are often found after arduous climbs and winding routes that follow the long way round.

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.