Dan Cullum

Sometimes we can’t avoid context switching. We may have many projects on the go, or there may be a fire (or multiple) that we need to attend to.

When this happens I try to stay on one topic long enough to either (a) get to a resolution, or (b) get a clear next step where either I, or someone else working on the project, is unblocked to make more progress.

Switching before getting to either (a) or (b) leads to spinning wheels and little progress.

They’ve been around for more than a decade, but I’ve never tried an escape room before.

However, this weekend Maru and I did one with one of our nephews—it was a prison escape story—and it was excellent. It was challenging and well designed.

If you’re willing to suspend disbelief and immerse yourself in the storyline, the experience is even better.

Although I’ve never been a vocal advocate for them in the past, I won’t hesitate to do one in the future.

I was astounded recently after visiting friends who have two young children. The youngest, a mere five years old, was obsessed with chess. We played together for 40 minutes without a break, and he was completely absorbed in the game.

He knew all the pieces and rules. And although he lacked a cohesive strategy, that took nothing away from how impressed I was.

We discussed his moves, and how alternative moves opened up more options for him, and things were clicking in his brain.

It made me realise that games like chess provide a safe space where one can learn how each decision has consequences, and that making better decisions leads to better options and end games further down the road.

I’m trying a new thing: Spin — a tennis app.

Spin solves the problem of finding well-matched tennis partners close you. You sign up to a local league, and your “Spin Rating” determines what division you get put into. The Spin Rating is the app’s version of Chess’ Elo Rating; if you win more matches, your Spin Rating goes up and you compete with better players.

Over the course of the three month league you self-organise and play with 15-20 people in your division. The division results don’t really matter though, it’s the Spin Rating that matters in the long run.

One of the big issues with apps like this is the non-committal and flakey parts of human nature. Things feel more optional when free.

The simple way Spin solves this is by charging £20 to participate in each 3-month-long league. Because the people who have signed up have paid money, and because aversion to loss drives action, the players are proactive, organised, and punctual. Of course, this benefits Spin in the form of recurring revenues.

I like how they chose a punchy £20 for their fee. The marginal cost of delivering software to the next user is not £20, but the value created for the user and the commitment they get from users because of the £20 fee is the real secret sauce.

Notebooks. Post-its. Apps.

It doesn’t matter where the to-do list is stored, what matters is the act of externalising the list in our heads. What matters is seeing that list in its entirety and being able to determine the next best action.

When it’s all in our heads, it’s a jumble. When it’s out of our heads, we have a shot at structure. We have a system to get things done.

I recently had two online customer service experiences, in different countries as, with the same company.

The first was the US branch where I was 178th in line. The second was the UK branch where I was first in line.

Now it may have been coincidence, but something tells me that somewhere along the way, someone allowed there to be a massive disparity in service level between branches.

It really got me wondering: why?

In April 2026 the ‘The Lord of the Rings Weekenders’ is happening at the Royal Albert Hall. It’s a movie marathon with a twist.

The films will play and be “accompanied by the very orchestra that brought Howard Shore’s iconic score to life in 2001 – the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Joining by the London Philharmonic Choir and the Trinity Boys Choir, all under the command of the great conductor Ludwig Wicki.”

The best story of all time coupled with live music from the iconic films?

I’m in!

Most first versions—first drafts, first sketches, first melodies, first concepts—are not very good.

It’s a willingness to push through to the second, third, fourth, and fifth versions that result in a polished end result.

I played team sports throughout my childhood. Football, rugby, volleyball, hockey, dragon boating. I was always in a team.

Now that I’ve picked up tennis in my thirties, I love the solitude of the sport.

There is no one else to impart energy, to lift the team up when it’s down, to share the pressure, to change strategy. I love the mental challenge that it brings. I love the necessity of controlling my own emotions and relying on my own decisions.

The solitude of the game was an unexpected benefit.

An excuse is easy to find. There are no shortages of excuses, nor people willing to wield them

When you meet someone who doesn’t make excuses, who doesn’t complain, who just rolls up their sleeves and grits their teeth, the difference is night and day.

The forecast is a guide, it’s not gospel.

When we plan for the forecast to be wrong, we wind up with a more resilient plan. We’re mentally prepared for alternative scenarios. We’re more adaptable.

It pays to prepare for the forecast to be wrong.

I’m approaching 6 years of daily writing and posting. I’ll hit that milestone on 21 July 2025, and I’m considering finishing up when that day comes.

I’ve learned so much over the past 6 years; about myself, about how to stay open and curious about the world around me, and about developing my own style of writing. I’ve also met and made friends with some wonderful people from around the world.

However, over the past year, I’ve felt a dimming of the creative flame. I’ve pushed through on many days because daily writing daily has become a habit. But I’ve found myself wondering if it is really something I want to keep up for much longer.

As pressures on my time and schedule have increased, I’ve had less time to write, and I’ve made trade-offs. The quality of my posts within the past year haven’t been of the same quality as previous years, and I’ve often found myself late in the evening with little to say. I’ve also felt that there are other creative outlets that I’d perhaps find more fulfilling.

If it do stop the daily posting, I’ll probably continue to post on an ad hoc cadence, but it certainly won’t be daily. I haven’t come to a decision yet, but I thought I’d write about it and share my thinking with you all.

Humans love to add, to expand, and to clarify. And in doing so, we create complexity in our writing, products, and services.

The irony is that we also have an innate attraction to simplicity. We listen better, are more easily convinced, and are drawn more to ideas when things are kept simple.

It’s hard work to make things simple.

A few years ago I read ‘The One Thing’ by Gary W. Keller and Jay Papasan.

The main lesson was that at any point in time there is typically one thing that is most important for us to work on.

Even if we have a mountain of work in front of us, we should strive to identify this one thing, and be willing to put all our effort into it.

If we can successfully identify the one thing, and repeat the process by identifying and working on the next “one thing”, we can be confident that we’re investing our time most efficiently.

A little mess gets created every day by day-to-day living. If we let it accumulate over the week we have a big cleaning job at the end of it.

A little mess coupled with a little tidy each day makes for a much more manageable set of chores at the end of the week.

It comes as little surprise how much of this applies to our working lives too!