I think we should waste more time.
We are bombarded with productivity hacks, articles on getting more done, podcasts about fitting more in, optimal work times, reducing distractions, flow etc. People worry that they have no more time to use more efficiently. We’ve gone overboard.
Read MoreGetting clarity about what you want is where you find your energy and how you can get more energy. The other side to it is that you need energy to drive your business. This is not just a good thing to have, it’s critical to being able to make change happen.
Read MoreI recorded the final modules for the first year of our Active Manager Programme last week, and one of them was about making better decisions.
One of the mistakes we make is that we can remain locked in the past, using the same old data or the same old processes. Even more important, we have outdated assumptions.
Read MoreBecause they are the best-trained. Forget Beauden Barrett, the key guy is Steve Hansen (and before him Graham Henry). Since they’ve been involved, All Black coaching teams have taught their teams how to train (learn).
If you want to perform better, train your managers in learning how to learn, and learning how to teach.
Read MoreI was having a conversation with a Breakthrough member and another guy at our Challenger workshop the other day. The member was talking about how valuable the Breakthrough programme has been in terms of business growth (oh alright, I prompted him). But then he spontaneously said, “Actually the most valuable part has been the effect on my relationship with my wife.”
Read MoreA couple of weeks ago I ran into a client from my time as a partner in a large business consulting firm. Rieny Marck and I worked together 20 years ago, and he was reminiscing about the Lumley Insurance journey.
I did some work with them over the space of about a year, starting with a vision and strategy session and then working through a detailed opportunity assessment and priority process. He still recalled the methodology I used, and my reference to something I called the “zone of sensible excitement”.
Read MoreAfter 15 years I’ve worked out what we do here and why it works so well.
I’ve always practiced “outside in” – bringing the world to my inbox via subscriptions to bloggers, periodicals, newspapers and book reviews. This has its downside as a couple of them are American magazines (The Atlantic and New Yorker) and I can lose up to 20 minutes a day Trumping.
Read MoreI don’t know if you’ve noticed, but sh*t happens. Often. All the time, to varying degrees. We’re rolling along happily, and then avvompha! We get knocked off our stride.
Last year we were working on a big initiative. Great opportunity, wonderful relationship yadda yadda yadda. The great opportunity got smaller and smaller until it was whatever the opposite of opportunity is.
Read MoreGood intentions, we all have them. We begin the new year full of vim and vigour and a whole lot of resolutions to do things better, differently and with more conviction. But it is normally a matter of weeks (if not days) and we are right back to our habits of 2017.
We’re working too many hours, feeling stressed, eating the wrong things, skipping workouts, missing time with the kids, cancelling date nights, and so the cycle continues.
Read MoreIt’s all very well to set Most Important Goals. They establish what we rationally consider to be our priorities. They represent our beliefs about what’s important – they're our convictions.
But priorities are only meaningful if they involve choice and sacrifice. In those moments when honouring the priority involves inconvenience, disruption, additional effort on the part of yourself or others, then your commitment to priority is tested.
Read MoreWe played our last gig of the year last night – it was really great. The crowd loved it, we played pretty well and the energy was high. I got some very nice crowd response to some of my solos on the guitar, which always feels good.
Interestingly, I still feel that my guitar work is not where I want it to be.
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