March - 2022

Mar 30, 2022
2 min

One day good, one day bad [Wise Wednesdays]

UK weather is never guaranteed. More often cloudy than not. It’s famously moody… Since the start of the war, I’ve noticed my mood fluctuate more. One day good, one day bad. That’s fine. Problems only arise if we get caught in our moods. The key is to not get caught. Either way, the mood will pass. In Buddhism it’s called impermanence. A good mood will pass. A bad mood will pass. But what if you do get caught? Perhaps you get caught in a bad mood and suddenly the world seems l

Mar 23, 2022
4 min

3.5 lessons in 6 years of business [Wise Wednesdays]

This new season marks Year 6 since my big career leap into the unknown and then into coaching, as well as six years of Wise Wednesdays (260 Wise Wednesdays to be precise)! Thank you, for your readership, engagement and support for the vision and work that Wise Wednesdays represents. Your questions, suggestions and challenges have also been integral to the journey. According to national statistics, less than 50% of business ventures make it to year 6, and even fewer to year 10

Mar 16, 2022
3 min

3 mistakes I made in my early career [Wise Wednesdays]

It was my eleventh interview. It was 2003 and I’d tried and failed to get my dream job ten times. My peers were sailing through their interviews or going for less competitive jobs. It felt like hell sometimes. But something told me to keep going. At the end of the final interview, I had that feeling that it went well. That the opportunity had arrived. When I got the offer, I knew that a new phase had begun. After that episode in my early career, I got my subsequent dream jo

Mar 9, 2022
2 min

Should you rest or keep going? [Wise Wednesdays]

This question has come up a few times for myself and my clients. It can come up for a number of reasons including: 1) You’ve experienced burnout before 2) You’re facing uncertainty in a project 3) You are really tired (either physically or mentally) Sometimes you're not sure what to do, so what do you do? NOT FORCING, NOT STOPPING Continuing on the theme of Eastern wisdom from last week's Be Like Water, a related principle that’s helped me in these relatively turb

Mar 9, 2022
2 min

What does war look like?

Like a group of teenage kids going to school hoping not to be blown up is how I remember it. This was Algeria in 1993. The Civil War was well underway. But we tried to live normally. A year later, my parents decided to leave, informing only close family. I’ve noticed a range of feelings in response to the war in Ukraine including: - Numbness: perhaps a part of me that doesn’t want to remember the pain of war - Consternation: wars are an unfortunate regular feature of humanity

Mar 9, 2022
2 min

See the human not the highlight

One of the highlights of last week was attending a 2022 Business Book Awards event and receiving the personal development book of the year award for The Success Trap: Why Good People Stay in Jobs They Don't Like and How to Break Free. I hesitated to post about it because there’s always a little guilt at posting happy moments when there’s so much suffering in the world. I almost didn’t go to receive the award in the first place and had a few things on my mind including: -

Mar 2, 2022
4 min

Be like water (when you’re stuck) [Wise Wednesdays]

What do you do when you have to do something you don’t want to do? Millions of people are caught in conflict zones around the world right now, mostly in Africa, Asia and now Europe. Perhaps for you the conflict is on a smaller scale (either an inner-conflict or with someone else). But it might still feel stressful. Maybe you’re being asked to work from home when you’d rather be back at the office accessing more social contact for your mental wellbeing. Or perhaps you’re the o