Feed the stallions and starve the ponies

Many years ago a lecturer explained the “feed the stallions, starve the ponies” life concept to me. He explained what this means: the more we feed and nurture our best attributes, the sooner and greater our chances of achieving our goals will be. I think one of the keys to success in life is to figure out what your strengths are, the formula I have used over the past 25 years is always the same: “Leverage on what is working and just because you can doesn’t mean you should.”

Decisions, decisions and more decisions

In a way nature protects us by shielding us from knowledge of the difficulties and obstacles that lie ahead because if we really know all of the problems we would face, the setbacks, the sufferings, the temporary failure, and disappointments - many of us would hesitate about everything, even starting out. Quitting is a habit and if you quit the first time you run into difficulties, you’ll always quit when the going gets rough, and in effect, you’ll establish a pattern for failure rather than a pattern for success.

 

Decision fatigue is a psychological phenomenon surrounding a person’s ability or capacity to make decisions. In other words, the more decisions you have to make, the more fatigue you develop and the more difficult it can become. This fatigue applies to all decisions, not simply the large or more difficult ones as when there are too many options, we tend to feel overwhelmed, anxious, stressed or otherwise out of sorts.

The Great Resignation

The Great Resignation is an ongoing economic trend in which employees have voluntarily resigned from their jobs in droves since the beginning of 2021. Without passion for the work, you are doing and the work of the organisation, your success will be limited. There has been a rise in over-50s with just enough money saved up to rethink their lives in the wake of the pandemic. 

 

The “inactivity rate” is defined as people neither in a job nor trying to find one, and apparently this figure currently stands at 21.3% in the UK. I think companies perceiving talent shortages in their local market must rethink their workforce models and their talent acquisition strategies. As a Londoner, I have always found pleasure in communicating to people from very diverse backgrounds. Perhaps it’s time for local businesses to start hiring people from diverse backgrounds. 

Another one bites the dust

I attended my good friend, Keith Thomas' wake (Nine Night) in London. This morning, I found our New Year’s resolution from 29th Dec. 2015.

My New Years resolution is to remain constant:

  • I will question.

  • I will speak my mind.

  • I will look for answers.

  • I will not be dictated too.

  • I will not tolerate injustice.

  • I will not tolerate ignorance.

  • I will continue to exchange views.

My mind shall remain transient - open to change. However I shall give up meat and restrict my alcohol intake. RIP buddy ❤️

The key to diversity

The ability to be honest about your strengths and weaknesses is essential to leading an organisation. I think passion for the work and mission of one’s organisation is the fuel for a successful organisation as it impacts the other main principles in many direct and indirect ways. Diversity can be a competitive advantage because by having people from different perspectives looking at challenges and problems, you will get fresh solutions that are turning into business success. Everyone is biased, whether it’s an unconscious bias, cognitive bias, or misguided perceptions with regards to consumers.

The pursuit of perfection

In today’s world, technology makes geography and size almost irrelevant, therefore, this gives us this unique opportunity to assert strong strategic leadership. Content marketing is not about choosing a keyword and writing an article to rank for it, it’s about having a deep understanding of your target audience and the information they’re looking for and being a credible and trustworthy source for that information. How do you know that is true?

“Strategy is a commodity, execution is art.”
— Peter Drucker

Mind power

Image © James Brown - Polydor Records

The human mind is magnificent organ of intelligence, unfortunately we are not taught how to fully use it. In fact, because of our limited understanding of the mind and our limited expectations of it, we limit the minds’ ability to function at its full potential. As you know, you cannot heal what you don't feel, so my aim is to help my clients to replace negative self-talk with positive self-talk, for example, I have already managed to replace bigotry, intolerance, and racism with fairness, friendly and tolerance. 

 

I have been working on a rapid transformational program, it will be a monthly subscription-based program with the aim to reprogram your mind. Watch this space…

Your perception is your reality

On a daily basis we evaluate others, we also regularly look into our own hearts and minds. Many aspects of our minds are hidden from us, we think in two different ways: self-judgement and how we judge others. I think the way we judge others is to look at their actions and the way we judge ourselves is by our use of words.

I have recently been made aware that in social psychology they use the term: “naive realism”. This is a human tendency where we see the world around us objectively, and that people who disagree with us must be uninformed, irrational, or biased.

Wisdom on Wednesday

I think motivation is the driver of productivity, and empowerment is the fuel of motivation. It’s far more motivating to work in an organisation that is passionate about innovation than one that is sterile and stuck in, “We have always done it that way.”

“Many people take action as a result of their passion, instead of being passionate as a result of their actions. Using passion (an emotional and subjective foundation) as the impetus for action can often bring disappointment when the desired result is not achieved. However, taking decisive action using empirical data, can increase the possibility of success and therefore feed your passion.”
— Safi A. Thomas

Expect the unexpected

Photograph: © MBI/Alamy

As human beings we are always trying to make sense of the world and it’s very easy to be seduced by your own narratives. When things happen to us or to our communities or to our nations, we understand those events through the lens of culture, ideology or through our limited knowledge. Many of us have answers to these questions because we’ve spent years or decades in some cases perfecting our stories. What would happen if we just stopped and admitted that we don’t have a very good handle on the world situation and our theories are just that - theories. 

We are constantly coming up with stories about why the events are the way they are. It’s not like the people who are coming up with the stories are malicious or they are trying to draw the wrong conclusions about the world. Many are deeply well intentioned and want the best things for everyone else. It’s just the act of storytelling itself runs the risk for encapsulating from too little data to sweeping a conclusion. You can read an article from The Guardian about the heavy burden of being Black in a white space.

Startup thinking

When you start a business there is a method and there are things you need to do in order to build it up. In business you have to set certain goals that you want to achieve and then act towards achieving those goals. Once you have defined your goals and begin to pursue them with your team you will find that obstacles continuously arise as you go towards it.

Whenever you create something new, it’s rarely a smooth progression, you will have to overcome obstacles along the way in the form of people or situations that go wrong. When an obstacle arises, immediately face the obstacle which comes in the form of a situation, something not working, something going wrong or perhaps somebody trying to sabotage you. Never react towards the obstacle as if this should not be happening, face it and see what the way beyond it is. How can I either dissolve it, bypass it, or use it? So, I do not enter a state of reactivity when obstacles appear on your paths.

What is your relationship to difficulties and obstacles that arise as you travel towards your goal? 

Education vs. intellect

I love people who have no idea how wonderful they are and just wander around making the world a better place. I think you attract good people into your life based on your character, not possessions, appearance, or intellect.

“Never confuse education with intelligence. Intelligence isn’t the ability to remember and repeat, like they teach you in school. Intelligence is the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use our knowledge to adapt to new situations.”
— Professor Richard Feynman

I don't know

c/o The New York Times

If you try to control everything, and then worry about the things you can’t control, you are setting yourself up for a lifetime of frustration and misery. I think “I don’t know” is the most powerful sentence you can use as knowing that you don’t know makes you a knowledgeable person.


Last night I was asked: What is a Metaverse?
I replied: “I don’t know”.
This morning, I did some research and I think the Metaverse is the following:

  • Digital currency

  • Marketplace / e-commerce

  • NFT’s

  • Gaming

  • Digital assets

  • Natural language processing

  • Online shopping

  • Social media

  • Social entertainment events

  • Digital humans 

There’s no shame in admitting that you don’t know. The only shame is to pretend you know everything. Click the Synthetic Data link, as these guys really know about the Metaverse.

Turbulent times

Navigating a highly uncertain and constantly changing context, while actively contributing to building the future that we want to see, has never been more important. My writing is a form of therapy, an attempt to continuously educate and direct myself towards emotional health and ethical good sense. Think about a single area in your life where you are successful, and ask yourself, “What small things do I do each day that allows my consistent success?” I follow these three key performance indicators to map how successful I am in my life:

  • Truth: Are you being true to yourself and your values?

  • Focus: Are you consistently committing to your goals?

  • Strength: Do you keep pushing forward, even when you feel afraid or make a mistake?

 

Try it out and let me know what you think via e-mail. Remember the picture we paint in our minds of what other people are like is one of the main driving forces of relationships, economics, and politics.

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Pause and reflect

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According to the Oxford English dictionary, “…a pause is a short period when you stop doing something before continuing, and when you reflect on something, you think deeply about it.” In these strange, uncertain and frightening times, how is it that some people ‘keep calm and carry on’, while others panic?

  • Get active and do some form of regular physical activity, even if it’s just walking 10 minutes a day.

  • Keep learning as your mind need to keep active too, so give it a regular workout.

  • Random acts of kindness are contagious, please spread the word.

  • We are hardwired to want social connections as they are essential to good mental wellbeing.

  • Take time to notice things, whether it’s your neighbour’s new hairstyle or reflecting on your experiences.

  • Caring for others, it’s essential to do what’s right for the global community.

Take time to shift your focus

I think that people with high levels of gratitude have low levels of resentment and envy. As when we take time to focus on what we are grateful for, we choose positive emotions over negative, thus we take steps to nurture our mental health and wellbeing. I was recently asked: How can we trigger gratitude in ourselves? And I answered, start with a gratitude practice, it’s like a workout or healthy eating plan for your mind and it’s simple.

 

Have you ever noticed that when you are looking to buy a new phone or a jacket all of a sudden everyone around you has it? That’s because, consciously or unconsciously, whatever we are focused on is what we see. If we want to trigger gratitude in ourselves, we need to intentionally shift our focus to that which we are grateful for. The simplest way to do this is through questions and prompts and a few daily rituals. Contact me via e-mail when you are ready to shift your focus.

“You can’t feel envious and grateful at the same time. They’re incompatible feelings, because if you’re grateful, you can’t resent someone for owning things you don’t.”
— Dr. Robert Emmons
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Discover the person you were born to be

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Stress is the body’s response when it senses danger. We all experience stress and need it to function, but when stress interferes with our lives, it becomes a problem. Too much stress, for too long, can make us ill. If unaddressed, stress can cause mental health issues like depression or anxiety and harm our physical health. Listen to your being, it’s continuously giving you hints. It is a still, small voice and it does not shout at you, that is true. If you are a little silent you will start feeling your way. ‘

“Never try to be another, and you will become mature. Maturity is accepting the re-sponsibility of being oneself, whatsoever the cost. Risking all to be oneself, that’s what maturity is all about.”
— Osho

I offer a customised process for implementing, executing, and measuring your results, once you have identified, defined, and described the results you want. I’ll give you the tools and inspire you to tap into your personal drive, identifying and leveraging natural talents, and applying them toward accomplishing your goals. Contact me via e-mail when you are ready to discover and create your ideal future. 

Increase your activities

The pandemic over the past 2 years should have taught us to focus on mental health and well-being. I think it’s time to focus on being a better human first, and then the science of being a good salesperson will take care of itself. Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being.

The biggest mistake people make when it comes to listening is they’re so focused on what they’re going to say next or how what the other person is saying is going to affect them that they fail to hear what’s being said. When you focus on what’s going wrong then emotions take over your attention, the words come through loud and clear, but the meaning is lost. Remember mental health affects how we think, feel, and act and keeping your brain healthy involves habits that keep the rest of you healthy.