Thoughts

When I was in my early 20s, I saw the movie Dead Poets’ Society. It changed my life. ‘Seize the day’ became my mantra. From that point on, I determined that my life would be full of worthwhile, meaningful pursuits. I’d say yes to pretty much everything just to see what I could learn.   […]

I moved to New Zealand almost 15 years ago. I found myself in a new country, with no track record, no real understanding of the business or cultural landscape, and no real idea of where to begin. I was starting afresh. It was a little lonely, and more than a little scary.   Back then, […]

During this past week, I was on the receiving end of a couple of pieces of pretty challenging feedback. You know, the kind that makes you squirm in your boots and has you feeling downright uncomfortable. In fact, it rocked me. In both cases, it was good friends letting me know about things that I […]

“The prize doesn’t go to the fastest guy. It goes to the guy who slows down the least.”  – Rich Roll   I heard this quote from ultramarathon runner and podcaster Rich Roll the other day. It stopped me in my tracks because I’d never thought about it in quite that way before. The idea that in a […]

  When it comes to decisions, it often pays to listen to your state over your story.   When your head says ‘I should keep working’, and your gut says ‘go for a walk’, then go for a walk.   When your head says ‘I have to keep showing up to these useless meetings’, and […]

Here we are at the beginning of February. After the break, is your world starting to speed up again? I bumped into a client last week who told me that the calm and zen she’d experienced over the holiday period had evaporated within 40 minutes of her first day back at work. Sound familiar?   […]

Last week during a Change Makers workshop, our guest was Mandy Simpson, Chief Digital Officer for New Zealand’s Z Energy. Guests are invited not to give a presentation, but rather to bring a question and host a conversation centred on that question. Mandy’s question was “How can we ask better questions?”   The drive behind […]

As I’ve been running my Unhurried Productivity experiment, I’ve been researching why we hurry. Here’s my summary of what I’m learning, and, if we want to change gears, some ideas for what we can do about it. Heads up – it’s a slightly longer read than usual. I reckon it’s worth it to give the […]

  As I write this, I’m entering the third week of my Unhurried Productivity experiment. In case you missed it, here’s what I’m doing and what I hope to learn from it.  I’ve also been posting daily updates on Youtube. If you’ve been following those daily clips, you’ll know that I’ve been angsting about not being as […]

Do you feel like you’re cramming too much in? Yep, me too. Last Friday I had a client coaching session. We booked out a couple of hours, and we used 90 minutes. Then we felt that we were done. We’d done good work. We didn’t rush it. I think what helped was a feeling that […]