A young man was walking along the shore of the sea. The beach was of pebbles. A wisened old man approached him. “I’ll give you one million dollars if you bring me a touchstone”. The young man paused. “What is a touchstone?” “It looks like any other stone, but when you hold it in the … Read more
Last night’s sunset. I was impressed. As always, the real thing was better than the photo (like how books are always better than the movie (except Star Wars)). Sunset at Quinta do Lago, Portugal. @me I hope you are having a great August.
“If something is worth doing, it is worth doing well” is a common english language phrase. However, it is a very dangerous idea. Perfection is the enemy of progress. If something is worth doing, it is simply that – it is worth doing. If you start with little experience, you will probably do it poorly … Read more
This was written on the wall in Mother Teresa‘s home for children in Calcutta and is widely attributed to her. It is often given the title “Do it anyway“: Do It Anyway People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be … Read more
At the risk of gross oversimplification, there were five Greek philosophies of happiness. Socrates – only the poor, those who have nothing to lose, can be happy. Aristotle – you have to be born rich to be happy (in reality healthy, wealthy, good family, good friends). Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics introduced the good life. Epicurus – remove all … Read more
I am honoured to be mentioned in the same sentence as Seth Godin (video on blog). JP at Virgin UK has inspired me to share some of the top blogs that I follow and provide daily inspiration for me. Seth Godin’s blog Gretchen Rubin’s The Happiness Project Peter Bregman’s blog at Harvard Business Review TED Blog … Read more
I am in IESE Business School’s library today. I am reading Jeffrey Pfeffer‘s article “HR’s most important task“. He starts: “Here is a paradox. In the financial markets, investment information is rapidly and efficiently diffused. New product and service innovations, be they junk bonds, new forms of options, or debt securities that allocate and price risk in … Read more
Productivity put simple. This is a guest post by Dimitri Uralov, a Barcelona based entrepreneur and financial coach. When Conor offered me the chance to write a post on time management for this blog, we laughed as I commented that most people would probably find the truth about productivity too simple. “Most people would probably find … Read more
TED talks are some of the best speeches that I watch. TED organisers have a set of 10 rules that no speaker is ever allowed to break. This might be a lesson for all speakers. Thou Shalt Not Simply Trot Out thy Usual Shtick Thou Shalt Dream a Great Dream, or Show Forth a Wondrous … Read more
I had two conversations yesterday, first with Dimitri in Starbucks then later with my friend Al (his blog on improving web conversion) on the telephone where we spoke about how goals can actually damage effectiveness. Wanting too much = desperation = we push people away. Not wanting at all = we say no = people … Read more