Category: Blog
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Not my circus, not my monkeys
I love this saying, and often feel the urge to wheel it out. But when I do, I often realise that I’m avoiding the hard, but necessary work of rounding up the monkeys and putting them back in the cage. They may not be my monkeys, but they’re throwing sh*t around and one of them…
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Responding > Reacting
Reactions are reflex actions triggered by stimulus. They’re automatic and happen with great alacrity, but not a lot of thought. Reactions are slower for sure, but they are more deliberate and considered. Reactions are triggered, responses are decided. In complex and volatile situations we almost always want responses, not reactions. When there are many variables…
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Find a rhythm, not a rut
We crave habit, regularity and consistency. And for good reason. Habits allow us to automate good behaviours and leverage muscle memory. They help us achieve a state of unconscious competence with practices that we want to engage in regularly. But every behaviour turns dark when taken to the extreme and our habits are no exception. …
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Correct decisions don’t guarantee a desired outcome…
…and a good outcome doesn’t mean we did the right thing. Conflating our decisions and our outcomes is a dangerous game as it can lead us to make terrible choices. In the words or Gary Karsparov: “Losing can persuade you to change what doesn’t need to be changed and winning can convince you everything is…
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Listening for the whispers
Not everything we want to know is shouted from the rooftops. Sometimes learning will require us to be quiet and listen to secrets softly spoken. We spend a lot of time in our own personal broadcast mode and sometimes forget to tune into the quiet frequencies of feedback which are all around us. What have…
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Making critical items unforgettable
Something may be important, but that doesn’t guarantee we’ll remember it. Sometimes the most critical items fall through the cracks in our process and thinking. Anniversaries, medication, promises – all easy to agree to and easy to forget. If we want to ensure that these things are never forgotten, then we need to build them…
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It doesn’t need to be an umbrella…
…but we need something to keep the rain off. I tend to dislike umbrellas because other people’s umbrellas tend to get dangerously close to my eyes (just the wrong height for wet weather). This doesn’t mean that I always turn up wet, just that I employ a different rain mitigation strategy (hat, coat and waterproof…
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How the sausage is made
The UK COVID enquiry has been equal parts unbelievable and disappointing. It’s true that it’s terrifying to see how the sausage is actually made. In this case “the sausage” is the policy that would determine an entire country’s response to a pandemic which killed almost a quarter of a million people in the UK. It…
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When in doubt, work out
This is a sibling piece to When in doubt, help out. It’s a recommended response to the sense of ennui and dissatisfaction that can strike over a weekend. When we start listlessly wandering from room to room just looking for novelty, entertainment or food. Mindless grazing or doomscrolling. Work out. Now. Go for a walk,…
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When in doubt, help out
In most situations, if we’re not sure what to do, we can’t really go wrong by finding someone who struggling, and helping them. Whether we’re at work, school, home, the airport, prison, the tube – this is broadly applicable. Our world isn’t yet so overrun by Samaritans that we have a problem of well meaning…