How to lose well

No one wants to lose, but if you are going to, it’s worth losing well. Christine and I were lucky to be part of the legendary Toon Army who made the trip to London for the Carabao Cup Final last weekend. Commentators said we didn’t win the game but we won Wembley. But lose we […][...]

What you learn from the Brit Awards

Did you see the Brit Awards last weekend? Here are my takeaways. Red Carpet  The red carpet is a chance to show off. Pop star marketing at its best. Look at what Sam Smith wore and the multiple memes that followed. No matter what you think, Sam Smith won the red carpet. What’s your red-carpet […][...]

Do It Yourself

Last weekend I had a DIY day. Not in our house – in my daughter’s flat. What started as, ‘Dad, could you help me out with a couple of things?’ Ended up being 10 hours of tasks.   The big one, and first job of the day, was… Resizing and hanging a bathroom door. My […][...]

Curate Your Life

I saw a Facebook poll with the question. Do you believe: a) Life happens to you? b) You create your life? I voted b with a caveat. Can I change create to curate? Create gives the impression that you’re in control of everything. Curate means choosing the best of what you have. As you’re clearly […][...]

Levelwhelm

It’s that time of year when it’s very easy to become overwhelmed. You know that slightly sick feeling when you’ve no idea how you’re going to get through everything. And there’s a lot of everything.   Then, of course, there’s Overwhelm’s youngest sibling – Underwhelm. What a pair.   Where’s Levelwhelm? The middle child. The […][...]

Too much choice

I was going to create a Black Friday sale with amazing offers on loads of products. And then I remembered the jam experiment, where a supermarket increased its range of jams fivefold and sold… less jam. Most people appreciate less choice, not more. Keep it simple Heppell.   In the spirit of less jam choice, […][...]

Which camp are you in?

There’s only one topic on my mind this week. I’m about to share with you 287 words about writing books. You’ll be in one of three camps: Camp 1: You’re interested in writing, and you’d like to write a book. Camp 2: You’re not interested in writing, but you’d still like to write a book […][...]

It’s going well. So… Stop!

On Monday I hosted a TEAM17 Stream on Self-Sabotage. We questioned why we do it, how we do it and what we can do about it. As always, a TEAM17 Member said something which made my mind flip. ‘When things are going well, slow down and even stop for a moment. You don’t always have to […][...]

The Excitement of Encyclopaedias

There was a time, BG (before Google), when to find information, you would refer to a large faux leather-bound book. The family encyclopaedia. Say I need ‘the height of a giraffe’. You’d go to the room that stored your compendiums. A letter reference on the spine would help you select the correct tome.  ‘F-J’. Then […][...]

Get Bitter or Get Better

It’s easy to get triggered. Some people seem to have made this an art. And the more they get triggered, the more they get triggered.   I’m currently writing a new programme for TEAM17. We’re going to spend three months going deep into classic personal development and I’m working out how we can help each […][...]

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