Life

I am not a fan of baseball and I will not be wearing a yellow tuxedo.

Knowing the type of conversation you are having can change the way you interact with others and the outcome of the conversation.

The type of motivation you use can make a big difference on whether you will achieve your results.

Amazing things happen when you focus on the one rather than the many.

It is very easy to resort to asking “Why?” when it maybe better to ask “What?”

What tools are missing from your toolbox?

In an interview for the High Performance Podcast the comedian Sara Pascoe is asked how she copes with the pressure of making lots of people laugh every night.

Health is not my area of expertise but it is something I definitely need to work on.

The garage that services my car encourages people to book their services through their website.

20 years ago on the 11th December 2005 I had just got up and was walking down our hallway when there was a massive explosion and it literally felt like the whole roof had been lifted off and landed …

In my first “real” job I was definitely thrown in at the deep end on my first day and it changed my career.

Seth Godin asks

If someone with more skill and dedication took over your work, how many ways could they make it …

Last year I bought my mum a year subscription to My Life in a Book.

Most orders online follow the same pattern - you order, you get an email to confirm it and then you might get updates on progress as it makes it’s way to your house.

In a recent interview Mo Salah shared some advice he received from the ex-Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger that has stuck with him.

It is very easy to go through life and not realise the effects of loneliness.

There is a well known story about an old man fixing an engine.

I support Somerset cricket club and have done since I was a kid.

When I was at university, a long time ago, one of the books I really enjoyed was “The Cuckoo’s Egg” by …

Can a friend ask you for a chat when they really need one?

Do you suppress your emotions?

I used to suppress my emotions a lot and I guess I still do in certain situations; I am getting better at letting them out. For example, watching the end of the film

When I am working and need to focus I like to have music in the background.

A lot of coding jobs can involve fairly “normal” tasks - create a page, write to and read from a database, add a new field to this screen. These tasks have been done numerous times by …

There is an idiom “the straw that broke the camel’s back” which, according to Wikipedia, describes

During a team call this morning, one of the engineers mentioned about the useless things he still remembers and how it would be good if the brain would clear them out.

I have just finished re-reading the book The Spark, a fictional account of a sports agent and his journey to learn about Cirque de …

A task can often look too big to tackle. It can become very daunting even in deciding where to start.

Sometimes a decision comes with a cost, a sacrifice.

In the book Leaders Eat Last Simon Sinek says:

We have manuals and guides for the software we use. We have a manual for the car we drive. Why not the house?

Foundations are important and need to be correct and strong before you build anything.

Last weekend our daughter started on the next part of her life journey. We dropped her off at Exeter University as she is about to embark on a four year adventure studying psychology.

In the Knowledge Project podcast with Adam Robinson there is an interesting observation about warnings.

When my daughter was at nursery I missed a show she was in. Unknown to me, she had the leading role and I missed it because of a work meeting.

I was fortunate enough to meet someone who dramatically changed my life but didn’t know it. And when I met them I didn’t even get the chance to speak to them or say thank you.

“A rite of passage is a ceremony or ritual of the passage which occurs when an individual leaves one group to enter another.”

I wonder if there are a group of people in companies that set the prices for their products that still like the concept of bartering? They seem to like the negotiations of trying to find the highest …

I’ve written a lot about questions, and answers.

In the book Questions are the answer there is a quote from Peter Drucker:

We often equate pressure with stress and vice versa.

This article has a nice definition of the difference:

Being productive is sometimes more about mind management than time management.

“Minimum Viable Product”, or MVP, is a phrase that has become common place. It gained fame through the Lean Startup book and the work of Eric Ries.

My daughter finishes her A Level exams today. Let’s just say she can’t wait to get them over and done with. She has worked incredibly hard over the last month or so; in fact over the last …

In most UK schools we have the concept of work experience.

Estimation is a very difficult task - depending on what is being estimated.

Teachers can make a huge difference - in both a positive and a negative way.

When I am developing software I build an internal mental model of how I expect things to work. As I learn more I tweak that model - or if it is not working as I expect then I tweak the code to match …

I am not an artist and I have limited knowledge of art but I recently enjoyed a TV series and I am currently reading a book related to the subject.

My grandfather was a skilled artist - well in my eyes he was. He also taught art at secondary school.

I came across this YouTube video with an intriguing title - “The Restaurant of Mistaken Orders”. Having …

I have mostly been working from my dad’s workshop for the last week.

Maybe it is my upbringing but I always try to be on time for things.

How do you design a product that is going to be used by a lot of people?

It is easy to take things and people for granted.

We are not a family that likes to just sit on the beach. We may spend a little time doing that - everyone needs to relax - but we tend to prefer doing and seeing things.

In the book Excellent Advice for Living, Kevin Kelly identifies the importance of habits.

There is a lot of different advice when it comes to making a decision and picking a path.

It is easy to decide that you can’t do something.

Ego and the fear of how we appear to others can get in the way sometimes. We don’t want to appear stupid so we avoid finding out things we don’t know.

Questions are underrated. Lots of people focus on answers when they should be focussing on identifying the right question to ask.

The butterfly effect famously states that the flapping of the wings of a butterfly somewhere in the world can impact the weather on the other side of the world - a small change can have a huge impact …

How do we move from solving downstream reactive problems to upstream proactive solutions?

This is a great description of the difference between an introvert and an extrovert.

It is very easy to do something negative to try and show how intelligent we are.

In the book 59 Seconds by Richard Wiseman he talks about an effect called “Spontaneous Trait Transference”.

My daughter sometimes works as a waitress at the local Pizza Express. If she has a good night then sometimes she can earn more in tips than her wages (although that is not very often).

In the TED talk The four-letter code to selling anything Derek Thompson explains …

I once heard that the way you can tell if something is actually funny is that it causes you to laugh out loud even when you are by yourself. It is much easier to laugh at something when surrounded by …

Today is my daughter’s last official day at school - they have a party for about an hour tomorrow so that doesn’t count.

Some times expectations are met, or exceeded, and sometimes they fail to be met.

Adding an alert or alarm for a situation you need to monitor should be a good thing but sometimes, depending on how it is done, it can actually make things worse or at a minimum not work as expected.

Should all learning require an action?

I love to learn - I guess you might have worked that out from this blog. I spend a lot of my spare time reading books, listening to podcasts or watching videos.

I have a fear of failure … to an extent. I guess I am a little risk averse.

Life is made up of stories.

Emmy Sobieski mentions this in her interview for Stanford’s eCorner podcast:

Growing up I was a big fan of Jean-Michel Jarre.

What does going above and beyond look like?

In a previous post I highlighted the difference between service and hospitality. This was based on a podcast with Will Guidara where he talked through how …

What is the difference between service and hospitality?

I have had a book on my Amazon wishlist for a while - Unreasonable Hospitality by …

A recent stay at a hotel got me thinking about what defines a good hotel?

I recently stayed at a hotel and a small sticker in the bathroom caught my attention.

When I am working I like to have music in the background to help me focus. I find, like a lot of people, that it needs to be music without lyrics most of the time.

It is an interesting experience to find the work your dad did being exhibited in a museum.

Today my daughter turns 18 years old. Wow, time flown has by.

I recently had the scenario where I had to use up a few days holiday before they would expire. I decided to hire and cottage and go walking. Unfortunately due to a stomach bug this didn’t go …

The freelearninglist.org website identifies the best education resources for each type of platform.

Most people struggle with the blank page and starting something new. This episode of the podcast Spark & Fire has snippets from interviews with 5 different people and how they start something new …

I recently came across two different websites that allow you to look at the world through photos in two completely different ways. The first site is called ChronoPhoto. It displays a photograph and …

Last week I experienced a range of customer service related to a new sofa we bought. It’s clear how much difference it can make.

In a recent article/tweet the author commented on how all the photos taken by their child looked awful. However they realized this was down to a different generational mindset.

I have had lots of jobs during my life and I think I can identify at least one thing I have learnt at each of them. I usually know it is time to move to a new role if I no longer enjoy it or I am no …

About fifteen years ago, Casey Treat spoke at our church about goal setting. He explained that a lot of people set a goal of reaching a certain weight and he said the problem with that occurs when you …

One of my favourite podcasts is Hanselminutes by Scott Hanselman. I have been listening to it probably longer than any other podcast. He recently interviewed Roberta Arcoverde from Stack Overflow. She …

It is a classic way people start a conversation. Some people meet, they exchange a few pleasantries and then they ask “and, so what do you do?” And each person then takes turns, hopefully …

Austin Kleon wrote an article about how we can get used to anything. Something is new and exciting but before too long it becomes the normal and we are no longer excited by it. It seems to be part of …

It is always tempting when buying or designing things to plan for the future; to add features that make your design or purchase “future proof”.

A PhD student has created a way to capture conversations with hospice patients that their relatives can play back and listen to at any time later.

Another podcast … I was listening to Guy Raz interview General David Petraeus on the “Wisdom from the top” podcast. Towards the end he made the observation that luck is where …

This is quite an amazing article about how someone ended up installing an actual old style payphone in their house.

We had a guest speaker at church on Sunday, the son-in-law of our pastors. He spoke on the subject of “Last House Standing” - based on Matthew 7:24-27, the wise and foolish builders.

A few years ago I had to do first aid training as part of the mandatory training for the youth football team I coached. This included learning how to use a defibrillator - something you obviously hope …

I recently discovered the Huberman Lab podcast so I have been working through the back catalogue. I was listening to one on creativity and mentioned that creativity is effectively taking existing …

Somethings in life are time sensitive and some are not. A business opportunity may be time sensitive in that it will only be a success when certain things are aligned or maybe new technologies are …

In the Alchemist by Paulo Coelho there is a quote “There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.” This ties in nicely with an observation from Gino Wickman in …

When I feel I am no longer learning I know it is likely time for me to either look at how my current role can change or time to look for a new role.

In the David Perell podcast with Daniel Gross they also talked about forcing functions. They started by discussing why Israel seems to be so strong in the tech industry and whether their unique …

I have been interested in the use of gamification to achieve things for a while. Given my son’s love of the Xbox I have also wondered if it could be used in some way to help him study.

I have followed the writing of David Perell for a while and recently listened to some of the podcasts he has recorded. Somehow I stumbled on one with Daniel Gross. Towards the end of the podcast David …

Scott Hanselman posted a tweet with the following tip:

Here’s a tip that my remote team does - When …

We had been planning to have a large garden summerhouse built for a number of months and we were finally in a position to do so. After a lot of research we decided to engage a local company as we …

I work very closely with two colleagues - and have done so for a number of years. Together we have experienced some serious ups and downs in the company we work for and also personally. We have each …

This is a really fun video where an AI is given a version of the game of hide and seek and each team has to learn ways …

Sometimes it is very easy to buy things just for the sake of it. We get that rush when either we bring the item home or it is delivered. It is easy to form an addiction to that feeling.

I was recently reminded of this great quote:

“When I’m working on a problem, I never think about beauty. I think only how to solve the problem. But when I have finished, if the solution is …

There is a famous quote that asks how you eat an elephant and the answer is one bite at a time. It can be very daunting when attempting something new especially if it is potentially a large task. …

Andrew Cherrie is the pastor of Home Church. In a recent sermon entitled “7 lessons from 7 years at Home Church” he gave the following quote:

There was a tweet recently by Sahil Lavingia that stated

One of the talks I attended at the Microsoft Build conference was called “Sketchnoting 101” and given by Nitya Narasimhan. It gave a very high level view of the approach and how anyone can …

Whenever I work I am always jotting down things on pieces of plain paper next to me - this could be things to do, ideas, random thoughts, planning for meetings, etc.. Every week or so I do a cull of …

I have tried numerous to-do applications in the past; from the very simplest to the all-singing, all-dancing applications and they have never stuck. I used them for a week or so and realised a month …

Someone I work with mentioned that each week he takes time to have coffee with his mum. This might sound quite normal but there are two parts that stand out for me.

This is one of the scariest videos I think I have ever seen. It is not a horror movie or a thriller - it is a talk about the impact sleep has on the body and in particular the impact a lack of sleep …

I really like Seth Godin’s blog - I could easily link to his posts every day - however occasionally a post really stands out for me. A recent post called Bottlenecks had an interesting …

I read a lot of books and once I start reading a book I normally finish it. This article proposes that it may be more valuable to have a bunch of books that are unread. Not sure I completely buy in to …

I am back on the learning Scala trail and it is clear that just reading books and articles or watching videos won’t cut it. It needs to be hands-on coding.

This is a very simple idea for a quiz. It drops you in a random place somewhere in the world and you use Google StreetView to work out where it is. If you are lucky you end up in a town or city, …

A simple change in message can lead to a big impact.

There is a video of a demonstration given by Doug Engelbart in 1968 which is commonly referred to as “The Mother Of All Demos”. In the demo, he demonstrates a lot of technologies for the …

A simple chart showing how the English alphabet evolved and how we ended up with what we have. It is particularly interesting how the Roman alphabet changed to become the English alphabet.

I was due to be paid for some work earlier this month and the payment was from a foreign bank account into my account in GBP. The payment was made two weeks ago but never turned up in my account. …

A great quote from this podcast by 23andMe Co-Founder and CEO Anne Wojcicki …

This page is devoted to maths and in particular pi. The answer to the second question on this page is unexpected and I love the energy the maths teacher brings to the class in the video. I had some …

I am probably like most people in that when I meet someone who I deem to be important the way I deal with them changes. It introduces a more reserved interaction with more careful responses.

I am going to try and enjoy the small things in life and focus more on those close to me; something that is not always easy when caught up in the hustle and bustle of life.

These nature photos are absolutely stunning. Some people have a gift for photography … and I am not one of them.

My daughter loves dancing - always has done - whether it is street, contemporary or ballet. However she faces none of the challenges the dancers (and musicians) in this video face. I won’t spoil …

This is such a simple idea and could potentially have a huge impact if it takes off - cafes and pubs filling up water bottles for free.

Derek Sivers highlights an interesting pricing approach in this article. He was asked to perform at a distant location. When the customer …

I have never formally made a bucket list. Sure, there are things I would love to do and some more than others but I have never written anything down.

This is an interesting post from Rob Conery, someone I’ve followed for quite some time, and his …