Early To Bed, Early To Rise

Catching the train yesterday morning, I noticed something odd.

I guess I’ve been getting on at the same time every morning for so long that I hadn’t realised the big change that had taken place.

This time last year, the 7 o’clock train was usually me in my suit (calm down ladies) and a bunch of people in paint and plaster-spattered overalls.

There was always a seat spare, and I even had enough arm room to read the paper.

Not anymore.

Now the carriage is full of my colleagues from the suit army.

I’m also answering more email late at night and making more calls at weekends.

In the last year, the rules have changed.

And we’ve had to change with them.

If you’re familiar with basketball, it’s what they call “full court press”

All action all of the time.

Heads up!

Don’t Order The Soup

I started my career in catering, and trained as a chef.
Great cooking skills weren’t the only things I took away from that early phase of my working life.
I also made a simple rule for myself which, I never dreamed of breaking.
My Rule?
Never have the soup.
It’s simple really.
I always considered it as a waste of a choice.
But there I was this week, sitting in a restaurant and finding nothing that really grabbed me on the menu.
So I ordered the soup, and it turned out to be one of the most delicious things I’ve ever tasted.
As I finished the bowl, I found myself wondering how many other options I’d closed my mind to, based on ill-informed reservations and prejudices.
The wasted choice wasn’t picking the soup from the menu, it was all those times I’d missed out on something great because I thought I knew best.

The Winner Takes It All

Jack Morton was recently visited by Sébastien Foucan, the creator of freerunning, and star of Casino Royale.
As well as showing some awe-inspiring footage of him defying gravity and battling Daniel Craig, he gave an inspiring speech about how the principles of freerunning can be applied in our day-to-day lives.
But what really stood out for me, as I listened to him speak, was the fact that he is the world’s leader in a field that he invented.
Now that is inspiring.
So next time you come up against a barrier or obstacle, try and look at it differently, change some rules, even create your own rules.
Create your own battleground, define your own terms.
If you invent the the rules of the game, there can be only one winner.