Thoughts

3 resilience lessons from ultra running pros

1If you’ve thought about something three times – stop and do something about it.

Slight hot spot inside your shoe? Bit peckish and thinking about getting a snack from your bag? Bit icy underfoot and wondering if it’s time to slip the micro-spikes on?

When things are going well and we are making good progress the temptation is to ignore these thoughts and plough on. But ultra running, a bit like life, tends to shine a light our decisions to ignore feedback.

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What NOT to work on

My friend was stressed. He was juggling lots of different projects. Not making as much progress as he wanted. Not clear about the relative priorities. And considering taking on even more projects.

It’s a good problem to have, opportunity. But there are only so many hours in the day.

Overfilling those hours does not end well (context switching overhead or burnout).

Letting someone else (e.g. the Panic Monster) decide your priorities also does not end well.

The Panic Monster
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The Good Business Festival 2020

An inspiring and well put together virtual event. Well done to Festival Director Wayne Hemingway and team. Excellent quality streaming video and high production value pre-recorded clips. Good challenging questions from the chairs; Evan Davis, Gaby Logan, etc. Healthy side dialogues and some light networking in the web chat 👍

Assorted notes and quotes:

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Get the map out of your bag

I was doing an online navigation course aimed at those racing mountain marathons but the parallels with business and personal life were clear.

“Lots of people keep their map in their bag and only get it out after they are lost. Elites always keep their map to hand.”

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The writing’s on the wall

In the ideal space for facilitating meetings you can write on every wall. Ideas emerge from the recesses of our brains into the world for all to visualise and interact with. Pictures do tell thousands of words. And people love getting up and moving around. Plus, the cost of mistakes is zero; just wipe and start again.

The reality is that most meeting rooms I encounter have a pretty measly setup; one small flip-chart and a whiteboard if I’m lucky.

So now I carry this cunning innovation; Magic Whiteboard is A1 size flip-chart paper that sticks to any surface (static charge) and is wipe clean. It instantly turns any meeting space into a facilitator’s dream.

Hat tips to the City University Centre for Creativity in Professional Practice for introducing me to this, founders Neil & Laura for the innovation, and the Dragons’ Den for investing and bringing it to market.

Amazon have better prices than direct and don’t worry, it comes from the founders anyway.

Check it out:

Happy drawing 🙂

Monday morning moment

Cycling to work through central London on a dark, cold, and wet January morning.

Passed by a Bentley. Glanced sideways. Looked warm and comfy. The next car past was a Porche, then another, then another. I looked around for the Top Gear film crew. Rough calc of £200k+ in 4 cars. And me on my Halfords bike getting soaked 🙂

And it hit me. I wouldn’t swap places for all the tea in china. I’m happy with me, my life, my beautiful wife, my newborn daughter, my choices, my priorities, my struggles and my shortcomings.

No sour grapes, no envy, just ambivalence. In fact, if I’m completely honest, there was a little grin. I smiled. Awesome car, I thought, but you’ve been mugged. That car is making up for something. The car marketing squad have sold you a dream that isn’t yours. In the Top five regrets of the dying no-one mentioned cars. Did they?

Our priorities define us. They shape our actions, habits, character, and destiny.

Best make sure they are really our priorities and not the marketing man’s, nor anyone else’s.

Personal Best

Cycling to work through London. 8 miles each way and plenty to take in. Cyclists leaving the train station starting from cold. Balancing the desire for a brisk tempo to generate some warmth with eyes and brain that adjust slowly to the early morning darkness..

Traffic is sparse and good tempered at 7am – no-one is late yet.

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