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To follow a plan or to pursue an opportunity?

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It's what you don't do

I recently watched a fascinating interview. On the show Impact Theory, Tom Bilyeu interviewed Trevor Moawad. A mental conditioning expert and strategic advisor to elite performers. In 2017, he was named ‘Sports World’s Best Brain Trainer’ by sports illustrated.   In this interview, he highlights some compelling ideas. Ideas used to make elite performers better.      Saying it out loud    Trevor talks about the power of negative thinking. The human brain likes to think negatively (possibly a survival mechanism). A negative thought is 4-7 times stronger than a positive one. By saying the negative thought out loud increases its power by ten times. So saying a negative thought out loud is 40 to 70 times stronger than a single positive thought. You would need 40 to 70 separate positive thoughts to counteract it. That’s a lot of positive thoughts.   He tells a story of a baseball player ‘Bill Bucker’ who made a massive mistake at the end of a World Series game. He let the game-winning run sc

Creed

I have a conspiracy theory. In the UK we went into lockdown on Monday 23 March 2020. The new Disney+ channel was released on Tuesday 24 March 2020. Unlimited Disney movies and Disney series at £5.99 a month. I have 3 young boys, so we were going to get Disney+. Now tell me that is not a strange coincidence. Maybe Disney released the COVID19 virus.   I sort of Jest, it was brilliant to be able to watch the new Star Wars movie ‘The rise of Skywalker’ when it was released. I was then taken back into the Star Wars world I know and love. My parents tell me I used to watch the VHS tapes of the original trilogy on repeat as a kid. Especially ‘The Empire strikes back’. The idea of finding a teacher and starting training. Setting on a path to fulfilling potential. Carrying a little green mentor on your back. Doing summersaults and lifting rocks with your mind.   Once I had watched ‘The rise of Skywalker’ movie, I was curious. Curious about the new Star Wars series the ‘Mandalorian’. A baby Yoda

19/20 annual review

This is a review of my first year of blogging. I posted my first blog post on Saturday 4th May 2019. My goal was to post one new article, once a week, for one year. I posted my final article, for the year, last week on Saturday 2nd May 2020. So the question is: how did I do? Writing In theory, to meet my goal, I should have posted 53 articles in that first year. I posted 50. I had a few near misses during the year where I almost didn’t post. The period during which I missed the 3 articles was COVID lockdown. The main thing I realised, to post articles regularly, is to build a writing habit. During the year, I would use my daily commute to work and home again as my time to write. On my mobile phone. Whilst trying not to walk into lampposts or fall into any manholes. In writing my 50 articles, I wrote approximately 63,000 words. That is a mean average of 1,260 words per article. Which takes around 4mins and 48 seconds to read. I read articles on medium.com. If I see the article takes les

Actions and consequences

   Double-entry bookkeeping, in accounting, is a system of bookkeeping. Every entry to an account requires a corresponding and opposite entry to a different account.   It is a little like Newton’s third law:   ‘For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.   Or maybe better put   ‘For every action, there is a natural consequence,   A debit and a credit.   Here is an example:   Say I buy a £1,000 laptop. While excitingly I have a new laptop, the natural consequence is I have £1,000 less cash.   Debit equipment   Credit cash   Typically we always concentrate on the action (the laptop). The consequence comes secondary (the cash).   Instead of thinking of the action, what if we focused on the consequence?   Physical Exercise    In a lockdown, I can’t do my usual exercise. Walking 10-12 miles a day. Practising martial arts.   The natural consequence. I am slowly and steadily piling on weight. I have a nice growing dad bod gut. I feel weak, energyless and unfit.   Assuming I am

The elimination diet theory

It’s been four weeks of lockdown now. I have been working remotely from home. My wife has too. My two eldest kids have been performing their school work online. The three-year-old has been running riot around us.  To be honest, I have been stressed, frustrated, lethargic, grumpy, angry, sluggish, annoyed and more importantly, lacking energy. Physically I do not feel my usual self.  I am not walking 10-12 miles a day anymore. I am not practising martial arts. I am doing very little.  At the bank holiday weekend, I wasn’t working. I had the opportunity to do some work in the new house we moved in to. I spent most of the bank holiday Monday doing DIY. 3 hours pulling down fitted wardrobes, cupboards and drawers. 6 hours building new ones. 9 hours of DIY sounds a lot but to be honest I felt great. I had plenty of energy during and after the DIY marathon.  I realised that perhaps I had eliminated exercise from my lifestyle. My new lockdown lifestyle. My lifestyle had then taken a turn for t

Obstacles in working from home

COVD-19 hit and blew our normal daily lives out of the water. I have been battling this week with working from home. It has been frustrating and stressful. Not just getting myself up and running but also my wife. Then there are two school kids to get online and doing their school work. Then there is a three-year-old to entertain without letting him being plugged into an iPad all day.  I had never really given a thought to the difference between ‘home working’ and ‘remote working’.   The idea of working from home excited me. It meant setting yourself up for being able to work anywhere. The reality, however, is very different.  With COVID-19, ‘home working’ means ‘home working’. You can’t leave the house. You feel stuck in. Trapped.  I think in my ‘dream lifestyle’, I was actually thinking of ‘working remotely’. Being able to write on my phone whilst out for a walk. Being able to flip open a laptop and log in whilst drinking an Americano in a cafĂ©. Being able to work and research from my