Confronted with setbacks, unenjoyable situations, or simply bad luck, it’s natural to look at the downsides. Our brain is hard-wired to notice the risks and dangers around us 🦁 and it's served us well. Now though, with bad news at our fingertips, our brains can become plagued with negative thoughts - far outweighing the benefits this i...

Marketing is everything. It's the words you speak, the news you read, the clothes you wear, the culture you're part of. Culture is the result of continual change. Change happens when people take notice. Marketing is the act of making people take notice! - Good Marketers don't coerce. They don't lay traps. They educate and entertain. Th...

It's a scary thing. We hide from it a lot. It raises the blood pressure, the cortisol levels, the heart rate. None of those are particularly helpful when you're trying to enjoy your day, or get on with your work. We think, "Ocht, it doesn't matter. It's not worth arguing over." But every time there is disagreement, if left unresolved i...

So far we’ve uncovered Why we do things and distilled a theme from our lists. Next up we want to see if our idea has any traction. Now you could go away and spend a ton of time building a product, a website, and creating lots of ad campaigns, but let’s leave that for now. We want to spend the least amount of time possible to get a ‘sig...

We all need some fireworks in our life. It’s why we watch movies and tv series. It’s why we ask questions, listen, and read. We want the fireworks to go off in our head. That sudden brightening up of a thought, then sinking in and finding its place. That newness is so necessary! If we don’t set them off regularly, the fuse goes out. Th...

Everyone knows the phrase “Teamwork makes the dream work” but not many people actually experience this profound (I don’t use that word lightly) statement. Individuality is important, and necessary to find our own path in the world, but there’s just something totally magic about human beings working well together. The main stumbling blo...

If you followed along with Part 1, you'll have your 3 lists by now, and lot of reasons Why? 😉 Now we want to distil the theme from your lists. It may already be apparent but look at what's coming up regularly and ask yourself, "Which of these makes me most excited?" If you don't feel anything, I'd suggest you revisit your lists in a fe...

The hardest part of starting a business is knowing what to offer to people. If you get this wrong, and it works, you'll be miserable. If you get it right, and it doesn't work, you can always try again. Take some time to complete the following exercise: Start by creating 3 lists: 1. List your interests, your hobbies, and what you spend ...

Stoicism has experienced a fairly strong revival over the last 5 years or so. I'm a big fan. To me, it's the perfect balance between a faith and a code of ethics. It's also atheist compatible, as the teachings are logical and grounded in universal human values. I've dabbled in lots of faiths and spiritualities over the years: Christian...

We humans have a deep need to be individual, to express our uniqueness. We're social creatures, but the safety of the group can often hold us back. A few years ago I read a book called Jonathan Livingston Seagull. It was around the time of some big career decisions I was about to make. - Jonathan was just another ordinary seagull like ...

Most people hear the words 'non-violent communication' and immediately become defensive. You can almost feel them bracing for impact the moment the words pass your lips. In fact, non-violent communication or NVC is a practice of conflict resolution used the world over to quell the angers of warring countries, factions, tribes, and fami...

I want to tell you about a writing practice that literally taps you directly into the muse. It’s really simple and doesn’t require any prompts like yesterday, other than the odd motivational nudge. It’s known as ‘stream of consciousness’ writing, and it often looks exactly as it sounds - utter garbage. And that’s the whole point. It’s ...

For many of us, some of best days we have are productive days. We enjoy relaxing but when we’ve worked on or produced something important that day, we often sleep much more easily. This has a lot to do with our shared story of the world (the hero’s journey) and how that plays out in real life. It’s part of our core value structure, acc...

It doesn’t take much to be empathetic with someone. You don’t have to give everything you have. You don’t have to spend the whole night. Usually, all someone needs is the recognition that you know how they’re feeling. It could be a few seconds, up to a few minutes. Just think of the other things we spend our time doing each day. Messag...