Inwards, onwards & upwards
A journal of invitations, ideas & inspiration to keep you moving from where you are to where you want to be
Looking backwards to move forwards
This summer we took our three children and the dog to visit my parents.
After a chaotic week of garden football, rowdy dinners and wet walks, the cereal, red wine and grass were all gone, the white carpets were turning grey and the ipads refused to charge: it was time to leave.
The night before we headed home I went to a party where my friend Gemma asked ‘Do you miss living up here?’
The question stopped me in my tracks.
Be Here Now
I don’t know about you, but I’m someone who likes to move fast. Who thrives on action. Who loves - no - needs to be busy.
In fact, if I’m not being productive I’m not really sure what to do with myself.
Most days, my life is lived as one continuous flow of tasks, each with a box next to it just begging to be ticked. My status update reads ‘to do’. My autobiography will be titled Doing. My grave stone will say simply: ‘DONE’.
Like Ferris Beuller before me, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”
What’s next?
As a life-long activity addict and dedicated doer, I’ve spent a lot of time studying time management through a single lens:
How can I get more done in less time so I can get more done?
And I don’t know about you, but mostly, this has served me well.
But here are the problems I’ve discovered with this approach…
When is a compass better than a map?
Maps are great when you have a clear destination. You’re at Point A and you want to end up at Point B. Use the map to locate yourself at A and plot a route to get to B.
But there are times when destinations, routes and maps can’t help us. When we can’t settle on a clear destination. When we have too many competing priorities. Or when our world is simply too uncertain for concrete plans.
At times like this, we need a tool not to advance towards what we want to happen next but to steer a course around what is happening right now.
We need a compass.
What time is it?
This may be an urban myth but I choose to believe it because it’s brilliant.
It captures the enduring challenge we all face of forcing out past regrets and future anxiety in favour of facing only the present.
Apparently, the British R&B star turned bodybuilder turned rapper turned R&B star Craig David has a novel response to the question ‘what time is it?’
The present moment.
How are elite tennis players like great actors?
What unites Andy Murray and Andrew Scott?
Serena Williams and Dame Judi Dench?
After all the hours of rehearsal and practice, training, trial and error, agility, dexterity, focus, craft, imagination and dedication, there is one thing left that only the very best have mastered:
The ability to be in the moment.
Be astonished
Welcome to my June newsletter.
This month’s journal entry is a little longer than usual. Ironically, it’s about how precious our attention is….
So I hope as you pay yours to these 1,000 words over the next 4 minutes, they offer you a worthy return on your investment.
Attention is precious
You give away your age with your reaction to these names:
Dynamo.
David Blaine.
David Copperfield.
Paul Daniels.
And Debbie McGee of course.
As with musicians, every generation has its magician.
But what do magicians know that the rest of us don’t?
CATEGORIES
About Coaching | Newsletters | Aspiring Artistic Directors | How to Begin | The Power of Perception | Unleashing Creative Thinking | Working with Other People | Better Decision-Making | How to be More Resilient | The Importance of Attention | Be More Present | Learning From The Past | Thinking Long-Term | Navigating Change | How to Persevere