Sometimes all you need is your loved ones and nature. We’ve just enjoyed a wonderful week on an eco-estate in North East Perthshire. The landscape was unspoilt and pure, the wildlife all roamed freely and time seemed to stand still. Everywhere we walked, we moved quietly, to give the wildlife enough peace so we could… Continue reading Tranquility
Category: Reflections
Happy Returns
July has been a month of happy returns. Last week, I enjoyed my first work trip in four years to London, our former home city. This week, we returned to Lochan Mor for a sunny, summer woodland walk to see the lilies in full bloom. It’s wonderful to experience new places. It’s similarly refreshing to… Continue reading Happy Returns
Breaking the Ice
Working with a keen group of US-based interns this week, I was asked a surprising question. ‘Are you Red or Blue?’ I get asked this question frequently by people in the UK, but it was the first time from a US audience. It’s a football (soccer) thing. When you’re from Liverpool like me, you’re born… Continue reading Breaking the Ice
Use What You’re Given
A lovely coastal walk recently showed a couple of interesting landmarks. The first was a cairn, that someone had painstakingly created from the stones lying around the sand and water. The second was a monkey puzzle tree that had clearly been blown onto the coastal land and found a way of growing and thriving in… Continue reading Use What You’re Given
Nature’s Excellence
We are what we repeatedly do, excellence is not an act, but a habit (Aristotle) Walking around Glen Feshie today, it was easy to see the excellence of the great old trees around the Uath Lochan. Every year, they withstand whatever winter throws at them, before they bloom in the spring. There is so much… Continue reading Nature’s Excellence
Rest and Be Thankful
When you love your work and are thankfully having lots of it to do, it’s tempting to think you don’t really need a holiday. But you do. Really, you do. I’m often told that my delivery style is energetic and people seem surprised when I tell them I’m 59. Curiousity, loving the work and creating… Continue reading Rest and Be Thankful
Comfort Zone
I had an interesting conversation recently. Someone asked me if I was doing face to face work again. I said ‘Not yet, though there’s some coming up later in the year.’ They then proceeded to tell me I was living in my ‘comfort zone’. ‘How come?’ was my response. I got a fairly unintelligible answer.… Continue reading Comfort Zone
Rolling with the Spring Haze
If you read Taleb’s work (well worth it, by the way), you’ll notice that he recommends a bit of chaos and disorder in our lives. Working through it makes us stronger and more agile. This week has seen the mild chaos of work inside the house, losing space, everything seemingly in a different place. And… Continue reading Rolling with the Spring Haze
Spring Forward
In the past, I used to get in a muddle about which time change did what. Then, an American colleague told me her simple phrase, ‘Spring forward, Fall back’. Like so much in life, the simple thing is the most effective. We spring into more daylight and, in theory, better weather. More time outdoors in… Continue reading Spring Forward
Contrast
I did some things for the first time in almost three years yesterday. I put on a suit (still fitted well!), wore the shoes my wife bought for my 2020 birthday (smart, comfy, need breaking in!) and took the train to Glasgow for a meeting. I enjoyed the contrast of the sunrise over Loch Insh… Continue reading Contrast