I got my usual oat vanilla latte today, though not from the usual place. The chap who served me was really chatty and through a bit of back and forth I learned he was an illustrator and took a look at his Instagram feed. I also learned his favourite drink was a mocha with hazelnut syrup – it tastes like liquid Kinder Bueno apparently. The … Continue reading The Kinder Bueno drink chat
I had my first experience of being a Dungeon Master today, enjoying facilitating a D&D game for some new friends. It didn’t go smoothly nor particularly in line with the rules, I felt. What it did do was illustrate where I have more to learn, show I can already do some things well, encourage the use of different online tools, point to better ways of … Continue reading Crystallising knowledge
I really enjoyed watching an interview with Steven C Hayes, one of the founders of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. The interview contrasts the value of inflating self-esteem with that of exercising self-compassion. Long story very short… Kindly, keep going. Continue reading Self-compassion – it does pay to be kind
A good friend sent me three career related questions that got me thinking. I’m not always good at what I’m about to suggest, perhaps not even very often… though it is worthwhile! Q: Which one piece of advice would you give to someone trying to further their career? A: Consider what your boss, or their boss, has in mind that you don’t. Especially when you’re … Continue reading Thinking up the chain
Inspired by recent reading, I’ve been thinking how I’d like to reach out to the professional community I work with and, with their input, compile nuggets of wisdom to pass on to folks looking to progress and develop. Excited by the idea, I set about writing questions to extract those nuggets and then it became clear, as it often does, how hard it is to … Continue reading Questions and nuggets
It’s easy to offer swift judgement when something’s gone wrong. Harder to look for causes, identify improvements, and discuss them calmly. Productively. Make things better, with helpful critique. Kindly, keep going. Continue reading Being critical and providing a critique
It took a long time to realise that merely agreeable relationships don’t offer me much value. Those with room for a give and take of feedback are the ones the matter. It’s nice to be nice, but does that alone change much for the better? Being kind isn’t merely pleasantries – it’s a compassionate way of encouraging growth. It’s not kind to offer a platitude … Continue reading Meaningful and agreeable relationships
At the day job I had a few things go wrong today and I was speaking to a colleague who said “heyho, I usually learn more when it’s broke”. It’s true, but why? Because when it’s broken, if we really want to fix it, we get look closely at how something works. We follow our noses, weigh up options, carefully consider consequences. We get curious, … Continue reading Learning more when its broken
Thoughts aren’t fully under our control in the way I’d really like them to be. A core premise of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy is to recognise that and not give your thoughts so much time and attention – heeding them or, crucially, disputing them. Instead, get consciously clear on your values and work towards objectives aligned with those. In the smog that surrounds unhelpful thinking, … Continue reading Values give light in the smog of thought
As I upload things that I’ve written on the phone and not published, I’m conscious of the gaps in daily posting that this has caused. I’m conscious of earlier gaps where I didn’t write anything at all that day. So it’s not been the daily blog I’d hoped. I haven’t been writing 1,000 word posts on Sundays like I once planned to. The book I … Continue reading Focus on progress, more than the gaps
Sometimes You Learn 