When I was a little boy I used to love playing by myself on the beach on holiday. A lot of this was to do with being happy with my own company but not all. I was painfully shy and found it hard to go up to other children. Of course, eventually someone would…

There are some days when the the stars align and exactly the same ritual for making tea produces a beverage that just hits the spot. For no good reason. There are some days when I ride my bike and it feels like I have someone else's legs. Sometimes the legs of a pro, sometimes the…

You wouldn't want to have been my boss in my twenties. I had a problem with authority.  I still have a healthy disregard for arbitrary rules that have no reason for being, just as I have a suspicion of 'always done it this way'.  In most cases, this is someone trying to keep things as…

I hate it when people introduce me and my team as the 'brains'. Especially because, in my case, I'm not very clever, I just see things differently.  What can be worse than being presented as basically a smart arse? I think that's why I dislike so many planners or strategists because they actually believe what…

I find it amazing you can become something just by teaching your brain to believe it enough, that's just insane. Yet if you get into a habit of visualising yourself doing something in a certain way, it's more likely to happen. Just spend a few minutes every morning, visualising being or doing what you want,…

Read the usual book and guidelines and you'll get frameworks, process and the myth that if you do it this way, it will all be easy. No one tells you HOW to work, how to get your mind in a place where answers come, that leap of imagination or connection. And don't let anyone tell…

The older you get, the easier it is to settle into your comfort zone, because hopefully, the plan is working out. Yet as soon as you stop moving forward in this industry, you're put out to pasture. If this has taught us anything about plans, it's that life doesn't always play ball. But leaving your…

I'll level with you, I hate starting new projects. Even now, after all these years, there is that fear that the brief won't get cracked. I like it now, it forces me to try harder and, since these days I've learned to channel stress into energy, it's a fuel. Nevertheless, there is nothing scarier than…

We don't like change, we're much more likely to do it when we have no choice. The point when the pain of staying as you are, is greater than the pain of making change happen.  Turning points tend to box us into a corner when that choice is inevitable. People don't like change. Corporations totally…

Did you know your brain can process someone's facial expression in 33 milliseconds (and you don't even know you're doing it)? Dead fast, but that velocity can also be a problem.  If you pluck up the courage to say something of actual use in a meeting, the mind is frantically computing all the body language…