Scott, Author at Scott's Thinking

Focus For The Next 4 Months

Posted on May 3, 2020

One third of the year has come and gone. If you’re like me, lots has happened and lots hasn’t. I have to focus for the next 4 months to catch up on a few things. Amazingly, four months have already zoomed past and it hardly feels like the year really got started.

We’ve had a bit of an interruption on our little planet, of course.

Now that things are settling down a little though, don’t let that interruption be your reason for not achieving your goals. You must take stock of the last four months. Celebrate your successes! Similarly, consider those items not completed.

Assess these incomplete goals and decide if you took on too much, they weren’t realistic or they’re not that important to you. Redouble you’re efforts and focus for the next 4 months, if those goals are still relevant. Be brutal and dismiss them if they are not. They must be a “Heck yes!” or a firm “No”.

I have a lot of interests. Of course, this can make it difficult to say no to various things. However, I must do it. I try to think ahead and consider whether the ‘distraction goals’ will be worth remembering in six or 12 months. Look back on your life and you’ll recognise what important goals look like.

Now is the time to focus for the next 4 months. Pounce on those goals!

Action Health & Fitness Think About It

Let Yourself Dream

Posted on May 2, 2020

We focus on our day and get the basics done. We plan, we schedule and we sort out admin. However, when do you let yourself dream?

Dreaming about how life could be is an essential part of life. If you don’t let yourself dream now and then, you could get stuck in the mundane aspects of life.

Dreaming allows you to use your creative muscles. It also gives you inspiration and hope. Dreaming is the starting line, visualisation is the race and success is the finish line.

Make sure you are following your dreams and not those of others. Living vicariously is useful now and then, but it is not the best strategy for your whole life.

If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much.
Jim Rohn

People open their minds like a window to reach past obstacles to their dreams. Let yourself dream. — Open the window to your imagination and let your dreams soar

Exercise your dream muscles today. Set a timer for 5 minutes, or 15 minutes if you can. Get comfortable in a chair or on a sofa. Close your eyes and let your mind get curious and allow your imagination to take over.

What would your ideal life look like? Imagine whatever you like. Do not be restricted by your thoughts about how and when and possibility. Just start considering what your life could look like, if you let it be what you would like it to look like.

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.
Henry David Thoreau

Action Progress

Driven To Succeed

Posted on May 1, 2020

It’s always exciting to watch someone in action when they’re driven to succeed. The planning, the grit, the grind and the discipline make you realise how tough it is to succeed at things.

What you call success, and how you measure it, is important. Moreover, success means different things to different people at different moments in their life. That is to say, things change, perspectives change and priorities change. Encourage people when they are making these changes.

In addition, how I measure success is probably different to how you do. For example, I may want to learn to play the piano for fun at family gatherings. However, you might be practicing to become a concert pianist and get paid to tickle the ivories at The Royal Albert Hall.

Regardless of how you look at success, it is personal. It is your view of success. Simply be honest with yourself when deciding what you would like to achieve and to what level. This should make you happier at the end of your days.

Just don’t sell yourself short. You really should go mad for your dream once in a while. Likewise, think carefully before you sacrifice everything for your dream. It may not be worth the price.

Whichever way you look at success, I think the quote below is valuable for those who are driven to succeed.

Today I will do what others won’t, so tomorrow I can do what others can’t.
Jerry Rice

Remember to stick to the long term thinking about your dream. This will require commitment, focus and some sacrifice in the now. But how nice will it feel when you arrive at that moment of success? All that hard work, effort and those re-purposed moments will make it all worthwhile.

Enjoy the journey!

Action Time Video

Keeping Your Stories Alive

Posted on April 30, 2020

We all have stories. Stories of our youth and everything since then. For instance, we could recount how the world impacted us and how we impacted the world. Keeping your stories alive is a fun part of the process of re-living those halcyon days.

Before bed, I was telling the boys a few stories from my farming days in Canada. It struck me how few stories people probably know about others. It also made me think how the art of, and need for, storytelling are changing.

Imagine how many stories Captain Tom Moore has from his 100 year life. He was born in 1920. Consequently he would have had his formative years during the Great Depression. After that, he would have spent his early 20’s caught up in a World War.

His impression of the airplane, radio, tv, car, internet, medicine, political changes and mobile phones would be fascinating.

Unfortunately, many people’s stories will have faded into the fabric of the universe. The challenge was that there weren’t many ways to record them, keep them safe and pass them along.

Quite the opposite is happening now. Teens and tweens of today are able to capture so much on video, audio and by written word given the technology available at the moment. In the meantime, people are becoming more forthcoming with content. In addition, the ability to capture it has become easier and cheaper.

Consequently, more people are adding more content to the universe. As a result, their children could spend their lifetime immersed in video, and other medium, learning about their family history.

Keeping your stories alive may no longer be the challenge it once was. The new challenge may become that people won’t have or take the time, or have the inclination, to hear many of them.

Stories may no longer fade into the fabric of the universe but rather they might fade into the fabric of The Cloud.

Observe

It Still Feels Surreal

Posted on April 29, 2020

For most of my day, I think everything seems quite normal. However, when I stop and actually think about what is happening, it still feels surreal.

As a person who does a lot of work from home, the days seems quite similar. Though, there is the added element of the children being at home. This difference adds some fun and some occasional challenges.

We’ve been ordering groceries online, and having them delivered, for over 10 years, so that hasn’t changed. We’ve been getting out for exercise as frequently too. However, maybe there has been less activity for the kids. They’ve been going without PE classes, weekend and before/after school sports. Less activity has generally meant less eating but fitness levels are bound to suffer a little.

There was a lot of adjusting, admin, following new procedures, and home schooling prep at the beginning. Now that seems to have settled down. But there will be new changes and challenges to keep us busy as we begin to emerge from Lockdown.

It’s still to be seen whether this will be a quick return to nearly normal with a v-shaped recovery or something more prolonged. Could it become one of those moments in history that was significant (36 months), but not frequently discussed, like the 1918 flu pandemic? I hope future generations will not have cause to reflect on this period the way we look back on WWI, WWII and the Great Depression.

Regardless of how long it takes to put Humpty back together again, it still feels surreal in the moment sometimes.

Action Reframe your thoughts

How I Built A Habit In 1 Moment And You Can Too

Posted on April 28, 2020

I’ve done it a couple of times in the last 12 months so I know it works. Some might say this is backed by science and critics will criticise. Either way, this is how I built a habit in 1 moment and you can too.

To build a habit you must commit to it and make it a ‘must’ in your life. It is that simple.

Here are my proof points.

From the moment I moved house last summer, I committed to going to my wonderful new home every time I left it. I did not go to my old house every day for two months, even though it was only 700 meters away.
At New Year 2018, I decided to train and run two marathons in the spring of 2019. I trained daily and completed both in decent times.
Writing this daily blog. I committed, made it a must, and this is my 110th daily blog in a row. It was automatic from the moment I decided it was a must in my life and I had committed to it.

In James Clear‘s blog post, “How long does it actually take to form a new habit”, he notes two key things of extra interest to me. The first is when he references a study of 96 people which finds it takes exactly 66 days before a new behaviour becomes automatic. The second item of interest was the following quote.

“You have to embrace the process. You have to commit to the system.”
James Clear, Author of Atomic Habits

To me, his quote is more powerful than the small study and countless other studies like it.

I believe habits develop as quickly as you want them to. The more you make it a must, the more likely it will be automatic from day one. For example, how often did you turn up to your old job, or classroom, after the first day at the new one?

Tony Robbins sums it up quite nicely in his quote below.

“The difference between ‘must’ and ‘should’ is the life you want and the life you have.” When something is a must, you find a way.
Tony Robbins

I think people are amazing and can create new habits pretty quickly when determined to do so. Decide it is a must and commit.

This is how I built a habit in 1 moment and you can too.

[NB: This is dedicated to my Nana who was told in her 40’s to quit smoking or never see her grandchildren grow up. She never touched another one and, gratefully, I was almost 30 when she passed.]

Health & Fitness Time

You’re Allowed To Have A Night Off

Posted on April 27, 2020

Sometimes things get out of control. It may all seem to loom larger than life and you just need a little break. You’re allowed to have a night off.

With so many things to do, learn, read, discuss, figure out, sort out, pay for, etc, we can forget to relax. Our bodies and our minds need some time to relax and rejuvenate.

It can be great to just do nothing. Or read for pure pleasure. Or go to bed early and get an incredible night’s sleep. Once in a while, you should just do whatever you feel like, and enjoy it.

Entrepreneurs, career minded professionals, parents and people with all kinds of other commitments, need a break now and then.

Give yourself permission to enjoy a little ‘you’ time. You’re allowed to have a night off. Maybe you should schedule that in tonight. Hint hint.

Health & Fitness Reframe your thoughts

Life Is Simple

Posted on April 26, 2020

At a basic level we need to eat, drink, sleep and have adequate shelter. There may be a few other essentials but at its core, life is simple.

Then we humans add complexity of wants and communication. I often consider Maslow’s hierarchy of needs at this point. Some people like it and other people challenge it. I learned about it at University and I find it is a useful theory to reference, at least as a starting point.

When left to their own interest, people can imagine incredible, fanciful and wholly unnecessary wants. I was going to list a few items, like a plastic dancing flower, but there are always a few people who will claim it is a need.

One thing a pandemic lockdown and/or looming recession can reveal is the true meaning of a want and a need. It is in these moments in time where we can see what is essential. I find it interesting and useful to remember how little we probably need to have tremendous joy in our lives. Sometimes all the physical distractions can get in the way.

Communication is the other area of complexity in our otherwise simple lives. Over the years I’ve become an ever more keen student of words and their use. I am fascinated how quickly something can be said, heard and processed, and then restated, often with bias or misunderstanding.

This moment in time has reminded me that life is simple. Spending time with my wife and children, sometimes exercising together, playing cards or just chatting. We often add so many layers of unnecessary complexity which can deny us the simple pleasure of life. Peel back a few layers, remove the distractions, and remember, life is simple.

Progress Time

Time Pressure Is Good

Posted on April 25, 2020

How amazingly productive would we be if every day at work was like the day before we would go on holiday for two weeks? Time pressure is good!

What about exams? The last few days before an exam can often seem incredibly productive and focused.

There is something about a deadline which gets our attention and focus. For some reason, if there isn’t a deadline, we can putter around and prevaricate a little more than necessary. Not everyone is like this of course. And not everyone has the same deadline challenges.

Some people are structured and methodical at work and ensure projects are progressed well ahead or on schedule. That same person could be the type that nearly misses every plane they are booked on.

I used to be more casual with getting to the airport, but now I like to get there early. There is still the underlying pressure to pack, get in a cab and go. However, I prefer to have that packing pressure three to five days before the flight. It’s not perfect, but I am definitely getting better. Progress is also good.

And getting this daily blog written every day? Well, I’ve been getting better. Without the accountability of time, imagine how we might all drift through the days and years.

Having a time pressure is good.

Observe Think About It

Consider Six Chairs

Posted on April 24, 2020

To understand different perspectives, I consider six chairs and the views of the people in them. Although, there are countless different perspectives along any spectrum, I like to focus on up to six different ones to keep things manageable.

In addition to what I noted in yesterday’s post, I like to consider all the different views available along a spectrum. First, I assess both ends of the spectrum. Secondly, I add up to four other positions along the spectrum to consider other potential views.

To visualise this, I have added a spectrum below and placed an asterisk at both ends and four others in between. This gives me six chairs (asterisks) and six avatars, or points of view, to consider.

*——-*——-*——-*——-*——-*

A sample topic could be, “How often should children eat ice cream?”.

As you can imagine, there are many different views with even more reasons available to support each view. To make it easier to hold the various thoughts in my mind, and debate between them, I consider six chairs.

From one extreme to the other, the six views I would consider are as follows:

Children should never have ice cream as there are no health benefits to it at all,
Children could have ice cream three or four times per year as an exceptional treat on warm days to help keep them cool and happy,
Having ice cream once a month is fine and part of a healthy childhood experience,
Ice cream on a weekly basis is fun and enjoyable,
Eating a variety of ice creams after meals, like lunch and dinner, is a normal part of growing up, and
Ice cream is in the freezer for kids to have at any time. It can be a dessert, pudding, snack or even breakfast.

Now try your favourite topic.