June Bonus Saturday – TWL Episode 5

I threw an awful lot of triangles at you in June, so I thought I’d offer something a bit lighter on our first Bonus Saturday. I wasn’t sure how I was going to manage the occasional ‘fifth’ Saturday when it cropped up, but then it then hit me that there’s was probably a triangle there somewhere and, bingo, the idea came to life. So, here we go with Bonus Saturday 1.

I want Bonus Saturdays to be a lighter read but still be useful and the triangle that emerged was this:

This seems to cover all the bases without being too prescriptive 🙂

Book stuff: Let’s start with one I’ve had for over 20 years (a long time on my bookshelf): Follow Your Heart by Andrew Matthews.

I think I bought this book around 1999 and I still LOVE it. In fact, I see Andrew’s influences in my style of writing and presentation even though I haven’t made time to read properly again for over ten years. Everything I believe and talk about is in there. I think his views on the world became a framework of beliefs for me. Remember this was published waaaay back, when ‘self-help’ books only appeared in the largest book shops and, even then, barely made up a shelf.

Andrew is an illustrator as well as a teller of truths and one of his more memorable illustrations serves as a reminder that you keep getting the lessons in life, until you change. First they come as small lessons, then they get bigger until you are forced to take action. The trick is to spot them when they are small and take the action needed, because you really cannot ignore them …

Andrew has written a number of books but I think this is his best. Maybe because I was always seeking purpose in life and this book offered to show me how. As I sit here, having digested his words over many years, I am sure he was responsible for showing me the path I’m now on.

Habit stuff: oh, where do I start? The habits I’ve thought would be a good idea and the reality of their various implementations. I won’t waste your time with these tales of woe, instead I’ll just let you know the small habits that have made the biggest difference. So much so that I don’t even consider them as habits now, they’re just a seamless part of my life.

The first habit I want to tell you about is to set aside some intentional time to do something you want to do. Sounds stupid, I know, but this is the simple and easy advice that I ignored for YEARS. Little and often is the key to pretty much everything and big ambitions are no different. This habit is particularly useful for the ‘one day’ people:

“one day I’m going to run my own restaurant”

“one day I’m going to write a book”

“one day I’m going to travel to Vietnam”

“one day I’m going to play my saxophone again”

“one day I’m going to perform my poetry”

I have heard all these in sessions I’ve have run with people looking to change something in their lives.

I say that ‘one day’ starts today.

Just 30 minutes a day is all it takes. If you don’t have that (REALLY?!) then aim for 15 minutes. You’d be amazed how far even 15 minutes of focused time can get you into a ‘one day’ project. Even in a small amount of time you can search for restaurant start up information / pick up your saxophone / write 200 words / explore accommodation in Vietnam / get out your best poetry-writing quill, or whatever.

Don’t be the person who decides to wait for the perfect time. I say the perfect time is 30 minutes a day, every day. Your project will take on a life of its own and carry you along with it.

I’d always wanted to juggle but all attempts to practice failed. However, one New Year’s Eve, I decided to spend 1 minute every day attempting to juggle straight after getting out of bed in the morning and another 1 minute before tucking myself up at night.

Hopeless.

Hilarious.

I was rubbish for months and MONTHS.

But, barely perceptibly, my juggling skills went from catching two balls in a row, to eight, then 20. As the year wore on I was, on occasion, able juggle for the whole minute non-stop. At the end of the year I could actually juggle, albeit in a rudimentary way. I didn’t want to appear on stage, entertain friends or anything like that, juggling was something I’d just wanted to learn to do. I finally achieved it by focussing on it just a little bit every day.

What is your ‘one day’ thing that you could focus on every day?

Fun stuff: this was an easy one for me to include. I decided to design some more stickers and CLICK HERE to see the short video replay of the mad design process. Enjoy.

See you next week for the new topic: Parts Theory. Get excited now because it’s life-changing stuff.

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