As Bryan slept the many voices inside his head were called to an urgent meeting. Arthur: Quiet down! Quiet down! Let the record show that the committee of Bryan's internal voices is now in session. First and only item on this emergency agenda is labels. Carl the floor is yours. Carl: Thank you Arthur. Unfortunately … Continue reading Actions first, story second →

To follow on from yesterday's post I wanted to share with ye a fantastic exercise I just read in 'Do More Great Work' by Michael Bungay Stanier. It's a catastrophization prevention technique for your worst case scenario generator. First you list all the worst case scenarios your brain is thinking of and then you assign … Continue reading Catastrophization Prevention Exercise →

What's the worst that could happen? I could die. Ok, realistically, what is the worst that could happen? ... Imagination can be tremendously useful for  improvisation, daydreaming and playing with children but it's paralysing when put to work for negativity. Fantasy in play and realism in worst case scenarios.

When feeling particularly indecisive I've found that the simple act of fleshing out one's options verbally with another can be extremely useful. In your head it all sounds so logical but to hear it out loud, to hear it repeated back to you, it can sound quite silly and a winning option might become clear. … Continue reading Fleshing it out verbally →

"No Teacher is greater than one's own experience" Timothy Gallwey in 'The Inner game of Tennis' "The burned hand teaches best, after that, advice about fire goes to the heart" JRR Tolkien in 'The Lord of the Rings' If experience is the best teacher why do we love to rob people of the opportunity by … Continue reading Experience as a teacher →

The coach makes for a terrible coachee.  They know all the tricks and how to dodge them. They know all the difficult questions and how to deflect them.  Whilst the coachee keeps their guard up both the coach and coachee are wasting their time.  Vulnerability and candid discussions are what’s going to help, not this … Continue reading Coach as coachee →

Alfred cautiously stands up, attempts a few steps and then falls over. Alfred pulls himself up again, makes a valiant effort but hits the ground again. Alfred is a year old and he’s learning to walk. Now I can’t read the minds of babies but I highly doubt Alfred’s internal monologue is... “F*cksake Alfie, that’s … Continue reading Alfred’s philosophy →

Apparently you can replicate the feeling of smiling by placing a pen in between your teeth. Supposedly your body can't tell the difference between a fake smile and a real smile so it triggers all the same emotions. So if you're feeling sad and want to feel happy you could potentially fake it til you … Continue reading Fake smiles →

“And then he back flipped, somersaulted three times and his pint landed upright, not a drop spilled!” I find there are anecdotes from certain storytellers that you have to take with a pinch of salt. As someone who I can’t remember once said: ‘Don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story’ … Continue reading Version of the truth →

Martin Johnson was one of England’s best rugby players but he wasn’t one of England’s best coaches. Larry Bird won 3 NBA championships as a player but none as a coach. Gary Neville lasted 19 years playing for Man United winning 20 trophies but only lasted 4 months managing Valencia winning 35% of his games. … Continue reading Pedagogy →