"It is possible to have too much of a good thing" Aesop The law of diminishing marginal utility - Mother Nature's way of ruining your reward and pointing you in the direction of balance.

I can never get on board with people forcing others to do things. I think it's not right. It disturbs me to my core. But self coercion.I can get behind that. I think you're going to see a huge increase in your returns, regardless of the venture, when you start to force yourself to do … Continue reading Self coercion →

Donal's new manager is Pierre. Pierre's laissez faire management style is causing Donal anxiety. Why?Because Donal's previous manager was a micromanager. Donal used to have daily meetings with his manager but now he only has half an hour a week. Donal went from knowing exactly what his boss wanted to constantly guessing. I think Donal's … Continue reading Micromanagement to laissez-faire →

At the moment I'm reading the book 'Improvisation' by Max Dickins and I found a line that really resonated with me."Improvisers define listening as the willingness to be changed"I think this is a great quote because in my opinion it succinctly describes the different postures of listening. You can see it instantly in the stubborn … Continue reading Willingness to be changed →

A whole day in front of me. Completely free of distractions. Important work to do.Must sabotage self!It's funny when one is robbed of their excuse, when gifted with more time, one part of the brain desperately searches for any reason not to do the work. I believe Steve Pressfield's resistance is at play here. The … Continue reading Must sabotage self →

Familiarity breeds contempt. Why? Because their predictability is so annoying. Why? Because we pay attention to others flaws. Why? Because secretly we're insecure and it's easier to fixate on someone else's habit than to become more tolerant, patient or secure ourselves.

Every now and then I have witnessed a devastating dread descend upon a project. The dread stems from the certainty of the deadline and the evaluation of the current work as poor. In my experience this dreads creates two different personas. I shall call them the beginner and the professional. When faced with this dread … Continue reading Devastating dread →

In the sixties NASA had plenty of smart employees but they needed to know which employees were the best at thinking creatively. They valued these creative thinkers highly and wanted to select them for important projects. They didn’t know how to do this by themselves so they approached George Land. Land solved NASA’s problem with … Continue reading Learned non creativity →

In meeting room B, on a Thursday afternoon, Frank finally realised why some consider pride a sin.This epiphany didn't come to Frank at the start of the meeting. At the start of the meeting Frank was giving a presentation of which he was immensely proud.The revelation came in the immediate feedback. As slowly but surely … Continue reading Frank’s sinful pride →

In college I had a lecturer who gave ludicrously boring lectures. Making the classes abysmal. Every lecture without fail he would stand at the top of the class and drone on and on and on. He never deviated. Christmas, R&G week and the end of term had no affect on him whatsoever. Nothing could not … Continue reading Ludicrously boring lectures →