Nicholas Bate

100 Words

It’s the same three words : don’t give up. The challenging news continues to flow,  few seem to know anything factual and winter beckons. But hang onto the powerful timeless mantra : don’t give up. Because you know you and this period has given you an opportunity to understand yourself even more. It’s a time which can be scary, frustrating and certainly stressful. But don’t give up, don’t let anyone spoil your day and take it one step at a time. Grab every bit of freedom you can, help others who need it. Oh, and don’t give up. Ever.

100 Words

The grilled chicken salad is superb. But… leave out the chicken and use the freshest, local salad leaves and peppers, season and it’s amazing. Perhaps be even more radical: just fresh sourdough, local tomatoes, olive oil, balsamic, and seasoning. What a delight! Or bread, the best of oil and balsamic. Just three ingredients... Sometimes when you really focus on quality, you can simplify. Sometimes when you focus on fewer you can invest in quality. As we pivot our businesses, small is more beautiful than ever. Small is not less; small is better. Make your bunker count.

Bonus: Brilliant at the Basics of Business.

100 Words

Getting lost is no fun. There are feelings of irritation and simple incompetence. There are thoughts of things we should have done, might have done.  The Brave New World of Covid-19 often creates intense feelings of being lost. Businesses no longer work the way they do,  career paths and study paths are broken. It often takes time to find the way again. Or sometimes we have to take another path. And sometimes that new path can work out. And sometimes we have to search for yet another path. But have no doubt: there will be a path, whatever your quest. Stay strong, stay resilient, stay focused. And never, ever give up.

100 Words

What if you would know exactly what you need to do if you could just get some time and space? If you could just think things through, get a plan, write a decent check-list? If you could just get rid of TTD (things to do) for a while? If you could just stop feeling forever on the run? If you could get a breather….? You can: (1) book the day in your diary; (2) the place in your diary (3) the support for that 1 day (4) assemble notebook and pen. Make that day happen. Easy? No. Possible? Vital. 

100 Words

And when we reflect and ask: who were the rogues? The politicians? No, as always with Plan B, they had never thought it would happen. They trusted the scientists. Ahh, so the scientists? No. We thought all science was like school science: absolute, Newtonian and Cartesian. But in reality it’s as uncertain as an essay by Heisenberg. So who then? The media. They who chased click-for-catastrophe. They who peddled hyperbole. They who harangued with ‘gotcha’ questions so nobody could think. They who failed to realise that in the quest for The Story they lost the plot for us all.

100 Words

Take a walk on the wild side. Stay safe but experience a little rain, a little wind, even a little chill. Allow the senses to spark, the brain to be massaged and the heart to pump a little faster. Without resilience we have no path to growth. Without growth and direction we wonder what it’s all about. We’ll never really know of course but does it really matter? We landed on planet earth consistently voted the greatest planet in the know universe. Just make sure you look up, put aside the electrons for a while and experience its greatest gifts.

100 Words

Accept that it will be hard. The crazy management at your place, early morning school logistics with little ones, cash-flow in the start-up. Accept it will be hard and decide to be tougher. Get a good plan. Look after yourself. Talk to those who might help. Listen to podcasts which make suggestions. Read about those who have handled such challenges. Get tougher than the toughest challenge you face. Start small, start step by step. Be tougher than you were yesterday. Be miles tougher than you were this time last year. No excuses: age, time, motivation. Start: then you get motivated.

100 Words

Look after yourself, as it all stems from your wellness: your thinking, your creativity, your greatest work.  Walk as much as you can. Vary your diet. Eat those vegetables. Take time out. Manage stress.  Break the cycle of ‘no time’ by taking some time; today would be perfect despite a TTD (things to do) list as long as your arm. Balance mind and body. Get out of your mind regularly in a wind in your hair kind of way. Don’t doubt, just re-plan. Don’t worry, take time for meditation. Don’t fear, think about the best resilience training ever you’re getting.

100 Words

Get on with it. Less victim, more volunteer. There are some for whom life has not been fair: we need to support them in whatever way we can. But for many of us, life is simply messy. Planet Earth-consistently voted the Best Planet in the Known Universe-cannot be perfect. It’s far too complex a system: there will be glitches. The energy put into complaining, attempting ‘to fix’ those who disagree and the simply being unpleasant is energy which could be spent hiking, building shelves for those wonderful second-hand books you bought or helping those more elderly safely across the road.

100 Words

Quietness and isolation seem like the last thing we need in the middle of a busy day, during a demanding week amidst the turmoil of a brutal project. But. But. Quietness and isolation allow a return to basics: what’s really, really important here? Quietness and isolation allow you to think, your most powerful asset. We function well with the two qualities. As Hunter-Gatherers, we grew up with it; we have a physiology, a metabolism, a cognitive system which yearns for it. Go walk: long and hard. Quietly. Alone. Look up,  look long. Breath deeper. More human being, less human doing.