Nicholas Bate

WhatIfYouWereFearless?101

1. What if you were fearless?
2. Simply put, you had no fear?
3. Usted no tiene timor.
4. You were a wolf (a nice one, clearly) amongst sheep;
5. a man/woman amongst boys/girls.
6. Not daft, obviously:
7. you still avoided dark alleyways;
8. got a bit-maybe a lot-of advice before a parachute jump;
9. checked your surgeon’s qualifications before the knee op.
10. But no fear as in
11. …being more radical at the marketing meeting;
12. …presenting without PPT slides;
13. …listening to your girlfriend fully and properly;
14. …cycling to work;
15. …seriously planned your own business;
16. …started your writing;
17. …and/or your drawing;
18. …sorted the controlling, limiting relationship;
19. …finally packed in the job you hated even though your parents had higher hopes for you than a Starbucks barista;
20. ..created a clever portfolio of money-earning jobs so that you can give the support to your child you really want to give.
21. And noticed how it made you feel a little anxious,
22. actually: very anxious,
23. of course.
24. But certainly:
25. ALIVE!
26. Not:
27. a cog in machine;
28. nor a hamster on a wheel;
29. a payroll number with seven digits;
30. a Blackberry picker on the Jubilee line;
31. a shadow of your former self in a laptop/slide-deck driven meeting on level five of Conglomerates Tower surrounded by sandwiches from Subway and lattés (be they made from Arabica bean) from McDonalds.
32. But:
33. an innovator;
34. a radical;
35. an encourager;
36. an entrepreneur;
37. a thinker;
38. a wizard;
39. an alchemist;
40. an I’ve-got-to-change-the world fanaticist;
41. a lover of life;
42. rain or shine;
43. a contributor.
44. And what if?
45. The blockers which…
46. you were certain existed…
47. were just…
48. rips in the space-time quantum sheet and a bit of use of Bell’s Theorem (No physical theory of local hidden variables can ever reproduce all of the predictions of quantum mechanics etc).
49. meant they could be eradicated.
50. What if that meant:
51. work-life balance issues just disappeared as you live your Life;
52. stress just vanished as you enjoyed challenge;
53. and money was no longer the number 1, 100% every minute of the day motivator as you had all the wealth you ever really needed as you watched the sun-set, re-read his nice e-mail to you and played on the swings at the park with your 4 year old?
54. And then had a latte in the Italian café chatting to Luigi as the fluorescent tube flickered-ridiculously-overhead.
55. And you realised you do have the time to talk.
56. And you became…
57. so damned fearless that:
58. aging slowed…
59. creativity blossomed…
60. intuition expanded…
61. negativity evaporated…
62. resourcefulness become wired-in…
63. What if you gave it a go?
64. Super-meta-fearless, that is?
65. Nothing to be lost!
66. And saw a route out of the corporate jungle;
67. the child-care nightmare;
68. the pension fiasco.
69. Of course fearless isn’t:
70. arrogant. It’s more about humility.
71. Nor selfishness, more about abundance and encouragement.
72. It’s polite and amazingly persistent.
73. Nor is it any guarantee.
74. But it’s a heck more likely,
75. to release and realise the best and only version of you. 
76. Nor is it so concerned about the views of others (although feed-back is always welcomed).
77. Nor is it seeking ‘approval’.
78. Fearless is:
79. breaking moulds.
80. Do I really need such a smart car?
81. Do I really need a degree?
82. An MBA?
83. I could do my own MBA!
84. Weeks 1-4: kickboxing; 5-8: learn Spanish; 9-12: read everything on classic MBA reading list; 13-16: 4 weeks as an intern; 17-20: back-pack around Asia; 21-25: start a blog on ‘your thing’; 26-30: financial immersion with a great coach.
85. Then publish all learnings in a blurb.com book.
86. What’s fearless for you?
87. That putting-off thing?
88. That never-quite-got-to on the dreams list? 
89. Allowing a realization that it’s got to be done…
90. That it is love after all.
91. The possibilities are:
92. LIMITLESS.
93. The blockers are:
94. ZERO.
95. The excitement is:
96. STAGGERING.
97. The depth of Life makes you:
98. GIDDY.
99. When you are
100. FEARLESS.
101. F**k*ng Fearless.

It's Tough, Really Tough 7

1. It's tough taking 100% responsibility for your actions;
2. It's tough getting up at 0630 to run around the block. Twice;
3. It's tough learning the hard way;
4. It's tough opening the 23rd job application rejection;
5. It's tough getting the CEO back on track;
6. It's tough wondering whether she will ever write again;
7. Luckily, you're tough. Very tough.

Fantastic List of 25

from top blogger, astute commentator and man-with-the-links-you-need Michael Wade.

To Tweak or not to Tweak

with clientk.

Real Wealth, Right Now 25

1. Conversation with good friends;
2. Paris in the Spring;
3. Quality sleep, awaking refreshed;
4. Doing 'from your heart and soul' rather than from your 'to do' list;
5. Well worn 501s, battered All Stars and your last-remaining college sweat;
6. The last fifteen pages of your current moleskine notebook;
7. First time at a Michelangelo drawings exhibition: right up close;
8. Seattle in the rain;
9. Freshly laundered sheets on the bed;
10. Doppio espresso, St Mark's Square, Venice 0810, foggy;
11. Hanging out;
12. Five washed and ironed shirts;
13. Realising now at thirty you are older. But a heck of a lot wiser;
14. A note from her, signed xx;
15. New York, New York in the snow;
16. Sgt. Pepper on vinyl;
17. A day without technology;
18. Being understood;
19. Your window box or garden or estate;
20. Her smile;
21. Tidying-finally-the middle desk drawer and finding fifteen dollars;
22. His encouragement, always;
23. Breakfast at the market at 515 am with the fish traders after all-night dancing in Madrid;
24. Getting 20 out fo 20 in your Portuguese vocabulary quiz;
25. That battered copy of The Centaur by Updike.

If you are a fan of David Seah

and his productivity forms, he has a new release to help with work-life balance.

Celeb Productivity: David Frost

Surprise them.

Mood 7

Sometimes it's not really 'productivity' nor 'a relationship issue' nor 'writer's block'; it's our mood. Good, Bad or Ugly we can certainly change it by:

1. Movement. Instead of sitting and worrying, walking and releasing;
2. Change of Location. Instead of a coffee in the financial district, a picnic in Central Park;
3. Conversation. Instead of our troubles, their concerns;
4. Doing the opposite. Instead of staying up late and working on the slides, going to the cinema and getting story/anecdote inspiration;
5. Food. Eating properly. Or conversely, eating a lot less for a day or two;
6. Writing it out. Piece of paper and a pencil and writing it out;
7. Mood making. Escaping via music, great book or travelling.

100 Word Story

He realised that the final chapter was posing him a dilemma as he looked out across the  beach from his rented cottage.  A month in Cornwall and he had done it: completed the book bar the final chapter, lost seven kilos in weight and given up smoking. But his hero? He had fared well, too: a delicious affair, an escape from the Mafia and forgiveness from his daughter.

A walk along the beach would decide: he pulled on his fisherman’s sweater bought at the street market on his first week-end and stepped out into the cool of the Spring breeze.

Just in case...

...you haven't discovered the great-deal-of-fun Marvel Comics site.