Nicholas Bate

101 Redux

What are the Secrets of Success? What are The Real Essentials? Sometimes you realise that if you just woke up, were intelligent, noticed the moments and were bold, had real grit, stopped thinking about escape hatches, and were resilient, perhaps things would become refreshingly different.After all, the totally tangible truths are simply priceless and remind you that whetever it takes in a Brave New World, there is no conspiracy maybe just simply one doppio espresso too many. After all, you say you want a revolution.  So be a superhero, take some time to pause and consider and realise that life is good: you just need The Simplest of Pleasures. And become truly wealthy by using the life tips. What if you were fearless and knew that you could solve any problem that you had? Reinvent. Be outrageous. Be professional. After all, AreYouSerious as genius often starts with quick wins, certainly avoiding nonsense, taking time to reflect, seeking answers and knowing what is to be done. Set your compass, do it and boost your productivity and hence wellness and hence creativity. Think Beatles, think blue Jeans, less PowerPoint. Write and be different. Grab your freedom and travel. Less marketing, more relaxing. Make that Parallel Universe happen: be more intelligent and let the good news happen. Remember: It Isn't Rocket Science.

Managing a Business in a Crazy World, 45

Many are demotivated in the organisation?

HR has suggested a big off-site party to restore spirits?

Perhaps….

Or maybe spend some serious time with each person explaining their role in the organisation, how they can help it achieve its goals and importantly talking about what he/she/they want and how the organisation might support them. 

A great party is short-term motivator. A supported path for one’s career is a long-term motivator. 

The former is mainly a cost. The latter can be 100% brilliant investment.

Gain Time, 7

1. Batch similar activities: efficiency is built when the same task is done. E.g. batch e-mail rather than dip in and out of it.
2. Work at speed. Deliberate and focused.
3. Decide to halve TV time by cutting out the 'OK' stuff.
4. Sleep fully so that waking hours are full on rather than dreaming of the next coffee and/or sit down.
5. Ruthlessly prune the meetings you attend and review and audit all routine and 'given' activities such as Monday morning 1h meetings. Maybe they could be every other week. Or just 20 minutes?
6. Work to your energy cycle rather than poor diary management.  Most people are more productive, better focused and more creative in the first few hours of the working day; don't waste such valuable time with routine meetings.
7. Go play ball and come back focused.

Monday 35

1. 25 Mini Standards.
2. The Writing Primer.
3. Bram, A Spy Story: a story of coming of age, of Queen and country and the origins of Covid-19. “Once you start reading this book, it’s difficult to put down. Initially, you are immersed in the delights of Oxford academia, only to then be exposed to the starkness and brutality of Moscow during the Cold War. Bram, a brilliant Oxford chemist, turns spy whose mission is to save the world from a highly dangerous and ubiquitous threat. This book is characterised by most of the attributes of a good spy story with action, heroic exploits by a larger-than-life protagonist and a strong plot. Well worth a read.”
   
4. How to Start your Very Own Business.
5. Instant Productivity.
6. Seven choices.
7. 22 Essentials.
8. How to Create your Home Office.
9. plus The Start Up Myths
10. Stay STRONG
11. Crazy Bold Experiments
12. Just say NO to PPT
13. The Marketing Primer.
14. Being the Best version of you, the book, back in stock.
15. Redundancy
16. Hunter-Gatherer 21C
17. Tackling Stress.
18. Manage that career
19. Be Bold 101
20. You still haven’t read Being The Best?! 
21. Things They Don’t Teach at Business School
22. the secrets of success
23. Life Tips 101
24. Zen & Art of Cubicle Freedom
25. Carnage At Kodak
26. The Very Best Drugs You Need
27. Billions of Light Years Away In Another Galaxy
28. 22 Routes To Your Non Fiction Book
29. Lists For The Life You Love
30. How To Lessen E-Mail Pain
31. Professionalism 101
32. 21 Ways to Improve your Zoom Conference Call.
33. Productivity Primer
34. 101, redux
35. The Basic Basics

The 25 Tools of Excellence, v4, 18: The Project Box

Man is a generalist. No harm in that: he is remarkably adept at adapting and to enhance this process has created a batch of tools which allows enhanced performance. 

What are the Tools of Excellence?

18: The Project Box

It’s funny how for any project you are working on there are often a few ‘real’ items:  a couple of reference books preferred in hard copy. A high-lighted and scribbled upon and PPT deck, similarly. A stack of yellow stickies from the Zoom brainstorm. A spiral notebook of outlining notes. For those of us who are still not yet 100% virtual, the project box is a life-saver. Everything for that product launch, that book plan, that sales pitch, that birthday party, goes into an individual box. Upon starting work, empty the box upon a clear table. Upon finishing, load up the box. 

TBC

The Molly Trilogy: free on Amazon kindle for 24h.

The arc of three books. An adventure. A saga. A love story. A voyage of self-discovery. A wonderful sea-side town; a glorious Scottish Island; the wonders of rural France. A great story. Good guys. Bad guys. Heroes. The Molly Trilogy.

Free for 24h on amazon kindle. You just need the kindle app.

Meet Molly, book one

Molly and The Isle of Kasta, book two

Molly and Ben, book three

Saturday Quick Quiz

Just how many typewriters does Patrick have?

Michael Wade nails it.

‘Old School’ is a competitive advantage.

The Molly Trilogy: free for 48h.

The arc of three books. An adventure. A saga. A love story. A voyage of self-discovery. A wonderful sea-side town; a glorious Scottish Island; the wonders of rural France. A great story. Good guys. Bad guys. Heroes. The Molly Trilogy.

Free for 48h on amazon kindle.

Meet Molly, book one

Molly and The Isle of Kasta, book two

Molly and Ben, book three

On Writing, 108

Most authors will agree they have good days and bad days. They’ll (with luck) have days when the words flow and little proofing is needed. They’ll have other days where several hours of hard work (apparently) produce a poor scene with no real coherence. 

Think long-term. Treasure the productive sessions which produce some of your best work and accept that those weaker attempts will eventually produce something of worth. 

Writing is a craft.