Nicholas Bate

Read a Spy Story

Bram, A Spy Story.

Free. Kindle. 48h. 

Scroll Less; Read More. 

The Greatest Productivity Tips, 148

Get the low tech productivity tool: an egg timer. Sit it on your desk. Next time a Zoom call starts, turn it over and watch the grains of sand of your life tumbling away. It'll change your behaviour instantly: fewer meetings, shorter meetings, relevant meetings and meetings which result in actions.

Michael Wade comes clean

21 Things he wishes he’d realised earlier.

The Greatest Productivity Tips, 147

Not all tasks are the same.

Some resolve an issue now. The leaking roof.

Some plan to resolve future issues. An aspect of your long-term health.

Aim for a 50/50 investment in each kind, each day. 

Tight Budget Tuesday

1. Every e-mail costs you a 1000
2. Every frown 100
3. Every PPT slide 500
4. Every donut/doughnut/cookie 50
5. Every meeting over 3 people and/or over 45 minutes 100 x number of people
6. Every use of the lift for anything less than three floors 750
7. Every 60 minutes sitting without stretch, stand, walk and water 150

and you are working to a VERY tight budget.

 

1. Every e-mail costs you a 1000
2. Every frown 100
3. Every PPT slide 500
4. Every donut/doughnut/cookie 50
5. Every meeting over 3 people and/or over 45 minutes 100 x number of people
6. Every use of the lift for anything less than three floors 750
7. Every 60 minutes sitting without stretch, stand, walk and water 150

and you are working to a VERY tight budget.

Monday Eternal Truths 22

1. There are decisions you might have made when you were younger which you can still make now you are older.
2. Worthwhile stuff is hard.
3. We are wired to be distracted: it has huge evolutionary benefit. But that benefit evolved when distraction was infrequent. Now its frequency is numbing our brain, reducing romance to sex and killing the album.
4. A schedule and 'no' will get amazing things achieved. 
5. You are one of many until you show value, not just experience, in your CV. Then you are short-listed.
6. Your body needs more drugs from hiking, night skies and free-wheeling conversations with good buddies and fewer from your doctor. 
7. Everybody now runs their own business. Ask: why would anyone want to employ me?
8. Big tasks when broken down become both time friendly and brain friendly.
9. It is very, very easy to pull ahead of the crowd: decide to do so and stop needing the approval of others.
10. Productivity isn't a number of things ticked: it's a result.
11. Iteration will produce excellence.
12. Practice will produce mastery.
13. Mastery will produce more happiness than money.
14. Money is only worth anything in the transaction.
15. Freedom is priceless.
16. Health is priceless.
17. Priceless isn't expensive. Priceless is a decision.
18. The Beatles were not just Masters of Music but also Masters of Growing-Up
19. In a world of busyness, your greatest asset is your ability to focus and give attention to that which you seek.
20. To chase standard of living to the point of busyness can be to lose quality of life.
21. It doesn't take time to cook. It takes time for the body to recover from highly processed food.
22. Writing (1) by hand (2) for no reason at all (3) regularly is remarkably therapeutic.

Go be someone.

What Patrick’s Been Reading

I love to consider the reading lists of fellow bloggers. Yesterday I was checking out Patrick Rhone and was delighted to see he has read one of mine:

Meet Molly by Nicholas Bate — A love story with some touches of adventure. I think the characters are the thing here — Molly and her love interest Ben are richly drawn so you get to know them well. It’s a breezy read and I enjoyed it.

Thank you Patrick. Love ‘breezy’. 

On Writing, 138

You’ll no doubt write on your laptop or iPad or desktop.

That’s obviously a good plan for ease of editing.

But perhaps just occasionally write a key chapter by hand; pen on paper. You may notice that you become more thoughtful, more reflective, more engaged with the story you are creating simply because you know that a quick edit is not easy.

Go write. 

A Novel from Michael Wade

is close.

And do read the comments. 

Catch Up Saturday

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