People Matter ∴ Do Good

Lead a vivid life that does good

Author: Andrew (Page 10 of 43)

What do you believe about Global Warming?

30 July 2014 /

Global Warming NZ“Do you believe in Global Warming?” my friend asked sincerely. After thinking for a moment I told him that clearly I didn’t. I do after all drive a Holden Commodore and in reality I do little to reduce my ‘footprint’ on this planet.

Now here is the interesting thing. I know that our climate is changing. I know that as humans we are using too many of our limited resources. I know that if we continue the same way, we will destroy the planet for future generations.

You notice that I use the word ‘know’, and not the word ‘believe’. That’s because ‘believe’ should be followed by action.

Without action, we demonstrate that we do not have deep held conviction and belief. We merely have an opinion. And an opinion without action is a dangerous thing indeed.

Want to know what somebody really believes?

Listen to their words,

AND,

look at their actions!

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Clearly this is not just a post about Global Warming. It could equally be a post about poverty. Or Aids. Or your Neighbours. Or Love. Whatever it is, if you believe you should do some good, then you should do something about it.

What do you believe?

Take action.

Remember a persons name. Remember their favourite word.

22 July 2014 /

Whats your nameFirstly a confession: I love stationery and around 10 years ago when I first started Agoge, I loved buying all the stationery and desks as I set up my new business. As I shopped, one of the team on the floor of Warehouse Stationery, a young guy called Kelly, helped me over two or three trips into the store, and he got to know my name.

Fast forward 10 years and I bumped into Kelly, in a different store, and he still remembered my name. He came up to me with a big smile and greeted me, and said, “How’s it going Andrew?” and asked if he could help.

It reminded me how powerful a person’s name is. I have read that it is generally a person’s favourite word (though few admit it). When someone remembers my name, I feel valued; respected; special; and I become more loyal.

Sadly most organisations do a lousy job of names and as a result lose the opportunity to connect with people in a way that says, “I value you.”

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Second confession: I am lousy with names, particularly names I have not heard before.

I hate it when I ask for the second or third time, “What’s your name again?” but in the end remembering a person’s name is more important than my embarrassment of forgetting.

Maybe you can help me.

What tricks, or methods, or ways do you have for remembering names?

3 steps required to become fit and healthy.

18 July 2014 /

JohnsonvilleI was running around the hills of Johnsonville recently, which if you come from a relatively flat Hamilton, can be very taxing. As I ran and navigated the streets that I used to live on, I thought about how I’ve run more in Wellington, since I’ve left Wellington, than when I actually lived there.

When I was in Wellington, I was eating crappy food, not exercising, and really putting on weight.

At the time I thought I was busy, but I was not as busy as what I am now.

At the time I was in my 20’s and thought I was bullet proof, despite the fact that I’d been given high cholesterol warnings from the doctor, and people commented on my putting on weight.

I would like to say that I took those as a warning and started to improve my health, but it’s sad to say that my health got significantly unhealthier and it would be over ten years before I made the change.

As I ran the streets that morning I realised that it would have been good to get healthier earlier. I thought about how much exercise and eating right helps me. It gives me better mental energy, less stress, better health, better fitness, and a better life in general.

I regretted the fact that I hadn’t got healthier earlier, that I hadn’t run the streets of Wellington when I was young and actually lived here.

∴

I think there might be some strange link between exercise and energy. Shock horror!

Every time I stop exercising or eating well for a season I quickly get stressed, put on weight and feel tired.

At those times I know there are three steps I must take:

  1. Resolve | If I don’t decide to do something, nothing will happen. I need to give myself the proverbial kick up the butt and get moving. Without resolve I rarely make it.
  2. Equip | I make sure I have the tools to build a routine and pattern. Maybe it’s apps like Lift.do, ShapeUp or a gym membership, or a friend to spur me on.
  3. Start | I generally start small and try to do something every day. Just create the habit and then let the habit move me forward.

If you are in that space… you should do something.

Today!

Are you heading for a dead-end?

2 July 2014 /

SignNot far from where I live is this sign. It’s a weird sign because it curves to the right with a big arrow showing that the main road heads that way, and off to the left is a little side road.

I know it is only a warning sign; however the interesting thing about the sign is that the main road, the big arrow, if you were to keep following it, actually ends up at a dead-end. Off to the left, is the best way to exit.

I thought about how funny that is, and how often our decisions are like that sign. We follow the big road because it’s the easy path, without realising that it may end up at a dead-end. We get so fixated on following that path that we miss the opportunity to take the exit and try a new path, one with all the uncertainty that leads us someplace new.

And so we stay on the beaten track, and hope beyond hope that it won’t be disrupted.

We know though, that great leaders are defined by great decisions.

And great decision-making is generally not a massive fork in the road where it’s a choice of one or the other. Rather, it’s a series of small decisions to venture off and try something new.

Something courageous.

Something that changes the course of your life, or business, for the better.

∴

What decisions are you not making at the moment?

What paths are you following purely because you haven’t stop to review your options?

Is it possible that you’re heading for a dead-end?

Maybe today, it’s time to take the lead and head off somewhere new.

I don’t get time to …

27 June 2014 /

I don’t get time to … think

I don’t get time to … exerciseclock

I don’t get time to … read

I don’t get time to … do good

I don’t get time to … play with the kids

I don’t get time to … relax

I don’t get time to … [fill in the blank]

∴

You are right of course.

You only get time to do the things you choose to do. You can’t make time, but we can lose it doing the wrong things.

Like me you probably need to stop doing some things, to make time for the things that are really important.

Stuck! – Do you really know the next step?

24 June 2014 /

Next StepIt was a bleak, grey morning, and my 14-year-old daughter sat on the couch in her pyjamas, really struggling to get started on a massive homework project that she had. It was as though the burden of the project hung over her as dark as the clouds outside. The project seemed daunting and unachievable.

After some cajoling, I managed to get her to get dressed and we headed off to a cafe down the road. And that’s when I started to teach her (as best a dad can) to work out what the next step was. I asked her to break down the next step … then break it down further … and then break it down even more, until we got to the real simple achievable next step.

The problem a lot of us have when we’re faced with a big task, or with an assignment or with a massive project, is that we keep thinking about the outcome, and we fail to break it down to the next step.

What is the very next thing that I need to do?

In the case of my daughter’s protest poetry, she had to first narrow down who it was she was going to protest about. She had to find two or three people, or causes, that she could protest about. Once she had those, she had to decide on one! That was the next step.

And then once she had that, she had to break that down and learn something about the cause that she was protesting for. Then brainstorm the verses of the poem. Then she was away.

Easy … or at least easier.

∴

When you’re faced with a challenge, or a project or an assignment, how can you break it down further?

How can you look for that next step?

What might that next step be? One that you could complete in a few minutes that would move you forward.

Once you are moving it’s surprising how momentum follows.

How to determine if you are an Introvert or Extrovert

17 June 2014 /

IntrovertAre you an introvert or extrovert? It’s a question many of us been asked.

If you are an introvert, we’re told, you have a tendency toward your own thoughts and space, and if you are an extrovert you supposedly like to obtain gratification from outside yourself through others.

So which are you, Introvert or Extrovert?

You are probably both.

Over the years science has discovered that Introvert/Extrovert is not one or the other, like people imply. Rather it is a scale, a bell curve in fact. Most people sit somewhere close to the middle. You may be slightly more introverted, which explains why you are shy in some settings and the life of the party in others. Or you may love being around people, and yet often need your own space.

And of course, like every bell curve there are a few people, very few, at the extreme and these people are the people we usually think of when we hear the term.

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For years I felt because I was shy and enjoy my own thoughts that I was an introvert. At the same time, I love being around people and actually enjoy standing and speaking in front of large crowds of people which feels more extrovert. I often defined myself as an Introvert by nature, possibly because the first Myers-Briggs test I did, gave me an I (Introvert) instead of an E (Extrovert).

Self-labelling can be dangerous, and I or E is not an exception.

Few of us are really an I or an E as the tests describe at face value. You may be 40% Extrovert and 60% Introvert, which means you can be both. You just need to push a little harder to be an Extrovert and Introvert comes a little more naturally BUT you can be both.

And reminding yourself that you can be extroverted just as you enter a room of strangers can be incredibly liberating and rewarding.

I or E isn’t important.

What matters is growing in both.

What’s your body telling you? Is it time you listened?

10 June 2014 /

headacheIt was a pain in the neck, quite literally, the project that I was working on. The tension in my neck and shoulders were leading towards a lovely mid-afternoon headache. I thought about opening my bag to retrieve some Nurofen or Panadol, but instead I asked myself a question.

What’s your body telling you?

My body was telling me that it was tired, my body was telling me that it needed some fresh air, my body was telling me that I had had enough of staring at the screen in the hope of finishing this project.

For once, I listened to my body. I got up, went out into the beautiful crisp winter’s day and went for a walk. Almost immediately I felt the pressure on my neck start to relax. Quickly, I felt refreshed and rejuvenated, all because I had listened to my body.

Often in our constant quest to be more productive and effective we ignore what our body is telling us. When we have headaches or pain, our initial response to keep going and to use painkillers just to get us through the day. Maybe we’re over tired, so we drink Red Bull; or feeling down, so we reach for our latest comfort food.

While that response can keep us going, it’s often not what our body needs.

And sometimes it’s just plain unhealthy.

∴

What is your body telling you?

Is it telling us to reach for another Panadol … or for that energy drink … or for that food?

Or are our bodies suggesting that, now is a good time to get out, have a break, relax and unwind a little bit?

Maybe after we’ve done that for ten minutes, we’’ll come back feeling alive and rejuvenated and our work will actually happen a lot quicker.

Maybe, it’s time we listen to our bodies.

Often ‘Being the Best’ first requires failure

3 June 2014 /

Audit ReportRecently, one of our business divisions was audited by an external auditor, and the comment was made that a particular process is the best that she’s seen in the industry. The irony is that these processes came about because we failed, and by that I mean failed significantly, three or four years ago.

This got me thinking about what it takes to be the best, and whether being the best, at some point, requires massive failure.

Is it possible that failure causes us to reflect, to learn, to change? Is it possible that failure causes us to radically change things so that you can actually strive to become the best?

Being the best is not just a decision you make when things are going well, being the best is something that is refined through the dark patches, risks taken and failed, and through lessons learned the hard way.

∴

What will you do to be the best?

Is that the challenge at work, or failure, or relationship issue, that you’re going through right now could actually hold the key to being the best?

Maybe it’s time you took some massive steps to change.

Then quite possibly, in the future, someone will notice that you are the best!

Why NZ needs a Ministry of Men’s Affairs

29 May 2014 /

Ministry of Mens Affairs source 3newsA friend of mine was sitting next to the Minister of Women’s Affairs on the plane recently and I asked him if he had asked her, if “women have many affairs?” Ok, that’s a poor shot at humour.

The Hon. Jo Goodhew has an incredibly important role and I love that we are the first country in the world to give women the vote, the first country in the world where women have held the 3 most senior offices (Prime Minister, Governor General and Chief Justice). The Ministry of Women’s Affairs has been and will continue to play an incredibly important role.

This got me thinking though… Is there a need for a Minister of Men’s Affairs?

We spend a huge amount of resources protecting and supporting the disadvantaged, and maybe we need to focus on addressing a core issue …

Men!

What if the Ministry of Men’s Affairs had one goal “to develop better men”

Less addictive
Less abusive
Less prejudiced
Less couch bound

More literate
More balanced
More tolerant
More adventurous

Better role models
Better fathers
Better husbands and partners

Great Men who break repeating cycles and in turn raise Great Men.

∴

I know plenty of great men. I also know plenty of men, and communities where men struggle with abuse and addictions and have never had great role models. These men are the role models for tomorrow’s men.

I know that a Ministry of Men’s Affairs is probably politically incorrect. It’s not a strong opinion or deep held belief or a statement on equality. Rather it’s an evocative post to remind us men are the cause of much of society’s problems, and maybe, just maybe, a focus on them might have long term benefits.

If you are a Man reading this post, the implication is clear.

Break the cycle. Be a Great Man!

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