This is Puss in boots and one of my kids stuffed toys. You squeeze it and it says statements like
“No problemo boss”
“I thought you just said we were done doin things the stupid way”
“You have engaged my valuable services”
And appropriate for the day of the photo “I hate Mondays”
Category: Photos (Page 4 of 11)
It’s late in the afternoon on Saturday and I head outside to hunt down the photo of the day. I chat to some of my neighbours who are washing cars and preparing for the next days travel, ‘normal things’. Then I head over and start taking photo’s of a tree because I like it’s lines and it reminds me its winter.
Compared to the normal things I am decidedly abnormal, nonstandard and strange. But then aren’t we all. Each one of us is created completely unique. Not one of us is normal or standard.
It is easy to forget that each person you meet is unique.
Each one has different strengths, desires, pasts and presents that make them who they are.
Our goals should be to value the uniqueness of individuals rather then try and make everyone normal.
Simple in design. Functional in use. Cheap to produce and meets the users requirements.
My experience with IT projects over the years is that they generally lack these basic requirements. We could learn a lot from pegs.
Last year I coached my daughter’s 8-a-side hockey team and I thought I did a half decent job given I had absolutely no knowledge of hockey prior to becoming coach.
This year her team has two very talented and very experienced coaches, Neil and John, who have played, coached and lead hockey for years.
Let me say, there is an extreme disparity between my coaching and theirs in developing the skills of the entire team. Oh, and they win more often than not.
It turns out that leadership skills and experience make a good coach. Not one but both. Yet often in business or other organisations we expect people to “coach” when they have little experience or leadership.
Little wonder the team members don’t develop.
Not every sunrise will be as beautiful as this one.
Not every day will be the best day of your life.
But today is a new day.
Seize it!
Make the change you have always wanted to make, even if it’s only for today. And if you fail… tomorrow is a new day again and you can give it another go.
May your day today be beautiful and full and alive.
Sometimes in life we see opportunity coming like a wave of success. Like surfing we seize the moment, drop-in and catch the wave. We are stoked because the ride is exhilarating and for that moment we feel like we have found our sweet spot.
Without warning, the wave changes and we wipeout as it all comes crashing down around us.
Then we have two options. Give up and become a spectator, or head back out for another attempt. Catching another wave will take effort, time and patience. Like most things there will be an element of being in the right place at the right time.
But at least you will again get to enjoy a few moments of exhilaration that those who merely watch from pier will never experience.
Went in search for the Addington Coffee Co-op, took a wrong turn and ended up driving past the old abandoned Wood Bros flour mill. A quick google search reveals “The mill opened in 1891 and was powered by steam, lit by electricity and serviced by the railway line next door. The storage buildings pictured here were built in 1924. By 1936 it had the largest output of flour in the South Island. In 1970 Wood Bros Limited sold the mill complex”.
Wood bros no longer exists as a company.
It’s a reminder that even the most successful companies of their era, like the people who run them, will eventually fade away.
Waiting for a response can be like watching a clock slowly tick the seconds by. It can be frustrating and annoying when action is not happening. We can feel like we are wasting precious minutes, hours and days.
At the moment I am waiting on a person to enable me to take the next step in a project. Because it’s a collaborative effort, I can’t go any further with the project without this persons help.
I am starting to resent the waiting.
Tick
To get annoyed.
Tick
Then I realise, I need to get over myself. For 2 weeks, I reacted slowly, I was the time waster, I was the one being waited on. My slowness made this persons response time harder.
I realise that I do this often. Fast to expect action, slow to act.
It’s winter. The 1st of June brings the official change in season, then the season lives up to its reputation and delivers rain.
With the darker days comes much difficulty and a lack of energy for my 365 project. 251 days down, 115 to go.
Agoge means conduct, although I use the word ‘being’. It’s a word that is meant to connect our way of business (day to day) with our purpose (people matter, leaders, ingenious, lucrative) to bring a common story. It means to ‘be’ day to day the things we have said we want to be.
Unfortunately too often in the last 18 months we have struggled to connect our actions to our purpose.
While we have had some great stories, we have had some really bad stories as well.
All this goes to show that as the leader of Agoge I have a lot to learn.