Tag: mindset

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Thank you 2024

What a year it’s been!

There’s some conclusions I’ve come to but let’s review some key things that happened in 2024!

Well… before I share the highlights, I’ll let you know, they’re going to be about me! That’s right… I’m going to focus on what happened to me (with a sprinkle of technology)

  1. Travel
    • This year (2024) I got some serious air miles! Both for work and with the family. I managed to get over to Tenerife in the summer which was relaxing (and I read the book – Never split the difference), and then in October I managed to get over to Dubai – which was awesome!
    • I also managed a number of trips to the US for work.
    • One gadget that I think which served me well was my apple air tag. Always kept it in my suitcase!
    • Oh… and when traveling, I like a mixture of reading and watching something good – so before I’m going away, I ask for recommendations. Thank you to all those who recommended good books and programmes to watch!
    • 2025 – I’ll continue to travel and make memories..
  2. Fitness & Health
    • In June, I decided I need to start lifting weights again. So, I started to go gym 3 times a week. The good thing about this, I kept it going… and still today, as I type this (went gym this morning) I’m still doing it! I’ll admit, whilst travelling or away, it was hard to get to the gym, so some weeks… it may have been once or twice. But in all honesty… that’s ok. And I started this before I read the book, Atomic Habits – which is a great book!
    • Data is important to make improvements. As the saying goes, what you can’t measure, you can’t improve. So I’ve invested in some health gadgets which help me monitor various aspects of my health.
    • My iWatch captures steps and calories burned. I’m regularly checking my heart pressure and had more blood tests in 2024 to get data on a number of my organs/body/health etc… like my HbA1c.
  3. Me, Myself and I
    • I’ve invested more time in me. And by that, I mean I’ve been reading alot more, I’ve been spending time by myself to gather my thoughts and in 2024, I started writing more (down on paper) that helps me remember and build.
    • I also spent time reflecting. In my day to day job, spent time just understanding what needs to be done to make the organisation more successful. Asking myself questions like, have I got the right people, are we working on the right things, which items need to be prioritised, how can we grow and be more successful. All of this led to new processes, new items and setting ourselves up for success.
    • Back to point 1 – went on more holidays/vacations than before. Even weekends away. Even just having brunch with the family. This has all helped. We can discuss a number of things together.
    • What is even more fascinating is that, I read a book about the digital detox… and it was great. It was about how much time we spend on our devices. How much time we are on social media. And I reflected on this. Whilst it’s great, there needs to be a limit or some sort of control. So consciously, I’ve reduced the time I spend on my phone and other devices. So much so, I don’t think I’ve used my iPad as much this year as previous years!

So there you go… a quick review of my 2024 in a few bullet points.

It’s been a good year. I’ve read alot of books, sat in the sun, sipped on some cold drinks and enjoyed the moment.

I’ll reflect what I have planned for 2025 soon… in fact, I might not reflect, might just start doing it and sharing the progress.

And one of the things for 2025 is my blog.

Again, I’m conscious I’ve not blogged as much as I should. And when I have, it’s quite generic, or it’s about particular topics such as the new iPhone… so in 2025, I’m going to change that. In fact, I’m changing it now… It’s going to get personal!

That’s right… it’s going to focus on me with a sprinkle of tech. Or should I say, it’s going to be tech related but more personal. For example, all the travelling I do, I’ve bought some great travelling gagdets, wouldn’t it be good for me to share more personal reviews of what helps and what doesn’t!

So before I go…what was your best moment of 2024?

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Bal's Friday Thought

Bal’s Friday Thought…

Today’s thought is from an accomplished football manager. And it’s something I learnt recently with my Under 13’s football team.

You see, we’d won like 10 games in a row.. and won them well. Unfortunately, we got to a stage that the team walked onto the pitch thinking we’ve got this and we can win easily. However, that’s not always the case.

We lost. And heavily. They destroyed us.

But you know what. We learnt so much from that one defeat. We learnt about our positioning, we learnt that we shouldn’t take particular risks when the opposition have certain qualities. Every team is different however, we shouldn’t become complacent.

I suppose, this is a life lesson. When you make a mistake, or when something doesn’t work out… you learn so much! And that is what makes you better.

Carlo says it very well…

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Bal's Friday Thought

Bal’s Friday Thought…

We are always faced with so many choices.

Do you be… or do you go and do?

It’s a continuous loop of being, learning and understanding before you can go and do, share and be understood.

The Yin & Yang of Creativity…

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Bal's Friday Thought

Bal’s Friday Thought…

I’ll share more in an up and coming blog post, but last week I was in Atlanta at a Leadership meeting. And at the meeting the boss put up a slide, and at the bottom of the slide he shared the books he recommends.

Personally – I loved that. Because, I always want to read new books which are recommended by intelligent people.

Which got me thinking… about smart people I know.

There’s a fair few of them. And then I began to notice a trend. A pattern, amongst them. They read books was number one. But they had much more in common…

To become smart… here’s what I found;

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Bal's Friday Thought

Bal’s Friday Thought…

We are often faced with difficult situations where we have to learn a new way of working, a new method or a new process.

We hear that AI is going to take over our jobs.

Who knows?! But what we do know is that we should continuously learn new skills. Might seem hard at first…

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Bal's Friday Thought

Bal’s Friday Thought…

So recently, I was on holiday and took the opportunity to read a book.

The book I read this summer was called, Never split the difference.

It was a great ready! Thoroughly recommend it.

The reason why I like it so much was because Chris gave some wonderful examples, he shared stories of successes but also failures! (you don’t have many people do that.. and then finally, it really did teach me something about empathy!)

So today’s thought is… make sure you’re equipped with the skills needed to negotiate.

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Bal's Friday Thought

Bal’s Friday Thought…

Yesterday, I was talking to my team member about some work we are doing and I made the comment.. ‘slowly but surely’.

Now, for those who know me, I love the old Brian Clough quote, “Rome wasn’t built in a day, but I wasn’t on that particular job”. That’s very much me… but then on the other hand, there’s only so much you can do with what you have control over. It’s all about control.

So today’s thought is centred around doing what you can do, little by little, with the control you do have.

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Show me the numbers

Not sure if you knew, but I help out at a local charity where we cook food on a weekly basis and serve it to vulnerable folk who need it. There was a company that got in touch, and said – if we could provide some information, about what we do, they’d like to donate some money. So one of the volunteers wrote a few paragraphs.

When asked to review it, I wanted to ensure we tell the right story but with numbers.

You see, numbers can add alot of context to a story.

Once upon a time, there was a king.

This is how most stories start… and you may notice, there was ‘a’ in there to clearly identify, one…. king. Not several kings. Not some kings. Just one king.

Once upon a time, there was a king. His kingdom had alot of people.

‘Alot of people’… Doesn’t really say much. You can’t put it into context. Was it a big place. Was it a small place. How can we compare it to other regions and kingdoms?

Once upon a time, there was a king. His kingdom encopassed over 10,000 residents and was one of the largest kingdoms in the land.

Now we’re talking! We got a number… 10,000…. and then we got some context, because we found out it’s one of the largest in the land!

Numbers can do so much. Yet, when telling a story or update, we tend to omit them for feelings. Why can’t we do both? use numbers and have feelings? Build the story to the context.

Now the whole ‘once upon a time’ was an example. But think of something you’ve done recently that you’d talked about – how many numbers did you include?

I look at advertisements, I look at talks, I listen to podcasts… there are so many people out there vying for our attention… how can they get our attention?

Oh, you’re probably wondering more about the charity I volunteer at? Well, we cook over 60 hot portions of food every Monday and Thursday which is then served to the homeless and vulnerable – no questions asked.

Recently, a brilliant advert was shared with me to highlight how awesome it was in telling a story with numbers. And I wanted to share it with you…

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Bal's Friday Thought

Bal’s Friday Thought

What do you enjoy doing?

Watching football?

Playing games?

Eating food?

Whatever you enjoy doing… do it! (And there can be monetisable opportunities). But do it with some passion also. I’ll explore in another blog post of mine about a book I recently finished called, Tuesday’s with Morrie. Great book.

But for today’s Friday Thought… it’s from Gary V, and he puts it quite simply…

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Bal's Friday Thought

Bal’s Friday Thought…

So the book continues and fair play to Arnold… it’s a decent read!

A relatively short chapter but nevertheless, a very important one. As you can guess, it was all about selling. Not selling yourself as such – but there is an element of that, but selling what you represent, what you stand for and included in that, your vision.

So the story Arnold tells is about body building. Again, you’ll have to read the book to learn about his story.

For me… what I took away was the element that people may or may not fully understand your vision. Understand what you stand for. Understand clearly where you want to get to.

This is where the sell, sell, sell part comes in.

Depending on what you’re doing. How you’re doing it. And the amount of success you’re having, you have to sell yourself, your trade, your work… whatever it is that you do. And sell it in a way that people want more!

I remember when I was at Kodak, and I wanted to become a chartered engineer. So I had to fill in forms, do lots of work etc… but I wasn’t selling myself. And I remember clearly my mentor at the time saying… ‘Bal, you have to write I did… not we’. That’s stuck with me since. I’m very clear and intentional that if I do something.. then I did it. Not just to get the applauds but if it goes wrong, then the buck stops with me… and my team is not to blame. Yes there’s times where it’s a team effort so it’s a ‘we’.

Have a look at your vision… work through the chapters and now, tell me honestly, are you able to sell it?