John Peel, voice-bringer

November 30, 2008

In my teens and early twenties I was an avid fan of John Peel‘s Radio 1 program. I recently got a CD of tracks he played in the period 1977-87 – just the time I was a listener. It brought back a lot of memories. Not just of people and events and first snogs, as teenage records are supposed to, but of ideas. John Peel was a colossal and lasting influence on me, not least in the way I think. I admired his openness to hearing what anyone had to say musically. He gave a lot of people a chance to be heard, and a lot more the inspiration to get out and be heard.

That’s very valuable. Being heard is something we all need. That’s not about having everyone listen to you. Top 20 records were getting played over and over on everyone else’s shows, but the more I heard them the less I wanted to listen. It’s about being part of a conversation. If you were played on John Peel’s show, you were really part of something. You were expressing something. Just listening to his show made you part of the conversation. That’s being really heard – being part of a community of listening. Because you can’t be heard without other people’s engagement.

John Peel demonstrated that listening and being listened to are inseperable. His show was listened to devotedly. Why? Because of all the listening he constantly did to all the records and demo tapes bands (including mine!) sent him. Listening to his show inspired me to listen and to express myself – and to do it authentically, because otherwise it wouldn’t be me that was being heard.

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Resistance is…

November 19, 2008

Mountain biking is my exercise of choice. I get out when I can, and when I can’t, I’ve a turbo trainer which converts my bike into a static exercise bike. I’m also an enthusiastic heart rate monitor user – it really lets me see exactly how hard I’m working.

There’s been a fly in the ointment of my fitness though. The bottom bracket – the axle which goes through the frame, around which the pedals rotate – is worn out. This adds friction, but I’ve put up with it. I’ve even made a virtue of it – the extra resistance will make me fitter, I’ve told myself. The truth is though, when I’m out on the trails, it just slows me down. I work just as hard and get less enjoyment.

So I finally changed it, and today took it for its first spin on the turbo trainer. I got quite a surprise. Doing my regular routine, my heart rate was consistently 4-5% lower than usual at any given point. Sounds terrifically geeky, but the point is, by attending to the resistance, I made life easier for myself. That 5% could mean reaching the top of the hill panting, rather than with my heart trying to smash through my ribcage. That in turn would make the whole ride a lot more fun.

This got me thinking – where else is there resistance in my life? And what would be the knock-on effects of doing something about it? Resistance always points to a need, like the resistance on my bike telling me the bottom bracket needed changing.

So there’s a useful exercise here. Try this:

1. Notice something you’re resisting (eg. applying for a job you’d love)

2. Ask youself what the really difficult part is (eg. you’ll feel stupid if you don’t get it)

3. Ask yourself what you need (eg. reassurance, support, encouragement, recognition)

4.Think about the impact of overcoming the resistance (eg. hey, perhaps you WILL get it! That’ll lead to fulfillment, maybe more pay or better conditions, working with great people. Even if you don’t, you’ll feel better for having tried – it NEVER feels bad to get over a hurdle! It’ll be good practice, you’ll get round to updating your CV, you could get some useful feedback, you’ll have the opportunity to learn something)

5. Get what you need (eg. from a friend or colleague – someone you’ll trust and listen to)

6. Go for it.

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Shift happens!

November 6, 2008

So Obama did it. Erm…  YAAAYYYYY!!

I always thought he would, but for me the scale of his victory’s significance took all of yesterday really to sink in.

It’s an amazing expression of the fact that anything’s possible, and triggered a tsunami of positivity around the world. That’s the real juice of this event – it flagged up a global paradigm shift. The world is tired of the old way. Of kow-towing to vested interests. Of saying “Yes that’s all very well but it’s not that simple to implement.” Of living in a rut. Of stagnation.

Obama’s being compared with Martin Luther King. I think the joy is in the difference. Dr King was a campaigner for change, whereas Obama’s a figurehead of and catalyst for change. King fought for change, Obama lives it. Each is a vital figure, in their own context and time. Obama is a measure of King’s success. A reflection of what people can achieve when they choose not to be stopped by the usual crap.

Which raises the question – what could YOU achieve, if you chose not to be stopped by all the usual crap?

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Shock horror!

October 31, 2008

It now seems almost a month that Ross and Brand’s “shocking” Andrew Sachs-related phone mischief has been dominating the BBC news, though I’m sure it’s only a few days. They certainly caused a stir. Are we being prudish and reactionary if we don’t laugh at Russell Brand?

No. What shocks me about Russell Brand in particular is just how unshocking he is. He watches himself so hard – always keeping a weather eye out for getting a reaction. It’s cool to be revolutionary – it pisses people off. Something gets destroyed, something gets created. It makes things change. That doesn’t mean that if you piss people off you’re being revolutionary. Without the substance, it’s just getting up somebody’s nose like a schoolkid trying to get your attention.

So don’t worry about causing a stir in others – cause a stir in yourself. That’s when you really get to do something great.

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It’s all gone different shaped.

October 17, 2008

Today I felt a very, very real and concrete sense that the world has changed. In the midst of a multi-lateral complex of crises there’s something to get very excited about: the world is embracing and getting on with change. Previously we’ve left arcane market forces to sort things out. We’ve trusted the City to pull itself up by its hand-tooled bootstraps through some mysterious process of fiscal self-medication.

I want to say that I’m proud of Gordon Brown. He’s leading the world. He’s galvanising and pulling other leaders together. He’s leading the drive for radical transformation of the whole financial system. Think of that – a man standing up and saying “The entire global business system doesn’t work. Let’s build a new one.” Wow.

It seemed like today was the day when it really sunk in. And it was there all day for me. My clients were all really getting on with dumping what’s not working for them and creating something new. I’ve even noticed myself doing it. I’m discarding systems that don’t work for me and making new ones that function as I want them to. Today I created a couple in the area of preparing for the day ahead, for example. They definitely made the day run a lot smoother.

The politicians and the money men are the scapegoats of last resort when we’re looking for someone to blame for our own inertia. Even they are making radical changes. So what better time could there be for us to do the same?

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Time for fun!

October 14, 2008

A client of mine’s been working lately on managing his time. Like many of us, he found himself beset with those feelings of being overwhelmed with stuff. It always seemed there was too much to do and not enough time. (Sound familiar?)

He’s had some big breakthroughs. He’s finding that just by thinking and planning ahead a little, he’s much more on top of things. Where he used to feel a constant low-level panic, he now feels clarity and space. He’s doing more, being more effective, and also feels happier. The thing that often stops us being organised is thinking planning’s not enough, and will just rob us of valuable time. Actually, as my client found, the time spent planning pays dividends. And it’s simple.

Having taken care of his work life, he turned his attention to his own time. And suddenly he realised that – guess what? – planning could help him have more fun too.

It can seem that while being organised is fine at work, scheduling your fun is frankly a bit sad. Arrant nonsense. Managing your time is simply about being in control of it. Isn’t that even more important to have in your own time? As my client said, “Being spontaneous is all very well when you’ve got nothing to do.”

Maybe doing nothing is what you want to do. That’s cool – scheduling stuff doesn’t mean you have to be saving the world or training for a marathon. It’s just about being clear about what you want to do, and doing it. That way you can relax and enjoy it. Instead of spending your time in a last-minute rush, worrying you’ve forgotten something.

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Part of the family

October 7, 2008

Our relationship with the past is a powerful thing. An important aspect of coaching is stopping the past dictating your future, and creating the one you actually want instead. In this week’s Edinburgh Life Club we’re doing an exercise which sheds some interesting light on this area. We’ll be zooming out and taking a big overview of our pasts – over several generations of our families.

I’m really looking forward to this. I’ve recently become very interested in my great-grandfather, Billy Gaunt. He  was a great entrepreneur, a wool baron in the 1920s. There are many wonderful stories, and I find him very inspiring. I wish I’d met him.

So it’ll be very interesting to consider what we might have in common. And perhaps, what I wish I didn’t have in common with him. Or, indeed, with some other part of my family tree.

The thing about getting a big perspective like this is you can see things in the round and take charge. Be a general, not a corporal. Then it becomes easier to actually do something about those family traits you’re not so proud of!

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Grabbing the bull by the horns…

October 1, 2008

We certainly live in interesting times. As stock markets and banks lurch from crash to crash, pundits alternate between blaming banks, politicians, regulators, City traders and anyone else whose scalp is conveniently poking above the parapet. What’s clear is that under the rosy surface of apparently stable growth, problems have been lurking. It’s in the way of these things that they don’t get seen most of the time; but when they do, all hell breaks loose. That’s when we do crisis management.

So it is with all of us, managing our own lives. Most of the time things are fine. It’s only now and then that we experience difficulty with confidence, relationships, decisions or whatever it might be. So it can be easy to think of them as something that’s not generally relevant or important.

But they’re there alright, waiting for things to come to a head. They’re always there, probably having much more of an impact behind the scenes than you realise, but they’re elusive. And that’s how those “crisis points” can be a real opportunity. When you’re confronted by these things is when they’re most accessible. So that’s the time to take a hold and make the change you want.

Just like the markets need to do right now. Now’s the time to see what’s not working for them and correct it, while it’s all out there to see.

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When past and future collide…

September 17, 2008

Watching Morgan Tsvangarai and Robert Mugabe announcing their power-sharing government the other day, I was struck by something. There’s such a clear divide between the two men and what they each represent. Tsvangarai stood clearly for the future, movement, creation; Mugabe for the past, stasis, recrimination. Zimbabwe has to choose – unfortunately, it looks like even if an overwhelming majority of its people wants change it’ll be difficult to put it into effect.

How starkly that reflects the dilemmas we all face every day. They all could be reduced in a similar way to future-focussed creation and movement versus past-focussed stagnation. Take a look for a moment at some aspect of life. Notice how if you’re focussing on the future in that area, you can feel the pull towards it. If you’re stuck, unable to move forward, notice that you’re focussing on the past in some way. Try it for a few different things, so you get a couple of each.

Mugabe clings to the rhetoric about the colonialism of the past, which ended 28 years ago. In the areas you find yourself stagnating, try asking yourself – what rhetoric about the past am I clinging to? And what does it keep in power?

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Trading struggle for celebration

September 11, 2008

Here’s a nice wee nugget of wisdom:

“The struggles of today are the celebrations of tomorrow.”

To some ears it might sound a bit “inspirational quote”-y, but there’s a lot of truth there. Struggles can take many forms – divorces, credit crunches, decorating, meeting deadlines, Christmases. The thing is that struggle feels static, endless. It traps us by making us feel there’s no other way to be. That’s the slippery slope to feeling incompetent/unfulfilled/frustrated/bored/overwhelmed etc. All the things we don’t want to be but fear we are.

What struggle makes us forget though is that things change, day to day, moment to moment. It’s like there’s a part of us that prefers struggle, and doesn’t want us to think about change. Hey, at least struggle’s familiar – and better the devil you know, right?

So how do you get to celebration?  Simple – embrace change. Don’t be afraid to look at what you’re struggling with from a different angle. Then another. Try playing with it, not problem-solving. Maybe you’ll learn something, notice something new, find a new approach that works better. Then – guess what, you’re not struggling any more.

(Tip: remember to chill some champagne in advance, so it’s ready to celebrate when you are.)

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