Unexpected Time

Unexpected Time

This post is a complete departure from most others in that it is not my usual writing.  Instead, it is a pause.  A reflection on a moment.

Last week my wife, Christina, and I were invited to a reception for the newly formed Cayman YMCA.  Christina is a director of this outstanding organisation.  Among her many qualities, my wife is known for her organizational skills and for always being on time for events.  It was no surprise when we got there a few moments after 6pm that we were the first in attendance.  We often are.   Of course the caterers were still setting up, but that is not all that unusual.  However, around 10 minutes into our chat with the hostess I started to realise we were the first there not because we were early, but because we were really early.  On casually asking, we learned to our embarrassment that the event started at 7pm.  We were an hour early.  What to do?  The photo above is the answer.  It was taken during that unexpected time together.  We excused ourselves and stepped out to the terrace to take in the view.  Together we had 45 minutes to sit, talk and enjoy the most beautiful of sunsets.

Unexpected time was the perfect time for us that evening.  Sometimes we need that, don’t we?  Moments to unplug on one level and reconnect on another.  Have you had unexpected time lately, and did you use it wisely?

Posted on June 17, 2013 In Personal ,
 permalink 1 Comment

Its Time To Be Tested

June 3, 2013 — 1 Comment

My kids are always a source of inspiration for me in my life and, more specific to this blog, my writing. I have pages in my journal with blog post ideas. However, the best posts always seem to come out of the answers to my question, “Hey kids, what should I write about this week?” This week, as always, the question they suggested surprised me. However, what really got me thinking were their answers. Read on.

Tired schoolboy

“Write about our tests, dad,” was their immediate answer. On my end I’m thinking, really? What could be so interesting about a test? I hated them frankly. I was what you would call, a poor test taker. In hindsight I think that was a guidance counsellor euphemism for ‘David is a lazy procrastinator who waited too late to cram for his exams’. But, enough about me. I had been thrown an idea by the kids. To expand on it I did what I have learned to do when presented with a thought that at first seems unworthy. I asked a few questions.

“So,” I asked. “What is it about tests that you want me to know about?” I got two wonderful gems in reply.

Continue Reading…

In Personal, Productivity , , , , ,
 permalink

3 Tips For Getting Your Goals Back On Track

May 26, 2013 — Leave a comment

Have you ever felt like you have come completely off your tracks? Projects just not getting done in time, disconnected from your routine, commitments not being met? Of course you have. We all have, and I have too. In fact, I have been off track for the past few weeks (probably months) now. Let me tell you three tips I used to step back and take control again.  Read on.

accident of a wooden toy train

I read a ton of blogs across a wide spectrum of subjects. One could say they are my resistance. I like to think I am learning and fine tuning my research into procrastination. Seriously though, from these blogs I pull ideas that I want to apply in my personal life. I have written about a few of these and, honestly, I’m not doing that great in any. So many thought leaders in the world of blogging say that you have to be honest, real, and open in your writing. Well, this is me ‘fessing up.  It is also me passing on some steps that I am working on to get back to my commitments.  If you are in a rut and off track a bit, hopefully my experience is of some help in getting you realigned.

So, what happened?

Continue Reading…

In Personal, Productivity , , , ,
 permalink

You Can Learn By Stealing

May 15, 2013 — 3 Comments

My last blog post was on the value of a higher education. Now, lets flip the concept of a formal degree on its head.  I want to share with you some learnings from a book that has really inspired me. Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative by Austin Kleon is a wonderful collection of thoughts around the theme of developing your art through, well, the blatant copying of others. Sound like simple plagiarism? It’s not. Read on.

Steal Like an Artist

Reading the book you are struck by the fact that it is not a typical ‘self help’ or ‘productivity’ book. It is a compendium of thoughts and graphics and quotations that serve to illustrate the point that you can develop and create better art of whatever kind (writing, music, dance, visual, theatre) by actively studying and copying the work of the greats who have gone before you, the greats you may wish to eventually join ranks with.

Continue Reading…

In Books , , ,
 permalink

The Value of Higher Education

May 11, 2013 — 2 Comments

My grandparents on my mom’s side were what my kids would now refer to as ‘old school’. Joseph and Cynthia Pereira, or Mama and Papa as all the grandkids called them, were strict, but in a kind way of strictness, if that makes any sense. They were also clear of their expectations for all of us, as they had been for their own children. One area that we all received guidance on was constant reminders to get a good education. Today I am sure of the smile that must be on their faces looking down on the family as their youngest granddaughter, my cousin, just completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Ottawa.  Their legacy has had a lasting impact.  Read on.

Joseph and Cynthia Pereira - 1937 - Wedding Day

Joseph and Cynthia Pereira – 1937 – Wedding Day

It really is a legacy in the true sense of the word.  This is not a legacy born out of being smarter, or being well off, or having a single minded focus on an educational goal. In fact, most if not all of us were the opposite on those points. Across the family in the Cayman Islands, Jamaica and Canada I am sure we are perfectly average in terms of natural gifted smarts.  Some brainiacs, some not so much (that would be me), and many in the middle, probably just like your family. Certainly growing up no one would call any of the family wealthy. And, to the last point, there was not that all-pervasive push for academic excellence that you sometimes read about in books like Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua.

Continue Reading…

In Personal , , , ,
 permalink

Know When to Switch Off

April 29, 2013 — 5 Comments

I try to write about topics related to leadership and productivity. Normally this means that I end up banging out posts before or after work, and on weekends. I call it ‘captured time‘. I enjoy the process, but I never stopped to think that sometimes what I enjoy may be considered and encroachment into the total switch off time of others. This realization came to me while driving with my daughter to go spend some daddy-daughter time by the fountain at Camana Bay. Read on.

Taylor

We had an hour to kill waiting to pick up my son, Ryan, from an activity so Taylor and I decided to go and chill for a bit and watch the kids play in the fountain. As we drove there together my normal Sunday blogging ideas (or lack thereof) started to invade my mind. What was I going to write about? How was I ever going to find the time, what with this non-productive visit to the park and all?

Continue Reading…

In Blogging, Personal , , , , ,
 permalink

3 Simple Rules for Great Companies

April 20, 2013 — 1 Comment

I splurged the other day and bought the April 2013 issue of the Harvard Business Review. At over almost $17 it is not your typical checkout counter purchase. It puts a real dent in your wallet. However, you can also gain immeasurable insights into business and how to do it better. That was the promise I read between the lines in the cover story teaser – “The Three Rules for Success”. Want to know more? Read on.

bigstock-Child-writing-on-a-screen-40193032

The article is a look behind the data of companies that traded on the various US exchanges between 1966 and 2010, a number that amounted to over 25,000 firms. What the authors, Michael E. Raynor and Mumtaz Ahmed, wanted to get at was to understand what truly great long-term successful companies had in common versus the flash in the pan, the flavour of the moment.

Continue Reading…

In Business, Leadership , , , , ,
 permalink

Nature or Nurture? Let Passion And Drive Lead The Way

April 11, 2013 — 9 Comments

Yesterday my wife and I flew back from Canada where we had spent two days visiting boarding schools with our son, Ryan. No, we are not looking to send him to boarding school because he has done something wrong as we were actually asked (jokingly) by the immigration officer. Instead, we believe that this investment in our son’s education will better position him for college admission, give him more sporting and academic options, and pay him huge dividends later in life through the networking and independence that the boarding school life provides.

Life is a journey, not a race.

Life is a journey, not a race.

On our way back to Grand Cayman from Ottawa we changed aircraft in Charlotte, NC. My family had some breakfast in a typical airport restaurant. You really never know what you are going to experience in terms of service, and having been up since 3:30 am we probably just wanted to have no-one speak to us.

Continue Reading…

In Personal , , ,
 permalink

Post Roundup (My 10 Platform Recaps In One Fun Post)

March 29, 2013 — 1 Comment

During the Platform Conference in Franklin, TN, I took a crazy amount of notes. In the two weeks after the conference I posted recaps of all the presentations. Looking back on it, they are a bit hard to find so this, for your convenience, is a roundup of the 10 posts in my epic recap series. As I noted in one of the first recaps, this information in no way replaces the experience of actually being there. Please, if any of this information resonates with you, go ahead and make the commitment to attend the next Platform Conference or find out where any of these presenters are speaking and make it your mission to get there and interact with them. They are all delightful, caring, generous people who succeed because they genuinely want you to succeed.

All presenters have their websites and featured resources linked in their individual recap post. For ease of following them on Twitter I have linked each name below to their twitter feed.  Thus the first link is the twitter feed for the speaker, and the second is to my blog post recapping that speaker.  Enjoy, and please take a moment to comment here on this roundup post or directly in any of the individual posts that may have spoken to you.
Continue Reading…

In Blogging , , , ,
 permalink