This post was first published on my business blog, which I’m closing down now that I’ve retired, so I’m archiving some of the better posts to this blog. I’ve been thinking a lot about frameworks for motivation recently, starting with Maslow’s unsatisfactory Hierarchy of Needs; then Dan Pinks, Autonomy, Purpose...
This post was first published on my business blog, which I’m closing down now that I’ve retired, so I’m archiving some of the better posts to this blog. Note: I have an update to this post that’s worth reading When I started managing people one of the first theories that...
Today is one of those days when I can’t motivate myself to do anything challenging, it’s a rare experience for me, typically less than once a month. I’m never sure what brings it on but my guess it’s a combination of factors. Those factors today include a cracked tooth, the...
This post isn’t for me, I’ve already committed to retirement, it’s an answer to the regular stream of friends and colleagues who ask me this question, it’s my attempt at a well thought through answer, rather than a quick email reply. To get started it might be worth taking a...
I’ve always loved eating animal products, although when I found out about the inhumane conditions in which some of them were raised I immediately switched to free range eggs and more recently organic diary. For meat though for many years the best I could afford was the RSPCA’s Freedom Food,...
In a recent blog post where I started to talk about my beliefs I mentioned that living a ‘good life’ is about balancing ‘living well’ and ‘living right’, this post explores what I mean by ‘living well’. It’s not prescriptive, there are many different approaches to living well that work...
After another night of badly disrupted sleep I’m starting to feel very worn down, I feel like I’m living in a kind of grey reality where everything is more complicated and difficult than it should be. It’s hard to find things to enjoy, to concentrate, to find the energy. I’ve...
Despite all the planning I did retirement has taken me somewhat by surprise, I’d planned to do a lot more, to learn new skills, travel more widely, decorate the house from top to bottom, but it’s not been like that. Instead the activities that I was already doing have just...
Every day I’m confronted by a dozen little annoyances, lights being left on, fighting my way through the under stairs cupboard to read the meters, clothes left on the floor, washing up not done during the day, and on and on. I used to let it get to me but...
A few times a year my body seems to get itself out of balance and I feel as though I’m in a continuous state of near collapse, with cold sweats, wobbly legs, blurred vision and lights before my eyes. It’s bad enough whenever it happens, but it’s quite scary when...