Next week it will be quieter and then I will take it easy.
I think I have been saying this since the year started. I am sure that we all have. How is it that we manage to fill our lives with so much activity? How can there be so much to do? And why do we have to do all of it?
I clearly remember those days as a child when I was thoroughly bored. Nothing grabbed my fancy as I listlessly walked circles around the house. And yet I would gladly trade some of my business for some of that time now!
I am my own worst enemy when it comes to time. The moment I have nothing to do, I fill that void with all sorts of things. As soon as I see the back of one project, another one twice as exciting rears its enticing head. And then I am sucked back into my endless cycle of rushing to get it all done. Moments to spare are not appreciated until I don’t have any of them. I really cannot remember having very many this entire year. I have this notion that a number of spare moments are waiting for me just around the next week, but I am almost prepared to admit that I have been wrong. There are none in store for me at all...
I am a little frightened at the thought!
Don’t worry, next week I am going to...
Showing posts with label business. Show all posts
Showing posts with label business. Show all posts
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Thoughts about Thoughts
I have not made any deep and meaningful posts of late. They all seem to have been about the goings on of my life. I was hoping to make this post a deep one, until I realised that I had no real deep stuff to blog about.
This is a little worrying as I consider myself a bit of a thinker. Have I not been thinking lately? Has my depth of thought been blurred by the constant need to meet deadlines, invoice clients, and meet all of my obligations? Let alone catch some sleep between the endless waking of my baby daughter?
The little reading that I have managed to snatch has been rather uninspiring. My morning prayer and mediation sessions have gone out of the window in my frantic bid to get some sleep. Life seems to have filled up to overflowing with meetings and more meetings. I suppose it is little wonder that clever thoughts have failed to trespass my synapses.
Man, I hate living life on this superficial level!
There is no doubt in my mind that although I am super busy, I am hugely ineffective as clear thought has migrated with the change of seasons. Yet I know that It is in times of business one most needs to make time for a little bit of silence. Without silence there is no time for reflection and thinking; and certainly no time for personal growth.
Now all I have to do is say NO more often, and remove the clutter from my life, in order to create more time. Some people are going to be a little disappointed, but then again, others are going to be much happier!
This is a little worrying as I consider myself a bit of a thinker. Have I not been thinking lately? Has my depth of thought been blurred by the constant need to meet deadlines, invoice clients, and meet all of my obligations? Let alone catch some sleep between the endless waking of my baby daughter?
The little reading that I have managed to snatch has been rather uninspiring. My morning prayer and mediation sessions have gone out of the window in my frantic bid to get some sleep. Life seems to have filled up to overflowing with meetings and more meetings. I suppose it is little wonder that clever thoughts have failed to trespass my synapses.
Man, I hate living life on this superficial level!
There is no doubt in my mind that although I am super busy, I am hugely ineffective as clear thought has migrated with the change of seasons. Yet I know that It is in times of business one most needs to make time for a little bit of silence. Without silence there is no time for reflection and thinking; and certainly no time for personal growth.
Now all I have to do is say NO more often, and remove the clutter from my life, in order to create more time. Some people are going to be a little disappointed, but then again, others are going to be much happier!
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Thinking Forward
Most of us will in our lifetimes sit back and think, who would have thought?
Africa as a travel destination has never really interested me much. For some or other reason, I am more a snow bunny, give me -27 degrees Celsius and heaps of snow and I am happy! A useless passion when one lives in sunny South Africa! Yet just this year, I have visited about 10 odd African countries, some more than once. But all of them remote and hardly likely to be on anyone’s must do list.
These visits have been filled with interesting experiences. Saturday afternoon brought another of those, a run with a group of people called a Hash! I was most surprised to find more than 50 people from all the corners of the earth, pitching up at a brewery in Southern Sudan to go for a run. This Hash is one of many throughout the world with a complete set of traditions that predate World War II. The leaders had gone to immense effort to map out a course that ensured the faster runners ran fast and always ended up back with the group, through double backs, dead ends, and group viewing points. It was rather a marvellous way to make a lot of new friends, sing silly songs, and do my favourite, drink some great beer!
I have no idea what I am doing out here in Africa. Our business is growing in leaps and bounds, and that is highly rewarding, and useful! I have yet to find my groove though. I am sure I am on the way somewhere and that in time, it will become clear. I know that I have the most wonderful family that support me wholeheartedly. I am also deeply loved and have much love to give, but how...
I have no doubt that the invaluable experience gained over the last 18 months is preparing me for something very interesting. I seem to have matured in that the destination is no longer all consuming, instead I am finding contentment on the path. Still far to go on the maturity score though! And one day when I look back on a hot afternoon of contemplation in a remote and obscure part of Africa, it will just be part of the natural progression to where I have ended up!
Africa as a travel destination has never really interested me much. For some or other reason, I am more a snow bunny, give me -27 degrees Celsius and heaps of snow and I am happy! A useless passion when one lives in sunny South Africa! Yet just this year, I have visited about 10 odd African countries, some more than once. But all of them remote and hardly likely to be on anyone’s must do list.
These visits have been filled with interesting experiences. Saturday afternoon brought another of those, a run with a group of people called a Hash! I was most surprised to find more than 50 people from all the corners of the earth, pitching up at a brewery in Southern Sudan to go for a run. This Hash is one of many throughout the world with a complete set of traditions that predate World War II. The leaders had gone to immense effort to map out a course that ensured the faster runners ran fast and always ended up back with the group, through double backs, dead ends, and group viewing points. It was rather a marvellous way to make a lot of new friends, sing silly songs, and do my favourite, drink some great beer!
I have no idea what I am doing out here in Africa. Our business is growing in leaps and bounds, and that is highly rewarding, and useful! I have yet to find my groove though. I am sure I am on the way somewhere and that in time, it will become clear. I know that I have the most wonderful family that support me wholeheartedly. I am also deeply loved and have much love to give, but how...
I have no doubt that the invaluable experience gained over the last 18 months is preparing me for something very interesting. I seem to have matured in that the destination is no longer all consuming, instead I am finding contentment on the path. Still far to go on the maturity score though! And one day when I look back on a hot afternoon of contemplation in a remote and obscure part of Africa, it will just be part of the natural progression to where I have ended up!
Friday, April 24, 2009
Time
Time is definitely not linear.
My sprained ankle is taking forever to heal, yet only 2 days have done by. I dream of getting back on my skateboard and conquering my ramp fears, I am desperate to strap on my shoes and go for a run, and of course I want to spend hours surfing. Actually, surf I will, sprained ankle or not! Unfortunately there is a heap of time between me and getting physical. If I follow my own advice, I really need to make the most of all of that time. Instead of skating and running, perhaps it is time for some battleships and board games with my children. Perhaps I should cook dinner more often and perhaps I should just enjoy this time of moving very slowly.
Getting our new business up and running is also taking its sweet time. We were very lucky to have 8 months of projects dumped in our laps. Now it is time for the hard yards. Ferreting out business in a time when business is hard to come by. The silver lining is that there are plenty of learnings for us as management consultants in building up our own business. Trust me, there is work out there, the challenge is to get a piece of that work. And we shall! In time....
One of the things that we are trying, is tendering for work. The interesting thing about the tender process is that one can pick and choose the type of work that you would like to try and get. My partner and I have made a conscious decision to try and get work that is meaningful, i.e. something that adds real value to people. As such, some of our tenders have been linked to poverty alleviation, SADC organisation, and traffic management. If we are privileged enough to be awarded a tender, we hope to add more value than expected because of our belief in the outcome and not just the compensation. Time will tell....
The half pipe is a lesson in how time is compressed. From dropping in at the top, to losing control of my skateboard, to landing skew on my foot with all my momentum joining the forces of gravity, to crashing into the bottom of the ramp, to breaking my fall with my wrist, to rolling over and standing up, to knowing with certainty that weeks of time stretched ahead to replay this incident in my head, to the first intense firing of synapses in my ankle, was absolutely instantaneous! Yet I know that once I master the drop in, I will have time to reposition my feet on my board, think about the state of the economy, yawn, check the time, and phone my stockbroker, before passing the point of that crash. Anyone that has gone through a traumatic event will also testify to this fact, time slows down.
My ankle will heal, I will master the ramp, my business will grow, this I know! To wish away this time while all of that happens would be such a waste. Instead I am going to enjoy making it all happen in its own time!
My sprained ankle is taking forever to heal, yet only 2 days have done by. I dream of getting back on my skateboard and conquering my ramp fears, I am desperate to strap on my shoes and go for a run, and of course I want to spend hours surfing. Actually, surf I will, sprained ankle or not! Unfortunately there is a heap of time between me and getting physical. If I follow my own advice, I really need to make the most of all of that time. Instead of skating and running, perhaps it is time for some battleships and board games with my children. Perhaps I should cook dinner more often and perhaps I should just enjoy this time of moving very slowly.
Getting our new business up and running is also taking its sweet time. We were very lucky to have 8 months of projects dumped in our laps. Now it is time for the hard yards. Ferreting out business in a time when business is hard to come by. The silver lining is that there are plenty of learnings for us as management consultants in building up our own business. Trust me, there is work out there, the challenge is to get a piece of that work. And we shall! In time....
One of the things that we are trying, is tendering for work. The interesting thing about the tender process is that one can pick and choose the type of work that you would like to try and get. My partner and I have made a conscious decision to try and get work that is meaningful, i.e. something that adds real value to people. As such, some of our tenders have been linked to poverty alleviation, SADC organisation, and traffic management. If we are privileged enough to be awarded a tender, we hope to add more value than expected because of our belief in the outcome and not just the compensation. Time will tell....
The half pipe is a lesson in how time is compressed. From dropping in at the top, to losing control of my skateboard, to landing skew on my foot with all my momentum joining the forces of gravity, to crashing into the bottom of the ramp, to breaking my fall with my wrist, to rolling over and standing up, to knowing with certainty that weeks of time stretched ahead to replay this incident in my head, to the first intense firing of synapses in my ankle, was absolutely instantaneous! Yet I know that once I master the drop in, I will have time to reposition my feet on my board, think about the state of the economy, yawn, check the time, and phone my stockbroker, before passing the point of that crash. Anyone that has gone through a traumatic event will also testify to this fact, time slows down.
My ankle will heal, I will master the ramp, my business will grow, this I know! To wish away this time while all of that happens would be such a waste. Instead I am going to enjoy making it all happen in its own time!
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Day Dreaming
Wow, but this has been a good week! I have gotten through a stack of admin and poured plenty of thought into my new business as well as spent time with my wife and the kids. I like weeks like this.
For any good week, there should be a commensurate reward. And so this morning at 08h30, I am off to see the dentist! Partly for an annual check up and mainly to solve the issues caused by one of my teeth. A tooth for that matter that is porcelain (or whatever substance that they use), stuck on a post, and fixed firmly to my jaw. In other words this painful manifestation in my mouth is not even a living component. Something does not add up, either that or I am just not doctor material.
While I wait in anticipation for my appointment, I am enjoying my relaxed state and day dreaming about my next business trip. Normally my trips do not require much of this dreamy state but then again there has been precious little that I have known about the countries that I have visited. This country is slightly different. There are one or two things that I do know.
Its capital city has arguably the worst traffic in the world. I can’t wait to experience that! It is also a country which has a reputation for gangsterism, corruption (more than most), kidnapping, and seriously fantastic runners. It has oil and guns in abundance, armed escorts, car hire company that supply cars with drivers (never without), and expats that live in heavily guarded compounds. It is part of Africa that I have always considered deepest darkest, although in reality, it is probably on the fringes.
I have never ever wanted to visit this place and yet now I find myself strangely fascinated by it. In just a couple of weeks, armed with just my camera, I will be breathing the questionably fresh air of Nigeria!
It has to be better than pulling teeth?
For any good week, there should be a commensurate reward. And so this morning at 08h30, I am off to see the dentist! Partly for an annual check up and mainly to solve the issues caused by one of my teeth. A tooth for that matter that is porcelain (or whatever substance that they use), stuck on a post, and fixed firmly to my jaw. In other words this painful manifestation in my mouth is not even a living component. Something does not add up, either that or I am just not doctor material.
While I wait in anticipation for my appointment, I am enjoying my relaxed state and day dreaming about my next business trip. Normally my trips do not require much of this dreamy state but then again there has been precious little that I have known about the countries that I have visited. This country is slightly different. There are one or two things that I do know.
Its capital city has arguably the worst traffic in the world. I can’t wait to experience that! It is also a country which has a reputation for gangsterism, corruption (more than most), kidnapping, and seriously fantastic runners. It has oil and guns in abundance, armed escorts, car hire company that supply cars with drivers (never without), and expats that live in heavily guarded compounds. It is part of Africa that I have always considered deepest darkest, although in reality, it is probably on the fringes.
I have never ever wanted to visit this place and yet now I find myself strangely fascinated by it. In just a couple of weeks, armed with just my camera, I will be breathing the questionably fresh air of Nigeria!
It has to be better than pulling teeth?
Thursday, November 20, 2008
New Business
Today is another exciting day. It has taken forever to get here, but here we are!
My new partner and I sit today to discuss our new business. The thing about our business is that we have a very different mindset. We intend to do what we can to create a business that has real values. Some of them go without saying like ethics (driven from deep Christian values), honesty, integrity, and fairness.
Others will be things that many companies out there talk about but never nail down. One of my previous employers used to talk about people all the time and yet this was just talk. Our challenge is to make sure that staff feel really valued and that their work adds a significant dimension to their lives. Integrating family life and time is something that we both feel strongly about. Another challenge is to incorporate our social aims and desires into the workplace, i.e. giving back to our communities and putting charity into action.
Real business has scant regard for this stuff. They are all optional extras! I believe there must be a way to build a sustainable business that really cares for its people and those less fortunate whilst turning a profit. That my dear friends is of course the key. If you want massive profits, there is no way that one can afford to focus on real values.
There is an old adage, ‘if you are not in business for profit or pleasure, get out!’ Our choice is to make our profit through adding incredible value to the lives of all of those that will be associated with this organisation. Perhaps it is time that profit was more than just cold hard cash.
Time will tell if we can make it work...
My new partner and I sit today to discuss our new business. The thing about our business is that we have a very different mindset. We intend to do what we can to create a business that has real values. Some of them go without saying like ethics (driven from deep Christian values), honesty, integrity, and fairness.
Others will be things that many companies out there talk about but never nail down. One of my previous employers used to talk about people all the time and yet this was just talk. Our challenge is to make sure that staff feel really valued and that their work adds a significant dimension to their lives. Integrating family life and time is something that we both feel strongly about. Another challenge is to incorporate our social aims and desires into the workplace, i.e. giving back to our communities and putting charity into action.
Real business has scant regard for this stuff. They are all optional extras! I believe there must be a way to build a sustainable business that really cares for its people and those less fortunate whilst turning a profit. That my dear friends is of course the key. If you want massive profits, there is no way that one can afford to focus on real values.
There is an old adage, ‘if you are not in business for profit or pleasure, get out!’ Our choice is to make our profit through adding incredible value to the lives of all of those that will be associated with this organisation. Perhaps it is time that profit was more than just cold hard cash.
Time will tell if we can make it work...
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