Great article from comedian Steve Martin on becoming really awesome in your chosen field. Deliberate practice, relentless innovation and a growth mindset – its all here.

Lynda’s new book, The Shift. from Hot Spots Movement on Vimeo.

Those of you know who know me or know of me will have seen my oneliner which I believe sums up the driving force behind much of the work that I have done in my life so far.

“Helping people become architects of their own future”.

I have just finished reading Lynda Gratton’s new book, The Shift: The Future of Work is Already Here. It is a brilliantly researched and argued case for what we can all gain from the rapidly changing notion of work whilst also pointing out the scary bits. It is one of those books where I have gone mad with my yellow highlighter but I particularly liked this statement:

“Our world is changing at an extraordinary pace, and what will go are are many of the beliefs about what work is and how it is performed. In its place are greater opportunities and more choice. It is the opening of the aperture of choice that creates the space which will enable you to write a personal career script that can bring you fulfilment and meaning”.

Portfolio workers constantly write and rewrite our career scripts whilst demanding also that we really are the architects of our own future. Read this book.

I am spending  more time with people in ” the digital space” as the groovy cats like to call it. Working with individuals and brands who want to understand and interact with their customers and potential customers. Regardless of the type of media; broadcast, digital, print or outdoor, I believe it all comes down to how you w/rap your message.

I loved the Happiness Rap so much I bought it for my phone to remind me of the important things in life. I may also buy the book and check out Sonja if she speaks in London. Cleverly w/rapping the product – in this case a book and speaker services.

Radisson Hotels in London wanted diners to really understand about the care and passion in their food. They print QR codes on the menus which link to short videos of their chefs preparing the dish you are interested in – an innovative way to help you make that all important decision and a reinforcement of the “we are here to help you” message.

Big companies like Microsoft are also wrapping by encouraging “story tellers”. Steve Clayton is a/THE ( imho) Microsoft story teller. He gets paid to explain to us (in English) what technology is just around the corner and how its going to improve our lives.

Got me thinking about my “theory of the bongs”. Yes that strange drawing above does mean something. In a previous life I was a TV News Journalist. I worked for the BBC and also ITN who produced News at Ten – a flagship news programme that used a Big Ben “BONG” just before each headline. A Bong is a 3 – 5 sec headline written so you need to know more. “Bomb explodes in tube station” for example leaves you wanting more info. This is represented by the top thick line. The lead in is the 3 sentences or 15 secs the news presenter reads to get you to watch the report – for example; ” A bomb exploded at XYZ station today. Emergency services were at the scene within minutes.  25 people have been taken to hospital and there are reports one person may have died. Joe Bloggs reports”. this is represented by the 3 thick lines. If this is written well, it will entice us to watch the 90 sec report, represented by the 5 lines. And finally ( as they say in all good news programmes), if the viewer is really interested in the detail, they will watch Panorama ( a 30 min, one topic in-depth news programme) represented by the mass of long lines at the bottom.

SO what? you say. Well, in my experience, most businesses (and quite a few individuals) are great at Panorama but not so great at the BONGS. With limited attention spans – the customer/audience wants to know very quickly whether its worth spending any more time listening to your message. They are not going to do the Panorama to Bong translation – that’s YOUR job. That’s why this model only works top down and not bottom up.

So there you have it. In one of the longest posts I have done in a while – I have attempted to explain my theory of brevity….

Happy New Year. So, have you or haven’t you?…… Made new years resolutions that is. This year I have made a big decision to not make any. Just 3 words. Well actually only 2 at the mo…FOCUS and ACTION. What are yours ?

Also have been experimenting with a new iPhone app called Gratitude! It invites you to think of a few things each day that you are grateful for, allows you to add a picture or photo, thought for the day and rate the day out of a possible five stars.It doesn’t take long and helps to focus on what is going well with your life. I love the photo of the day feature and the fact that you can look back over a week or so and appreciate people and experiences more.

There you are …short and sweet

I recently went to an Inspired Entrepreneur evening organised by the best selling author Nick Williams. Screw Work – Let’s Play author John Williams was speaking about how we can choose to see work as play if we follow what we are good at and enjoy. I caught up with him afterwards and asked him about portfolio careers.

This is the stirring statement from Chris Brogan after his recent  visit there. Do have a look at his posting on this. He is making an incredibly important point about places like Doncaster around the world which have previously relied on ‘traditional’ industries that have dominated since the Industrial Revolution. He presents evidence and one case study in particular that demonstrates that young people in particular are reinventing the future in these towns.

“I love places like Doncaster and Pittsburgh and the rest because they are full of bright people reinventing the world. I spent a week with the brilliant Rob Wilmot and the future-minded Cameron Rawson, and several other incredible people reinventing the world. While others gripe and moan about what’s missing, what’s gone, what has been denied, the people of Doncaster are inventing new futures.”

That’s what matters.

Chris Brogan says we should all share a little more. Personally, I believe sharing information and experience helps us to feel a bit more connected, respected, valued and keeps us on our toes. Its a way of reaching out to others you might never meet face to face but can still give and receive something of value. Its so simple, why wouldn’t you?……

Ahh how to find the Holy Grail…..Mike Pegg as ever offers some great thoughts and practical solutions.

This is the title of a great posting from Marianne Cantwell and if you do not look at her blog you should. Marianne wrote a short piece for us for our book and she has given us permission to reproduce an edited version of this posting. I especially just love her comment that, ‘I’ve thrown away my career so many times I should be fined for littering’. So over to Marianne:

“You consider changing career, and people warn you against taking the ‘risk’.

“Jumping around looks bad on your CV”.

“It’s a REALLY hard industry to break into… besides, you have a great career already”.

I’ve heard all those things and more. In fact, I’ve thrown away my career so many times I should be fined for littering:

THROW 1: When graduating from high school I decided to not capitalise on the marks that would get me into medicine or law. I was told I was throwing my future away by pursuing a pointless ‘fun’ degree: “you’ll regret this forever, you can never go back”.

A few years down the line, I loved my field of study so much I worked incredibly hard, and had offers of a promising academic career. Suddenly my ‘detractors’ were 100% behind me and my ‘respectable’ path.

THROW 2: However, then I went travelling around Europe (it’s an Aussie thing). When I got to London, I loved it and decided to stay for a while longer and break into media.

Oh dear. What about the academic career? The same people said I was ruining my life (again).

But then I established a ‘hot’ (but soul destroying) career in television for a Very Big Company. My ‘play it safe’ crowd were my fans now. They LOVED that I had a safe and clear career path.

THROW 3: Do you think that lasted? Nope! I decided to ditch media altogether… and my safety-first crowd went into meltdown….

Did I become homeless? No! I re-branded myself, and landed a role as a director in a new and exciting City consultancy. Ooh, suddenly the detractor-crew were on board again.

THROW 4: When I quit that to become a career coach, my ‘play-it-safers’ collapsed at the pain of it all. Why would you throw away the money, the kudos, the job title, the progression… oh god, everything… to pursue a crazy dream about ‘helping people be happy’ and working from your laptop on a beach? Insane!

But you know what? By that time, I stopped caring about those people’s opinions. Which was the right move, because, well, you know what happened next.

As soon as I became successful, the ‘conventional’ crew were behind me again.

When I am interviewed about careers in the Times, or appear on television talking about career change, or when I am asked to discuss writing a book/planning a TV show in this field, suddenly the very people who said “that’s crazy, it’s just too hard” are right behind me

It’s like they forgot their premonitions of doom and failure.  What if I had listened to these detractors?

Well, I’d be a very bad doctor (scary for us all), a frustrated academic, or one of those incredibly beaten down unhealthy-looking people who spend their lives in an airless office, wondering how a job in a cool-sounding company can be so DULL in reality.  I’d be bitter and envious of people who got to gallivant around having coffee with fabulous thinkers and authors all day. I’d be living for the weekends while my life ebbed away.  That is a MASSIVE price to pay for listening to someone else’s fears.

Are you currently paying heed to people who say your dream of career change is not possible? Do you believe the myth that you might be ‘throwing it all away’?  It’s time to stop that – take it from a non-doctor: listening to (secretly scared) risk-averse detractors is not only pointless, it’s bad for your health.”

Great advice. You can read more of Marianne’s writing at Free Range Humans http://www.free-range-humans.com/