Monthly Archives: August 2014

This past weekend was the first time I have been on Daddy Duty for an extended period. With Number One away with our baby for a few days it was just me and Alba.

Did it go well?

The short answer is yes. We survived.

It didn’t start too well from my point of view, I was late to pick her up from Kindy, stuck in traffic, but she was stoked to have me pick her up and we had a good afternoon / evening.

Once all the tradies had left our house sweeping up the mess was fun. Not so much fun for me. I like the rubbish to go into the bin, not around it or somewhere near it. Great helping though Alba!

What impressed me was just how much moxie she has in the face of a Daddy Challenge. Like, let’s go chop firewood. Yay! Or let’s go to work and take the last parts off the car. Yay! Let’s move the old fridge without scratching up the floor. Yay!

An iPad, a toy and carbonated water proved a winner at work.

Armed with her earmuffs she was amazingly helpful with the firewood. Pulling bits from under the house for me to chop up. Pushing the long bits along for me so I could cut them. She even got her first splinter and bravely let me pull it out with tweezers.

We danced and went for a walk in our gumboots. Laughed a lot and battled over bedtime.

So what does this mean for you this morning? You’ve read this far and probably thought, that’s nice. Well done.

I was not sure it would go well but faced with no choice I had to crack into it. No choice was the difference. No choice is what you should give yourself from time to time. Faced with a challenge, don’t give yourself a way out and you will just do it.

Choices can paralyse. Narrow them down as soon as possible in any situation and you will make faster, better decisions. It will take a bit of practice but armed with a goal that stretches you it will become a great habit. Start today!

Over the weekend I watched a TED talk by a Porsche guy I’ve been following for some time now, Magnus Walker.

Magnus’ talk was about going with your gut and following your passion. “Porsche Passion” for him recently.

One thing that stood out from his talk was when he said that when things get a bit awkward, that’s a sign to follow your gut, take a leap of faith.

I believe that things that push you to grow are generally uncomfortable, awkward and do require a “leap of faith”. It’s generally not that big a leap once you’ve made it though.

Sometimes you might look back and wonder when you made the decision that lead you to where you are. Because sometimes it’s as easy as saying sure, why not. And others it’s standing on a cliff ready to jump.

The difference is though that jumping off a cliff is a defining moment. Saying, sure why not is just you being lead by others because it’s easy.

Passion, drive and enthusiasm are the lifeblood of any venture. To get those feelings though you generally have to have an idea of success for that venture. What does that venture mean, to you?

Defining what success means to you is something you’ve probably only paid lip service to. But doing so stops drifting and keeps you focused. The first thing that pops into your mind when you ask yourself that question is not the answer. It takes a little more thought than that.

Magnus and his wife realised their definition was:

“Success is the freedom to do whatever you want to do.”
– Magnus Walker

Define what success means to you and life will change. You will find your passion, stop drifting and focus. Take the time. It’s worth it. You’re worth it.

Have a great week.

There are always things. Small things, things that really got under your skin, that you can’t let go.

Problem is, these things are parasites. They burrow. They get deeper. They latch onto a vein somewhere and live out of sight for the most part. Until they’re not.

They’re here. Right now in front of you like a spectre from a horror movie. Damn right they’re scary. That’s not what they looked like when you buried them. And they certainly weren’t that BIG.

I have to work hard to let things go. It’s not something that comes natural. “Just let it go,” people say. If only it were that easy, right?

People get hurt when you can’t let things go. Sometimes the person who utters those four words find themselves incurring the wrath you’re feeling. That’s not cool.

Here’s a few tips for letting things go. They will require you to think about them a lot for a few days so they pop into your head when you need them most.

1. Reframe the situation – look for the positive. As trite as that might sound it works. There is always a positive to take away from any situation.

Stop. Before you stop reading and hit reply with your story. Think about this. It’s your story. It’s how you see yourself in the world. Unless it’s inspiring you and others to move forward and grow, it’s not a good story. Find the good. If you can’t, ask someone close to you to do so. There is always something good you can latch onto you might be seeing yourself.

2. Hit delete. If a situation upsets you when you think about it say, “delete, delete, delete” in your head and move onto something else. I do this and I think it works. This takes a lot of repetition for certain events and time is the healer then.

3. Smile at the idiot. Smiling stops you from forming anything but a happy thought. If the idiot is you, smile in the mirror. If the idiot is someone else, still smile. It might halt your escalation of a situation.

So just a few tips I trust you will find helpful. If not, I’ll be trying to kickstart your thinking next Monday. I wonder what I’ll write then.