Thought: The position of F*** You

Obviously swearing so those with sensitive ears should turn away now, but an FU fund is highly recommended for just the reasons Goodman's character succinctly describes.  It doesn't have to be quite as high as he mentions either. Even a few months worth of expenses gives you more options than most.

Mini-review: In Time

Stylish retro-modern thriller set in a world where time is literally money - and the amount of time people is in direct proportion to their lifespan. As with Niccol's previous films,  it's a thoughtfully constructed and plausible world he's created - especially in light of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and other block chain technologies. In this case, however, the ideas feel slightly underserved by their filmic vehicle - especially when compared with GATTACA.

Timberlake gives an able performance as a time poor(!) man from the ghetto who happens upon a huge amount of time. Seyfried doesn't have very much to do, but is capable enough.

Thought: Pattern recognition in researching a new topic

I was appraising one of my colleague yesterday, and they said something interesting on the approach they'd taken to tackle a new topic.

They and another colleague had gone out to talk to peers in search of patterns in how they'd approached the topic, but hadn't found any and figured out they'd have to experiment.

In some ways, this should be standard operating procedure - but it was the phrase they used of "searching for patterns" which I liked as it very much taps into Kurzweil's view of the mind - we are all advanced pattern recognisers - as outlined in his book, How to Create a Mind: The secret of human thought revealed.

The mind as pattern recogniser is a controversial theory with possibly little evidence so far. But I recall finding his explanation of the grief response to the loss of a loved one, both reassuring and moving.

Thought: Practice under adverse conditions and building confidence

In his recent podcast, Tim Ferriss outlines his approach to building both confidence and practising for  exams and events like his Ted talk.

On confidence, his approach is very much like Susan Jeffers - you will never be confident, you can only gain confidence through taking action on the thing you fear e.g. if you want to be confident in public speaking, you need to practice public speaking.

He also had some surprising things to say about exam preparation. Practice under adverse conditions. His reasoning goes like this. If the outcome is important to you, then there's a good chance you'd have the jitters, won't sleep well the night before etc.  So practice with this in mind and try to simulate those conditions which you are likely to encounter.

Asking for help as a tool for surfacing FAQs

Recently, I was asked to help put together a poster exhibition around a new way of visualising our organisational strategy and business plan - and make sure it was available in our regional/national offices as well as our London one within a couple of days.

I started asking around for help in each regional/national office - and got the usual enthusiastic "Yes, I would love to help with this" responses...

Yeah, right.  In my dreams.

What I mostly got was "No, but (sotto voce) possibly persuadable", "Ask this person instead", "I'm on holiday for six weeks..." and "Erm...what's this about anyway?"

Cereal box sketch of idea. Note FAQs 

hastily added in.

It was a bit disheartening until I remembered a recent Masters of Scale podcast dealing with pitching (Grit Happens). It reckoned each "No, but..."  response was an opportunity to learn more about your product's market fit. One woman related her 140+ plus rejections with notable pride.

Then I had a minor epiphany. I realised  my colleagues were actually helping me create a list of FAQs that the wider organisation was bound to ask including:

1. What is this?
2. What do I have to do?
3. What about other offices?
4. What about home workers?
5. Can this be done in home, project or other teams?
6. What is the deadline?
7. Xxx is important, but not shown on it?
8. What happens afterwards?
9. What if I'm away or don't have time?

All of this was helpful in designing the final exhibition too.

Final version

Mini-review: Feel the Fear & Do It Anyway

As the title suggests, this is a book which is perhaps out of sync with today's climate of safe spaces, avoidance of triggers etc.  Jeffers is a pulls no punches kind of authorial voice - and in doing so attempts to put you back in control of your life.

She expertly dissects fear and leaves it naked, whimpering and bleeding on the autopsy table to reveal that what we are all afraid of... Not being able to handle a situation.

Her five key truths offer some sign posts in dealing with it:

• Everyone feels fear when doing something new. 
• It'll never go away as long as you keep trying to grow.
• The only way to get rid of a fear of doing something - is to do it. 
• The only way to feel better - is to do it. 
• Pushing through a fear is better than the alternative - i.e. being helpless. 

as she encourages readers not to chose victimhood, but to embrace yes in decision making and see the positives (learning) in even bad situations as well as focus on giving in the fullest meaning of the word.  All in all, a mixture of useful refresher and radically thought provoking in places.  If you are ready for some tough love, this is recommended.

Thought: What would you say to a friend?

I'm currently doing the Headspace meditation pack on kindness and Day 6's theme is "What would you say to a friend who raised the same negative thoughts as your own mind raises?"

The chances are, you'd be a lot kinder to your friend than you are to yourself. Why is that?