Category: Motivation
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More Beautiful For Having Been Broken
I was recently reading about Kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing pottery. Other than being aesthetically pleasing and delicately minimal, what caught my eye was the underlying motivation behind it being that gold or silver lacquer is used in the repair process on the understanding that… the piece is more beautiful for having been broken.…
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Can What’s Missing Be Your Strength?
I have been a fan of Q (English music magazine) for many years and in the latest issue, I was reading an interview with a band called Royal Blood. Now I’m not really a rock fan but every now and again a band comes through that I really like and Royal Blood are currently and…
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Doing Nothing Is Actively Doing Something
Today’s my birthday. ‘Happy birthday’ you say. Well thank you. That’s very kind of you. But what am I doing on this ‘special’ day you may ask? Well, I have taken the day off work and my only plan is to meet Mrs Away From The Noise for lunch later. Other than that, I’m doing…
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How To Be Who You Are
Being who you really are can be challenging. Maybe your opinion differs to the ‘group’ or you don’t feel confident enough to say what you think even though you’re sure you’re right. Perhaps you’ve spent years being somebody else and you’re not sure who you really are anymore. Whatever it may be for you, rest…
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What Won’t Happen If You Don’t Do It?
Fancy a challenge that will give you some clarity in your personal or professional life? The question in the title of this post may initially sound odd with its double negative, however it is in fact part of a set of questions called the Cartesian questions. I’ve noticed that my coaching clients often find these…
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How To Be Happy Being Slow
I love listening to podcasts and while looking for some new ones, I recently noticed a facility on my podcast app where you can ‘speed listen’. I presume that the objective of this is that the faster you listen, the more you consume, the more productive/better/faster you will be in your own life and this…
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I Don’t Care What You Do. I Want To Know Who You Are
It’s the question we always hear whenever we are at an event or social gathering. Once we have broken the ice and found out the other person’s name, what is the default first question of the ‘conversation’? Our first question to a complete stranger is to find out what they do during the day to…
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And What If You Had The Time?
What would you really do with it? Nobody seems to have any time these days. But people have always been busy. There have always been families, jobs and social lives to consider. We have more ever-improving technology than ever to make our lives easier so we can ‘save time’ to enjoy our lives more. But…
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What Do You Really Stand For?
If you’re setting up your own business, working for somebody else, writing a book, creating your own art or whatever it may be, what do you want to say that makes you different to everybody else? How will people notice you over the white noise of the world? Maybe you’re writing a novel for love,…
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Perfection is a Myth and the Enemy of Productivity
Nothing’s perfect. Nobody’s perfect. Nowhere is perfect. Perfection is a myth. Imperfection is the reality of our lives. Whatever ideas the media may try to sell us with seemingly perfect families and bodies among other things, there is no such thing as perfection. We give ourselves such a hard time trying to be ‘perfect’ that…
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How Sitting Still Can Make You Stronger And More Productive
I’m a big fan of using to-do lists to help me get things done and may even be a little dependent on them. However, I recently saw this quote on one of my favourite websites which made me think about them differently: “Life isn’t a big to-do list.” Leo Babauta (Zen Habits) Of course, it’s…
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Big Egos Have Little Ears
My favourite coffee in Spain is a cortado, which is kind of like an espresso with a dash of milk. I’ve been living here for 5 years now and I’ve probably had at least two cortados every day since then, so I’ve had more than three thousand of them in that time, which also means…
I Am Away From The Noise 