Category: personal

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Stay curious

I get asked a lot how I got to become Co-CEO. On the things I can control, I say it’s because I stay curious.

At 16 during my first job at Burger King I wanted to find out how a BK makes money and the manager showed me. Years later that understanding is something I often replay.

I am curious about other people’s life’s, jobs and interests. Often to discover I am not personally interested about what their interested in and vice versa. Being curious doesn’t mean you have to love the topic. Learn just enough to file it away for a future moment.

Most recently I was curious about how train tracks work, remembering how fibre optics work, key moments in art history, Nick from British museum Wikipedia entry and child poverty.

Wikipedia is a great place to start. Followed by YouTube, podcasts, interviews, books and good old fashioned getting in touch.

im curious about what I’ll be curious about next.

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Farewell delicious

I can’t understate how important delicious to my early years on the web. Also during university I had an idea around the same time for such a service so I sometimes dream what if.

https://daringfireball.net/linked/2024/11/26/delicious-library-eol

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Used to be a….

I used to be a:

Student.

Unemployed.

Artist.

Freelancer.

The IT guy.

The manager.

The fixer.

All previous working lives that built today’s current T-shaped skills. Whenever I’m asked how did I choose my path I say I try something and do more of it or less of it depending if I like it. I don’t know what’s next but it’s definitely more of what I like. Oh and being good at something helps me like it. So I practice. If it’s a skill it can be learned.

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Reading list 2024

Every year I document the books I read. You can see a decade or so via the archives starting with the most recent 2023.

  1. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William L. shirer. Finished 14 January 2024 on kindle.
  2. The Art of the Turnaround by Michael M. Kaiser. Finished 30 March 2024 hardback isbn 9781584657354
  3. Museums and Societal Collapse – The Museum as Lifeboat by Robert R. Janes finished 5th April 2024 in Amsterdam. ISBN 9781032382241. Took lots of notes, agreed with a bunch of stuff, doing some of the recommendations but more to do. Def worth sharing.
  4. Her Allies: A Practical Toolkit to Help Men Lead Through Advocacy by Hira Ali finished 23rd May 2024 on kindle.
  5. When She’s in the Room: How Empowering Women Empowers the World by Edwina Dunn OBE finished 2nd June 2024 on kindle.
  6. Get your inbox down to zero by Graham Allcott finished 3rd June 2024 on kindle
  7. All the beauty in the world by Patrick Bringley finished 19th June 2024 Paperback ISBN 9781529924596.
  8. Do the work by Steven Pressfield re-read kindle finished 16 July 2024
  9. Low cost / no cost tips for sustainability in cultural heritage by Lorraine Finch finished 26th August 2024 on kindle
  10. The four hour body by Tim Ferriss finished 8th September 2024
  11. Compassionate Accountability: How Leaders Build Connection and Get Results by Nate Regier finished 14th September 2024 [Audiobook]
  12. The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters finished 28th October 2024 kindle eISBN: 9781594745775
  13. Artists: inspiring stories of their lives and works by Susie Hodge and illustrated by Jessamy Hawke hardback finished 1st November 2024. ISBN 9780241534168 from the local library
  14. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick M. Lencioni finished 20 December Audiobook
  15. Platformland – an anatomy of next-generation public services by Richard Pope finished 30 December 2024. Paperback ISBN 9781916749115
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Reading list 2023

Every year I like to make a record of books I’ve read. I managed 14 in 2022 and have at least that many already sitting ready for this year.

  1. A Brief History of Black British Art by Rianna Jade Parker fnished 1st January 2023. Paperback ISBN 9781849767569
  2. Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler finished 18th January 2023 on Kindle.
  3. Jerry Saltz Art is Life hardback finished 20 February
  4. Trinity: The Treachery and Pursuit of the Most Dangerous Spy in History by Frank Close finished 13th March paperback ISBN 9780141986449.
  5. Atlas of Prejudice: The Complete Stereotype Map Collection by Yanko Tsvetkov finished 13th March paperback ISBN 97884617956666
  6. Thinking in Bets by Annie Duke on Kindle
  7. Stolen focus Johann Hari on Kindle finished 23rd May 2023
  8. The Minimalist Entrepreneur by Sahil Lavingia on kidle finished 31 July 2023. A short but inspiring read by the founder of Gumroad. No meetings, part time and transparency ties in nicely with my thinking. I’ve been talking asynchronous for years so good to see a real example.
  9. Surviving to Drive – a year inside Formula 1 by Guenther Steiner finished 24th September 2023. Hardbook ISBN 978 1787636279

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Reading time

I like to read. Reading let’s me drift off to alternative worldviews. I sometimes get asked how I find the time. One page at a time i guess. Yet for ages i found all sorts of excuses not to read. I’m too busy to read raising kids, working, being a husband blah blah. Instead of spending less time with family I worked around the problem. I played around with different reading times until I landed on reading when I wake up. In the gap between my wife waking and being disturbed by the kids. Some days it’s 5mins or 30mins.

I also purposely read in front of the kids when given the chance to show them reading can be for passing the time.

I can call my reading a positive habit that I’ve fostered.

This week I had the pleasure of taking the kids to the library to choose their own books. An activity that reminds me of my own childhood. I wonder if they’ll remember in 30 years time too.

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and then?

Yesterday I visited thinktank museum with my kid.

She chose to spend a day with me. Just the two of us days are very rare so I leapt at the chance. I already want more just the two of us days so I need this to go well.

On the trip to the museum she was asking lots of questions such as:

“Daddy you leave a gap between cars, Why?” I reply “I have been trained to practice keeping a two second gap”. She looks out the windscreen and says “and then?”. So I then reply “well if I keep a gap of two seconds the idea is that if the cars ahead have a problem I then have time to react and slow down”. She quickly works out that by avoiding crashing everyone stays safe through a series of “and then?” questioning. I teach her how I count two seconds by using large objects at the side of the road. She proceeds to count two second gaps for some time and kindly tells me when I’m slightly out.

I think to myself that feeding her curiosity is a great way to bond and for her to learn at the same time. I decide to follow her lead at the museum, ready to answer every question, mostly being saved by the object and story boards on display.

A museum is full of objects and stories. We do a trail about engines. She constantly asks me about each object on the trail and I tell her a story, leaving pauses for her to ask “and then?”

90 minutes flies past and we stay until the museum announcement says they are shortly about to close and then she says “Daddy can we come back again?”.

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Listening to audio quicker

I’ve been listening to podcasts forever. Yet it took me ages to realise that all podcast players have an option to listen at different speeds. I listen to most of my podcasts at x1.2 speed and only notice the difference when the podcast episode plays music. Same great content just a little quicker equals more time for more great podcasts.

Give it a try.

I have recently tried a few audio books and x1.5 speed seems about right as they seem to read soooo slowly.

Oh and Seth Godin has pointed to a handy video extension that does the same for video.