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The End of the Break

As we come to the end of the summer break, for most of us, school, university or work starts afresh.  I say, for most because, like with all generalisations, there are always those who break the rule.  An increasing number of friends seem to be moving into “retirement” or “semi-retirement” – breaking the pattern of a life-time by taking more time off.  Two of my children are starting University – a break from the long years of study at school to the less structured, more fun time at Uni.

And the little word “break” got me thinking.  It seems to have so many meanings. It runs to many definitions in the dictionary – both as a verb and as a noun.  It can be:

  • destructive (as in – “break a glass”)
  • illegal (as in “breaking the speed limit”)
  • liberating (as in “break out of old patterns”)
  • exciting (as in “breaking news”)
  • disappointing (as in “break my heart”)
  • the point of profit (as in “break-even”)
  • time to eat (as in “breakfast”)
  • very confusing for someone not fluent in English (as in “break a leg”)

For such a little word, it has so many different subtle meanings and so many different ways to combine itself with other words to mean so many different things!

break-glass-in-fire-sign

Yet, with all of this, I always see the start of September as the opportunity to break from the past and focus on the future.  For some reason, even more so than with Christmas or Easter.  Perhaps we are all subconsciously programmed by the school year – whether as students, former students or parents.  Yet there are those who will always break the mould and find other beginnings and endings in their year and not agree with me.

Great word “break”.

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Lessons from the Past

“The budget should be balanced,

the Treasury should be refilled,

public debt should be reduced,

the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled,

and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt.

People must again learn to work instead of living on public assistance.”

Cicero – 55 BC

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Steve Jobs RIP

I cannot mark today’s Thursday Thoughts without a tribute to Steve Jobs.  He became a legend in his own lifetime and he has surely changed the way that we work,  play and think.  He will be sadly missed having made a unique contribution to those who live beyond his untimely death.

Before he died, he expressed his philosophy on death with simplicity and elegance:

“No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

Steve Jobs, Rest in Peace.

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Jobs, Dots and Coincidences

In the week that Steve Jobs gave up as CEO of Apple, I was reminded by a good friend, Cliff, of part of Jobs’ address to Stamford students in 2005:

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backwards, so you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something: your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever – because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well-worn path, and that will make all the difference.”

The idea that “dots will connect down the road” is such an interesting one. So many things become obvious with the benefit of hindsight. So it was, whilst on holiday in Sicily over the past ten days, that I was thinking about the importance of coincidences when looking back in life.

How many times in your life have you thought “That’s a coincidence!” – and the event or chance meeting has led to something important developing further down the road?

There is also the famous puzzle about how many people you need to gather together in a group for there to be less than a 50% probability that two in the group will share a birthday. The answer is not, as may would think 183 (or a half or 366) – but it is, in fact, a mere 23!  Therefore coincidences are actually more common than we might at first think!

James Redfield in his book “The Celestine Prophecy” develops the main character with him beginning to notice instances of “synchronicity”, or the realisation that coincidences may have deep, sometimes spiritual meanings.

And, as Einstein charmingly said: “Coincidence is God’s way of remaining anonymous.”

To bring me back to Steve Jobs – his creations (or the creations of Apple) have been important at certain transition points in my life – whether they be the first Apple 2 I bought in 1980, or the Macbook Air I ordered today because my MacBook Pro that I got when I set up Objective Designers 3 years ago packed up last week!

Whether you believe these deeper meanings or not, REFLECT ON IT: When have coincidences changed your direction in life – or the decisions you have made?  They have for me. Maybe they have for you?

Please think about these coincidences that have turned your life….and, if you think you have a good story, please put it in the comment box below!

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Hereafter and History Homework

Last night I went to see the Clint Eastwood directed movie – Hereafter.  I thoroughly enjoyed it as I had a near-death experience in the 1980s – and it sang true to many of the things that happened to me at the time – but which I have not really been able to articulate since.

The ironic thing was that I had attended a parents evening the night before and found that my son was struggling with his History and English essay writing. I took my son out to dinner before the film and explained to him that when I sit down to write something of any length, I always do it back-to-front. “Begin with the end in mind”. That sort of thing. I also use this very powerful tool in the work that I do. Some call it envisioning. I call it “Back-to-Front” Thinking. I then thread the important threads through the storyline to create drama, interest and tensions that get resolved at the end (which I have already written). I am no great writer – but I find this technique is so powerful, it has allowed me to express my ideas much better than any technique I was taught at school. I suppose in tech-speak it is like reverse engineering….but on original work and not copied from someone else.

Now when we got out of the film, the two pieces fitted so neatly together! The writer of the Hereafter movie, Peter Morgan, must have written the script back-to-front. How else could he have done it?

Like reading a good book, the film has three threads – a man with psychic powers, a woman writer-journalist who lives a near-death experience and a young boy who….well I don’t want to give too much away! The three threads dance through the film until they resolve each other’s tensions and stories at the end. What good movie or book doesn’t?

So back to Homework. I wondered why I was never taught this technique at school? I think of all the painful experiences where I had to sit down and write – without being told how it important it is to design before doing? I wonder why we don’t talk about the “how” of the structure to produce fine art – and make it much easier for young folk to succeed in what is really quite a simple technique.

Thinking of the UK government and the UK economy, I wonder if it is time for a bit of back-to-front thinking there too?

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Resolutions and Revolutions

It is the time of year that many of us make New Year’s Resolutions.  As the snows have melted and the weather has warmed, tiny spears of spring-green shoots from the bulbs that I planted in the Autumn are now starting to appear in the garden.

It is a time of the year to reflect on some of the natural cycles as we (in the Northern Hemisphere) move from shorter, darker days to longer, brighter days.  We also have the confluence of a New Political Cycle, a New Decade, a New Earth Year as well as many companies having New Financial Years.  The beginning of the current cycle is also probably one the most fundamental shifts that we have seen in a while – exacerbated by the very cold winter spells and financial crisis.  Some would see it as a the start of a revolution with the new coalition government (in the UK) which is set on decentralisation and localisation.

It is strange that the term “revolution” has become to be associated more with revolt than with revolving.  Yet the two ideas of revolution and resolution are inextricably linked.  Yet there is only one letter that is different in each word and that one letter changes everything:

From my own point of view, I have one New Year’s Resolution: I have resolved to reduce my body weight.  Nothing new there, you might say!  After the excessive eating I have done over the holiday period, I now weigh more than I have ever done.  The position is  unsustainable and I have now decided to go on a diet.  But a diet with a difference.  Actually, I prefer to call it conscious living, rather than dieting.

I have downloaded this great application onto my i-Phone called My Fitness Pal (www.myfitnesspal.com) and I am already shedding pounds – just by being conscious about (and recording) everything I eat in the day.

So by becoming conscious of the food we eat (and where it comes from), we can really make a difference – one letter at a time.

In a sense, mankind weighs more on the planet than it has ever done:

  • More people on the planet than history has ever seen
  • More consumption of raw materials (especially oil)
  • More overweight people than we have ever seen
  • More pressures of financial debt than we have seen in several ifetimes

Perhaps it is time for us all to start living more consciously…

Perhaps this is the start of the real revolution….

Anyway, the good thing about the beginning (and end) of any new year is that it makes you think…

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