Dani's Blog

People to watch / read / listen

My husband and I love to discover new thought leaders. We adore finding game changers and disruptors. 

What we also enjoy is how many of these amazingly people connect and support the thinking of the others. It's no coincidence, we like to move within communities of like minded people. We all do, although not everyone chooses radical thinkers.

So I wanted to share who a few of these people are. Take a look and decide for yourself if you are part of the same community.

Tim Ferrris podcast 

Seth Godin's blog

Dr Mark Goulston's book Just Listen

Hugh MacLeod's daily cartoons Gaping Void

Brene Brown's TED Talk on Vulnerability 

Rory Sutherland's TED Talk on Changing Perceptions

Chip Kidd's TED Talk on First Impressions 

Ash Beckham's TED Talk We're all Hiding Something 

These are just a few - hope you enjoy 

 

 

Ripples of kindness

I've been carrying out a random act of kindness each day this year. As the year has gone progressed I've been amazed at the lessons that I've been privileged to learn. I've discovered things about me, about others and actually about kindness. 

One of the nicest things you find as you carry out acts of kindness is that the person you focus on is just one of the beneficiaries. 

The first example of this I experienced was in giving a lottery ticket to a young girl working in our local coffee shop. She's always pretty upbeat and engaging but when given something for seemingly no reason her face lit up. The ticket handed to her was accompanied by an explanation and that I'd chosen her because she's always so lovely during our visits and I just wanted her to have something.

She told me that she couldn't think of ever being given anything before unless it was for a reason; a birthday for example. We sat down with our drinks.

I discreetly watched as she continued to serve other customers and engage with her colleagues behind the desk. She looked different. She had appeared to grow in height and her face beamed. Each customer that followed was served by someone more talkative, tentative and happy. The ripples of kindness were clearly evident.

We don't always get to see the result of our kindness - or indeed of our meanness or judgement. 

 

Relate and Task

When we connect with others we do so in two ways; one being emotional and the other being practical. In other words, we initially connect to 'relate' or for 'task'.

Relate would be family and friends.

Task would be when you start a new job or at the point of joining a sports team. 

The strongest connections we form are when we have 'relate and task'. Just 'task' and you have something transactional or functional. Just 'relate' and you don't have a sense of purpose. Build both and you've got something strong and resilient.

Being human, our connections can evolve and also reduce. In other words relationships never stand still and always require work whether it's a romantic relationship or a client. 

Dreams of tomorrow

 

Our experiences of yesterday create the dreams of tomorrow and the opportunities of today