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I get tired of consultants, speakers, coaches and randoms telling me, “You got to have goals. You got to work harder. You got to have more!”
I feel exhausted just listening to that.
There is another approach. Watch the video and see what you think.
Let me know your focus for 2020!
The beard has to go!
I had special dispensation from my gorgeous wife to grow a beard over the festive break. It is a symbolic element that shows me I am on a break. (Truth be told, it is also a symbolic element that shows me I am getting old. Loooads of silver hair in there!)
The promise I made to myself is that when I get back into it, the beard goes.
Today is the day.
I am a big believer in symbolic acts. They serve as anchor points that remind me of decisions I have made, positions I have taken, values I have upheld or times I want to celebrate. They reinforce the positive message I am giving myself and act as a reminder or “lock nut” to help ensure I stay the course.
One of these symbolic acts is to choose a theme for the year. A higher ideal or purpose to look up to. For 2020, my theme is “More Love”.
Sometimes it will be tough love, sometimes it may be generosity, sometimes it will be holding back. I see too much negativity in the world and with many of the problems we are facing in Australia, it is easy to sit back, complain and be negative about the future.
My challenge and focus for the year is to approach 2020 with More Love.
So I would LOVE it if you would accept this 2020 gift from me. It is a simple two page work sheet I use to learn from the past, plan for the future and create some action items. You can click here to get your copy.
I am interested, what actions will you take today to start your momentum for 2020?
Here’s to a magical festive season. Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, Bhodi, Geeta Jayanti, Chrisnukkah or some other festive day, just know that I am wishing you the best.
2019 was an interesting year. So many good things happened. So many bizarre things happened. I achieved some of my goals, missed others and accomplished some things that were not even on my radar!!
So what does 2020 hold for you? What is it made of?
I created this poster for you. I wanted to share with you some of the things that will go into my 2020 and some of the things that could go into yours. Note that it is based on loads of love.
It feels to me like we need more love in the world. Love in the form of tolerance, respect, caring, generosity, hugs, hand holding, conversations, books, music, big picture thinking.
Governments and corporations don’t seem to care or love their people or customers anymore.
So my theme for 2020 is MORE LOVE. I invite you to join me in my quest to make the world a better place by loving more: when I can, where I can and how I can.
Here is to an amazing 2020 for you!
With Love
Warwick xxx
It’s been a hell of a week.
A good friend has lost one of his best friends (who simply didn’t wake up), and then one of his daughters friends committed suicide. Someone close to me went into hospital for a few days and still needs more tests. Another freind got retrenched after working at a job and company he loves for 10 years due to a “restructure.” It seems like half of Australia is on fire and as a consequence, Koalas are in more danger of dying out. We are heading into Summer and most of Australia needs rain.
Don’t even get me started on politics. No matter where you are in the world, it seems like either the wrong people are in power or that their focus is not on the people or issues that need it.
In my conversations with people, there is a lot of talk about Hope. Hope is something powerful. It is something that keeps you sane because you can look towards better days, better circumstance, a better life.
But Hope is not enough. Success need Action.
Now I don’t mean financial success or material success (even though this is still true). What I mean is, however you define success. In terms of the country you want, the environment you want, the future you want, or more importantly, the NOW that you want.
What can you do? Is it:
Whatever your concerns, whatever you HOPE, what can you do?
Thoughts and Prayers are nice but they are more to make you feel good than they are to solve a problem.
What tangible action can you take that will bring your hope to life?
I love a well thought out piece of marketing in the right market. This Techbox is particularly awesome.
Last week I was hosting COBA2019 trades how floor at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre and right outside the main doors was this Tech Box. If you look closer you will see Hi Vis Vests, Gaffer Tape, Power Boards (that have been tested and tagged), phone chargers, USB Adapters, thumb drives, extension cords… all the things you need at an expo but can often forget. All at a reasonable price (for the convenience).
They know their market well, they know their price points well, and they are offering a fantastic service with low operating costs. There were also a few people at this Expo happily purchasing things from it!
How well do you know your target market and how well do you position your products and services?
Many years ago I heard one of the best things you could do in any situation is “Keep It Simple Stupid.” Known collectively at the KISS principle.
It got upgraded for me when I embraced the idea that people are not stupid and calling them such does not help. But people are sexy. Hence the change.
So let me follow the KISS principle for today.
Be pleasant to one another. Show gratitude for what you have and have experienced. Be of service to others. Listen to what people are saying and listen harder to what they are not. Take a little more than your fair share of the blame and a little less than your fair share of the credit.
If we can all do this, the world will be a better place.
A couple of weeks ago, I was walking past the Melbourne Convention and Entertainment Centre (or Jeff’s Shed as it’s known) and there was a melee in progress.
Horses, protesters, police and conference delegates were all in the fray. You can see some news coverage about it from SBS by clicking this link.
From my perspective, it did seem that both parties were too enthusiastic and unfortunate delegates got caught up in the cross fire. Some were pushed to the ground and others spat on by the protesters.
I am not deny the rights of the protesters to be there and I am not denying the right of the police to keep the peace. But what does need to be considered is the impact on the event.
While the event organisers considered their event a success (they were quoted by SBS as saying it was “business as usual for our 7,000 delegates”) it definitely attracted some unwelcome attention for them.
Let’s extrapolate that to your event.
You are after the Goldilocks level of security. Not too little, not too much but juuuust the right amount. As you can see in the video above, the level of police presence is intimidating. But it did seem to match the intimidation of the protestors.
If you are running an event that may need security, how do you measure the Goldilocks Amount?
These are some stunning Mr Lincoln roses from our garden.
They look stunning. They smell magnificent. We have three bushes out the window (two Mr Lincolns and one Camp David – they are very Presidential!) and when the window is open the breeze wafts the joyful aroma through.
In a couple of weeks these flowers will be dead.
During their short life they have brought emotion and meaning to others. We have loved and appreciated them. Maybe someone walked past and saw them and smiled because of the one they love. Maybe they walked past and missed someone who used to be in their life who loved roses. Often our impact can be deep and unknown to us.
Sometimes the blooms last for a long time and sometimes they go well before their time due to hungry possums, disease or a mistake while pruning.
Our lives are like that of these roses.
Sometimes we bring joy just by being there but to others we may bring discomfort, through no ill will of our own. Sometimes our lives are shorter than we want and others times our inner strength sustains us.
It is important to enjoy life while you have it. Enjoy the interactions that come your way. Learn to recognise the short term inconveniences for what they are – short term. Adjust to live with the long term inconveniences.
Like a rose, sometimes you have manure spread around you (physical or symbolic) but understand it will make you stronger and while it may stink, you will end up smelling like roses.
Andrea Edwards, The Digital Conversationalist, interviewed me recently regarding MCs at conferences.
Based in Thailand, she speaks regularly around Asia Pacific (and further) at many conferences and events. One of the things that annoys her is how the event is not held together well when internal or amateur MCs are used.
So, we had a chat. We talked all things MC, events and conference.
If you are an event professional or run conferences, events or simply an internal meeting, it is worth the 10 minutes to discover how a professional MC makes a difference.
This is our dog, Winston the Wonder Poodle.
He will often show his happiness, excitement and delight by running around in a crazy manner, often referred to as Zoomies. We call them Circle Work. It is a way he expresses himself with no concern of what others think.
Whether he runs circles through the lounge, kitchen and entry way or does massive circles around the paddock when we are up at the shed, or this simple circle work up and down the couch, he is not ashamed to show how he feels.
We can get so hooked up on the negativity or the expectations and “shoulds” of the world that we sometimes forget to express how we feel. Then, if we do get the urge to show how we feel, we worry about “what will other people think.”
Be like Winston.
Show the world how you are feeling through your words, actions and behaviours. There are so many fabulous things happening in our world that we can forget to enjoy them or show people how they make us feel. It’s time for that to change.
How do you express yourself?
Mark Twain said that the difference between the nearly right word and the right word is the difference between lightning and lightning-bug.
As you see from the image text, the framing of your words (even though they may be correct) also makes a huge difference.
All you need to do is visit the social media channel of your choice and you will see words being misused, misunderstood and mistaken.
Words can raise a person up to the greatest heights and can bring them crashing down just as easily.
There is power in words. Use your power wisely. I implore you to use this power for good and not evil.
This image came across my social media feed last month. It was on my friends Troy’s page. I tracked it down to 2001 but its source is unknown. If you know, please tell me so I can credit it.
Many have dismissed this as a “meaningless, ridiculous statement.” Others think it is too negative and dismisses the reality of life.
I really like it.
I find it incredibly freeing.
I’m not sure about you but I do a stack of head miles worrying about things that never come to pass, obsessing about what I “should” be doing, regretting actions I never took, constructing endless conversations that I never had, wondering if I am “enough”, berating myself for being “too lazy”… the miles are endless.
This observation allows me to get a very real perspective in it’s accuracy. Some misunderstand it as a nihilist observation, but to me it is not. It shows me that the head miles are wrong.
This observation shows me that while my ghost travels in this meat covered skeleton made of stardust on this rock floating through space (around an active nuclear fusion explosion), so much is possible and enjoyable. It is a reminder that my life is so improbable to start with, don’t let little things that don’t exist stop me.
If you do some head miles, maybe this will help you too?
I saw this meme on the internet recently and shared it with the fans of our singing group. But the message is not simply for musicians and artists.
This message is for you too!
Too often people discount our skills because they think it is something we just know how to do, not something we have continually worked at for years.
Sometimes the people doubting ourselves are other people and sometimes it is ourselves! Often we don’t give ourselves credit for the hard work we do.
Our skills come in all shapes and sizes too! It could be:
It is time to acknowledge that YOUR skills, as well as the skills of others, come not only from a genetic gift but from a lot of practice, training and attention to detail.
Well done!!
You are good at this not because of some fluke, miracle or gift, you are good because you work at it. You apply yourself and you build on your natural skill.
Let it be known that YOU, Dear Reader, are AMAZING!
PS Someone who is an amazing musician, music teacher and features as the sound track to ALL of our dinner parties is my dear friend Shelly. She is about to release an album on Bandcamp. I highly recommend you head over there, listen to her music and if it floats your boat, order her new album.
At several recent conferences, we were able to get the event #Hashtag trending. Oh and it is DEFINITELY a WE and not ME. It is nigh impossible to do this on your own.
But several #Eventprofs and conference organisers have reached out to me to ask what we did to make that happen. For some smaller events, again it is a real challenge (I won’t say impossible but you can see if from there!) Even for large events, there are no guarantees!
But there are some key things you can do to lift the interest in your events. This increases the interest for people AT the events and those who are simply watching online.
Some people ask me, why would you even bother. “The conference is sold out – just enjoy it!” But here’s the thing, you, your company, your delegates, your sponsors and your partners have spent a lot of time, effort and money to make this event a huge success. Being able to share it, and increase traction on it makes that success last and even influences next years success.
It also builds a sense of achievement and re-enforces the sense of “made the right decision to be here” among your delegates. And to be honest, it does not take a great deal of extra effort to make it work for you.
So Wed 25th Sept at 8:30am Melbourne time, I will be running a quick power session on how to make your event trend. In 30 mins, learn the tips, tricks and techniques your event needs to become known. Even if you can’t join us, register and I will send you the recording.
For the first time ever, I have successfully had tulips bloom in the back garden. They look stunning and add a burst of colour and a load of joy. Anyone who visits, I whisk them out the back and say, “Look at my tulips!”
Like many people, my inner voice often tells me what I can’t do. For many years I have thought about having a better garden. It all seemed too hard. To be frank, I didn’t want to have to spend a lot of time gardening, I really didn’t know what would grow where, and the back garden bed looked a bit shabby.
I ultimately realised that I was spending more effort and energy NOT making a nice garden happen than it would to spend a little time making it look good. Slowly over the last couple of years, I have been creating some raised garden beds, planting trees and shrubs and this year, inspired by all the daffodils we saw in the UK during our trip, it was time to plant some bulbs. A quick chat to a few gardening friends, chat to the nursery owner and a little bit of Googling, and I was away.
I have to say, planting bulbs turned out to be the easiest bit of gardening ever and one of the most rewarding also. Click on the video above to see them.
What about you?
What have you been spending more effort avoiding than it would actually take to do?
Why not take a few simple steps forward with it and see where you end up?
