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The Blink of the Eye of Life

The blink of the eye of life shutters faster than you think.

That idea you have. Use it or lose it.

If you’ve thought it, someone else has.

Nothing is original, steal with pride and be the best thief you can be.

I’m buzzing. I’m laughing. I’m connecting. I’m launching.

I’m loving. I’m walking. I’m listening. I’m selling.

How about you?

The blink of the eye of life shutters faster than you think.

Reflect all you want, you’re a long time dead.

photo credit

This is my 500th post here at Stop Doing Dumb Things. Thank you so much for being a part of the journey.

Unconferencing in 2013

It’s no secret I like helping to run and attend unconferences. Now that 2013 is well underway,  I want to share some plans with you:

Stop Doing Dumb Things

Stop Doing Dumb Things is back again, with a different twist. This time the unconference is taking place as part of the Professional Planning Forum’s annual conference in Warwick on April 29th and 30th. You can get full details of the event here and though I’m not playing a part in the event this time around, I’m sure Peter Massey and Jonathan Wilson will co-host something useful and fun. I’m keen to learn how this merger experiment works out – I hope Peter and Jonathan will share their thoughts after the event.

ConnectingHR

ConnectingHR will be running another unconference this year and I’m pleased to be a part of the planning committee. I’m an old hand, having helped out at several of the ConnectingHR unconferences and it’s great that we have some newer members stepping into the planning space. We need to keep things fresh so I’ve decided to make this the last ConnectingHR unconference I help to plan, in future I’ll take part as a delegate. The date for this event will be announced very soon.

LnDConnect

The 2013 LnDConnect unconference has just been and gone, so if you missed it – where were you?! I enjoyed the simple pleasure of taking part, some of my thoughts on the event are here if you’d like to know more. If L&D is your bag, then I suggest you follow LnDConnect on Twitter to catch what happens next time.

Jamming

I was privileged to be a part of the inaugural Facilitation Jam in January 2013. For me this was an invigorating and powerful session of shared learning. This is how we positioned the event:

The event will be quite free flowing with no one person responsible for leading the day. Instead we invite you to take turns to prepare and run a session during the event and receive immediate feedback on your ideas from your colleagues. You may be looking to improve on some existing methods you use – you may want to try something completely new. However you choose to play, it’s up to you.

For sure there were some unconference principles mixed in to the Jam and yet it was very different too. Smaller than your average unconference (we had eight people in the first session), and deliberately so, we wanted to ensure everyone in the group had time to contribute and get useful feedback. I think there’s room for more of this type of learning event and I anticipate investing more effort into further jam sessions throughout the coming year and maybe beyond.

So – that’s a quick heads up on where I am unconference wise. How about you? If you’ve got unconference stuff coming up or unconference experiences you’d like to share, please do.

Neat Neat Neat

It’s Sunday. I’m in the kitchen writing while Keira sits a practice exam. The room is quiet, the clock is ticking. Keira is focused on her work and though she is concentrating, she is constantly on the move. Some might call this fidgeting, some might call it Non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT).

I’m conscious that I sit down a lot while I’m working. One reason I love to make and take phone calls is that I find it impossible to sit still when I’m on the phone. The phone rings, I answer it and wander about, a lot. Pavlov’s phone.

NEAT strikes me as being a helpful way to stay physically active in a sedentary job. Scientists such as Dr Levine who coined the term Non-exercise activity thermogenesis are doing interesting work in bringing this important part of wellbeing to a wider audience. I love the idea, and you can read more about it in this New York Times article.

I’m giving a short talk on Workplace Wellbeing for Morgan Lovell at their Economics of Workplace Wellbeing event this Tuesday. The event is sold out but I’ll blog about what I learn on the day soon. In the mean time, I couldn’t write about NEAT without Neat Neat Neat now, could I?