Tag: work

Being Apart – A Part of Being

Today (Easter Monday) I’m flying off to Riga to continue my work with the Latvian Government on smart use of social media and how to build an effective online presence for their tenure of the EU Presidency in 2015. I’m excited. Riga is the 2014 European Capital of Culture and when I’m not working, I look forward to exploring the city.

I love my work. I love where it takes me, and how it challenges me too. And I miss being away from home – a lot. I’m not complaining, just acknowledging that for me, home is where the heart is. So when we are all here, at home together, we try and make the most of it.

Euan Semple wrote something about proper days off on Facebook last week and he’s kindly agreed I can share it with you here.

Proper days off

When she heard that I was flying home on a Saturday a friend of my wife’s response was “Oh do they make you work on a Saturday”. My head went numb as I struggled with who “they” might be, the idea of “making” me do something, and trying to remember what Saturday used to mean as compared to the rest of the week.

The freelance life challenges many of our assumptions about work. It is unpredictable, has fuzzy edges, and there is no “them” telling you what to do. It calls on a steely nerve, for the times when work isn’t coming in, and considerable self discipline to maintain a balance between work and non-work. Especially working from home the lines can get very blurred. Add to this the fact that I love what I do and there is a real risk of working all the time.

I am aware that my photos on Facebook can give the impression that I am always having fun but that’s because the bad bits are less photogenic! I climb hills and take the chance when I am here to do things with my family to really turn off my work head. To make sure that I have proper days off.

The past few days have been spent as family time. We’ve shopped together, done some painting and decorating together (without too much arguing – honestly!), played together, eaten together, and laughed together. You can’t really call it a weekend because all this fun started last Wednesday, and for now, Easter Sunday is where it stops.

Proper days off. They don’t have to be a Saturday, a Sunday or even a Bank Holiday Monday. They just need to be invested in when the chance comes along. See you soon.

Principles of Work

There are two reasons for today’s post.

Reason #1

New Toy

I’ve been playing with something called Haiku Deck. It’s like PowerPoint, only simpler, primarily because it helps you get back to the idea of using a presentation more like a storyboard, or a backdrop, rather than a set of bullet point speaker notes (yawn!). I can’t be the only one who despairs when someone giving a talk uses their slides as an autocue? One of the things I love about Haiku Deck is you can enter keywords about your slides, and Haiku Deck will search a huge library of free and paid for images, to act as visual sparks for those keywords. I’m keen to share cool stuff I come cross, so why not head on over to Haiku Deck, register for an account and have a play.

Reason #2

Principles of Work

I’ve been asking people what it feels like to work with us. And I say us, because I frequently work with partners, and a lot of what I and we do is informed by many people. I wasn’t looking for company values as such, that feels too grown up, and too solid. Instead – what I’ve been looking for is a few principles, feelings perhaps, that help describe what you might expect when working with us, based on the experience of others. It’s developmental and adaptable, so what do you think is missing? What might you change? And if this idea is helpful to you, why not steal it and give it a go yourself?


Art for Work’s Sake – Milton Keynes

After the success of Art for Work’s Sake in Euston a few weeks ago, we’re running another one in the new year. This time it will be taking place in Milton Keynes. Full details and how to buy tickets are shown below. There are a maximum of 16 places available, six have already been taken. It would be great if you can join us, and please tell your friends and colleagues.

Art For Work’s Sake

You are invited to Art for Work’s Sake, a workshop designed to help people explore art and artistry as a way of making work more effective.

During the workshop you will have the opportunity to try out a variety of drawing, sketching, painting and other art forms. These techniques will be combined into a series of methods designed to help you think more clearly and creatively about your day to day work.

A guest at our recent London workshop left saying, ‘It seems I can draw, despite 20+ years thinking I couldn’t! It only took 60 seconds to realise I can’. Despite this, the purpose of this workshop is not to turn you into an artist, it is designed simply to give you the time and space to explore a few new techniques to help you think differently at work.

Art for Work's Sake example sketch

All materials will be provided and you will get to keep all your work plus pencils, charcoal, a set of water colour paints and some high quality heavy duty cartridge paper.

You have the option to purchase a discounted set of Stop Doing Dumb Things Cards when you buy your ticket. These cards have been designed to help unlock creativity and make work better and are in use in the UK, Canada, USA and Australia. The set of 48 cards normally sell for £36 per pack inclusive of VAT and shipping. When you purchase them as part of this workshop the cost is only £23. Make sure you select the Stop Doing Dumb Things Special ticket and you’ll get your set of cards at the workshop.

Stop Doing Dumb Things Cards

I am facilitating this workshop and donating my time for free on this occasion, and the venue has kindly been provided by Boots The Chemists, thanks to Helen Amery. We will break for lunch – the cost of this is not included in the ticket price.

Tickets are available here, and I hope you will join us for a few hours of useful and enjoyable creative work.