Blog Archive: February 2010

I came across a really interesting book called "One Life 6 Words.  What's yours?" edited by SMITH magazine.

The essence of the book is about creating a six-word story or memoir about your life and is full of quotations from a wide range of people.  Apparently the idea originates from a challenge given to Ernest Hemingway to write a story in six words.

The Editors talk about the book as being a "glorious mishmash ....... a thousand little windows into humanity"

Some of my favourites from the book are:

Danced in Fields of Infinite possibilites

Now I blog and drink wine

Followed rules, not dreams. Never again.

I believe in life before death.

Happiness is a warm salami sandwich

So it gave me the idea that we should add our own six word stories on here related to reaching beyond.  So please feel free to add yours and check back to the 6 Word listing Cateogry to read other peoples' stories.

The idea is also engaging people on the linkedin.com site. and people are leaving some fascinating phrases.

This birthday card was sent to me which I thought I would share - certainly brought a smile to my face.

I recently came across a great chinese proverb which said:

"When the winds of change blow, some people build walls for defences, and some people build windmills"

I thought it was very appropriate at a time when so many businesses - and individuals for that matter - are dealing with so much turbulence and difficulty, especially if they have had to reduce manpower because of costs.It can be so easy to batten down the hatches and build walls to cope with poor trading and lost opportunities and even build psychological walls in your dealings with staff, customers and suppliers in order to survive.

However, the quote reminded me of the principle in martial arts where you use the energy of your opponent or situation to defeat them, rather than waste your own force and energy to combat them.  Businesses that I deal with seem to be more successful weathering the economic storm when they work with the situation they are in, and look at new ways of doing business and using the "new energy" that is around - an energy of creativity, focussing on the resources you have and not bothering about what you don't have.  While these times can prove challenging in so many different ways, if we look at what we can do, it is often surprising to find that we can actually do more with less, and feel a real sense of achievement.

I am also reminded of a great african proverb which I came across years ago which says: 

"Calm seas do not make skillful sailors"

So how will you get the most from your teams at work?  Some of the people will have been with you through the difficult times and need re-motivating perhaps; you may have hired some new people in readiness for the new business opportunities.  Whoever is in your team now, it may prove beneficial for everyone to spend some time together to learn about each other - experience, ideas, talents - and talk about how to work best together.