Woody Wonders

I've always been proud of the fact that I'm adaptable, resilient and "fit" for change but recent reflections have made me question that fact.  Yes, I've always embraced change and adapted to it but I've realised that I don't always actively seek it out.  So how can I expect to be resilient if I don't build up my resilience in the first place by doing things that scare me?!   I have a love / hate relationship with change; once I'm in the middle of it, I love it, it's exciting but in the build up to change, I hate it, because deep down I'm scared of it and what it might entail. Lately, I've been reading more and more about "AQ", in other words "Adaptability Quotient".  Many of us know that the demise of Blockbuster came about because they didn't adapt quickly enough to launch a rival streaming service to Netflix.  Likewise with the Lotus 123 spreadsheet program, they sat back when Microsoft's Excel came along. ...

I've always had a love / hate relationship with change.  I love change when I'm the one in control and making it happen.  In fact, there's nothing I enjoy more than mixing up my routines, learning something new, going to new places and challenging myself.  I hate change when it's not me who's doing the changing and I feel out of control. When it comes to change, I've always associated  'anticipation' with excitement about a positive change and 'anxiety' with changes that I'm feeling not so good about.  To throw something else into the mix, I've discovered there's such a thing as 'anticipatory anxiety' which is defined as '... when a person experiences worry and fear when thinking about an event that may or may not occur in the future' . I thought it was quite apt as many companies, including my own, have started communicating to their employees about returning to work and what the future will look like.  16 months on...

After the year we’ve just had, the last thing I’m going to do is the hard sell on new year, new you.   Over the next few weeks you’ll be blasted from all sides on how to lose weight, how to find a new job, how to stop smoking, how to survive dry January, how to change your life, how to get fit and a whole host of other things to supposedly find the new you.   You know by now that I don’t believe in setting new year resolutions in that kind of way, so I’m not going to add to your pain.   However, having said that, I do believe it’s always good to have something to focus on and despite everything I do feel like the start of a new year is a good time for a ‘refresh’ .   But hey, let’s take things super slow shall we and not overload ourselves more than necessary this year.   Personally, I’m looking no further ahead than the first month of the year and I’ll be easing myself in gently and with kindness, and focusing very much on those things in my control and that ma...

End of year check-in Today's blog is going to be a short reflection on 2020 before I close my laptop on another year. Despite all the odds stacked against me and humanity in general, I've had an incredible year.  Yes, it's been different, bizarre, unnerving and downright hard graft at times but I absolutely refuse to write this year off which is what most people seem intent on doing.   Am I looking through rose-tinted glasses and ignoring the bad stuff?  No, I don't think I am because I firmly believe that it's the sh*t times that make us stronger.  Did I write off the year I lost both my sister and sister-in-law?  Within the space of three weeks I might add.  No I didn't, because ultimately it made me a much stronger and more resilient person.  It's quite easy to drift through life but when something significant happens it's a real wake up call. So, what has this year taught me? I can still have strong relationships despite not being able to see ...

"The problem is not the problem;  the problem is your attitude towards the problem' I absolutely love this quote which I heard recently.  It was a timely reminder of how we use any excuse other than ourselves when things don't quite go to plan.  It's also very relevant at this moment in time as we seem to be caught up in a blame culture - we blame the government, governments in other countries, the economy, economies in other countries, our own companies, even our own colleagues, family and friends.  In fact, anyone or anything in our firing line, rather than taking control and being accountable for ourselves. When we feel we are not in control of a situation, we tend to lash out at others.  It's perfectly normal; it's a self-protection mechanism within us all.  When we don't feel in control, it's often because we're scared and feel vulnerable.  So what can we do to change our attitude and take control of something we don't feel in control of? I...

Have you reached your 'FI Point' yet? It's been a funny old week, I feel very much in limbo land at the moment.  We're due to move house in two days so there's been lots of to-ing and fro-ing recently and I don't feel like I belong anywhere at the minute. Change, as we know, is stressful.  It often involves a step into the unknown.  Sometimes it's forced upon us due to things out of our control and at other times, we instigate it ourselves.  Any kind of change is stressful, even positive change.  We made the decision to buy the house, we know the area and, best of all, it's still close to my running trails, I literally have to walk round the corner to the footpath.  It's all positive so why are we stressed about it. Well, for a start, there was lockdown to contend with.  We'd arranged for several major things to be carried out on the house before we moved in - digging up the garden, fitting a new kitchen and having an orangery built.  These shoul...

Adapting to new ways of working  and staying healthy As we continue to change and adapt our lives at this difficult time, many of you may already be working from home or will be doing so at some point in the coming weeks.  As someone who may have said to their colleagues in the past, "working from home? yeah right", you're in for a big shock if you thought it meant sitting in your PJ's all day whilst having Netflix on.  You have to contend with distractions, communication issues and it can be very isolating.   Below are a few tips and things to think about to help you transition into home working whilst staying productive and healthy. Have a morning routine.   Routines help to provide the stability we need during difficult times.  First of all, many of you will no longer have a long commute to work so make the most of this time.  Don't stay in bed, get up and do some exercise, even better if you can get outside for some fresh air a...

Don't let an urban myth stop you learning 'It's harder to learn new things as you get older,  your memory isn't as good'    Utter nonsense!  This is one of those urban myths that we've heard so many times that we now actually believe it.   You can learn at any age.  It's nothing to do with our memory and not being able to learn things as fast.  What it comes down to is ... having the time .  Remember as a child when you'd do things over and over and over again to learn something new.  That snazzy little dance routine that you and your friends put together, the one where you practised almost every hour of every day for the whole summer holiday.  You didn't have to go to work, or do the bills, or look after the family, or do the shopping etc.  You had all the time in the world to learn something new. We simply don't have the luxury of time as an adult, there's always something else that needs doing.  S...

Our lives are constantly evolving so we have to re-focus when our circumstances change Around 10 years ago I was at the peak of my fitness, I was never a great runner but I was a decent runner and even won a few prizes in local races.  A few years ago I noticed that my times weren't as good despite feeling like I was still putting in the effort.  I used numerous excuses at first such  as 'well, I've had a busy week / not trained as much / not eaten as well etc etc'.   It took me some time to realise and accept that my times were getting worse because I'd been running for 20+ years, I'd hit my peak, maintained it for a good few years but I was now coming down the other side.   This had zero reasons to do with my age by the way, I'd simply reached my own physical limitations over the period of time I'd been running.  You can start exercising in your 50's, 60's and beyond and still see huge improvements.  Don't ever use age as a...

Don't be afraid of change When change is unexpected and sudden, it's scary and can be upsetting.  But, if something is out of your control, there's absolutely no point in fighting against it.  You have to figure out the best way to get through it, because like it or not, it's happening.  You can't sit there and think 'could have', 'should have, 'would have', the only thing you can do now is move forwards. On the other hand, when you've instigated the change yourself, it's still scary but also exciting.  Towards the end of 2017 I decided to look for a new job.  I was starting to feel uncomfortable with being comfortable, if you know what I mean?!  I needed a change.  Once I've made a big decision like this I tend to go 'all in' which is exactly what I did.  Not only did I change the city where I worked but I changed from the public sector back to the private sector and changed industry.  Yup, no half measures for ...