"Write about your bad shoes habit"
"Write about your bad shoes habit"
#72 - a triplet of concerts, a trio of instruments
Hi there,
Spring is in the air (I’m told) as the clocks surprised me this morning and me performing in two Spring Concerts.
It has been truly one of the busiest weeks of my life, with a Maths trip to London, the two school concerts (one started 20 mins after we arrived from our trip!), two more appointments for my teeth and another performance last night. It doesn’t stop there, it’s similarly packed in the next week - pray for me.
Highlight of the week ⭐ : a tough choice this week. Got to go with the concert last night; we played brilliantly (and definitely got the loudest cheers for the night) and I got to hear some fellow talented people play outstanding pieces from across the land of music. Guitars, glockenspiels, euphoniums and piccolos - I had a great time.
My dad.
I could follow that sentence in so many ways.
A stickler for discipline, and a silent regular reader of the blog, who has a bugbear of putting your shoes on the shoe stand when you’re not out the house. Sadly, it hasn’t been passed on to me genetically, providing the opportunity for several arguments and frustrations.
Today morning was one of many before. We came home late last night, 10pm. I was tired, with bag, bottle and sax in tow; I forgot. In his remarks, he declared in disappointment, “Why don’t you write your blog tonight about how poor you are in following a simple instruction?” Challenge accepted Dad. 😁
Life seems to be shaped by ‘big things’ - goals, aims, dreams - and big themes like money, love, family and society. Yet it is often composed of ‘small things’ - doing the dishes, filing your nails, completing your homework, eating lunch. Since they are small, it’s easy to ignore their power.
Yet every little matters and builds up. After all, “compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world” according to Albert Einstein. As illustrated in my post on working hard, small actions combine gradually to create a much larger outcome.
Some of these small things that come to mind:
Making your bed in the morning 🛏️ - it was back in 2014 when I watched this now very famous speech from Admiral McRaven, a former Navy SEAL. I’ve followed the advice below ever since I watched it and I continue to feel proud of that being a core habit of mine. When I’m conscious, I sometimes get a smile and a kick of pride.
Every morning, my instructors would inspect my bed. A simple task, mundane at best, but every morning we were required to make our bed to perfection. Despite seeming ridiculous at the time, the wisdom of this simple act has been proven to me many times over - you accomplish the first task of the day, encouraging you to do another and another.
If you can’t do the little things right, you’ll never be able to do the big things right. So if you want to change the world, start off by making your bed.
Polished shoes 👞 - we had a workshop last month on interview skills. The HR consultant who delivered the talk told us about how he always looks for shiny shoes when the interviewee walks in. It shows whether they have the attention to detail needed and care about getting the small things right.
Resisting the temptation to itch - in a meditation a couple of years ago, the instructor (Andy Puddicome from Headspace) talked about not giving in to wanting to itch as soon as you feel it. “Try to keep going and if you simply can’t, mindfully scratch the itch”1.
His reasoning? “By submitting to the itch immediately, you’re working the muscle in your mind that’s reactive, impatient and impulsive." Fighting the urge, for at least a little while, is therefore helping to make you more resilient and tolerant.
Connection requests on LinkedIn - this goes for any form of competitive selection or application process I guess. The perennial question we seek to answer in these situations is “How can I stand out from the crowd?”
To me, it can often be down to the little things - a winsome smile when you say Hello, adding a personalised note when you want to meet a big shot on LinkedIn, a strong handshake, adding an extra sentence at the end of an email asking them to reach out to you if they need help. These appear insignificant but they can leave a strong impression, a bonus if it’s a first impression.
It’s easy to focus on the larger things in life - they are more obvious to the eye and mind. In the process, we shouldn’t fail to pay attention to smaller things that can make a difference.
Not my best of posts, thank you for your time 🙏
Book of the week 📖
I’ve started The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman, unlike any other book I’ve read. 5-page chapters and very conversational.
Podcast of the week🎙️
BBC Business Daily: Oscars: Celebrity gifting suites
Ahead of the big awards night, A-listers go shopping for presents for their fellow superstars. Here’s a look behind the scenes.
Article of the week 📰
If You Want to Be Happy, Learn to Love the Little Things
A heartwarming article that also explores what we discussed this week.
Quote of the week 💬
Quality means doing it right when no one is looking - Henry Ford
Get the small things right this week (I’ll try my best with the shoes)
Adi
Just as I write about itches, I feel 2/3 in my body