I have always felt an element of deep affinity to the phenomenon of eccentricity.  I find it strangely comforting to know that in the face of apparently overwhelming evidence to the contrary, organisations like “The Flat Earth Society” still exist today. We have all seen the pictures taken from the moon and other space missions so the whole hypothesis is clearly nonsense. Or is it…..

Member Samuel Shenton says “It's easy to see how a photographs like that could fool the untrained eye.". The society’s official position being the Apollo Moon landings were a hoax, staged by Hollywood and based on a script by the late Arthur C. Clarke (a view jointly held with many conspiracy theorists).

When Clarke got to hear about this in March 2001 he responded to the society's claims as follows: "I've written to [former NASA director] Dan Goldin saying I was never paid for this work and unless he does something quickly he'll be hearing from my killer lawyers, Geldsnatch, Geldsnatch & Blubberclutch.". Bless!

But hang on a minute, they could be right after all, isn’t the very nature of reality now being called to question by the quantum physicists and philosiphers. Now it gets interesting, go on, prove to me you are not just an experiment in a petrie dish somewhere and every thing you see touch and feel is introduced using advanced holographics with “sensorama”. You can’t can you…

Expert on human motivation Anthony Robbins says “whatever humans do they always do for reason” and so to support this hypothesis, there has to be a point to this epic monologue somewhere. To prove that at least what Robbins says is true (and whilst foolishly believing that I am a member of a race of beings called “human), I’ll say there is. So stay with me on this.

Through my work with NLP and Hypnotherapy I have become amazed at the power of the deep subconscious mind and how it can be harnessed with a few simple techniques to help someone transform the quality of their life, maybe overcoming a phobia, limiting belief or mastering a new skill to a high level quickly.

I therefore found it rather unsettling when my rationalisation of the nature of the subconscious mind was recently called to question when learning about  “The Secret” and the “Law of Attraction” . Unsettling!!!... it put me in a tail spin. Then after a while I started to notice there was a strong congruence or “synergy” to be found between the various schools of thought.

Suddenly it all started to make sense again. If no one really “knows” anything (and greater minds than mine have gone to their graves never having discovered “the truth”) I thought why not put it all in a black box called “stuff I really don’t need to understand but I know it works”.

Into the box goes the “subconscious mind” (from the field of Psychology), the “non-physical being that is me” (from The Secret and The Law of Attraction), and whilst I am there I will throw in “God” (from my religious up bringing) and “the collective consciousness” (from my studies of phenomenon of the human mind).

Now I can say that whilst I do not totally understand the nature of what is in the box, everything that is in the box is congruent and synergistic and acts as a whole. Neither do I need to really understand what is in the box to worship its power in awe and appreciate it with deep gratitude. Furthermore, my clients do know what is in the box to benefit from its awesome power.

Imagine if this became a widely adopted strategy for a moment. It would even be possible to hold a dinner party for a group of psychologists, quantum physicists, politicians and religious leaders without it descending into chaos, even after several bottles of wine and the after-dinner liqueurs.

So all I need to do is convince everyone else on the planet to do the same thing and there we have it …..world peace – at last!!. Well at least in my petrie dish, I don’t know about yours.

Regards

Steve

Even though I have for years I have been banging on about the danger of assumptions, I fell into that trap yesterday morning… big time.

The feast and famine that is “independent consulting” brings its personal ups and downs. There are the varied interesting assignments, meeting new colleagues and overcoming new business problems. Then there is also the sheer thrill of wondering where the next contract is coming from and having to financially “survive” through the inevitable time on the bench.

I am really lucky and have some wonderful relationships in business and so most of my work comes from my network, people I have worked with in the past and referrals. Occasionally I have used job boards but the frustration I have suffered with these boards over the years has, on reflection, far outweighed any benefit derived.

Consulting agencies can vary enormously in terms of the quality of the service they provide and generally I would be rarely impressed. It would be my absolute last port of call. So now my secret is out and you can probably deduce that the fact I wrote to or called an agency is an indicator of my current level of desire to get some work.

One of my pet hates is “can you send me a CV in the standard format”. Please guys, get real!!! What is the standard format?

I’ll tell you what I have learned…….there isn’t one. Some like to see a “standard” 2 page summary, some like to see a “standard” chronology with a paragraph at the front. As far as I can tell there is absolutely no published standard CV anywhere, and if there is, there are probably several others that are completely different.

So when a recruitment consultant writes to me and says “I received your CV but can you send me one in the standard format” I usually assume I have received an email from a complete half wit and usually do one of two things. Either I phone him or her up to debate the sheer stupidity of the email they have just sent in the hope I can encourage a raising of standards for the sake of struggling independent Management Consultants everywhere (more examples of my social responsibility in action).

Alternatively, I ask them if they can give me a copy of what a standard CV looks like as I am completely thick and have never done this before. I only do that if a) I really like the sound of the job, or b) I am desperate.

In the event I did something different, I had already sent my 2 page summary which was edited professionally so I sent him a much longer version, also professionally edited, which contains a chronology that runs to 9 pages and has every assignment I have ever done. This latter version I usually use to create job specific CV’s to bring out detail of relevant past achievements.

Within minutes I got an email response saying he would get back by the end of the day to give him a chance to read it. Then within 15mins I got a call from the guy. Really impressed with the CV he wanted to market me into his client base. We were on the phone for about 45 mins and this guy was good. Really relevant questions and he clarified which companies he could or could not market me, this guy seemed to mean business. For a long while I have thought I need a good head hunter working for me and, on the surface at least, here he was.

I could so easily have fallen into the trap of writing this guy off, and that would have been disastrous mistake from a business perspective. Personally as well, he was actually a nice guy who I feel I could enjoy doing business with.

Time will tell whether he gets me work before my network comes good but still, I learned something that I already knew – again!!!. Just because people don’t see the world as I see it, it does not make them “thick”.

Yes, I know what you are thinking….., it is hard to believe I know!!!

There have been no posts for a while, my excuse….I have been engaged in a few weeks of personal growth.

It actually started with a book I read quite some time ago which has been getting a great deal of publicity lately called “The Secret” by Rhonda Byrne. At the time of reading I did find it interesting in that it challenges the very nature of our existence (rather than being yet another regurgitation of basic psychological principles that have been around for years), it delves into the realms of spirituality and quantum physics.

Frankly, at the time it was all a little spooky and probably a step too far for me to take on board in one reading. Then I started to get very nervous. You see, it has developed such a cult following and media attention within the “success literature” genre that I started to doubt whether some of my material developed over the years was still relevant. I was suffering a severe crisis of faith and so the blogging stopped and the research started.

After watching the film of “The Secret” a couple of times I read a book called “The Secret Behind the Secret - The Law of Attraction” by Esther and Jerry Hicks. I then watched countless video recordings of Esther Hicks on a variety of subjects. For much of the time she was talking as “Abraham” who is her spiritual guide.  I did tell you it was a little spooky, didn’t I?

Back on planet earth I came to the conclusion that even though it comes from such a remarkably different place, the fundamentals behaviours she and “Abraham” were espousing were not really any different and wholly congruent with “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” and any of the NLP Principles I have used over the years in terms of how you create success in your life. Phew – I am still relevant!!! Rather, the exercise has been a reaffirmation of the principles I have been using over the years in the “Gift of Freedom”, “Synergy Programme” and now “Live Younger Longer” programmes.

But here’s the really cool bit. I struggled with some of the mental exercises suggested in the Hicks book, lots of internal self talk interrupting my focus and I was not making any progress. Then for some inexplicable reason (though I am sure Hicks and Byrne would have said I was guided), I rooted out some of my early audio material from 2002 and listened to the second CD of “The Gift of Freedom” programme.

I was completely stunned when I realised it could almost have been written to programme the principles of “The Secret” within the deep sub-conscious, even though the book wasn’t even written back then. Suddenly the exercises were a breeze, not only has it given me a boost in terms of how I feel, but also the level of success I have been having over the last few days with my various dealings with clients, family and friends. It has been an awesome few days.

Now for me at least, spooky or not, that was worth the all the growing pains.

Everyone else is writing about it so I thought I better add my comments to the mix. After all sometimes it is good to let of a bit of steam isn't it. You see, I hear all this concern and yet I cannot help feeling we have brought this on ourselves.

We get so caught up in the day to day pressures and increasing demands on our time that we sometime forget to thank those around us for all the love and support we get minute by minute of every waking day. In time, simply for the want of giving "credit" where credit is due, people start to be more reluctant to help each other and so increasingly the distance builds up between us and those around.

Presumably you are all with the joke now, however there is a parallel to be drawn between the current economic climate and the way relate to the people who's lives we touch.

Abundance in life and financially is all dependant ultimately on the good faith of others and so giving credit in whatever form, praise and/or financially, keeps the wheels turning more freely, and ultimately more profitably.

Then there is another fundamental law of economics that has been around since the beginning of history. That is give and you will receive. Perhaps we focus too much on getting what we want instead of working out what we can give. If we do the latter we will build up "credits" with those around us that will come back tenfold.

So the "credit crunch" is really simple to fix and we can all play our part. Why not make a list of everyone you have come in contact in the last 24hours and offer a little praise or a little help to the people on the list. A little effort will go a long way and before you know it the vicious circle has turned into a virtuous cycle with credit flying everywhere.

The economy will catch up eventually!!!

I have really wasted far to much of my limited intellectual resources this week trying to decide whether or not to move my mobile phone account to a new provider which allow me to call between UK and Ireland for a fraction of the cost of my current provider.

It is not a totally economical decision as this super low cost account is a credit phone and I have a concern I might run out of credit in the middle of an important business call. When I finally get to the bottom of this life defining decision I am sure your normal programming will be interrupted by breaking news!!!

I got to thinking, as I was waiting for a train into London as a means to take my mind of my feet. Why my feet you may ask?. Well they were especially cold as the train I had been due to catch had developed a fault; it had now spent nearly 40mins standing on the freezing concrete platform. The chorus of complaints from other commuters and last minute contingency planning that was taking place within the assembled masses, was a testament to the to the level of dependency our lives have on these electrically driven tubes that carry so many of us into our places of work every day.

Some people were using their phones to make alternative arrangements and let people know they were twenty minutes later than planned, good grief I thought, our life has become completely dependent on electrical devices, and it is all the fault of that Edison chap!!.

I thought if I was going to use this as inspiration for a posting on my Blog I had better research some facts. To my complete astonishment, having used my electrically powered laptop to connect to an online encyclopaedia sitting on an electrically powered server to read about the man, I realised he did not discover electricity, but you probably already knew that.

Neither did he, it seems, invent the light bulb or the telegraph, however, he did significantly enhance, and hold patents, on all of these things. Most significantly it seems he was driven by a desire to make them more practical and affordable for the ordinary person. His only one true invention was the phonograph (record player), which was not electrical at all, it was a mechanical device.

How, I pondered, could he have been so visionary to have correctly predicted the light bulb would become “ordinary” and the candle becoming a “luxury item”?

He was certainly no academic genius, in fact during his three month long (yes 3 months) school career, his school teacher, Reverend Engle, was overheard calling him "addled". So perhaps if he was "addled", he probably said a lot of things and some of them were bound to be right. I don’t recall hearing him talking about electric trains and mobile phones, maybe he got lucky.

The point of this whole monologue is that what made him so prolific an "inventor" was his attitude and insatiable curiosity. He did not get bogged down in reasons why things did not work; he carried on until they did. The light bulb failed many times and continually changed his approach until he eventually created something with broad commercial potential.

Imagine if, for the next few days, we could adopt some that attitude and curiosity within our work and home context. What could we improve and what could we make better. I think I am going to have a little look around. One thing I know wont make a difference is what mobile phone network I am on.

I can envision a time when we will all be able to afford candles again.

Sometimes it is so easy to allow inappropriate pressures to dominate our waking moments. What we lose sight of is that each moment is a fraction of a day, and the total of the good moments vs. the total of the stressed and hassled moments in any given day dictate something we call our "quality of life".

I have been under a fair bit of (totally self induced) pressure of late and a few days break with my family over Easter visiting relatives suddenly jolted everything back into perspective.

In a moment I got the importance of spending time with my children instead of doing stuff that to grow the business, or promote my book. Of course there was all the other pile of "stuff" that has been so important of late too.

In a flash it occurred to me that we were creating lifelong memories that my children will carry with them long after we are gone. I remember so fondly time spent with my Grandfather over 40 years ago, where he spent time with me when he probably had far more "important" things to do.

Of course I cannot all my time playing with the children, it is about balance and I simply had the balance in the wrong place. Of course I get deal of great joy out of helping other people and companies with their problems too. I had lost my way a little and had forgotten what is really important in the overall scheme of things.

So what caused this sudden shift in values? It was a simple exercise of being grateful from the inside out. Let me explain.

Starting from me, being grateful for my own gift of life and the opportunities I have been given. Being grateful for my wife and the closeness we share, being grateful for each of my children and the special moments we share, being grateful for the wonderful friends I have and how they are there when ever I need them (and I hope I for them). Feeling gratitude for my ability to help other people and the joy I get from that and so on, eventually feeling grateful for the universe and all the wonders that I don’t even know about yet.

Suddenly creating an immortal experience seemed to be an obviously better choice than getting the laptop out and working bringing. In came floods of deep fulfillment.

The thing is, I learned this exercise many years ago. As Homer Simpson would say…. DOH !!!!

Watching a child at play is one of the joys of life that I can never tire of. However to my shame I can remember saying things like "can you play a little more quietly" or "couldn't you do that outside", perhaps when I am involved in a conversation or other activity I mistakenly value as more important at that point in time.

I also remember the day I went from never wanting children to feeling that I had discovered the true meaning of why I am here. For me at least, they have become the essence of who I am. Yet even from that place I can still get it horribly wrong and discourage loud play or wish they would do what they are doing elsewhere.

Perhaps we do not mature as we get older, we get more stupid. Do you think that is possible? Our priorities become more material and less about things that are really important, such as time to talk or a warm embrace. We also learn not to try. When a child learns to walk it will try "until" it gets it, on the other hand an adult will often try something once and if it does not work will say "I tried it, it didn't work" and give up. Of course that is not true of everyone all the time, however even though I am acutely aware of this issue, I still find I still do it from time to time.

The thing is we forget who we are and the context we live in. There is a universal truth in nature where all things exist in one of two states, either growing or dying, there is no middle ground. It is not only true of every living organism but also applies to a friendship, a marriage, a company, a country, a religion ... everything. Think about it, can you think of anything that will survive in the middle of those two things. I can't and further to that I would say anything that appears at first sight to be in the middle, is actually dying.

When I think of my toughest challenges in life where I did not give up, win or lose I cannot think of one time where I wish I had not given it my very best. I can think of loads of times when I regret given up on something or someone, maybe learning a new skill or a relationship with a friend.

Somehow on the journey from a playful child who is into anything, through to adulthood, we acquire the skill to, in certain circumstances, stop trying or growing. Not always but I think it creeps up on us and suddenly we can find ourselves in overwhelm asking the question "is this it?”. Growth provides us with the juice of life, makes us feel younger and fitter and faster and more powerful the more we use it, like a muscle it builds until we become unstoppable. Alternatively it wastes away so we can hardly lift ourselves into the tasks of the day.

Of course it does not take an “Einstein” to work out how that may start from a parent saying things like "can you do that more quietly?" and the child learning that by trying less it can please the parent.

By staying inside our comfort zone, we may think we are protecting ourselves, perhaps from failure, whereas in fact we are slowly committing suicide. On the outside failing is a learning experience which makes our comfort zone get bigger if we say "well that wasn't so bad - next time I'll try this instead!!" 

We need to stretch daily outside our comfort zone so it continues to grow bigger and bigger, otherwise it will shrink to a point it limits us from even the most basic pleasures of life.

So make today a day of growth...play loudly, play anytime, play anywhere... and dare to be different.

A long time ago there was a dispute between two women over a young baby. Each claimed the baby their own and a the result was a stalemate. It fell upon a wise man to resolve this situation and to decide who would keep the child. He drew a chalk circle on the ground and laid the baby I the middle. He then put a hand of each of the women on one of the child’s limbs.

“On the count of three, I will blow this whistle and after that the first woman to get the child outside the chalk circle will be the winner”. The whistle blew and one woman had pulled the child out of the chalk circle within a moment. The other woman had put her hands by her side and offered no resistance.

He went up to the lady with the baby and said “congratulations, you are the winner”, he reached out and picked the baby up from beaming woman’s arms. He then turned and passed the child to the other woman saying “but you are the mother as no true mother would have wanted to see her child torn in that way”

This related to a recent true story I heard about a widowed man who was forced by circumstance to let the daughter, who loved he so dearly, go to live with his sister.

He was a working father, who travelled a great deal, and though following his wife’s death he had numerous attempts to provide a normal home life for the little girl, it became apparent to him one day that no matter what he tried it was simply not working. She was not receiving the kind of one to one daily love and care she craved.

When he was home the man and his daughter had wonderful times together but he became increasingly concerned about the long term impact of not being able to provide for the all of her emotional needs when he was not there. It was the small, but vitally important things, like being taken and picked up from school with a cuddle at the gate, being read stories every night before bed and help with her homework.

His sister, unable to have any children of her own, had always had a very special bond with this little girl and they had many wonderful holidays together so the arrangement on the surface seemed like a gift from heaven. However it became obvious that this could not be temporary as the child had already endured far too much uncertainty in her short life. She, like any growing child, needed stability and order.

This was a very big decision, because though he would always be the Daddy, he would have to accept his new role as a “weekends and holiday” Dad. His sister and her husband would become the primary care givers.

What made the decision easy was when he compared the life the child would lead with his sister compared to what he could offer within his own shattered domestic situation. He knew he had no choice but to agree to his sister’s very kind offer. It was a deeply emotional time and his many tears were split between a profound sense of deep loss and tears of joy at imagining how his darling little girl’s life would be transformed from now on.

So the man lifted his hands and let his daughter go outside the chalk circle. If you truly love someone you have to be prepared to let them go.

I heard a story of a lady who started an internet business selling her beautiful pencil drawings.

When at a dinner party some time afterwards a friend asked how it was going and she answered "it’s tough, I get people to my site but the sales are not as high as I would like", she then added "the internet does not convey that these are high quality and value, compared to other sites". After a few more moments she added a final throw away comment "now if I had an endorsement like 'by Royal Appointment' or I am sure more people would buy".

One of the dinner guests went very quiet and thoughtful. A short while later he pulled her to one side and asked for a card saying his cousin worked at Buckingham Palace as an Equerry to the Queen and had told him of a discussion that very morning with the Queen that morning regarding commissioning a portrait of the latest litter of corgis. It seems the Queen wanted something a little different from the usual photograph as this was a particularly fine litter, He asked if she mind if he passed her details on.

Two days later the artist arrived at the Palace and produced the portrait of the Queens new corgis. Shortly after that she added "by Royal Appointment" to her website.

This is a true story that demonstrates the power of networking and also the value of sharing a problem. Answers come from the strangest places, and whatever your problem, they are out there if you ask.

Steve

I tried yesterday to write a blog entry, I was struggling for something to write - my creative juices just were not flowing. I have rather a lot on my plate at the moment so understandable I suppose. Now here I am again with a blank screen.

Yesterday I was easily distracted and got on with some "real work". So this morning sitting in front of a blank screen, I got to thinking. I am usually quite creative, and I have the same physiology, the same belief system and the same character so why today can't I think of something inspirational or thought provoking.

Why when I want to write NOW is it not there?

After couple of attempts at typing a few words of forced regurgitated inspirational rubbish I cleared the screen blank again. My mind drifted to the notion of "positive mental attitude" or PMA. For many years I had told myself that this was really important and had my own routine for snapping out of any wayward "negative state" and getting myself "pumped up and positive". So surely I should be able to do the same thing when I want to be creative right? Just snap out of it and get writing.

My thinking drifted to the many of the people who I have worked with over the years who suffered with stress and depression. In so many cases the root cause was some unresolved issue in the past that had compounded year on year. In most cases getting closure opened up the possibility of an enduring solution. Sometimes this could happen quite quickly too.

The problem is that the whole notion of "PMA" is fundamentally flawed. Negative emotions are there for a reason, fear, disappointment, a sense of loss, they are all trying to tell us something. Getting pumped up on PMA is simply suppressing symptoms, like taking Prozac!!. 

Now I really don't want to diminish the value of anything that gives an individual relief from depression, but I wonder how many people become locked into an addiction to anti-depressants because the drug is suppressing important massages that are needed for an enduring cure.

Conditions like depression and stress are easier to overcome once you realise they are not a thing they are a process. We don't accidentally swallow a lump of depression that someone dropped in our salad, we "do" depression, or we "do" stress.

On the other hand, I found a useful process for processing, instead of suppressing, negative emotions. It would make them go away permanently. Firstly give the emotion a name, say "Horace", and then ask "what is Horace trying to tell me?". Then ask "what would need to be different for me to feel great?" and then finally ask "what action could I take to make that change happen?". 

My experience was as soon as I took any action to make things different the negative was simply not there, and it often took moments.

Even if the situation could not be changed immediately, the perception of that situation could certainly change. I would remember the inspiring stories of Nelson Mandela and Victor Frankl, thirty years in an African jail or living under the threat of the gas chamber in World War 2 didn't get those guys down. My problems were nothing in comparison. I would often use a phrase "this too will pass".

We need dull times to make the bright times bright, we need occasionally need despair and pain to appreciate joy and pleasure. Even the most challenging situations are laced with opportunity if we are to only open our eyes and seize them with both hands.

Spring does always follow winter and you can't have your Ying without your Yang. Now what am I going to write in my blog today?? Let me think.....

Sometimes it is so easy to allow inappropriate pressures to dominate our waking moments. What we lose sight of is that each moment is a fraction of a day, and the total of the good moments vs. the total of the stressed and hassled moments in any given day dictate something we call our "quality of life".

I have been under a fair bit of (totally self induced) pressure of late and a few days break with my family over Easter visiting relatives suddenly jolted everything back into perspective.

In a moment I got the importance of spending time with my children instead of doing stuff that to grows the business, or promotes my book. Of course then there was all the other pile of "stuff" that has been so important of late too.

In a flash it occurred to me that we were creating lifelong memories that these children will carry with them long after we are gone. I remember so fondly time spent with my Grandfather over 40 years ago, where he spent time with me when he probably had far more "important" things to do.

Of course I cannot all my time playing with the children, it is about balance and I simply had the balance in the wrong place. Of course I get deal of great joy out of helping other people and companies with their problems too. I had simply lost my way and had forgotten what is really important in the overall scheme of things.

So what caused this sudden shift in values? It was a simple exercise of being grateful from the inside out. Let me explain.

Starting from me, being grateful for my own gift of life and the opportunities I have been given. Being grateful for my wife and the closeness we share, being grateful for each of my children and the special moments we share, being grateful for the wonderful friends I have and how they are there when ever I need them (and I hope I for them). Feeling gratitude for my ability to help other people and the joy I get from that and so on, eventually feeling grateful for the universe and all the wonders that I don’t even know about yet.

Suddenly creating an immortal experience seemed to be an obviously better choice than getting the laptop out and working bringing. In came floods of deep fulfillment.

The thing is, I learned this exercise many years ago. As Homer Simpson would say…. DOH !!!!

Unfortunately I was not  able to spend time with each of our children over the Easter holiday because the older ones are at the stage where they are "doing their own thing". So to them I am sending them deep thoughts of love through the ether as I write this - I hope they feel those thoughts of love arriving in their hearts. As big as they are, they are still my children.

It seems by buttons were a bit cheap and nasty.

They looked fine to me - probably a ploy to see if I'd get rattled.

16 hours later I am far to tired to be rattled.

Thanks for the feedback - these buttons are here to stay !!

Finally, I think I have got to the end.

What started off as a couple of passing comments from my Father and some well intentioned feedback from a couple friends has caused me to spend more hours developing and testing this site to implement those suggestions that I had spent thus far creating it from scratch.

The thing is, I thought I had "finished" my website. So surely it could not be too much work to make it "a bit more intuitive and easy to navigate". When I finally "got" what they meant I realised I had to learn how to do all sorts of things I had managed to avoid in the initial creation of the site.

In the process I also reaffirmed what I already knew, that is, computer software systems are not logical. Far from it, they are far more emotional and spiteful as any human I have met.

However, as I always say, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. I had to learn how to create buttons and something called hyperlinks; I also worked out what I was doing to get the software angry so it re-numbered the web pages rendering all my hyperlinks useless. We're getting on fine now, but I am not fooled, it is a fragile peace I am sure.

Back to the site - countless hours later it was finished - apart from the testing. Not a problem I was very careful so it probably isn't necessary, right!!. Wrong, my first demonstration of the site was a disaster. Some how the software had got wind of the way I was duplicating links and decided to change the rules on me and half of them did not work, neither did the shop. It was obviously concerned I might be too clever for it an so it pitched in a curved ball that meant a lot of re-works.

Luckily, I used to be a Testing Consultant (many moons ago) so from being a novice web master (who I hasten to add has not yet acquired the uniform - I believe these type usually carry whips and wear leather gear etc.), and so I was now in my comfort zone. However that did not last long as a quick calculation of the number of test conditions and how long it would take to diagnose and fix each bug, then re-test, sent a cold shiver down my spine.

Daunting was not the word for it. A significant number of hours would be needed and I had been working on it all day. The little devil in my head was telling me to give up. However sheer stubbornness took over and I chunked the work down and got my head down. Though actually many more hours had elapsed, it seemed before I knew it, I was crossing the last bug off the list. The time had been consumed by ferocious focus on the end.

I had eaten the elephant a bite at a time. Very tasty!!!

As wait for it to digest, I feel quite pleased with myself. Of course there will be more to do, but isn't it amazing how a plan and a level of focus can take a very big problem off your plate almost without you noticing?

It is amazing how uncertainty can sometimes throw us completely off course. Reason is overtaken by the survival instinct and we might start to shiver on the spot like a frightened animal instead of courageously facing up the the threat. Where was reason when I needed it?

Maybe it is time to reprogramme my subconscious mind to trigger more helpful responses under those circumstances (now where will I find a good hypnotherapist I wonder?).

There is no denying, recently I have faced up to some pretty tough challenges, even by my standards. Yes, there has been the odd occasion when the level of uncertainty has overwhelmed me, closely followed by a momentary crisis of faith, yes honestly!!!.  It is frustrating because I always thought I was pretty good at getting myself in a pumped up 'power state when facing a problem.

When I reflect I began to realise just how profoundly important my wife, family and friends have been in terms of giving me certainty. I realised the contribution it made towards driving me to overcome any obstacle in my path.

Nature has thoughtfully provided a mechanism whereby whatever uncertainty is thrown at us, it  can be completely neutralised by warm words or a loving touch.

I for one, feel truly blessed to have been given the chance to appreciate how wonderful and supportive my friends and family are as I bumble my way through this obstacle course of life.

One of the problems I never knew I had was that the green website was sending all the wrong marketing messages. Luckily my wife did some research and so now the website is blue. Sorry to everyone who saw it green, I didn't mean it!!!

I am a curious kind of guy and love to learn new things. Training course are a special treat for me and I was privileged to be able to attend an Anthony Robbins training course in London recently with my wife Geraldine. It was a double treat firstly because I have always admired Robbins work, read all his books, and secondly is was a rare break, away together without our six children (much as I love them dearly) for the two of us.

The highlight of the first day was a “fire walk”. Yes we walked across glowing red hot coals in our bear feet and there were no charred bloody stumps at the other end. The sense of achievement was awesome.

It was a metaphor for facing our fears, and a good one too, we are capable of so much as long as we can learn to overcome fear. Fear of failure, fear of being judged, fear of rejection, fear we are not enough or just plain being scared.

Have you ever missed a wonderful opportunity in your life because you were scared? By the way the answer is YES!!! We all have.... tell the truth now !!!!

What if from today you grabbed hold of every opportunity with passion instead of fear, imagine what a difference it would make to your life in six months, or perhaps a year.

What you ought to be really scared about is losing opportunity to fear. Life is not a rehearsal... this is it !!!

I think I am pretty much at the end of something I have been meaning to do for years. I bought the stevepatten.com domain name around 8 years ago and since then it has been something "I will get around to".

Initially I just wanted a means for consulting firms and potential clients to have access to my personal CV and maybe sell a few books.  I may be caught up in the moment but the result would appear to me to have far more potential that when I started it (was it really less than 48 hours ago).

I hope this will act as a catalyst for me to re-invent Steve Patten and enable me to support my family whilst spending less time away from them and at the same time enable me to reach out to like minded folk all over the world.

So rather than being at the end an adventure, and it certainly has been, I feel I am at the start of something new and exciting . I am brimming with anticipation and eager to get to work with whatever comes next.

So my thought for the day is that we should all take some time out every day to do something strategic, something that will save time in the future or perhaps make you more successful (whatever your definition of success is).

Have fun !!!

I wondered what a ‘blog’ was and now I am typing my first few words. For someone who started his career in computers it seem incredible that I am making such a meal of creating a web site.

When I ask myself why I am doing it, there is no tangible personal gain or cohesive rationale that drives this endeavour. Instead it is about creating a mechanism to connect with people all over the world and to share experiences in an environment that encourages wild and exciting ideas and alignment with the greater good.

I had better get on building and cut the verbiage!!

For reasons outside my control, I have been forced to think of new ways to add value to my clients for the next few months. Instead of being agile and travelling from city to city I have had to reinvent myself as personal commitments have limited my abilty to hop on an aeroplane at a moments notice

The interesting thing is that I find myself doing something I should have done years ago. Re-examining the real value I have delivered to teams and individuals over the years and working out how to make it more accessable and more agile. I think the term is web enabled.

This website is my first attempt at "morphing" what I do and the value I add to my clients into an online business, I would greatly appreciate any feedback and suggestions for improvement.

It has been a lot of fun creating this website myself using a package called "Mr Site" which I thoroughly recommend - I think I will put a link on my website to thier website. 

If I can do it any idiot can!!.