How to Thrive

3 simple questions to help you decide quickly whether a meeting is worth it and how to make it useful.

Recently we lost a dear uncle. One of my dad’s two remaining brothers. He left behind my cousin, who is having to deal with everything on her own, as she has no partner to share the burden. Suffering from anxiety and grieving the loss of her dad, it is a stressful time. Everyone has an opinion and everyone is telling her what she should do or consider. Things were quickly approaching an overload situation. The feeling of being overwhelmed. The tsunami that you can see rapidly

Let me tell you the story of a farmer in Africa who had a smallholding and spent his life searching for riches while ignoring what was right in front of him. This is one of my favourite, supposedly true-life stories. It had a profound impact on me, and I refer back to it whenever I need to be reminded of the lesson it taught. Now you're probably wondering how this will help you deal with overwhelming emails, bosses, colleagues, and other time-consuming tasks that make you fee

I came into work this morning, opened my email, and there it was. I had been dreading this email. I had heard rumours that it was on its way, and now it had arrived. My heart pounded. I've been asked to lead the quarterly presentation to one of our company's largest clients. It was a fantastic opportunity to shine in front of my company's leadership team, but right now, that was the last thing on my mind. The meeting was in five days, so the pressure was on. I had a tight dea

All the self-help books in the world are summed up in this simple but genius poem. Act on its advice and you will thrive. This is one of my favourite pieces of poetry. I say that as if I am some kind of expert and widely read. To be honest, I have never really got poetry. Yes, we did it at school, but during these lessons I mostly tuned out. It never captured my imagination. “If” is such a simple two-letter word, but somehow the genius of Rudyard Kipling turns this word into

I can be a great procrastinator. Shocking, I know but you have to be honest with yourself. Upon reflection, I am sure this held me back during the early part of my career. My productivity was low and it seemed to take me an age to do what other people seemed to do quickly. I came to realise that I needed more time to think things through. When I did, it was quality work. That was me. But I came to realise it was more than that. I needed to know where to start. I needed a trus