It’s been an up-and-down kind of month.
A sickness bug, dog hassles and rubbish weather led us to wish we’d gone away somewhere for a break at Easter. But as I look back there are also some highlights too.
The month began with my first show on internet radio station Love Will Save The Day FM.
The full show is here. It’s a genre-spanning look at the influence of samples from four early 1970s disco classics. I loved planning, mixing and recording the show. I also learnt loads about presenting and audio production – I enjoyed the steep learning curve and being an absolute novice at something again.
A family day out in London was also a day I particularly enjoyed. We took advantage of some rare sunshine and walked around some parks and some of the touristy spots, as well as a West End show and dinner near Borough Market.
Despite being in London most weeks, I never take the time to see London as a visitor rather than as a commuter. It’s strange how you notice different things about the city depending on why you’re there.
I also spent a weekend in Belgium riding the Liège-Bastogne-Liège sportive. Having been ill and not really put the training rides in properly, I opted out of the 155 mile route in favour of the 100 mile version.
And that proved a wise decision. A rainy cold day on the bike, combined with almost 9,000 feet of climbing, made for the hardest 100 miles I’ve ridden on a bike. But looking back, I’m glad to have done it and seen new roads in a different part of Belgium.
Work has continued in the same busy vein as last month. I’m pleased with the progress I’m making in a fractional COO role – I’m often frustrated in the early days of any engagement about the lack of visible progress, but in the past week or so there’s a sense of plans coming together and some really great new hires in the pipeline.
I’ve also been running OKR workshops with a media client. They’re adopting OKRs to align and focus their teams in their work. It’s good to be putting the skills I learnt in my OKR Coach qualification last year into practice again.
Last week I also ran a learning session for the Extra Brain network on my B3 framework for company building. It was great to be talking and sharing about the framework. I loved hearing the positive and constructive feedback from a pretty heavyweight group of consultants. Plus getting confirmation of the trademark application for the framework later that day was a good reminder that I need to keep sharing and promoting it.
Podcasts this month…
A new find that I’m enjoying a lot this month – What Next? with Rishad Tobaccowala. Really insightful conversations into the future of work that resonate strongly with my thinking about how work is changing.
Music this month…
I’ve been enjoying a bit of an 80s retro music adventure this month. I loved rediscovering Dire Straits’ Alchemy live album. I remember buying this as a double cassette pack from Woolworths in Exeter in the 1980s!
Reading this month…
My real highlight was Cal Newport’s new book Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout. It’s a good balance of evidence-backed writing and practical techniques – challenging the knowledge worker norms of work intensity and pace that we blindly take for granted.
Cycling this month…
184.3 miles
Running this month…
27.6 miles
