Category Archives: Facebook

201 | 365 Monday #4

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Day201.jpgWow! It’s actually quiet amazing to see how different this tree over a period of 4 weeks.

This tree is a kerbside tree and all down the street is the same kind of tree. Yet each one drops its leaves at a different pace. Some are still covered in leaves, others completely bare.
 
Each tree is unquie. No two the same.
 
Just like humans.
 


[201|365 – Monday #4 – Decided to take the photo at sun rise, a full 12 hours early]
You can see the season change at http://www.andrewnicol.net/mondays

200 | 365 Doing Good

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Day200.jpgOn Sunday we heard first hand about incredible work of Rahab ministries in Thailand, and got to support them through the pink pigs. In Thailand young women, really young women are sold by their families to prostitution, often under false circumstances and with the lure of a better life, but sold nonetheless.
 
I can’t imagine ever getting so desperate, that I would even remotely consider selling my daughter. It would never happen!
 
Imagine the outcry, the laws I would break and the news coverage.
 
It would shock our nation.
 
I’m reminded that my world is not the world. Every day young women are sold. There is no outcry, no laws broken, no news coverage.
 
My world, is not the world.

199 | 365 – Without Kids

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Without KidsIt was amazing, crisp and beautiful morning. With no less than 8 balloons graciously floating overhead our house, Karina and I set out for a kid free stroll around the neighbourhood.
 
Breakfast without kids. Shopping without kids. Lunch and afternoon without kids!
And a stunning dinner at Pumice without kids.
 
Karina and I enjoyed every minute of the day without kids, yet we are continually aware that our house and lives are emptier without them here. We miss them and look forward to their return from Grandmas.
 
At which point we will love them and long for time together alone.
 
[199 | 365 – ‘Without Kids’ – Karina and I have a couple of days kids free]

Book Review: Switch

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Day135.jpgAn elephant, a rider, and a path are the analogy of choice for the Heath brothers latest book, ‘Switch : How to change things, when change is hard.’
 
At first, the introduction of the elephant to describe the way that humans react emotionally and intelligently to change is somewhat of a stretch. But as the book pours through countless counter-intuitive examples of change, radical change, so too the elephant analogy takes hold.
 
It’s a book that provides real life examples of how to instigate change in your organisation. Even within yourself.
 
There are stories of Doctors who make the wrong decision because they 3 choices instead of 2. Teachers who radically change a pupil’s behaviour by putting a couch in the classroom. And loyalty cards with 2 free initial stamps on a 10 stamp card, verses no stamps on a 8 stamp card, and the 2 free stamps increase the return of the customer by 15%.
 
The picture of how tagged my book is says it all. I have heaps of notes to make and I will read it again within the next year or so.
 
If you’re a teacher, CEO, project manager, administrator, pastor, or a leader of any kind. Buy it, reflect on it, read it apply it!

Why YOU don’t change.

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It was a moment of sheer intelligential brilliance. “Immovable Deadlines”, I pondered.

When an immovable deadline exists, it is easy to deliver. When I have to speak on Sunday, or deliver a presentation to a big client. The deadline is immovable, and I always meet the deadline. Always.

I have known this about myself for years of course, but now I have a term to define it. To be more successful, all I have to do is figure out a way to make movable deadlines, things I put off, IMMOVABLE.

Brilliant!

Dazzling, even if I do say so myself.

I can’t believe I didn’t think of it sooner. My life is going to be so much better. I will be a better leader, husband, friend. I am sorted!

Then, by chance I read some notes I made from 2 years ago. Written across the note are these words “IMMOVABLE DEADLINES”

I cuss slightly in my head and am reminded again how hard change is.

Change takes thought.

Reflection.

Time.

Resolve.

Discipline.

Then it takes all of those things all over and over again. And again. And again.

Its hard work!

And that’s why YOU don’t change. And YOU need to sort it out. Work harder. Hold the goal before YOU. Don’t YOU give up.

I say YOU, because clearly I haven’t learnt.

Gone by lunch time.

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Been learning about Samuel and Saul and Kings.

King Nahash, had a proposition for the people of Israel. They could make peace with him and then return, he would gouge out the right eye of everyone, then they could live at peace.

News spread of this peace offer and finally reached the newly appointed King Saul. He was out plowing a field. The king, out plowing.

‘Then the Spirit of God came powerfully upon Saul and he became very angry’. He called the people to follow him, all 370000 of them. The next day he took on King Nahash and his team, and “slaughter them the whole morning”. Home for lunch.

I wonder to myself, how different would my life be if I allowed the Spirit of God to come powerfully upon. I wonder what more I would achieve as a husband, a leader, a man. What things would be dealt to by lunch time.

What if the Spirit of God came powerfully upon me and I …

What would I be called to do?

Once a geek, always a geek (some cool tech tools I am using)

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Playing around with a few tech toys recently and a couple of them are very cool.

Evernote Evernote 

I used to use google notebook (which was in beta and they are no longer developing). Evernote is tool you can use for making notes about anything. You can be on a website and send a part of the text to evernote. You can email notes to it. I can take a photo from my phone of something I want to remember and it uploads. Or you can type a new note directly.

Whats more, there is a desktop version that syncs to the web version which syncs to my windows mobile (phone).  Its free and very functional, or you can pay $45 US per year to have additional features and secure syncing.

Dual Monitors Dual Monitors

Old technology, but have just set it up. I have been getting annoyed with the amount of paper I print out, just so I can compare to something else on the screen. This solves it and allows for much more.

Sure this looks really geeky, but it is awesome and don't know why I didn't do this a long time ago.

One small problem, I stole the second monitor off someone elses desk, will need to sort that first thing Monday. 

Ipod TED video iPod Nano

Watched my first video postcast on my Nano. Had it for a year and only listen ever listened to music, audiobooks and audio podcasts.

The quality was very cool and watched a podcast from TED. It was Jacqueline Novogratz from Acuman Fund talking about a third way to think about aid. Cool to see the images and the quality was remarkably good.

Finding my way around

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When I flew into Melbourne this week I knew broadly my hotel was in the Southbank area, so caught a bus, then the train, then walked around looking for it. Most people, I would assume, would actually look it up on a map.

When I went to the conference yesterday, I knew it was at the Tennis grounds. Again forgot to look it up, so just followed my nose.

Last night tried to lead some friends to a great place to eat. Failed completely, and got sore legs walking around the city, then ended up back near were we started.

Then I realised, that maybe the way I lead is a bit like that. I know the kind of area I need to head towards, but never really map out the way. I almost head there by trial and error without all the details worked out.  Most times I succeed, sometimes I fail big-time.

Broadly knowing where I am going, but not really nailing down the best route.

Hmm

I'm not sure this is a great leadership trait.

Those poor happy people…

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I was talking to an ex-colleague the other day who fulfilled her dream and went to Costa-Rica. She said that she stayed with a really poor family by some beech for 2 weeks, and they were the so incredibly happy.

Poor happy people!

Then I found a recent article that states a full 27 Million Americans are now on anti-depressants. 10% of their entire population.

Rich unhappy people!

Maybe poor people don’t take anti-depressants because they can’t afford them. I am sure there are plenty of sad poor people around. OR maybe if we, (Western culture ‘we’), weren’t so worried about climbing the socioeconomic ladder, we wouldn’t be so sad.

Maybe then, we would focus on doing things that bring true happiness and not focus on buying things that brings happiness.

Maybe…

 

21 years ago today my life changed

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Baycourt I remember it because it was the 8th of 8, 88.

Bob Addison and Dale Henderson took a punt and gave a young, uneducated, skinny bum the opportunity to work at Baycourt theatre.

I had been hanging around the theatre for about 5 years, and looking back I must have been one frustrating young guy. Full of potential but lacking discipline and a little bit strange to boot.

But I got opportunities to clean toilets, learn more about sound and lighting and play with pagemaker on computers (no mean feat in 88).

I learned about creativity, long hours, leadership, communicating with people older than me and doing crap jobs I didn’t enjoy.

I was 18, and I was privileged that Bob and Dale gave me a shot. After a while I moved on and learnt other things from other leaders. But they were some of the first people to see something in me, I didn’t see, even though they never got to see it delivered.

So anyway two key points I considered today.

  1. 21 years later, I wonder which 18 year I should be giving a similar opportunity to?
  2. Where did 21 years go?