From our part time CIO: Dan Sodergren – A blog for my daughter Mia… And for us all. 14 things to remember in your life. After the times of the #CoronaVirusCrisis.

Posted September 2, 2020

I wrote this blog a few weeks back. So just in case – anyone on #LinkedIn is feeling like I did then. I pop this here. As this blog might help. It’s not really about the future of work. But … It helped me. But that’s just me.

As like a lot of people, I thought about my own life and the future, whilst having to self-isolate during this time.

And I stumbled upon a writer that wrote this great blog. So as I have blogged before for my daughter Mia. I want to leave this here. As some edited it as the original is HUGE.So again. For my daughter Mia. A paraphrased version of the original.

14 THINGS TO REMEMBER IN YOUR LIFE.

1. It’s Never As Bad As You Think It Will Be

This might NOT be the case with #coronavirus but I truly believe it will be And even thought we might see this as bad. It may well do the world — the world of good.

Yes. This time of coronavirus might be stressful. It might even get worse. But… as the original author Ben Hardy puts it

“When you consciously adapt to enormous stress, you evolve.”

2. It’s Never As Good As You Think It Will Be

Conversely, until you appreciate what you currently have, even evolving won’t make your life better.

I know we do our 5 things to be grateful for on the way to school — keep doing that 😊

Mine today were.

– 1. Family

– 2. Friends

– 3. Health

– 4. Wealth

– 5. My Jobs at www.thelanding.org.uk and www.YourFLOCK.co.uk

3. There Is No Way To Happiness

Most people believe they must:

First have something (e.g., money, time, or love) Before they can do what they want to do (e.g., travel the world, write a book, start a business) Which will ultimately allow them to be something (e.g., happy, peaceful, content, motivated) But in reality — it’s the opposite.

Be motivated. Then start your business. Start your business doing something you love. Or don’t it’s up to you BUT… We attract into our lives what we are.

When you are older check out the Harvard psychologist Shawn Achor in his TED talk about this. Maybe we will do this next week.

“There is no way to happiness — happiness is the way.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh .

4. You Have Enough Already

If you appreciate what you already have then more will be a good thing in your life. If you feel the need to have more to compensate for something missing in your life, you’ll always be left wanting — no matter how much you acquire or achieve.

5. You Already Are Enough You Have Every Advantage To Succeed

The world owes you nothing. Life isn’t meant to be fair. However, the world has also given you everything you need. The truth is, you have every advantage in the world to succeed.

“You’ve been put in a perfect position to succeed. “

Believe me you are my daughter. And you have already succeeded in my eyes. But as you will live longer than I (I hope.) Remember… Everything in the universe has brought you to this point so you can now shine and change the world.

6. Every Aspect Of Your Life Affects Every Aspect Of Your Life

Every thought — no matter how inconsequential — creates endless ripples of consequence. This idea, coined the butterfly effect by Edward Lorenz. Little things become big things.

Also, how you do one thing — is how you do everything. So look at everything you do. How do you do it. And why. I know we have played the 5 Why’s game — keep doing that.

Everything you do affects the whole world, for better or worse.

And strangely….no matter what anyone else says…

7. You Can’t Have It All

Every decision has an opportunity cost. When you choose one thing, you simultaneously don’t choose several others.

When someone says you can have it all, they are lying. They are almost certainly not practicing what they preach and are trying to sell you on something.

The truth is, you don’t want it all. And even if you did, reality simply doesn’t work that way. We all need to choose what matters most to us, and own that. If we attempt to be everything, we’ll end up being nothing.

On that note…

8. You decide for YOU.

No one will ever give you permission to live your dreams. As Ryan Holiday has said in The Obstacle is the Way,

“Stop looking for angels, and start looking for angles.”

Rather than hoping for something external to change your circumstances, mentally reframe yourself and your circumstances.

“When you change the way you see things, the things you see change.”

— Wayne Dyer

You are enough. You can do whatever you decide to do. Make the decision and forget what everyone else says or thinks about it.

9. Your Vision Of Who You Want To Be Is Your Greatest Asset

It might be a bit much to think about now. As you are 9. Like the number above. But no matter where you are right now, you can have any future you want. If you can see it — you can be it.

So see it in your mind first. You can create anything you want to.

“Create the highest, grandest vision possible for your life, because you become what you believe.”

— Oprah Winfrey

And one thing is for certain, what you plant you must harvest. So, please plant with intention. Mental creation always precedes physical creation.

The blueprint you design in your head becomes the life you build.

10. Almost Everything In Life Is A Distraction

As we are finding out in the times of #coronavirus almost everything is a distraction from what really matters. You really can’t put a price-tag on certain things. They are beyond a particular value to you. You’d give up everything, even your life, for those things.

You are one of those things for me. But you know that already.

In the end your relationships and personal values don’t have a price-tag. And you should never exchange something priceless for a price.

Keeping things in proper perspective allows you to remove everything non-essential from your life. It allows you to live simply and laser-focused, and to avoid dead-end roads leading nowhere. Take it from someone who has started more than 9 companies. And am proud of only 3 of them…

“You cannot overestimate the unimportance of practically everything.”

— Greg McKeown

11. Don’t Wait To Start

Thinking about starting businesses. You don’t have to do this. You don’t need to be an entrepreneur (I am not even sure I am one.) But I am very proud – that I helped develop www.YourFLOCK.co.uk as a tool to help managers with remote workers and their company cultures…

Why is it so important to me? Well… But if you don’t purposefully carve time out every day to progress and improve on whatever it is. Without question, your time will get lost. In the vacuum of our increasingly crowded lives. And … Before you know it, you’ll be old and withered — wondering where all that time went.

“You pile up enough tomorrows, and you’ll find you are left with nothing but a lot of empty yesterdays.” — Meredith Willson

Life is short. Don’t wait for tomorrow for something you could do today. Your future self will either thank you or shamefully defend you.

12. Begin with the end in mind.

Start from the end and work backward. Rather than thinking about what’s plausible, or what’s expected, or what makes sense — start with what you want. Or as Covey put it in 7 Habits. “Begin with the end clearly in mind.”

What do you want to do and why? Once that’s nailed down, then dictate the daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly behaviors that will facilitate that. As often in life people find that they….

“Spend their whole lives climbing the ladder of success only to find, once they reach the top, that the ladder is leaning against the wrong wall.”

— Thomas Merton

13. Retirement Should Never Be The Goal

This is absolutely key. And as more and more people get to retirement age — they are finding out. A whole generation had it wrong.

Most people planning for retirement begin slowing down in their 40’s and 50’s. The sad part is, as momentum-based beings when you begin to slow down, you start a hard-to-reverse decaying process.

Research has found that retirement often:

Increases the difficulty of mobility and daily activities
Increases the likelihood of becoming ill
And decreases mental health

“To retire is to die.” — Pablo Casals

Today’s work is knowledge-based. Perhaps for your generation — it will be emotions? Who knows? But unless. It goes back to physical labour. Retirement should never be the goal.

We are fully capable to work — in some capacity — until our final breath. Contrary to popular belief, humans are like wine and get better with age.

14. Yesterday Is More Important Than Today

Our present circumstances are a reflection of our past decisions. Although we have enormous power to change the trajectory of our lives here and now, we are where we are because of our past. While it’s popular to say the past doesn’t matter, that simply is not true.

Today is tomorrow’s yesterday.

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”

— Chinese Proverb

What we do today will either enhance or diminish our future-present moments. Which is why you haven’t seen me for a while. And why. When we get together. We will “locking down” for 21 days. Together. To help others and to save people we will never meet.

As what we do today. Now. Is. Important. For the future… As the saying for eons ago says…