Some of you will still ponder the descriptor that I use, Experiential Architect. And yes, I do get some phone calls now and then asking for me to design amazing, interesting houses.
This particular ‘title’ came from a coaching moment with a fine Australian leadership coach, Dan Collins. We were at a Thought Leaders Conference - in Sydney some years ago, and Dan was helping me narrow down ‘what I did to help people’.
During the Middle Ages, rats were responsible for the transfer of fleas that carried the deadly Black Plague. A bounty was placed upon each rat that was caught. It was not necessary to produce the entire rat as proof of capture; the rat's hind quarters were cut from the body - leaving only the tail and the "arse". The amount paid by the local governments was approximately equivalent to a penny a dozen. The rat’s arses would be presented as a bundle and exchanged for money. However there became so many rats the price dropped incredibly low and they were almost worthless.
Hence the phrase -"not worth a rat's ass" – “don’t give a rat’s arse”.
How do you commute from the bedroom to work?
Curious question.
Commuting is a ritual.
A habit is formed; there is a rhythm; we buy our coffee at a certain place, we sit in a preferred part of the train, often park in a familiar space, in other words, we embed and repeat a process that gets us safely, both physically and mentally from home to our work space. This forms a separation from one environment to another.
Why are we so easily distracted?
The fascinating thing about the human brain is that it has a natural bias to be curious about seeking constant and new information. Why? The more information we have, the better we can assess and mitigate danger. But our primal brain is at the crossroads with technology availability as we’ve never experienced it before. And we are exposed to both external distraction (events) and internal distraction (worry or anxiety). We seek constant distraction, but it leads to cognitive overload (overwhelm). Go figure.
I love those mornings where you stay deeply cocooned in your scrummy blankets, soft pillows and even better, that long-awaited couple of hours where you've got the whole bed to yourself.
I'm not sure about you but I have really sensitive hearing which affects my ability to sleep. And it's quite specific as to what it can hear
It doesn’t matter how many hours I put into my day, I am just not: “catching up, getting on top of, making progress, winning”.
Are you pedaling that hamster wheel way too fast but end the day in the same spot?
And in that ‘spot’ are we feeling overwhelmed and tired?
Are you an ‘Anxiety Hero’, able to jump to the very worst conclusion in a single bound?
Do you dream of sitting on the kitchen floor with a huge tub of ice-cream and eating-it-all?
Or is the pursuit of magnificent grapefruit flavoured Gin, (or even just plain old Gin), your end of day therapy?
