What I'm pondering or thinking about at this time....

Saturday Musings – When Life Gets Too Much

Choosing what's important...

Have you ever found yourself overwhelmed by the number of things on your todo list or find yourself fighting battles on numerous fronts at once only to discover someone’s planted a knife in your back? If that’s you then keep on reading…..

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Thankfully I didn’t have to pluck a metaphorical knife from my back but my todo list was ever expanding. I’m no stranger to working hard so naturally I convinced myself that working longer and more intensely was the solution…..boy was I wrong.

The interesting thing about my situation was that I was juggling way too many business opportunities, all the while ParkLogic was having one record month after another. So, I found myself working fifteen-hour days with a maximum of six hours sleep before hitting my desk once again. You can do this in the short-term but it wasn’t long before it started becoming the longer-term….which is never a good thing.

What did I do about the situation? I went away. Yep, I took off for a couple of nights into a beautiful spot in the country to do some heavy thinking. To be fair, my wife said, “You’re miserable, go and get your head right!”

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Wolftalker
16 June 2019
mgilmour
And it was and is a work in progress....
17 June 2019
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Saturday Musings - The Most Destructive Force in the Universe

The destructive power of gossip.

In this blog I would like to share with you about a force more impactful than a trade war and more destructive than an atomic bomb. Each of these incredibly powerful events are nothing compared to the power that can be unleashed by gossip. Yes, you read that correctly, gossip.

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With the power of an ill-spoken word a friendship can be destroyed, a marriage torn asunder and children estranged. I’ve seen it and I imagine you've seen or even experienced it. In particular, the power unleashed by gossip can undermine an organisation and ruin the synergies of teamwork in a flash.

Gossip is when something is shared in a negative manner and the listener has no ability to influence the situation. It seems pretty innocuous, but it doesn’t take long for the negativity to develop a life of its own.

I can guarantee that the person being shared about will eventually hear about what is being said about them. Could you imagine being them? None of the people they thought were friends and colleagues had their back and stopped the spreading of the vicious hurtful rumour. They end up feeling hurt, disenfranchised and no longer part of the team.

Gossip is so insidious that often starts small and grows and grows! For instance, did you hear that John had a fight with his wife, took off down the pub to drown his sorrows and ended up being found by the police sleeping on a park bench the next morning.

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Saturday Musings - Winter is Coming...

Winter is Coming....

Winter has come to Melbourne, Australia and not just Game of Thrones, Westeros. Outside my study window, blustery winds pelt pebble sized hail down to create a white sheet of rubbly ice on the grass. Inadvertently I pull the zip of my sweater up a little higher as if that alone will ward off the cold.

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This scenario is replayed out around the world but not just in the weather but in business. You’ve been working hard on your business for years and for some reason along comes an event that completely blindsides you. It could be a supplier changes the rules, a major customer moves elsewhere or even a piece of equipment breaks down. Whatever the event you find yourself thrust into winter.

It’s during times like this that businesses either remake themselves or they fold. During winter, it’s often less about profit (or loss) and more about the resilience of the balance sheet to make it through this time. For small businesses, it’s all about protecting the cash.

Winter is a time of assessing what is really important for your business and what is merely an interesting opportunity. Every expense item should come under scrutiny and it’s less about the size of the item and more about the process of asking the nasty question, “Do we really need this?”

I remember when the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) hit in 2008, marketers had their budgets cut and the bottom started falling out of the pay-per-click market. The double whammy for us was the Australian dollar rapidly appreciated against the $US and climbed to just over $1.10. It was a time of winter and one that very few predicted.

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Guest — bob
it's always summer somewhere - walk on the sunny side of the street
02 June 2019
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Saturday Musings – There’s No Such Thing as Freedom of Speech

Freedom of speech sounds wonderful but many of us need to have a reality check and realise that it has never existed, it doesn’t exist and will never exist into the future. At this point you may be getting a little miffed with me for such an audacious claim, after all, “Who has the right to tell you what you can say?” Well…..me actually….to be fair, not just me but us.

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As soon as we decide to become a part of a society, we give up many of our rights and the first of these is our “freedom of speech”. Social norms will either chastise you until you submit to good and proper conduct or in the more extreme examples the law will come to bear to assist you in modifying your behaviour.

That being said, I’m actually a strong advocate that society needs to become more tolerant to those people that say completely outlandish things. By tolerance, I don’t mean accept what they are saying but rather allowing them to say it.

For instance, I’m completely against neo-Nazi fascism but I will defend their right to express their views as long as it is in a non-violent manner. Why is this? Every time I hear a neo-Nazi in the news express their outrageous views it reinforces my own perspective to distance myself from their propaganda.

Likewise, I respect a person’s right to express their views on matters such as sexuality. Just because I defend their right to share their opinion does not necessarily mean I agree with their position.

I see there are three problems that have emerged around “freedom of speech”:
1.    Censorship
2.    Lack of considered debate
3.    Who decides what is acceptable?

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vanclute
Ahhh but there *is* such a thing as "freedom of speech". It's just that most people don't understand what it actually means. All... Read More
04 May 2019
mgilmour
Yes, you are right in saying that freedom of speech is freedom from prosecution.....but this has now changed. The patriot act (and... Read More
04 May 2019
Guest — Rob Monster - Epik.com
This is definitely "red meat". It is also timely. Short thoughts here since the topic has been covered at length on NamePros: 1... Read More
04 May 2019
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Saturday Musings – What's Easter All About?

Long time ago (about 40 years) in a country far, far away (ie. Canada) I woke up on the Sunday after Good Friday to an Easter Egg hunt. With the recent release of the latest Star Wars trailer I really couldn’t resist writing the previous sentence…..for me, as a child, Easter was all about chocolate eggs and rabbits.

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While at a Good Friday church service yesterday I received a skype message from a client in another nation and I was reminded that not everyone celebrates Easter or even knows why it exists. Easter is a Christian celebration and it does not trace its roots back to Cadbury and Hershey but rather to a man named Jesus.

My father is a church minister and he explained to me how Christianity is summarised at Easter time. Rather than humanity reaching upwards to God by trying to be “good”, God reached down to man by sending us his only son, Jesus. Easter is about remembering how Jesus willing laid his life down for all of humanity and that he became the sacrificial bridge between a loving father in heaven and us all.

I thought this was a pretty good explanation (thanks Dad!) as at its heart Easter is about an incredible act of selfless love.

I’m always amazed at the courage of veterans in the armed forces who lay down their life for others, or police officers and emergency workers that run into harms way (and sometimes sadly die) to save a complete stranger. These individuals express the highest form of love that is the heart of Easter. In fact, the Bible says, “Greater love has no man when he lays his life down for another.” (Michael’s paraphrase).

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Guest — Robin J Parnaby
Michael : As I mentioned above,in your post. Your post struck a cord within me.Firstly I would like to wish the best Easter greeti... Read More
20 April 2019
mgilmour
Robin, Great to hear from you and I wish you a happy Easter as well. It's so sad that such good people have been lost in their sel... Read More
23 April 2019
Rawgi
I would agree that the giving of one's self to save others is a given, not a choice. the thinking would be, what am i, but one.... Read More
24 April 2019
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