The Eb and flow of work

It's been an interesting few days. Many years ago, when I first realised that being an engineer meant a life of learning, re-learning, exploring, researching just so that you could provide useful design solutions for your all important bosses and clients... I actually thought that our profession was fairly unique that way. That was until today.

I have begun to realise that when you take the plunge and decide to work for yourself, you accept a huge responsibility to never ever stop learning. Those who fall into the trap of believing that you have arrived, and have nothing else to learn, BEWARE. It's not that I think that I am anywhere near that point... not at all. I do have a warning to be well heeded though.

When we stop learning we can easily stop caring for others professionally. Should we find ourselves at our peak, looking down, observing all those still working hard to achieve personal and professional goals, then something else has to fill that void. We begin to substitute our own goals for vain attempts to maintain our superiority in the market place by whatever means. For example, moving the 'goal posts' is a common occurrence OR even a little bit of scaremongering by tapping into the paranoia surrounding the perceived scarcity of work! When I see this kind of behaviour, I can almost taste the fear in them. We are creatures that abhor fear.




There are times that when paying attention to your competitors in business can be an advantage, but whilst you are doing this - who is concentrating on YOUR individual futures? These futures are which makes us unique as a person and a business.

So tell me, if you find yourself working hard to keep yourself in business at the expense of those close behind, who is watching your flanks? Who is planning your new strategies?

My conclusion can only be that being committed to learning, having your own unique plan AND being adaptable to change makes for a potent skill set in business. Alternatively, being committed to self interest; spoiler tactics and resisting change.... will more than likely leave you without work and broken.

I do not offer evidence to any of the above, just a new and motivational way of thinking ;)


Engine[er]

Location:In bed, home :)

Teach Yourself How To Run: Part Four

Hopefully you have already made the most of your opportunities to get out for a few runs and put into practice some of my advice.

I realise that it's hard. Taking counter-intuitive advice, or even worse, advice that you agree with but still haven't managed to drum up the courage to implement.

Just remember, you are trying to alter your perception of the experience of running. So with that thought in mind... let's try an experiment with you on your next run. Please be advised that for this experiment to fully have a chance at working, you must already have run a few times consistently AND must be on very good form. SO, if you are neither of them... then sort that out FIRST!

This experiment needs total commitment and fit, fresh legs.

Here goes. I have named this experiment 'soldier syndrome'. This is because I started using it when I was originally training in the RAF many moons ago.

SOLDIER SYNDROME
the power of the imagination
On your normal route which you have been running, pick a nice flat and straight length of path to try this out. As you run, calm yourself in your mind, try to imagine what it feels like to be your legs. Close/squint your eyes a little. Concentrate on that darkness and how you legs feel. Really try hard to imagine. Imagine your strong strides and feeeel the steps being absorbed into your feet, your muscles all the way up to your thigh, as it effortlessly lifts you legs off if the ground, time after time - rhythmerically like a metronome. Right, so far this has been easy to imagine and if you have gotten this far... CONCENTRATE ON ONE LEG ONLY. Imagine that single leg, and go deep within yourself. Try to remember how this makes you feel.

Now imagine your leg becoming heavier.. heavier and less mobile. With each stride, imagine it becoming more and more difficult to lift, and imagine the how the additional effort is making you feel, tiring you out. Whilst you run, you can feel your leg slowing you down... but you can still work just hard enough to lift it. Working harder and harder to compensate  for your leg which feels like it's made from lead or concrete. Puff and pant if you need to generate the additional effort that you need to drag your leg from the ground.

OK once you have done this for long enough to actually feel the energy being sapped from you... continue running. Shake off that feeling. Your leg is free from tiredness again and is made from bone and elastic muscle - not concrete. In-fact, you can feel that the leg is pulsing with energy and power. Imagine the leg pumping with a glowing energy as you strike the ground each time. Kinetic energy from each step is fully replenishing your own pool of body fuel  and once you have reached a balance feeling then it is best to try to finish off your run without experimenting any further.

I used this technique in the past to either make my exercise challenges harder or easier dependant on what affect i wanted. It was a way to test myself and increase my mental stamina - and it worked.

So give it chance. Toy with the idea that you can imagine greater effort by simply thinking about it. The benefits are massive to your motivation.

Engine[er]



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:on Train journey from St Albans to London

The Idiots Guide to Interdependence

Life is a team sport and this means that when you are in business, there is massive need to collaborate (as explained in my last post) and share work with people who over time you learn to trust. Interdependence is a term which explains the same business phenomenon BUT with a understated downside.

It is said that the best business idioms involves the easiest route to market, the simplest of ideas, plans most relevant to your chosen environment and the LEAST amount of interdependence on others. Which of course flys in the face of good ol' team work. Not entirely the best correlation to draw at this time, but I'm going to explore it nether-the-less.

When 'business gurus' suggest that interdependence on others is a bad thing, they mean you to understand this in context of what it is that you wish to achieve. For example; any kind of scalable or franchise business will rely upon external help. Whether that be shipping or frontline sales people. There is no getting away from it all. Therefore within your future business plans, allow for expansion into these areas so that you will not have to completely rely upon others. Its all about calculated risks.... or risks that you understand and can live with.

What about me? Well I am as much a calculated risk for others as they are to me. I try my hardest to communicate as much as possible so that those who use my services, understand the problems I face which can affect my ability to deliver. Being honest and open builds meaningful relationships.

Customers and clients do not want to hear about your problems, they want to see results. So the easiest way to serve yourself is to be frank with those who you expect to deliver for you and your clients. Don't let your interdependencies affect your future business relationships. Take control.

Engine[er]

Location:St Pancras train station

Key Collaboration

Another belated blog update from me today. Please excuse my tardiness.

2 weeks ago I met with an excellent fellow business owner based in Oxfordshire. Just like me he underpins his own business using the skills earned over years of consultancy work for other companies. Indeed the gentleman that I met with is another structural engineer. You may be thinking, what is it that I am doing consorting with another business in market competition with mine? It's worth me chatting about that for a blog post - I think.

Whether we like it or not, the business world is tightly interlinked with many available avenues of work, networking and learning. Shutting yourself off from others in your field of experience seems to me like you are flicking the v's to opportunity and reason... feels like should be trying to make room for improvement more.

When I started my business, I didn't want to cut my self off as I wanted the choice to be able to share work if I got inundated... I wanted choices. The ability to collaborate and help others whilst helping myself too. Win-win.

When I met this engineering fella.. I found a kindred spirit. Someone willing to push ahead and utilise the latest tech available to help with future expansion and scaling issues. His eye well and truly fixated on the future. I admired that. I relate to that.

What happens if you can't deliver during a fast expansion? You annoy your clients. All that hard work laid to waste because you couldn't manage the work load. Better to have someone who you want to trust to help you out and vice versa, surely?

For a solitary engineer there are lots and lots of other reasons for joining forces... specialisms... key competencies... enjoyment of work tasks that you actually want to do... The list goes on. Trust is what you need and collaboration can only only start one way. With you. Try it.

Might be the best thing that you ever did for your work life balance.

Engine[er]

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Banbury, Oxfordshire

Late Announcement

Sorry for the late news cast - (but most of you know already) as from Monday 1st August 2011, I have finally stepped into the business world lock stock and barrel! After deciding to leave full-time employment to chase my dream of running my own business, I now have free reign to work on my own projects. The moment has arrived and I'm feeling kinda weird and excited :-)

I have been running my business during my spare time for a few months now... but right here and right now... I feel that I have finally made a full-time commitment and taken the final step.

Many thanks to everyone who has ever worked with me and given me the confidence to make this happen; my Dad for being an 'immovable object' and painfully right all the time, my mum for making me feel special, my first bosses and mentors Peter/Howard/Taz/Shauny for listening and giving me a chance at a career when it looked pretty useless for me, my best mates Paul/Neil who stuck with me when I was being an idiot and successfully squandering every chance that life threw at me, Sgt. Tommo in the RAF (2620) for teaching me that life is a team sport, and I had what it take to do whatever I put my mind to... but he mostly swore at me though. Thanks to Kevin Barter who really gave me the passion for Engineering and for doing a proper job in the face of adversity/idiocy, my friends in Bristol for helping me enjoy many extra curricular activities and everybody else who has listened to me rant, rave and spit and swear about life, love, friends, and family - but still believed in me and gave me the confidence to go it alone.

Big thanks to my last employers too for showing me (to their detriment) that I was ready to spring into action and make it happen for myself.

Finally a huge heart felt thank-you to Sammy for putting up with me and continuing to be there whilst I slowly found my business 'sea legs'.

This is only the beginning.

Engine[er]

Teach Yourself How To Run: Part Three

Hi, and welcome back to my free lessons on how to put one foot in front of the other fast enough to be called running. Or jogging.

I have been getting quite a lot of running in recently and it has given me plenty of time to think of what I might talk to you about next. Todays lesson follows on nicely from the last session, and how to beat those mind controlling gremlins. YOU CAN DO THIS! It is easy.

Start with dampening down your lazy urges. Running along my normal route just last week, I reached a short sharp hilly lane ( I call it the 'gut freeze'), this horrendously steep lane is neatly halved by a kissing gate. On an average day I would run up to the gate and launch myself to the side and onto the adjacent fence, effectively jumping over the gate. It keeps me moving and makes me feel good. But last week as I began the climb up the lane.. I had this gut wrenching, nagging thought that I was too tired to jump over the fence, and that I would play it safe and walk through the gate. Just as I approached the gate I forced myself to change my mind. I upturned my belief that I was tired and made the jump.

Sailing through the air and landing on the other side I really felt empowered by doing this and realised that I had taken on a mini mind challenge... and beat it. When I run I continuously attempt to do the same thing but in slightly different ways... you try this. It may be that simply not stopping is your goal for your runs, but make sure that it is a challenge. Another challenge is when you take a turning on your run and you are faced with a tiny short cut across the grass instead of following the path... FORCE YOURSELF to follow the path around. You will know that you have done something special - because it will just happen to you, your gut will shrink and then BAM! You take on the challenge.  For me, I knew that I my change of mind made a big difference to me because the pit of my stomach cringed and heavily resisted the gate jump... I had changed my mind against all the odds.

This is what running does for you. You can see challenges, and obstacles - but they only represent another way to test your resolve, fitness and need to win. This is an exciting skill and mindset to experience - and trust me, you will need this in your life if you decide to run or start up your own business.

Tell me all about your experiences please...

Engine[er]