www.chrisweatherburn.com

Newsletter – No 1 September 2020

Greetings!

Welcome to my first email update which aims to keep you thinking positively, share some recent learning and help you get the most out of your life!

So first an update – why a website?

Several years ago I got into the habit of sharing my book reviews on a Facebook group, then got thrown out of the group for providing a non-controversial review of a Donald Trump book.  So I decided why not make my own Facebook group.  Did this around 4 years ago, now has over 600 members from 60 countries all across the world.  If you like looking at data Facebook do provide you with the opportunity to download various metrics from this, this is a good thing.  However, Facebook could just remove the group and all posts and connections would be lost.  Therefore set up www.chrisweatherburn.com, opted for this name and to be fair inspired to make the website after listening to this blog interviewing Dr Ali Abdaal.

My website also aims to broaden my impact on the world by sharing the content I produce more widely.  Instead of solely a Facebook group am going to try to upload posts to my website, share these on Twitter and also start to do YouTube videos.  Over the years have gained an understanding of these platforms but am certainly no influencer.  In terms of YouTube it is really a learning process but have already established need to keep these shorter.  Would encourage you all to try here I think fail fast is the way forward.  Will need to work this one up more.

Recently have read Jim Collins – Great By Choice

Well this book is not that great but does highlight that you can’t control many factors but keep ‘marching’ in a direction that you can control.  Fire ‘bullets’ often, these are small minimal effort, minimal risk changes. Until you are ready to fire your ‘cannon’ the large effort in the correct direction.  These lessons are clearly applicable to not just business and day to day life.

Planning on exploring Instagram – so set up an account, feel free to check my Instagram out and let me know what you think. Soon realised didn’t really understand the point of Instagram.  After being constantly bombarded by spam bots thought would give a book about making money on Instagram this a quick read, check out my review.  I summarise the mains points and have at least put up the suggested ‘cool’ photos with relevant hashtags.  Think will put Instagram on hold for the moment.

The main concept would like to highlight in this newsletter is a method of remembering items in a certain order using a mind map.

If you ever wanted to play the conveyor belt memory challenge on the television programme thee Generation Game it would be useful for playing. Wouldn’t recommend watching a full re-run of any episode of the Generation Game but someone on Youtube has made a cartoon version of the game you could check out.

The trick is to create a mind map of a familiar route such as entering your house, remember this in detail and number objects.  When you then try to remember a new list think of the list that you have learnt based on the route and make in your mind both these objects vividly interact.

So for example, in my house have done this; objects as follows:

1. Clock
2. Dishwasher
3. Kettle
4. Microwave
5. Oven
6. Lava Lamp
7. Google Home
8. Keyboard
9. Computer
10. TV
11. Fire
12. Table Football
13. Bookshelf
14. Sofa
15. Router
16. Radiator
17. Mirror
18. Toilet
19. Sink
20. Shower

Have even added stickers to make me remember these clearly and also to teach the concept to my children.

Then when I encounter a list of things it is easier to remember then and recall the position in that order.  So for example this diagram below:

I would look at these and vividly think:

1. Clock and Bike
2. Dishwasher and Apple
3. Kettle and Dog
4. Microwave and Cola
5. Oven and Plane
6. Lava Lamp and Coffee
7. Google home and handshake
8. Keyboard and Ball
9. Computer and Tooth
10. TV and number nine
11. Fire and Bird
12. Table Football and Tree
13. Bookshelf and House
14. Sofa and Piano
15. Router and Axe
16. Radiator and letter K
17. Mirror and Car
18. Toilet and Cake
19. Sink and Umbrella
20. Shower and Party Hat

You can reuse this mental list as long as you remember your first list very well!  Ideally you have a few lists in your head to ‘peg’ things onto in case you need to remember similar items.

1. Clock and Bus
2. Dishwasher and Cook
3. Kettle and Teacher
4. Microwave and exam result
5. Oven and Letters
6. Lavalamp and Calendar
7. Google home and girl by door
8. Keyboard and Slide
9. Computer and Basketball
10. TV and chemistry
11. Fire and Swing
12. Table football and helmet
13. Bookshelf and food tray
14. Sofa and Pencil
15. Router and Numbers
16. Radiator and Guitar

It is not perfect but with a bit of practice could help remember things.  The difficulty is who needs to remember a list of things now anyway as everyone has their phone!

Hope this has been useful.  Plan to write occasional newsletters.

It would really help if you could try to ask seven people within 10 days to sign up.  Got this magic number from a Netflix documentary.   This will help my mailing list to grow and sustain my motivation to write these

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www.chrisweatherburn.com

Greetings!

Welcome to my second newsletter in which am excited to share tips to help you get the most out of your life.

It dawns on me that there is a real skill to be able to speak well in videos. These maybe the only chance you get to pitch you point across and can potentially be viewed by millions. Useful for pre interview screening, pitching a funding requests, launching new products, explaining a concept or perhaps a small advert. Other than practice, not being afraid to try and fail I wondered what other things are available to help you. Then I stumbled upon the fact that the ‘teleprompter’ technology, the stuff that newsreaders use is freely available to anyone who owns a smart phone or a computer.

For example here is a free teleprompter website for a computer and one for android.

The advantages of using a teleprompter are that you will not miss points that you planned to include and you can change the speed the text runs. This means you can get adjust to your speed of speech and predict the time your videos will take. Although, using this does mean you need to make a script, set it up and get used to reading to the camera it is probably worthwhile. Will let you know a benefit of writing a script in a future newsletter (teaser alert!).

To make it look like you are not reading a script try putting the text small so viewers won’t see your eyes dart around as much. Works well at the top of a smart phone just below the camera. Certainly am no expert at using this, having solely made one video but think it is definitely worth mentioning to others to consider using and I certainly plan to use this again in future. Now when I look at lots of professional videos it is clear to me they use teleprompting.

It is worth considering not using teleprompting and instead solely making videos spontaneously such as this one. Would be interested to know which you feel looks better.

As always have been reading, or more accurately listening to audiobooks. Particularly enjoyed reading about different ways of becoming a genius the main concept to highlight is called ‘satisfies’. Unlike perfectionism in which multiple revisions are required, satisfies is doing things to a satisfactory standard but being prolific. By putting out a lot of content one of your things may actually be very good. In addition it is always worthwhile reading about negotiation, remember the first goal of negotiation is to know exactly what you want, then attempt to create value by assessing what both parties want. If what both parties want is different then there is a chance you can come to a good compromise.

Will leave you with a thought that Above &| Beyond have just celebrated 20 years of producing awesome Anjunabeats music. It is my belief this group are a true inspiration and demonstrate that if you work on something you love, together with a shared goal then persistence can indeed pay off. In addition Above & Beyond adapted to changing times and now utilise social media to it’s maximum potential. Certainly an inspiration to all.

Hope that helps, have a great October!

Dear Friends,

As clocks have moved backwards, the short benefit of the extra hour in bed has been replaced with dark evenings and numerous virtual
meetings.

I realised in these current times it is of paramount importance to be able to use a screen recorder. Some are easy enough to use but lack great functionality and several have a watermark printed on the screen. Having tried a few I sincerely believe that OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) is excellent, available for Windows, macOS and Linux. Free to download and the functionality certainly has more than what you could hope for. Main sponsor is Twitch which is also a great if you want to do live streaming or watch world class DJs performing in their kitchens as clubs
are shut.

Plan to utilise screen recording to make a few instructional educational videos with ‘nuggets’ of wisdom, here is an example in which I am demonstrating the desktop version of BMJ Best Practice.

Recently I had the pleasure of presenting about the topic of Negotiation to the Scottish Digital Health and Care Network. The full presentation can be viewed here (warning it is 50 minutes). To summarise the key to negotiation is to firstly be clear about what you want. Be sure to listen, take the time to understand what the other party values and try to put yourself their shoes. With preparation you can understand their proclivity, aim for win – win situations in which value is created for all, being a nice person also helps!

With Christmas coming up, and lockdown ongoing would urge you to consider using a Cashback website to earn some money back when you purchase things online. A cashback website is a website that you visit first then click the store such as eBay through the website prior to making
your purchases. The one I use is Quidco and here is my referral link which currently states you would get £5 cashback for signing up, it is free and may give you some extra coins 

Tweet of the month

Hope you all enjoy whatever it is you are doing at the moment, even all those virtual meetings!

Until next time,

Chris

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www.chrisweatherburn.com

Newsletter – No 4 December 2020

Dear Friends,

People ask me why am I doing this?

The honest answer is to share knowledge which I believe will help people. In addition it is about learning, my learning to be specific which provides some motivation.

Getting this website off the ground has enhanced my knowledge of:

Available applications

Computers in general

Mailing list management

Marketing

Screen recording software

Social Media

Presentation skills

Video production

Website development

Unlike lots of scientific disciplines in which one does things aiming for a certain outcome am really doing this to just see if it works and hope that what I share people find useful.

Tweet of the Month

Have thought a bit about social media and looked at several ‘viral’ Twitter posts – it is interesting to note that a popular post may have tens of thousands of likes and retweets but the person who made the initial Tweet gains very few followers. Have attempted to go in with an open mind and engage with some people who have very different views from me. It is fascinating how argumentative some people are, using absolutes and being clearly wrong but not willing to change their views. That is fine, let them be.

In real life perhaps some would describe these people as ‘toxic’ or perhaps they would be too busy looking at their phone trolling someone. I have come to think of a ‘toxic’ person like a boulder rolling down a hill. You can’t really change the rock rolling downwards, perhaps at best you can steer it in the right direction.  Due to gravity if you are not careful you may potentially be crushed and severely injure yourself by attempting to stop this.

You may recall Sisyphus, a figure from Greek mythology who had the eternal punishment of rolling a boulder up a hill, so be easy on yourself.  At times it is better to simply step out of the way and simply observe rock’s descent. At one point I do plan to get a photo of a boulder rolling down a hill for my office at work!

In the past I found social media is useful to organise events, however given a certain pandemic that has been difficult this year. Spirits are lower than usual at this magical time of the year. So thinking about happiness, if you want to improve yours – one tip is to stop reading the news. We must be very mindful about what news we expose ourselves to, given the brain’s negativity bias. The brain has a tendency to remember bad things more than good things as well as a recall bias in which it is easier to recall something we have heard recently. Therefore it is important to fill yourself and surround yourself with uplifting things.

On that note will wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2021!

Chris

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Copyright © *2020* *chrisweatherburn*, All rights reserved.
*ww.chrisweatherburn.com*

A new year is a great time to set new challenges for yourself and strategically assess how your life is going and plan what you want to achieve. Am an advocate of new years goals rather than resolutions. It tends to be good things happen as a result of goals, for example a few years back I challenged myself to undertake every group exercise class in my local gym. Had thought wouldn’t enjoy these but it turned out I enjoyed them all, now incorporating these classes into my day to day routine. To be honest didn’t really feel in place in Aquarobics, being the only man and probably the only person who was not retired but everyone was always welcoming. Some people may not try new things as they perceive others are watching and judging, this is called the ‘spotlight effect’. The truth is most other people tend to have their focus on themselves rather than looking out for people to judge.

Remember, passions grow out of action, so take action and experience new things.

My challenge have set myself this year is to proactively start my own YouTube channel username ‘MegaCW007’. The main content will be uploading will be VLOGs summarising key learning points from books that I read. Really am looking forward to this learning journey. Feel free to check it out, like and subscribe 

Tweet of the Month

A new years resolution to stop something can mean you may expend your mental energy on not doing something rather than being in the moment and enjoying the thing you are doing. If that is what you want to do good luck, but would suggest trying to replace the thing you want to stop with a behaviour you want to do to so you can use your energy focusing on this. It is hard to achieve flow state if you are depleting your energy not doing something. Make it easier to do the desired behaviour and harder to do the one you want to stop, this taking batteries out of a TV remote and putting your gym bag in your car. The fact that gyms are not going to be open for awhile does mean that deliberately incorporating ways to prompt a healthy routine is even more important now than ever.

Flow state is when you are living in the moment, being able to completely focus on one task, this is what mindfulness is based on and what living life to the full is all about. Learning to ski as an adult is an example in which I had to use my absolute focus on the moment, to not fall over and is a way of inducing this flow state. Learning skiing was also a great way to meet good friends. Have heard a similar thing said about riding a motorbike, in which when the visor is down it is your absolute focus. Have never driven a motorbike and have no plans to do this, it is not because I don’t want to meet ‘bikers’, I believe every person is potentially a wonderful individual that can teach you something. Am using this example to point out that stereotypes tend to be short cuts in decision making, which although can be handy, but the downside with these generalisations is that they can lead to a culture of ignorance and racism. Personally plan not to drive a motorbike and stick to a car purely for safety reasons.

Social media is what we are turning to for entertainment as further lockdowns occur. The opportunities are enormous however if you seek validation by comparing yourself to others then you may face a hard time. My suggestion would be to engage and learn with others, collaborate and help others. If you are competing with others on number of followers it is bound to end in misery as there is always a bigger fish. There are websites when you can simply buy someone else’s account with lots of followers. In addition results may occur many years after you start something with persistent effort, when you don’t make an immediate gain compared to others it is too easy to stop.

So will leave this January Newsletter wishing you all well and suggesting you practice gratitude about what went well, this will help you in all aspects of your life!

My VLOG of the month

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Dear Friends,

Hope that 2021 is going as well as it can for you all.

At the moment in the United Kingdom there is a national lockdown so it is extremely important that  we look after ourselves and find useful things to occupy or minds with.  As I mentioned in my last newsletter, am planning on making 50 videos on YouTube this year summarising books.  If you have any books that you recommend would love to hear from you, please get in touch!

This challenge provides me with the opportunity to learn more about video editing and have found that OpenShot is an excellent bit of open-source software, simple and powerful, it is free to download.  In the past I played a DJ game in which you constructed your own music moving blocks around, never would have predicted that almost two decades later those skills are coming in handy.  To me, this is an example that if you always take opportunities to learn over time you never know when the skills you have learnt may help.  There is always a chance they will compound into greatness.

Tweet of the Month

An interesting study I read about was titled Envy on Facebook: A Hidden Threat to Users’ Life Satisfaction, this shows that ‘passive following (on Facebook) exacerbates envy feelings, which decrease life satisfaction.  This is challenging as many of us are looking to social media to cope with lockdown life.

One of the challenges of starting up a YouTube channel and a mailing list is that inevitably you then comparing to more successful people which can be demoralising.  However it is important to have metrics to determine if you are being successful and certainly you can learn from others.   Equally being aware that we are all unique is important to remember when comparing metrics to others, the VLOG below highlights this.

My VLOG of the month

Thought provokingly would like to introduce the concept of types of thinking from Neuro Lingistic Profiling (NLP).  If you think in first person you may appear self-centred, second person too accommodating, third person at times too cold.  Being aware of this empowers you to be able to alter your thinking pattern to help analyse a situation from a variety of viewpoints.

Will leave you with this one challenge, try to think  ‘behind every behaviour is a positive intention toward you.’ this will help you practice gratitude.

Until next time, take care,

Chris

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Dear Friends,

If you have never thought about how to best deliberately use your mind and optimise the way you think, it is worth taking a few moments to reflect on this. A book that I have read suggests you are your mind, which is separate from your brain.  At times your brain can provide unhelpful thoughts. If you intentionally direct your attention you can improve the your thinking. I summarise a book ‘You Are Not Your Brain’ in some detail which recommends the following steps to help reduce unhelpful thinking:

Step 1: Relabel—Identify your deceptive brain messages

Step 2: Reframe—Change your perception of the importance of the deceptive brain messages

Step 3: Refocus—Direct your attention toward an activity or mental process that is wholesome and productive

Step 4: Revalue—Clearly see deceptive brain messages as something to dismiss, not focus on).

Remember you speak to yourself more than anybody else!

Tweet of the Month

This light hearted Tweet resonated with me as it summarises the challenges of home schooling and is a good example of actively looking for humour in day to day life.

Regarding YouTube am well on my way to my self-imposed challenge of summarising 50 books this year.  Have been putting out quite a few so selecting my video of the month is harder!  Have opted for this book, Principles by Ray Dalio, a fairly dry book that has a lot of useful learning points.  I summarise it in just over 11 minutes and hopefully have removed the need for you to read this fairly dry book yourself!

YouTube Video of the Month

If there is a book that you would like me to summarise please get touch, will consider it!

Until next time, take care,

Chris

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Dear Friends,

In the United Kingdom there has been an ongoing lockdown due to coronavirus restrictions, with no indoor meetings and only meeting up to one person.  Spring has arrived and there has been a recent announcement about being able to meet more people outdoors for exercise.  This is good news, hopefully it will lead to more people becoming active, although suspect will lead to more people purporting meeting for outdoor “sport”.

Previously I used to enjoy squash, clearly not best for social distancing so took up tennis instead when this was allowed.  Haven’t been able to play this either for some time so have taken up a new sport – Stand Up Paddleboarding (SUP).  If not windy, this is an excellent refreshing trip out, learnt this from a couple of excellent YouTube videos, here is one.  Have got more than one board so if any of you are local to Tayside and fancy something different please get in touch, assuming you can swim! My website has been updated with some background about SUP and if you have any feedback would be delighted to hear this.

Tweet of the Month

Brief thoughts about subtitles these are very useful, not just for people with hearing impairment, they genuinely make your video content more accessible.  Just imagine you are watching a video on public transport. In addition if you have Netflix and want to learn another language worth having subtitles in the language you are wanting to learn.  Am led to believe containing subtitles may make the YouTube algorithm more likely to promote your content.  It is easy to generate YouTube subtitles that you can correct after your video has been watched a few times.  If you are making a short video clip for Twitter it is worth putting the effort in of adding subtitles which may help it get watched more often.

In Newsletter 2 October 2020 I mentioned would reveal a benefit from using a Teleprompter is that it can assist with producing subtitles.  However, after listening to kind feedback received, personally have stopped using a Teleprompter as it makes my videos appears very scripted. I do believe being able to use a Teleprompter is a good skill to develop and worth exploring in future, particularly if you ascend the greasy pole of career success and need to stick to the co-operate message!

YouTube Video of the Month

Opted for this video as leadership is an interesting topic, it is clear some people suffering from imposter syndrome and at times are reluctant to take up leadership positions.  This book was written by a former military commanders who now provide leadership expertise to various businesses, it is different from other books on leadership that I have read.  Dichotomies of leadership are conflicting characteristics or actions that you may or may not take and obtaining a good balance is required.  A few examples of dichotomies would include leadership versus followership, making training too easy versus too hard and planning versus over-planning. Simply reflecting on these dichotomies can help you develop your own optimum leadership style.   It is worth watching to find out about the symptoms of micromanagement, if these occur in your team take creative action with less ownership to enable your team to perform to their best.

Hope you have found this helpful, as always thanks for reading, take care and keep in touch,

Until next time, take care,

Chris

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Dear Friends,

It is always fascinating to learn about other disciplines, then witness how knowledge is put into action. Take screenwriting for example, have never deliberately thought about this until I read and summarised this book Save the Cat. The rule that “the hero has to do something when we meet him so that we like him and want him to win” certainly resonates. In addition, “A screenwriter must be mindful of getting the audience ‘in sync’ with the plight of the hero from the very start.” When you next watch Netflix, it is interesting to think about how they are constructing the story, burying the backstory and imparting the essential information often with comedy to keep us interested.

If you are interested in learning more about sales feel free to check out my YouTube video above or my blog summary of the Way of the Wolf. This outlines the buyer needs to want to get the product, have a connection with you and the company that you are working for. People buy with emotion then make a logical case to justify it!

In sales urgency and scarcity are key. A few years ago, I went to an in-person sales pitch, largely as it had Rich Dad, Poor Dad in the title, although noted in the small print that Robert Kiyosaki wasn’t going to be there. After arrival it was quite clear their agenda was to sell a course. Witnessing how they attempted to install a sense of urgency and pushed attendees to take action was interesting. The team, after stating they won’t take any questions, got the audience to say ‘yes’ collectively several times to obvious questions, such as “do you want to be financially free?” At the end they ‘stacked’ several time limited highly priced offers and presumably had ‘stooges’ placed in the audience to rush and sign up. On retrospect they followed the exact formula from this book on sales that I have summarised. It is not a surprise that the forward is written by Robert Kiyoasaki. Highlighting a problem, then showing the pain it took to solve this problem, followed by the ease you can obtain this solution is the formula.

In this sales presentation a very slickly dressed sales person stated the first person to put a £1 coin in his right hand can take this £5 from his left hand. Of course, I was listening so got up and took the money. Then they mentioned why was he the only one to take action – don’t miss out on your bundled opportunity to purchase this winning formula. For what it’s worth I didn’t purchase the winning formula. Instead, I went to a very similar sales pitch a few months later ran by similarly well dressed sales people. This time the event had a TV property ‘expert’ Martin Roberts on the cover, who of course, also wasn’t there in person. They had almost exactly the same pitch, this time offering £10 if anyone puts £5 in their other hand. Fortunately I had a fiver so once again got this 🙂

On retrospect I do wonder if the people providing these event in fact paid into a franchise to obtain the scripts. It was also interesting to note, when searching for the ‘expert’ off TV’s name (whom I had forgotten) that there were protests against these events. It is interesting to hear the people referred to as ‘property parasites’ rather than people who are being manipulated into buying a course of questionable value!

One thing I do certainly agree with Robert Kiyoasaki is that financial education isn’t taught in schools. A fairly dry book I read previously has a long list of suggestions about how to manage your finances. A different book on finances ‘lessons a millionaire taught me for women’ proposes a useful question when buying: “is that the best you can do?” Worth trying to use this question when making your next big purchase and let me know if you get anything thrown in!

Tweet of the Month

Went for this as it is a magnificent photo. Dr Gordon Caldwell also has a YouTube channel with idyllic scenes from across Scotland and enjoys comparing his height to the amount of paper documentation required to be completed for a single hospital admission!

As I started this newsletter with how fascinating it is to see knowledge put into action, would like to remind you that it is the application of knowledge that will bring you wealth, not simply learning.

Thanks for reading this, really appreciate it, until next month,

Chris

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Newsletter – No 10 June 2021

Dear Friends,

It’s been a busy productive month, have metaphorically speaking continued to spin lots of plates. One of the things I did was took part in a brief course called School for Change which aims to help people implement change, the focus is mainly on health and social care. This led to several great book recommendations, it is free to sign up and I found about this opportunity only due to Twitter.
It is my belief that life remains full of opportunities but you first need to take steps to enable
these. Positivity needs to be topped up frequently. To do this in part you need more positive thinking than negative thinking. There is some science behind it – 3:1 positive to negative ratio in terms of your thoughts puts you on an upward spiral – below this the reverse is true. Therefore, my advice is to deliberately seek out and notice things in life that make you feel good and take great satisfaction in these moments, remember life is about enjoying the journey not the destination.

YouTube Video of the Month

Positivity is about more than having a positive state of mind. It’s also a life changer and gives people a competitive advantage in business, sports, and politics. The “more you
energize people in your workplace, the higher your work performance”, this is in part because people will want to be around you, and people are more likely to devote their discretionary time to your projects. By interacting positivity with others you will increasingly obtain new ideas, information, and greater opportunities. This reminds me of a principle referred to as the Matthew effect of accumulated advantage – those that have more get more. It is my firm belief that opting to be positive is a key trait that will help you in life.

Recommended Website

https://www.canva.com/
If you want to make posters, business cards, cool invitations or what I use it for YouTube thumbnails this is easy to use and has great potential. Was recommended this by my favourite freelancer from Fiverr. When my daughter saw me looking at it she was bemused, asking me what I was doing as they are now using this in schools!

Tweet of the Month

 When I mention positivity I realise it is hard to maintain, can feel like this chasm in the innovation curve. Therefore, even if you are already feeling positive please remember to deliberately put the effort in to further develop this trait. This is one of the keys to help you get the most out of your life.

until next month,

Chris

PS if this was too much about positivity feel free to check out another of my recent book
summaries about a completely unrelated topic.

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Newsletter – No 10.5 June 2021

Dear Friends,

Hope you are all well. Just wanted to reach out and say thanks for subscribing to my newsletter – your support is much appreciated. Do really enjoy learning and growing together! As a spontaneous thank you am giving away my book ‘ Book of Inspirational Book Reviews: All You Need To Know To Get The Most Out of Your Life’, for free via Amazon kindle. In honesty, it is not the best book in the world, but in life action beats inaction and this is a start. If you want to take action and get my book for free please use this link Select buy book, it will be
free from Monday June 14th 12.00 AM PDT until Friday June 18th 11.59 PM PDT for kindle readers. If you are feeling generous feel free to leave a positive review on Amazon or consider sharing some learning by forwarding this newsletter to a friend.

VLOG

The above video in under two minutes and summarises all the key learning from this book
on servant leadership.
Until July, take care, enjoy the summer and the European Cup

Chris

Newsletter – No 11 July 2021                                      www.chrisweatherburn.com

Dear Friends,

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Summer is upon us and things are opening up again.  This is great, but have felt a bit too busy recently trying to balance multiple jobs and also learn R.  R is an impressive statistical analysis software which is completely free, for example maps that automatically update data can be produced with R.  It is rewarding when the bits of code work and R Markdown can produce impressive documents.  The downside is it takes lots of time.

Learning R required me to obtain true focus and the elusive ‘flow state’.  If you want a hack  have found deep trance music really helps obtain this peak state of being present – although be aware the hours can pass by very quickly.

Like everything finding the balance is key. For me, I realised that I need to have a holiday and perhaps reduce the amount of work I am taking on.

YouTube Video of the Month

Influence has a huge amount of learning, check out the above fairly long VLOG summary or my comprehensive written summary.  Particularly enjoyed the case of rectal ear ache, in which a doctor ordered ear drops to be administered to the right ear of a patient with an ear infection. Instead of writing out completely the location “right ear” on the prescription, the doctor abbreviated it so that the instructions read “place in R ear.” Upon receiving the prescription, the duty nurse promptly put the required number of ear drops into the patient’s anus. Neither the patient nor the nurse questioned this. The important lesson of this story is that in many situations where a legitimate authority has spoken, what would otherwise make sense is irrelevant.

From experience I don’t think this occurs in Scotland much, people are more likely to eat suppositories, without looking at the written instructions!

Newsletter – No 12 August 2021                                      www.chrisweatherburn.com

Dear Friends,

Hope that summer has been good to you all.  Had the pleasure of going to Gibraltar for my sister’s wedding, it was lovely to be there in person and catch up with family.  One thing that it made me realise was that the temperature in Scotland is just right for me – would struggle to get much done in the heat!

Previously I mentioned would share the best book about positivity that I have ever read and trust me, have read a lot of them.  Drum roll … well below here it is as my YouTube video of the month or feel free to check my written summary.

YouTube Video of the Month

What I most like about the video is found at 4:05 in which dogs respond to barking on my electronic speaker.  They settled quickly, no animals were harmed in the making of this video but is a nice example of light-hearted amusement!

It remains my belief, particularly when times are hard to make a deliberate effort to focus on being more positive, anything else is a red herring.

It was with great fascination that I stumbled across how a red herring, a term for a distraction that I have been using for years actually got it’s name.  People who didn’t like fox hunts sabotaged these with red herrings! Before the hunt they would slit a herring’s throat and smear blood across the field tin an attempt to divert the hunt into a ditch.  The hounds, that lead the hunt, would be distracted by the smell of blood and be sent in the wrong direction, hence the term red herring.

Don’t know any more of the background – it may well be the people liked pheasants but really didn’t like herrings!

Newsletter – No 13 September 2021                                      www.chrisweatherburn.com

Dear Friends,

Knowledge is useful, but particularly useful when we actually apply knowledge.  By putting knowledge into action we get results. It is still worth learning about things for the sake of it, this can be rewarding, but if you can learn whilst actually doing I believe it is more satisfying and will lead to great gains.

The knowledge to do things is certainly out there, just look on the internet but it is most important to prioritise and actually take action to achieve your goals. Recently I hung up two SUP boards in my garage ceiling after finding out how to do this online.  Thought this was a good example of acquiring knowledge and putting it into action.  Of course I have recorded my attempt of hanging these SUP boards and plan to put this up on YouTube.

YouTube Video of the Month

Selected this video because it includes the clip of me breaking out of duct tape, first ever attempt.  I learnt it solely from reading this book.  Couldn’t think of a better example of knowledge into action.

Newsletter – No 14 October 2021                                        www.chrisweatherburn.com

Dear Friends,

Wow – it’s October already! Over the months I have gradually been learning more about video editing and am optimistic to think my YouTube videos are slowly improving as a consequence.  The challenge am facing is the more I learn about video editing, the longer producing each video takes.  If I get to the point when I am being overly critical of my own videos this can lead to inaction.

Tweet of the Month

This tweet resonated with me, as am very aware that I need to accept ‘good enough’ otherwise I simply won’t make any more videos.  I would suggest that this goes for not just YouTube videos, in life in general trying to avoid being a perfectionist – particularly when it comes to submitting university assignments 🙂

Two of my goals for this year were to make regular video book summaries on YouTube, aiming for one per week and to keep going with this monthly newsletter.  To be fair, am just about managing this but sustaining momentum can be challenging. I think the key is careful planning.  Time is finite, life is short and so we must prioritise about what we actually want to do.

A good way of taking action, after you have decided what you want to do, is then to forget about other potential options. It seems obvious but if you spend too much time thinking about other things that aren’t your main goals this will also lead to inaction.   So, make a decision and stick with it!

To achieve goals it is important to break them down into achievable small action points, factor the time into your planned week to do these action points.  This could relate to anything – studying for an exam, learning a new language or skill.  The thing is you need to first decide what is most important for you then prioritise.

Feel free to reach out and let me know what you are prioritising in your life.

Youtube of the Month

Dear Friends,

There are endless opportunities to explore in life and particularly with the power of the internet it can seem like there are constant things that you must be doing. What a great time to live, in which you can stream awesome music anytime, yet people often get FOMO along with burnout. Making content feels at times like shouting into a void, adding to an already busy schedule but yet can be rewarding. One trick is to make a realistic schedule, stick to it and be quite brutal with an awareness of Parkinson’s law of time management – a task fits the time you allocate it.

So today it feels like Autumn, currently there is a storm is outside, I had set my goal to make this newsletter today, didn’t have a Tweet of the month lined up and then I saw this …

Tweet of the Month

What a beautiful picture from @W1ll_Anderson

It is great to hear from old friends, thanks for reaching out with the suggestion to make a podcast – you know who you are 😉

Previously I had thought about how to make a podcast after responding to what I assumed was a spam message on LinkedIn inviting me to be interviewed for a podcast on book publishing.  This was to discuss what it is like being an author, having never actually published a book I thought why not see if I can get on this anyway!

At the time of the podcast it was a bit nerve racking, particularly as I didn’t make it home on time, so had to stop in a car park and have this call recorded to be added to the internet forever.  Just as the podcast was about to start recording my son turned the music on in the car and I had to get out and run around 400 metres so it certainly wasn’t without challenges.

If you critically analyse how people make podcasts one tactic is to interview well known interesting people, with set questions and if you are lucky they may then bring some of their audience with them. However one has to be well known to do this. Am very aware this newsletter should perhaps have ‘exclusive’ in the title somewhere.    However, I have thought about it and why not?

What are the downsides – the main one I can think of is time to make this that could be spent on something else and also potentially could take people away from my YouTube channel.  Let’s be honest if it is fun to do the first potential downside will take care of itself and in relation to the second one I have zero control over who may or may not view my YouTube channel.  Busy people may prefer listen to podcasts more than watch YouTube, these are different audiences. Therefore am deciding to dip my toe into podcasting on an extremely part time basis, aiming to just make one podcast episode and see how it goes.

My main side hustle priorities will continue to be:

1. YouTube – aiming for weekly content
2. Website
3. Newsletter – monthly – thanks for reading this 🙂

So how can I fit a podcast in – well the aim will be to just reuse some of the audio content from YouTube book summaries and just see how it goes.  I also plan on using freelancers on Fiverr when needed, a great website if you want to hire freelancers from all over the world.

The main thing am hoping to gain from a podcast is a good learning experience doing this.  My guiding principles will be aim for good enough and set a very firm time limit so I can’t procrastinate.

YouTube Video of the Month

I opted for this video, in part as I think I did it quite well keeping it concise but mainly as one of the author’s of this book wrote a very nice comment on YouTube containing the words ‘Awesome book review’.  What goes on behind the scenes managing a YouTube channel is that you tend to just review and block comments relating to a ‘local people looking for action’.

Enjoy November, take care and will see you next time,

Chris

Website of the Month

https://uigradients.com/#Parklife

If you ever want to select a colour scheme for a website or a poster this allows you to select great blended colour schemes.

Dear Friends,

Been fairly productive making YouTube videos and preparing for Christmas.

It is soon to be my 40^th Birthday coming up 1^st of January.  With age we strive (or at least are meant to) develop wisdom and a sense of perspective, it is also a good time to reflect.  Regular newsletters are a good way to deliberately reflect on each month.

It is interesting if you objectively assess people’s challenges and worries many of these will be of no significance in a few years.  This can be used as a hack for managing worries – reframe your thoughts – would you be concerned about this in 10 years time?

This may put a sense of perspective and help you overcome day to day challenges.

YouTube Video of the Month

Opted for this video as the actual book content is excellent, for sure the greatest book about managing anxiety that I have ever read.  Although I admit the video itself isn’t my best production, would like to think this is outweighed by the new jumper with a golden tick that had just arrived!  Here are some of the key points:

Happiness is from within; it is not a matter of externals. Think about what you have, not what you want, count your blessings. Try to adjust yourself to what is, and try not to adjust everything to your own desires.

Ignore unjust criticism. There is an old German’s motto: “Just laugh.” That motto is especially good when you are the victim of unjust criticism – think internet trolls. You can answer the man who answers you back, but what can you say to the man who “just laughs”?

Strive to do a good deed every day, one that will put a smile of joy on someone’s face.  This may have the hidden benefit of producing astounding results on yourself. Trying to bring happiness to others will cause you to stop worrying about yourself and perhaps even gain friends.

If you have got something on your mind perhaps establish what the worse thing that can happen.  Prepare to accept this and then proceed to improve on the worst.  Remember things tend to work out and it is important not to be worrying about some things that you have no control over.

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Tweet of the Month

Selected this great visual tweet, it is not only important to seek out other’s view points and perspectives but also to be able to listen and know which people’s points to listen to!

Briefly thinking about problems and solutions.  A challenge was that my family want a dog again.  I love dogs but am not looking to add to my workload.

As Marcus Aurelius wrote “The mind adapts and converts to its own purposes the obstacle to our acting. The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.”  Note he wrote ‘Meditations’ to remind himself of his own thoughts and reflections, rather than to primarily educate others.

This led to me thinking up a solution = others have dogs will want to go away, they don’t particularly like kennels and don’t want to add to their costs.  Could I help them by looking after their dog for a weekend?  With the powers of the internet hopefully this will be achievable.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year when it comes!

Chris

PS – Following last months newsletter minimal progress to report on the Podcast front – rest assured you will be first to know!  Did make a cover and next steps will be looking at making an intro and exit jingle.

PPS – If you are around Dundee for Hogmanay (New Years Eve) feel free to reach out if you want to celebrate in person and come to what will be a fantastic party 🙂

Website of the Month

https://whisk.com

This is a great website which has a free app that helps organise grocery shopping.  You can look at any recipe online and with minimal clicks import all the ingredients into your account, broken down into an interactive shopping list.  This adds the right quantities for each meal and even has them organised by the aisle that you would expect to find them.  You can share shopping lists with friends and family and also can link this to your smart speaker.

Dear Friends,

Happy New Year hope you have all had a great festive season and start the year in great health.

At the start of the year I won’t just write the ‘usual’ stuff about goals, how important they are and how to achieve these.  However, the start of the year is a good strategic time to plan your goals and think about what matters to you.  Personally, managed to just about achieve a YouTube book summary per week for 2021, to be honest I didn’t count them.  This took a bit of planning and I am keen to keep going with this.  In addition, it is an aim of mine to try to repurpose some of the content as podcasts and look forward to exploring this more throughout 2022.

You may have read about the 1953 Yale Goal Study in which a cohort of students were followed up and the 3% that had written wrote written goals achieved more financially than all the other students combined.  Am sadden to say that this study never in fact occurred.

If you don’t achieve all your goals that is fine, practice some self-compassion but the main thing is that you tried and I believe it is worth having some goals to work towards.

YouTube Video of the Month

This video differs from my usual as am not summarising a book!  Instead am mentioning my thoughts on perfectionism and the downsides of this trait.  The idea for this video occurred when searching for key words about a different video and noting that 50,000 people search YouTube every month for “Perfectionism” and there is ‘low’ competition for this term.  Most of my videos I try to target the title to low competition but there are around 4,000 searches per month.  Unlike usual, I checked out the competition videos, in honesty I wasn’t overly impressed. It was easy enough to make this and find content by searching my website.  You may want to check out the end of the video with the outtakes!

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Tweet of the Month

Selected this tweet, simply because I thought it was funny.

All the best for 2022,

Chris

Website of the Month

https://archive.org/web/
This website takes snapshots of websites overtime.  When I last checked was glad to see it has saved www.chrisweatherburn.com nine times up until 29^th November (my sister’s birthday – happy belated birthday).  If you are interested in how websites evolve overtime this is a great site to explore.

Dear Friends,

Time is flying and already time to write my second newsletter of the year.  Hope things are going well and Omicron isn’t causing too much bother.  One thing that strikes me is that in life you need goals but need equally to be flexible and able to adapt to circumstances.

No progress made on a podcast – have decided to keep focusing on YouTube.  Although as a teaser here was a design that was made.

In honesty, I think I won’t have time to make a podcast this year, but that is ok. If the YouTube channel takes off I will consider it. It is good to be flexible. It would be nice to learn a bit more about making podcasts but am learning enough as it is! Currently am undertaking a few Edinburgh University courses on data which is partly why this is a few days late.

Have been thinking about optimising habits. If you want to improve you habits here is of my (very) extensive written book summaries you may like. I recently listened to a few autobiographies for a change, it is great to listen to the reflections from well known people and lessons they have learnt on the path to ‘success’.

YouTube Video of the Month

I picked up this book again and decided to summarise it with a video and written blog.  On my calendar I found draft summary from a few years back, seems my book summaries have become significantly longer. I selected this video as I managed to use a green screen.   Apologies if it disappoints I don’t have a wall full of benjamins! It takes a fair bit longer time to edit the video but it certainly does have potential.  It would be easy enough to put a video in the background.  Will consider this more – watch this space:)

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Tweet of the Month

In honesty am losing my enthusiasm for Twitter.  This is partly as I read too much about work related topics and find Tweets displaying fixed views on feminism or racism not too rewarding.  In life you often get what you look for and it is interesting to think about how people view things through a different lens.  Saying that I have tried to find an interesting Tweet of the month:

@dabidoYT puts out great thought provoking Tweets and enjoys sharing his learning from developing his YouTube channel.  We all know the feeling when what you get isn’t the same as it looks online 🙂

Until next time

Chris

Dear Friends,

Hopefully this finds you all well and you are looking forward to March.  At the time of writing the tragic events in Europe are kicking off and I hope these stop soon without too much pointless bloodshed.

Nonetheless, despite conflicts it is important to keep trying to enjoy your life and spinning lots of plates can help.  I have just started a short Data Visualisation course at the University of Edinburgh, it is remote, and it seems the central message is that design is key.   How you design a graph, or an image can greatly influence what people actually pay attention to.

Around seven months ago I made a YouTube video summarising a book ‘Designing your Life’ and a written summary.  The principles of design are important not just for work, whatever field you work in but also can be applied to improving your day-to-day life.

The ability to see an overlap between different specialities and disciplines is where innovation can occur. I believe the exciting field of design is located right there crossing disciplines.

YouTube Video of the Month

Selected this for a few reasons, firstly I really enjoyed using the green screen with videos in the background.  Secondly, I tactically released it just before Valentine’s day and thirdly, most importantly it was great to receive some positive feedback from Andrew G Marshall who wrote the book!

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Tweet of the Month

Selected this Tweet by @reginalddhunter as it resonated with me, a memorable image that I could recall from Ghostbusters II which came out in 1989.  The Design of the Tweet is an example of disciplines coming together a memorable picture with humour that relates to the modern day.

Have a great month,

Chris

Dear Friends,

It is fun with the weather starting to pick up and I think we can now safely say we survived another winter! When we are younger, we take this for granted, unfortunately with experience and inevitable losses this is perhaps foolhardy. A concept ‘memento mori’ that I previously read about in a happiness book is worth pointing out. This is a Latin phrase meaning remember that you must die. Reminders of your inevitable demise can actually prompt you live every day to the fullest.

On a more light-hearted note, I played my first game of beach volleyball in 2022 which was great fun, hopefully more to come. Also, squash was fantastic when the courts opened again, although now the club I play in have decided to close the courts for a couple of months. I like to think of myself adaptable so back to playing tennis, as previously when squash was banned due to the pandemic.

YouTube Video of the Month

I opted for this because it was great fun filming on Union Street, the main street in Aberdeen Scotland. However, the audio wasn’t good. Therefore, I re-recorded sections, so all the information was present.  This editing took ages, although I am becoming better at using the green screen.  After watching an episode of The Apprentice in which they used a green screen then a torso disappeared as they wore a green jumper, I learnt from other people’s mistakes!

Also, you may note the double photo on either side of the book cover in the centre – this seems to have a higher click through rate than the book and one photo.  Perhaps I should try with the book on the side and a double photo on the side – so many options.

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Tweet of the Month

Liked this visualisation which sums up the learning process.  Think of how many tasks you initially started that were difficult such as driving that you have mastered over the years!

On another note, I had a faster way of selecting Tweet of the Month by simply searching the Tweets that I had liked rather than searching the whole of Twitter!

Hope you have a great month,

Chris

Dear Friends,

Time is flying by, and I sincerely hope that you are all having fun.  Personally, am finding it harder to make as many YouTube videos as I would like.  In honesty it is more fun trying to learn Kizomba and other dances than spending time on the computer.  In life getting that elusive balance is important and it is equally important not to be hard on oneself if plans don’t go according to plan, flexibility is key.

Flexibility relates in part to my summary of The Dichotomy of Leadership “A careful moment of consideration might reveal the enemy’s true intentions. To disregard prudent counsel when someone with experience urges caution, to dismiss significant threats, or to fail to plan for likely contingencies is foolhardy. It is bad leadership. “Leading” does not mean to push your agenda or proving that you have all the answers. It is about collaborating with the rest of the team and determining how to most effectively accomplish a mission or goal.”  Don’t just push your agenda through always remember to listen to others and adapt to achieve the overall goal!

In terms of time management, including some contingency time is key, am still managing to do a fair bit and applied knowledge from many books about this.  My most helpful suggestion would be using your electronic calendar but also as a to-do list allowing you to change your schedule depending on the urgency of the tasks.

YouTube Video of the Month

Selected this one as I believe it has some valuable content for anybody who is going through separation and has children. I salami sliced a bit at the end into another video making a top 10 tips video. This was aiming to promote the longer one, seemingly YouTube like 10 tips videos.

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Tweet of the Month

If you ask the universe for something you may receive it!  If you are on Twitter you might have wondered what the red pink microphone was by some people’s names.  Initially I thought the person was live in a Twitter space, but it is the person who started the thread. I started a thread to see if I could obtain one and @ChorltonJim obliged with a spectacular microphone that looks similar to a toy that can be purchased from an adult only shop!

Have a great month,

Chris

Dear Friends,

Life can be challenging, and the one certain thing is change. It is a good idea to try to prepare for the unexpected. A good rule of saving money is that you don’t need to save money for something, just a safety net which will help you get a good night’s sleep.

When a crisis hits it is easy to be feel like you are without a paddle. This is when it is most important to take a moment and reflect upon your values. Knowing your values, will then assist with decision making, particularly when there is not an easy answer.

Life is a bit like dancing, the challenge can be when you want to improve at something you need to work hard at it. But equally if you are working too hard at trying to get a certain dance move right then you almost miss the point of the dance. Try not to be serious, even if you are right, it is most important to have a great time and attitude on the dance floor than get everything right (I am telling this to myself).

YouTube Video of the Month

I am starting to spend longer on my videos, hopefully increasing their quality. I selected the above one really because it took ages to make.

I have split my latest video into four parts, to see how that will work.  The focus of this is about money, I got the unexpected saving idea at the start of this newsletter from that.  Feel free to check out Part 1 or 2, part 3 and 4 haven’t been made yet!

Tweet of the Month

Am enjoying visualisation Tweets more and more, this one has solid advice for anybody trying their hand at marketing.

You may have heard or read about a controversial Facebook study from 2014.  “Emotional states can be transferred to others via emotional contagion, leading people to experience the same emotions without their awareness.”  This is a good reminder to try to keep this newsletter positive.

So will leave you with a good story about Facebook.  Last month I put a photo up on my Facebook story of me posing on a family trip to Germany – directly because of this I met one of my cousins and his lovely wife who had just moved to Düsseldorf!

Until next time,

Chris

Website of the Month

https://tenor.com/

If you want to look at a library of GIFs or even upload your own this a great useful website.

Thanks for reaching the end of this newsletter – if you have one friend who you think might like it please forward this on for them by clicking here

Dear Friends,

It has been a surprisingly warm summer and has been great to catch up with friends and family.  I truly hope you are all having some fun!

In life it is worth taking a few minutes to reflect about the impact your day-to-day decisions have on you.  Specifically, what you do and who you do it with.  The late motivational speaker Jim Rohn (1930 – 2009), said that you become the average of your five closest friends.  Therefore, it is very important to choose them wisely!  This idea reminds me of the statistical concept regression to the mean.

When it comes to selecting hobbies, another great speaker, the late Zig Ziglar (1926 – 2012) jokingly said he couldn’t take up photography as there would be too many negatives to deal with!

YouTube Video of the Month

In my last newsletter I mentioned that I was spending more time on editing videos.  I have enjoyed learning about this over the years but decided to try hiring someone to do this.  This is my first attempt hiring a video editor – to be honest the video is much more enjoyable to watch as a consequence.

If you are looking to hire a freelancer, feel free to click here to use my referral link for Fiverr, you would get a discount on your first gig.

Tweet of the Month

Great illustration by @stephenifesmith – it is important to have a bias for action.  On that note why not forward this newsletter for one of your friends to sign up by clicking here ?  The newsletter isn’t perfect but hopefully moving in the right general direction.

Website of the Month

Google Trends COVID-19 Symptoms Search Trends

 An easy to explore dataset that contains time series data of searches in relation to some very unusual COVID-19 symptoms across six regions of the world.  Google Trends data about any search term can be imported into R to make comparisons and cool graphs about the relative popularity of something over time.

The symptom ‘Guilt’ surprised me with these double spikes, as shown in United Kingdom data below:

Then I found out that a BBC series called ‘Guilt’ had been released, season 1 October 2019 and season 2 October 2021 which explained the increases in searches 🙂  Have any of you watched ‘Guilt’?

Until next time,

Chris

Dear Friends,

It has been a great summer, with heat waves, drought warnings then thunderstorm warnings across the United Kingdom.  I hope you have all managed to have some well-deserved time off.

Sustaining motivation is a challenging and it is worth reminding ourselves that we are a ‘human-being’ not a ‘human-doing’, productivity isn’t the be all and end all.  My struggle lately is that a handful of friends have actually given up their jobs and are much happier as a consequence of this.  Personally, I have about five jobs and although I like these, and want to continue these, looking at others enjoying themselves does make it harder.

Therefore, I looked at ways to sustain motivation.  The Harvard Business Review has some suggestions which include focusing on enjoyable tasks, effective rewards, harnessing the influence of others and thinking about the progress you have achieved can help.  Of interest giving advice helps you, as this allows you to produce plans that you could follow yourself.

YouTube Video of the Month

In my last newsletter I shared my first video that was professionally edited.  The above video was edited by someone else, am happy with both videos but probably prefer this style.  What do you think?  It is good to get different people’s thoughts about how to edit a video and any useful feedback would be appreciated.

I really liked this thumbnail, but it has a low click through rate at 3.4%.  I thought about changing it, then I looked at it again and noticed the typo – perhaps that was lowering the click through rate.  I have therefore modified it slightly on my YouTube channel.

The lesson is you get what you look for in life – in this case errors or cool colours!

Tweet of the Month

I saw this Tweet as a WhatsApp status and thought it would be great for Twitter.  @Patrickgadx kindly shared it on Twitter.  The infographic neatly shows the need expect non-linear progress.

Fancy doing me a favour and forwarding this newsletter for one of your friends to sign up by clicking here ?

Website of the Month

www.answerthepublic.com/

If you are into Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) or want to plan a new online business, it is worth considering what people actually want.  This might differ from what you believe or want to make.  You can do some light touch research readily with this website to discover what people are asking about any topic.

Above is a cool diagram the website produced when I put in ‘flights’, displaying 80 questions people are asking about this topic.  The website gives several similar diagrams with prepositions and comparison.  Fun to explore even if you aren’t planning on making an online business!

Take care of yourselves and look after each other,

Chris

Dear Friends,

Another month and a time to write an informative, witty, light-hearted newsletter. So that is the aim …

Let’s start by talking about something many of us value – money.  Money is not “the root of all evil” this omits the important word “love” from this biblical statement. The love of money is the root of all evil. I guarantee if you have no money and are at the bottom of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs life won’t be as good.

Here are a few financial tips I have just made up:

1. Rather than a spontaneous purchase – sleep on it – do you really need it?
2. Experiences tend to give more joy than more material things. The more material things you purchase the more time and money these take to maintain these.
3. Spend less than you earn – aim to save for a contingency for rainy days (some would say 1/6th of your annual salary).
4. Maximise tax benefits – generally this would involve paying into a pension.
5. Avoid purchasing depreciating assets on credit.

Note, I am not an independent financial advisor. Hopefully this prompts you to check the state of your finances and adjust accordingly. I have summarised lots of books on finances which might be helpful.

Remember once you have got enough cash to cover your means increasing this further isn’t going to add to your happiness. Getting your own financial balance right is a personal thing and British people tend not to talk about this, but it is worth strategically considering this infrequently.

YouTube Video of the Month

A five-day dedicated product design sprint is something am unlikely to ever get involved in, however there are good points to consider when working in teams:

• Get the key people in the room
• Have an efficient system to vote to decide on objective(s)
• Take swift action

The irrelevant whirlpool was added as the previous thumbnail had perhaps the lowest click through rate I have ever seen!

Tweet of the Month

Opted for a great visualisation by @victor_bigfield – which displays a Growth Mindset.   I first heard about this at an open day at my children’s primary school – the concept is certainly well embedded in education in the UK.

It won’t surprise you that I read and summarised this book.  My written summarises used to be much more condense – I summarised the Growth Mindset By Carol Dweck

in two lines:  “Fixed mindset is the belief that success is based on solely natural ability. Growth mindset is that you have the potential to learn anything.”  If you want to see the other line, click here (spoiler it isn’t worth clicking on).

Instead, if you want to click on something more helpful do me a favour and forward this newsletter to your friends to sign up by clicking here ?

Website of the Month

Quidco

Keeping with the financial theme, this is a great cashback website, sign up for free and get cashback on over 4,500 established websites, including eBay. Above is my referral link, if you earn cashback, I might get a small kickback.

The death of Queen Elizabeth II has just occurred on 8th of September 2022.  She was the UK’s longest-serving monarch after reigning for 70 years, dying aged 96 (1926 – 2022).

Here are a couple of quotes from her that you might find interesting:

“I know of no single formula for success, but over the years I have observed that some attributes of leadership are universal and are often about finding ways of encouraging people to combine their efforts, their talents, their insights, their enthusiasm and their inspiration to work together.”

“Grief is the price we pay for love.”

From my perspective she was a great Queen and may she rest in peace.

Hope that you have a great month, until next time,

Chris

Dear Friends,

So what would be your ideal day?

Am not meaning a legendary holiday day, just a regular day.  Here is mine:

• Sex
• Breakfast – complete Duolingo
• Exercise – High Intensity Interval Training then Yoga
• Lunch
• Do an activity – ski / SUP board / bike / walk with friends and family
• Dinner – make this and eat it with friends and family
• Squash
• Dancing
• Netflix N Chill

I also like spending time on the computer and playing computer games, but exercise is healthier. It is worth taking some time to think about your ideal day. By taking a little time to think what your priorities are you might be able to tweak your usual days to be closer to your ideal day. When managing your time, try to avoid over planning and making your calendar too full. Leave a bit of time for random spontaneous activities.

It is interesting to ask your friends about their ideal day. What is your ideal day?
Feel free to let me know – you may find most of us have very similar ideal days!

YouTube Video of the Month

Opted for this video as it is packed with learning points.  Reframing the concept of unconscious bias to an “entrenched assumption” resonated with me.  This attempts to stop people thinking they’re dealing with an inaccessible part of their psyche that they are not aware of and therefore are not responsible for.  I also enjoyed filming the video with a couple of basketball shots!

Tweet of the Month

A lovely visualisation by @FerraroRoberto that fits with the theme of getting your life balance right and that works best for you.

Why not forward this newsletter to your friends by clicking here ?

Website of the Month

padlet.com

This is a neat website that can help you make your own boards for brainstorming and collaborate with others.  What I like is you can easily add links and other content which then shows up clearly, the ‘neon’ plan is completely free.

Hope that you have a great month,

Chris

Dear Friends,

So how do you enjoy each day to the maximum?  No one really knows but I would say it involves at least some time being present in the moment.  In particular being in that state when your mind and body are in complete synchrony, acting synergistically together and all of your focus is on the moment.

I have reflected on when this happens, it tends to be when you’re completely immersed in a task.  The tasks could be from totally different disciplines such as if you are skiing or working on a computer.  Dancing is a good way to trigger this, partner dancing when it occurs effortlessly or a large dance event when the beat drops and crowd contagion sets in.

It doesn’t really matter what gets you in that present state of mind, yoga, scuba diving or playing an instrument but if you are aware of that state of immersion it can help you select what activity to do that day.   If you want to learn more about flow state, please check out this book I’ve previously summarised.

YouTube Video of the Month

This video really has a lot of content that can be useful for any of us.  It is also nicely edited, click here for my full written summary.  Thinking about improving your day here are five ways to enrich an experience:

1. Lengthen it. Deliberately stay with it for a bit longer even five, ten, or more seconds.
   2. Intensify it. Open to it and let it be big in your mind. Turn up the “volume” as it were by breathing more fully or getting a little excited.
   3. Expand it. Notice other elements of the experience.
   4. Freshen it. Look for what’s interesting or different about an experience, imagine that you are having it for the very first time.
   5. Value it. Be aware of why the experience is important to you as we learn from what is personally relevant.

Remember the main person you can influence is yourself, so be kind to yourself!

Tweet of the Month

We all love technology when it works, but when it doesn’t work, we all look silly.

Website of the Month

https://crul.github.io/rDalle2OrRNotDalle2/

This is so cool lets you try to decide if an image is made by a human or artificial intelligence (AI).  To be honest I am guessing wrong most of the time.  Next month my website of the month is likely going to be where you can make these AI images yourself (spoiler alert).  If you would like to know this sooner, why not forward this newsletter to your friends by clicking here and let me know you have done that by replying and I will let you know.

Now for some artwork I made:

Hope that you have a great month,

Chris

Dear Friends,

Comparisons in general are a bad thing.  Comparisons give you pressure and tend to make you compete with other people rather than collaborate. My tip is to see other people as ‘us’ rather than ‘them’ and remember to enjoy your successes.

YouTube Video of the Month

Opted for this one as it was the only full-length video have made in the past month, sorry.  Can reassure you have got some more excellent videos in the pipeline (pointless fact in R %>% means pipeline).

It is worth thinking about how much we all use social media.  This might feel as if a psychological weight you didn’t realize had been dragging them down. Consider only using apps that serve something you deeply value, not just offer some benefit. The small benefits that individual apps might provide can be outweighed by the time spent.  Extract value then leave.

Tweet of the Month

In any conference you sometimes hear people asking ridiculous questions.  This is a rather elaborate flow chart shared by  helps.  Previously, whenever I attended a conference I tended to ask a question.  It seems with this decision support tool I would usually have still got to a Yes.  In part I ask questions because I am inquisitive and eager to learn but also to show that I attended.  However, for the last reason Twitter can help by making the whole world know you have attended 🙂

Enjoying this newsletter? Help me by forwarding this to your friends by clicking here.

Website of the Month

https://labs.openai.com/

So as promised last month I would share how to make artificial intelligence made images.  You need to register and get a few free credits.

Below you can enjoy: “Matisse style painting of Chris Weatherburn the improvement guru stood on Carrot hill with the northern lights in the background”.

Learning point – I think I need to start wearing hats, have a great Christmas,

Chris

Dear Friends,

Happy New Year!  The start of a new year brings everyone the opportunity to reflect on how their life is going.  Is yours going in the ‘right’ direction?

Workwise healthcare in the United Kingdom seems to be overwhelmed at the moment.  So what do you do burnout? Take on too much?  Disengage? I think it is best to try your hardest, be resilient and collaborate with others for a common purpose.

YouTube Video of the Month

Other people are not idiots – this is the title of a book is simply clickbait.  I liked this video as I got the message across in a quite memorable way, what do you think?  What ‘colour’ are you?

Ideally instead of messaging me directly (although thanks for those who have) please write the comments on the YouTube comments to ‘drive’ the algorithm.

Tweet of the Month

I liked this light hearted Christmas day Tweet by @Orloa91.  If you want to check your name click here.

Pointless fact, it surprised me to see this is now the third January newsletter that I have written, feel free to check out older ones.  Feel like helping me?  Please forward this to your friends so they can sign up by clicking here.

Website of the Month

https://quillbot.com/

This is website interesting and has potential, you can put text in and it rewords it. An example of the output is amending text from earlier in this newsletter:

This book’s title is just clickbait; other folks aren’t stupid. I thought this video did a good job of communicating the concept, what about you? What “colour” are you?

Hope you have a great 2023,

Chris

Dear Friends,

Do you ever ask yourself why some people make complicated things look easy?  Deliberate practice is likely the answer.

It is only relatively recently that I learnt the actual differences between the misused terms “simple”, “complicated”, and “complex”.  Simple tasks are those that can be performed with minimal effort or skill, and the outcome is predictable. Complicated tasks are more intricate and  may require specialized knowledge or skills to complete, but their outcome can still be determined if all the right steps are followed.  A good example would be to think about constructing an IKEA bit of furniture.

Complex tasks, on the other hand, involve multiple variables, and the outcome is not readily predictable.  Humans make things complicated!

In complex situations, a deeper understanding of the system and its components is necessary to achieve a desired outcome. 

If you have spent deliberate practice to develop a skill, complicated and even complex it is important to recognize that what may seem simple to them, may have taken considerable time and effort to master. They have likely reached a level of unconscious competence, where the skill has become second nature and is performed effortlessly. However, this level of proficiency is often the result of years of dedicated practice and repetition.

It is crucial to remember that what appears effortless to an outsider is the result of hard work and a deep understanding of the underlying principles and processes involved.  What skills are you aiming to develop?

YouTube Video of the Month

Do please check out my latest YouTube video, particularly if you like The Beatles and Leadership.  Unfortunately, due to copyright reasons official Beatles records and their songs don’t feature in this.  On a good note the author, Dr Mohan,  gave kind feedback about this.

Tweet of the Month

Twitter needs to be light-hearted and someone is really proud of their car.  My lovely mother comes from Essex.  I would readily drive that car.  Although the pain of changing the number plate for the MOT is a hassle – in life at times prioritise which rules, if any, you want to break.

Please forward this to your friends so they can sign up by clicking here.

Website of the Month

https://www.nasa.gov/

I recently fell asleep (and snored loudly) in a planetarium.  The planetarium was really good, quite a small size with a live presenter.  He was speaking in French, my French is borderline.  It is also a great website with image of the day and updates on the various missions.

Chris

Dear Friends,

Today, do you feel busier than a year or a decade ago?  Although memory is subjective I bet the answer is yes!  It is important to deliberately prioritise your time and use this to fulfil your goals to be effective.

Effectiveness is an ability – a measure of engagement in a set of actions that produce a desired outcome. Think of effectiveness as a skill that can be developed with training, like a muscle.   If you choose what you focus on and where you place your efforts it can cause intentional beneficial effects on your life.

YouTube Video of the Month

My video of the month goes into more tips on time management tips.  In honesty I  selected this as my video of the month I liked my new jumper. I had a similar jumper before, although this one is cooler as it reminds me of going to a Silverstone training day last year.  Also, when wearing the new jumper lots of people ask if I work for Williams Racing as nobody supports them!

Getting back to the motivational stuff, thanks for checking out this newsletter.  Set the compass of your life in the right productivity direction then use effectiveness to take steps each day to achieve you goals.

Tweet of the Month

I have never met or worked with @sepsismaggie but clearly share a similar passion for data.  It is nice to zoom out from data.  When analysing lots of data consider using the 80:20 rule to focus on the most important metrics and monitor rates.
https://chrisweatherburn.com/factfulness-ten-reasons-were-wrong-about-the-world-and-why-things-are-better-than-you-think-by-hans-rosling/

Website of the Month

https://www.gapminder.org/

If you like data and want to play with some graphs it is worth exploring the Gapminder website.  “Gapminder is an independent educational non-profit fighting global misconceptions.”  Started by the late Hans Rosling’s team, one of his books I have summarised here.

Or if you have time I would prefer it if you set your computer on repeat watching my YouTube videos and forward this newsletter to your friends so they can sign up by clicking here.

Really appreciate you reading this newsletter, have a great month!

Chris

Dear Friends,

Do you like your name?  I hope the answer is yes.  Remembering names is a good step to gaining rapport.  When initially meeting someone if you use their name several times it might help you remember their name.  If you can visualise something associated with their name, it may well help you remember this.  Also, writing names down after you have met several people can be useful if you are joining a club for example.

However, did you know that if your name is easier to pronounce you could be viewed more favourably?  I think this is an example of people just wanting an easy life.  If you can provide a memorable thing to associate your name, it might help others have an easy life and make you more memorable.

On a different note, if my surname was Cockburn I would just change it by deed poll, rather than trying to correct everyone’s pronunciation!

YouTube Video of the Month

On the theme of interacting with others my video of the month is about couple relationships (not polyamory).   People tend to have one of three relationship styles:

Anchors – securely attached; “Two Can Be Better than One.”

Islands – insecurely avoidant; “I Want You in the House, Just Not in My Room…Unless I Ask You.”

Waves – insecurely ambivalent; “If Only You Loved Me Like I Love You.”

In honesty I really opted for this video due to my joke, if you click above it will take you to that part!

Please forward this to your friends so they can sign up by clicking here.

Getting back to the motivational stuff, thanks for checking out this newsletter.  Set the compass of your life in the right productivity direction then use effectiveness to take steps each day to achieve you goals.

Tweet of the Month

This Tweet is an example that what you look for in life is often what you find.  Equally when attention is paid to something, the price is that attention lost to something else.  My advice is to look on every experience as an opportunity!

The hotel employee was hoping for a taxi driver and am sure found one soon.  @BrennanSurgeon looked at this experience as an opportunity to add a story to a talk on human factors and error.

Remember if you are making a presentation try to add a story – it reinforces learning in the audience and also makes you more relatable.

Website of the Month

https://www.name-coach.com/chris-weatherburn

Having mentioned about names this is a nice thing to add to your emails, particularly if your name is relatively uncommon.

Have a great month,

Chris

PS I did a terrible job of attempting to remember names at the weekend, sincere thanks for being on this learning journey with me 🙂

Dear Friends,

Take a moment to reflect how technology changes things.  The world changes all the time but when an improvement comes along does it always have the desired effect?

Think of an excellent invention – the washing machine.  Did it save time?

If you are older than me and old enough to remember the use of a mangle you would immediately think yes.  But arguably the washing machine didn’t save time, instead it led to a change of behaviour.  Instead of wearing the same clothes for a week we now wear multiple changes of clothes in a single day.

So, did the washing machine save time?  Probably not but it provides cleaner clothes and makes life a bit easier and better.

YouTube Video of the Month

Grit: the guts, resilience, initiative, and tenacity to persevere in the face of setbacks.  This allows you to become Great – by achieving your goals.  I urge you all to maintain (or develop) that unquenchable passion and endless zeal – with the grit to keep going despite the odds you can achieve your dreams.

Am going to try something new to try to get you to forward this newsletter to your friends.  For each person you forward to and signs up I am going to donate £1 to the charity Alzheimer Scotland (capped at £100).  So, please forward this to your friends so they can sign up by clicking here and spread the greater good!

Tweet of the Month

So, what does a Tweet about unintended consequences have to do with washing machines.  In fact, it is thought that introducing the washing machine caused deaths!

Houses weren’t ready for the invention yet, there were not enough electrical outlets.  People had to be very creative with their electrical wiring for washing machines, sadly causing deaths by electrocutions.

Website of the Month

https://colorbrewer2.org/

This website is cool and helps you select colour schemes for things such as graphs that are colour blind safe.  This provides you with the relevant RGB / HEX digits so you can get the exact hue.

Have a great month,

Chris

PS – Spoiler alert, in a future newsletter I might share thoughts on different kitchen time saving device 🙂

Dear Friends,

As we dive into the month of June, let’s explore the art of negotiation and delve into what motivates both ourselves and others. Discovering a win-win scenario where value is created for both parties is the ultimate goal. By understanding the priorities of the other person, such as their time or financial considerations, at times we can find that sweet spot. Remember, active listening and asking the right questions are key elements in achieving successful negotiations.

Recently I have dipped my toe into some medical legal work providing an independent expert view. It is quite refreshing adding to my repertoire.  However, it does make one more concerned about day-to-day clinical practice. Can you defend this in court? The risks that GPs take on are very high.  Dwelling on this would cause inaction.

Life is full of unintended consequences, and it’s important to acknowledge them without allowing them to paralyse us. Instead, let’s be mindful of these possibilities and focus on mitigating them effectively. By taking calculated action, we can navigate through uncertainties and achieve our goals.

YouTube Video of the Month

Check out my short and fun video, featuring me holding a shrieking and performing some kicks. This time, I’ve ditched stock videos and opted for some light-hearted fun in Dundee, the sunniest city in Scotland. Note the denominator so wearing a thick jumper! Please let me know if you prefer videos like this with my own footage or non-copyrighted content. I genuinely value your feedback.

Also, don’t forget to forward this newsletter to your friends, so they can sign up by clicking here. For each referral, I will donate £1 to a Diabetes charity, with a maximum donation of £100.

When engaging in negotiations, try to approach every interaction with empathy and understanding.  It’s crucial to avoid taking things personally. Remember that individuals who may seem difficult could simply have different perspectives, their own struggles, and sometimes just having a bad day.  Perhaps they were even jumped by a cow…

Tweet of the Month

Great Tweet by @reginalddhunter and @crazyclipsonly – a good reminder that if a cow hasn’t jumped you today no excuse but to have a good day!

Website of the Month

https://www.fiverr.com/pe/R4QP4N

If you are looking for to hire a freelancer to help with a task or perhaps are wanting to sell some of your skills worldwide this is a great website.  Above is my referral link, by signing up you would get a small discount.   Each unique ‘gig’ has its fee and there are no ongoing obligations.   You can always negotiate on price 🙂

Have a great month,

Chris

Dear Friends,

Life is a journey filled with ups and downs, and we all encounter our fair share of challenges along the way. However, it’s important to remember that how we react and interpret these obstacles ultimately shapes our experience. Drawing inspiration from Seneca, the Stoic philosopher of Ancient Rome, we are encouraged to focus on what lies within our control and gracefully accept what does not. By doing so, we can cultivate resilience, inner peace, and wisdom.

Embracing this philosophy allows us to nurture our inner strength, turning setbacks and adversities into opportunities for personal growth and self-improvement. Rather than being hindered by the trials we face, let us welcome them as stepping stones on our path to becoming the best versions of ourselves.

YouTube Video of the Month

I had to select this video as it is completely unlike my usual videos.  The title gives it away “Holiday Gone Wrong #Marseille #Uprising #vlog #2023 #émeutes #pillages #bonne_chance #France”.  Don’t worry – the holiday was great fun – after the tanks arrived the situation calmed down a bit.  If you want to see a never released before video of an ad hoc, unregulated fireworks display in a riot click here.

Tweet of the Month

I like to learn and find summarising the key points helps me retain the key facts – it also helps me share these with others.  This Tweet by @milanicreative is a great visualisation as it requires no explanation.  Just be sure to fill your brain with the good stuff!

Please consider helping me by forwarding this newsletter to your friends.

Or feel free to check out my latest YouTube video about The Power of Now that I am very pleased with as it has myself in as part of the stock footage.

Website of the Month

https://www.laughfactory.com/jokes

“My grandfather has the heart of a lion and a lifetime ban at the zoo.“  Includes jokes that if you told at work, you would be unlikely to get reprimanded.

Have a fantastic month,

Chris

PS – Happy Birthday Eva 🙂
PPS – Today, I’m delighted to share some wonderful news—I have become an Uncle to a baby boy yesterday who is eagerly awaiting his name. 😊

Dear Friends,

Multitasking: The ultimate juggling act, or a recipe for disaster? Does it work?

I believe it can work – if you have achieved mastery of the individual tasks that you are attempting to juggle.  If after focused effort, you have achieved unconscious competence at a task you can readily reap the rewards and multitask with this in future.  For example, touch typing or driving you can then readily speak to someone in the room.

Note when driving – don’t touch your phone as now you can get a large fine and points on your licence.  Some effort’s still required to keep you and others safe.

However, there are times when multitasking doesn’t work.  This would be if you need to have focused thought about a task that takes several steps to complete.  Say you are performing a complicated calculation or providing deep thought to devise a plan.  If you’re getting constant interruptions the challenging task needs to be commenced again from the start.

When working in healthcare multi-tasking is required as there are frequent urgent interruptions.  However, the skill is being able to prioritisation, pause deep thought and then start it again and keep positive.

YouTube Video of the Month

Speaking of skills, I got a tip from a pal in the BBC/ITV video world. A slick tip for filming: rock a second camera for those dual-eye shots, and cue the action with a clap for sync magic. I’ve even slapped this tip on my old phone – check out the video of the month and get your growth mindset groove on!

Spread the wisdom – forward this “gold” to your friends so they can hitch a ride on the newsletter train by clicking here.

Tweet of the Month

This Tweet by @quotedvisually is similar to a visualised growth mindset.  Comparisons can be useful to motivate you, but aspire to be your best.  Aim high, embrace progress, and remember, you’re too big for a tiny pond.

Website of the Month

https://pointerpointer.com/

This is the weirdest website that I have ever seen. Move your mouse around the dark screen, leave it and it will show different bizarre photos of people pointing!

Time for a virtual high-five! This marks my 36th newsletter – three years in the newsletter game. It was a struggle sometimes, but your support by reading this has really helped 🙂

Have a great month,

Chris

Dear Friends,

September has greeted us with fantastic weather here in Scotland, allowing for some delightful adventures, including SUP boarding and camping. Everything was going swimmingly until last night when the rain came down so fiercely that the gym roof decided to take a break too! Thankfully, no one was injured, but I couldn’t help but wish I had been there to capture the dramatic gym roof collapse live on YouTube! The silver lining is with the squash court and gym temporarily closed, I’ve had the opportunity to craft this newsletter for you live on YouTube.

Now, onto a topic that continues to intrigue me: negotiation. Recently, I stumbled upon the intriguing concept of merging loss aversion with negotiation. You see, we humans tend to feel losses financially twice as intensely as gains. This psychological quirk can be a potent tool in negotiation – drawing attention to a potential loss can spur action. In fact, it has been written that this can change a time frame to attempt to force someone to take action. A compelling message uses loss to cause action and poses a solution. Too much talk of loss can cause fear in the side you are negotiating with which can cause inaction. Gains often aren’t enough to prompt someone to depart from status quo.

YouTube Video of the Month

Before entering a negotiation, consider what motivates both parties involved. Strive for a win-win scenario where you create value for all parties. Think about what each party values and how you can provide it, perhaps by delivering something sooner or offering unique benefits. Before stepping into negotiations, it’s essential to assess both your Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement (BATNA) and the other party’s BATNA. This knowledge can inform your negotiation strategy. As a side note, here’s a little trick: if you’re selling, consider offering a reduction, which comes across as a concession in exchange for upfront payment – this can be a persuasive strategy.

It is worth considering the type of transaction you are having with someone else.  What type of relationship are you going for a one off transaction or an ongoing thing.  Remember there is always the next deal.

Tweet of the Month

This Tweet by @Crypto_PB reminds me of what it can feel like when cooking in someone else’s kitchen.  Negotiation skills are important not just relating to money 🙂

Please forward this to your friends so they can sign up by clicking here.

Website of the Month

 https://www4.lunapic.com/editor/

LunaPic is a handy tool for photo editing, and its background removal effect can work wonders.

Until next time, have a fantastic month, and may your negotiations always lead to a win-win situation!

Chris

Dear Friends,

I’m currently immersed in a YouTube Health Accelerator course. Although it’s only an hour of webinars per week, and I am unable to attend live sessions due clashing with my clinical work.

The reason why YouTube made a Health Accelerator course is as an attempt counteract health misinformation. The aim is the search ‘algorithm’ will tend to favour videos as written by registered healthcare practitioners about healthcare.

Being calculating with the title, thumbnail, getting to the point at the start of the video and having passion are the key learning points up until now.  What struck me is that one is meant to think about their audience so that the algorithm can then target them.  I’ve found myself pondering who my dream audience is, beyond the wonderful readers of this newsletter.

My aspiration is to disseminate knowledge at scale. It’s challenging to identify a single target audience. People who want knowledge but don’t like to read is perhaps not the best niche!

One surgeon mentioned that he was offered £10,000 per month for a year to just have a few adverts with him promoting bio-yoghurts.  I admire the integrity he displayed as he declined the money and continues to work in the National Health Service!  To me this suggests the journey building on YouTube is necessary so that you have the experience, knowledge and resilience to cope with the opportunities you may find.

YouTube Video of the Month

This was one of the first books I read on my deliberate ‘self-improvement’ journey.  This video incorporates plenty of stock footage and takes a different stylistic approach compared to my more recent content. I’d appreciate your thoughts on it, so please give it a watch when you can.

Tweet of the Month

At the time of sending this email there is a Red Alert for weather with rain and winds causing havoc.  Schools have closed and trees are falling like dominoes.  Hopefully if you are in Scotland you will remain well.

Here is a negotiation tip too much fear causes inaction.  Perhaps take action by forwarding this newsletter your friends so they can sign up by clicking here.  I will give £1 to charity for every person this is forwarded to (capped at £100).

Website of the Month

https://trends.google.com/trends/

An excellent resource for tracking what people are searching for by country. The data changes daily, providing valuable insights. If you’re into YouTube, it also lets you see what’s trending in YouTube searches.

Wishing you a great month filled with meaningful experiences.

Until next time,

Chris

Dear Friends,

I have dipped my toe into some medico-legal work. This involves reading lots of clinical documents and writing a concise report.  The main skill seem to be zooming in on the relevant areas and producing an objective report to a tight deadlines. I have not yet attended court as a consequence of this work, but it is a new string to add to my bow. It does leave me more concerned about day to day clinical practice.  Can you defend this in court, is the encounter adequately documented?

Have you heard the saying “only the person who risks is risk free”?  In life, not just in clinical practice, if we dwell on risks it can cause harm as it will lead to inaction.  The former US President Harry Truman once said “Imperfect action beats perfect inaction every time”.  So what do we do?  Keep positive and do your best, don’t take yourself too seriously – the world will keep turning!

YouTube Video of the Month

What motivates you to get out of bed in the morning. It is important to have large goals that crush any fear of failure.  Knowing your why will help you stay motivated.  When you turn up be present and give it your all – you will see results.

Tweet of the Month (x of the month sounds like I am a player 😉 )

more for solely light-hearted Tweets – enjoyed this one by @Gbolahanba_. Don’t let a desire for perfection paralyse stop you from taking action. Instead why not forward this imperfect newsletter to your friends so they can sign up by clicking here. Once again I will give £1 to a charity for each person who signs up from this being forwarded (maximum £100).

Website of the Month

https://www.geocaching.com/play

Throughout the world there are hidden boxes placed in interesting areas for you to find also track trinkets that you ‘own’ as they travel the world. It is a free community driven game and a lovely way to explore a new city.

Hope you have a great month,

Chris

PS Happy 13th Birthday Leo

Dear Friends,

Are you in Microsoft Teams meetings often?  If like me you are, and want to improve my suggestion is to turn Speaker coach on.  After each meeting you will get some personal feedback about use of filler words, intonation, pace, inclusiveness, monologue, and repetitive language.  Nice tips if you want to become more engaging in meetings.

In life, however, you do not get a coach following you around.  If you are fortunate, like me, you have had a supportive family, friends and mentors helping you along the way.  Be slightly cautious with the feedback that you get from people who know you this may well be biased and unwelcome. Remember your goal might be different from what other people want you to do.

This is why it is important to have goals and then learn from the best.   To do this you need a powerful sense of self-worth.  If you are used to being a gigantic fish in a small pond you might have a closed mindset and are not keen to be open to learn from others.  You may be intimidated and threatened by others, seeking to compete and not collaborate with a desire to remain  ‘the best.’  However, if you are solely competing against yourself, you will be more self-assured and potentially keep an open mind to learn a lot.

YouTube Video of the Month

My video of the month has a bit about thinking and the importance of having room in your mind to take on new learning.

When learning anything, such as dancing, it is frustrating being ‘told’ you are doing something wrong.  I believe however with an open mind, enthusiasm to learn and deliberate practice you can and will improve.  Then you learn more about different genres and types of dances.  Being able to then merge one style and one move with another is great.  Overtime this is how dances evolves. This is also how you can incubate and develop great ideas by merging different disciplines and industries together, to generate your own impactful ideas.

X of the Month

Variation in performance is just part of being human as displayed by @SteveAndrews3.  If you have danced with me ever you will notice variation – but I always try to put my best effort in. In life put the ‘shift in’ and never give up!

I tend not to send Christmas cards, so consider this newsletter as my Christmas card to you, here is a link to a brief spontaneous video featuring myself and a reindeer!  Please forward this to your friends so they can sign up by clicking here.  Once again I will give £1 to a charity for each person who signs up from this newsletter being forwarded (maximum £100).

Website of the Month

https://www.google.com/maps

It is a classic and I am sure that you will have used this before.  The street view function is useful.  If you contribute to Google Maps you can build up (pointless) points but I believe help the greater good adding in opening hours and the like.  Clearly with Google Maps when you go on holiday you get local intelligence about places you want to go to,

Merry Christmas and all the best for 2024!

Until next time,

Chris

Dear Friends,

Happy New Year 2024!

It is that time of year when we reflect about what we want to achieve in life and consider making resolutions. I still believe that having new year’s goals to improve ourselves rather than restrictive resolutions is the way forward.

Take a moment to think about what your ultimate vision for your life is.  Your goals should be ambitious but also energise and inspire you. Visualize your aspirations; keep reminders around you to stay motivated in life’s journey.

So, what is my ultimate vision? If asked it is easy to say helping others and having fun. But what makes fun?  For me fun translates to acquiring, learning, and applying new skills, having meaningful interactions with people who can inspire you and discovering cool places.  What is  helping other people – through clinical work it is to help people manage illness and have healthy lives.  Through the internet I believe it is spreading thought-provoking ideas online  that inspire others to take positive actions.  In person, I believe it is seeing others as individuals and listening to them.

The balance is when you acquire a new skill to keep enjoying it.  There is where my problem lies pressure and targets can help with productivity but can then flip to burnout.  Whereas enjoyment on the other can be fun then lack of focus and motivation.

My goals are to continue my work, keep making YouTube videos, monthly newsletter, keep using Duolingo and be a good role model for my children 🙂  My fun goal is to try to collaborate more in 2024, but most importantly use these collaborations as ways to enjoy the work more rather than add to stress.

Much like DJs collaborating to amplify exposure and motivation, ask yourself: Why work? Is it for a greater purpose or just money? If it’s money, what’s the driving force behind it? Remember, managing money wisely can empower you to leave a legacy and help others.

YouTube Video of the Month

Reflecting on honesty and motivations, there seem to be three types of people. Which one resonates with you?

X of the Month

This visualisation by @GoLimitless perfectly aligns with this newsletter’s theme – you certainly need discipline to achieve your goals.

Website of the Month

https://dadjokegenerator.com/

I genuinely had thought about writing a dad joke book but decided against it.  This website already has enough “punny” material!
Feel free to forward this to friends and invite them to join us clicking here. If you’re up for collaboration, reach out!  Here’s to an incredible year ahead.

Warm regards,

Chris

Dear Friends,

Hope January went well and your goals are being achieved – remember Rome wasn’t built in a day, greatness is made one step at a time and this compounds … there is the generic improvement message, now for something completely different.

I recently attended a webinar with perhaps the most bizarre topic a presentation of a Systematic Literature Review of Online Romance Scam Research.  Basically scumbags over the internet give unsuspecting victims a double hit by taking their money (£50 to £800,000!) and the second hit is that the victim then mourns the loss of a relationship.

How does this work? The initial stage, is establishing a relationship online starting of with the scammer providing pseudo–self-disclosures. This evokes trust, empathy and sympathy often displaying the scammer as a successful, educated, affluent and elite individual. The second stage aims at strengthening the online relationship.  During this stage, scammers seek to change to an alternative communication channel, such as email or a third-party messaging platform. The final phase is when money is requested. Random fact; in China this is called the Pig-Butchering Scam (杀猪盘), victims are fattened up then slaughtered financially.

I believe this scam is similar to a well thought out marketing system. There is a funnel process in place, minimal costs to start and do it with as many numbers as you can.  Thought has been given about the definite target audience – preferred ideal customer, what they want and a desired end result.  Tactics are continuously evolving, when Deep Fakes become more prevalent unfortunately this scam will get worse.

I frequently get messages from people posing as Asian women in their 20s on Instagram; asking a few questions and trying to get my WhatsApp number.  If I have time, I respond by requesting that they review my YouTube channel and they can obtain all the information they want, if they have any questions to get back to me.  It is clear that the potential scammers never bother to do this.  Next time I might just send them a link to the systematic review.

So perhaps you would like to differentiate yourself as not a scammer my taking a watch of my Video of the Month.

YouTube Video of the Month

When interacting with people give sincere compliments that are unique to the individual, these encourage others.  Compliments are like social currency.  If you are ever interesting in starting a conversation, the safest option is to ask a question about the situation! Communicate hack SOFTEN This stands for: Smile, Open posture, Forward lean, Touch, Eye contact and Nod.  Remember your beliefs are key to how you interpret a situation.

X of the Month

You are unlikely to build a community if you are hammering out the Nigerian Prince Scam.  Instead enjoy contributing to your community and seek advice from others.

If you are enjoying this newsletter it is very important you forward this to your friends, on an urgent basis this will allow them to sign up by clicking here. No advanced payment for flights or passports required at this stage, and you would be bound to receive an abundance of wealth in the form of invisible positive vibes and good karma.

Website of the Month

https://scamspotter.org/

There are many types of Scammers out there.  This website has a bit of information to look out for.  The next newsletter won’t focus on scams, although I have a month to decide a topic!

Have a great month,

Chris

PS I cut this out of the initial newsletter but thought would include this at the end if you are interested.  Female profiles targeting heterosexual male victims in their later years typically portray themselves as aged no older than 30 years and working in low-paying or non-professional jobs. Profiles targeting heterosexual females, usually claim to be up to 50 years old usually younger than the victim with occupations such as professional jobs, entrepreneurial activities or army ranks. A sense of urgency is used to obtain money, sextortion may occur and is more likely to male victims.  Unsurprisingly, it is a difficult topic to study as victims aren’t always forthcoming.

Dear Friends,

Your time, the coin you don’t want others to spend!

So how can you spend your time best?  Let’s focus on two Es – Efficiency and Environment.

Improving efficiency is particular important when often undertaking a similar task.  Can the task be automated? Is the process performed in the optimum order? Can a tool help you perform a task more effectively? Is the environment set up correctly to facilitate completing the task? Does the design of the process take into account the rate limiting steps?

Cooking would be an example as it is a process most of us often undertake. We frequently prepare things in some sort of order and use tools to help chop up vegetables efficiently.  Subtle changes to your kitchen’s environment (by this I mean your immediate surroundings, not global warming) can optimise performance, by keeping similar frequently used items together.  In terms of planning, no doubt you will aim to start with the thing that takes the longest.

Now that is a basic relatable example, but you can bring the same mindset to any task.  Clearly efficiency is important in the work place and pioneered by Toyota Production System (read more about this click here or watch more click here).

Can you optimise your production system? I would speculate a few deliberate changes to the location of items in your home might save you a bit of time and stress trying to find items.  Why is an umbrella kept in a particular place – was it deliberate thought or just were it goes?

By deliberately designing our environment we can improve our efficiency.  With planning simply by shuffling a few things around in the long run you may save time.  It is also worth clearing a few things out, this may make it easier to find things you want to find.  Another hack is you can improve your mood by deliberately placing positive reminders around that you can see easily, these reminders can help you keep focused on your goals and practice gratitude which will help your mood.

YouTube Video of the Month

I had to include one of my childhood hero’s book here.  Talking about being useful, in newsletter 33 I mentioned about the washing machine, a useful invention that does not always save time as it led to behaviour change – people wearing more clothes. Well, I promised I would mention my favourite peace of time saving equipment and here you have it keeping with the kitchen efficiency theme – the dishwasher!

The dishwasher was first patented on 28 December 1886 by Josephine Cochrane at that point it was hand powered, so I doubt a time saver. However now it does and when I buy items for the kitchen I make sure they are dishwasher proof!  Someone I met once, informed me that they have two dishwashers in their kitchen – one for clean and one for dirty dishes.  That is a true efficiency.

X of the Month

Opted for this X of the month by @WisomMadeEasy as it is colourful and a good reminder that you are not a machine 🙂 Efficiency is something to aim if you are a Cyberdyne killing machine (Terminator / Arnold film reference) but don’t burn out.

Saying that if you design your environment to assist you completing tasks and serve as a reminder to prompt you to do them this is wise.  Want to go to the gym?  Keep your gym bag handy, don’t want to watch TV – remove the batteries from the remote control. By putting obstacles in front of things we don’t really want to do we may then opt for the easier option.

Please forward this to your friends so they can sign up by clicking here.  I’ll be back next month 🙂

Website of the Month

https://www.skyscanner.net/flights

Very useful website if you are wanting cheap flights. My tip is to select your preferred departure airport then use the search everywhere function and with direct flights selected.  Enjoy your trip!

Have a great month,

Chris

Dear Friends,

Did you know we can create our own reality?  It all comes down to how we perceive events and the life choices we take.

Let’s take two theoretical people who move to Paris from America.  These two people move there, at the same time, separately, similar age and backgrounds.

Neither speak French, one tries to speak a bit of French and deduces that the locals are laughing at them.  They decide to stop trying, don’t socialise much, deeming these Parisians as being unfriendly and a year later they leave.

The other person tries to speak a bit of French and also realises that the locals are laughing at them.  Not taking themselves too seriously, they laugh back and keep trying to learn French.  From there on they develop good friends in Paris and find the locals extremely friendly.  At the end of the year they leave, being competent at French and having made some great lifelong friends.

What is the difference?

YouTube Video of the Month

Clearly the second theoretical person had a better year in Paris.  In life success largely comes down to our paradigm; the lens in which we view things.  The good news is that our paradigms are not set in stone. We can change them, and when we do, it can have a profound impact on our lives and beneficial ripple effect on others.   My suggestion would be to try to be open to others, be interested in their views and experiences.  Remember not to take yourself too seriously.

X of the Month

Well, in honesty lately I tend to only look at one thing on X ….

@fesshole of course 🙂 check out the replies if you want a nice laugh!

Website of the Month

https://mailchimp.com/

I have mainly been looking at work related Excel spreadsheets so haven’t had much time to think of a cool website.  This one is a practical one – if you want to build a free mailing list, I find it easy to use.

Goals in life are always needed.  One of my goals of this newsletter is to keep going and get a wider audience.  If you have found this interesting please help me achieve this goals by clicking here to share it with your friends,

Have a great month,

Chris

Dear Friends,

Have you ever heard that of the people you encounter, around 20% will like you and 20% of people will not like you, no matter what you do.  That leaves 60% of the people you meet being in the middle that you can influence either way.

That is where your attitude and perception come in.  Friendly to others? Interested in them? Keen to listen to their opinions – I bet the middle ground 60% will soon like you.

Whereas if you are unfriendly, suspicious and fixed in opinions (not to mention abuse, argumentative, victim mentality … the list goes on) then let’s face it the undecided 60% won’t like you.

How great is the world if 80% of the people you meet on a day-to-day basis like you? They might help you and want to have a good time with you 😉

However, on the other hand just briefly think how bad it would be if most of the people you meet actively don’t like you?

YouTube Video of the Month

In this book, a similar concept is described in terms of sales. People who like are described as raving fans and indifferent people who are sitting on the fence.  The suggestion is to reduce the number who dislike you, which is clearly a good idea but predominately focus on building raving fans.  In terms of living your life I would suggest being true to yourself rather than aiming to appease people who don’t like you.

I really  selected this as my YouTube video of the month as it was my cousin’s book that I summarised; he honestly didn’t know I was making this.  If you want to see brief pictures of me with raving fans and some token people I chose to represent as not liking me, feel free to check out the video above.

X of the Month

You don’t need to work in the NHS to feel this way!  Such a relatable Tweet by @JohnMoynes shared by @InternetH0F.

Practising mindfulness and being kind to yourself is the way to overcome the rage when you want to throw a printer out the window.  I genuinely believe if you are also nice to other people, see the best in others and respect them you will encounter an upwards spiral of positivity.  Why not be kind to someone else and forward this newsletter to your friends so they can sign up by clicking here?

Website of the Month

https://www.pauladamson.com/high-flying-sales

If you want a free copy of my cousin’s book, check out his website.  He has a nice funnel going on there and is an inspiring speaker.

Have a lovely month,

Chris

Dear Friends,

If you ask people what they want, the general answer is to be happy and for people they care about to be happy.  But what does happiness really mean?  The best definition of happiness that I have found is meaningful progress towards a desired objective.  This might be progress towards obtaining a skill, passing an exam or preparing for an awesome holiday. Happiness comes from the actual journey rather than achieving the outcome, so remember to enjoy each day!

Reflecting back on my month, I continued to pursue happiness by learning skills, I passed a cybersecurity exam and then went on an awesome weekend holiday with a friend I have known since Primary school and hadn’t seen for a long time.

May was going really well, until I got a visit from a newer friend, that I met once again; COVID-19.  Don’t worry I am improving, unlike at the start of the pandemic, there is no real sense of concern about dying. However, it isn’t great to feel ill, with a sense of letting others down – binging watching Netflix isn’t really as good as playing sports to be honest.

Below are the 5 Ps for managing post viral tiredness from NHS Scotland Long Covid Workbook that might be of interest:

❖ Prioritising the most important tasks in your day

❖ Planning how you will carry out these tasks

❖ Pacing to break daily tasks down into smaller parts

❖ Position yourself correctly

❖ Permission to say NO or ask for help

I am missing my energy but am looking forward to having it back 🙂

YouTube Video of the Month

An Issue Tree is an interesting method of analysing a situation.  Branches represent issues and smaller branches are sub issues. Therefore each branch represents a potential avenue to explore.  When you explore an issue tree you want to cut off complete branches swiftly then focus on the most relevant other issues. The key is to quickly eliminate lots of irrelevant options.

The McKinsey management consultants attempt to perform their research, but deliberately don’t reinvent the wheel. They use cooperate knowledge and stick to the task at hand. Their end product is telling the story behind the data, in a certain way, feel free to watch the video if you want to know more about this.

X of the Month

I selected this Tweet to remind us all to use the tools we have at hand to maximum effect; it doesn’t need to be a frying pan!

Medical practitioners in the United Kingdom have to undertake annual appraisals.  This process requires evidence of continuing professional development (CPD) amongst other things.  My hack is to write CPD in my electronic diary entries when I undertake relevant activities. Then at the end of the appraisal year I search my calendar for “CPD” to readily identify a list of all relevant activities.  A similar tactic could be used for other things, such as emailing yourself receipts for tax purposes. Including extra text that is the same in the subject line, will allow you search for these later and readily identify them. A balance needs to be struck make your own process as least arduous as it can be and actually helpful.

Website of the Month

https://www.isc2.org/landing/1mcc

Free entry-level cybersecurity training and an entrance to a certification exam, I found this quite interesting.  Perhaps it will provide you happiness by working towards a goal?

Please forward this to your friends so they can sign up by clicking here.

Hope you have a fantastic month,

Chris

Dear Friends,
Summer is here, it is great to take the opportunity to be outside and enjoy some sunshine. We sometimes think that being efficient is having an optimised routine with a fully packed schedule. This isn’t great as it provides no time for joyful spontaneity.

Hopefully you get the opportunity to break your day to day routine over the summer and experience some new exciting things. By being open to new opportunities, and focusing on the moment it can help you become a new improved version of yourself.

YouTube Video of the Month

Life events can make you rethink and evaluate your priorities, but you don’t need to wait for these or a new year to plan your goals. The key message from this book is to plan your goals for the next 12 weeks. After all, it is much easier to guess what you will be doing in 4 weeks rather than 40 weeks. Shorter term planning assists you to actually make a start and not simply defer. With 12 weeks of deliberate effort you can make some real progress.
I believe it is important to actually enjoy doing something rather than just wanting the outcome. Action can precede motivation and progress can be very enjoyable, so make sure to do the things you find meaningful.

X of the Month

Who doesn’t love a thought provoking declassified CIA manual. If you look at the thread ConkerLover replies and has put a link to download the Simple Sabotage Field Manual.

On a different note, I still believe that X is a poor name for the platform previously known as Twitter. A medical student recently reached out via LinkedIn asking for me to complete her study questionnaire and share it. I promptly did this and ended my written message that I had “shared it on X”. Only after re-reading my message did it seem slightly wrong …

Website of the Month

https://libbyapp.com/

I believe that this might be the best recommendation yet. Libby allows you to get access to your local public library on your phone. Ok; it is really an app, rather than strictly a website, but through the link you can readily download the app which may give you free access to audiobooks, ebooks and magazines.

For this recommendation alone it is worth forwarding this newsletter to your friends, so they can sign up and get some monthly updates from me by clicking here.

Hope you have a lovely summer,

Chris

Dear Friends,
Hope the summer is going well. Let’s take a moment to think about motivation. When it comes to completing a task, the first step is often the hardest. After starting the easiest thing is to continue.

Therefore, I believe it is important to push yourself at the right time and plan for the predictable obstacles. Varying your tasks is perhaps the key here, because when focusing on one activity you are inadvertently recharging so you can perform other activities. To motivate yourself, first take a moment to perform an honest assessment of who you are, what you are trying to achieve and potential challenges you may encounter.

It can be hard to make a realistic assessment of where you are as a person. But don’t take this badly, in industry for example the predictably of an industry is usually over estimated and malleability (ability to easily change into a new shape) of the industry is poorly understood. In addition, accuracy is often valued over speed of decisions leading to suboptimal decisions and potentially inaction.

So please take action, this will help build your motivation. If you want to know more about motivation check out my written summaries of books that relate to motivation, by clicking here.

YouTube Video of the Month

The main question to ask yourself is: What would I do when I’m at my best? Then the response is to actually do it. Build your resilience and when times are tough keep doing the things that help you.

X of the Month

Threw this light hearted X in by @NoContextBrits as it is amusing and reinforces an important point in life communication is key. Communication is complex – consider what you said, how you said it, what you think you said, what the other person heard, what they assume your intent is and what they think you said!

App of the Month

Merlin Bird ID

Eagle eyed readers may notice I have called this App of the Month instead of website of the month. This is an excellent app in which you can identify birds from their songs and calls. Also it has a way to identify birds from photos. Highly recommend. For this recommendation alone it is worth forwarding this to your friends so they can sign up by clicking here.
If you have any great app or websites that you would like to recommend me for App of the Month please let me know,
Have a great summer,
Chris

Dear Friends,
It has been a busy month. I had the pleasure of driving for the first time in my life on the right side of the road (in the UK we drive on the left). It was a great around Belgium, but it made me think about the phases of learning.

.

I have been driving for many years so am usually unconsciously competent. For example, I can listen to an audiobook whilst driving at the same time. However, driving on the right (or wrong :)) side of the road was new to me. I was aware I became consciously competent and required absolute focus.

In part the environment helped me the gear stick for example was on the other side, the road signs were different and the passengers helpful.

Take a moment to think about what you are learning about and how far along the journey you are. Remember conscious incompetence can be demoralising at times as you realise you have got a lot to learn!

YouTube Video of the Month

The key to identifying a psychopath lies in understanding their intent behind actions, psychopaths are solely focused on their own gain. This one was fun to make. Builds on a previous video Surrounded by Idiots.
Don’t be a psychopath – instead support others on their own learning journeys. Words of encouragement with genuine observations about how much effort and progress they are making can really have a beneficial impact to them.

X of the Month

Great words – think collaboratively in life not just negotiations. If we aim to support each other life will be better. There is enough cake to go round; if not think how we can make more!

I would also highly recommend checking out @fbinegotiator‘s book, it is an enjoyable read, feel free to check out my detailed written notes.

Website & App of the Month

www.what3words.com
Every 3-metre square of the world has been given a unique combination of three words. This can be useful for deliveries, navigation, emergencies and more importantly meeting up with friends in busy areas. Worth downloading the app to your phone, what is also worthwhile forwarding this to your friends so they can sign up by clicking here.
Have a great month,
Chris

PS – I also went live this month and recorded nine back to back book summaries with some behind the scenes footage. Thanks to those of you who watched. It was quite hard on the vocal cords! If you want to get a sneak pre-view of raw footage prior to editing, click here.

Dear Friends,

Welcome to my 50th Newsletter!

For those who subscribed several years ago, sincere thanks for reading. For those of you who have just joined, a warm welcome – previous issues can be found here.

They say great things take time. I’m not sure how long it will take for this newsletter to be considered ‘great,’ but I do believe it’s a meaningful way to keep in touch and reflect each month.

The one constant in life is change. While it feels like we remain the same, in reality, we’re continuously evolving. It’s only with reflection that we see the progress we’ve made over the years.

So, with some reflection, here are a few tips I’ve gathered over time, using a simple APPROACH:

• Avoid the news—it’s often filled with negative bias.
• Prioritize what you can control. Acknowledge what’s outside your influence, but don’t dwell on it.
• Plan time in your schedule for what matters most to you.
• Remember that success rarely happens overnight—persistence is crucial.
• Overestimate the time needed for tasks. Things often take longer than we initially expect.
• Always keep learning, no matter where you are in life.
• Cultivate an open mind and be willing to embrace new perspectives.
• Harbouring grudges is like drinking poison and expecting someone else to suffer—let go, forgive, and learn from your mistakes.

YouTube Video of the Month

In this month’s video, I summarize a book that I found deeply enjoyable. A few years ago, I listened to a podcast where Ali Abdaal suggested creating a newsletter and website with your own name—fitting advice as I celebrate my 50th issue! Interestingly, I only listened to that podcast on my brother’s recommendation. When I asked him what he thought, he admitted he hadn’t actually listened but thought I’d find it interesting! A great example of the impact of sharing ideas to helps others discover new things.

20-Year Medical School Reunion

Another milestone: it’s been 20 years since I graduated from medical school, and we recently had a reunion. I approached the event with gratitude, thankful for the chance to reconnect with classmates and see where life has taken them. Unsurprisingly, everyone who attended is thriving in their careers, continuing to achieve great things.

One key to life? Take action and embrace risks.
PLAY – DON’T JUST CRITICIZE FROM THE SIDELINES!

Not bad for something I just made up 🙂

X of the Month

by @AMAZINGNATURE because I love the idea of the word “unit” being used to describe a person, a packed bag, or even an animal. It’s a little off-topic from the newsletter theme, but if you enjoy a bit of randomness, click here to share this newsletter with your friends so they can sign up too!

Website & App of the Month

RadioSure app

I use this desktop app to listen to music from different countries. It offers a vast variety of stations and, while it’s no longer updated, it still works smoothly and serves its purpose well.

Have a lovely month,

Dear Friends,

Actions overtime that deliberately challenge you, performed with purpose, will lead to  greatness. That is my opinion at least, what do you think?

The Slight Edge is one of the best books to highlight this, if you do the right things every day, over time over time it leads to a massive difference.  Another book called The Compound Effect has exactly the same idea. Repetitive actions over time compound. This can happen both negatively and positively.  So plan your goals, then select your habits very wisely.

Lately I have been preparing a workshop focusing on digital healthcare leadership, some of the books I have summarised helped me plan some content.  I am aiming for a memorable workshop that will inspire the attendees to make positive change.  If you want to take a positive action why not forward this newsletter to a friend so they can sign up 🙂

Previously my most memorable presentation was when I used a prop and unboxed a taxidermy squirrel.  What is in the box?  What you put into it. To be fair it was completely unrelated to the Primary Care presentation I was delivering but I had just picked it up from the Post Office so thought why not. I hadn’t seen the squirrel before so fortunate the buyer was legitimate. This was around 5 years ago, sadly it wasn’t recorded!

YouTube Video of the Month

I selected this video as body language is extremely important to augment your communication.  Previously I have summarised a different book Captivate by the same author and completed a body language quiz.

Just like habits, it is worth taking a moment to deliberately review your communication style. Aim to replace any destructive ones with constructive behaviours.

X of the Month

the most memorable Tweet I have seen lately.  Demonstrates a bit of skill that has clearly been made from deliberate practice as well as a bit of kindness!

Website & App of the Month

https://storm.genie.stanford.edu/

This is like Chat GPT but it doesn’t just make up some of the references.  At the end of this newsletter I have put the extensive output from “About Chris Weatherburn who summarises books”.  Some of this is simply not true, such as I never worked for Microsoft.  In addition, although an actual reference this one is completely irrelevant.  The Book Summarization Framework mentioned below is also news to me!

Anyone who has known me for a long time would probably also disagree with this statement “Ultimately, Chris Weatherburn’s early life was marked by a blend of personal exploration and a commitment to understanding the intricacies of human experience, setting the stage for his future endeavors in literature and education.”

However, to give the storm website credit it does have even more content (I have spared you from this). The BrainSTORMing process is outlined which finds some relevant references and you could base your initial work on this. I have made a quick video demo here, in which it writes different (untrue) things about me! It is worrying though, anything it reads on the internet it simply believes is true and the output is very convincing.

Have a great month!

Dear Friends,

It has been a busy month with lots going on including dancing in the Blackpool Tower Ballroom! This involved a fair bit of driving, across a very cold United Kingdom. However, I can’t get out of thinking that I am on a treadmill of constant tasks. Reflecting about managing tasks reminded me of the Zeigarnik Effect.

You might ask what is the Zeigarnik Effect? It sounds like an ability from a computer game.  However, this is an effect that relates to the power of unfinished business or an uncompleted activity to hold a privileged place in your memory.

Some waiters can use this effect as a superpower, being able to remember exactly who ordered what. However, later in the evening when you sit in a different chair and have finished your meal, you might be disappointed to find out the waiter can no longer remember what each person consumed!

You may feel a sense of ease when you complete a task. However, if you are midway through a task and get interrupted you might get an uneasy feeling. This is important to know, not just about yourself but it might also make you think twice about interrupting others when they are mid-task. Life is a bit like dancing, timing is everything!

YouTube Video of the Month

I selected this as I am interested in learning about Leadership and quite like the thumbnail to be honest. The video also contains a rewarding image of submarine that moves down the page then has a splash. This was meant to represent a sinking submarine, although on retrospect a floating submarine is more concerning 🙂

X of the Month

not get to serious, hopefully this will put a smile on your face!

If you are aiming for a culture shift it is important to empower people and support them. Do not be a seagull manager sweeping in, leaving your mess, and departing. Can I interrupt you reading this and ask you to kindly share the newsletter with your friends by clicking here so they can sign up? It is faster than sending them an old-fashioned Christmas card!

Website & App of the Month

https://santatracker.google.com/likealight.html

Great website to track the progress Santa is making delivering presents all around the world!

Here is my present for you. I authored a book five years ago. I have just edited it trying to remove all the spelling mistakes 🙂 If you want a pdf copy of my book just reply and I will send it to you. Think of it as my Christmas present to you!

Hope you have a fantastic Christmas and all the best for New Year when it arrives,

Chris

PS If you also want to see a video of the amazing Caroline and I dancing in Blackpool it is here.

Dear Friends,

Happy New Year 2025!

It is always weird when you write the new year a few times, in Scotland it is a tradition to wish people a Happy New Year when you first see them. This usually dies out around mid January usually followed by a brief greeting of how are you?

In the United Kingdom when you see someone, and they ask how are you it isn’t actually a question; you can simply grunt back.  My understanding is that in other countries if you ask someone how they are when you are hurrying in the other direction in a corridor not waiting for answer this would be considered very rude – they are ready to tell you how they are.

When people ask how are you? What should you say. A few years ago, I deliberately changed my automatic response to fantastic. It can have a surprisingly positive effect. I truly hope things are going well and will be fantastic for you throughout 2025.

YouTube Video of the Month

I might salami slice this book summary into 12 shorts throughout the year, as I have done with January. This video is about working less and living more.  Something many of us strive to do.

X of the Month

Some good light hearted advice from Sandford Police (a parody account).

Although I hope things are going fantastic for you, but what do you do if things aren’t going well?  My advice would be to reframe this as a challenge and as a test to your resilience.  Resilience is the ability to bounce back and like any skill with practice you can achieve this.  This also relates to the concept of robustness which is being able to form a plan.  Together with resilience and robustness you will get through hard times!

It is New Year, so I feel obliged to mention it is a great time to optimise habits and use the compound effect to your advantage.  Over time repetitive actions compound – this can be positive or negative so keep yours positive!

Website & App of the Month

https://ideogram.ai/

If you want a cool AI image generating bit of software that actually can handle text try this out, as demonstrated below:

Why not click here to share this newsletter with your friends 🙂

All the best for 2025, let’s make it an awesome one!

Chris

Dear Friends,

So a month has already passed in the New Year.  Parking at the gym is starting to become easier and less people are talking about their goals.  If you are still planning your calendar it is important to remember to try to incorporate spare time – this allows you to have some flexibility. Flexibility grants you the ability to cease opportunity that come your way.

Research shows people are poor at predicting how long something will take them to achieve, often believing that they will achieve more and have completed more things by a certain time. Interestingly other people are better at predicting how long things will take other people to achieve and better at estimating this than the individual involved. Therefore when planning ideally get both your insider viewpoint and an outsider viewpoint allowing you to come up with a more accurate prediction of how long something will take. I believe we may well overestimate what we can achieve in a day, but underestimate what we can achieve in a decade!

YouTube Video of the Month

I am putting out quite a lot of content on the YouTube channel at the moment and  have scheduled a new video for the next three Fridays.  I would particularly watch out for the ones coming on the 14^th February and 21^st February 🙂

X of the Month

Purely added in for a bit of fun, I am sure some of these replies will bring a smile to your face!

Website & App of the Month

https://chat.deepseek.com/sign_in

This is another free large language model like Chat GPT.  It can’t generate images, but searches a more up to date version of the internet than the free version of Chat GPT.  There is a fair bit of hype about Deepseek at the moment.  Note that the data entered into Deepseek goes to China.  Personally, I don’t really care if the Republic of China get some of my questions about how to optimise a graph on R. If you have a bit of time on your hands feel free to ask it to highlight any negative things about the Republic of China and you will see some interesting responses,

Have a great month!

Chris

PS Click here to forward this newsletter to your friends 🙂

Dear Friends,

There will be times in your life when it is hard. What matters is how you adapt and cope to inevitable challenges that arise. I have found a great strategy is to make time for some positive things that you will then look forward to. I tried applying my own advice with a spontaneous weekend away.

To make decisions I used the website of the month from my 43rd newsletter to search for direct flights from Edinburgh and considered cost. I had planned to go to Poznan, but flight increased in price. Then I looked at the next set of cities and thought of what events were occurring.  I saw one of my favourite artists Yotto was playing in Prague. It had been on my bucket list to see Yotto after I discovered his mesmerising beats of deep trance. The decision was made, and I jumped at the opportunity. It was fantastic to dance to deep trance, you can obtain a state being in the moment and have no worries at all.  This state is remarkably like flow state when you are at the peak of your productivity, if you want a book summary about being in your peak productivity click here.

YouTube Video of the Month

I enjoyed making this video as it was thought provoking, relates to happiness and different cultures. The fantastic DJ I mentioned Yotto is from Finland. Initially when he started to play, he was not looking at the audience as much compared with other world class DJs that I have been fortunate enough to see. I realised this relates in part to culture. I recall a joke – how can you identify an extrovert from Finland? They look at the other person’s shoes.

X of the Month

Liked this Tweet as it might relate to culture or just unusual fashion choices.  Overall I found Czech people extremely pleasant but at times very abrupt if you are not efficient.  It was great to speak some Czech, I sabotaged my Polish and got on quite well as there seems to be around a 20% overlap with words which is enough.

After a day, a friendly local explained to me that “Ahoy” which I thought is a friendly “Hi“ is a greeting mainly reserved for speaking to children.  This might explain why I had initially thought some people I spoke to including the Passport controller lady were abrupt!

Why not try saying hello to some of your friends by sharing this newsletter with them by clicking here!

App of the Month

Clozemaster

This is a great language learning app which has more languages than Duolingo. It is based around completing commonly used sentences that are missing a word. I particularly enjoy the speaking exercises; it is aimed at advanced beginners and intermediate learners.

Hope you have a great month and remember to incorporate positive things in your diary to look forward to!

Chris

Dear Friends,

Have you got 20 years of experience, or do you have 20 years of the same one-year experience? I heard that quote from Jim Rohn and I thought of this when I started to do karate again.

I was learning a kata (a sequence of moves) and thought, wow I’m picking this up quickly. Perhaps the dancing is helping me learn routines quicker. I then realised that I had learnt the same kata over two decades ago, before the Sensei (instructor) who was teaching this was even born!

Now, let’s be honest, I had clearly forgotten about that kata but moves did return quickly as they had been submitted to muscle memory. So it go me thinking; am I improving or just doing the same thing again and again.

Although it might seem like you are simply performing a punch that you have done a thousand times, there are different parts to focus on. This is where the additional experience helps, you focus on different things, the bend in the ankles, the speed of the punch, the snapping recoil of the other hand, the position – the list goes on! I have also found it really rewarding to watch my daughter learn karate.

At the moment I am glad to say I am definitely improving and enjoying karate. Will I succeed in my plan to eventually gain a black belt? We will see. I firmly believe the key isn’t that you have to achieve something to then become happy, it is about enjoying the process and living in that moment.

My urge to you in April is to think what do you want to focus on and make deliberate efforts to improve on this. Can you tweak your days to fit in some rewarding growth?

YouTube Video of the Month

If you are wanting to improve, consider learning from the wisdom of Prof Steve Peters. He previously wrote the Chimp Paradox and has been a sports psychologist to the snooker legend Ronnie O’Sullivan.

X of the Month

This thread is worth looking at for all the crowd sourced creative ideas!

Website of the Month

https://app.diagrams.net/

This is a cool website if you want to draw a diagram, seems straight forward to use.

Share some love and forward this newsletter to your friends by clicking here.

Have a great month!

Chris

Dear Friends,

Deliberate practice, time management, learning new skills, staying social, exercising… it all sounds great in theory—but when your calendar’s packed, even the best intentions it can feel overwhelming. When juggling many plates, it’s only natural that one (or more) might fall.

Recently, I came across the concept of Pole Vaulter Syndrome. With every achievement, the bar is raised, which leads to ongoing pressure, stress, and a growing fear of failure. It’s a cycle that can sap motivation and make work feel like a grind instead of a joy.

This got me thinking about the importance of putting yourself first—of choosing what truly matters to you rather than doing things out of pure obligation.

Just this morning, I reviewed my neatly planned calendar only to find 15 different tasks lined up—none of which included writing this newsletter or creating a YouTube thumbnail.

Am I trying to do too much?

YouTube Video of the Month

Two of the clearest signs of burnout are:

• Cynicism: Feeling detached or negative about your work
• Exhaustion: Chronic mental and physical fatigue that hurts performance

Burnout is everywhere. The key is to build systems that protect your energy—and to ditch perfectionism (click here for my views on perfectionism from 3 years ago). Many hold back because they’re afraid of being judged. But don’t sit on the sidelines. You only get one life. Live boldly—but sustainably. You can’t do everything.

So how can we manage our time and energy better?

One helpful mindset shift is to schedule leisure first—yes, really. The ‘unschedule’ technique encourages you to block time for rest and fun in your calendar before you plan your work. This way, you’re more aware of your true capacity, and it becomes easier to avoid overcommitment.

Also, take stock of your weekly rhythms:

• When are you most productive?
• Can you align your toughest tasks with those peak periods?

And remember: promoting curiosity, connection, and gratitude in your environment makes a huge difference. Engaged, positive people are contagious—in the best way. Happy teams get more done and enjoy the process.

X of the Month

The future is arriving fast. I suspect the military will be all over this! While I’m not planning to buy one just yet, I did check the price—and it’s surprisingly affordable. Don’t be surprised if you see an unboxing and review video soon!

 Website of the Month

 https://colorcop.net/download/

This free Windows tool lets you hover over any part of your screen to grab the exact hex code of a colour. Super useful for designers, creators, and anyone working with visual content.

For this recommendation alone it is worth forwarding this to your friends so they can sign up by clicking here.

Have a great month,

Chris

PS I am likely going to be migrating away from Mailchimp – if you have a recommendation for a great free mailing service please let me know 🙂