Monday Morning Musings

Morning Team.

I hope you all had a nice weekend and managed to stay warm.

Apologies that I didn’t get a chance to send my usual MMM email last week due to offsite conferences, but here is what was going on in my world (and head), from last week:

What I LEARNED

Christmas is a time for giving which can do often be forgotten about in today’s age of commercialism and immediacy. But yesterday I experienced a proud dad moment when shopping in Kingston. In between the warmth of walking from one shop to the next, my family passed an old man, shivering, rocking to keep himself warm with a few blankets covered over his legs, and a sign around his neck. I completely missed the sign, but placed the spare change I had available at the time, in his used coffee cup. 30 minutes later my son asked if he could have a hot Bratwurst hotdog from the Alpine market, no change there as he loves hot dogs and knew he was hungry. But rather than tuck into the hot dog like he normally would, he asked if I could follow him with it. So carrying this hot dog that had come straight off the grill, we ended up walking back to the old shivering man, where my son gladly presented him with his hot dog. The expression on the man’s face was one of unexpectedness, joy, relief and delight all at the same time. The term ‘it was like all my Christmases had come at once’ is an English expression that might be translated across Europe, Im not sure, but this is what it probably felt like to this man.  

This small act of kindness made me realise not only the importance of giving to others, especially those less fortunate, but also it taught me another valuable lesson – to always look out for and read the signs for those looking for help. Although I presumed the shivering man wanted money, the sign actually read that he wanted hot food more than anything, and luckily that’s what my son had read which I missed.

As we enter the Christmas season it can be easy to get carried away with the joys and luxuries that we are fortunate to experience, but let’s not forget about those less fortunate. A small act of kindness can go a long way.

What I LIKED

This week I listened to a High Performance Podcast with an organisational psychologist and professor called Adam Smith. His work focuses on how people can find motivation and meaning, rethink assumptions and live more creative and generous lives. 

In this episode they focus on the best way to deal with criticism and feedback, why we should be fuelling our growth instead of our ego. An interesting listen which has now got me researching into more of his work:

Final thought

Feedback is a gift, and I’m always trying to improve or understand what’s working and what’s not. Please leave any constructive feedback that you feel can help me improve or continue with what’s working.

Thank you for reading and I hope that you have a successful and fulfilling day.