The Woodshed

Here are a few suggestions for under the tree this year: [1] Apple's iPhone (with independent network choice) [2] The vintage Kenner Star Wars figure collection (in the boxes) [3] A Mac Mini for all my MP3's [4] The new book by Tim Saunders - The Likability Factor [5] A PS3. Ahead of the rush. [6] A BMX that won't break when I ride it. [7] The sea. (I live in Johannesburg). [8] An opportunity to meet Guy Kawasaki. [9] More time to Blog. [10] Lastly please please please get your elves to provide a compatible PCMCIA card for my MacBook Pro. It's the Express 16 slot - much smaller than that of the PowerBook. I've been good. Promise. XXX

Think about it. Imagine yourself walking barefoot over 4.5m of glowing coals. You've heard about it. You may have even briefly considered doing it. But have you actually seriously put your mind to the test? It's a little like training your brain to forget everything you've been conditioned to believing. This in itself is a wonderful exercise. But when we were rudely interrupted in an otherwise fun-but-routine workshop last week, I had no idea that the ritual can be so exhilarating. Granted, when you are told that in exactly 60min we would ALL have walked barefoot over 4.5m of burning coals - things take on a different perspective. You panic. Then you deal with the panic. The energy in the room was immediately raised. We were informed that to overcome any fear there are usually 3 simple conditions that need to be satisfied: 1. Environment What you think tends to become your belief quicker when everyone around you also believes. This is illustrated beautifully in Finding Ne...

Russell Crowe said that the birth of his son gave him a new set of priorities. Hollywood wasn't as important anymore. The one thing that you lose when your priorities change like Russell's, is your 'me-time'. Most husbands give so much of themselves that their emotional cylinder runs dry. And this situation doesn't help anyone. I know. It's happened to me. So here is my "Selfish-Me" list for fuel: 1. Buy a Classical Guitar and learn to play. My dad had a guitar. He never seemed to carry a tune through to the end but that didn't matter. He strummed and jammed and seemed to be so content at that. My sister and I would simply sit listening bobbing our heads. I intend to pick up where dad left off and at least get to the chorus. :-) 2. Go back to Tai Chi. I've lost contact with my first Tai Chi Master. Raph. This amazing man had the balls to negotiate a contract with me I will never forget. I was in my mid 20's and he suggested that we agree to...

We're throwing a birthday celebration for Mandy. It's fitting really because every year I'm usually the one that gets the birthday bash. And this year was none the different. But this year Mandy is going large. It's called 'Angel or Devil? You decide.' Things got exciting once we had made the decision - on many levels. One. Instantly you have something to look forward to. This reminds me of Enid Blyton's classic Noddy series. On a dreamy sunday afternoon we were reading stories to the kiddies and Noddy became soooooo upset because he was the last to hear about Big Ears' birthday party. What fascinated me is that what upset him wasn't the fact that he was the last to find out ... it was the fact that he was robbed of the excitement that led up to the celebration. I learnt something there and then. Two. For sometime now I've been wanting to throw a 'mad hatters tea party'. You know. Invite someone dangerous to tea? My idea of this is to t...

I had a visit from a school friend of mine that i hadn't seen in 19 years. 19 years is a long time after spending every single day from Sub A (Grade 0) to Matric (Grade 12). We only had one evening together - and did our best to pack 19 years of our past into a few glasses of excellent scotch. But before I share our evening I don't believe it would be fair not to mention The Beatles. So here's my tip 'o the bowler hat: I'm not a huge fan of The Beatles. I don't own any of their albums. However, when I hear a Beatles number being played, I sing with gusto and enthusiasm. And I mean it. Admittedly, I prefer the slightly more obscure numbers ... I Am The Walrus .. and Maxwell's Silver Hammer ... And I certainly acknowledge the genius that is John Lennon. There you have it. Now back to the reunion. After looking at dusty albums and laughing at ourselves 20 years younger, it became apparent to me that my dear friend had something still to prove. Granted, we weren...

1. At Lunch Time, Sit In Your Parked Car With Sunglasses on and point a Hair Dryer At Passing Cars. See If They Slow Down. 2. Page Yourself Over The Intercom. Don't Disguise Your Voice. 3. Every Time Someone Asks You To Do Something, ask If They Want Fries with that. 4. Put Your Garbage Can On Your Desk And Label it "In". 5. Put Decaf In The Coffee Maker For 3 Weeks. Once Everyone has Gotten Over Their Caffeine Addictions, Switch to Espresso. 6. In The Memo Field Of All Your Checks, Write "For Smuggling Diamonds". 7. Finish All Your sentences with "In Accordance With The Prophecy". 8 dont use any punctuation 9. As Often As Possible, Skip Rather Than Walk. 10. Order a Diet Water whenever you go out to eat, with a serious face. 11. Specify That Your Drive-through Order Is "To Go". 12. Sing Along At The Opera. 13. Go To A Poetry Recital. And Ask Why The Poems Don't Rhyme? 14. Put Mosquito Netting Around Your Work Area And P...

A Survival Kit. By Mariana 'Oumi' Bryce 1. Never panic. Stop, breathe, think. 2. No one is thinking about you, they’re thinking about themselves, just like you. 3. Never change hair cut or colour before an important event. 4. Nothing is either as BAD or as GOOD as it seems. 5. Do as you would be done by, e.g. Thou shalt not kill. 6. It is better to buy one expensive thing that you really like than several cheap things that you only quite like. 7. Hardly anything matters. If you get upset, ask yourself: “Does it really matter?” 8. The key to success lies in how you pick yourself up from failure. 9. Be honest and kind. 10. Only buy clothes that make you feel like doing a small dance. 11. Trust your instincts, not your overactive imagination. When overwhelmed by disaster, check if it really IS a disaster by doing the following: Think …. “Oh fuck it !” Attempt to turn it into an amusing anecdote. If none of the above work, then maybe it IS a disaster, so tur...

Might I recommend something for tired minds. A trip south. A trip to a breathtaking country. A trip to New Zealand. We arrived in Auckland around 9:30pm local time but it felt as if we completely skipped a day. Wide awake at night and unable to keep our eyes open in the afternoon. But that's jet lag for you. A small price to pay to breathe in life .. as it were. The people are very friendly. Very proud. And make their guests feel respected, safe and at home. Most of the time we were situated in the city centre itself but we did manage to take two day trips out. One was to the Island of Waiheke and the other 3 hours south to Rotorua. I think in spite of my previous posting regarding a visit to the Shire ("let it go, Clint" someone commented ...) the highlight of the trip was a visit to a Maori cultural site. We were greeted by a charismatic Maori who passionately shared with us his heritage ... and had a wicked sense of humour to boot. Top stuff. Some of the booty we re...

I'm off to New Zealand on Sunday. I don't think the idea of international travel has really sunk in yet. We had the usual trouble with booking flight tickets this week ... first we were set to leave Sunday ... then we weren't and the flights had changed to Thursday ... then 12 hours later we were on a different Airline and it was back to Sunday. But I'm not complaining. It's tremendously exciting. I owe all this excitment to Mandy. She did so well meeting her targets at the office that every year we're treated to an International flight somewhere exotic on the house. Last year was Cape Town (a bit close to home but boy what a beautiful place). The year before Mexico. But on Tuesday I should be sipping XXX lager in Auckland, New Zealand. The City of Sails. One of the more important things on my growing itinerary list of 'Things We Must Do!' is to take a 2 hour trip south and sit down amongst the rolling hills of the Shire where Bilbo Baggins celebrated hi...

I love the notion of being open-minded. Very often we tend to seek specific results ... and in our desire to achieve these results we fail to investigate surprises that present themselves along the way. This is a mistake. Follow your planning, but be prepared to off-road when something unexpected catches your attention. To honour this thinking, and to end this week off, here's a Top 10 list of the best accidental discoveries. 1. Viagra 
Men being treated for erectile dysfunction should salute the working stiffs of Merthyr Tydfil, the Welsh hamlet where, in 1992 trials, the gravity-defying side effects of a new angina drug first popped up. Previously, the blue-collar town was known for producing a different kind of iron. 2. LSD 
Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann took the world's first acid hit in 1943, when he touched a smidge of lysergic acid diethylamide, a chemical he had researched for inducing childbirth. He later tried a bigger dose and made another discovery: the bad trip. 3. ...

She smiled at a sorrowful stranger. The smile seemed to make him feel better. He remembered past kindness' of a friend And wrote him a thank you letter. The friend was so pleased with the thank you That he left a large tip after lunch. The waitress, surprised by the size of the tip, Bet the whole thing on a hunch. The next day she picked up her winnings, And gave part to a man on the street. The man on the street was grateful; For two days he'd had nothing to eat. After he finished his dinner, He left for his small dingy room. He didn't know at that moment that he might be facing his doom. On the way he picked up a shivering puppy And took him home to get warm. The puppy was very grateful To be in out of the storm. That night the house caught on fire. The puppy barked the alarm. He barked till he woke the whole household And saved everybody from harm. One of the boys that he rescued Grew up to be President. All this because of a simple smile That hadn't cost a cen...

Granted. This blog doesn't have many readers. That may change in the future ... or it may not. I haven't published the URL or spammed my address book. That's not my intention. A few family members, colleagues and lovecats are part of the network. That's it. And that's just dandy. So ... being this early in the game, you can image my delight (and surprise) to receive an eMail from an old friend (now residing in the U.K.) that had somewhat of a success story he related back to a previous posting here on The Woodshed. Truth be told, he decided to 'get back to where he needed to be' after reading 'The Great Thing About Cleaning Up'. So he went out and applied for his dream job. The fact that the position offered less than his current earnings didn't deter him from pursuing his personal goals. Lo and behold ... he was made the offer! Open yourself up to the opportunity and the opportunity will find you. Adopt a creative mindset and believe that the u...

It's been a while since my last post. 14 days. And in those 14 days the new moon that fell on February 27 seemed to force all sorts of unexpected developments - anything could ... and did happen. This was challenging to say the least. In situations like this most of us tend to adopt a knee-jerk attitude and behave in a reactionary manner. Exactly what I did. It took a weekend away for something that I believe in to slowly re-awaken: The point of power is always in the present moment*. Let me elaborate. The past has no power over us. But it often clouds our thinking. We become very judgmental of past situations. Of others. And of ourselves. We enjoy playing the victim. But that's so stupid. There's no fun at all in being a victim, but it grants us the excuses we look for because we're unhappy with our current situation. But what we should realise is that it doesn't matter how long we have had a negative pattern ... the point of power is always in the present moment....

On the topic of birthday anniversaries, see previous post , it's my sister's birthday today! So here's a special birthday-wish-post to Thurla who is (hopefully) celebrating with Depeche Mode and Carrot Cake from Melissa's. Wish we were there. For our part, however, we managed to source a copy of Life Magazine published the week she entered this world. A rare thing indeed (and thanks to a colleague for arranging the pick-up). Now all that remains, is for us to frame it in glass and send it to you. Keep your eyes on the post Thurl and make sure everyone spoils you today. ;-) All our love XXX

Brown is this year's black. What's hot? What's not? Wired? Fired? In and out. The pace of change today (particularly when you're thirty-something ...) is sometimes dizzying. And blessed be - I'd hate to walk into the office wearing something that's "oh so 80's! dude." (read: those super-naff Hyper T-Shirts that leave an imprint of your hand - or other warm body part). Trend spotting is big. And, up until now, I've always watched from the sideline thinking that the Trends World is dominated by grey trousered analysts crunching statistics. Wrong. My good mate past this on to me this morning: Trendwatching.com . An independent and opinionated trend firm whom scans the globe for the most promising consumer trends, insights and related hands-on business ideas. With a network of over 8 000+ 'spotters in more than 70 countries worldwide you can bet the main meal is mouthwatering. And not only is the content rich, absorbing and useful but the good ...

Yesterday a colleague popped an Mpeg of Steve Job's Commencement Address on the server for me to download. It's the video version of the following transcript which i have kept for almost a year ... as soon as I figure out how to attach movie's to my blog i'll share that too :-) it's well worth a listen. ++ This is the text of the Commencement address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, delivered on June 12, 2005. I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories. The first story is about connecting the dots. I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out? ...

noun 1 the transmission of customs or beliefs from generation to generation, or the fact of being passed on in this way • a long-established custom or belief that has been passed on in this way. One such tradition in our family is that on your birthday we all have chocolate cake for breakfast. And so it was this morning. At 5:30am, bleary eye'd, I was opening presents in bed with my two boys, gorgeous daughter and beautiful wife. Amongst the spoils were a Yoda keyring, Dark Horse graphic novel of the first 3 Star Wars episodes (stunning!) and an Obi-Wan collector figurine. Spoilt indeed. After the unwrapping the family gathered around the dining table, tea's and coffee in hand, and each helped themselves to a slice of chocolate cake. Happy birthday to me. ;-)

Over coffee this morning, the conversation led me to recall a particular moment in my past where I was challenged to present (to my peers) what I believed was creative and inspirational. I think it was during '92 or 3. At the time I was a Mac evangelist at TBWA / Hunt Lascaris. My colleagues all had great references to Bob Dylan , Calvin and Hobbes and Nicolas Cage's intro sequence to Red Rock West . It was all very impressive and overall a great exercise. The folks called it a Creative Jumboree. I had very recently acquired a set of Photoshop filters called Kai's Power Tools. At the time there were a few Mac's in the studio but many of them lay idle whilst traditional art directors and copywriters locked themselves away in room's full of beanbags squirting water pistons at each other. Not many were converted at the time. I stood up, and behind me, on a large projector screen was the interface for KPT Texture Explorer. This, for me, completely threw the interface...

My Amazon order arrived yesterday. This, on it's own, is a reason to celebrate. Does everybody share the same sense of excitment? Anticipation? Sheer childlike joy when the box finally arrives? It's almost like when you used to empty the entire box of cornflakes to find those amazing spoons that glow in the dark ... But I digress. The contents? Guy's latest book "The Art of the Start" , 3 DvD's (one being 'How to get ahead in advertising' - oh the joy!), and the classic hardcover "Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?" by the infamous Dr. Seuss. The reason this is so special is because i have one already. You see, my folks gave me this in 1975 (and i can prove it - I scribbled my name on the inside cover in ballpoint, and put the year next to it). For the past year or so, storytime with the kids has been dominated by the Dr's wise and wonderful words. Even my 2 yr old yells "Daddy read Dyuif evyttr khhuy YOU ARE!" ... and we a...

Because everybody deserves one. Let me explain. The notion of The Woodshed was first introduced to me in John Kao's 1997 book Jamming where he discusses the art and discipline of business creativity. Something that's very close to my heart. In Chapter 5 he discusses the need for clearing a space for creativity and introduces the reader to Charlie Parker's woodshed. Or, more specifically, whenever the great sax player needed to work out new musical concepts, he would withdraw from the usual people, places and things and "go to the woodshed". This may seem an odd phrase, but if considered for a short while you will find that you've probably been to your woodshed without even knowing it. When I was 7 yrs old there was a river a block away from our house in East London. I would run to it every other afternoon and spend the day either trying to catch crabs, doing homework, building bridges or playing in the mud with my Star Wars collection. The spot at the river ...

How many times have you heard the phrase "No pain, no gain?" The implication is that if you want to make something of yourself you must work hard. Nothing wrong with that. I agree. But the message of that small mantra is also very clear: if you are not hurting or struggling, you're not moving forward. Gaining. Growing. Expanding. This is what I have a problem with. Get this. Anytime you are struggling, you are miscreating. Think about it. Anytime you feel pain, discomfort, frustration or struggle your magnetic point of attraction is (usually) directed to that which you do not want, rather than to that which you desire. How you feel determines what you attract. Actions are also very necessary, but they are the last component of the creation process. Actions cannot be used effectively to initiate results, because initiation is first a function of being , then thought, and only then, action. In the short ebook, "The Shocking Truth About Action," Dr. Robert Anthon...

(Before you're old and boring) Granted. It took 15 days after receiving the incredibly beautifully designed and inspiring book by Richard Horne and Helen Szirtes to mark off my very first Thing To Do: Start Your Own Blog. :-) And you're looking at it right now. Perhaps you could argue that I've missed an opportunity in that we never Sent a Message in a Bottle whilst at the coast ... you could even suggest that in the distant past I have done a number of the Things To Do. But the fact of the matter remains that apart from being foggy on the details, the notion is to start from a blank canvas. So this is where it's at. I have officially completed Thing To Do No. 36: Start Your Own Blog. And that, my friends, means the race is on. For more about 101 Things To Do (Before you're old and boring) check out the official website: K101

Wisdom often comes in the most surprising places. Of course I always look for it in books, newspapers, Google and The History Channel. But instead of sipping on your gin 'n tonic whilst reading the latest finance publication, you should tune into the sandpit talk when you're watching your kids at the local park for some knee-high insights. Top 10 things I've learnt since being a dad: 1. Everything is more fun when waters involved 2. If you wake up in the night, hold hands with the person next to you 3. Father Christmas, The Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny will only visit if you believe 4. Pizza tastes better when it looks like a face (and dipped into creme soda) 5. Always keep it 'loosey goosey babe' 6. It's only the daddy monkeys that are c-r-a-z-y 7. Running around naked after a bath / shower / sauna is mandatory 8. The moon also goes to sleep 9. Anything that moves in the sky is absolutely incredible 10. It's O.K. to jump on the bed as long as you pull ...

Step 1: Take a crazy road trip around the country with your family. Step 2: Do it caravan style and follow your mate's red Peugeot 307 convertable. Step 3: Stop frequently. Pee. Drink. Snap. Here are some of the results: Right. On the count of three. The Wanderers. January ... February .. March ... mmmmmWha!

... is that you find things that remind you of who you are. Not were. But are. If you ever need reminding of why you got into this business in the first place, simply purge all those papers and files around your woodshed, hard drives and iPod and re-arrange them taking care to open the ones with interesting titles. Preamble: This 10 minute message was actually delivered to the Concept Interactive Cape Town SA graduates in December 2001. I found this while cleaning up: ++ Hello. Thank you very much. This message is for students … such as yourselves whom have recently graduated and will be knocking on doors soon … now. How would that make you feel? … The assignments, lectures, projects, exams … all over! Wow. How do you feel? Relieved? Anxious? Excited? Nervous? Thrilled? Did you do your best? Maybe you believe you’d like to go back and pay more attention? Hopefully it wasn’t a waste of time and your parent’s money? Or worse. Your money! Maybe you’re energized and roaring to go … But now...

I want to be healthy and happy. I want to be financially free. Rightly rich. I want to invest wisely. I want to enjoy my wealth selflessly. I want money to flow into my life in an abundant way. I want to retire financially independent. I want a house on the coast and I want a sports car. I want an alternative book store and a coffee shop. I want my children to have the best education I can offer. I want to travel and I want to see the world. I want to leave my children financially secure. I want to ensure they have nothing to worry about. I want them to enjoy life and I want them to find their calling. I want to be proud of them. I want them to feel loved and secure at all times. I want to provide. I want to support. But i want to have time to myself. I want my family to be healthy, happy and loved. I want my family to be proud. I want my children to love me. Respect me. And live until old age. I want to live in a happy home. I want to spend time with my family. I want Mandy to be happ...