Focus

Since I came back to the UK last summer I have been looking for a focus. At first I thought I would become a Property Investor, so I enrolled on an online course. I really couldn’t get into it; I worked in Property in the past and lost a lot of money.

Then an old friend came back on the scene and we were going to live in Morocco. It didn’t work out; too many clashes.

I published my second book featuring Fairy Hanny. Then it got my focus. I have always wanted to write and to teach.

That is my focus.

I am building courses to sell online, and writing.

Creative writing and also Motivational books. I have my third book featuring Fairy Hanny on the way. I also have a set of crime novels featuring the black humour of Inspector Hunter Flaange. I have a plan for a book on Time Management, based on a course I completed a while ago. Then there are plenty of Maths books I can put together from the various worksheets and powerpoints I have developed over the years.

I have a focus.

Then I came across this from Daily Motivation.

Don’t be afraid to be confused. Think of it as a sign that you’re learning something new and that your perspective is expanding.

Confusion pushes you to look beyond your perspective in order to make room for diverse opportunities in life.

Opening yourself to a new possibility improves your ability to feel confident in who you are in the face of adversity.

While you may not have full control over how your journey unfolds, you can control your priorities and what you believe in.

Just focus on what kind of person you want to be, and the rest will automatically fall into place.

Feeling tired?

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I am! I think it is the travelling and the long term effects of Covid.

Though there is so much more I want to achieve!

I was fortunate enough to find this quote from Daily Motivation.

Be happy!!!

“Don’t ever let yourself believe that you’re running out of strength. 

Whenever you feel your life is spiralling out of control, take a step back and breathe.

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Be aware of what you do have and what’s going well in your life. Take some time off to let the negative emotions run their course.

Then slowly incorporate positive thinking activities into your daily life, such as practicing affirmations, reframing a situation, and gratitude journaling.

If you release self-defeating thoughts and let the dark clouds of negativity dissipate, you will realize that you can find hope and strength within.”

Writing and thinking

I love writing!

I am working on the third Fairy Hanny story and my first detective novel featuring Inspector Flaange. I also have some Maths and English books that I am editing, and an outline of a book on Motivation.

I get an email every day with a Daily Motivation. So I will share this one;

You are blessed in so many ways. Live your life with gratitude. Notice the little wins every day. There are so many good things you have already received.

So many things go right in a day.

Savour the good. 

Don’t let the good moments pass without celebration.

Spend some time cherishing them and hold on to positive emotions a little longer. Appreciate the hard work you have put into the things you have achieved until now.

Savour the sensation of being grateful. Learning to notice and enjoy what’s around you makes it easier to snap yourself out of negative thoughts. 

Are Spontaneous Decisions Always Bad?

Final thoughts on decision making.

When faced with decisions, you want to have the best information possible. Some people spend too much time trying to find as much information as they can, and they miss opportunities because of it. Information is a key component in decision making. However, sometimes, you simply must decide and live with the decision without any information.

You do not want others to view you as someone who makes rash decisions. You will lose credibility when you do this, and people will not take you seriously. However, you must prepare yourself for certain times where being decisive is necessary. For instance, you may be registering for classes at your college and discover that a few of the courses you were hoping to take are full. You are given other choices but are unsure of how that will fit into your overall plan. Do you enrol in those alternative classes?

You may decide to go for the classes. If they are part of your curriculum, you can always rework your plan so that they fit in. Talk to your academic advisor and ask how to proceed after taking this new path. Of course, you could always drop the classes if they do not fit well.

The point is if a decision does not work out the wrong results can usually be fixed. Do not be afraid to take the plunge. The shoe company Nike has a slogan that has worked for them for several decades now. That slogan is ‘Just Do It!’

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A structured living doesn’t fit well with some people. They need the excitement that comes with making spontaneous decisions. Who is to say that their way is wrong? It may not work for others, but for them, it works quite well. You may know people who are like this and are envious of them.

That is not the same scenario as people who do not do much with their lives. Spontaneous decision makers are often doing many activities. You can decide to do nothing, but you will not get far. Unless you are lucky enough to come from money and your parents are willing to give you that money, you will need to find something to do.

Most people will find a balance of decisions they make based on information and spontaneous decisions. The process of decision making becomes easier the more you do it. Therefore, when you need to make spontaneous decisions, it will not be as difficult after a while.

How to Avoid Analysis Paralysis

Help in making decisions.
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Data bombards you. We have more data than we ever did due to the internet and storage technologies such as the cloud. It is great to slice the data in many directions you can think of and create nice-looking reports that impress your managers. However, when it comes to decision making, you must get to the point of making the decision. You will need to stop your data gathering and analysis and use what you must decide.

Computers give you the ability to divide your data in a way that makes sense for you or your company. But some people will spend hours deriving report after report, and none of them will get them any further in coming to a decision. They believe they need to see ten years of data instead of five. They need to see the impact of sales on each region, even though they are responsible only for one or two.

Data is a key component in the decision-making process. It can let you know who your customers are, how much they have bought, and it can even tell you who your customers are not. Information is also important to make confident decisions. Without the information, you could be shooting in the dark, and that is as bad as having too much information.

To help you overcome the situation of analysis paralysis or paralysis by analysis as many will refer to it, speak to your boss or the people who are going to be impacted by the data and your decisions. Ask them what they need from the data, and structure the reports around that information. Do not include any other data in the report. If you cannot defend the position based on the data they asked for, it does not belong in the report.

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Do not be a hero when it comes to analysis. You may be tempted to show a different level of data to that required as it may show better insight. But, if it is not within the scope of your decision, save it for future analysis. It is okay to let managers know that further analysis is possible. They may even extend the deadline and the scope of the project due to this extra information. What is more likely to happen, however, is they will increase the scope while keeping the deadline the same. You have just given yourself more work to do by letting them know about this extra data.

Decision Trees Can Help You Make Decisions

I have always found it easy to make decisions. Sometimes I look back and wish I had made a different decision…

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Decision trees are tools used by people to help them make confident decisions. It helps them layout several alternatives in a tree-like format. They can see most, if not all, the decisions available and can even set a rating on each choice.

The concept of a decision tree is an extension of a mind map. A mind map lets you create ideas and connections to those ideas. The decision tree is much like this concept except for a decision tree there is a score added to the branches of the tree. These scores often represent probabilities. If you have three choices, you may assign two branches with 40% probabilities, and the third branch would receive a 20% probability. The total of the branches should add up to 100%. However, it is your decision tree, so you are free to use whatever allocations you like if any. If your system makes sense to you, then it is correct.

Some project managers use decision trees to determine the costs of projects. When they assign probabilities to branches, they’ll multiply the total budget by that probability. For instance, if a branch has a probability of 35% and the total budget is $100,000, the branch will be estimated to cost $35,000 (35% x 100,000).

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Decision trees don’t have to be this intricate to be useful. You can use them to list out the alternatives for a decision and end your efforts there. You can also choose to update the percentage of completion for the path that you select. Again, there are no right answers when using a decision tree for your purposes.

When others rely on your decision tree, and you are formally calling it a decision tree, you may need to follow the protocol of assigning probabilities and figuring out the percentage cost. However, if the group agrees to other conventions, then again, that is the right answer for the group. A decision tree is simply a way to convey information to yourself or a team, etc.

Decision trees will have a certain amount of subjectivity associated with them. In most cases, coming up with probabilities is quite subjective. It’s only through experience that you’ll be able to refine the probabilities. If the project you are working on is a one-time deal, you won’t get the benefit of refining those probabilities and will have to start over with a new set of subjective probabilities on the next project. However, some branches may carry over to the new project, and you’ll have a better feel for what to assign to those.

Another extract

One of the joys of writing a book is that you have in effect created a whole series of blogposts! Here is another extract from my latest book.

The original, which introduced the delightful Fairy Hanny, is also available on Amazon.

Enjoy!

“So, as we sip our cold beers, brewed to perfection in silly Suffolk, our eyes are cast upon this beautiful woodland glade.  

(Don´t worry about the cast in your eye, you´ll grow out of it. Well, that’s what the doctor said to me.)

At this very moment, in what we choose to call Time, we find ourselves watching a scene unfolding, not too far from the Magical City of Setebos, the seat of the Fairy Kings, where King Innocent the Foetid is the centre of all wisdom, on a planet largely devoid of common sense. It is also devoid of incense, ten cents and senescence.

Setebos!

Setebos!

City of expiring dreams and chocolate covered ice creams! Where poets die and crooner’s cry! Though it’s not unusual and you don’t have to be rich! A place for doves to cry and spies to spy! Where watching birds can catch your eye! A city for tourists and two men with four wrists! Where boozers booze and cruisers cruise! Where the Fairies are light and airy, and nothing is dreary! And if you want to go home just find a Gnome! If things get too tricksy just find a Pixy! Where Bigfoot sits Leery whilst eating a canary!

Chomp! Chomp! Chomp!

Was it a yellowy canary or just a parrot looking scary?

Cities all over the Multiverse and Yorkshire have their concentrations of rogues and villains and scum and scavengers and Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves, and Thugs and Yobs and Yahoos and Bullingdon Bores and Lying Bigots dressed in Blue; wherever you go you can be sure they’re there! And if you don´t know where you are going then you will definitely end up on Uranus.

Setebos -Your streets are paved with a Golden Vision and there are golden showers everywhere; your bars are decorated with lasciviousness; there are pretty Fairies all over the place; but sometimes the sky is grey, and we wonder how tomorrow could ever follow today. City of perspiration and inspiration, of expiration and exploitation, of generation and a railway station! Oh Setebos, Mother of Invention and Zapper of negativity, even when it doesn’t pull you through. When the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness comes running through, that is when we see what is owed to Autumn, when the trees do a shimmy of golden-brown leaves falling all around.

Then we know it’s Time to be on our way.

Anyway, on this most auspicious of days, the Sun shines her long-lost rays into this comfortable clearing, dancing from leaf to leaf, roots to branches, catching diaphanous wings of Mayfly’s, who hunt the wilderness for their one day of fame, seeking insectile eroticism before death takes them prematurely to the great Entomologists Display Case in the sky.

A leaf falls silently from the highest branch of a Rowan tree, oscillating left and right as the drag competes with gravity to slow its descent. It caresses the ground like a kiss from a rose, delighting a woodlouse in its humdrum day of decay. A beautiful white rabbit pops into the scene, slowly rubbing shampoo from his eyes; he wasn’t going to worry about being late as this is not the tale of his tail. Soon those stinging eyes perceive a flickering ghostly image, which becomes a shimmer and a glimmer as the light gets dimmer. The rabbit scurries away to a hole in the ground, from which there will eventually emerge a Magnificent Mathematical Yarn – but that’s another story. As the rabbit disappears with his ears, from the twinkling manifestation, appears the delicately roguish Mad Tom of Bedlam; wild silver hair and deep blue eyes trying their best to regain focus.”

What Can You Do With This Program..?

Here’s just a very short list of some ways you could use the contents

  • Create your own ebook/Audiobook/Workbook product or course for sale
  • Merge this content with existing material of your own to build a unique course/product
  • Create a powerful lead magnet related to the overall theme of this package
  • Create a video series by making short videos based on the chapters and lessons in the main product
  • Create infographics for social sharing
  • Create Instagram/Pinterest posts about finding passion and drive traffic to your paid offers
  • Boost your Facebook/Twitter pages discussing the concepts related to this program
  • Extract key lessons from the program to share with coaching students or virtual classes
  • Create a webinar to pre-sell your training or coaching programs
  • Build a big bonus product to help you promote other Self Help based offers

Simply purchase a license today on our special offer page here…

Then download the content…
Make any edits you want…
And publish the material to meet your marketing needs!

Believe in yourself