We allow the 'general consensus' to change our view. Over time, we compromise and the thing we're trying to achieve becomes, well, beige.

A homogenized pile of bland, serving a fraction of the purpose we intended

Instead, our goal could be to become more useful, remarkable, and worth seeking out.

• To create something hard to replace, groundbreaking, or thrilling.
• Generous work that makes things better.
• Something that has functional, emotional, and social value for others.

Beige isn't a goal worth having.

Today I celebrate launching the new version of CurveFinder. Something that started as a blog about creative endeavor has become my way of making a living by helping others adapt to the modern digital market. To innovate themselves and their business.

For me, it will remain a practice... and an eternal fight against beige.

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Why Purpose matters

There is strong scientific evidence to suggest that having a purpose in life and work can have a profound effect on our wellbeing.  According to a Longitudinal Study, those who live and operate with a purpose can live 15% longer than those who don't.  According to best selling Author, Dan Pink, purpose is one of the three key ingredients for professional and personal motivation, particularly when you are working in a role that requires skill, creativity, and challenging cognitive thinking. But it isn't exclusive to work. Having a purpose in life appears to widely buffer against mortality risk across our adult years.

Equally, businesses that operate under a true purpose tend to do well.  Take the clothing firm Patagonia for example who's sales have rocketed every time they have taken on an environmental or social challenge because this type of activism is at the heart of their company.

Having a Purpose is good for the soul and good for business and it can be a catalyst for innovation.

Our purpose is something that we have simply got do - sometimes at all costs. It's our raison d'etre and it speaks to the core of our very existence.  It nourishes us in the dark times.  Sheds light when we've lost our way and stimulates growth even in the most barren of landscapes.

It takes a people-first approach

True purpose (and therefore innovation) starts with empathy.  By walking in the shoes of others we can then recognise their needs and problems.  Through adopting this posture we can focus on connecting the dots that just might solve the problem.  This requires us as individuals (and businesses) to put our ego's to the side and take an outside-in view of the world.  If a project, product or service is to succeed it must solve the problems and fulfill both the functional and certain emotional needs of the people we wish to make change for. Taking an inside-out view, no matter how experienced we are in our field, will only get us so far.

A 10-minute exercise on how to define a purpose for you or your organisation

I've designed this 10-minute exercise to help anyone define a purpose on which to innovate themselves and their businesses.  It can apply to an individual or a collective. To help with the exercise, I've designed this Purpose Setting Canvas.

Follow the prompts in each of the six stages.  Try not to ponder too much.  Approach it with a light playful mindset if you can and see where the answers take you.  If the ultimate answer doesn't resonate with you or stir up motivation within your very being, then it's worth going deeper with the practice.

Free tool - Purpose Setting Canvas

Print it out A3 size and grab some sticky notes. Play with different answers, moving your stickies around or replacing them with new ones as you refine your answers.

Purpose Setting Canvas

If you like it, let me know.  All feedback welcome.

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Why is it so hard for us to stick to our resolutions? Well, let’s face it, building new habits is tough. Now more than ever we are surrounded by distractions and temptations.

For as long as I remember I fell into the same traps. I’d hit January hard. I’d have my fitness plan laid out or my writing plan clear or whatever it was that I wanted to get better at and then within a matter of weeks all of my best intentions had gone. In the past I’ve used habit apps, setting reminders to ping up on my phone – I ended up ignoring them after a few weeks. So, this year, I decided to change my approach and as its working, I thought I’d share it with others.

Resolution vs Habit

As you’ve probably gathered already I ditched the resolutions and decided to re-frame what I wanted to achieve as a range of lifestyle tweaks or changes. I wanted to focus on the few things that would add up to making the most difference when it came to leading a more balanced lifestyle. Also, rather than looking at a resolution over January, I decided to try to give myself more time to create better habits by looking at a 90-day time-frame. Believe it or not, thinking about these changes in a way that allowed for more time actually felt less pressurised than trying to achieve a change in just a month.

Here’s my list:

Exercise at least three times per week.
Meditate at least three times per week.
Cut out on bad snacks and junk during the week but have one cheat day where I allow myself anything I like.
Give myself 6 ‘cheat tokens’ over the 90 days where I can enjoy a beer or two with family and friends.

Sometimes analogue beats digital

Once I had my plan I thought about how I could track how I was doing. I mentioned before that habit apps had previously not worked for me. Then I thought about how my wife and I had often used incentive charts with our young kids to show them how well they were doing towards certain things. So, I made my own chart with 90 days laid out so that I could tick off each day I felt I had achieved the balance I wanted.
Breaking things down to each day has really helped. In fact, to chunk it down further I’ve found it helpful to think about it as achieving ‘balance’ in the AM first and then the PM.

Seek accountability

I mentioned I have young kids. They have been great at holding me accountable to my progress. They don’t totally understand what I’ve been doing but they know I get a tick if I’ve had a ‘balanced’ day and a cross if not. I told them that I was only allowed 6 crosses over 90 days and they seem to have rejoiced in the times when I got a cross, “ooooh, Daddy you’ve been naughty”, but it’s made it kinda fun to have it up there for the family to see in the kitchen.

This is my Habit Sheet

Download your own 90 Day habit sheet

Cut yourself some slack

It’s important that what you set out to achieve is stretching. If it’s not then there is a chance that it’s not the right goal and that you are shying away from making the changes you really need to make. That said, as you might have picked up, I haven’t been a total stickler for complete abstinence and have allowed times to just not bother about what I’m doing. I think this is hugely important and has really contributed to me being able to last the course. The important thing is that I’ve been structured about the times where I’ve cut loose.

What has been interesting is that because I’ve cut out eating junk during the week I tend to crave it less at the weekends. The same with alcohol. I don’t really think about it if it’s not one of the days I’ve worked towards where I’ll let my hair down a bit. You’ve got to live a little, right!?

I’m now 65 days into my 90-day programme and I feel great.

I’m fitter than I’ve been in years and this has also helped me sleep better.

Dispite having a lot on at work, I feel far more equipped to deal with the stresses and altogether calmer.

Ultimately, I feel really well equipped to keep this kind of balance well after my 90 days is over. In fact, I’m already thinking about what my next 90-day plan might look like.

I’ll share how I got on at the end of March.

The key factors to consider

Here are the key factors to consider if you want to try yourself

1. List the few things that you want to tweak to improve your lifestyle, be sure to be realistic.
2. Cut yourself some slack, build in ‘cheat tokens’.
3. Print out my habit sheet and pin it up in a prominent place marking off your progress each day.
4. Ask someone from your family and friends to help hold you accountable – if you live alone photograph your chart each day and send it to them.
5. Focus on achieving your balance day-by-day or even AM and PM each day.
6. If you slip, consider the days you did do well and choose to channel what you did then into the current day.

Apply this to any habit

Don’t forget, this can apply to absolutely anything that you want to improve. I’ve gone for a more healthy lifestyle with this one but it could easily be focused on other daily practices like writing that new book, not checking e-mail until after 10 am or just taking time out to think and reflect. As the acclaimed psychologist and Buddhist teacher, Tara Brach, once said: “the thing you practice most grows strongest”.

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Diversify or die

In April 2016, I came out of Seth Godin’s altMBA course with a deep conviction that I wanted something more professionally than my job provided. I didn’t know what that more was and, like many other altMBA alumni, I contemplated quitting my job to find it.

But my story turned out in a slightly different way.  I ended up staying in the corporate job that I wasn’t enjoying and instead made a few changes to make what I was doing more fulfilling. I’m not saying I had some kind of epiphany.  There was no lightning bolt that made the scales fall from my eyes and helped me become instantly gratified by staying in the job I was in.  But gradually, through certain practices, it became clear that the best thing I could do was stay where I was and diversify.

Now, everyone has their own personal journey. When I see that people have taken control and decided to jump ship from a job they hated or that wasn’t fulfilling for them, I think “bravo”:  Good for you.  In Scotland, we’d say “all power to yer elbow”. But looking back, it’s pretty clear that taking ownership for a series of changes within myself helped me find a level of contentment I hadn’t been able to before - more so than would have been possible with only a change in my employer.

Practical stuff played its part

I’m a devoted husband and father.  The decision to stick around wasn’t just about me and my career.  It was about the lifestyle my wife and I had created for our family.  Of course, in some ways, it was also about paying the bills and putting food on the table. But I’m fortunate enough to have a partner who would support me making a big move if I really wanted to, so bringing a salary home certainly wasn’t the only driving force.  Which brings me to gratitude.

I practised gratitude

It’s easy for us all to become de-sensitised to all of the wonderful things that surround us and in some way this had happened to me.  I thought I needed a new job or a new challenge to find professional fulfilment. To some extent, I still feel that (does that ever go away?). But I decided to focus my gratitude each day on the things that I did have in place.  For example, I walk to work most days with my kids and drop them off at school.  I’m home most nights in time to play and read bedtime stories. I live within two miles of my office and it’s next to a beautiful world heritage site. Inside work, I have a small group of creative people that I’ve assembled, who have bought into my ethos and approach to making things happen in a difficult business. I also had a boss/sponsor who backed a lot of my creative endeavours.  On top of that, because the business I’m in needs to innovate more, I had fertile ground in which to try new things. Reflecting on a combination of these elements each day helped me keep perspective.

Other peoples’ stories helped

I also changed my perspective by listening to others, often. I took part in altMBA because I wanted to be exposed to an international cohort from different backgrounds and cultures. 20 months on, it’s clear to me that listening to the stories of so many others has helped me understanding that many people have similar or greater challenges than the ones I face.  Being part of the alumni Intrapreneur channel has given me access to a group who are in different sectors and different parts of the world but who face the same business problems I do. This was a reality check that led me to gradually accept that I still had an opportunity to create something interesting and worthwhile in my job.  In other words, I could step-up and pick the problems I felt I could solve.

I became a creative catalyst

Until altMBA, I would have seen myself as a senior(ish) business leader who was trying to make good change happen by championing pioneering initiatives. But altMBA stirred up a new level of creativity. Through comparing my thinking and actions with others outside of my business, I was able to see how much I had to offer. This was a confidence booster.  And where better to try out my newly planned creative endeavours than in a place I knew like the back of my hand and where I knew I could make a mark? So, I changed my posture to become even more action orientated (I was before but I turned this up).  For example, I shipped a huge project just after altMBA in record time (and on budget) that I was able build into a product used by millions of people. I did this using everything I learned on altMBA, but in particular through the lessons learned on story telling, shipping with and through others and using empathy. As a result of this, I found myself enjoying the day-to-day a bit more. Other projects included winning R&D funding from a Google innovation fund to build a cutting edge digital product and implementing a 90-day rapid innovation programme that has helped my business innovate quicker.

I decided to offset any recurring frustrations by helping others

From talking to others outside my business I realised that I had an opportunity to use my 20+ years of experience in business to help others.

During altMBA I became fascinated by how we can all develop through pushing through challenging projects and creating opportunities to grow.  I call it self innovation.  I started a practice of writing about this on my own site CurveFinder.com. This practice has helped me develop my thinking around leadership, creative endeavour and self development immensely, and it made me a better writer.  The best part is that I have now built up a body of work that receives great feedback from people all over the world, many of whom are not from the altMBA community. I get a real kick out of knowing that something I’ve written has resonated with a person I’ve never met. Now, if I have a shitty day, I just go and write something and see it as investing in my own emotional bank account and as a contribution to someone else's.  My blog has led to speaking invites at international design conferences and I’ve even branched out into writing poetry that has been very well received. This would not have happened without the regular practice of writing about a subject I’m passionate about.

Coaching others has become equally important to me.  I’ve had people come to me and ask for this kind of support on a regular basis and it’s now something I really enjoy. Best of all, the people I’m working with are seeing great results personally and professionally. Of course this is down to them but I’m happy to play a small part. Again, this helped fill some of the gaps I was feeling in my day-to-day work.

Other practices that have helped my keep the balance include mediation - evolution's way of helping us all come with the stresses of modern life.  And the study of Stoic philosophy which had led to a daily practice of journaling and focusing on accepting the elements of life that I simply cannot change (whilst taking action on those that I can).

So what's the punchline?

That’s the point.  There is no punchline.  There is a key lesson though.  Are you ready?  Sure? Okay… here it comes:

It’s on you.  Yup, that’s it.  It’s on you.  Nobody else.  Just you.  

You need to find the people who will stretch your thinking inside and outside of your business and who will help hold you accountable to making the changes you seek to make.

You need to find ways of pushing yourself creatively, often to a level that is uncomfortable and remind yourself that the things you practice most grow strongest.

You need to accept that sidelines are important and may well fill gaps that you day job can’t reach.

You need to stay curious and feed the things you find into your day job and side projects.

You need to seek projects that are a form of altitude training.

You need to make sure you’re a creator not a commentator.

You need to embrace vulnerability.

You need to embrace your restrictions and use them to do work that matters.

You need to find a way of helping others and making a contribution every day.

Is this a magic recipe to stay motivated in your job?  Maybe.  Maybe not.  But one thing is for sure, you won’t know unless you try, try and try again.

Photo by Héctor J. Rivas on Unsplash

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I caught up with a pal yesterday who I would describe as a high achiever.  We have a mentoring agreement where we speak regularly about business challenges and try to help each other gain perspective.  We hold each other accountable, ask difficult questions (and silly ones) and offer reflections that prompt a different kind of thinking for the other person.  We're also in different industries (and locations, he's in Texas) which really helps on a number of levels.    He recently moved jobs and is making good trouble in a business that is desperately trying to adapt to market challenges (like most of us).  This is a guy who takes ownership, is quick to help others and goes after the hard problems.  Which, in itself, can take its toll.  But he's also generous and is quick to take up opportunities like industry speaking engagements or to write and publish content that will help others.  In short, he's a talented but busy guy.   This weekend is Thanksgiving in the US and he admitted to me he's exhausted and really needs a rest.   Sound familiar?  Well, read on.

Two questions to help assess our emotional balance

As a friend and mentor, I felt the need to ask two things.

Firstly, what are the pillars and practices that you come back to when things get tough?

By pillars I mean the things you do to switch off and allow yourself to regenerate.

Secondly, what is the state of your emotional bank account?  What do I mean by this?  Think of it this way - just like your financial bank account you can invest or withdraw from your emotional bank account.  And if your anything like me and the vast majority of others, then you're probably withdrawing more often than your investing emotionally.  A withdrawal is effectively each time you come up against a stressful or difficult situation, big or small.  One that challenges you and makes you feel discomfort.  Now, in order to grow and develop we need these kinds of situations but equally, they are not sustainable in the long run.  In-between times this is where we must consider investing in ourselves.  In our balance and state of mind.

How many stressful transactions have you made this week?

Consider this.  How many 'transactions' have you made this week?  Are you in credit in terms of the things you have done to relax and taken some time for yourself? Or are you creeping ever closer to overdraft?  It's important we pause, ideally each day, to ask ourselves this kind of question.  To check in and to adapt.

When coaching others I often refer them to this insightful HBR article on managing your energy rather than your time.  It helped change my thinking a few years back when I was going through a challenging period at work.

Also, more recently I read this from Canadian artist and fellow altMBA alumni Katie Brennan who talks about using creativity to find your flow and as a way of meditating.

I've also written regulalry about meditation and mindfulness as effective techniques for coping with the challenges of modern living.

p.s. My friend who I mentioned above.  He found that regular visits to a flotation tank have really helped him find a new balance.

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I'm halfway through listening to Daring Greatly by Brené Brown.  You know how audible allows you to 'clip' sections of the book you're listening to and add notes to return to later? Well, I reckon I've clipped more in this book than any other I've listened to.  If you're interested in becoming a more rounded leader, parent, sister, brother or friend then I recommend this book. Authenticity can be an overused word but she goes deep on a range of topics that I guess contribute to each of us being our authentic selves: vulnerability, courage, shame and empathy.  I felt compelled to share an insight (before finishing the book) from the section where Brené explores the culture created by corporates, families and groups.  The work they do and the connections they create.

“I define connection as the energy that exists between people when they feel seen, heard, and valued; when they can give and receive without judgment; and when they derive sustenance and strength from the relationship.” - Brené Brown

By asking these 10 questions she says she can tell a lot about the culture and the resulting behaviours of the people within it.  It struck me that these questions are a great sense-check and can help us all evaluate the cultural dynamics we find ourselves part of (and are in some way responsible for) in each strand of our lives. Perhaps more importantly, they can help us decide on the parts we're willing to live with and the parts we are prepared to step forward and try to change.

Brené's Browns 10 questions to assess culture:

1. What behaviours are rewarded and punished?
2. Where and how are people actually spending their resources (time, money, attention)?
3. What rules and expectations are followed, enforced, and ignored?
4. Do people feel safe and supported talking about how they feel and asking for what they need?
5. What are the sacred cows? Who is most likely to tip them over? Who stands the cows back up?
6. What stories are legend and what values do they convey?
7. What happens when someone fails, disappoints, or makes a mistake?
8. How is vulnerability (mistakes, uncertainty, risk, and emotional exposure) perceived?
9. How prevalent are shame and blame and how are they showing up?
10. What’s the collective tolerance for discomfort? Is the discomfort of learning, trying new things, and giving and receiving feedback normalized, or is there a high premium put on comfort (and how does that look)?

About Brené Brown

• She's a research professor at the University of Houston where she holds the Huffington Endowed Chair.
• Has spent the past sixteen years studying courage, vulnerability, empathy, and shame.
• Is the author of four books: The Gifts of Imperfection, Daring Greatly, Rising Strong, and Braving the Wilderness.
• Her first TED talk on the Power of Vulnerability has now been played over 31.5m times.  Turns out vulnerability is interesting

Main image by Muhd Asyraaf on Unsplash

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As ever, Allan goes deeper and explains that we perpetuate these feeling because we actually haven't assessed well enough what the right sort of work might actually be for us.

"it isn’t just that we have some sort of work to do that is dragging down our mood, but that we are going back to the wrong sort of work even while we are in dire ignorance of what the right sort of work might actually be."

What I learned from my own experience was first there is no option other than taking responsibility for your own thoughts and actions.  It's always on you to make that change. Change nothing and nothing changes. Secondly, I chose to accept that things are never exactly as you wish in both your work life and personal life (or maybe just life) and that part of work itself is actually about finding ways to stimulate the parts of your being that perhaps aren't totally fulfilled in 'the day job'.

Allan continues:

"We want to turn the vital bits of who we are into jobs, and ensure that we can see ourselves reflected in the services and products we are involved in turning out."

This can often be a side project or collaboration.  In my own case, CurveFinder serves that very purpose.  There are lots of examples of others who have made their side project into the thing they do for a living.  At the very least, these projects are a worthwhile investment into our 'emotional bank account'.

What I know for sure both from my own experiences, through coaching others and being coached by talented people, is that doing work that matters is essential to us all.

In fact, Allan believes this to be central to our very existence.

"Feeling that we are in the wrong job and that our true vocation lies undiscovered, is not a minor species of discomfort: it will be the central existential crisis of our lives."

Surely then we owe it to ourselves and our loved ones to find new ways to innovate our work lives. To turn a possible "existential crisis" into day-to-day nourishment of the soul.  Opportunity awaits us all if we choose it.

Like this?  Then you might like...

To take a structured approach to setting your goals.

Or

Take inspiration from the teacher who turned writing into a day-job after hundreds of failed attempts.

Main image by William Bout on Unsplash

The post Careers: Giving justice to our true talent by doing work that matters appeared first on CurveFinder.

This hyper-connectivity thing is messing with our chi. We can't seem to put these damn phones down. Our multi-channel, reality filled, TV's are sucking us dry. We're always on. Infinitely scrolling through piles of pixels. Fearful of missing out on the things we really don't need. Constantly grasping for our next dopamine hit. Frivolous with our attention. Wasting precious time - the glow of our gadgets, slowly nullifying our brains.

Busy is our badge of honour. The statement we roll out when asked: "how you doing?". We look at our calendars and realise we're booked up for the next two months. Stacked with meeting and events we don't really want to attend. Sucking it up, going along anyway. "I should really go along", we say, "it's probably the right thing to do.".

Our first world problems pile up because we allow them to

We're gripped by the Fear of Missing Out and we only have ourselves to blame.

"For millions of years, humankind has used a brilliantly successful survival strategy. If we like something, we chase after more of it: more status, more food, more info, more stuff. Then we chase again. It’s how we survived famine, disease and disaster to colonise the world. But now, thanks to technology, we’ve suddenly got more of everything that we can ever use, enjoy or afford. That doesn’t stop us from striving though and it’s making us sick, tired, overweight, angry and in debt. It burns up our personal ecologies and the planet’s ecology too. We urgently need to develop a sense of ‘enough’. Our culture keeps telling us that we don’t yet have all we need to be happy, but in fact, we need to nurture a new skill – the ability to bask in the bounties all around us." - John Nash, Enough

So let's reflect for a minute. What if we tried to break the shackles, at least for a time?

What if we said "thanks but no thanks" more often?

How about we meditate on enough or being present or slowing down more often?

How about we embrace the Joy of Missing Out?

We could lock away our phones at certain times of the day.
Turn off the TV.
Read more.
Delete our favourite social media app for a week *gulp*
Take a walk outside and look around, I mean really look around and take in our surroundings.
Spend time listening to our partners, friends and children so that they feel they are the only person in the world we're thinking about.
Block out time in our calendars specifically for downtime.
Start a hobby or side project just for the hell of it with no intended goal other than simple enjoyment.
Let our creativity and productivity flourish.
Breath. Often.

You know.  We could just, well, be.

Main image by Fernando Reyes on Unsplash

The post Forget FOMO, how about embracing JOMO? appeared first on CurveFinder.

Take a few minutes and consider this.  What do you practice most regularly?  In fact, take it one stage further.  Have a try at breaking the question into physical and mental practices. So, what thoughts do you practice regularly and what actions do you practice regularly?

If you're anything like me, you'll no doubt have a mix of positive and not so positive practices.  For instance, I write regularly on CurveFinder and it has helped me become better at writing (well, at least a little better) and also how I think about self-development in tough situations. Similarly, like much of the human race, I've also established a practice of looking at my phone way too often. It's not until I have an enforced digital-detox (on our annual family holiday) that I realise how much of a negative practice it has become.  Another example might be if I have a talk or a presentation to deliver. If I choose to rehearse it 10 times compared to twice (or even not at all), guess what, I deliver it better.

"Modern neuroscience has discovered a fundamental truth: Neurons that fire together, wire together. When we rehearse a looping set of thoughts and emotions, we create deeply grooved patterns of emotional reactivity. This means that the more you think and rethink about certain experiences, the stronger the memory and the more easily activated the related feelings become." - Tara Brach

Mindfulness and meditation experts like Tara Brach and Shanua Shapiro often tech on the principle what you practice most grows strongest.  Equally, health and fitness experts pretty much universally teach that if you put in the reps on the right type of exercises then you will see and feel the benefits.

The good news for us all is that we can assess our daily practices and choose to optimise our approach to literally anything we do.  There is new scientific evidence emerging all of the time proving that our brains are plastic and that, through doing the right reps and exercises, we can re-wire, re-learn and re-model our thought patterns and subsequently our actions.

Wondering what to do next?

Why not write a list of positive and negative practices.

Read what I've previously written on meditation

Check out Leo Babauta's Quick guide to quitting bad habits

Perhaps investigate some personal coaching with Sarah McCrum

Consider using the Headspace app

Or download the Habit List app

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"We were all born inherently creative.  We all have the capacity to bring beautiful things into this world and should be unapologetic about wanting to create them, whatever they are." - Alan Moore

Re-think what, why and how you produce

In this smart, accessible book, Alan Moore challenges us all to rethink not only what we produce but how and why we're doing what we do.   Whether you're trying to make change for yourself and others, developing your business, writing a presentation, launching a new website or just want a creative jolt, Moors' book is inspiring and practical.

Split into 7 key sections that provide a compelling structure Do Design can help us all push boundaries and design better products (big or small) that form better connections with our friends, family, colleagues and customers.

Key section summary

In 'Beauty' he argues that creating beauty is everything.

"Ask yourself this simple question: Do I want a beautiful meal or dreary one? A beautiful relationship or an ugly one? To live a beautiful life or an average one?" 

Within 'The Craft' he draws from the symmetry of the universe to ask the most beautiful question in the world.

"In understanding the design of our world, there is a gravitational pull towards beautiful theories to describe its inner workings...Many believe supersymmetry takes us towards a fully unified description of nature at the deepest level."

In 'The Mindset' he encourages us to define our guiding (design) philosophy, to find stillness, truth and ways to embrace curiosity and serendipity.

"It is easy to dismiss the notion of needing a guiding philosophy, just as you might shrug off the idea of beauty as being nothing more relevant to our world than decoration."  He continues "It is in truth that we find beautiful things, and it is in truth that we can operate authentically."

As part of 'The Process' Moore shows that creativity needs structure, the right tools and a willingness to see the space between the lines.

"...design something to be inevitable...labour at your work until people cannot imagine what you have designed existing any other way.  Beauty is work well resolved.  It is simple."

During 'Persevere' he explains we can love the work we do and that understanding anything worthwhile takes time and commitment.

"Willie Nelson has made 250 albums and is still touring in his eighties.  He did not get a break until he was 40."

In 'Connect' he asserts that we can all lead, connect and create with others as well as quoting Muhammed Ali's best poem.

"We as leaders must always be a work in progress...Never lose sight or empathy for the people you lead.  Leading with empathy and humility to be in service to all, is key to great leadership."

Finally, in 'Aspire' he challenges us to create better, for ourselves and others - to choose this as our purpose - thus bringing a greater sense of freedom to what we do.

"We need to dedicate ourselves as craftspeople, strong in ourselves, innately curious about the world we live in and how we can contribute to making it better"

A book for anyone, from any background, with any skill-level

This is a book for anybody who wants to produce better work.  Alan challenges us all to find new ways to pay attention to what surrounds us and to set ourselves on a path to use the inspiration we find to create positive change.  This may all sound very grand but he does it in a such an accessible way that anyone could use his tools and techniques to inform anything they are working on. In fact, as a bonus section, he even shares fourteen practices to create enduring beauty that will help anyone experiment with better design.

"Whether you are an artisan, an entrepreneur, or a CEO searching for some homespun, hard-won wisdom, 'Do Design' hopes to inspire, guide and show how we might so elegantly create for enduring beauty." - Alan Moore

About the author

Alan Moore has designed and created everything from books to businesses. He has a unique grasp on the forces that are reshaping our world and how to creatively respond to them. Working on six continents, Alan has shared his knowledge in the form of board and advisory positions at companies such as Hewlett Packard, Microsoft and Coca Cola, holding workshops and speaking as well as teaching in institutions as wide-ranging as MIT and Reading University’s Typography Department, Sloan School of Management and INSEAD. He is the author of four books on creativity, marketing and business transformation including No Straight Lines: Making sense of our non-linear world (2011). He still works as an artist. He tries every day to lead a life as beautifully as he possibly can.

About The Do Book Company

The Do Book Company is an independent publishing house based in Shoreditch, London. They produce a series of inspirational guidebooks in print and digital formats.

Each book is written by speakers from the Do Lectures whose ideas have inspired others to go and Do. The aim is to recreate that same positive change in book form – whether that’s the mastery of a new skill or craft, a simple mind-shift, or a shot of inspiration to help you get started.

Each book is fairly short, about 100 pages, as it focuses on the ‘doing’ rather than the background theory. Concise, practical guides that make it easier to Do stuff.

Main image by PICSELI on Unsplash

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