This dog has no mental limits!
It’s been a busy couple of weeks. As usual, I have rather more irons in the fire than I ought to be meddling with, against a backdrop of a sluggish start to my regular business skills training itinerary (something to do with a recession, I gather.) It’s always been my habit to fill any period of inactivity with creative effort, and often it produces results. But you can overdo it, and find yourself with too much on your plate, risking losing sight of what your core business is about.
I find myself wondering whether this might be the case right now. This morning I was assessing what bold initiatives I am currently developing, and found myself asking whether I might be being a bit too ambitious. I’d love to know what you think. Here’s the current list:
- Seeking a meeting with the London Olympic Organising Committee to pitch an idea for creating a global rendition of an Olympic Anthem performed virtually by a choir of many thousands, in collaboration with Cisco and composer Patrick Hawes. The whole thing to be promoted via Cisco’s new EOS platform.
- Planning a 3 hour version of our Musikscool concept, in which 1,000 16 year olds from all over the globe learn, develop and perform live an anthem for their charity Round Square, thus raising £50,000 to build a school in Africa.
- During the same 3 hours to have several hundred people creating the world’s longest ever mural
- Getting the BBC interested in filming a documentary about an upcoming Musikscool event at Eton College.
- Working on getting an invitation to get in front of Apple and Microsoft to obtain sponsorhsip and joint PR for a Musikscool event.
- Getting ready to run a Musikscool event for Sweatbox Young People’s Centre in Oxfordshire in which the teenagers there aim to raise enough money during the day to keep the centre open beyond its impending closure at the end of March. If they can build their own lifeline from a Musikscool event, maybe other organisations could too?
Those are the main items on the agenda. Exciting stuff, without doubt, but some would view the list as that of a madman, I reckon. Better not tell my wife, because she definitely would, for a start!
Am I aiming too high, and trying to do too much? I keep telling myself that I’m at the top of my game (not physically, but maybe mentally). I have reached a point in life where less and less scares me, and where I know I can add value whilst I still have energy. I keep coming back to one of the main themes in Steven Covey’s 8th Habit, which is the question of Legacy. What do we want to leave behind, and how do we find meaning in what we do each and every day. I find plenty of meaning in my work as a trainer, and I know that people find real results in applying some of the models I train. But I do wonder whether I should also be aiming as high as possible whilst I still can: generate the big ideas and try and leave time and energy to make them stick. Whilst not losing sight of the basics and keeping it all together day to day.
How big is your thinking, and might you be able to increase your Legacy by finding space to move them from ideas into reality?
Oh, and in case you were wondering: why the picture of my dog Rufus? Apart from it being a fantastic photo and he being the fittest dog on the planet? Because he and I are polar opposites. He focuses single mindedly on ONE thing at a time: when is my next meal, when is my next walk, when do I get to play? Ticks them off one by one throughout his day, and achieves them each and every time. An inspiration and a beacon of light maybe for those lost in Space like me!
