So you haven’t learned a new lockdown skill?

May 14, 2020 | ,

A few weeks ago, you were gung ho. You had a plan to maximise the time on lockdown. You were not going to waste it. You were going to learn how to bake, or speak a new language, or play a musical instrument, or something. This was going to be the most productive time in your life. Outside of work, this was the time to do all the things that you had procrastinated on. Now, close to two months in, the paints are still in the box, the online course people keep sending you daily reminders to come back for lessons, you haven't progressed beyond 'hello, how are you?' in Mandarin and, since the...

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Distraction, the ultimate productivity killer

May 13, 2020 |

Have you ever sat down with the intention of getting something done only to find, when you look back at the end of the work day, that you didn't anything productive? I remember working for a magazine and, the day I started contemplating quitting was when I realised that, in one day, the most productive I had been was having sent three emails. Why? Distraction. Every time I sat down to work on an article, the phone rang or an email came in or my cellphone beeped or something walked into my office. That was one of my lowest points. I have spent the last 6 years trying to deal with distraction....

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How to manage uncertainty with children

May 8, 2020 |

As parents, we have all had that moment when our child repeats something we said in the privacy of our homes in front of the person we said it about. Hopefully, when this happened, it didn’t create too awkward a situation. The simple reality is that our children learn about the world and life through our deeds and our words, though rarely the words we speak to them directly. Our values become their values. Our principles become their principles. This means that racism and sexism and all the other negative -isms are learned from us. No child is born automatically racist. And, when you see a...

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Strategic business shutdown

May 6, 2020 | ,

The Covid-19 and the subsequent lockdowns are wreaking havoc on the world's economies. Watching the struggles that big business is having globally shows how fragile everything is. But, it pales in relation to the impact on small businesses, freelancers, artists, etc. Work life can be challenging enough with those us within those sectors. Both my wife and I work for ourselves and I grew up in an entrepreneurial household where, belts had to be tightened so regularly, it became the norm. To go from uncertainty with opportunity to complete uncertainty has been daunting, with clients shutting...

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How successful are you? Really?

May 5, 2020 | ,

The Business Dictionary defines 'success' as follows: Achievement of an action within a specified period of time or within a specified parameter. Success can also mean completing an objective or reaching a goal. Success can be expanded to encompass an entire project or be restricted to a single component of a project or task. It can be achieved within the workplace, or in an individual's personal life. For example, if an individual's personal goal is to be accepted in a new career, success would occur after the individual has been officially accepted into his or her new place of employment....

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South African media faltering, random thoughts

Apr 30, 2020 |

The music industry was ground zero when it came to digital disruption but, over the last decade, has found a way to revive itself. Major labels have stakes in streaming services, like Spotify and, for a while, the 360-deal was all the rage. For independent labels, streaming, merchandising, publishing and licensing and performance ticket sales have been some of the main revenue streams. The media industry, in my opinion, was the next sector to find itself at serious crossroads. Internationally, there was the expansion into events, apps, websites and the like, in an attempt to diversify...

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