Resolutions & The Rear View Mirror
As today is the first day back at work for 2020, I just wanted to spend this moment to reflect and to express my gratitude to those who read this newsletter. You never know who is willing to invest a little bit of time every time I press ‘publish’, so I do love the numerous emails I receive in forms of feedback. It is also the time of the year that we all get obsessed by lists. Well I have interests beyond the Boss, so without further adieu, here is mine:
Top Ten Books
1. Path Made Clear by Oprah Winfrey
3. Long Walk To Freedom by Nelson Mandela
4. The Net & The Butterfly by Olivia Fox Cabane
5. The Power Of Now by Eckhart Tolle
6. Stillness Is The Key by Ryan Holliday
7. The Why Of Work by Wendy Ulrich
9. Dare To Lead by Brene Brown
Notable Mentions:
The Infinite Game, Mentors,Vivid Vision, Blueprint, Emotional Agility, Bitter Brew, The Sports Gene, Unlocking Creativity, The Resilience Project, Grit, Ego Is The Enemy, The Obstacle Is The Way, Perennial Seller, The Joy In Business, Dual Transformation, People First Culture, 9 Lies About Work, Option B, The 5am Club, Bring Your Human To Work, The Law Of Attraction, The Purpose Path, Own The Day, Outer Order, Lost Connections.
Top 10 Podcasts:
- Under The Skin with Russell Brand
- Happier with Gretchin Rubin
- The School of Greatness with Lewis Howes
- Tim Ferris Show with Tim Ferris
- Where Should We Begin with Esther Perel
- On Being with Krista Tippett
- On Purpose with Jay Shetty
- Akimbo with Seth Godin
- Super Soul Sunday with Oprah Winfrey
- The Joe Rogan Experience with Joe Rogan
Top Ten Thinkers: (outside of those above, who I stalk mercifully)
1. Brendan Burchard on High Performance
3. Michael Margolis on Storytelling
4. Whitney Johnson on Disruption
6. Tom Bilyeu On Human Potential
9. Jamie Wheal & Steven Kotler on Flow
Top 10 Films:
- Western Stars (slightly biased as it was Springsteen’s debut film)
- The Irishman
- Parasite
- Once Upon A Time In Hollywood
- The Farewell
- Marriage Story
- Uncut Gems
- Joker
- Pain & Glory
- 1917
Top Netflix Specials (based on my new obsession with stand up comedy):
- Sticks & Stones (Dave Chappelle) – or anything by DC
- Delirious (Eddie Murphy)
- Afraid Of The Dark (Trevor Noah)
- Right Now (Aziz Ansari)
- Not Normal (Wanda Sykes)
- A Speck Of Dust (Sarah Silverman)
- Live In Concert (Richard Pryor)
- Tamborine (Chris Rock)
- Nanette (Hannah Gadsby)
- Growing (Amy Schumer)
My Top Ten Blogs: (as evidenced by your ‘opens’)
2. Impossible Progress Is Possible
3. Celebrate The Geeks In Your Organisation
5. Are You The Most Of Anything
6. Introduce Bees Into Your Organisation
8. Key Takeouts From The Passion Series
9. Introducing Passion Management
I also write a Marketing blog every Wednesday and my top 10 from that are:
1. Strategy & Planning The Agile Way
3. Can Marketing & Sales Be Joined At The Hip?
5. Building Agency Relationships With PUNCH
6. A Branded House Masterpiece
7. The New Wave Of Marketing Metrics
8. Moving From Traditional To Digital Marketing
9. A Checklist For The Future Marketer
10. How Disney Made Me Fall In Love Again
If you want to subscribe to my Marketing newsletter please hit me up on email at mark@marktruelson.com
In 2019 a lot of my writing has centred on Passion. Whilst this & Purpose will still be the foundation, how the organization translates this into Performance will be the focus of my writing in 2020.
I have never been one for New Year’s resolutions and over the past two years I have introduced the mantra to “Just Say No”. Not to great opportunities. Not to my kids. Not to my friends. Not to my health. Just to all the distractions that don’t add value (like alcohol – yikes). If it is not a ‘hell yes’ it is a NO.
I am glad to report that by and large this has been successful. I still had too many distractions but after 2018 being a year of consolidation, 2019 became a year of progress. So for 2020 it is about doubling down on some of the improvements made and being open to saying ‘Yes’ to actions I have always been curious about but never taken the plunge (ie journaling, meditating, weight training, glorious opportunities etc).
I was inspired as a teenager by the book The Dice Man by George Cockcroft (under the pen name Luke Rhinehart). The book follows a character who makes all his decisions by rolling dice and then is committed to following them. By removing his need to make choices he undergoes an extreme transformation and certainly feels more alive as a result. It may be an extreme solution, and impractical outside of fiction, but the insight is a good one.
So this year it is about saying YES to something that I would normally say no to.
By saying yes instead of no for a change, we open ourselves up to new avenues of life and therefore have to be more conscious, aware and awake as we engage in them. It is always easier to say no than yes. Yes requires an openness and generosity and a no keeps things just as they are. Yes involves risk and no does not. Yes requires effort whereas no requires none. One little extra yes per day can be all we need to nudge ourselves to wake up and to reconnect with this world of possibility, and who knows who we may meet as a result?
Just say YES!
Points of gratitude:
In regards to thinking there are no better practitioner’s than Matt Church & Peter Cook. Matt has been incredible in helping me focus on forgiveness & self love. Read Rise Up to gain the amazing insights that I have derived. Pete has been unwavering on enabling me to focus commercially. As Molly would say, do yourself a favour and download their book Think – Pink Sheet Process which is not only free but also has a load of additional tools and frameworks.
Complimenting these two gentlemen is the incomparable Lisa O’Neill. Not only she is one of the world’s smartest, funniest & warmest humans she is certainly one of the most loyal. Your work on empowering women is ground breaking and your friendship is legendary. I have been absolutely thrilled to see the world appreciate your thought leadership. It is truly game changing.
Other Points of gratitude:
A big shout out to Nikk & Yolande Hughes From Inspire Tribe who coached and cajoled me to a positive mindset.
And as I entered the world of public speaking, I could not have done it without the assistance of Kieran Flanagan, Cam Fink & Jason Marion.
And for the feedback:
Leilani Abels, Shala Ahmed, Steve Arthurson, Andrea Atell, Matt Avent, Lil Barac-Macey, Mike Beck, David Bloustein, Beau Boundy, Bec Brideson, Paul Broadfoot, Nick Callander, Amanda Campbell, Matt Church, Edward Coghlan, James Collins, Pete Cook, Evette Cordy, Phil Crenigan, Ben Crowe, Clifton Daniell, Todd Deacon, Michael Edmonds, Claire Edwards, Jennifer Erdmanis, Colin Ellis, Rachel Estlin, Andrew Fairlam, Con Frantzeskos, Nikki Fogden Moore, Dave Fountain, Mark Goulmy, Rory Gration, Celeste Halliday, Graham Harvey, Troy Hey, Nikk Hughes, Stephen Johnson, Marc Jongebloed, Cameron Knight, Jamie Lobina, Alistair McClausland, Cam MacFarlane, Maurice McGrath, Margaret Manson, Alan Marion, Lisa Messenger, Kanish Nadarajah, Richard Oppy, Mim Orlando, Tim Ovadia, Racheal Pickworth, Murray Raeburn, Tina Randello, Paul Roberg, Katie Saunders, Trent Schmidt, Amy Scott, Belinda Scott, Rose Scott, Warren Sherwin, Tania Squires, Ben Summons, Matt Talbot, Natalie Thomas, Nick Truelson, Andy Vance, Candice Walker, Ben Wicks, Susie White, Paul Williamson, Camilla Woods