40+FAB Blog

As part of the development of my business, I have recently had to look into protection of intellectual property (IP). This involves getting necessary legal protection like patents, trade marks and copyright for ideas, inventions, brands etc.

This protection gives rights to the creator of the IP so they are recognised for their novel idea and can profit from it. It is also meant to deter those that will want to copy the idea.

Not too long ago, the two leading mobile phone companies Apple and Samsung were locked in such a battle over IP of their phones with one of them winning the case and collecting substantial funds from the other.

We get upset when people try to copy us and even go to great lengths to either deter them or punish them for doing so.

Have you ever considered that copying is essential for the development of mankind?

For the first few years of a child’s life, all they do is copy, that’s how they learn to speak, play, love and be what they can be.

If you are being copied, maybe it is a testament to your qualities of leadership, excellence, innovation and influence.

If you are being copied maybe it’s because you are worth copying.

No one ever copies a bad idea that contributes no value.

So the next time someone copies you, feel complimented. 

It is also a good idea to copy what others are doing in an ethical way. If they have invented the wheel, then why struggle to do the same?

If no one is copying you, what more can be said?

40+FAB Blog

I like the English country side because as you go past, you encounter large fields filled with all types of luscious verdure. Tree’s, colourful flowers and various farm animals are dotted across the landscape. It is truly a beautiful sight to behold.

This display of colourful vegetation is occasionally interrupted as you pass by large patches of empty ground. It doesn’t look good and gets no second glances.

That land owner has had to strip back everything on that piece of ground removing all vegetation – good and bad – exposing the bare soil so that he can purpose the land to a different type of seed that will yield a crop.

If your life were like a field, would you allow anything to grow on you so that you don’t look like empty ground?

Would you be more concerned about getting noticed by people for looking like something is happening?

Or, would you rather strip back all that is unnecessary, pulling out habits, activities and relationships that are unproductive and then intentionally sowing new seeds to grow a future that will truly be worth looking at?

40+FAB Blog

Do you ever get that feeling of lethargy towards the tasks you have to do? It’s like you wake up in the morning and have to get things ready and then go off to work. Oh not again! A classic case of Monday morning blues.

Maybe you were quite excited about work at one point but now it has become drudgery.

It’s sounds crazy, but sometimes you need to speak to yourself and to your tasks. Start the day with a great spring in your step, jump up from that bed and say “It’s going to be a great day”, “I will complete all my tasks today”, “Report, I will write and complete you and you will give me no headache”.

It’s a great winning attitude to whip out enthusiasm and walk briskly to the tasks you have to do even when you honestly don’t feel like it.

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40+FAB Blog

When I was in secondary school there was nothing more the boys enjoyed than playing games at lunchtime or after school. Of course, football was one of the top games. All the boys would gather then two captains would be chosen for each side. The captains picked players from the crowd until they each had a full team. Not everyone had the fortune to be on either team as the captains would choose those who had the best skills and well, the rest of us just did not cut it.

The Americans would say “you did not cut it” or “you were cut from the team”.

The director blurts out “cut” when he has captured what he wants or when a scene is unacceptable to his standard.

It is quite interesting to note that the word decide – of Latin origin – literally means ‘to cut off’.

When you make a decision you are actually cutting off something for the sake of something else.

Decisiveness is a quality that is associated with highly successful people because they know how to make a cut (decision) so that they can cut it (be successful).

Be decisive, make a cut in your diet so you can cut it with your looks.

Make a cut in your spending habits so you can cut it with your financial obligations.

Make a cut with your past so you can cut it in your future.

It has been proven over and again, if you are decisive, you will always ‘cut it’.

40+FAB Blog

I like perfect, but functional is better. Who would actually choose the latter?

I have been in the process of developing a product for the men’s accessories market over the last few months. The product is meant to solve a particular problem for men. As we went through the design phase we came up with a killer design which we all acknowledged was just perfect. When the prototypes were made, it worked like a charm even though the finishing was a bit rough. We then produced the final design and it was smooth shining and a stunning sight to behold, we thought we had arrived. The problem was because it was so smooth, it lost the friction required to work and as good as it looked it was no longer meeting it’s design purpose from a functional perspective. So we went back to the drawing board to pull out some of that ‘perfection’ and put back more of the function.

Have you come up against that dilemma? Sometimes what we believe to be perfect for our use may turn out to be useless functionally. It is great when perfect and functional align in the same thing, but if they don’t, then be free from all pressure and go for what will work.

40+FAB Blog

Have you ever woken up with the sound of a melody in your head? Maybe something that you knew or a totally new tune. There were such good feelings, happiness, peace and anticipation that followed the dream in which it came.
Those songs and feelings would only stay with you for a few moments but soon dissipate if not actively kept in the fore of your mind until you actually commited them to memory. 
The following songs were written off the back of a dream, ‘Yesterday’ by the Beatles, ‘Every breath you take’ by Sting of the Police, ‘Let it be’ by Paul McCartney of the Beatles among others. Paul McCartney said he woke up with the song and went straight to the piano and for 30 minutes played the melody until he had crystalised a master piece.

These songs that come in a dream are very much like inspiration, if you don’t sieze them immediately they will soon evaporate into the busyness of your day and may be gone forever.

So what do you do when you get such songs or inspired ideas? I suggest you spend a while playing it over in your mind until it deposits the essence of it’s existence into your consciousness. Once that is done, write them down immediately or record them to your digital device. You never know, you may have just downloaded the next big discovery that will go around the world.

40+FAB Blog

So that person on the inside, the one that controls your deepest beliefs and behaviours, the real you. Some refer to it as the hidden man of the heart, the heart of hearts, the core of your being, inmost mind, subconscious, soul, spirit and so forth. You get the picture of the one I am trying to describe.

I find that we can have a core that totally reflects what is going on around us like when there is so much uncertainty in the economy, that core displays a shaky heart and fearful thoughts. I also find that we can have a core that emanates the exact opposite of what we are going through, like being optimistic in the face of a loss, maybe of a close relationship, opportunity, position, finance or something else we really longed for.

So why is that the case? An illustration comes to my mind to try and articulate this. The hidden man of the heart is like the old time photograph film, it is locked away in a dark place and it is blank. The moment the camera shutter opens up, the film captures what was in the environment at that point and it becomes the dominant reality of the film so that when it is processed, the picture produced is one of the environment it was in. This is the receiving mode of your core.
Another way to describe it is like the movie film reels at the cinema, it opens up projecting moving pictures it contains into the environment around it. This is the propagating mode of your core.
Your core receives and it gives. It is what you receive on the inside that will propagate on the outside colouring your whole outlook and the perception that others will ultimately have of you. You control the shutter that let impressions in or shine appearances out.

The core can be adjusted. I find that being in a quiet place allows me to see what’s truly in my core, it’s at those times when I let the quiet in that somehow I am able to purge the undesirables, reset my core and prepare to capture a new image of something that will fortify me for my next challenge.

40+FAB Blog

I went to a military secondary school and occaisionally we would be taken on a long trek or jog under the hot sun or in the rain. This was not one of those activities that anyone looked forward to in itself, but one thing that our commanding officers would do was to get us to sing or chant.
As soon as the song or chant was lifted up and we got into it, the mood of the whole platoon would follow suite causing the pain of those tired legs and arms to drown in the sometimes meaningless melodies.

Have you ever had a boring or arduous task to complete and found that it became a bit more bearable when you put on one of your favourite tunes? I read somewhere about factories in the Far East that played music on the production floor to increase productivity.
There is something about hearing words, music, beats etc. that creates an instant reaction in the core of your being. I am sure you may have put on a track or two which you listened to on a long drive, flight or run. 

If listening could create such an impact from your outer hearing, then which sound would you keep close to your ears outwardly but more importantly on your inside?
Find that voice that makes you feel like the champion that you are and leave it on repeat inside your ear.

40+FAB Blog

What would you say is your greatest lack at this time?
In 2011, I thought my greatest lack was financial. I was newly married and expecting my first child, I owned next to nothing in assets and was always a couple of hundred pounds in deficit at the end of every month. I was desperate for a change and agonised over how things could get better. I decided the best thing to do was to apply for a new job. Here I was, a university graduate, a masters degree holder honestly believing that I was only good enough for a junior admin role and really praying that I would get that as my next job. From where I was, my prospects did not look good at all and I felt doomed to be in that position for a long time.

I spoke to a friend to see if there were recommendations I could get. He however advised me to go on a 3-day training course to upskill based on my academic background. I went for this course called business analysis and I was totally blown away, not necessarily by the information given in the course, but by the experiences of the trainer and the confidence and belief he inspired in me. I walked away from that course buzzing, knowing that my change had come. I knew I would get an excellent job as a business analyst.
It took about 5 months but I eventually landed a job that was paying about 4 times as much as I previously earned. Within a year we bought our first house and things have only got better since then.

So what exactly did I lack and what did I get that changed things for me? 
Most times we identify the tangible things that we do not have and obsess over why we do not have them, however what we really need are the intangibles.
My intagibles were supplied 5 months before the tangibles came into my hand. 
My real lack was not one of finance, I lacked confidence also there was no belief, vision, anticipation or hope. Once that changed, everything changed.

Find out what you are really lacking and go after restoring those intangibles and watch the tangibles manifest themselves in due course.

40+FAB Blog

Have you ever met someone who was so confident yet thier display of knowledge was like a toddler walking for the first time, or the one who wields knowledge like a samurai warrioir handles a sword, yet totally lacking in confidence? They both end up producing the same outcome, nothing!

I used to think that knowing enough would breed much confidence to be able to approach anyone and get what I wanted in life, but knowledge as important as it is was not enough. There are many holders of degree’s who have not been able to achieve much in life based on that knowledge they acquired.
Understanding however is a key ingredient to confidence and inevitably massive results. If I know it, I can talk about it but it may not necessarily be my experience. If I understand it however, I can identify and bring together what is necessary to replicate it. 

A man may know how a child is born, but his wife understands how she delivered their son.
A financial analyst may know how to invest, but Warren Buffet understands how to turn a little investments into many millions.
You may know all the rules about football, yet Lionel Messi understands how to win a world class game.

What do you know and what do you understand? Turn your knowledge into understanding and watch your confidence grow to the point where you are able to inspire others and produce unbelievable results every time.