Author Archives: NCS

Tom Stoppard wrote once “We cross our bridges when we come to them and burn them behind us, with nothing to show for our progress except a memory of the smell of smoke, and a presumption that once our eyes watered.” Do you ever feel like life is too fast, that your life is fullContinue reading “Today’s pain, tomorrow’s nostalgia”

In a bid to stay out of the way while Mrs CS cleans the house I agreed to work from a Starbucks with my daughter Natty for Sunday morning. I forgot how much I enjoyed this vibe. I used to love working from a coffee shops but have not for ages. I forgot how IContinue reading “Working out of Starbucks on a Sunday”

Have you ever seen a sign like the one above? They are usually near a playing field, or a disused parking space. It says ‘no Dumping’ that is a pretty good motto for writing in general and certainly this blog. Even if you do not identify yourself as a writer, you are! You write hundredsContinue reading “No Dumping”

If I get one question more than any other it is. how do you find the time to read so much. The advice I give is simple but I wanted to share how any of us can read more than we do right now. The barriers for not reading more than you read right nowContinue reading “How to read more”

It’s a blustery Saturday morning in the sleepy seaside town of Shorehem-by-sea. Barely 5:30am and a pebbles throw away the beach plays it’s part in a stormy scene with large white waves and wild winds. The little home here sits firmly and obstinately still against a tempest of wind and rain. A warm mug ofContinue reading “Slow Horses and stormy weather”

Whether you are a specialist or you are you a generalist. Opinions are divided if there is a right path to go down. I think that you have to know the type pf person you are and if you are comfortable with the focus and depth that expertise demands. OR, If you want to beContinue reading “Specialist vs Generalist”

Read the manual Don’t operate this equipment Do not tamper Don’t open This is what most of our life has become, a series of infantile instructions saying you are an idiot, you can’t be trusted. Any manual that starts “how to read this manual” is a big red flag. The infantilism of our everyday livesContinue reading “DRTFM!”

I pick up the proverbial pen today with energy that can only come as a result of someone taking the time to give me some encouragement. Thanks to that person for your kind words. I begin this post after sitting at the dinner table and hearing about the work day of my grown up children.Continue reading “Pride and Prejudice”

January is a great time to talk motivation. As we return to work and try to remember our passwords. This post was a great example of when a person is wrestling with how to start something. I sat at this blank page for 10 minutes. Waiting for the motivation fairy! It never came. I justContinue reading “Waiting for wind”

Just a briefest of posts today about something we all can do to make people’s day better and make a change with very little effort. I have received encouragement and I can attest that a few words of encouragement during a failure are worth more than a thousand words of praise after a success. NoContinue reading “Encouragement is all we need”

I don’t know if you have had this, but I always come up against it when I’m telling a story is this damned difficult problem of where to begin? So it was this morning, when in a sleepy dull state called ‘The 1st of January stooper’ I find myself. I was in desperate need forContinue reading “2023 what will it bring?”

Maybe it is because I attended two funerals in two weeks, maybe because someone in our street took their own life last week, maybe because I caught up with my closest friend this week for the first time in eight years and I know I left it way too long. Maybe it is less recentContinue reading “Thinking”

I have attended two funerals in the last two weeks and learned a neighbour of ours took their own life which really made me reflect on the fragility of life. So I sat in the little yellow beach hut and wrote a brief thought about fearing what might happen and hoping what might happen inContinue reading “Fear of nothing, hope for nothing and be happier”

I am writing this in my little yellow beach hut after a week of travel. A week of networking and listening to customers share their stories. I was in Zurich for a week with work meeting hundreds of customers. The experience was overwhelming at times. The week was a great time to learn and growContinue reading “Reflecting on a week in Zurich”

I wanted to share a summary of a series of book written by the greatest living philosopher Nassim Nicholas Taleb. He created the Incerto series, which is 5 separately published books. Fooled by randomness, The black swan, the bed of procrustes and Anti Fragile. Anyway firstly I urge you to read fooled by randomness, inContinue reading “Incerto Series; Fooled by randomness”

Today I want to write about pity and specifically self pity. We all have experienced what Hamlet described as “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” Whether it be an accident or some unfortunate set of circumstances most of us can say we have suffered in some way. Some worse that others but we rarely getContinue reading “Why me? why not me?”

Am I positive labelling by writing that most that read this blog want to be better?. Be that better at their jobs, better parents or just better people. I think this is a safe space for us to confront the darker sides of our nature. In all of us there lives an urge, for hearingContinue reading “Resist the urge”