Danny Brown's Blog, page 11
August 9, 2016
The Danger of Shaping Our Kids Like Us
Over the last few weeks, my wife’s been pretty ill and has needed some major downtime to recover.
Thankfully she’s on the mend now physically, and her health is coming back to what it was before.
During this time, we’ve made some changes in our life that – since we’re parents – include changes in the lives of our kids as well.
Some have been easy, others less so.
Some had already been coming, though, so they were easier changes to make.
During the downtime we had for my wife’s recuperation,...
August 2, 2016
Dear Mr. Houston – An #UNFUCD Thank You Letter
This letter of thanks is part of the UNFUCD “Thank a teacher” mission, which encourages us to write a letter of thanks to someone who has helped shape the person we are today.
Dear Mr. Houston,
You may or may not remember me – after all, you must have seen thousands (if not tens of thousands) of boys and girls pass through your history class at Hawick High School during your time there.
I wonder what you’re doing now – I can’t see you on the school’s website, and you must be retired by now....
July 29, 2016
Remember When We’d Have a Fight and Then Enjoy a Beer?
Over on Facebook, my friend Josh Wilner lamented about this year’s US Presidential race, and the divide it’s caused because of the rhetoric being used as propagandaby certain party “leaders”.
Josh’s biggest concern, if you like, was summed up with these words:
...The 2016 election will be remembered by many as the year they lost friendships. That is not as tongue-in-cheek or snarky as it sounds either. In some cases it is a sad commentary on our tribalism and need for everyone to agree with us.
July 23, 2016
Introducing UNFUCD – Creating Happiness One Day at a Time
As I’ve gotten older in life, and people have come into it who I would die for, I’ve begun to see the same life a bit differently.
Whereas before I’ve admittedly been a bit of an ass when it comes to going after something I disagree with, now I try to see the alternative. Doesn’t always work, mind you – but I try.
Along with that change in mindset is a determination to do more than just sharing words. Instead, I want to try and make a difference, either personally or part of a bigger picture....
July 15, 2016
A Revolution Against Dickheads
While commuting recently, I saw a post over on Medium from Mike McGrail, entitledHumans Have Lost the Plot.
In it, Mike bemoans where we’ve come (or not) as human beings.
It’s a post we can all relate to in some form or another. From it,
When did manners become the exception? Disregard for the people around us is at staggering levels. Is it poor-parenting? A generational issue? The subjects above span many age ranges though. The mind boggles.
This part, in particular, resonated with me, so mu...
July 7, 2016
Stop Searching for a Balanced Life
This is a guest post by Dinette Rivera, expanding on a comment she left on my recent thoughts about work-life balance. I asked her how she’d made changes in her life, and this post is the answer.
I don’t expect to live a balanced life. It is an unattainable goal. I chose a better goal – take control of my life.
All of it.
At one time, I was trying to juggle too many responsibilities. I obsessed about doing them well, and failing miserably. I was miserable!
It really felt like do or die. Find...
June 29, 2016
Maybe You’re Late For a Good Reason
The other night, I was commuting home on my usual train, and two cyclists got on, a man and a woman (although separately – they weren’t together).
As I sat down in my chair, the male cyclist noticed that the female one was looking a little agitated, and asked her if everything was okay.
“Oh, well, kinda, thanks for asking. I’m just late for a meeting with my friend, and I’m just trying to let her know I’ll be there soon.”
“Ah, that sucks,” replied the guy. “But you know, maybe you’re late for...
June 27, 2016
Scottish Forever, But a UK Citizen No More
So they actually did it. My home nation, the United Kingdom, voted by 52% to 48% to leave the European Union and go it alone.
And while the Leave campaigners will say democracy won, and the British people have spoken, it’s not quite as simple as that.
If you look at the breakdown of the votes, it was England and Wales who voted the UK out of the EU. Scotland overwhelmingly voted to stay, as did Northern Ireland.
So, not so much “the British people have spoken” as much as “Little England messe...
June 22, 2016
The Danger of Not Work
When we’re passionate about something, we never see it as something we have to do – we see it as something we want to do.
Blogging; business; job; hobby; singing; drawing, anything. If we love it, we’ll spend time on it that we don’t even realize.
While it’s still work, we don’t see it as work. And there’s the danger.
We put in hours that our health can’t afford. We log in time that our relationships can’t afford. We’re still pegging away at 2.00am and giving up the sleeping hours that we can...
June 13, 2016
The Little Book of Inspiration Now Available in Print
Back in October last year – around the time of my birthday, funnily enough – I released my first non-business book, The Little Book of Inspiration.
For me, it was one of my proudest moments, because the book was truly a labour of love that had – literally – been years in the making.
While I’d published three books previously – Why Simple Works, The Parables of Business, and Influence Marketing – they were all very much business books, and tied into what my blog used to be about.
And while I w...
