Many Hands

COLLABORATIVE EFFORTS

The majestic gothic Cathedral in Cologne, stands defiant as one of the greatest achievements for those many people of religious faith, skilled craftsmanship, dedication and blind persistence. It is testament to all who collaborated on a project of such huge magnitude. It's thanks to those many, that this beautiful building is here today for us to see in all its glory.

Looking at one of the ornate designs on merely one relatively small segment of limestone that makes up just one of the two gigantic 157.4m towers - you get a sense of the enormity facing the designers, engineers, stone masons etc. - so many of which, would not have lived to see the finished building.

The foundation was laid on 15 august 1248  but building was stopped in the early 16th century. For another 300 years, the church remained in a state of limbo until enthusiasm was awakened again with the recommencement of building work in 1842. The towers, built in accordance with the original designs and with 80+ of the very best of the masons from the Rheinland, were then completed in 1880. That's 632 years from start to finish. Even the youngest of the workers from the latter years would have been working for most of their adult life to see the job completed.

Destructive Efforts

If the sheer scale of the work required to build something of such magnitude isn't enough of a reminder for how great collaborative forces can be for good, then, looking at the contrasting pictures of devastation caused in Cologne from the allied bombing (as well as the almost total devastation created across many of the other German cities like Dresden) as a stark reminder of how quickly the great work of so many can be reduced to rubble through collaborative efforts. And yet, after all the fighting, some of the most symbolic film from the end of WWII, captured on film this historical tank battle. a German Panther tank sits defiantly defending this 'heart of Germany' in a significant last stand against allied tanks - with the Cathedral rising out of the debris, and by some miracle, still intact - symbolising (as did St Paul's Cathedral in London), the soul of the German people. 

In the above picture, the decimated tank is being guarded from sightseers who were taking pictures at a location where many lives were lost - 25,000 civilians died in Cologne air raids alone. The allies not only realised the importance of the building as propaganda for the Germans, but also recognised it's historical importance and majestic beauty.

Starting Again

And so, the 600 years to make something great, was very nearly undone in the 6 years of WWII. Many other great buildings and historical towns were flattened elsewhere in Europe including Poland, Holland, France and England - leaving them inhospitable and requiring many thousands of hard work to rebuild again. It is this effort that I find the most difficult to fathom and yet the most heartening. Because rebuilding something that has had so much invested already and then having to start again to try and make just as good - this is where the real heart of collaboration lies. I am always amazed when looking at the pictures of Dresden, Cologne, Warsaw, London - or any of the destroyed cities, to see how they have been re-created and restored to something of their former glory - and again with even greater collaborative efforts.

The Hustle

ALL ABOUT MAKING MONEY

Being able to earn enough money through our own means, from doing various different odd jobs, is fun but it can also be hard hussle. The hours can be quite anti-social and sporadic, as you take the money wherever and whenever you can. It can mess with your sleep patterns, throw off the routine and make you lose track of the days & nights. 

Missing the 9 til 5

While the ritual of a 9-5 job can feel like a bit of a grind, having the set location, times and 5 day week routine to follow, can bring some order into our lives put a regular and potentially much higher income on the table too.

Having freedom to work when we really want to work, means having more discipline to spend less, a greater will to seek out work, a strong resolve to stay out of trouble and the ability to put some hard work in on some jobs that are demanding, yet offer very little financial reward at the end compared to the salary gained through regular employment.

The pay off for having freedom to work away from corporate life, essentially means applying tighter reins to ourselves and our lifestyles. This means having a lot more discipline and control over our daily lives. It means saying 'No' much more often. 

Through careful planning, focus on time management and mindful objectives of how we obtain, maintain and retain work, dealing with our clients and suppliers in an honest and decent manor, we become the ambassadors of our brand. 

We can't afford to turn up and not deliver. There's no hiding, no shirking and definitely no feet under the table, which we find happening a lot of the time in the corporate world. 

Every day is a hustle - an urban forage of virtual beans and berries with a constant drive for finding that 'big game' that's lurking out there somewhere - the major prize, a giant, that once snared, will stock our reserves to help keep us going through the leaner times. 

Nature is Tough

TOILING IN THE GARDEN

Pottering in the garden is something I would usually associate with a pastime that older people do, or at least those who like to take on milder forms of physical exercise doing their hobbies.

However, when a garden has gone wild, clearing the bramble, creepers and overgrown privets, takes a lot of physically hard work - as I've found out today.

About 15 years ago, when I'd reached a peak of irritation with my job at that time, I decided to take a summer off and do something outdoors that offered a more physical and less mentally taxing role. It turned out that gardening was the best option for me, where someone with no training could carry out the tasks required to make a garden look nice. Through my contacts at the time, it turned out to be relatively easy to find work in and around some of the communal squares and green spaces of west London.

It was a particularly warm and sunny summer that year. And the work, a little back-breaking at times, was actually very rewarding. To be fair, a lot of the work merely involved planting some bulbs or flowers, turning the soil over, mowing the odd lawn or trimming an already well managed hedge. It was easy to maintain these private gardens without much extra effort. I'm now carrying out the same kind of work this summer, and although I haven't really had the sun as often as I'd liked, it's still rewarding. The south Londoners don't seem to keep their gardens quite so quaffed as their west London neighbours, so it's a lot more effort to get these gardens looking good. Hence today's struggle with an out of control rose bush and manic creepers.

I managed to get the rose bush down and I thought I may have killed it by pruning it back so much.....apparently not! They are particularly hardy bushes and the fact I've taken it back by over half was actually the right thing to do. The hardest thing has been breaking some of the half inch thick stems down to get them in the gardening bags before the downpour. All in all though, it was a tough but rewarding job and I'm sure with better management, the bush will be in much better shape come the spring next year.

As to me being in better shape tomorrow for more of the same gardening tasks, not so sure I can take many more lashes from the monster thorns, but it's still great knowing I have another string to the bow. My next week of work is already shaping up nicely with 5 different kinds of jobs lined up. 

Get Military This Spring

TEN-HUP!

At the start of the year when I first started my 5am starts, it was a lot easier for me to commit to and easy to stick with once the new regime was underway. This, I put down to the fact, that it was dark in the mornings and dark again before 4pm. Therefore, it was easy to get into bed at 9pm and rise after 8 hours sleep when the rest of the city was asleep. The hibernation mentality was all I had to beat.

Now the days are so long and everyone is out in the sun - merrily having some fun...and it's hard not to get involved. I'm slipping on the 5am starts and other commitments are slipping too. So it's time to get military on myself to get everything back on track!

Setting a goal and then breaking it is not cool. It sends out all kinds of wrong messages that removes control of our actions and allows bad habits to creep back in. We can take breaks if we allow them, but breaking commitments and promises - especially with ourselves....is a big NO if we want to get on in our lives. If we set timings on these commitments, we need to constantly adjust them to make them a challenge. That means increasing the intensity, frequency and creating new goals. We have to keep putting in the hard work if we want the results.

Thinking of Sylvester Stallone again today, I was reminded of Rambo 4 (even if you're not a fan of his films, you have to admire the man). After watching this film, I then watched the interviews with the cast, crew and Mr Stallone himself. Working in over 80% humidity for 18 hour days in the Thai forest was really tough - and this was the cast & crew talking. Sylvester Stallone not only starred in this film, but he wrote, directed and co-produced it too and he's in his 60's when making this.

When everyone had gone to bed, Stallone was checking the rushes. In the mornings, he was first on the set. He had what it takes to push on through because he'd prepared himself by conditioning his body and mind over many years. That's why he's so successful and still making films today. So, if we want to cut loose a bit and have a break - that's fine. We just need to establish some boundaries and allow for down time. This is where we need to be the tightest on the rules we set with ourselves, so we can work & play hard too.

From tomorrow, following the Qi-gong 10 minute wake up routine, we have increased our morning exercises to incorporate 6x1 minute planks (with 15 seconds break between), followed by a set of posture correcting exercises. This adds up to 20 minutes of extra time needed in the morning so there has to be a fixed time to do this. The new 'military' rules mean there will be no break in this routine from today and the alarm will chime time every morning at the same time until the next re-evaluation date.

Having a fixed time/schedule means there's no excuses not to be ready - just as the army will have disciplined ways of do their routines. We pledge to continue on this routine until this current cycle is finished. And at the end of June, we'll look at what the next cycle will be.

Come back to it

REFINE IDEAS

Whether it's making plans for an event, designing a logo, sending an email, writing a letter or creating content for a blog page. Work out what you want to achieve, outline the content, jot down some notes, scamp out first drafts...and wait before sending. We're living in a fast-paced, quick-fix, immediate gratification period, brought about by the digital age. All too often, we'll rush things through without really considering what we're really trying to achieve. The quality of what we want to see, feel, portray - is greatly affected by the amount of time we put in. Chances are, the first idea we have, won't be the best one, so we need time to mull over inspired ideas and play with a few options before something that really works comes through to the forefront of the mind.

The writer understands this process of creating over a great length of time - Khaled Hosseini took a long time and many rough drafts to write The Kite Runner. He'd spend weeks going down a blind alley before choosing to rip everything up and start again. This painful process is necessary for creating great bodies of work. It takes patience and periods of discomfort exploring every possible avenue before eventually striking the right path and creating a work of great value.