A Stage 3 Induction session for my recent job of 8 months, the power of learning is obvious and can lead to many possibilities.

Being sat at a table in a small group and getting 15 minutes or so with a Director or Deputy gave us the chance to fire all sorts of questions at them in a no holds barred Question and Answer session.

It was interesting to learn how people got to where they wanted to be, the ideas they had and how where ended up today wasn't in the plan at all!

The point of this is to say, why don't you go learn something new?  Network a bit and see what opportunities you can open up for yourself.
Does it matter how big or small it is?  As Spiderman has said, "With great knowledge, comes great power".  Thanks Spiderman for your words of wisdom!
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Broaden your horizons, build up your knowledge and see where you end up!

Life is short, life flies by, days roll into weeks, weeks roll into months and then years, and then all of a sudden, it's over.

In truth, very few people have any idea just 'how long they have' in this world, just how much time they have to make something of themselves.. or to just do nothing.

From the moment you are born and running around in nappies, playing in the park before becoming an emotional teenager and then the big world of being an adult arrives, just getting that far is an achievement in itself. Sometimes some people aren't lucky enough to even reach adulthood, everyday you wake up, you should see it as an instant win even if it is with some of those aches and pains.. I know them well!

As the tag line from Eminem's film, 8 Mile says, "Every moment is another chance." Take that advice because it's true, if you've got a chance to change the way you do something for the better, why not just start now? Don't leave it until a Monday because it's the start of a week, why not start to chase a dream now, go for a run somewhere if you want to get fitter, start small and getting bigger in your approach and the time you can give towards what exactly you actually want to do with your life.
If you want to start a business, do some research, learn how to do something, there are millions of videos on YouTube that can show you how to do something, if you want to learn how to do it, "Just do it", now we are getting Nike involved!

Sitting on the sofa watching the Kardashians isn't going to help you get anywhere is it, go learn something, go do something different, break your routine, to give your life a new dimension. At the end of it all, only you can get yourself going, unless you try, how will you now just what you are capable of?

​Life is a journey, go and find yourself a new adventure!
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So you will obviously have a Monday coming up soon, maybe today, but depending on when you read this, this will still apply to you.. yes YOU!

Anyway, congratulations for making it this far!

Seeing as for most people, Monday is the marker for a new week, what is it that you are going to do in that new week for a change? What are you going to 'try', what are you going to 'finally' start?

If you're a blogger, the start of the week is a great time to take advantage of that productivity you have.  Why not write a few blog posts so that you can get a head start?  Run a business?  Then make this thr week that you explore manufacturing google ads or you take risks in your company that you've wanted to do for a while but held back.  You can achieve anything you put your mind to, after all.

So what's the plan then? What's been at the back of your mind? How about we use running as the example today? Going out for a jog to warm those muscles up and how you feel afterwards is actually pretty good!

If you've been planning on starting that 'get fit' idea you've been having, why not actually go for a run! I know, could you imagine?!! If running hurts, go for a power walk, if you can't do that, just go for an extra walk outside, literally every 'step' helps!

Too many people look for the smallest excuse to not start to do what they say they are going to do, if you aren't going to do it, then why are you giving your ambition false hope?? Just think of your ambition just being left in the corner of the room.. all by itself!

Remember, you don't need to be able to do a marathon by next week, let's be realistic here people, but even just by trying, just that extra walk instead of sitting down watching the Kardashians is a bigger start to your plan than you think.. and sanity.. what do the Kardashians even do???

​Every tree started as a seed at the beginning, you my little sapling, are no different.

​A part of life that people seem to forget is what they take from it, people perceive this in different ways.

The Ed Sheeren song, 'Photograph' is a great example of a family that spent so much time taking photos and recording a young Ed as he grew up and you can see the potential he had as a performer from an early age.  All those memories that Ed himself may not have even known happened were seen because his family have taken the time to keep those memories alive.

Let's say you have a young family, a little boy or girl around four years old, the only world they know is you (the same could also be said for a dog but that's another story!)  They don't know about the high pressures of getting the bills paid or how keeping them safe from the bad stuff in the world continually plays on your mind, they worry when you aren't with them or when is dinner.

If you were to send a card of the family around the holidays, that would be Christmas for me but depending on where you're from, people that send cards, they might send a card with a photo of the family doing something special from that year.  If you've spent most of your time just working or down the pub every night and not spending time with your kids, I'm sure people will love to see a photo of your bank balance or you being sick down the toilet.. yay for you!

I recently saw a young boy playing football with his Nan.  Despite being an older lady, very well dressed, you'd think she'd be extremely upper class had you passed her on the street.. But, in reality, at that moment, she was the goalkeeper for her Grandson who was kicking his ball at her.. think about that.. what will his memories be of her..

Life is about making memories, go and be like that Nan... why wouldn't you?

​The football (or soccer) world is still, at the time of writing this, or maybe forever, in shock about Claudio Ranieri's sacking at Leicester City.

The success of Leicester City when they won the Barclays Premiership was huge but that's another blog for another day.

Now football management is brutal, you can be the best thing since Arsenal's 'Invincibles' season and then a bad result or three and people want you to be sacked.  Football is results based and with the amount of money involved, owners and directors can't have their team being relegated as financially it can start a dramatic drop, just take a look at how many clubs relegated from the top flight are still suffering.

The players need to take responsibility for how they perform, yes it's the manager/ coach that needs to motivate them but if you've watched how much effort the players are not putting in, considering they are the current champions, the players don't care with their four year contracts earning tens of thousands of pounds!  The person in charge is always the one to get the chop even if they have a long term contract.

The sacking led to shock, the general feeling across football felt that what was achieved only 9 months ago was already forgotten, Leicester winning the league, that group of journeymen worked hard and won.  Working hard is the message here but it always shows what happens when you aren't consistent with your performance and while getting to the top is one thing, staying there is something else.

The other message from the Ranieri story is just how much the things you achieve can be forgotten in this day and age, an achievement that was spoken about around the world, just forgotten.  That saying about, "You're only as good as your last performance" comes to mind but that is the world of football now.

Focus on what you want, work hard, be consistent, and once you reach the top, work twice as hard to stay there!

The mobile phone for many years now, has been seen by most as the lifeline to the world.
You can play games, listen to music, take photos, send text messages, even order a pizza to be delivered.
As I travel through London on a tube under the 'Big Smoke', there are probably at least 60 odd mobile phones in this carriage alone if each person has one and it's not even crowded!

So why have I become the 'phone police' today?

Thinking about how much I use my phone, I'm always doing some sort of work for a project like 'Learn Develop Live' or finishing off an Ebay sale or a review for TripAdvisor. I look at things like Facebook and Twitter but it's more about how the Fan Page is doing or how a post was received or how can I make something better.

Starting to write a new Blog entry is a favourite and maybe I'll have a quick game of something before I have some sort of signal again.

The point is, you have locked up in your phone, more technology in your hands than NASA had back in 1969, so why not use that to your advantage?? Learn something new, build a website, start a business, use both the time you have and technology that people didn't have 20 years ago to help you.
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There's doubt though isn't there? Do you think it will be difficult? Do you think people will judge you and tell you it's not a good idea? Those things will probably happen but that's part of the adventure! Those people who put doubt in your head because their friend's cousin's cat tried something once and it didn't work the first time so they quit, well look how 'perfect' their world isn't, doing the same thing everyday, nothing to show for their life, the biggest risk they take is whether to cut their toes nails on a Friday when its meant to be bad luck!

But with nail clippers put one side, ignore the negativity people can give you. Use the technology and information you have at hand (literally) to give you the edge. If I didnt, then you wouldn't be reading this post from a website I didn't make!

Don't expect success overnight and remember that every expert was once a beginner who people doubted too.

It's been said many times, and along with the studies and research that has gone on, that, a banging tune is sometimes all you need to 'sort you out!'

Whatever your taste is, music can have an incredible effect on both your feeling and 'get up and go' that can sometimes lack!

I currently have a 'Jaguar Skills' track blaring in my earphones on a tube travelling around North London (and it's Camden Town as I type this for all those tube and travel fans!)

I'm no scientist as you know, but what exactly is it that gets the adrenaline pumping from listening to your favourite tunes even if you are still sitting at the same desk looking at the same spreadsheet sitting on your screen? Well that's a great question!

The quick science answer talks about "music causing slight variations in physiological characteristics like respiration, heart rate and muscle tension."
My own unofficial answer is, well it just wakes up your brain and the beat gets you moving.

Whatever way you look at it, music can be the influence you need to kick start whatever it is you want to be doing.. even that exciting spreadsheet!

So, earphones in (especially if you are in that quiet office) get your favourite tracks playing and watch that work get done.. unless you got up to have a dance instead!

First of all, ‘Happy New Year!’

Now if you’re currently enjoying a hangover from last night or you are feeling fresh after your first morning run of the year, I hope it’s been amazing so far!

So we have the nice bits out the way, now let’s talk about new starts!

It's January, new start, New Year’s Resolutions are set to start, some people who do polls and stuff like that, say that in the end, only 8% of the people that wanted to make some ‘new resolutions’ actually make it to the end of the year, it’s like that 365 day race to the finish line with very few that make it to the finish line.

So what’s it to be then, do you want to become healthier or more active and run all over the world, see more of your friends and family? Each of those are possible, each of those can be done… IF you want to do it enough.

Whatever it is that you are doing to make your resolution come true, go for a run before work or the gym on the way home, research (yes that word again) says that if you can manage to make whatever you are doing to make your resolution happen and include it in your routine for 21 days, it becomes a habit.. Make it a good habit!

There are thousands of different guides to help you kick start a resolution, but here is the quick guide to hopefully help you make them happen.

Just one resolution… concentrate on getting one thing sorted, trying to juggle more than one thing at a time won’t help!

Think about what you are going to do, not just start it. Failing to plan is planning to fail and all that.

Friends and family supporting you can help keep you encouraged to keep going when you do hit those moments of doubt.\n

Having one goal is a common mistake, you need to break down those goals with benchmarks. Try set a realistic goal each month to help try and keep that resolution on track.

This is always probably the most mentioned pointer from all the guides. It’s going to take time, start slowly to help alter your routine. Cutting down on your smoking week by week will eventually see you not having any because you will be used to not having any.

Expect to stumble! There will be hiccups, there will be slips, there will be days you aren’t able to keep to the plan but you can still ‘get back on the saddle’ as they say!

This isn’t a point but more a question to why you need the 1st January to be when you start making changes in your life, you could start ANYTIME… It’s all down to YOU!

Now enough of me waffling, get that resolution started and good luck, “Use the force” and all that!

After coming down sick last week resulting in an 18 hour 'going in and out of sleep' session, it was a reminder that catching some snore time needs to happen more often!


Long gone are my days of living off 4 hours sleep a night and still waking up like a fresh springtime chick or a daffodil or anything born around March this year!

Like a lot of the 'older' generation of footballers who pass their 30's, they have to adapt their play, the days of running around the pitch like a headless chicken have now gone, the body isn't able to do it anymore (unless you are Cristiano Ronaldo) so they use their head more, using the experience they have gained, they adapt and become an effective player in that way.


As my better half will tell me, sleep is the best cure for when you aren't feeling well and obviously (like most of the time) she is right!


So those people who live at the fast pace, being awake every hour of the day, if you are chasing that dream or ambition, just slow down every so often when you are starting to feel a bit 'Meh!' You need to rest too!


Grab an early night here and there, you'll probably find that ambition and drive becomes stronger all because you caught an hour or three, extra hours sleep.