Zuckerberg in front of the EU Parliament — Michael & Josh #weeklycartoon
Mark Zuckerberg was grilled by the EU Parliament. They bizarrely insisted to ask all questions upfront. They basically made fools of themselves, because they wanted to be sure all their voices were heard, this is not untypical of the EU. It inspired this short story and a cartoon to accompany it.
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, a young and ruthless officer in the Facebook, General Zuckerberg has complete confidence in his troops, training methods and weapons. Zuckerberg eagerly awaits the day when Facebook’s technological innovations will help bring down the hated New Republic and the European Resistance, and considers it his destiny to rule the galaxy.
After the destruction of Cambridge Analytica, Zuckerberg led Facebook forces that drove the Resistance from Europe — and assured Supreme Leader Sandberg that one of his latest technological innovations would soon deliver victory for their regime. After the demise of Cambridge Analytica, Zuckerberg accompanied Sandberg to Europe, helping oversee Facebook’s assault on the remnants of the European Resistance.
God regrets sending GDPR emails — Michael & Josh — #weeklycartoon
To date I have received exactly 99 emails on #GDPR and #privacy policies and they are still arriving every day. The biggest mistake is people asking me to opt back in. Of course I’m not going to do that, silly question. It inspired our latest cartoon simply titled ‘God Does PR’, get it? 😂
I have been searching for a cloud CRM for years, one that I would be happy with and I am over the moon to say that I have finally found what I’ve been looking for. I know, I know it sounds corny and I will have no vested interest in promoting Hubspot apart from the fact that I would love for small business owners to have an amazing experience with their CRM too.
I do not pay for Hubspot by the way, they provide a CRM for free, completely for free, let me say that another way, no money leaves my bank account every single month for using Hubspot. Yeah I know, it sounds too good to be true, well it is totally true.
Of course they do have a paid service for sure and that’s not even that expensive either. Let me describe some of the benefits I am getting for using their cloud based CRM system.
Oh I must just say that I do not engage in any email marketing, drip feed campaigning, squeeze page downloads or other spam practices whatsoever. And that’s just as well, because that means I can use the free Hubspot product.
I can add contacts, manually, upload, via email bcc and tag them.
They allow me to IMAP my email, that means when I send email to my contacts, it is synched with my normal email provider, which is Google G-Suite, via Apple Mail. Everything syncs beautifully. This means my conversations with contacts are beautifully kept together on my contact record inside Hubspot. I need this because it means I can develop a closer one to one relationship with my contact. No bulk emails from me, but of course they do it if you pay for it. I highly recommend that you do not use bulk email practices by the way.
Anyway, more benefits, the contact’s domain, if it is a company one, will automatically bring in the company details including the company LinkedIn page. Incredible!
If I send an email to my contact, it allows me to add a follow-up task inside Hubspot really really easily, which means I have no need to add this anywhere else. Really super easy indeed.
Of course then I have a task list, a deals section, lead/contact capture forms, tracking code for my website, even a cookie pop-up for my website.
It just works beautifully and fully integrated, I am really super happy with their solution, can you tell?
They are also completely GDPR compliant and the only company I have come across who actually laid out their stall in connection with GDPR, clearly and showed a roadmap of product updates and releases in order to allow us as users to be fully compliant and they did it all on time as well.
The promise is that it will be free forever, so let’s wait and see if that’s true. I guess they want raving fans, testing out the product and be so impressed with it that one day they will sign up to purchase some of the paid options too.
I’ve tried many CRM systems during my digital career and am now kicking myself for having tried out so many before finding what I am truly happy with. I love it’s simplicity, I see so many that have made it so complicated.
I spent around 30 minutes sitting on a bench in the sunshine in the middle of a Birmingham City park. It was the middle of the day and many people were walking around and going about their daily routine. Maybe they were doing some shopping or maybe they were getting some lunch.
I couldn’t help but notice that most people were taking no notice of their surroundings, because they were all looking at their smartphones. Every now and again they had to look up because if they didn’t they might walk into a lamp post or even another zombie.
It’s a very sad result of us wishing to embrace technology. Furthermore what example are we setting for young people. They witness us behaving like zombies and they will copy our behaviour and actions too. Especially as they will be begging to get their own devices by the age of well maybe 7 or 8?
I also spent some time sitting in a coffee shop inside a shopping centre, doing some writing. I decided to pause my writing and look around at the people and I witnessed many groups of friends or maybe families walking together and every single person was walking with their smartphones in their hand. There was no conversation going on between them.
Do we all think this is normal or are have all become so addicted to our devices that we feel it’s more important to look at non-sense instead of spending time being fully present in the moment with our loved ones.
Putin and Abramovich — Michael & Josh #weeklycartoon
Roman Abramovich the oligarch, who owns Chelsea Football Club was unable to attend the FA cup in the UK on Saturday 19th May 2018. He is being forced to apply for a new investment visa after letting his previous one expire. Chris Hutchins, a biographer of Putin, describes the relationship between the Russian president and Abramovich as like that between a father and a favourite son. Within the Kremlin, Abramovich is referred to as “Mr A”.
Abramovich was the first person to originally recommend to Yeltsin that Vladimir Putin be his successor as the Russian president. When Putin formed his first cabinet as Prime Minister in 1999, Abramovich interviewed each of the candidates for cabinet positions before they were approved. Subsequently, Abramovich would remain one of Putin’s closest confidants. In 2007, Putin consulted in meetings with Abramovich on the question of who should be his successor as president; Medvedev was personally recommended by Abramovich.
Theresa May and the Windrush Scandal — Michael & Josh #weeklycartoon
The Windrush generation have been threatened with deportation, refused access to public services such as healthcare or lost their jobs as a result of “hostile environment” immigration policies in the UK. The prime minister promised MPs there would be a “full review of lessons learned” following the scandal, which has engulfed the government in recent weeks and forced the resignation of the home secretary, Amber Rudd.
Jack and Marion de Groot (Carter) on their wedding day, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Snobbery with Violence
News article clipping, date unknown, but assumed to be in 1947 the year of Indian’s Independence from the UK. By Marion Carter (my mother) who was 17 in that year. I discovered it in a small book of authographs owned by my mother.
On the dawn of India’s Independence, the Anglo-Indian communities all over the country were busy with trunks and packing cases, and the air was filled with the news, ‘We are going Home’.
‘Home’! Where is our ‘Home’?
Some apparently think it is in England, I wonder what the English think of that. True, we may enter England at will, the same way as any other native of this land and on arrival we shall be received with the same peculiar welcome…the thinly disguised colour bar. (definition: a social system in which black people are denied access to the same rights, opportunities, and facilities as white people.)
Can England be the home of any self-respecting Indian? And what are we, if not Indians? We were born here, our ancestors were born here and neither we nor they have ever seen the shores of England. Yet we are going ‘Home’?
Some of us, of course, well, deserve a bit of our own medicine which will be liberally administered to us at ‘Home’. For generations we considered ourselves superior to other communities, because we could claim to some English blood. Even assuming that all the foreign blood is English, pure certified English. The Lord only knows why this should be assumed and how the Dutch, Portuguese, American and other blood managed to evaporate from our veins, why should that makes us superior and can that make England our ‘Home’?
If by the same token the inhabitants of England with mixed blood decided to go ‘Home’, what a glorious exodus that would be! The Royal Family would scatter to Germany, Denmark, France, Greece, Portugal, Holland and Spain. The astonished countries of Denmark, France and Italy would be over-run by returning exiles. Typical Englishmen and English-women returning ‘Home’ would become a menace to all Europe and every continent would get is share until only a few poor Celts would remain in the highlands of Scotland and in the hills of Wales. But the natives of England consider themselves English and will not desert in a hysterical flight to strange and foreign shores but will remain English and stay in England where they belong.
Why should we Anglo-Indians consider ourselves closer to a strange country than to the land which nourished almost all our forefathers. Good reasons there are none, but there is an obvious explanation. India is a land of snobbery. Everyone is trying to be ‘superior’ to his neighbours and tries to convince himself that there is something that makes him so. With us it is our mixed blood. It sounds idiotic.
Family de Groot - Amsterdam - Marconistraat
Colour Shame
Could there be anything more ridiculous than that a whole race should be ashamed of its own colour? And those who are a shade lighter should look with contempt on the others as their inferiors? What incentive will there be in Indian society for intellectual advance for the betterment of the mind, when what really counts is the colour of the skin? From Europeans we could expect no better, but that a colour bar should develop in India among Indians, is a disgrace to our ancient civilisation.
Those who have no light complexion to boast of, find other ways of establishing their superiority. There are those who are proud of never having done a stroke of work in all their lives. What an asset they are to their country! Some simply can not get over having been born into a high caste and consider it great condescension to be occasionally courteous to anyone a step lower. Some who made or inherited great wealth look down sneeringly on those who are poor and so it goes on.
Indians are busy snubbing while being snubbed. What nonsense it all is, these multitudinous Aristocracies!
The Caste or Parentage Aristocracy, The Much Money Aristocracy, The Idleness and Uselessness Aristocracy, The Mixed Blood Aristocracy, The Government Official Aristocracy, The Light Pigment Aristocracy, etc.
There is a superior and high caste, but not of birth or money or any of these things, but of mental quality. One who is more honest, more tolerant, more kind, more cultured, in the true meaning of the word, is the superior Aristocracy on earth. These Aristocrats can save our country, the other can only lead it to destruction.
Written in 1947 by Marion Carter (de Groot) mother of Michael de Groot. Posted on Medium by Michael in 2018, 71 years later!
Marion was born 23rd August 1930 and deceased 24th February 1996 aged 65. Marion was a heart-disease sufferer for many years. I never heard her speak much of her Anglo-Indian heritage, she was very much the European and embraced everything Dutch and English. And of course after many years in the Netherlands we did and she did eventually come to live in England, something she allegedly resisted against when you read her article. Rest in peace Mama.
Jack and Marion de Groot (Carter) wedding day in Amsterdam, The Netherlands
News article clipping, date unknown, but assumed to be in 1947 the year of India’s Independence from the UK. By Marion Carter (my mother) who was 17 in that year. I discovered it in a small book of authographs owned by my mother.
On the dawn of India’s Independence, the Anglo-Indian communities all over the country were busy with trunks and packing cases, and the air was filled with the news, ‘We are going Home’.
‘Home’! Where is our ‘Home’?
Some apparently think it is in England, I wonder what the English think of that. True, we may enter England at will, the same way as any other native of this land and on arrival we shall be received with the same peculiar welcome…the thinly disguised colour bar. (definition: a social system in which black people are denied access to the same rights, opportunities, and facilities as white people.)
Can England be the home of any self-respecting Indian? And what are we, if not Indians? We were born here, our ancestors were born here and neither we nor they have ever seen the shores of England. Yet we are going ‘Home’?
Some of us, of course, well, deserve a bit of our own medicine which will be liberally administered to us at ‘Home’. For generations we considered ourselves superior to other communities, because we could claim to some English blood. Even assuming that all the foreign blood is English, pure certified English. The Lord only knows why this should be assumed and how the Dutch, Portuguese, American and other blood managed to evaporate from our veins, why should that makes us superior and can that make England our ‘Home’?
If by the same token the inhabitants of England with mixed blood decided to go ‘Home’, what a glorious exodus that would be! The Royal Family would scatter to Germany, Denmark, France, Greece, Portugal, Holland and Spain. The astonished countries of Denmark, France and Italy would be over-run by returning exiles. Typical Englishmen and English-women returning ‘Home’ would become a menace to all Europe and every continent would get is share until only a few poor Celts would remain in the highlands of Scotland and in the hills of Wales. But the natives of England consider themselves English and will not desert in a hysterical flight to strange and foreign shores but will remain English and stay in England where they belong.
Why should we Anglo-Indians consider ourselves closer to a strange country than to the land which nourished almost all our forefathers. Good reasons there are none, but there is an obvious explanation. India is a land of snobbery. Everyone is trying to be ‘superior’ to his neighbours and tries to convince himself that there is something that makes him so. With us it is our mixed blood. It sounds idiotic.
Family de Groot in Amsterdam — Marconistraat
Colour Shame
Could there be anything more ridiculous than that a whole race should be ashamed of its own colour? And those who are a shade lighter should look with contempt on the others as their inferiors? What incentive will there be in Indian society for intellectual advance for the betterment of the mind, when what really counts is the colour of the skin? From Europeans we could expect no better, but that a colour bar should develop in India among Indians, is a disgrace to our ancient civilisation.
Those who have no light complexion to boast of, find other ways of establishing their superiority. There are those who are proud of never having done a stroke of work in all their lives. What an asset they are to their country! Some simply can not get over having been born into a high caste and consider it great condescension to be occasionally courteous to anyone a step lower. Some who made or inherited great wealth look down sneeringly on those who are poor and so it goes on.
Indians are busy snubbing while being snubbed. What nonsense it all is, these multitudinous Aristocracies!
The Caste or Parentage Aristocracy, The Much Money Aristocracy, The Idleness and Uselessness Aristocracy, The Mixed Blood Aristocracy, The Government Official Aristocracy, The Light Pigment Aristocracy, etc.
There is a superior and high caste, but not of birth or money or any of these things, but of mental quality. One who is more honest, more tolerant, more kind, more cultured, in the true meaning of the word, is the superior Aristocracy on earth. These Aristocrats can save our country, the other can only lead it to destruction.
Written in 1947 by Marion Carter (de Groot) mother of Michael de Groot. Posted on Medium by Michael in 2018, 71 years later!
Marion was born 23rd August 1930 and deceased 24th February 1996 aged 65. Marion was a heart-disease sufferer for many years. I never heard her speak much of her Anglo-Indian heritage, she was very much the European and embraced everything Dutch and English. And of course after many years in the Netherlands we did and she did eventually come to live in England, something she allegedly resisted against when you read her article. Rest in peace Mama.
The only work we ever need to do on this planet is the work on ourselves. However most of us find it easier to focus on others and see what’s wrong with them. We judge them, we get angry with them, we’re jealous of them and sometimes we just want to be like them. We don’t always see the best in others do we?
What if, what you see in others, you realised those traits were merely a reflection of you? Your own failings expressed in others, of course you won’t like what you see. It’s tough to see yourself in others. Might it be that you’re not perfect either? That you have some failings too? Some stuff you need to work on, get better at, be more forgiving of yourself and others, develop better habits, have more compassion?
This is tougher then we realise. Yes we need to start from a place that says we’re not broken and if we start from that place then the others aren’t broken either. If you can start from that place everything else becomes just easier. Because if you stop spending time focussing on others and just on yourself, what else can you learn about you, about your habits, your decisions, your micro-decisions, your thoughts and your addictions?
If we could just work on ourselves and become the best we can be for ourselves, not for anyone else, just for ourselves then we could actually become a more compassionate individual seeing the best in everyone around us, including some of the worst people walking the planet. We all have a dark side, it may not have been expressed in hideous crimes or actions but it will have been expressed in some way towards someone, maybe even someone you love.
Time to go within, time to spend time looking in the mirror before looking at others.
Grandfather de Groot and Michael de Groot in Surinam 1974
Thank you, thank you ladies and gentlemen! That was Mike at the drums, with his own interpretation of ‘Dreams’! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Michael will you join us? We were discussing the preposition.
Back to reality and the stuffy classroom with my classmates grinning at me, while the flush of being elsewhere with my thoughts, slowly spread over my face and added to the general hilarity!
Once upon a time there was a young man who had learned to play the piano, a little, then discovered the rhythm of the beat and the joy of rolling drums. That was going to be his instrument and he worked at getting the rhythm , the rolls, the crescendo and the final crash to a perfection that finally got him the much coveted position as lead drummer in his favourite group’s orchestra. He travelled the country till he was proclaimed the star of the show, only to be banged down to reality with a preposition.
Reality! A long hard road to achieve the impossible or was it just possible that one day the tables would be turned and I would be up there taking a bow to the deafening applause, thinking I was dreaming again and that I would be brought back to the classroom where my classmates were clapping their hands to draw attention to the teacher and the work on hand!
There I go again, it is so hard to concentrate and stop this habit of using the hum of the teacher’s voice to lead me to those wonderful places away from the dull drab life that I lead. How can I learn to be interested in the uses and abuses of the English language when there is so much more excitement in the sound that I can bring forth with just a flick of the wrist on those beautiful skins? I must stop, I must stop. My passport to reality is proficiency in English which will eventually lead to making my fantasy worlds of the past, the living world of today! Dreams do come true, especially if they have been day dreams!
From early childhood, we are encouraged to concentrate and every lesson in a school classroom is directed at the student in such a way that it makes it impossible not to do so. But not all of us are blessed with those very gifted powers of being able to keep our minds on the subject that is being taught, especially if it is of no particular interest to us or the teacher is unable to hold the interest of his or her students. It is so easy to let the world of fantasy surround you with those tempting delights, which are far more exciting than the reality of the classroom, that the younger student, the less disciplined the mind and the easier the flight from reality.
The business of growing up consists of filling the mind with knowledge that will enable one to meet the demands of the adult world where what you know is more important than what you are. There is no time or need in your waking hours to dream of flying like a bird, you can fly! Or being famous, you can become famous and world renown, all you have to do is hi-jack a plane or train or kidnap a child or a businessman and you are famous! Write a book? Easy, just collect all your wildest fantasies together and fill them with enough obscene words and you can top the best-seller book list.
Day dreams are fast becoming a luxury that only the very young can participate in, or those who have suffered from the pressures of modern life and have to go to a group therapy session so that they can be encouraged to let their mind wander and enjoy once again the fantasies that have been crowded out by the reality of our world today.
Has climate any affect on national character? When I was asked this question, the first picture that came to my mind was that of happy laughing people in sunny Spain. So that I would say that as far as my experience is concerned, I do think that the climate affects the people of a country and also the character. Astrologers turn to the stars to find good and bad omens in our lives with the help of the position of the moon and the sun and we Europeans living in the northern hemisphere are certainly influenced by the changing position of the sun. When spring arrives in Europe, we look forward to the longer hours of daylight and are walking with our heads up and a smile on our faces, because we know that soon it will be time to enjoy more of the sun.
Bright sunshine, light and warmth, the ingredients for growth and happiness. Dull days, cold and darkness, the characteristic recipe for sitting together trying to discover the meaning of life. Although we in Europe have the opportunity of having the time, in winter, to think and talk of all aspects of life, we envy our neighbours in the sunny countries who have the sun all the time, because we know that the fact that the sun is shining gives them more freedom, they live a carefree life.
So my answer to the question of whether the climate affects the national character, would be yes most definitely.
From a piece of work that I submitted to my course in Amsterdam, learning how to write business English, in preparation for us to move to the United Kingdom. My mother (Marion) assisted me greatly with writing this article at the time. My dream when I was 15 was to become a drummer in a band. I did learn to play the drums and did indeed become a drummer in a small unknown, very short-lived new wave/punk band in London. We even recorded a very poor demo on my father's reel to reel tape player. I still have the recording and it pleases me from time to time to listen to my own mastery on the drums.
Grandfather de Groot and Michael de Groot in Surinam 1974
Thank you, thank you ladies and gentlemen! That was Mike at the drums, with his own interpretation of ‘Dreams’! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Michael will you join us? We were discussing the preposition.
Back to reality and the stuffy classroom with my classmates grinning at me, while the flush of being elsewhere with my thoughts, slowly spread over my face and added to the general hilarity!
Once upon a time there was a young man who had learned to play the piano, a little, then discovered the rhythm of the beat and the joy of rolling drums. That was going to be his instrument and he worked at getting the rhythm , the rolls, the crescendo and the final crash to a perfection that finally got him the much coveted position as lead drummer in his favourite group’s orchestra. He travelled the country till he was proclaimed the star of the show, only to be banged down to reality with a preposition.
Reality! A long hard road to achieve the impossible or was it just possible that one day the tables would be turned and I would be up there taking a bow to the deafening applause, thinking I was dreaming again and that I would be brought back to the classroom where my classmates were clapping their hands to draw attention to the teacher and the work on hand!
There I go again, it is so hard to concentrate and stop this habit of using the hum of the teacher’s voice to lead me to those wonderful places away from the dull drab life that I lead. How can I learn to be interested in the uses and abuses of the English language when there is so much more excitement in the sound that I can bring forth with just a flick of the wrist on those beautiful skins? I must stop, I must stop. My passport to reality is proficiency in English which will eventually lead to making my fantasy worlds of the past, the living world of today! Dreams do come true, especially if they have been day dreams!
From early childhood, we are encouraged to concentrate and every lesson in a school classroom is directed at the student in such a way that it makes it impossible not to do so. But not all of us are blessed with those very gifted powers of being able to keep our minds on the subject that is being taught, especially if it is of no particular interest to us or the teacher is unable to hold the interest of his or her students. It is so easy to let the world of fantasy surround you with those tempting delights, which are far more exciting than the reality of the classroom, that the younger student, the less disciplined the mind and the easier the flight from reality.
The business of growing up consists of filling the mind with knowledge that will enable one to meet the demands of the adult world where what you know is more important than what you are. There is no time or need in your waking hours to dream of flying like a bird, you can fly! Or being famous, you can become famous and world renown, all you have to do is hi-jack a plane or train or kidnap a child or a businessman and you are famous! Write a book? Easy, just collect all your wildest fantasies together and fill them with enough obscene words and you can top the best-seller book list.
Day dreams are fast becoming a luxury that only the very young can participate in, or those who have suffered from the pressures of modern life and have to go to a group therapy session so that they can be encouraged to let their mind wander and enjoy once again the fantasies that have been crowded out by the reality of our world today.
Has climate any affect on national character? When I was asked this question, the first picture that came to my mind was that of happy laughing people in sunny Spain. So that I would say that as far as my experience is concerned, I do think that the climate affects the people of a country and also the character. Astrologers turn to the stars to find good and bad omens in our lives with the help of the position of the moon and the sun and we Europeans living in the northern hemisphere are certainly influenced by the changing position of the sun. When spring arrives in Europe, we look forward to the longer hours of daylight and are walking with our heads up and a smile on our faces, because we know that soon it will be time to enjoy more of the sun.
Bright sunshine, light and warmth, the ingredients for growth and happiness. Dull days, cold and darkness, the characteristic recipe for sitting together trying to discover the meaning of life. Although we in Europe have the opportunity of having the time, in winter, to think and talk of all aspects of life, we envy our neighbours in the sunny countries who have the sun all the time, because we know that the fact that the sun is shining gives them more freedom, they live a carefree life.
So my answer to the question of whether the climate affects the national character, would be yes most definitely.
From a piece of work that I submitted to my course in Amsterdam, learning how to write business English, in preparation for us to move to the United Kingdom. My mother (Marion) assisted me greatly with writing this article at the time. My dream when I was 15 was to become a drummer in a band. I did learn to play the drums and did indeed become a drummer in a small unknown, very short-lived new wave/punk band in London. We even recorded a very poor demo on my father’s reel to reel tape player. I still have the recording and it pleases me from time to time to listen to my own mastery on the drums.
The UK Bank, ‘TSB’, faces hefty regulatory fines for what’s been described as one of the worst tech problems to hit the country’s banking space in recent years. 2 million customers were locked out of their accounts for six days! #OMG heads will roll, fines and compensations will be delivered without mercy. Really this is truly uneblievable. All the advertising spend can never repair a customer service blunder like this one.
Sainsbury’s and Asda (Walmart) are merging. Two of the biggest supermarkets in the UK will become one humongous supermarket chain (Sainsda?) that with leverage suppliers and customers alike. If in doubt all you have to do is watch the song that the Mike Coupe Sainsbury’s CEO was singing on TV. He sang We’re in the Money from the musical 42nd Street. It inspired our latest cartoon. Enjoy!
Thankfully his older brother and friends who were much older and stronger were nearby outside the school to protect him from any danger that could have been nearby. Just as well because Michael was not as strong and tall as his peers, which meant that he was very vulnerable to being chased down and beaten up.
It was probably one of the first fearful moments in his young life and an event that will unlikely ever be forgotten by him.
It was lunchtime in Amsterdam outside the Moreelse Mavo School where Michael attended with his older brother and his twin sister. The school was very close to the Vincent van Gogh museum and the main cultural area in the centre of Amsterdam, including the Rijksmuseum and the Concertgebouw.
The man looked vicious, angry and on a mission to harm Michael. All Michael could do was to run to his older brother at full speed, whilst being chased by a much older man, who was now running at full speed and catching Michael metre by metre.
JIMMY, HELP!!!!
Jimmy heard him and immediately came to the rescue with his friends who stood together like a solid wall of muscle and strength. Michael quickly hid behind them and the man walked in the other direction whilst keeping his arm and index finger outstretched pointing at Michael whilst muttering the words, I WILL GET YOU! (Ik krijg je wel).
To this day young Michael had no idea who this man was and why he wanted to beat him up. He never saw the man again, but the memory stayed with him forever and the fear of meeting him again haunted him daily for a number of years afterwards.
Movies are still the best stories ever told, because it activates pretty much all the important regions in your brain. When viewing even a fictional story on the screen, you can’t help being transported into the story and feel like you are the main protagonist.
Couple this with our human sense of fairness, winning and surviving and we will generally always be on the side of the main heroin, literally willing her to succeed in her quest.
Physically we will have similar feelings of fear, anticipation, worry, doubt and our motor cortex in our brain the part that’s governing the firing of our muscles are also engaged. Wonder why you may feel breathless or exhausted after watching a gripping, high action movie? You just starred in it. And because all of those factors you will want to experience more of it next time. We are addicted to the thrill of movies.
I often witness my wife Clair filling her eye ducts with water when there is a sad scene in a movie. None of the action is actually happening to her but because of one of our other major emotions ‘empathy’, we are now feeling what the starring character is feeling. So if they are sad because they lose their partner or their fellow warrior in a fighting scene and they show sadness, we feel that sadness too. Us guys can often hold on and keep a stiff upper lip but the ladies have a better empathy button and will feel their hurt at a deeper level.
I recently interviewed Harun Rabbani on my Share Your Story Podcast. In fact I interviewed him twice as we ran out of time on the first episode. The second episode allowed us to go into a lot of depth on his expert topic, ‘decision making’.
I highly recommend a listen. Harun explained in intimate detail what it takes to become more conscious in making your decisions. I loved his insights. All of us look back at decisions we’ve taken and usually with some regret or doubt. Doubt whether we’ve actually made the right decisions in our lives. We also know without a shadow of doubt some of the decisions that have landed us into trouble, whether it be with our family, our work colleagues and our spouses and children.
It’s not easy to make the right decisions and as Harun explains decisions are just like any muscle in the body. If you wish to grow a muscle you have to exercise it. If you want to make better decisions and know that they are the right ones, you have to exercise that process too.
Harun explains many different options to improve the art of decision making and one of those is journalling.
I had never heard of this previously, so I am delighted that I learnt this from Harun. I started the same day.
The premise is very simple. At the end of each day, reflect on the decisions you have taken in the day. Identify one major one that deserves being recorded in your journal. Write why you took that decision and how it made you feel. I have to say having started this just a few days ago, it’s making me feel much better about my decisions already and I feel in such a short time more confident about the decisions I will take in the future.
One of the better side-effects of reflecting on your decisions is that you will slow down a little before making decisions, you start becoming a conscious decision maker.
Made a major decision, which is to end my courtship with MailChimp. I’ve flirted with Mailchimp for at least a decade, using it to send newsletters at first, then adding people from capture forms and in the past year adding new connections from LinkedIn and drip feeding them useful and practical information and it actually was. I did carefully think about what to share with my connections and start some engagement and some of it did work.
And I did all of this because the greatest marketers of our world teach us all to build our lists and then provide them with value to convert them into clients. I’ve always felt incongruent and at times very inauthentic with this approach and last year I decided to stop all drip feed practice completely.
My current Mailchimp account — no lists!
I had already stopped email campaigns but when MailChimp released free email automation, I got interested again.
No more, I myself do not like being on the receiving end of any email campaigns, so why would I do this to my contacts. If you’ve ever had one of my automated emails, I sincerely apologise, I was on my learning and growth journey.
Now with GDPR upon us in just a month, I felt it appropriate to divorce MailChimp. It feels amazing!!
Doubt is by far our biggest thought process. We doubt ourselves the most. Will we make it, will we make enough money, will we be loved, will we get the right work? All this doubting gets us further away from our dreams and wishes. We literally attract our doubts.
You must have heard the saying ‘What you focus on grows’, so our focus on our doubts will literally grow out of nowhere. Instead of believing our doubts, what if we believed that the doubts are just lies and fears.
Through listening to a number of podcasts, meditations and examples, I have become to realise that almost anything can be solved by just being curious.
When a thought comes up and you are lucky to notice it, become curious about it. When you pick up that drink or food, before you consume it, become curious about it. Become more aware about your surroundings and the addictions that are manifesting through you. Curiosity is self-enquiry and self-enquiry allows you to question everything about your own behaviour and actions.
It takes some practise at the start, but once you start you will not be able to stop. Become addicted to curiosity and self-enquiry to rid yourself of behaviours and habits that are not serving you including the habit of self-doubt.
William and Kate announce royal baby to Prince George — Michael & Josh #dailycartoon
There’s a new Royal Baby in the UK and it’s time for celebration, but maybe not everyone will be that happy? Prince George for example.
Whenever there’s a new Royal Baby, the world goes bananas. The fact is there are millions of babies being born every single day, why should a Royal one be so special. It’s not like he’ll ever be King right?
Anyway it inspired us to create an appropriate cartoon, like all children I’m sure George won’t want to share his toys with him!
Freedom of Speech on LinkedIn — Michael & Josh #dailycartoon
World politics are in the news 24/7 and we all struggle to get away from the stories that invoke our emotions. Whether we like it or not politics influence the lives around us, the cost of products and services and our general wellbeing. We wish to express our opinions on social networks to perhaps create a movement, a useful debate and share what we think and feel. But some of us prefer to stay away from these discussions and object. Andrew Pain asked us if this would be a good topic for a cartoon and I agree it is.
