Yesterday we said farewell to a colleague who started with me 25 years ago. For them the time was right. Management did a nice presentation at the start of the day and her friends and colleagues put on a wonderful informal lunch. Inevitably the conversation turned to the parallel subjects of Why now? and What […]
Introducing change… When I worked in financial services we developed a computer simulation that allowed us to share experience of setting up a sales organisation with countries that were about to start the journey. In the simulation we included a genuine memo we had found while researching the exercise. It was from ‘senior management’ saying […]
When coaching others, I use an analogy of the decks of an old galleon where the lowest deck was called an orlop while the captain spent his time up on the bridge. In truth, when charting our way through life we all spend time on every deck – sometimes doing the reassuringly mundane chores of […]
For the first time in nearly 40 years there are no desktop computers in use at home, and, come to think of it, apart from an old TV recorder, there are no disc drives either. In parallel, along with much of the country, we are about to switch over from those two tiny copper wires […]
That ‘a-ha’ moment… Recently a client captured the essence of what we do: ‘Now get it… at some point I will no longer be here. What EML is asking me to focus on everything I can control between now and then. While our discussions are structured around your six core areas, my success comes from […]
I’ve been watching Dan Buettner’s series on how to live to 100 (the secrets of the Blue Zone). He focus is on the importance of creating the right environment and he shows how originally this happened by chance, but through careful nurturing similar results can be achieved anywhere. He also shows how easy it to […]
A life skill for many people over 50 is being able, both physically and emotionally, to contain their ‘stuff’. Wartime austerity nurtured a caution against parting with anything ‘just in case’ which then extended into and beyond the ‘throwaway’ society of the 60s and 70s. Is there anyone over 70 who doesn’t have at least […]
Decisions – decisions Increasingly, I am aware of a difference between the ‘very wealthy’ and the rest of us. When it comes to possessions, they know exactly what they want, and don’t hold on to anything else. Growing up in a household familiar with post war austerity I was indoctrinated with the full set of […]
My first coaching client took a little time get the EML ‘message’, but, since then it is incorporated in everything he does. He sees the time between now and the moment he is ‘no longer around’ as a countdown clock and looks carefully at everything he is does and how he is spending his money. […]
When it comes to life planning, deciding when and how to retire is likely to be the most important decision you ever make. For earlier generations it was easy – you worked through to your 65th birthday, probably in the same industry and maybe even the same employer. It was then time to collect your […]