Tim Johns’ Post

I read in the paper that some academics are complaining that students, including some studying literature, rarely read long books. It seems they prefer short books, poems, and extracts. As always, there's probably lots of reasons why this is untrue (our tendency to exaggeration, and a general sense - shared by every generation since records began - that things were better in our day). It is also easy to blame short attention spans on everything from tv to smartphones. But whatever the reason, if it's true, then it's a real shame. I've just totted up my reading so far this year. I counted 31 books. Some were relatively short and easy, others were long, non-fiction; I also read Olivia Manning's brilliant Levant trilogy. I tell you this not to boast nor show off; rather, it is an example of the choices that we make in our lives. I actively choose to read books all the time. As a result I choose not to watch much TV (apart from rugby, of course). Do I miss out from not watching TV every day? Undoubtedly. Do I benefit hugely from reading? Of course. Life is all about making choices. We balance alternatives and prioritise. The aim should be to live as rich and rewarding life as we can. For me reading is a mainstay of my Three Piece Life philosophy. It is one of my simple pleasures. I choose to rule it in. And as for long books going out of fashion, my current book on the go is Stendhal's The Red and the Black, all 500+ pages of it. As I sat down to start reading it my wife pulled her 40 yr-old copy off the bookshelves. Unlike my version, her's was in the original French! Now that really is showing off. #threepiecelife #burnout #burnoutcoaching #leadershipdevelopment #books #reading

Patience is a virtue?? Can you defer gratification? Are you able to put off a little today for even more tomorrow? This is a hugely interesting topic. Back in the 1970s, Stanford professor Walter Mischel conducted his famous "Marshmallow" test. In short, the hypothesis was that offering children one marshmallow now or more later would determine their level of will-power and, as a result, indicate their future levels of life attainment and educational achievement. The long and the short is that, like many psychological experiments, it has proved almost impossible to replicate. In other words, nice idea but not really any more than a nice idea. I was thinking of this recently as the Times journalist (and speaker and author) Matthew Syed wrote about Patience. His point was, basically, that there is a virtue in playing the long game rather than wanting things now. There was, he wrote, a benefit in seeing the bigger picture rather than trying to satisfy desires immediately. He was, I think, mixing long-term rather than short-term thinking with patience and immediate gratification but, nevertheless, it was thought-provoking. As I put it, is it carpe diem or ce sera sera: seize the day or what will be will be? As a coach, I try to help people wrestle with this conundrum. At its most basic level, do we spend time with our children now or wait until we're retired and spend time with our grandchildren. In other words, do we devote all our energy to our work and defer really enjoying our life until our retirement? Discuss... or alternatively talk to me about my Three Piece Life coaching programme and together we can work through similar dilemmas. BTW. About ten years ago I went to see Walter Mischel talk at the Royal Society of Arts. When we all walked in there were marshmallows on all the chairs. And, yes, I ate mine straight away. Coda: I drafted this post late on Sunday evening. On Monday morning I awoke to an article in The Times newspaper about the problems of replicability in scientific studies. The example they used was the '72 "Marshmallow" test! A coincide or perhaps I should add "soothsayer" to my biography. #Threepiecelife #burnout #burnoutcoaching #wellbeing #mentalhealth #leadershipcoaching

"Swimming is a rite of passage, a crossing of boundaries: a line of the shore, the bank of a river, the edge of the pool, the surface itself. When you enter the water, something like metamorphosis happens. Leaving behind the land, you go through the looking-glass surface and enter a new world, in which survival, not ambition or desire, is the dominant aim.". The words are those of Roger Deakin. I often think of them as I swim, allowing myself to be absolutely in the moment. Many of us, whether we like it or not, project an image of ourselves that we want others to receive. But in the water there is no one other than us, so all we have to do focus and enjoy the sensation. We all need to build into our busy lives moments when we are at one with ourselves, both physically and mentally. And sometimes that's best achieved when we're out in nature. As Deakin again said, natural water has always held the magical power to cure. (And this is me swimming, slowly but surely, a few weeks ago off the coast of France.) #wellbeing #mentalhealth #leadershipcoaching #burnout #burnoutcoaching

One of my favourite times of the day is the mid-morning coffee break. I've spoken of it many times and it is one bit of advice that I know resonates. It's so simple. Every day, just stop what you're doing, take ten minutes away from your desk, and sit and enjoy a cup of coffee or something. Whatever the weather I sit outside and just enjoy the moment. It's easy to do. It doesn't require any training or qualifications. You don't need an instructor to guide you. All you have to do is sit quietly, preferably outside, and let yourself slow down. You can spend the time thinking about the changing seasons. Or if you're stressed or anxious or under work pressure then you can sit and let it wash over you. You could also use the time to remember happy moments (I took this photo on holiday and just looking at it makes me feel instantly relaxed). My coaching philosophy is based on blending three elements: paid work, unpaid work, and enjoying simple pleasures. Having a ten minute al fresco coffee break is a marvellous example of a simple pleasure. If you really, really, really haven't got time to take ten minutes away from your desk to enjoy a coffee/tea break then I suggest you take a long, hard look in the mirror and ask yourself whether you're living the life you want. And maybe after that you could consider getting in touch to learn more about my Three Piece Life coaching because it sounds like you'd benefit from finding out how to make the choices you need to live the life you want. #burnout #burnoutcoach #leadershipcoaching #wellbeing #threepiecelife

Ambition (n) aspiration after success or advancement [Chambers Dictionary] What do you get if you mix a forensic understanding of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, together with erudition and journalistic flair, a wide range of reading and observation of popular culture, and years of experience of interviewing leaders and CEOs? The answer is my good friend Stefan Stern’s latest book. It is what I call a “stop and think” book because it makes you do both. He takes us through all variants of ambition, healthy and unhealthy, together with observations on competitiveness, jealously, thwarted ambition, fame, power, lust, hubris, happiness, and success. By doing so, we join him on a journey through our own lives. Because we have all had to question our ambitions at different moments. And he does all this by linking the subject to a careful reading of the Scottish play and the character of Lady Macbeth. Like everyone else, I’ve wrestled with and lived through every interpretation and synonym of ambition. I suppose that’s a definition of a life well lived. And as a coach I spend time helping others grapple with the subject. Too much ambition, bad; too little, also bad? And then there’s the perspective of age. As we get older our priorities inevitably shift. If we’d known then what we know now then we may well have made other decisions. But that isn’t necessarily a good thing. (If you want an example from my past of my struggle between being ambitious and letting things take their course, then you’ll find an anecdote of mine on p58 of the book!)    Coaches never judge their clients. They question motives and challenge assumptions, but they never judge. That is because we each need to find our own path of healthy ambition: ambition for the life that we really want to lead. The trick is to find the elements so mixed in us that we can live a contented existence.  Which reminds me of P G Wodehouse’s description of one of his greatest comic characters, Lord Emsworth of Blandings Castle: “His was a life which lacked, perhaps, the sublimer emotions which raised Man to the level of the gods, but it was undeniably an extremely happy one. He never experienced the thrill of ambition fulfilled, but, on the other hand, he never knew the agony of ambition frustrated. His name, when he died, would not live for ever in England’s annals; he was spared the pain of worrying about this by the fact that he had no desire to live for ever in England’s annals. He was possibly as nearly contented a human being can be in this century of alarms and excursions.” Something Fresh (1915) #leadshipcoaching #burnout #burnoutcoaching #wellbeing #mentalhealth 

I’ve had another letter published in The Times. It’s on the subject of music education in schools, a subject that I’m passionate about. I devote a significant amount of my pro bono time and energy to supporting young artists through a music charity. Indeed, music making forms a large part of the third element of my Three Piece Life – enjoying simple pleasures. And this trifecta of my Three Piece Life – paid work, unpaid giving, and enjoying simple pleasures – is, in my view the key for living a fulfilled, enriching, and balanced life. It helps us remember that money isn’t everything and that some of our best times and memories involve just enjoying simple things with friends. As coaches, we often have clients who not only are unwittingly allowing their paid work to dominate their lives but also have somehow come to expect that their work in of itself can provide them with meaning, happiness, and fulfilment. In many cases it can, but for others it is little more than transactional. And that is why, whatever our relationship with work, we need to have outlets and opportunities to grow and nurture our passions and interests. Nowadays, the word “amateur” is used as a pejorative, a derogatory describer of shoddy work. But the root of the word comes from the Latin Amo – to love.  In other words, the true meaning of amateur is people who do what they do for the love of doing it. They can be equally good as the next person; the difference is that they don’t get paid. Supporting the life-enhancing music opportunities for young people is a passion for me. I may not get paid but I bring to my work 40-yrs experience and knowledge of high-level communications, strategy, and coaching. I work as hard and “professionally” as I always do and although I don’t get paid I find it as rewarding and fulfilling as any paid work I’ve ever done. The Three Piece Life is all about finding the right blend of the three elements so that we can live as enriching a life as possible. The three elements will flex over time as our priorities change and as we face different life challenges. So my programme is all about helping you make choices to find your path. #leadershipcoaching #mentalhealth #wellbeing #coaching #burnout #burnoutcoach

WORKING LONG HOURS – GOOD THING OR BAD THING? As always, it depends on which way you look at the issue. On the one hand, always being in the office, staying late, answering emails at night, working over the weekend: these things may well get you noticed, promoted, better roles, higher pay. On the other hand, it’s not sustainable, not good for your health, and not good for your relationships. And now there’s another thing, something we’ve long known about but rarely acknowledged. Working long hours doesn’t make us more productive. Working long hours doesn’t increase our output. In case you didn’t quite get the message: WORKING LONG HOURS DOESN’T MAKE US MORE PRODUCTIVE WORKING LONG HOURS DOESN’T INCREASE OUR OUTPUT Or, to put it another way, less really is more. This fascinating article in the Harvard Business Review makes some really interesting points. Take this paragraph: “There’s a large body of research that suggests that regardless of our reasons for working long hours, overwork does not help us. For starters, it doesn’t seem to result in more output. In a study of consultants by Erin Reid, a professor at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business, managers could not tell the difference between employees who actually worked 80 hours a week and those who just pretended to. While managers did penalize employees who were transparent about working less, Reid was not able to find any evidence that those employees actually accomplished less, or any sign that the overworking employees accomplished more.”   So, why do we overwork when we know it makes us less productive? There are many reasons both personal and cultural. It’s an issue that is at the core of my Three Piece Life coaching philosophy. Do get in touch if you want to learn more and here’s a link to the HBR article: https://bit.ly/4gAZkNe #leadershipcoaching #coaching #wellbeing #burnout #burnoutcoaching #threepiecelife

I'm back from my summer break and am gently settling into my routine. That means that three times a week I start the day with a swim. But when the lake looks like this it often feels as if I'm still on holiday. I feel very fortunate to be able to start the day like this. But, remember, it is a choice that I actively make. And by doing so I am actively choosing not to do other things. As someone once told me, you can always make another dollar but it you can't make another minute. So, whatever you do, recognise that we have far more agency to choose how we spend our time than we give ourselves credit and, therefore, choose how you spend your time wisely. #wholepersoncoaching #leadershipcoaching #wellbeing