Less stuff, more happiness

Graham Hill is a designer and his TED Talk on having less stuff and more happiness is a quick and inspiring watch at just five minutes.  

As he spoke, I sketched some visual notes… and distilled his key points to a less than 90 seconds sketch video. You can watch the video by clicking on the image below...

So that's a five minute talk, distilled to a one pager of visuals, and to a 90 second video. 

Distil, distil, distil.

Too many leaders waffle on, give the l-o-n-g story every time they speak, send a lengthy bullet-pointed blah-blah email or share a thick PowerPoint pack of 'stuff'. Oh yawn!

You might be in love with it but you're fighting for attention from the people you're trying to engage with. 

Keep your teams happier and help them get to meaning quicker by delivering short messages and clear compelling, 'made-by-a-human' visuals.

Be sure your communication has less stuff… and you and your teams will have more happiness!

How did that happen?

In a recent workshop with a senior leadership team, the highest priority topic of the day wasn't strategy, or competition or finances. It was death and injury. 

'How did that happen?' asked the leaders when it was reported that one of the team had been killed and another injured at work. 

The stark reality is that safety is the most important thing in the workplace. 

After discussion of key points from the day and identifying actions for leaders of all levels to implement, the visual I share with you this week is a reminder that none of us can take safety lightly. 

In your own environment, and with your own team, family and community… please, be safe. 

 

Can you really change the culture of an organisation?

School Principal Jihad Dib spoke at TEDxSydney recently - and shared his story of how a school can go from barbed wire … to belonging. 

Imagine a school community where people had given up.

But this education and community leader said 'where there's a heartbeat, there's life'. He believes the trajectory and culture of any organisation can be changed. 

You can see Jihad Dib's TEDxSydney 2014 talkhere...

and my visual notes below: 



 

Do you do the things successful people do?

Of the many lists and hints on how to be successful, the 12 things successful people do before breakfast by Jenna Gourdreau in Entrepreneur magazine was … quite tasty!

 
My visual this week is a pictorial reminder, based on the article (which was based on the book of similar name by Laura Vanderkam.)
 
Here they are… 12 things to do before breakfast:



Who could remember the written list after reading it?

The picture I sketched and doodled helps me recall the tips with greater ease… certainly in the early hours of the morning!
 
As always, visuals do a lot of the heavy lifting for you when there's detail or complexity at play.

Pictures help people hear each other… when they're not listening. 

Visuals help people digest smaller pieces of information and make for a more engaging piece of communication than a spreadsheet, data pack or dump of information.
 
How can you help the people you're working with at the moment to digest some of your important information more easily?
 
 

Do you do the things successful people do?

Of the many lists and hints on how to be successful, the 12 things successful people do before breakfast by Jenna Gourdreau in Entrepreneur magazine was … quite tasty!

 
My visual this week is a pictorial reminder, based on the article (which was based on the book of similar name by Laura Vanderkam.)
 
Here they are… 12 things to do before breakfast:



Who could remember the written list after reading it?

The picture I sketched and doodled helps me recall the tips with greater ease… certainly in the early hours of the morning!
 
As always, visuals do a lot of the heavy lifting for you when there's detail or complexity at play.

Pictures help people hear each other… when they're not listening. 

Visuals help people digest smaller pieces of information and make for a more engaging piece of communication than a spreadsheet, data pack or dump of information.
 
How can you help the people you're working with at the moment to digest some of your important information more easily?