Head Space - Week 1

So here we are, week 1. You may be wondering what you are reading and likewise, I'm questioning why I'm writing this. Most likely it’s for my own reflective purposes, in which case it's more for me than it is for you. That said, you might find some gems in these articles that either inspire you to venture into new things or stay grounded in thinking, I'm glad I don't have his head space. This is the idea, throughout the year I'm going to invite you into my thoughts as I journal week by week what I'm thinking, what I'm doing and what I want to do. So here goes, the reflection of this week which started out on Boxing Day. I always deem this day, the quiet after the storm. For some reason, it seems to be my most reflective day of the year, as I start to think of personal and business things, I'd like to achieve. This is much to the dissatisfaction of my dear wife, who also celebrates her birthday on this day and normally finds out that I want to climb the three highest peaks in 24 hours, or get her to jump out of an aeroplane with me. It's never simple things like a spa day.

So back to Boxing Day. I'm currently reading a book called the 12 Rule of Life by Jordan Peterson. As I sat there at 4am, I started to reflect on a statement that was written, 'Stand up Straight with Your Shoulders Back and Chest Out'. It got me thinking about 2023 and how I've been threating about gas and electric prices, which could inevitably bring my Care Home business to its knees. Just as an example, currently I pay around 45K per year. The new contract on the table for March would take it to circa 125K. Given that the business did not make 75K profit last year, these numbers would mean it inoperable. Imagine that you get through a pandemic, staffing crisis and within that build an excellent culture, yet it is gas and electric that takes you down. How many businesses must be fearing the same fate. These thoughts have certainly determined my mood of late and most likely forced me to slouch my shoulders back and start to speak negative languages, that instil fear into the team around me. That’s why I need to Stand Up Straight and Puff my Chest! This is what leading is all about. The world is never straight forward, order and chaos go hand in hand. It's what we do in the chaos that determines the new order. So, I'm making a statement to the chaos, I'm going nowhere sunshine, there will be a solution and I'm going to find it.

The second part of my thoughts came again from my readings. Why do people care more about their Pets than they do about themselves. This is so true! If your pet was limping, you'd show concern and most likely take the animal to the vets. If the vet then turned round and said the poor lamb had an infection in its foot and gave a prescription of anti-biotics, you would make sure that those tablets were given at the instructed time on the medication label without fail. How many times do we devote such time and love to ourselves? How many times do you skip a meal because of time constraints, would you ever miss feeding your pet. I guess what I'm thinking is that I need to love myself as much as I love my dog. You can do what you want with that thinking.

On Tuesday, I took the family to the cinema to watch the new movie about Whitney Houston. Before I get started, what a voice she had and if you want to watch something that will get you toe tapping, this is the one for you. That said, having watched the movies about Queen, Elton John, and Elvis all of them hold a parallel with Whitney Houston. The message must be, that no matter how good someone’s life looks like from the outside, on the inside they are battling the same things that everybody else does. Each of these people have been abused by the support circle they had around them, to the point where they were left almost penniless, addicted to either drugs or alcohol or in most cases both. This got me thinking about the support mechanisms we have around us, are they positive or negative. Are they really supporting us? To that end I went onto my social media and started a mass cull. Anyone who has no impact on my life or gives me negative thoughts, were gone. You can't believe how invigorating that was. I'm now left with a timeline of positivity, very refreshing when you look.

As I do most nights, I found myself struggling to sleep this week. It’s a problem I've had for years, I have no issue getting to sleep but after two hours my brain shouts, 'It’s time to get up' and my body responds promptly. The middle of the night is a strange time when you are wide awake, I'm sure some of you will experience this also. I've often wondered if I should set up a What's App group for those who are middle of the night awakeners. Anyway, I've started listening to the podcast, Diary of a CEO by Steven Bartlett. Two episodes, addressed sleep, one was from the founder of Heights who discussed the need for supplements that feed the brain. Very interesting, so much so that I found myself on his website ordering these vitamins at 4am. I'll let you know what happens. The second was a sleep specialist who ironically, I found myself listening to at 3am on Thursday. Her suggestion is that we need to retrain the brain, in other words don't go to sleep until your brain tells you it’s very sleepy and only give it a window of opportunity. Let’s say between 10pm and 6am. If your brain decides it's not sleepy at 2am, don't stay in bed, get up. The key factor is that no matter what, never let it sleep past your 6am window. That way the brain will eventually know that it must get some sleep before this time and begin to identify with the window of opportunity. It makes sense, so let’s see what happens.

Another thing I've done this week is download an app called Streaks. This allows me to enter the jobs I need to do on a daily, weekly, monthly basis and acts as a reminder. The great thing around this is the gamification. Basically, if I miss the task, the counter goes back to zero. Things like this work for me as I don't like been beat. One of my tasks it to write this article every week, so let’s see if I can keep that streak going.

Ok, one more thing to write and then I'm done. Equality let’s talk about that. It is true that I am the founder of my different businesses, but it is false to say that I have built them to what they are today. To build them has taken a real team effort of which some amazing people have been at the helm of this. For me, it goes without saying that every one of these people have been female. This got me thinking, why are so many women leading the way in Health & Social Care but not at the top table. Why is that Glass Ceiling so hard to break. To that end, I sent an email to my accountant instructing them to find a way in which shares from my businesses will be divided up to people who have grown it. To begin with, I will be appointing three people into Directorship roles and all of whom are female. I can't just think it, I need to do it!

So that's it. My first journal done. So, what have I reflected on.

1. Stand Up Straight with your Shoulders Back and your Chest out.
2. Take more care of yourself.
3. Support Circles.
4. Sleep.
5. Equality.

Have a great week and a fantastic 2023.