Why are you here?

Why do you get out of bed in the morning?

Have a think about the answer to that question, while I tell you a story.

I read a story recently about a man named Antony Burgess*. When he turned 40 he was given the devastating news that he had a brain tumour and had a year to live. At that time he was penniless and had nothing to leave for his soon-to-be widow Lynne.

Up until this point he had never been a novelist, however he did believe he had a talent to write. So he started typing his first novel with the spectre of the grim reaper standing over his shoulder. He was desperate and this might not work, but what did he have to lose. He obviously loved his wife and wanted to provide for her.

“It was January 1960,” he said, “and according to the diagnosis, I had a winter, a spring, and a summer ahead of me. That year, when the leaves began to fall, I would have died too.” Knowing what lay ahead of him, Burgess not only managed to complete his first novel, he managed to complete five and a half novels before his time was up.?

E. M. Forster wrote five novels in his lifetime; J. D. Salinger, one of America’s greatest writers, managed to write only four novels in his entire life.

Miracles happen..

Remarkably, Burgess did not die as he was told. His cancer first regressed; then it vanished altogether. In his long and full life as a writer, he wrote and published more than seventy novels, his most famous, A Clockwork Orange being made into a film by Stanley Kubrick.?

It is fair to say that he might not have written one of these novels had it not been for the death sentence that cancer had bestowed upon him.

So I ask again, why are you here??

Ask yourself that question again, while imagining you had only one year to live? What would you do differently in your life??

What would I do, if I had one year to live?

I know what I will do. I will change the way projects are delivered in every sector, starting with construction, stopping abusive relationships in their tracks. My legacy, in addition to my amazing twin sons, will be that I changed the way people work for the better.

That is what drives me.

I will educate and free as many minds from the paradigm in construction project management that the status quo of disputes is just the way it is.?

Most of us are like Anthony Burgess; we hide a great talent waiting for an emergency to emerge from within us.

Time is ticking

What if that emergency was your death or the death of your business? Sobering thought as it is, it is worth keeping this in mind.

Is your business your legacy and if so what will you do to protect it?

I started writing this article while travelling by train to Glasgow, coming from the Fife Riviera, I stopped to change at Haymarket Station in Edinburgh and happened on this plaque, coincidence? I don’t think so.

What a legacy John Miller left.?

What would you like to be remembered for 217 years after your birth?

Being the engineer that oversaw the main train lines being built in your country?

Being a good person, a good parent, someone who changed the world, someone who people loved and admired?

Or, would you like to be remembered as the person who didn’t pay John Miller or people like him, a bully, an abuser, a cheat, a liar, someone people didn’t trust because you minced words to suit your own agenda?

I know what I would rather be remembered for. What about you?

We are all connected on a deep level and when we hurt others we ultimately hurt ourselves.?Think about that last sentence for a moment. Kindness is what we need in this often times cruel world of ours.

Building Bridges Not Walls....

It was only around three years ago I was invited to walk over the new Queensferry Crossing. Another Scottish civil engineering marvel ??!! Sorry, not sorry for my patriotic bias ??

I did so with my youngest son and for me, working in civil engineering for 32 years, it was like meeting Santa as a child. I was just awestruck at the beauty and the workmanship that went into bringing this magnificent structure into being (see cover image above). I am pretty sure I bored my son silly explaining everything I knew about bridge construction.

The one thing that stuck in my mind then as it does now penning this article to get you thinking, was this. How can we build such beautiful structures like this, how can we enhance mankind’s built environment, but we cannot build meaningful relationships?

I am pushing a paradigm shift and invite you to support this endeavour. The industry we all love is changing and the old guard with their short-sighted, one-sided contracts days are numbered.?

Tomorrow is never promised, remember why you are here and never, ever settle for anything less than you are worth.

Have a great Christmas and Prosperous New Year.

PS so when I am in Glasgow I always head to my friends restaurant (Bucks Bar - thanks Michael Bergson ) for the finest chicken known to humankind at Bucks Bar.

I digress (but please do check it out, you won't be disappointed!).

I am telling you this because while I was happily making my way through my incredibly tasty lunch, I had randomly chosen a pineapple and habanero sauce to add some heat.

Delicious as it was, my eye was drawn to the words on the side of the bottle, which resonate with the message I am trying to convey here. The owner of this sauce company was on a mission to end gender based violence in Belize. What a noble cause and wonderful legacy for the future.

One of my favourite quotes, I use regularly, is

“society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit under.”

Let's plant some trees together ????

About the Author..

I am first and foremost a human being who has witnessed and continues to witness the impact non and late payment has on the mental health of people I work with and advise.

I say enough is enough, we need to change this and we need all sides to play fair.?

I have worked in the construction industry for 32 years. In that time, half as a contractor and now as a dispute and contract coach who gets contractors paid what they are owed. I coach and advise to business leaders at all stages of the contract cycle from invitation to tender to final account and where necessary dispute resolution via adjudication and mediation.

My goal is to stamp out bullying and restore balance to the industry, so that parties to a contract have mutual respect for each other and work collaboratively, as opposed to being adversarial.?

I offer coaching on business strategy, dispute avoidance, contract wording, interpretation, whether to take the contract or walk away and everything in between.

Get in touch or DM me with your email address and I will send you some information on how I can help you.

#indeminifyhappiness?#projecthappiness?#adr?#adjudication?#businesscoaching #disputeresolution?#disputes?#disputemanagement?#mentalhealth?#mindfulness?