Article

Nov 5, 2022 02:48pm

By Graham Norris

Under Article

4 min read

Your Brain’s Love-Hate Relationship with the Future

How, as an organisational psychologist, did I become so fascinated with the future?

It’s because thinking about the future is the most important thing we do. Life is really just a flow of decisions, and every decision requires us to consider the future.

By some measures, thinking about the future is ALL a healthy brain does. Psychologist Lisa Feldman Barrett argues that the human mind isn’t for thinking, but rather for budgeting. Its primary mission remains what it has been for millions of yea…

Nov 5, 2022 02:48pm

By Graham Norris

Under Article

4 min read

Aug 3, 2022 06:00am

By Graham Norris

Under Article

11 min read

The Ultimate Guide To Hiring The Right Coach

A story

James* seemed to be doing OK. When I met him at a business networking group, he appeared confident in himself and the small consultancy he owned.

As I got to know him, however, he shared with me the challenges he was facing. His business was feast or famine – he was either stressed out trying to find clients, or stressed out trying to service them. The pressure was taking its toll on his family life and his health. He wanted to stabilise the business so he could focus on what he liked …

Aug 3, 2022 06:00am

By Graham Norris

Under Article

11 min read

Jul 6, 2022 01:35pm

By Graham Norris

Under Article

3 min read

Do “values” and “purpose” mean anything for my career?

Someone once stopped me in the street and asked what the “meaning” of my life was.

I didn’t have an answer. I didn’t even really understand the question. There just seemed something very pretentious about the word “meaning,” and since then I’ve discovered a whole family of such pretentious words including “vision,” “values” and “purpose.”

They all seem to aspire to something so other-worldly that they couldn’t possibly relate to me.

We could dismiss them as by-produc…

Jul 6, 2022 01:35pm

By Graham Norris

Under Article

3 min read

Feb 17, 2022 04:24pm

By Graham Norris

Under Article

7 min read

How to find a new career

Surveys conducted recently show that between 30% and 60% of people in the UK have thought about making changes to their careers a result of the pandemic.

That’s a lot of people who have begun thinking about whether there’s more to life than what they are doing at the moment.

It seems stability can lull us into acceptance of the status quo, while chaos stimulates us to question what we’re doing and why.

This article looks at how you go about finding a…

Feb 17, 2022 04:24pm

By Graham Norris

Under Article

7 min read

Jun 27, 2021 10:37am

By Graham Norris

Under Article

3 min read

The one question you MUST answer before switching jobs

In 2020 I bought a boat.

I thought it would be cool. After all, you can see other people cruise up and down the Thames sipping champaign and having a grand time.

In 2021 I sold the boat, and I probably should have sold it sooner. Because while I thought I had something in common with those other people apparently enjoying themselves on the water, I actually didn’t. Boating was important to them, not to me.

It’s easy to get confused about what’s important to us, becaus…

Jun 27, 2021 10:37am

By Graham Norris

Under Article

3 min read

Oct 12, 2020 03:59pm

By Graham Norris

Under Article

2 min read

Uncertainty: Friend and Foe

“When you become comfortable with uncertainty, Infinite Possibilities open up in your life.”

— Eckhart Tolle

I’m hoping you, like me, didn’t feel the need to stockpile toilet paper at the beginning of the pandemic. While it’s still a matter of research why the toilet paper supply chain became the focus of our anxieties, it was also an understandable response to the uncertainty that accompanies unexpected existential threats.

Our lives are an endless stream of d…

Oct 12, 2020 03:59pm

By Graham Norris

Under Article

2 min read

Jul 16, 2020 05:24pm

By Graham Norris

Under Article

9 min read

From Career Confusion to Clarity in 5 Steps

If you’re unsure where your career should go next, you’re not the only one.

A recent survey by Randstad UK found that almost 25% of UK workers were planning on changing jobs in the next few months. But a lot of people are struggling to find direction in their careers, and risk moving from one unsatisfactory job to another.

With so much advice available and so many choices, it’s easy to become overwhelmed and worried about making the wrong move.

But all these …

Jul 16, 2020 05:24pm

By Graham Norris

Under Article

9 min read

Apr 4, 2019 02:13pm

By Graham Norris

Under Article

4 min read

I don’t know what career I want

Several times in my life, I’ve been looking at my boss, and my boss’s boss, and thought: “I really don’t want to be them.”

They were good people – I just didn’t want their jobs.

At those times, I’ve needed to make a more major shift in direction, asking some more serious questions about myself and the world around me.

I came up with an ingenious way of answering those questions that I later discovered had, as with all my best ideas, been thought of already.

…

Apr 4, 2019 02:13pm

By Graham Norris

Under Article

4 min read

Nov 6, 2018 03:45pm

By Graham Norris

Under Article

3 min read

The Paradox of Mindfulness and Futures Thinking

Foresight requires imagination about what might happen in the future. Mindfulness requires focusing on the present.Incompatible, right?

Not only are they compatible, but in fact mindfulness is increasingly becoming a requirement for futures thinking. That’s because mindfulness helps us distinguish between the present and the noise; and between constructive thinking about the future and worry.

Noisy present, noisy future

The present is very noisy. The blurri…

Nov 6, 2018 03:45pm

By Graham Norris

Under Article

3 min read

Pearls of Wisdom

Article

Your Brain’s Love-Hate Relationship with the Future

The Ultimate Guide To Hiring The Right Coach

A story

Do “values” and “purpose” mean anything for my career?

How to find a new career

The one question you MUST answer before switching jobs

Uncertainty: Friend and Foe

From Career Confusion to Clarity in 5 Steps

I don’t know what career I want

The Paradox of Mindfulness and Futures Thinking

Noisy present, noisy future

Categories