New year, new beginning - and this year it feels even more like a fresh start with it being 2020. 

Like a lot of people I start the year with ambitious intentions. However, this year it might sound like the opposite as I am planning to work less. Well, less hours. The idea is that I will get as much done. 

Some countries are already experimenting with a shorter workweek. A four-day working week is nearly standard in the Netherlands, and Finland’s new prime minister, Sanna Marin, was on the news recently backing a four-day working week also. 

Both of these countries are just as efficient as any other, as far as I can tell. In fact, they might be even more productive. And in Norway, well they still do the five-day week but they only work about 33 hours a week with a minimum of 21 paid holiday days. 

We have nine bank holidays in Ireland every year, that’s one Monday off every month or so (if you look at it optimistically). Some companies offer reduced hours on Fridays during the summer months. Here’s to making that a standard every week, every month. 
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That’s my 2020 plan. To switch off from lunchtime every Friday. Being my own boss I can of course do this whenever I want. But it is the self-discipline of not checking my e-mails late at night and at the weekends that I will find challenging. 

I will be working towards a four-day working week. If we were all in on it we would become more productive. I am sure of it.

Happy new year!

Setting goals for the future can be very exhilarating. It is easy to get enthusiastic during the planning but then you might lose interest in the execution. 

Setting goals for the future can also be daunting. You might never actually begin because you end up worrying needlessly about all the things that can go wrong.

Cultivating the right mind-set is very important. Appreciate past successes but don’t get too over-confident. Think of past failures as invaluable learning experiences.
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Set your goals starting as if you have already arrived. Or, to put it into Charles Haddon Spurgeon's (1834-92) much better words: ‘Begin as you mean to go on, and go on as you began’. 

The TEDxDunLaoghaire 2019 event was held in The Studio at dlr LexIcon last Friday. As part of the organising team I truly enjoyed it all coming together so nicely and the talks were just amazing. Mindblowing. 

The speakers varied in age from 12 to “rater ancient”, as described by Fergus Finlay* himself. What they all had in common though was this one simple thing: They Care. About. Something.

The theme for this year was “Change. Beyond the Periphery.” A theme abstract enough to allow interpretation from people from all backgrounds. Hence, that ‘something’ the speakers care about and that they shared with us varied from the importance of reading or doing sport, to what it feels like to be transgender or being bullied. 

And our Curator, Janie Lazar, well, she cares more than most. About inclusion. TED stands for Technology, Education and Design. However, Janie’s interpretation of the word TED is Together Everyone Develops. 

One of the most inspiring talks on the night was by Joanne Chester. She is Deaf. But certainly not just Deaf. The wheels Janie set in motion in order to have members of the Deaf Community in our audience! All the talks were ISL interpreted thanks to the support she got from the Dun Laoghaire Local Enterprise Board. 

Now over to you. 

Do you have a vision? Do you care about something? Anything? Do you care so much that you would like your ten minutes of fame “on the red dot” next year? Or perhaps you’d like to get involved by way of offering services and/or sponsorship instead? 
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TEDx events are independently organized local, not for profit events, operated under the TED licence by hard-working volunteers for the benefit of their local community.

TED is a global community, which hosts global conferences, welcoming people from every discipline and culture who seek a deeper understanding of the world, believing passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and, ultimately, the world. On TED.com you’ll find a clearing house of free knowledge from the world’s most inspired thinkers - and a community of curious souls to engage with ideas and each other.

Get in touch!
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*): Fergus Finlay was one of the speakers on the night. His talk was Honest. Beautiful. A true Gift to us all. I will update this blog post as soon as all the talks are uploaded to YouTube. 

The visual I designed for this year’s event is hoping to communicate the theme: Change, beyond the periphery. An explosion of ideas, you never know where they are coming from, there’s no boundaries and it can take you anywhere. All the various posters, bottles, programmes etc. show different triangle shapes to visualise the Change Idea. 

The Greek Stoic philosopher Epictetus explained it nicely: We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak. 

Listen more attentively to the needs of your clients.

By learning to listen you learn to ask great questions. And by asking the right questions you will likely get great answers. The right answers. 

So when you listen, listen. Don’t just hear your client out. Be sure that you hear what is being said. Being able to repeat what your potential client just said is not good enough. You have to demonstrate that you understood what they said and why they said it. If you don’t understand, ask questions until you do and then repeat what they said in your own words to demonstrate your understanding. 

It might seem a bit silly to say something like, “What I hear you saying is…” or “I think that what you are trying to communicate is…” but if you try this a few times, it will become a natural part of your engagement with people.

Ask the right questions the right way. Ask open-ended questions that encourage them to speak freely. The more they talk, the more comfortable they will get with you and the more relevant information you will gather. Chances are excellent that if you really hear what he or she is saying you will understand the person’s real intentions and motivations. 

It will also build trust. If you reflect back to people what you think they said, they know that you have been listening to them. The more they feel heard, the more they will trust (and like) you. 

He who answers a matter before he hears it is not wise. 

This probably goes without saying, now that you have read this short blog, but... Don’t interrupt. Do not just jump in there and start telling the client what they need. Nothing tells your client that you are not interested in them more than when you cut them off mid-sentence or talk over them when they are speaking. You may know more about a topic than they do, but if you disregard what they have to say by cutting them off or cutting them short, you have likely lost them. 

Instead, pause for two to three seconds after someone is done speaking and watch their face for signs of engagement, interest, or disinterest. Begin speaking only when you are sure they are listening.
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Then hopefully your client, or prospective client, will listen properly to you too.

The last few days in South County Dublin have been bliss. I hope you have experienced some sun too, wherever you have been, as we all need our vitamin D...

I aim to take 3 weeks off this year but if you are in desperate need to get something done you can send me a text on +353 86 816 4867 and either myself or Leanne will try to help you out.

Ban the feeling of guilt whatever you get up to this summer. Sleep in. Dress comfortably. Order takeout. 
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Have a lovely holiday!

About half a year ago I had a rather unpleasant work experience. I had arranged a meeting with a potential new client and needed to bring along a team player with technical expertise. As my usual suspects were all too busy I brought along a new guy...

When I met him a few days before the meeting I did think to myself that, despite his amazing tech knowledge, he might not fit with my excellent team. But as the date for the meeting was already arranged I ignored my gut feeling.

You have to make a difficult business decision. What do you do? How do you go about it?
Data is of course absolutely essential. Most of us probably agree that a rational decision-making process includes facts and spreadsheets. 

I believe, however, that for certain kinds of decision-making it is your gut feeling that is your most important compass. Being intuitive is very often the best way to determine if you’re doing the right thing. If something doesn’t feel right, why would you do it? 

Intuition is based on our ability to recognise patterns and interpret cues. If you get into the habit of trusting your own gut feelings in all sorts of business scenarios you’ll find that over time you will become much better at making the right decisions.

Trusting your own instincts can also make you more aware of other people’s feelings. So by having a strong intuition, you’ll be more emotionally intelligent and therefore able to build instant rapport with just about anyone you meet. Learning to understand how to deal with others and tune into their feelings will give you a huge advantage. 

Many of us have forgotten how to listen to our intuition and trust our guts as we have become used to trusting our brains instead of our bodies. Had I relied on my hunch the first time I met that IT expert instead of being blown away by his technical brilliance, well then I wouldn’t have had that bad experience; Mr IT trying to steal the client. Thankfully the client was having none of it but then again, he wanted none of me neither...
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On the positive side I have become better at listening to my feelings since then and I am now a firm believer that rational decision-making only works up to a point.

People’s attention spans are short. If your brand doesn’t grab your target’s attention in a split second, they’ll move on. Visuals speak louder than words, more so than ever before.
Simplicity is a key design principle and the number one rule I have lived by since I heard it for the first time, while studying Visual Communication in Norway: KISS. Keep it simple. Stupid.

It still makes as much sense to me know, if not even more so; the easier something is to understand, the more likely people will become engaged with what you are trying to communicate.

Most brands are complex and it is my job as a graphic designer to strip away the unnecessary and to draw out the essential. By doing this the result should be a clear, focused and memorable logo design.

I believe that your brand identity should be a visual summary of your business and your logo should communicate the things you do in an instance. 

An excellent logo is unique, memorable, appropriate, versatile and timeless, but most important of all is that it is simple in structure and that it conveys your brand’s message. 
I wrote a blog about my logo design principles about a year ago and here’s a link if you’d like to have a read: Talk with one voice. Show one face.
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PS: KISS applies to all things design. In fact, the phrase (“keep it simple stupid”) is thought to have been coined by the late Kelly Johnson, who was the lead engineer at the Lockheed Skunk Works. They designed the S-71 Blackbird spy plane amongst other things...

The Irish are useless at saying ‘no’. Well, pretty much all the Irish people I know, anyhow, and I know quite a few having lived in Ireland for the last 20 years.

We Norwegians might be known for being a bit too able, or abrupt, at saying no at times... But at least we don’t get stuck too often, doing something we shouldn’t have agreed to.

The trick is to learn to say no artfully and this is a skill that requires time to cultivate. 
Do you truly want to do whatever you’re asked? If you would like to answer no, well here’s a few ways to go about doing so.

1. Be quick. Tell the person you can’t do it, and politely decline right away. That way you don’t hold up anyone else’s plans.

2. Keep your explanation simple. Just say that you have other commitments and can’t make it. 

3. However, if you have a valid excuse, like current workload*, I would suggest being honest about it by explaining your constraints. In this context, you can make an encouraging statement about future requests. This will show good faith.

4. Suggest an alternative. Name another person who might be able to take your place.

5. Pay attention to body language and tone of voice. It is easier to receive a negative response if you are friendly and kind.

​6. Make sure your words are non-defensive but clearly stated.
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Hopefully some of these suggestions will be of use to you at some stage. Whatever nationality you are! And if you have other suggestions I would love to hear from you. Thanks!

*): Overextending yourself when there is a feast is as common for small business owners as the fear of the famine. I have had to say no to a few requests recently. I hope I did so respectfully.

If you think like a person of action, you are in the active state of solving, executing and pushing through on things instead of pondering and deliberating for the sake of it.

If you act like a person of thought, you are taking the time to ensure that the actions you are taking are measured, precise and in alignment with your desired outcome.

Setting goals
SMART is a well-established tool that you can use to plan and achieve your goals. To make sure your goals make you motivated, each one should be:

Specific Your goal should be simple and well defined, otherwise you won’t be able to focus your efforts. 
Measurable You need to be able to track your progress and to find out when you have achieved your goal.
Achievable Your goal needs to be reasonable, resourced and realistic to be successful. 
Relevant Make sure that your goal matters to you.
Time-based Every goal needs a deadline to focus on and something to work toward. Allow enough time to achieve your goal. But not too much time as this might make you start dithering.... (Yes, I’ll confess to that happening. Often..... Here’s to not giving up, though!)