Author: Shaun Coffey

Shaun Coffey is interested in future making and institutional building. He is an agricultural scientist who tries to integrate fragmented and sector-specific technical and scientific knowledge to address the wicked problems that characterise the real world.
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Say No. Stop. Walk Away.

In the present world of the virtual office and working from home, it is easy to fall into bad habits. 

Here is a great post by Michael Thompson – Want to raise your confidence? Learn to walk away. This is one of those wake-up call articles.  We all try to push through and fight resistance when the going gets tough or when we are trying to finish a job – and our energy lags and our productivity falls away.

So, does it really impact our output, our achievement, and our sense of self-worth if we stop and walk away? Here’s a couple of quotes from Thompson. How are you doing in the COVID-disrupted work spaces?

“…I’ve failed to realize that developing the discipline to stop is just as important as finding the motivation to start.”

“Today I have done enough and tomorrow I’ll finish what I’m working on — and it’ll be better for it.”

“Do you want to know what spurs my best ideas? My wife. My kids. My friends. Good conversation. Green grass. Tall trees. A run. A book. Life.”

Yet every evening when my energy is running down, and what I am working on will be better tomorrow — my wife still has to call my name three times before I finally sit down to eat a cold dinner that was once warm.

It’s a quick and fun read – go for it

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This moment is your life

If only we looked at now
If we looked, only, at now
Now?
This moment is our life
But as I sit and reflect
in comes regret
Why?
What is it about “what could have been been”?
Or “might be”
As I sit and reflect
in comes regret
and doubt……………………………………..
Why rehearse the past
And create what should have been
It’s gone, the past, gonenot forgotten
Just gone
Now is where I live
As I sit and reflect
Enjoy, don’t regret
The future is yet to emerge
Unknown at first, but ….
But what of now?What do I observe?
Not the past
Note the future
Just now, here, at this moment
What do I see
As I sit and reflect
I neglected
to observe
to make sense
to know what it is that I do
when I do what I do
Don’t sit and reflect
Observe, then reflect
Make sense of now
Live…………..
My life is this moment
Shaun Coffey 17 September 2014
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If you can’t edit chances are you can’t write effectively

Editing is a key to writing.  Always edit.  Don’t just finish and send.

Whenever you write something, you should know how to edit and polish your own copy.  Here are some idea:

Content.  Make your purpose immediately clear.  Don’t force your reader to wade through several paragraphs before understanding why you wrote the piece.

Brevity.  Cut every word that adds nothing to meaning.  Examples:  Change “during the course of” to “during” and “few in number” to “few”.

Clarity and precision.  Don’t use vague adjectives when specific ones are called for.  Don’t write, “We received numerous inquiries.”  Instead write, “We received 145 inquiries.”

Tone and style.  Make sure your words sound as if they come from a human being – and not an institution.  For example;  instead of writing, “Further notification will follow,” write, “I’ll keep your informed.”

Variety.  Avoid starting each sentence with the same part of speech, such as a noun or pronoun.  Caution:  Don’t try to start each sentence with a different part of speech.  Just strive for some variety. Mix it up a bit just don’t just jumble words. Avoid repetition.

Paragraph strength.  It is desirable that each paragraph deals with only one topic.  Including too many topics will make your reader work too hard.