Parts 1-5 are here:
Matthew Parris.
I like Matthew Parris.
He used to be a labour MP (or at least he stood to be a labour MP, I can't remember which) or maybe he was a conservative MP, but he was definitely an MP.
His adages to live by include the one about the spitting llamas and various other things which are of no use to me but this one was a real gem “always put off until tomorrow what you don't have to do today. My father taught me this. Left unaddressed, most problems solve themselves”.
This reminded me so acutely of Shaun Reason (Tom, our marketing directors dad).
He was a school head teacher who became very successful in business outside of education but while he was a head teacher, he would work ludicrously hard all year apart from in the school holidays (he had four young children).
In the summer holidays he would only go in for two days, one for GCSE results and one for A Level results.
He often recounted to me the story of when he came in for GCSE results, his secretary would be blue in the face with things that were critically urgent that he had to deal with, which he refused to deal with because he was only there for GCSE results.
When he returned the next week for A Level results his secretary would then be purple in the face, but he would tell you that the issues that she wanted you to deal with were not the same ones as the week before.
Having the confidence to wait and to not fix everything that's in front of you is a gift or at least a hard practised developed skill, something that I need to get much better at if I'm trying to live past 60.
Blog Post Number - 3372