Nicholas Bate

Beyond the Gilets Jaunes 2

Saturday morning around 1015 and the butcher in the small French town somewhere in the South of France was packed. The two butchers took their time to discuss individual requirements and serve with courtesy and the wait was an average of twenty minutes. But all customers were patient, appreciating being handled by someone who knew their craft and after all it was a time to catch up on what had been happening within the community during the week.

At no time did a smartphone appear, a list be ticked and a phone rang just once: that of the butcher and someone enquiring if the butcher still had any of their home-made lasagne left. Just one portion and if they liked, it could be reserved.

Posted | Permalink

The Simplest of Productivity Boosters 1-50: 32

Productivity is the synergy of focused and chosen what and detailed and planned when. What you need/want to address and when you will do it. What and when both need a system.

Posted | Permalink

Beyond the Gilets Jaunes 1

The sunshine was perfect-il faisait beau-and the coffee and baguette were good and fresh at the sun-washed SNCF station. But the Friday train from Nice to Marseille was busy. Very busy. All seats were occupied and there was little standing room. The conductor moved quickly through the train and addressed the situation as best she could: able-bodied young people were asked to stand and those less able gained a seat. Many a time she was reminded: merci, vous etes gentille.

Posted | Permalink

Why We Love The Beatles (v2) 75 of 100: The Number 1s

The Beatles Number 1's: Love Me Do; From Me To You; She Loves You; I Want To Hold Your Hand; Can't Buy Me Love; A Hard Day's Night; I Feel Fine; Eight Days A Week; Ticket To Ride; Help!; Day Tripper; We Can Work It Out; Paperback Writer; Eleanor Rigby; Yellow Submarine; All You Need is Love; Hello Goodbye; Lady Madonna; Hey Jude; Get Back; Ballad of John and Yoko; Something; Come Together; Let it Be; Long and Winding Road. For so many bands their musical evolution rapidly hits a plateau: what they are good at. And why not? Their greatest hits are variants on a theme. Or possibly a band's evolution is a series of plateaus and dips: they boldly experiment but somehow, somehow we just prefer their original stuff. The Beatles though: it's an ascending curve. One of those exponential curves from Math's class; the return on the listening just gets better, better, better....oohh. Love Me Do is amazing. Day Tripper is a real ride. But by Let it Be. Yep, a special group: always more band for your buck.

It's another reason we love The Beatles.

The Back-Story

Reason 1: Story-tellers; 2: Sgt. Pepper; 3: Eternally optimistic; 4: Still cool; 5: George Harrison.; 6: Love Me Do

7: Work Ethic ;8: Synchronicity; 9: The Roof-top Concert; 10: Candlestick Park; 11: Lennon & McCartney

12: I Saw Her Standing There; 13: Liverpool; 14: Black & White; 15: Album Covers; 16: John Lennon

17: Lennon & McCartney; 18: Rock 'n Roll; 19: They Never Made it Easy; 20: Ringo

21: Meditation & Massage; 22: The Back of a Commer Van; 23: George Martin.

24: Simply Different

25: A Time to Think

26: Revolver

27: Yeah, Yeah, Yeah

28: The B Side

29: The Philosophy

30: December 1960: A Turning Point

31: What really, really motivated The Beatles?

32: 1961

33: Their last rock 'n roller.

34: From road to studio

35: The Magnum Opus

36: Mr Brian Epstein

37: Just Ordinary Lads

38: 1962

39: Yesterday

40: The Encouragers

41: 1963

42: Peace & Love

43: Abbey Road 1

44: Abbey Road 2

45: Always Cool

46: Did Paul break up The Beatles?

47: Timeless

48: The Seven Stages of Love

49: A Space in their Hearts

50: It Was 1964

51: Masters of Simplicity

52: Both

53: Stories from Atoms of Experience.

54: That Rooftop, that slip of paper.

55: That 7-Minute Song

56: The Best Friends The Planet Ever Had

57: 1965

58: Play-lists

59: The photos of Astrid.

60 Catching Up

61 Consistently better

62: Evolution

63: Feel Better

64: The White Album, Take II

65: Lovable

66: Close your Eyes

67: The Long & Winding Road

68: All will be OK

69: Short Story to Epic

70 It's 1966

71: The Iconic pictures.

72: Seven Levels

73: Slow-burn

74: John Lennon

Posted | Permalink

The Simplest of Productivity Boosters 1-50: 31

Back-to-back meetings can't work. They break all rules of science and human physiology. There is no gap to think, action nor visit the rest-room. Only accept 45 minute meetings with a 15 minute gap. In the gap: stretch and breathe and identify and note necessary actions from the meeting.