Like a Sponge

Nathan Howells

Description

What makes us human? No matter what you do and regardless of who you are: we are always evolving as humans. Like a Sponge is a sort of self-help book for people who want to bring something new to their thinking but are short on time or money to do it. In a refreshingly everyday way, Nathan Howells serves up 30 bite-sized stories to help: Explore your six senses whilst going about your everyday life Create an awareness of what your surroundings can bring Realise that everything you need to learn is right in front of you so go use it. By the end of Like a Sponge, you will start looking at things differently and thinking differently for the betterment of everything you do. You will want to come back and read them again and again!

Sujets

• Mind
• Body

Informations

• Publié par: Brown Dog Books
• Date de parution: 24 septembre 2018
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781785453274
• Langue: English

Extrait

THERE IS SO MUCH TO #LEARN*
NATHAN HOWELLS
*LinkedIn blog theme
First published 2018
Copyright © Nathan Howells 2018
The right of Nathan Howells to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs & Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder.
Published under licence by Brown Dog Books and The Self-Publishing Partnership, 7 Green Park Station, Bath BA1 1JB
www.selfpublishingpartnership.co.uk
ISBN printed book: 978-1-78545-326-7
ISBN e-book: 978-1-78545-327-4
Cover design by Andrew Prescott Internal design by Andrew Easton
Printed and bound in the UK
For Lorraine Howells, who finds it in her heart to support and follow me, whatever I wish to do and wherever it may lead us to.
For our children, Harry and Jack, who keep us real and well grounded, and truly inspire us each and every day.
For our parents, who are always there for us, whatever the weather.
A great guy I know once told me:
“ Learn from others’ mistakes as you don’t have time in your life to make them all yourself. ”
Contents
Introduction & Backstory
PEOPLE – Who we interact with
1 School’s Out (the six-week summer holidays)
2 Eating Together
3 Supporting Charities
4 Who Needs a Landline?
5 Making an Entrance
SPORT – How we keep healthy
6 Super Stars
7 Toys
8 Sensory Marathons
9 Supporting Your Family
10 Balls and Pucks
CREATIVITY – How we think
11 What Others Do
12 Pardon!?
13 Obstacles
14 Making an Impact – Think Simply but Differently
15 Change and Diversify
PLACES and TRANSPORT – Where we go and how we get there?
16 World’s Busiest Cities
17 We Love to Eat and Drink
18 It’s Playtime!
19 Bring, Bring…
20 Trains, Planes and Automobiles
FOOD, DRINK and STUFF – The things we buy, and what physical has become
21 Hero versus Guide
22 Coke -v- Pepsi
23 Lego, Desks, Shopping Trolleys and Light Bulbs
24 Augmented Reality
25 Digital Branding Technology Complements us Humans
MUSIC, FILM and THEATRE – What we watch and listen to
26 Animated Movies
27 News and Adverts
28 Sing Along!
29 Festive Spirit
30 Bookworms
Mopping Up…
Acknowledgements
Introduction
A character (me) has a problem (wants to inspire at every interaction), needs a guide (motivators and inspirers) and a plan (tell stories, tell ’em again) and simply acts upon the plan (celebrate thoughts) to succeed!
Have you ever been caught up in the moment, inspired and enthused but within a blink of an eye you have forgotten all about it and missed the chance to share it with others? With every generation our attention span is reducing: research suggests that eight seconds is as much as we can handle now, which is in fact less than a goldfish!
Forgetting things happens to us all and therefore so much great intention is lost. So, why don’t we share our daily thoughts, things that crop up and resonate, as soon as we can?
From birth to the age of about six our brains work in a very different way to when we become adults. At this early age, the mind is like a sponge, soaking up huge amounts of information from our surroundings, absorbing everything around us, effortlessly and continuously.
Like me, you may have had times when the hunger to absorb and learn or even feel has never stopped. Even today, at the grand old age of 40, I feel as much ‘like a sponge’ as ever. When I watch my children going about their business, it reinforces the power of learning in our younger years, but I would also argue that it doesn’t have to stop. It may slow down but when we pause for thought and take it all in, there is so much to learn.
I am sure you are intrigued to know what a ‘sponge’ has to do with anything, and why I have written this book. Well, I was keen to connect with as many people as possible, well beyond my immediate network and in a short, effective and everyday way. I read one of Richard Branson’s books where he talks about keeping a notepad on you at all times to jot down thoughts and ideas. In the age of technology, I was keen to have a ‘ digital notepad ’ offering simple connectivity with ease.
Over the years, I have discovered the benefit of being ‘aware and conscious’ of our everyday lives. There are many mundane things that we take for granted, but when we stop and look, really look, there are so many takeaways. When we think about it, many new ideas, innovative products and theories are drawn from our surroundings, especially from nature. Without this reflective thought, the world would fail to evolve. Amazingly, we can all harness this free resource, wherever we are, whenever we want.
Social media has become a very normal and familiar way of life, and group thinking is available to us all, quickly, responsively and interactive on a grand scale. This is where it all started for me through Twitter and LinkedIn. I started a post with a theme “ T here i s S o M uch t o # L earn ( TiSMt L )” and, using Evernote, it become an easy way to jot down my thoughts and ideas and get them posted to the world almost instantly.
So, this book takes the ‘TiSMt L platform’ and showcases my thoughts across a selection of themes. Those themes have been narrowed down to a select few and are featured here in six chapters, from people to sport and food to theatre.
• PEOPLE:
Who we interact with.
• SPORT:
How we keep healthy.
• CREATIVITY:
How we think.
• SPACES:
Where we go and how we get there.
• FOOD, DRINK AND STUFF:
What we buy and what physical has become.
• MUSIC, FILM AND THEATRE:
What we watch and listen to.
You could say they are a little random, but they are what I have stumbled across in my everyday life (and I am sure you have done, too).
Backstory
I must confess, before we go on, that my memory doesn’t serve me that well and in many instances is a little hazy. (I am sure I am not the only one.) For many fortunate people, like my wife Lorraine, vivid memories stretch as far back as three or four years old. I am afraid that is not me, so I have drawn on some help from my parents and family to fill in the gaps and help when needed.
From the day we are born, the first decade of our lives is probably the most important time to learn. It is here that we are challenged, tested and given the freedom to grow into whoever we can or want to be. I was born on 25 th January 1978 at the Bridgend General Hospital. (It is no longer standing, and in 1986 it was replaced by the Princess of Wales Hospital.) My mum, dad, older sister and I lived in a modest cul-de-sac, and when I was two years old my folks sold up and moved us around the corner to a larger, semi-detached house with a distinctive oak tree standing proudly in the centre of the front lawn.
At three, I started school at St. Johns private school in Porthcawl. It was somewhat of a well-respected and leading independent school (soon to be dented by my arrival). Blazers and short trousers were the order of the day. I also remember ‘clinging’ to Mum on the school run, at the main wrought-iron gates at the end of the long drive and even at my desk within the classroom. Then there was the food: I will never forget that taste of semolina: yuck!
During the same year, we (Mum and Dad, really) packed up again and moved to an old property (over 90 years old and in desperate need of a lot of tender loving care) in a rural seaside village called Ogmore-by-Sea or Aberogwr (meaning ‘mouth of the River Ogmore’) about 20 miles west of Cardiff. Over the 30 years we lived there, pretty much everything was replaced, from the floorboards, the heating system, all the rotten timber windows, Welsh roof slates, plus the construction of room upon room to make it a fabulous family home. I was fortunate to have a dormer bedroom that looked out over the Bristol Channel as far as Ilfracombe to the left, and Mumbles and the Gower Peninsula to the right. Straight ahead were many beaches, and out within the sea was Tuskar Rock (my nan used to tell me stories of her brother who would swim out onto the Rock for a picnic). Today this is somewhat impossible as the tides have risen and the rock only shows all its glory during low tide for a very short spell: no time to hang around these days. It is a strange sight, especially when boats manoeuvre around during low tide with some great precision sailing.
With my elder sister Louise (some 20 months older, in fact) we spent our childhood on the beach, helping walk our two Labradors (Goldie and Sam) in and amongst the crashing of waves, cries of seagulls and stunning views across to Southwest England and West Wales. The famous Waverley (the world’s last seagoing paddle steamer) and historic motor vessel Balmoral (last surviving ship of its type) frequently coasted past from Porthcawl to North Devon in the summer. I didn’t truly appreciate it back then, but it was probably one of the most wonderful places to grow up.
In 1984, at the age of six, I joined my sister at St. Clare’s private independent school. I was one of eight boys (I can only recall a name or two) in a girls’ school, taught by nuns (yep, that’s right) and I remember their strict style of teaching and learning the alphabet backwards (Z, Y, X, W, V etc: have a go, it’s much trickier than you think). This gave me the best education grounding I could have hoped for.
Ahead of starting secondary school, my folks moved us to St. Brides Major primary school which was closer to home and helped us build new friends in preparation for secondary school. Here I made two great friends, David and Dominic. They were the brainboxes and, although I was the least academic, we all got on so well.
Outside school, from as young as I can remember Duplo and Lego were the big thing in my life.