Fire

Yesterday I was at a OuiShare London workshop in Hackney and the day was all about collaboration skills, organised by Neil Brook and facilitated by Judy Rees.

The first question of the day by Judy was ‘when you are working at your best, what are you like?’. Once we’d decided that, we then had to draw it on sticker and wear it. After that we had to answer questions from our partner about why we had chosen it.

I chose fire and drew it on my sticker and started answering the questions from my partner.

I explained what I meant by ‘fire’ and after they realised I wasn’t a destructive pyromaniac, then the other person listened and started to figure out what I was trying to say.

So this is what I mean by being like ‘fire’ when I am working at my best.

Typically during my life, I have lit lots of small ‘fires’ and because I have lit so many of them, most of them go out before I can get them to take and build into nice roaring fires.

I have learnt gradually, that it is better to light one fire, spend time tending to that ‘fire’ step-by-step everyday, small focussed steps, then slowly but surely the ‘fire takes’ and starts to build. Then if I keep at it, the ‘fire’ grows day upon day and over time I have a bigger ‘fire’, then a bigger ‘fire’ and eventually I have got a ‘raging inferno’, a ‘forest fire’.

From this my passion, motivation, my flow grows daily and then I am literally buzzing and on ‘fire’, where nothing can stop me and I tear through my action list and then I am ready to start the next small ‘fire’ and so the process goes again.

So for me it’s discipline, small steps and focus on one thing at a time that makes me happiest and most productive. If I follow these steps, then momentum builds and the compound effect over time kicks in.

The workshop was a great example of why working with others is so important. As the number of self-employed continues to rise, getting involved with organisations like OuiShare and getting involved with co-working communities, is vital.

Collaborate or die.