It starts with restlessness, then boredom. Maybe a little cleaning. A sudden urge to cook new things. Occasionally, you stand by the front window and dream about actually leaving the house. Maybe you eat traffic with sock puppets.

You know that feeling… it’s that intolerable longing to explore you get when you’re stuck indoors for weeks on end. …

A Brief Reminder to Back Up Your Photos

One of the most missed items when a house burns down is collections of photos.

When hard drives die, people lose a lot of great stuff, like creative work and photos.

When relationships break down and exes no longer want to share things on their computers, people lose photos.

When phones get stolen or randomly stop working, if you haven’t backed up you lose all your photos.

So, back up your photos.

There are dozens of services that will automatically back up photos from your phone: Google, Flickr, Amazon, Samsung, Apple, etc.

Start there. …

My path towards entrepreneurship has completely changed the way I view every company I know of.

At first, I really had no idea. I looked at what I could do and what I thought the world needed and simply tried to find a product to fill the gap. Now I’m halfway through an MBA, with years of actively studying many businesses under my belt.

The mountain of knowledge I’m yet to learn is still there waiting, but I’ve learned a few key things all entrepreneurs should probably know too.

The Two Approaches to Entrepreneurship

Most people in business look at what they can do and try to find a product they can make and sell that some people might want. …

If you’d told me a year and a half ago how much I’d get done in the next 18 months, I’d never have believed you.

Somehow, while raising kids and working a 9–5 I’ve managed to finish half an MBA and get a business off the ground. Now, as anyone who has read a lot of self-help books knows, the systems and habits you create are where the difference is really made. The following steps are the habits that have made the most difference for me.

Try these yourself.

As It Ends, Plan the Next

There are numerous famous examples of how writing a paper list for the next day of no more than six tasks every evening is the key to getting things done. However, I’m not a fan of paper tasks, as I like to switch between devices and keep permanent records. Instead, I set a calendar entry for the day it’s due in Google Calendar with my top six tasks written as simply as possible. …

Here’s a little story about a manager who missed the mark by a mile and showed me what truly bad leadership and crisis management really was.

Sadly, he wasn’t the first, nor the last to share that lesson with me, but this story remains his life lesson to me and was taught in the shape of one solitary burger.

A Hot Summer’s Day

It was 1995 in the heat of November in Adelaide, South Australia, the exact date of the very last of the Formula One Australian Grand Prix events to be held in Adelaide.

Adelaide was absolutely teeming with a reported 210,000 sweaty motorsport spectators, and I was lucky enough to be working at the biggest fast-food restaurant near the street circuit. We knew the day would be huge (or as a South Australian would say, “Heaps Good”), and instead of our regular crew manning one double-sided bench for the famous beef burgers, we had two extra crews from the outer suburbs helping us out on extra tables, all of us on double-shifts. It was incredibly hot in the burger room, and it was all we could do not to sweat all over the burgers we were making while we slaved away in the heat. …

It’s astounding just how differently businesses and people market themselves, especially online. What’s really difficult for most people to work out though, is how to do it for yourself in a way that actually works.

You Want To Be Well Known… But For What?

It’s funny how what makes one person stand out makes another person look gimmicky. And what looks gimmicky at first glance is still something you recall years later. Meanwhile, a jingle on the radio annoys you daily and yet you remember the company’s website automatically.

I can recall word-for-word the advert for a 1980s Australian bubble bath commercial (well done, Mr Matey). …

I told myself I wouldn’t do this, but today it’s well and truly time for a rant on my coronavirus state-of-affairs opinion.

I am not a medical professional, and I’m not trying to give medical advice. I’m just someone trying to get by during this pandemic and finding the UK Government advice and pandemic control systems just a little bit laughable.

In the UK, our new NHS test and trace app has just been released. Adverts on every social media channel have been bombarding me all morning, asking me to download the app. …

So, I joined the Medium beta app. It looks very promising, and the style is nice. I like the black background sections on the home page contrasting against the white. It’s got class.

While it has a few odd glitches, like the repeated paragraph, generally this new Medium app looks good and does the job.

…Right up until I want to browse.

The Situation

Here I am, up at 5 am thanks to a screaming baby, unable to get back to sleep, and looking for some entertaining reads. I come to Medium, thinking my night is sorted. Except it’s not.

The Medium homepage is failing to entice me to read anything at all. But how? …