A gift from a homeless man
I was driving down the hill from Ou Kaapse Weg to Tokai when I saw him. He was standing at the robots, a homeless man. I couldn’t remember his name, but I remembered him and he instantly remembered me. “Wow,” I thought. “I must be one of many motorists.” He had my name. His name […]
Public Speaking Anxiety
In this blog post, I’ll share a conversation I had with my friend Charlie, who struggles with public speaking anxiety. I’ll also share some tips on how to overcome this common fear. The fear of public speaking. The fear of public speaking is one of the most common phobias in the world. It’s estimated that […]
The Red Fire Truck Coffee Stand: A Lesson Taking Risks
I’m going for a run in the local forest in Newlands on the side of Table Mountain and come down the hill and see a red truck. It’s like a kind of a, little bit of a, replica of a fire truck. And it’s called funnily enough, the Red Fire Truck coffee stand. Beautiful stand, […]
Focusing on strengths, not weaknesses
Recently, I stood up in a coffee shop and gave a plug for South Africa. As a former British army officer who has lived in South Africa for 20 years, and is married to a South African woman, I love this country, but something perplexes me: how South Africans view themselves, and how they are […]
Should you give feedback, even if it’s not asked for?
I recently attended a talk that was, well… not great. It was rubbish, to be honest. It could have been so much better. In my mind, I was like, “Well, he didn’t ask for it. It’s not really my place.” But I felt like such a fraud because I knew the person could have done […]
The Adventure of Everyday Life
I was recently filling up my car with petrol when I had an unexpected adventure. I started talking to the two petrol attendants, and we ended up playing music on Spotify and dancing in the petrol station. It was a moment that I will never forget. We played a song chosen by one of the […]
The Land of the Free
I was recently in town in the Western Cape, and I had the opportunity to meet a young man who told me something that really struck a chord with me. He said that the reason why people from all over the world love South Africa is because they can be free there. He explained that […]
Embracing the Chill
Picture this: me, running through the woods on a brisk day, bare-chested and barefooted. It may sound crazy to some, but there’s method to my madness. Why do I willingly subject myself to the cold? Surprisingly, science tells us that it can do wonders for our bodies and minds. Cold exposure stimulates our system in […]
How each average day can be amazing
“We seem okay with violence, but nudity we race to criticize and censor.“ Eva Mendes, American actress. How much fun can you have on a normal day? The key is to push yourself to do things that are out of your comfort zone, and you might be surprised at how much you enjoy it. I […]
How to make a correct a decision
(Many thanks to Mike Ellis-Smith for this article.) The summer weather in southern England and in the English Channel was wet and stormy. Rain streamed down over the vast encampments in Sussex and Hampshire where more than a quarter of a million young men waited for the signal to embark on the greatest amphibious invasion […]