LifeDoneDifferent.ly

It would be fair to say Hamish is not a conventional man.  Check out The Bizarre Houseboats of Britain to see what I mean. He thinks and acts differently and the effect is certainly different. In this conversation he tells us:

- Why he got rid of the TV at 18 years old
- Why he rescued a shapely old Portsmouth Ferry from the riverbed
- How his floating home became a reflection of his warped self
- What a squircle is
- The freedom that comes from a frugal lifestyle
- The simple way to get a bus on a boat
- Why he and nature prefer curves to rectangles
- How a spell at VSO shaped him
- His unwillingness to ask for help
- His confidence in his own ability to solve practical problems
- Why he's done with the car
- Why he's done with politics
- Why we should listen to Greta Thunberg
- He's ready for a change and fancies getting his hands on a wood

Greta Thunberg

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-3124660/From-rusting-coach-coal-carrier-Del-Boy-s-car-sticking-wall-wackiest-houseboats-Britain-selling-325-000-each.html
 

Laurence and Carlos are designers of events and an online community that make entrepreneurs happy. In this conversation, Laurence talked to us about:

• Growing up in London pubs
• The family DNA of bringing people together
• The benefits of aligning what you think, say and do
• How he helps corporate hippies
• A life spent working out what he doesn't want to do
• Forgetting his vision which became a reality 20 years later (his wife Tamsin did not forget)
• Breaking his back in the middle of nowhere 
• The merits of 'temping'  
• The benefits of not being an artist when in a creative role
• Realising that culture is the way people treat each other
• Working with a mate
• The uncertainty of self-employment 
• Becoming a digital agency (Spook Studio)
• Becoming digital business designers
• Becoming start-up business designers 
• The misadventure of developing a co-working space      
• Becoming the Happy Start-up School
• Moving out of London
• His approach of chipping away at the things that don't work
• The benefits of 'space' when deciding on a new direction
• Balancing speed and scale v control and solid foundations

The Michelangelo quote(s) Laurence referred to are:

"Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it"

"I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free"

Happy Start-up School
Pamela Slim - Body of Work
Charlie Davies
Jack Hubbard - Dream Valley Picture

We wished we'd had longer with Bruce.  He's a brilliant demonstration of what you can achieve if you truly understand your strengths. He seems very able in many areas but what sets him apart is his ability to understand and therefore reach his audience. He seems to always find a way to stand out from the crowd and when he doesn't, he persists. Bruce is a people person through and through.  We talked about:

• His frustration with Greenpeace*
• Working hard but not compromising on his 8 hours sleep.
• Why he shies away from telling people he works at Twitter when on holiday
• The different hierarchies of Birmingham and London
• His period working for Capital Radio, the Fawlty Towers of media
• The cultural power of 'companions at love' 
• The benefits of being a trouble-maker
• Discovering he was the third poorest kid at school
• Studying Economics because he wanted to solve injustice*
• Why Bruce's next job will be an eco-warrior
• How his mum encouraged him to work hard at school
• His prolific letter writing
• The influence comics played in his career 
• His ability to get noticed*
• His super-skill of persistence
• How Bruce backs himself
• How Bruce always looks for the fast lane
• How to go from 'bottom of the class' to 'top of the class' 
• Bruce's time at YouTube and his approach to promoting YouTube in the early days
• How he's unafraid of rejection
•  'The Joy of Work' becoming Sunday Times No. 1 best seller and how it was not an accident
• How the tyranny of numbers affects your relationship
• How comparison can lead to unhappiness
• How stress has become the operating system of modern-day work
• The increasing importance of creativity versus  Our increasing inability to be creative
• How the science of open plan offices reduces face to face communication and increases emails
• Why he looks to create a climate rather than direct
• The problem with appropriating US norms
• His interest in the compelling science of laughter and how it can save your life
• How our fear of being judged leads us to become more agreeable and less authentic
• The importance of finding the kid within

* We wonder what would happen if these things could come together?

https://twitter.com/brucedaisley

https://twitter.com/eatsleepwkrpt
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/eat-sleep-work-repeat/id1190000968?mt=2

Fiona is the antidote to any 'get rich quick' or 'instagram' society. Her philosophy on life is simple; if there's a problem that needs fixing, fix it yourself. Don't talk about the problem, paper over the cracks, ask for help or look for shortcuts. Just get stuck in and learn from your experience. Expect problems and deal with them as they arise, the more you experience problems, the better equipped you'll be to deal with them in the future. 

In this conversation Fiona sheds light on:

• the 'doing' motivation versus the 'achieving' motivation 
• how she moved 'pain and suffering' from the 'Avoid' section to the 'Seek' section
• pain in training being like depositing money in the bank and withdrawing it on race day
• how purpose trumps talent every day of the week 
• how this 'talent-less' runner broke 4 endurance world records
• her adventures in 3 Marathon de Sable (often seen as the world's toughest foot race)           
• what it's like to experience the freedom of pain, discomfort and despair
• what it's like to live a 'no negotiation' life
• her model of "I'll do things at 100% or I'll do something different"
• ditching the Garmins and simply listening to your body
• her belief that congratulating herself will stunt motivation
• when it's appropriate to hide injuries from the doctor
• the importance of grandparents
• a life-time of veganism
• how putting others first, puts her first
• her super-talent of 'determination'
• why she prefers to tell people what she's done rather than what they should do
• hitting 100% as she crosses the line
• learning how to fix herself

http://www.towerhillstables.com/
https://runningforgoodfilm.com/#home-2-section
http://www.cowspiracy.com

Is this a useful format?  Please tell us what you think over on twitter https://twitter.com/lifedonediff

Oliver was our first ever guest. Neil happened to go into Oliver's store and was so enamoured with both the store and proprietor, he asked if we could meet. LifeDoneDifferent.ly was born. Oliver talked to us about:  

• Selling plums outside his parents house
• How school really wasn't entertaining enough for him
• The benefits of having supportive, positive parents and positive friends
• At 16 why he ditched the idea of college for a job selling phones for O2
• His experience of going from a terrible manager to a fantastic manager as a Trainee Estate Agent
• His need to stand out and be independent
• His spells travelling around the world 
• The difference between Portsmouth and Brighton (one of these places is cool with chapless pants)
• His period living in a cupboard
• Learning to mix with different sorts of people
• His period working hard because he wanted to make money so he could do his own thing
• Getting on the property ladder and becoming a landlord
• Spotting the opportunities that present themselves versus being lucky
• His spell doing turtle voices at the Sea Life Centre
• His first spell as an Polaroid entrepreneur touring the pubs of Brighton
• Brands employing Ollie's services as an alternative photo booth
• Fuji Film employing Ollie's services to travel around Europe's Festivals 
• Him losing his independence 
• Heading back to Asia looking for inspiration
• A spell in a hairy pod in Guangzhou, China looking for a Virtual Reality product ideas
• Disappointment and demoralisation in a lonely sweaty teenage Chinese gaming bar
• Picking up 'The Chamber of Secrets' and realising that wizardry was his thing
• Evolving his wizardry ideas and settling on a store
• Getting advice from Warner Bros. about setting up Oliver's Brighton
• Finding Gene, the builder who shared his vision for creating a truly unique space
• Finding the cabinet to display his wands and adopting a Netherland Dwarf Rabbit 
• The nerves, disappointment and ultimate joy of opening day 
• What it takes to garner over a thousand 5 star reviews for a shop
• Winning start-up of the year at the Brighton & Hove Business Awards 
• Not worrying about / enjoying being a bit weird 
• The importance of stepping outside his comfort zone 
• Finding the drive and energy to do it his way 

www.oliversbrighton.co.uk
42 Trafalgar Street, Brighton BN1 4ED
https://www.instagram.com/oliversbrighton/
https://twitter.com/oliversbrighton
https://www.facebook.com/oliversbrighton
https://www.instax.co.uk/

We met Tom at his very nice house in London. It's really nice! He shared his experiences in business and in life. He shared how he's changed and how his motivations have changed. What I like most about Tom is his ability to focus but never lose sight of the bigger picture including a super-skill in bringing his wide circle of friends and colleagues together. We talked about :

• How Miami Vice provided him with a focus on money 
• Taking two companies public 
• Having a rocket scientist for a Dad
• Tom, the 10 year old entrepreneur
• Why he chose a job over university
• Being the worst salesman of the month and the shame of fishing in Oxford Street
• How mistakes helped him grow a thicker skin
• Moving to Hong Kong in May 1989 and how a salary allowed him to focus on rugby
• Playing international rugby for Hong Kong  
• His belief in luck and why he sees a fortune teller once a year
• Having nothing when he was sued personally for £3.5 million dollars, 3 weeks after getting married 
• Borrowing £3.5 million USD from a friend with no obvious way of repaying the loan
• On the 18 hour days that led Tom to repay the loan within 2.5 years
• Floating Playtech in 2005 and what it was like to lose 40% of the value overnight
• How he took his company private having only just taken it public
• The importance of goal-setting 
• What happened when Daddy was asked to sign his daughters contract to spend time with her and not his computer 
• Pretending to his wife he wasn't suffering a heart-attack whilst at the ballet
• Waking up to the value of time   
• The benefits of learning to say "no".
• Working with friends
• The joys of a shared experience
• Why experiences are a better motivation than money

https://www.success.com/tony-robbins-goals/
https://youtu.be/XOiK5abM3AY
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bup-khVHNln/
https://portal.navglobal.com/

We've known Mark and Action for Happiness for many years but this conversation was different. Here we learned about Mark's sometimes painful journey into the world of social entrepreneurship. It was a real pleasure to talk about:  

• Big questions such as "What really matters in life?"
• What happens when you climb the ladder of success only to find you're climbing the wrong ladder
• What it takes to help people experience and create a happier world
• How our leaders have forgotten to focus on the greatest happiness for the greatest number
• Why measuring GDP at a national level and personal wealth at an individual level does not measure success
• How Coca Cola have cheapened happiness
• Why the feeling of happiness is so universal but what makes us happy can be so different
• The benefits of the Stoic philosophy of choosing how we react to situations  
• Changing ourselves when we are no longer able to change the situation
• The importance of 'meta cognition' aka 'noticing how you feel' as the first step to doing something about it
• The role of the Dalai Lama in the Action for Happiness movement 
• What it means to live a good life and care about each other
• The Dalai Lama's secularism and his sense that we need to create a new way of being 
• Consumerism and why it's such a poor substitute for purpose and a shared humanity
• The trials and tribulations of growing up in a loving Malvern family
• Noticing a depressed peer in the year above and using it as the motivation to study
• His ten years as a management consultant where he focused on the money but wasn't proud of what he did
• How he had neglected the emotional side of life 
• The power of the 'good life crisis' and how it can help provide direction
• How Mark's increasing emotional discomfort with his work turned into a constant physical pain 
• Mark's low point when he was diagnosed with a degenerative hereditary spinal disorder and faced the prospect of a wheelchair in his 40's
• 'Back Sense', his wife's gifted book that prompted him to think himself free of pain
• His interest in the placebo effect
• How his MBA allowed him to slowly understand himself and the human condition 
• The importance of Kate, Mark's then girlfriend and now wife, in helping him do something different
• The struggle of bringing oneself to work versus knowing when to stop when you do
• The options that come with a frugal life
• The difficulty and the power of listening to your gut
• Meeting Neil Crofts and answering his three questions:
  • What are you really good at? 
  • What are you passionate about?
  • What makes you angry?  
• The angst of leaving The Carbon Trust and a job he loved for the challenge of Action for Happiness 
• Life as a recovering people pleaser
• Following the energy when deciding where to put your own energy
• The future of Action for Happiness  
• Why personal success and community success is not a zero sum gain / why me and we are the same thing

https://www.actionforhappiness.org/
www.neilcrofts.com
www.backsense.org

"Those who tell stories rule society" so said, Plato. Monty Munford collects and tells very good stories. He doesn’t run society yet, but we’ll have more fun when he does.

Monty was on the way to the pub when the lure of a few unusual beers persuaded him to join us in Ray’s cellar for a conversation that helped explain:

• Why he runs fast towards the edge of life’s cliff and then walks back 
• Why he’s fed up with journalism
• Why Peter Jones in Sloane Square is unlikely to replace his Mont Blanc pen
• His period ducking and diving in the Sinai Desert
• Why he was cast as a Russian drugs dealer in a Bollywood movie
• Why writing is better than athletics
• How the 5’ 2” Monty learned to use his mouth
• What it’s like to grow 11 inches in 18 months 
• Why he declared war on money
• How he personally lost £50K from bitcoin hackers
• Why he’s more interested in the unknown than the known
• How his company turned down Angry Birds
• Why it’s important to laugh at your mistakes
• Why he left the London commute for India
• The difference between ‘running away’ and ‘running towards’ something
• How an experiment in separating himself from friends and family almost killed him
• How not to have a fight in the lift at Covent Garden Tube Station
• The importance of reinventing himself 
• What falling in love and becoming a Dad can do to a man
• How he ended up being invited to John McAfee’s island
• How he exposed Steve Wozniak as a man who once smuggled Coke into Russia
• Why he tells his audiences to “fuck off”      

External Links:

Snoop Dogg on 'Personal Responsibility' (wait until the end - it's worth it!)  

Kidnapping, murder, guns and prostitutes - John McAfee at Malta BlockChain Summit

Monty's Forbes article on Steve Wozniak

mob76 (Monty's Consultancy Website)

Twitter: @montymunford

Alan says "creativity is intelligence having fun”. He balances some very rigid and carefully designed routines with architectural anarchy.  He joined us in The Walrus pub where he shared his thoughts on life including:

• Why everything will be fine
• On vision as an ability to visualise and create order when others can only see chaos
• Why he’s looking for £100 per week from each of his kids
• A rock ‘n’ roll year working with Bono and The Edge 
• Why Architects make very good lovers but very bad husbands
• Becoming a committed Mod in 1965
• What it’s like to have two mothers and two fathers
• Late diagnosis of Adult Attachment Disorder (AAD) 
• Travel anxiety and why two hours early is preferable to one minute late 
• His knack of destroying his relationships
• How Architecture has provided security and stability in his life
• How setting light to his canvasses in a telephone box led to a career in Architecture
• The importance of third-party endorsement 
• The importance of doing something modest and doing it very very well
• The joy of both teaching and designing houses
• Exchanging architectural fees for backgammon and skiing lessons
• His second Grand Designs project

 Links:

Alan Phillips Architects

U2 Beautiful Day @ Eze-Sur-Mer

Gaudis Sagrada Familia