Chief Explorer’s Almanac #3

It has been more than six months since I wrote in the blog about the Chief Explorer’s Almanac. As I develop the three identities that I now work under – coach, author and explorer – the almanac is a way to share a number of ideas as they emerge. You could see it as a space to Work out Loud.

In this edition of the Almanac I want to share 7 different projects at various stages of their development, and then write briefly about visits to Portugal, Wales and Scotland.

Projects and Ideas

1. 1. The Inner Fire: July Campaign 

I mentioned the July Campaign for my book “The Inner Fire” in my last blog post. It’s going well! This was designed as an experiment with modest goals and a number of approaches to try to see what works. One key learning so far – people buy from people that they know, like and trust. This was a quote from Bob Burg and certainly resonated with my experience in the first week. Sales came through – most of them from people already within my network. Just a handful were from people who I didn’t know. I’m unpicking that to see whether that is in line with the quote from Bob Burg or whether it means that penetrating to people we don’t know takes longer. The Golden Ticket part of the campaign has been really well received. I have extended that part of the experiment, offering more tickets and more conversations. I love the idea of giving something which may be of great use to the recipient. For those who haven’t been following this, my publishers are offering free shipping in the UK for the month of July and there are still Golden Tickets left if you buy soon – offering a free coaching conversation with me to explore the book or whatever you want to bring to a coaching conversation.  

2. A new Gratitude project – Hidden Books Giveaway

From the campaign has come another idea, a new experiment to work on. This came from a brilliant conversation with a friend. He suggested hiding copies of the book for people to find. I loved the idea, but couldn’t get away from the idea that people might feel that they are stealing a book if they just take it. So… I adapted the idea. How about giving a few books – packaged beautifully (June’s idea to make the book look beautiful with tissue paper, book marks and little sticky labels) – to cafés and small shops. Ask the staff to gift a copy to someone who they think will enjoy the book. This could be a favourite customer or someone who interacts with them and makes them feel seen. I’m going to test this approach in August. I love the idea that the gratitude spreads – I get to gift a book via someone else who also benefits from the giving. I will include a Golden Ticket so that the recipient can then either have the free coaching call or they too can gift it on to someone who they think will benefit. It’s a true Gratitude project. If you have any ideas for tweaking this next experiment, please reach out to me. 

3. alice reimagined

This poetry collection, which includes poems written for “The Inner Fire: a coaching alchemy” has been in preparation for a couple of years now. I’m optimistic that it may be completed this autumn. I’m on the home straight. I will share some extracts from it in the coming weeks. Oh, and just in case you are wondering the lower case “a” is deliberate. 

4. The Labyrinth of Labels

As you will hopefully be aware, the books “Values Count”, “Insight Coaching” and “The Inner Fire” are part of a series of books called The Concepts Series. I’m beginning work on the next volume which has the working title “The Labyrinth of Labels”. It’s about the way that labels can define us: how they can expand or diminish us. I’m having fantastic conversations with friends and colleagues about this book as I develop my ideas. If you would like to share your thoughts do get in touch. This is obviously a recurrent theme with coaching clients – the way that labels can make us stuck, or can be ways of owning our inner power. It’s a rich seam to excavate as the ideas flow. 

5. The Tricky Second Album

Back in 2016 I released an album of poetry, music and found sounds on bandcamp. It was great fun to do. Since then, I have been half-joking with my sons about the likelihood of the difficult second album emerging at some point. Ideas are circling me in recent weeks and I am waiting for some of them to land. It’s coming… 

6. The Path to Wonder

Another of the book ideas for the Concepts Series is one about legacy. It’s been half written for a while, and may catch my attention soon. I’ve been re-reading the manuscript lately. Let’s see what happens. 

7. Harvesting old journals 

Do you keep a journal? I have kept journals since my late teens. I have them all from the days when I wrote a lot of embarrassing stuff, through to the times when the writing split into a personal journal and an ideas and work journal (and still the occasional embarrassing stuff! Did I really think that?) I make a regular habit for 10 minutes twice a week to skim through old ones and see what I can find. An entry I came across recently was from 2009 – it was a set of ideas about the Archive Curator. Really interesting to look at this 14 years later and see how the things I have created have grown. And to consider ways in which the Chief Explorer can curate, capture and share. It’s all there. I just need to figure out the best ways to edit, reimagine, re-master, adapt, collate – and all to the purpose of sharing.

Places

A. Wales

Around my birthday in March, my wife June and I went to Beaumaris on the island of Anglesey for a few days. It was a somewhat ill-fated trip as June fell and broke her arm. In spite of this it was nice to get away for a few days to the land of my father, to hear Welsh being spoken and to revel in the stunning beauty of North West Wales. 

B. Portugal

We had seven days in Portugal in May, beginning in Lisbon, then doing a circular tour taking in Sintra, Obidos, Nazaré, Fatima, Tomar, Coimbra, Porto and Alcobaça. I could write several blog posts about this tour, but if I had to single out just three great things it would be – fado (three sublime singer, two fabulous guitarists), the Quinta de Regaleira garden and the spectacular library in Coimbra. A random choice perhaps – it doesn’t include Pastas de Nata – but how do you choose. I love Portuguese culture, love the wine and the people are so gentle natured and friendly. 

C. Scotland

When we went to France last September for the month, one of the things that caught my attention was the two tapestries – the Bayeux Tapestry and the Angers Tapestry of the Apocalypse. Being in the Borders of Scotland recently gave us the opportunity to take a look at The Great Tapestry of Scotland. This is a magnificent creation – located in a beautiful new building in Galashiels, this is a remarkable piece of community art. Depicting the history of Scotland, one thousand stitchers worked on the one hundred and sixty panels. The result is breath-taking. One feels like a cheese lover in a cheese shop where tasting all of the cheeses is impossible and ill-advised. We took in as much of the stories as we could, but the overwhelm makes another visit a necessity. 

There we go then, the third of the Chief Explorer’s Almanac. I hope something in here was of interest to you. If you would like to react to any of this or share ideas of your own, please do. 

PS The photo at the top of this post is the Chief Explorer (uh … me) posting copies of “The Inner Fire” with free Golden Tickets!

Also published on Medium.