Here is your Seven-Bullet Monday
1. A quote I am pondering:
"Create your life rather than live it." - James Clear
From the author of Atomic Habits, a quote that challenges us to shape our lives actively rather than go through the motions and let life happen to us. It's about taking control of our destiny, pursuing our passions, and making choices that align with our values and goals.
2. A question I am asking myself:
How can I communicate more memorably?
People typically remember less than a quarter of what a public speaker talks about. If I want to better that when I am speaking, I need to make sure the audience feels engaged, understands what I say and that it is memorable. I am working on being more concise and engaging by telling stories and creating vivid visual aids to help the learning.
3. A book I am reading:
The Creative Act: A Way of Being – Rick Rubin
Rick Rubin, a legendary music producer, is known for bringing out the best creativity in artists that work with him. In this book, he has taken that knowledge and captured tools and techniques for bringing out the highest levels of creativity. Having been in finance and working with cold hard facts for most of my career, this book was a fascinating look into the creative world of musicians and artists. What I most liked was how he showed we are part of a much bigger painting or orchestra and that we should embrace that rather than thinking of ourselves as the premier artist or the conductor.
4. What I relearnt this week
The importance of getting out of offices and getting to the coal face
I was up in NEBC this week and visited two of our mine sites. I had many excellent and thought-provoking conversations at both sites and came away with several new ideas. The visit also reminded me how blessed our Company is to have so many committed, hard-working and inventive people working at our three operations. Those that work at the coal face, or on the shop floor, are the heartbeat of an organization. It serves a business well to have corporate-based team players frequently visit their operational counterparts.
5. The highlight of my week
I had two highlights this week:
a. The publishing of our 2022 Sustainability and Climate Change Reports
We published our 2022 Conuma Resources Sustainability and Climate-Change reports this week. If you haven't yet, have a read of these reports and see all the excellent work happening across our business's many facets of sustainability. The 2022 editions were significantly expanded from the reports we published last year, and they were published in line with SASB Coal Operations Standard and the TCFD framework. You can find the reports on the Sustainability Page of our website by using the following link:
b. Teaching more than 40 students from two NEBC secondary schools on Making Money Work
As part of my trip this week, I went to Chetwynd and Tumbler Ridge Secondary Schools. I spoke to several classes and teachers about the Making Money Work personal finances program. The students and teachers were enthusiastic, and both schools will participate in the Student Wealth Builder training I will run in April and May this year. Students, in particular, have such a long financial runway ahead of them, so it is essential to help them start on the right footing.
6. Hugh-bits
Listen to the Huberman Lab Podcast on using caffeine to optimize mental and physical performance
The debate on the pros and cons of caffeine continues, so whether you see caffeine as a friend or foe, you will find this podcast very interesting. Huberman does his usual scientific dive into the subject and develops a new way to look at and use caffeine. As you will guess from the podcast title, he is the pro-caffeine camp (and yes, he likes coffee). Still, the time of day he recommends drinking it (not immediately when you wake up) was intriguing and might indeed quell the afternoon drowsiness that can come with too much early morning coffee.
7. My challenge for you for this week
Work this week, and every week, on future-proofing yourself
The pace of change in the world today is accelerating exponentially, driven by several different technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, 5G networks, the Internet of Things, Virtual and Augmented Reality and Web advancements. Whether this incredible pace of change will significantly boost or hamper our lives depends largely on how we prepare for and adapt to it. I could write screeds on this, but this week, please think particularly about your sources of livelihood and be ready to explore new technologies and get out of your comfort zones so you can ride the waves of change and not be swamped by them.
Have a productive week
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