Jeremy Connell-Waite

I’ve always loved the philosophy of thinking that “goal is a dream with a deadline” - but the more I progress throughout my career and look back on some of the more memorable things that I’ve done, I am reminded that nobody remembers a (broken) deadline - but EVERYBODY remembers a great idea…

I built BetterStories.org as a free resource to help more executives and future leaders to invest in themselves. You don't always need expensive courses or fancy qualifications and accreditations to get you to where you need to go. Disciplined learning about the right things. 100 hours a year to be in the top 5% of your field? That's less than 1,000 seconds a day focusing on what you want to be great at. 16 minutes. Any of us can do this. And when you get a bit down or need a shot of inspiration - play yourself the brilliant "apples" scene from Good Will Hunting >> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIdsjNGCGz4

It's not just what you learn that's important, it's HOW you learn. I am a big fan of psychology professor Ellen Winner's work on "Rage to Master". It basically states that there are 2 elements to high performance and getting to be one of the best at doing what you do. 1. Obsession: A literal "rage" to master your subject matter. 2. The ability to learn quickly. Just those two things combined are game changers. One without the other is not enough. It's well worth reading her paper and applying what you learn into every aspect of your professional development. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2013-18088-016

Goes fishing for inspiration until they catch something. Have an Eminem-style work ethic in the studio. The good songs come quickly. (Live Forever, Imagine, One, Angels, Yesterday took leas than 30 mins to write) - the songs that take a lot longer to write are usually B sides! Read Songwriters on Songwriting by Paul Zillo. For inspiration (relevant to writing business stories) - 🎸Watch Noel Gallagher deconstructing Morning Glory (at Rockfield) 🎵 3-2-1 with McCartney on Disney+ 🪘 Get Back on Disney+ 📱 Zane Lowe interview (Fred Again..) 💛Chris Martin on writing “Yellow 🩵 Anything with Billie Eilish and Finneas talking about their process on YouTube. 🙌🏻

Steve Jobs is one of the greatest presenters of our generation. One of the reasons for that is that he hated slides and he always wanted to "think in ink". His "go-to" was always a whiteboard marker where he always drew his thoughts, to make sure that everyone in the room was aligned, and could clearly understand his vision. Google "Steve Jobs" + "Whiteboard technique" for some inspiration. If you don't know where to start - this artlce might help: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/whiteboard-technique-steve-jobs-mark-edwards/

"Don't practice until you get it right, practice until you can NEVER get it wrong." There's a reason Simon Sinek is one of the business world's most compelling and sought after speakers. And it's not just because he's charming, knows his stuff and has a strong point of view. He only uses a whiteboard. I saw him give a 3-hour presentation once in an IMAX theatre. Anyone else would have practiced with huge graphics and clever animated slides. Simon didn't. But the audience was captivated because he was so well practiced in the art of whiteboard storytelling. 200 execs were eating out of his hand for over 3 hours. PowerPoint rarely ever has that impact. Whiteboarding is memorable. Just make sure you rehearse, rehearse, rehearse.