A friend shared this quote at the start of the week.

It made me smile (the ‘, probably’ suffix) and think (the quote itself). And, it’s stayed in my mind all week. Which in this day and age, and moreover this mind, is a feat all of it’s own.

So, last night, I started wondering: what time spent is always good value? Immaterial. What time used is never too expensive? As in, no matter how long I spend on these things, I don’t ever think it will be a waste of money.

Here’s the list I have so far:

• Sleeping
• Being outside and not working
• Looking at the stars
• Combing your child’s hair
• Listening to old people speak about their youth
• Catching up with an old friend
• Cooking a meal, for six or more people, from scratch
• Learning a new language
• Getting lost
• Having a bath
• Being by the sea
• Kissing
• Walking up a mountain
• Talking into your child’s eyes as you do up their laces
• Folding clothes whilst listening to Prince
• Talking to a homeless person

Looking back over my life to now. And thinking of the things above, I could easily have done each of them for ten or even a hundred times longer than I already have, and they would still be ‘cheap’.

In the time-precious world we live in nowadays, it seems that the best things in life are free.

To paraphrase Brent, do you know which “philosopher” said that? Janet Jackson. And everyone thought she was, erm, just Michael’s little sister.

So, when you have no time to spare. When you’re seconds skint. When the to-do list is interminable. Just drop whatever it is you’re doing, that is supposedly more important, and invest in something priceless that will always be worth it’s ‘wait’ in gold.

I’ve just finished watching my eldest’s school concert. OK, bear with me… this isn’t a schmaltzy ‘my-kid’s-great’ piece.

Twas the tale of a Nia Ben Felen (Fair Haired Nia — my kids go to a Welsh medium school).

It’s a story where Osian (let’s maybe call him ‘the PM’, just because) of Erin (duw, let’s call it UK), is encouraged to live each day as it comes and not look beyond the horizon.

The PM, sorry, Osian, feels his time as leader’s gone on too long though and doesn’t like the look of the what lies ahead. The grass looks greener on the other more colourful, youthful side.

Then one day the PM and his men spot the beautiful Nia (not sure who this is to be honest), from Tir Na Nog (let’s call this place the EU though!). The PM likes what Nia’s all about and the sound of this EU, Tir na Nog, place.

So, the PM decides to align with Tir Na Nog and spends 300 years (in Erin time, 3 in Tir na Nog time) there. As time passes he gets ‘hiraeth’ — a longing for the homeland of yesteryear.

Against the wishes of the people of Tir Na Nog, Osian, the PM, realigns away from Tir Na Nog to Erin. However, when he gets back to Erin, things aren’t what he was expecting or hoping for. Nothing turns out as he predicted and then one day, when he falls down from his lofty position on a horse, he hits the ground and instantly dies.

The people of Erin and Tir Na Nog face off, blaming each other for the death of Osian, before turning on the audience, (let’s call them the people), to blame them.

In the final scene Nia muses, isn’t it better to have loved and lost, than to not have loved at all… I don’t know Nia. Is it?

Le Fin

I’ve never cried at a school play before.

Your profile's been viewed ten times
Barry from Barry, Romi from Rome,
A retired chiropodist from Basingstoke
Thanks LinkedIn: I feel so alone

Fifty more hearts come in
Oh boy! What a 140 character moan
Not one of your followers know or care
That it's not even your own

A hundred likes and 20 comments
Your crafted Instagrams have real depth and tone
You filter, tilt shift, brighten and fade
Smiling as frenemies condone

A million uniques!
Your visitor numbers have grown and grown
Optimised SEO and paid for ads
Yet nobody buys your cheap cologne

An empty, bristled door mat
No Christmas card from Uncle Tone
A teary, awkward phonecall
Passed away last month, unknown

Don’t go too far
Don’t climb too high
Don’t start
Don’t stop
Do not reach for the sky

Don’t you ever think?
Don’t forget to share
Don’t touch
Don’t move
Do not dream to dare

Don’t you laugh
Don’t think it’s a joke
Don’t whisper
Don’t shout
Do not go for broke

Don’t run so fast
Don’t ask questions
Don’t smile
Don’t frown
Do not stick to your guns

Don’t just stand there
Don’t you dare hide
Don’t push
Don’t pull
Do not swallow your pride

Don’t cry wolf
Don’t forget to chew
Don’t doubt
Don’t hope
Do not do

Put on coffee
Shake my head
BANG!
Two cops dead

Switch on the tele
Rub my eyes
BANG!
Another cop dies

This can’t be real
I must’ve misread
BANG!
A forth cop dead

News just in, they’re
Counting the cost
BANG!
A fifth cop’s lost

Police are shocked
What did they expect?
BANG! went their guns
Hundreds slain to rest

Bang go the guns
‘til we’re all bereft
War don’t prove who’s right
Just who’s left

Wake up tomorrow
Get out of bed
BANG!
...

Amidst my envy for arts students and their 8 hours of lectures a week; the early starts, as a dozen of us squeezed into a minibus, to head to Dow Corning for our industrial placements and the countless escapades of derring do in the bars and clubs of that pretty, shitty city; I do still recall some of the lessons I was taught in the Faraday Building.

The one I want to refer to today was taught to me by the inestimably nice Professor Tony Knights, with his wheezy chest and his crumbs in his beard, and the clean-cut, prim and proper, almost reptilian, Professor Tony Wardle.

In our first year we got to partake in countless hands on experiments in ‘the lab’… a vast space, jammed full of intricate glassware… to do experiments! Steepling spirals, compact condensers, abundant bunsen burners. All crammed in, cheek to jowl; a pretty daunting experience for a kid that had attended a Comprehensive School with scant budget for such extravagances.

Anyway, with each lab lesson, we got given our instructions and then had to weigh out, decant, distill, boil, freeze and whatever else to progress our knowledge. All along, crucially, we’d be taking measurements: temperatures, flow-rates, pressures and from these calculating viscosities, densities, you name it.

Trouble was, part of the exercise was to neatly draw the equipment you used in your notepad too. That meant a pencil (and a ruler and a compass; remember them!). But, if you then went on to use that pencil to record results, one or t’other Tony would swoop in and with a swish of an eraser wielding hand, while your back was turned, rub out your data.

It was annoying, but it taught us all a lesson. To use our pens: be committed. Don’t do things by halves.

So, I was thinking about this earlier and how it mirrors, in a way, what we’ve created with doopoll. Each poll we create has a unique 16 character code associated with it, similarly we create a hexadecimal code on each device used to participate in a poll. This means we can identify when a device has already participated and stop people answering more than once from a single device. What this also means, is there is no gaming the system. But also, there is no back button. No going back. You can’t run the experiment over.

Just like us undergrads scrawling in our splashed and smudged notepads back in the 90’s, people participating in our polls have to commit to their answers too.

In our short, beta existence, doopoll has facilitated hundreds of polls, posing thousands of questions, to people all over the world (we now have users in over 80 cities, across 6 continents… if anyone knows an Eskimo could you ask them to sign up, please?). What we’ve learned along the way is by allowing people to answer quickly, via a simple, well designed interface we have also incited more instinctive responses. Instinctive responses, which we believe to be more honest too. We think that’s a good thing and we think the two Tony’s would too.

After all, what’s better than an honest response?

What, that we do today, will our children look back at and not forgive us for?

For example, broadly speaking, our parents are embarrassed at the open racism our grandparents displayed. We are dismayed at the homophobic attitudes our parents showed as we grew up.

What will our kids and grandkids look back on with dismay?

This is a really interesting topic for me and one that I brought up with a bunch of people over Christmas and now in the new year.

Some of the responses:

• That people weren’t free to live wherever they like
• That we continued to burn carbon fuels to get us to places for meetings etc when on our phones we had the option of doing a video call
• That we eat meat with almost every single meal
• ISIS
• That pornography was so freely available
• That we owned cars
• That so many people worked for so few other people (based on the idea that companies will get smaller and smaller)

So, some starters for 10… I’d love to hear more.

Post below or drop me a line: @thedimmick on twitter or hello@stevedimmick.co.uk. :)

Why it’s not a good idea.

Dad would’ve been seventy today and he would’ve loved tomorrow’s rugby match as much as any of us, that’s for sure. I guess we’re all living for tomorrow, aren’t we? Not specifically the rugby, just in general. Life’s for living after all, yet you never know when it’s going to end, eh?

One day it’s dreams, the next it’s memories.

So, here’s a tip; stop being a ‘coulda, woulda, shoulda’ kind of person and actually put yourself out there: do something. Take risks. Try new things. Be brave. Just fucking start doing that thing you’ve been saying you want to do for…. forever.

Around the corner there might be a bus with your name on it or all your dreams manifested. But, if you don’t have the guts to turn that corner, you’ll never know which it is (here’s a clue; very, very, very rarely is it the bus).

Just go ahead and start that business, ask that girl out on a date, climb that mountain, set up that club, go traveling, write the letter, because one day that fucking bus will be there. Promise. And when it is, all those mountains, letters, dates, clubs, trips away and business ideas; well, they all crumble to dust. Gone.

Just have the guts and if you don’t have the guts, dig deep and find em. They’re in there: you do have the guts. We all do.

Wanna know why you should?

Because memories are better than dreams.

So, stop dreaming and go make some memories.

Here ends today’s sermon. Can I get a Hallelujah?

Why anonymity can be super powerful in sensitive situations

Tools like doopoll, can help you get real insight from your staff

Six months ago, myself and two other people started out on a mission to change decision making, for good.

Yesterday, we sent out the first beta invites to doopoll, a web app crafted to let you quickly filter out the noise in decision making and to gather valuable insight from your audience.

It’s not easy doing something like this. You set yourself the aim of changing the way people go about something they do hundreds, if not thousands, of times a day. Something humanity has done for millenia. That’s some challenge.

The thing is, each and every time we demonstrate the product, new uses, new scenarios, new benefits crop up. For me, that’s when the butterflies start fluttering and goosebumps prickle.

Let me tell you the latest.

Myself and one of my co-founders, Marc, went in to a PR agency’s swanky office to showcase the app. Coffees were poured, the full team was corralled into the boardroom, biscuits were passed around and we were off. I ran through our pitchdeck, to the dozen or so people present, and welcomed the suitably impressed smiles that shone back.

Then came the question. Actually, questions.

I’d handed a slip of paper to everyone and asked them all to write their answers to two questions.

1) Which colleague do you enjoy working with most?

Cue mock uproar and it’s-impossible-to-choose heckles. Eventually they calmed down and wrote their answers. Then,

2) Which colleague do you least like working with?

Instantly, there was a tangible repulsion from everyone. “I can’t answer that. I can’t!” came the chorus of resistance.

This is exactly the response I knew I would provoke. What they were really saying is, I don’t want someone to find out what I have written.

I sat tight and made them all answer (this took over five minutes). It was uncomfortable. Like, really uncomfortable.

I want you imagine being sat in that room, with your colleagues. Who would you have chosen? Now imagine being asked by your boss or HR Director to email those answers to them. You wouldn’t do it. Would you? Even if you did, you might tweak your responses to look after a friend or maybe to choose whoever would impress the boss.

Eventually, I told them to scrunch up the paper and throw it away. The need for and the benefit of having anonymity in such a scenario filled the room.

Blind feedback is just one of our four innovations that combine to make doopoll an incredibly useful and powerful tool. We’re open for beta invites (http://doopoll.co/request-beta) right now. We’d love to get you involved.

From November 2011, till now, I’ve started countless projects, some of which have grown and flown, become really popular (Ignite, CardiffRead, Instagramers Cardiff/Wales/Cymru), others have fallen to the wayside (Midweek Film Club, #whereinthediff) and more still are just starting out (Old Faithful, plus another few that I can’t yet mention!).

I was pondering this whilst out walking our dog Loti recently.

Loti’s a pocket-rocket, collected from the Cardiff Dog’s Home way back in 2004. A Heinz 57, she’s a mongrel; some ungodly hybrid. Part whippet, part terrier, part dinosaur. I’ll explain that last bit; when she gets into a tussle, she bristles so much that her hackles fan upwards like a Dimetrodon’s spine.

Needless to say then, Loti’s a little quirky. But, over the last decade, one constant has remained amongst the chaos that inevitably ensues when Loti’s in situ. She loves chasing squirrels. It’s her raison d’être. Each and every time we head up our street, to Thompson’s Park, she’s off like a rocket, tracking a well worn path that encircles the trees the grey squirrels call home. Come rain or shine; day or night; spring, summer, autumn or winter; she sets about this task with unerring, unwavering and unfailing vigour.

Because of it’s daily repetition, this has become the norm. For years I’ve seen nothing of note, but then, over the last winter, I started to realise something. Loti’s passion for what she does best never fades. Never. Even now, as with old age she struggles to rise from her bed, Loti soon pushes through the pain barrier, gets her joints moving and starts hurtling endlessly around the park. I’d estimate for each mile I walk, she sprints five. Just think about that for a second. Now, think about the fact that in mid-winter whilst the squirrels don’t actually hibernate, they are known to sleep for days at a time. So, all of that pain, all that exertion is invariably for nothing.

In the last eleven years, Loti’s caught four squirrels.

That’s one for every thousand or so walks we’ve been on. It sounds like a poor return, eh? But you should see her when she collars one; her eyes glistening, her tail a wagging blur, looking up with the now limp rodent in her mouth, pride etched all over her face. You can see it; she would gladly run five thousand times, a hundred thousand times, to feel this good.

It’s her raison d’être.

Some say the thrill is in the chase, but seeing Loti like this, reminded me that reaching your goals, snaring your own targets, it’s important to enjoy the moment and savour all the hard work that’s gone into getting you there.

***

I started to wonder then, what else I could learn from Loti and her canine counterparts. What’s been coached, taught, parented, peer pressured, mentored out of me. What, if I was a bit more dog, might still be there.

I reached out on twitter and got a great response from my followers, some of whose replies helped shape the list below:

Get excited about stuff

As stressed above, love each day like it’s your last. Do what you love. Maybe don’t go out wearing nothing but a dog-collar.

It’s OK to go crazy once in a while

Every once in a while, just do something silly, new, dangerous, odd, scary, whatever… just try something new. Maybe, bound around in the snow for the first time.

See food… eat food

Nowadays, there’s more diets than food choices it seems. If you put food in front of a dog, more often than not it will gulp it down. Life’s too short to deny yourself the pleasure of dessert when you’re out for a meal.

Loyalty

For anyone who owns, or has owned, a dog this one will ring true. What would all of us give for friends, family, clients, colleagues and so on who are half as loyal as our pet dog. Try not to lick your colleagues face, but do remember to say thanks a little more regularly.

Always be pleased to meet new people

How many people do you know that say they *hate* networking events. Go to your local park this lunchtime; there’ll be the regulars who are there each and every day and sure they may have the odd snarl at each other, but there’s (albeit a sometimes begrudging) respect there too. There’ll also be newbies with tails waggling ten to the dozen and the boundless energy of puppies (think of those as graduate recruits) bouncing around excitably. None of these dogs hate being there. They’re chuffed to make new contacts. Like a dip in the sea, once you take the deep breath and plunge in, it’s usually more enjoyable than you’d expected.

Don’t give up

Sometimes the battle you’re in can seem insurmountable. But, quitting’s for quitters. There’s endless examples of success stories where a bloody minded resolution to be the best, no matter what, was the sole reason that success was achieved. No matter how long it took. There’ll always be fears, competition, doubts, doubters, uncertainties, Goliaths.

In the end, it’s not the dog in the fight, but the fight in the dog that counts.

Work hard, sleep hard

Dogs outdo us so well at this. They can sleep on anything, through anything, despite anything. And they sleep lots. Recharge your batteries; listen to your batteries. Napping’s for winners.

and finally….

Always get someone else to deal with your sh*t

OK, so this one’s said in jest, but as our Creative Director, Marc enthused at an Ignite talk a while back: just get your colleagues to do the work that they have delegated to you. Also, delete all your emails. Regularly. If someone really needs you, they’ll call, or send you another email.

So, there you have it. Dogs can teach us so much; if only we’d remove our own tethers and follow their leads.

***

What did I miss? Comment below with your thoughts on what we can learn from dogs, or ping me a tweet @thedimmick.

P.S. Before you go there, Jonny already did.