The stories we tell ourselves – about who we are, what we’ve done, what we can do, our situation, and more – are so important.

Traditional oral storytelling is my biggest hobby (though mostly listening, rather than telling these days). Myths, legends, and folklore are my jam. I know well the power of story.

It helps define us: our limits, our boundaries, our aspirations, our hopes and dreams, our possibilities.

I’ve recently started following the spiritual teacher Kelly Blaser, who ran a 5-day challenge last month called Sit. Write. Repattern. It was mostly a series of short teachings followed by journal prompts to help us repattern. Or, in words I’m more familiar with, to help us re-write our stories.

I think it’s well worth re-visiting our stories periodically to see whether they’re still serving us – and to re-write them if they’re not.

Memory is much more malleable than we like to think. And perception can be plain wrong at times, too. Especially for memories from early childhood, for example, where there was so much you didn’t understand.

So let’s use it to our advantage, and re-write our stories in ways that serve us, whilst staying true. These could be our personal stories, our business story, the story we tell ourselves about how much impact we can have on world affairs, stories about current events, or any other stories.

Data helps us rewrite stories. Our perception based on our little patch of the world can be wildly off base when we look at the bigger picture.

How will you re-write your stories to empower yourself today?

Links & Inspiration

Does your company do (or want to do) Research & Development? (R&D)

CJ Gustafson recently shared some benchmark figures for how engineers spend their time from Joanne Cheng, CFO Jellyfish, on his Substack.

She talked through the process of how this data was collected – so you can implement this in your firm.

It can be used to plan how many new hires are necessary for what you’re planning to implement, as well as being able to measure return on investment (ROI) on your research & development spend.

Cyber security is essential. This quick article explores the benefits of having a cyber security policy, if you don’t already. (FSB)

And if you want to speak to someone about how to improve your cyber security, Rohin Vara (LinkedIn) is very easy to talk to and has been providing affordable options to small and medium sized businesses since 2018.

(No, I don’t get a kickback if you work with Rohin; he’s just very much on the same page as I am, in terms of providing accessible, approachable, jargon-free services to small businesses, so I want to signal boost him.)

Your team is vital to your business.

We’re currently in the “Great Detachment” era, wherein employees feel increasingly disconnected from their employers.

Curious about what employees are looking for in their next job?

Gallup has just released data showing the most important reasons for taking a new job. It’s for US employees, but I expect it’s not wildly different in the UK.

Shore these up in your own company – and increase visibility of them – to help keep hold of the great talent you already have , and to attract brilliant new talent.

There are no affiliate links in this or any of my emails or blog posts. I simply enjoy sharing resources that could help move your business forward.

Using your numbers to help make your business better

Do you wish you understood how to use your data to make decisions more confidently?

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