Mixed Signals: Back foot

No. 36 – 21st of May, 2023

This week, I've mostly existed on the back foot.

Do you ever get those days where you somehow start several miles behind where you should be? Those days have a way of feeding into the next day, and the next, and the next. It's hard to break the cycle.

We focus on morning routines. What time we get up. What we do with those precious minutes.

I've realised what matters more is the evening routine. There are nights (even with 3 kids) when I eat a decent meal in the early evening, spend some time winding down, load the dishwasher, and get to bed in enough time to read. And there's an undeniable correlation between the following day going well.

So this coming week I'll be thinking less about my mornings, and more about my evenings. Less about the wake-up alarm, more about the bedtime alarm. Less reactive, more proactive.

Enjoy! ~ GKT

Too many *!@%!&$ podcasts

Warning: The language on this podcast makes it not safe to listen if you have children, if your neighbours have children, or if a child has ever been within 3 miles of your home.

Having said that, it is rather brilliant.

Six episodes. Six celebrity friends. Six books.

In amongst the swearing, I do think this podcast does a great job of opening reading up to more people. Similar to how Frank Skinner has been making poetry more accessible. Side note: Frank's partner Cath Mason is Daisy's agent and has her own rather brilliant (sweary) podcast with her sister.

+ Educating Daisy with Daisy May Cooper

+ Frank Skinner's Poetry Podcast

+ I Wish I Was An Only Child

Do not touch

I enjoyed listening to Michael Banissy (author of When We Touch) on Bruce Daisley's podcast this week. Touch is such an important topic and it's one we really need to understand better.

10+ years ago, when I started volunteering with children, there was a concerted effort to demystify what safeguarding means. In order to protect children, the rules had evolved into no touch, ever. The outcome was a child crying alone, with adults stood by watching on and sharing comforting words. This just isn't OK.

+ Eat Sleep Work Repeat Podcast: The Importance of Touch

+ When We Touch by Michael Banissy

The small joys of AI

Marketers in the UK should worry more about economic and social decline and less about AI, according to Richard Huntington, Saatchi & Saatchi’s chief strategy officer.

Reporting on research that combines in-depth interviews with 13 people from across the country, with a YouGov survey of 1,999 people, there was one clear message. People are worried.

Huntington follows up with some practical advice for us strategists, including finding ways to bring small joys into people's lives. Perhaps that's something AI can help us with?

+ ‘People are worried’ – Saatchi & Saatchi takes the pulse of Britain

+ The ‘Wes Anderson directs Star Wars’ AI art fad has its first full movie trailer

+ Accessible Numbers from the brilliant Laura Parker

+ Children See, Children Do

+ Art, with narration