Category Archives: Karens Notes

The story of the shitty pots (make more, get better)

Make your shitty pots: from quantity to quality - Karen Reyburn
` There’s a story about a ceramics teacher who split his class into two groups. One would focus on quality, making the very best ceramic pot, and only one; and the other would focus on quantity, making as many ceramic pots as they possibly could. The results would be graded accordingly: in the quality group,

From fear-based to opportunity-based thinking

Karen Reyburn - From fear-based to opportunity-based thinking
` A few weeks ago I had the privilege of literally watching someone go from “but this might not work” and all the reasons it was Too Much, to “ohhh this could be amazing actually!” It was a perfect example of moving from making a decision based on the fears to making a decision based

What happens when your business is… sorted?

What happens when your business is…sorted? - Karen Reyburn
` What will you do when you’ve arrived?  One of the things business owners tend to focus on is getting the business to run the way you want. To run without you! Systems, team, leadership, pricing… you work so hard on each of these and it often takes longer than you expect.  Many of you

Recommending something as “good” isn’t very helpful

Recommending something as “good” isn’t very helpful
` “Ohh, that book is really good!” I believe that's one of the least helpful things you can tell someone when they ask if a book is good, or a film, or a restaurant, or anything. A true recommendation isn’t about telling someone to have your same experience: it’s about understanding what, about that experience,

Choose your own new year

Choose your own new year - Karen Reyburn
Happy new year… to me!! You may remember I decided to move my new year to my birthday (which is today). January is a cold, dark, wet, windy, wild month: and I had some recuperating to do from all the Christmas travels. (Here’s the LinkedIn post about it if you want to catch up on the whys

Seek for team harmony, not team unity

Seek for team harmony, not team unity - Karen Reyburn
` I was once asked to help teach a group of young people about singing in harmony. I wasn’t sure I was the best person to do this. Although I grew up singing at home and in church, and in small groups or choirs, it was all self taught - or rather, learned from listening

The cycle of book buying and reading (or not)

The cycle of book buying and reading (or not)- Karen Reyburn
  The “Book progression model” (or book disappearance model): 1. From the screen to your amazon basket (or order form) 2. Sits in the parcel for a few days 3. Out of the parcel and on to your desk - there it is! I’ll read it soon! 4. Moves to the “to be read’ pile because it’s been sitting

Win targets and dream targets

Win targets and dream targets - Karen Reyburn
  Setting targets is one thing. But what kind of target are you setting? How achievable is it, really? This one can be hard to estimate. I find myself thinking, “I need to go really ambitious, because if you have low targets you’ll just reach them, and I need to push myself!” Then reality appears

Book notes: Grit – the power of passion plus perseverance

There was a good bit I liked about this book, but ultimately I’m still left with questions about whether I fully agree with the book’s premise.  Which is that grit is made up of both passion and perseverance. It’s not just pressing on, or keeping going: it’s doing all of that in an area (or with a goal) which is