How to make everyone think you’re great

Maybe it’s because we’re British, but the two of us are fantastically adept at brushing off compliments whenever we receive them. “Oh, this old thing? Got it in the bargain bin at Tesco, and the buttons won’t do up because I’m so fat. Have it if you want – it’s bound to look better on you.” That kind of thing. We’re also rather shy about saying what we’re good at – and when we do say anything, we normally feel the need to work through lots of self-deprecating background information…

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“Going deep”

Whenever we’re with friends or new acquaintances and the conversation is getting a little bit stale/whiney/gossipy/surface level, I have a habit of bringing out my secret weapon: a list of questions I’ve collated from various websites and resources, which are intended to both reactivate the chat and “go deep” at the same time. I don’t even bother with segues like “Hmmm, well, speaking of death…”: I just pull out my phone and shriek, “Hey! I have a bunch of questions that are really fun to answer – Tim Ferriss uses…

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On being different

“Robbie, where do you want your ashes to be scattered when you die?” “Well I’ll be dead by that point, so it doesn’t matter. You choose.” “You must have somewhere you’d like them to be scattered? A favourite place? Somewhere meaningful?” “OK. Bangkok.” “Oooh! Why Bangkok? Because you love it there?” “Yeah, I do. But I’ll be dead, so I don’t really care. If you’re still alive, though, you’ll get a nice holiday out of it.” “But also because you love it there too, right? I don’t want you to…

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Before you go off to do that…

Last week we officially launched a new business. We created the website, got the business cards designed, opened the bank account, and began the hiring process for our first member of staff. Importantly, though, we didn’t do ANY of this until we’d actually been running the business for more than half a year already. In fact, for well over six months we also had no logo, no marketing materials, no formal agreement with our business partner, no documentation, and no plans for how to scale. We didn’t even have a…

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Europe… in or out?

  “So… in or out?” It’s the British equivalent of “What the f**k do we do about Trump?” – the conversation starter of choice at dinner tables around the country. Later this year, there’ll be a referendum on whether the UK should remain in the EU, or if it should scarper – leaving Merkel et al. with no one around to discuss the weather or debate imperial vs metric. Most people assume that Rob and I would prefer to stay firmly “in”, because we’re digital nomads and we spend a…

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