Be More Pirate – or how to take on the world and win by Sam Conniff Allende

There’s only one thing more stupid than stupid rules, and that’s the people who follow them.’ Sam Conniff Allende

Be More Pirate – or how to take on the world and win by Sam Conniff Allende has been on the Lucidity Network business book club list for a while. I’ve been looking forward to the day arriving when we got to review it. The title was a little too enticing for me, so I read as soon as I saw it in the list. I love pirates, pirate stories, movies, sailing, rum, you name it, I am there. I even wore a 50’s style dress with skulls and crossbones as a bridesmaid!

The book takes you on a journey through the history of the Golden Age Pirates looking at their more equitable and fair practices and also some of today’s pirates. One of today’s modern pirates Taylor Swift’s really struck a chord with me.

 ‘Rejecting the obvious record-industry route, Taylor is signed to a small-town label where she retains complete control of her career. With no industry machine to back her, she’s nevertheless amassed the clout to stand up to Apple and Spotify, and bring them both to heel. Her storytelling through song, content, social media and well-orchestrated gossip, vendettas and ‘feuds’ with everyone from Kanye West to Katy Perry means she’s routinely named on social media amongst the world’s most powerful figures.’ Bemorepirate.com

There are so many hurdles to the Arts and music. I have real respect for her taking on the big recording companies and being in charge of her own career. It made me see her differently and also showed me how sometimes you need to look at things differently.

Christine de Leon, Editor-in-Chief for The Beautiful Truth, beautifully summarises what author Sam Conniff Allende says in the book that being more pirate comes down to five key elements of the Pirate Code:

1. Breaking the rules and rewriting better ones;

2. Having the right crew;

3. Sticking to your principles;

4. Redistributing power to protect those principles;

5. Using spectacular storytelling techniques so the world pays attention.

I work for a small mental health charity that punches above its weight, and in many ways, it felt like we were already in part pirates! However, I felt there was more we could do to adopt the principles of the book. Convincing the team to adopt a pirate ethos was a small challenge; everyone laughed but it made sense. We’d recently had a consultation across social media which had showed us that people didn’t want public sector organisations or even charities to give them mental health support, because they didn’t trust us. They wanted to hear from their peers.

As a peer-led organisation, it made sense to open up our social media channels to the people following up and accessing our charity for support. We let them take charge. We only had two rules:

1. That you couldn’t say anything you would not say to your gran or your boss

2. You couldn’t mention medication.

We launched a peer-led podcast, a newsletter and our own hashtag. We even rebranded. All this of this peer-led. And all motivated by the Pirate Code. The result – we doubled our following and engagement. Our income also grew.

‘Be more pirate or be more Kodak’  Alex Barker

Being more Pirate offers an eye-opening into how to challenge your thinking, how things can be done differently and being more authentic. However, the question I am left with is do you eventually have to go back and keep breaking your rules? Do you then become part of the problem? I’m off to contemplate this but leave you with if you could break one rule, what would it be?

 Also published on the Lucidity Network: https://www.lucidity.org.uk/be-more-pirate-change-starts-with-you/

The Batch: A Creative writing challenge in lockdown.

The year is 2247. Earth no longer habitable, Mars has been terraformed along with the Moon and Jupiter’s Moons. Ophelia Brand is second generation Martian.

Ophelia hears a dog barking. She is not sure where is she is. There are no dogs on Mars. Her view is obstructed. Her state is dreamlike. The dog barks become louder. 

Ophelia waking finds herself lying on a cold hard floor. The room is shadowy. She is bruised and tender. Her long dark hair sticking to her face. She thinks to herself “I really shouldn’t have done that. Argh. My head.”

 “You’re totally right. You should not have done. What will they say? “Startled and unsure where the voice is coming from Ophelia tries to stand up. She can’t. Her body like dead weight won’t move. Paralysed she tries to make sense of where is. She tries not to remember what happened, mumbling to herself, “I’m such an idiot”, shivers run through her body. “Why is that dog barking?” she says.

The voice speaks again “I think that’s a cargo shipment arriving. You should probably go and meet them. I don’t think we can survive another week here.”

Ophelia tries to focus. “I’d better make it to that shipment” she says to herself. She makes out a shape in the distance. She sees a door and staggers towards it. The door feels like it is getting further away.

“You won’t make it. They won’t let you get on the ship even if you do. Look at you. You can’t even stand”

Ophelia spins around to see who is talking to her but her vision is too blurry, her head throbbing she just collapses.

When she wakes again, the room is different, it’s bright, lights shining everywhere and noisy. Machines beeping. People talking though she can’t quite make out what they are saying. Her head still throbbing, she tries to get up but is pulled back from the sharp pain jolts through her hand. Suddenly someone is over “Don’t move. We found you pretty beaten up. You need to rest.”

Ophelia opens her mouth to speak but her throat is dry and no sound comes out. Tears roll down her face. She keeps quiet and lies back down on the bed pulling the sheets tighter around her. She blinks her tears away and hopes no one has recognised her.

“We found you two days ago” the nurse says. Ophelia could make out her badge now, Nurse Gail. She starts speaking again “Quite a few people caught up in that explosion, not many survived. You’re one of the lucky ones.” Ophelia rolls on to her side, afraid of what is to come.

Imperfect parenting, self-care and looking after our children’s health and wellbeing during lockdown.

How do we explain this pandemic to our children? How do we give them information without overwhelming them?

We decided that explaining what is happening, the virus and the importance of good hand and cough hygiene is important. I know some friends who have tried to shield their children a bit more. I don’t think there is a right or wrong. We have to go with what feels best to us. My little boy was kept off school about two weeks before the schools actually closed because I was recovering from surgery and couldn’t risk getting sick.

We started off with good intentions of trying to implement a sort of school programme. Both of us enjoyed it initially but I am no teacher. I don’t have the patience, interest or motivation in teaching. In fact, I am pretty rubbish at it. Most likely why I am not a teacher! And I also have to work.

We stuck to P.E with Joe Wick, it is good to move our bodies and it makes us laugh. Most of all when I can’t walk properly for days after. We downloaded a learn to code app for children. That means he can use the iPad and I can work. I’ve got involved in some of my work so he understands that I have to work. Not sure he understands what I do, most people don’t and I am not even sure I do! We have lunch and dinner together. We have one day where he is the boss and sets the rules. We practice gratitude every day.

Staying calm, having a laugh and not putting any additional pressure on ourselves is important. These are not normal times and I don’t think my son will suffer academically from his absence from school. My son is five and I know each child will be different. What he will miss the most is the interaction with other children and learning from his peers. I don’t make a great playdate, as a child I preferred my own company and playing by myself.  But yesterday I found myself really making a conscious effort to play as a child. I will do this more.

I think my efforts had an impact because it led to a quite open discussion with my son. I had asked him a couple of days before how his teddy was feeling about the situation. He told me one of his teddies was okay but the other one had caught the virus and have given it to lots of people and was very sad. I asked what we could do to help and I was told he just needed hugs. I realised then that my son was in need in of a lot more hugs! Following our play session and deep yoga breathing exercise (which involves making your belly swell as much as you can and then breathing it all out as loudly as you can) – my son really opened up. He told me the Lego men had gone to visit the playmobiles and now they had a virus and were sick. He said they had opened up a hospital but people young like you and daddy are dying. He asked why we had to stay home. With my 4 pirates Lego men I tried to explain social distancing.  With the pirate guns, I tried to explain the spread of germs and how washing hands and cleaning things kills the germs. Today the Legos have managed to control the virus and they are quite happy at home.

Things I have learnt so far:

1. I have realised more play and a little less structure really is fine.

2. Talking is good.

3. Being silly and laughing is good.

4. We need to be kind to ourselves so our children learn to be kind to themselves now and in the future.

5. We do not need to have anything figured out.

6. We do not in any way shape or form need to be perfect. And pyjamas are fine! Whatever it takes!

Lockdown, digital services and moving forward.

I went in for surgery and came out to a 28 days’ later scenario. I was probably lucky to have the surgery at all as everything shut down after. I was isolated from then, about two weeks before the lockdown. I am no stranger to being secluded at home with no contact, as I moved around during my 20’s this was often been the case and then again when I had my son. Being a new mum was a period of time where I barely left the house or had contact with people. I also work from home so this is not a new development for me.

But these are strange times. And as we try to adapt, change, predict, cope and generally try to look after ourselves and our friends, our families, our communities whilst social distancing.

How are we really coping?

I went shopping the other day and the sight of an empty town centre, with but a few cars around and the cars I did see had people wearing masks in them. I had this strange sadness come over me, a feeling of loss for what once was, tears rolled down my face, trying to be strong but it was overwhelming. I think that is normal. We are grieving a loss of life as we knew it and will probably do so for some time. Life before wasn’t perfect but it made sense. It is what we were used to, we are creatures of habit.

On the whole though it seems everyone is adapting as quickly as they can. Services, conferences, exercise classes, etc. have moved online. I can probably access more things now than I ever could before. It is both overwhelming and comforting. I have championed digital and its possibilities for a while now and to have seen it become a service delivery is awesome. I don’t think we will ever go back to it being a side thought or something we do alongside our work, it is here to stay, a permanent fixture in the way we consider delivering services.

Digital services could offer a real path to inclusivity and as we refine it as a delivery tool and consider those that we are not reaching yet, we could potentially increase impact.

How do we do this?

The government digital service offers a checklist:

https://gds.blog.gov.uk/2014/01/13/a-checklist-for-digital-inclusion-if-we-do-these-things-were-doing-digital-inclusion/

1.       Start with user needs - not our own

2.       Improve access - stop making things difficult

3.       Motivate people - find something they care about

4.       Keep it safe - build trust

5.       Work with others - don’t do it alone

6.       Focus on wider outcomes - measure performance

The national lottery Community fund offers tips on improving access:

https://bigblogscotland.org.uk/2020/04/15/a-10-step-guide-to-make-your-social-media-content-more-accessible/

But the real questions are how to we motivate and include the people to guide the work of organisations so that it really meets the needs of those they want to reach? How to we support greater collaboration, partnerships and joint working in this new digital connectedness?

I would love to hear your thoughts and suggestions.

It’s not about going back. This is about moving forward. It’s a chance to work together to build something better, smarter and stronger. -  Marie Forleo

Minimalism, simple living and sustainability: The start of a journey.

Minimalism, simple living and sustainability: The start of a journey.

Four nearly five years ago, we reduced our plastic consumption. Launching ourselves right into it we aimed for zero waste! I would we are “nearly” and “aiming for” zero waste rather than actually zero waste. The first thing we did is we got rid of our large bin (it became a recycling bin) and replaced it with one a fifth of the size. I made my own make up, cleaning products, tried to find alternatives to what we were buying and cut things out. It took some adjustments and some practice and some things didn’t stick like making my own Make up and beauty products. My skin is not the best and it just got worse, cracking and bleeding. I have been able to find products that come in glass and more are appearing on the market now in alternative packaging. Plastic free items are definitely on the increase since we started reducing our sustainability journey and a shop has popped up near us.

Our plastic free swaps:

Our vegetables are delivered weekly by a farm near us and meat is bought at butchers and locally sourced – we have a flexitarian diet and have reduced our meat consumption to very low levels. We pay a little more for our vegetables but have traded the convenience and higher quality. Spending less on other things has counteracted this.

We make our own bread. We only buy things in glass, cardboard or tin. Sometimes this means you have to pay a premium to do this and you should consider budget first and foremost. I’d love to be able to do it all but just can’t.

We swapped our plastic toothbrush for bamboo ones but toothpaste has been an issue and we still get them in tubes. That can’t really be avoided for children. Colgate will however recycle their tubes.

­­­­Shampoo and conditioner. We tried shampoo bars (so many) and came round full circle. We now buy Paraben free shampoo and conditioner in large recyclable containers. They last a long time.

We gave up Cow’s milk and replaced it with Oatley milk. It took some time to find an alternative we all liked though.

Living more sustainability has involved a redirection of effort, time, and money put into purchasing items, completing tasks, and generally living life. Some meals have become family activities like making tacos. The shopping is list is very straightforward and pretty similar week to week.

We aren’t perfect, far from it, but I don’t think the world needs a few people doing things perfectly but rather of us doing things imperfectly. I feel like I am making a small difference and living more in line with my values. My son is learning to live sustainably. My family have also tried to make adjustments since we started our journey and we have also impacted on friends. My workplace has also made more sustainable choices. Every little change can make a difference.

“It is the greatest of all mistakes to nothing because you can only do a little. Do what you can.” – Sydney Smith

Some things you can do today:

1.       If you haven’t already stop buying water in plastic bottles and other drinks in plastic bottles.

2.       Carry a reusable water bottle and travel mug wherever you go. You get a discount on your coffee too.

3.       Swap your washing powder from one in plastic packaging to one that is recyclable such as cardboard.

4.       Swap your hand wash gel for soap.