Last week I had coffee with a friend.  She ordered an almond croissant and we sat outside a little French shop in the heart of Soho.  I knew that she had recently left her organisation, and as we chatted I asked her a question;

If you could do anything, if all of of your costs were covered, and you had to work… what would you do for the next year?

At first she stared at me.  Then she smiled, then she laughed.  “Do you know, THAT, is a really good question”.

It didn’t take long for her to begin describing her dream work.  We talked more.  We went our separate ways.

Almost exactly a week later, I turned on my phone to find a text. 

Oli hi.  We need to talk!  Have news you around tomorrow am?

We spoke at 8am the following morning.  She certainly had news.  In fact she had a new office.  In Soho.  More importantly, she had decided exactly what her next adventure would be.  Doing exactly the thing we had discussed over coffee and a croissant.   As we spoke on that morning phone call, she said something very interesting to me;

“You asked me that question.  And nobody had asked me that question for years.” 

So reader, this got me thinking.  I decided to ask people, using Twitter and Facebook the same question;

You have all costs covered for one year.  You must work.  What do you do?

I’ve been amazed, surprised and inspired by some of the answers.  Here is a selection;

@corrozo Write and make films

@jake A fisherman or farmer in that order

@nedatutu I would probably set up a Neda Concierge business!

@rachel_james Work at a zoo without a doubt

@farhanlalji What I’m doing now, starting a company

@kouya Write books

@robwmay Photograph the nation’s homeless

@fbrownwork touring creative enterprise and design innovation around US colleges.  Road trip!

@EmmsieLu Bake cakes, paint pictures, design websites and branding for start ups, work in a charity

@Matlock organise conferences about storytelling. take pictures, blog more

@LloydDavis Create the ‘thing’ that #Tuttle2Texas was a prototype for; blog more; play more (serious work play!)

@Groob Exactly what I’m doing now (just maybe from a Covent Garden penthouse).

@LouiseWiseman Write and act, maybe do a spot of garden design on the side, if I have time!!

@evarley Throw myself into starting all of the projects I have on the backburner without having to worry about how I’ll pay the rent

@oli Live in the sunshine and play and record some outstanding music

@RichMulholland I’d write a book

@ArrivalEd Do everything you think you can’t or isn’t possible

On Facebook, friends shared answers to the same question, which included…

“Teach”

“Study”

“I think the same as now. Is that weird? I love my life and wouldn’t change it for the world”

“Write a book on how you did it and what you did now you got there”

“Set up a cool new project for your local teenagers”

“I’d pay it forward”

“Become a courtesan”

“Do what I’m doing now, trying to raise money for the forthcoming production in September of a new play by a 91 year old playwright who influenced the Pythons, Goodies and just about any absurdist comedian you can think of;  but without the crappy, low paid itinerant work squeezed around it.  You did ask.”

“Exactly the same as I’m doing now. But I’d probably fill my panini sticker album quicker”

 So many answers, and as you might expect, so many times when you think how amazing the person answering would be at their dream work, if only they could start it right now.

Inevitably, this has got me thinking about the same question.  What would my own answer be? 

Although broadly speaking I love what I do, it has reminded me of some things.  Things I’ve not really spoken about properly for years.  I have a passion for writing songs. Composing them on a beautiful Yahama piano would be a dream for me.  I want to travel more, and to spend more time hosting fantastic events around the world,  bringing very different types of people together.  I want to work in TV and radio, maybe presenting, maybe producing.  Making programmes not about politics, not about the doom and gloom, but about incredible people doing great things, all over the world.  Meeting, them, interviewing them and hopefully helping them in some way.  Perhaps this is my croissant moment.

Strangely, reading those replies, and writing this post, it hits me that what I’d also like to do is help people to do the one thing they would love to do.  Not in an advisory way – I wouldn’t know what to say- but in a practical way, by connecting them with people.  I’m going to add that to my own answer.  Hopefully someone reading this will be receiving a text message,  from me, in a week from now.

 

 

 

Three of my favourites clips…

Validation

A wonderful short film which is worth the sixteen minutes you will spend watching it.

Where The Hell is Matt?

Maybe it’s because I worked at Epcot’s International Showcase at Disney World, maybe because I Speednetworked the Globe.  Maybe it’s because I’m just a sucker for this kind of thing…

That John Lewis Advert

I’ve loved the Billy Joel song in this John Lewis advert since I was eleven years old.  It’s one of my favourite commericals of the past few years….

If you drop a frog into a saucepan of boiling water, so the story goes, it will jump straight out.  And frankly who can blame it?  It’s not easy being green at the best of times.  If, on the other hand, you place the frog in a saucepan of cold water, and heat it up very slowly, it will not sense the danger and will boil to death. 

This, I think, tells you all you need to know about the expenses scandal which has gripped and dirtied British politics over the past year.  It is also a reminder that we need to involve more outsiders in our lives.  When someone from a different country, industry or even generation is first confronted with the way we do things, they are far more able and likely to say ‘hang on a second – this is nuts’.  Immersed in the cauldron of an organisation’s stupidity, their reaction may either be to jump straight out, or shout ‘Eureka’.   

I have been meaning to write something about procrastination but to be honest, I’ve been putting it off.  Seriously though, they say the trick to getting things done is to do the least enjoyable task first.  They call it ‘eating the frog’.  I’m not sure how well this works in France, where such a thing might be considered something of a treat.  Also, anyone lucky enough to work for themself, frog-eating can be challenging because it is counter-intuitive.  Your whole life has been designed around the principle of doing what you want to do.  For business owners, entrepreneur Lara Morgan recommends a ‘Misery Day’.  This day, once a month, contains all of the absolutely worst, grottiest jobs you could possibly imagine.  By calling it Misery Day, you are revelling in its awfulness, underlining its importance and using it as one big reason to get things done.

Finally , a question, which relates again to our amphibious friends: 

Two frogs are sitting on a log.  One decides to jump off.  How many frogs are now sitting on the log?

The answer, is two.  Did you guess?

Why two?  Because one of the frogs only DECIDED to jump off.  He didn’t actually go anywhere. 

          “Then indecision brings its own delays,
          And days are lost lamenting over lost days.
          Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute;
          What you can do, or dream you can do, begin it;
          Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.”

       Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

A few months ago, an email arrived from an organisation which connects student entrepreneur societies from around the country.  Would I, they wondered, be interested in speaking at their upcoming event, on the subject of ‘Shameless Self-Promotion’.  I nearly spat out my cornflakes.  No beating about the bush there.  I replied, suggesting that the title could do with some work, however yes, in principle, I would be interested.  Taking my feedback onboard, they put another angle to me;  “How about a session with Oli Barrett, the ‘notorious networker’?”  Reader, I practically toppled off my high horse.  Me, notorious?  Moi, a shameless self-promoter?  The very thought of it!  The idea that I would shout about my own activities is just beyond belief…

It is with great excitement then, that I can tell you that Wired Magazine in the UK have drawn up a list of 100 names of the people who, in their opinion, are ‘shaping the digital world’ here in Britain.  I seem to have snuck in at 74, between the Guardian’s Carolyn McCall (who is soon flying off to run EasyJet), and Dr Tim Hubbard from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. 

The list is online here, and it’s great to see some friendly faces, including Rishi Saha, Michael Acton Smith, Tom Loosemore, Bindi Karia, Nic Brisbourne, Rory Sutherland, Mike Butcher, Joe Cohen, David Bott, Natalie Massenet, Andy Gibson, Richard Moross, Matt Locke, Andy Hobsbawm and Judith Clegg.

I’m listed as ‘entrepreneur, connector’ and so, perhaps predictably then the list (which of course is totally unscientific), has got me thinking about which of the 100 know each other.  My mission then, over the coming months will be to try to trigger a few introductions of my own between its members.  I’ll let you know how I get on!

“NOTORIETY, n. The fame of one’s competitor for public honors. The kind of renown most accessible and acceptable to mediocrity. A Jacob’s-ladder leading to the vaudeville stage, with angels ascending and descending.” Ambrose Bierce