The Devil Is In The Detail

I think we all have an optimum way of working. Some folks like to work in complete silence. Some folks like to work on their own. Some folks like to work in an open plan office space. Some folks like to work in the mornings. Some folks like to whistle while they work. That annoys me. Some folks don’t like to work.

Personally, I enjoy working. I made it my mission when I was a fresh faced but spotty boy from Leeds at school to work in something I loved and enjoyed. I saw my parents work so hard, such long hours, doing work that they didn’t particularly enjoy to give me and my sister a good start in life. I don’t like the fact that they had to, but I am eternally grateful. So I made it my mission to do something I enjoy and that something was sport. Football would be the ideal thing, but sport would keep me motivated to work and to work hard for the long forty-plus year slog we all have to make.

When I was young, I pretty much found my optimum way of working. If it was something I was not interested in, I just did enough to reach the next level. My mum showed me my school reports a month or so ago and it was hilarious to read the comments which are as appropriate now as they were twenty years ago. If it was something I was interested in or could tailor to football such as a random poem or story in English, I excelled.

The other thing I noticed when I was young was that I had a tendency to work best under pressure. That usually meant doing work at the very last minute. In some ways I am incredibly organised and meticulous. In other ways, I only produce my best when the pressure is on. During my working life, the same has always applied. I have always sort the high tempo intensity that brings the best out of me and it is what I enjoy.

In terms of working environment, I am not one to particularly revel in working in silence or on my own. Give me an airport, a room full of people, loud noise and music, all kinds of disturbances, and I am able to find my own silence and solitude in my head to work. I am reasonably fortunate to be able to do that. Given the travel and the hectic lifestyle I have often led, it has been the only way to progress.

I was always a nighthawk and still am. I generally produce my best late at night. Maybe it is another case leaving things until the last minute, I am not sure, but it is something I have always enjoyed. Whether I had to write an essay through the night, research and analyse football matches, or general stuff, the night has always been my friend. I sit here right now at 4.30am writing this blog and I am enjoying every moment. If you are reading this any time before 6am, then I apologise and hope you can go back to sleep.

My other place of great thought and contemplation is the loo. I kid you not. Instead of a magazine, try take a problem or issue to the loo next time, and give it some rational thought. It is amazing what you can come up with sometimes on the throne.

Not everything works for all people. HJ is an early bird and gets more done in the first few hours of the day than I get done before 3pm. My way is certainly not the best way, that I am sure. But it works for me. The devil is in the detail and working out our optimum way to work or live is pretty important for me.