Something strange happened to me yesterday.
I was in London.
Attending a talk.
Robert Poynton has updated and relaunched his successful book DO/Improvise.
The talk was wonderful.
As you’d expect from someone who has lived his subject for well over 20 years.
And in the middle of it, Rob used a word.
Which did something to my body.
A weird kind of energy rose up in me.
A good type of energy.
One I don’t feel very often.
My reaction surprised me.
So much so that I asked a question about it at the end.
It wasn’t even a particularly special word.
The phrase Rob used was “scruffy hospitality”.
And that word
Scruffy,
It made my body wake up.
My head started whirring.
And I got thinking.
I spend so much of my energy making things perfect.
Well planned.
Neat.
Orderly.
Textbook.
But one consequence of that is that a lot of stuff, never actually happens.
Journeys are not made.
Posts are not published.
Conversations are not had.
Projects stay in the planning stage.
Words remain in the textbooks.
And life can become a bit ‘meh’.
So I got whirring and wondering.
What would scruffy look like?
Scruffy friendships.
Scruffy holidays.
Scruffy parenting.
A scruffy marriage.
Scruffy work.
Scruffy writing.
Scruffy courage.
A scruffy life?
Hmm.
I don’t know.
Yet.
But here’s what I do know.
I grew up with a west highland terrier, called Flora.
Even when she was freshly back from the groomers she looked
Yup,
Scruffy.
And yet she was beautiful
Authentic
And positively full of life.
So maybe that’s what scruffy is.
Beautiful
Authentic
Alive
Feels pretty liberating to me.
What do you think?
And have you read Rob’s book?
#transformation
#mindset
#courage
#renewal
#voice
Do Improvise – Less push. More pause. Better results. A new approach to work (and life)
