There’s been big things that have happened since my last email.
Well… biggish!
The first is that Max has decided that sleep is no longer fun, no longer something he wants to do. He figures that waking up at 2am and 4am regularly, and staying awake for one or two hours, is just the right thing to do.
He’s also decided that why waste the day! There’s no point getting up at 6:30am when you can get up at 5:30am.
At the beginning this was okay, it was manageable.
But a few weeks later.
A few weeks of being woken every couple of hours after you go to bed, and then being forced awake just 6 hours after you went to bed is taking it’s toll.
Six hours, straight through, would be okay. I’d be tired but I’d be coping.
But when you’re woken every couple of hours for one or two hours, on a good day I’m getting five hours sleep and on a bad day only slightly more than three hours.
And then it hit me like a sack of shit.
(I’ve never, thankfully, been hit by a sack of shit, so not exactly sure where that phrase comes from or whether it would hurt. Either way it would be unpleasant!)
I’ve begun to feel ill because I’m so tired.
To the point that yesterday, on my way back from a conference, I was feeling kinda dizzy on the train and I could feel my brain malfunctioning.
Holly very kindly got up for the kids last night, which was great, but I’m awake whether I get up or not. She also let me lie in this morning, and I feel like I topped up enough to not feel dreadful today, but it wouldn’t take much to knock it off again.
My mum has also been helping out hugely, taking the kids to nursery, picking them up, giving them bath, loading the dishwasher and a whole bunch of other things.
So I’m very lucky.
But still feel kinda ropey.
A solution to the broken sleep is what is needed, and I have begun looking!
While looking for that solution I am always looking to learn new skills and try new approaches in work.
My work, if you’re not sure, is in two primary areas. Horse racing and business. I know that’s pretty vague, but I don’t want to bore you with a detailed description.
They may seem like worlds apart, but they aren’t, they’re very similar.
They’re similar because they both revolve around numbers!
From the business perspective I’ve started learning something that I never thought I would, SEO.
I don’t mean small scale SEO, I mean full on, knocking at the door of big keywords SEO.
If you’re not familiar with the phrase SEO, it stands for Search Engine Optimisation. There’s a bunch more detail in it, but essentially it’s about being listed in Google on page one for the search phrase that people would use if they looked for you.
You do this because it puts your website in a position where more people will see it, which means more people will come, your brand reach will increase and your customer base will increase.
Or at least that’s the idea.
The more words in the search phrase, generally the easier it is to achieve but the less traffic (people visiting your site from searches at Google) you will get.
Take “horse racing” for example.
This would be considered a very difficult phrase to rank for.
But “profitable horse racing analysis” would be easier.
Honestly, I just made those up. I’ve no idea if anybody searches for “profitable horse racing analysis”, but you get the idea.
This is a new departure for me, and I’m excited to be doing something new.
On top of that I attended training with a company that I work with, and it was very interesting. More a small group of people, all who own medium to large businesses, getting advice on business structure.
Getting other people to give you ideas, suggest things, push you on your thoughts is a great way to get the brain working and begin coming up with new ideas.
Even more importantly, when I start getting ideas I get a renewed level of enthusiasm for things, and not necessarily just the things that I got the ideas for, it passes onto everything!
If you want to bounce an idea off someone, and haven’t got anybody to do it with, let me know and I’ll happily create a space where we can do it.
On the way to this conference I read two books.
Admittedly… I didn’t read them all. But I got through 75% of one and 50% of another.
Yes, it was a long train journey.
I tend to have two books on the go at any time. I have a business book and a fiction book.
The fiction book is Origin by Dan Brown.
Before the Dan Brown naysayers jump on here, I like his writing, I find it easy to read, enjoyable and relaxing.
Admittedly, if you read a few of them close to each other, they’re pretty much the same plot put onto a slightly different storyline. But I don’t mind that because I don’t read them close together and structure works for me.
If you haven’t read it, I’d suggest you give it a read.
The business book I’m reading is called ReWork, and I consider it a must-read.
Written by the founders of 39Signals, the company that creates software BaseCamp and a whole bunch of others, share their way to grow businesses to success.
And it’s not the typical way.
It’s a method that sits very comfortably with me, because it relies significantly less on planning and significantly more on finding what works and repeating it.
This method of building businesses just makes sense to me.
Simple. Logical. Very few moving pieces. Small teams. Agile. Rapidly adaptable.
Why would you choose any other method.
So what’s coming next?
At the moment I’m very excited by what 2021 has in store. A lot of things can happen (I’m also in the very early stages of helping a friend start a new digital business in education, and setting up a charitable Saturday drama school for children with Holly and my mum).
What will happen or where will it go? I’ve got no idea at the moment, but I’ll keep you posted.
Catch you soon.
Michael Wilding
My first daughter slept, most of the day and all night. My son Nelson didn't. For the first 6 weeks, it was because he would only sleep on his stomach and, of course, we were putting him on his back. After that, he hated to be put down, at any time of day, so I ended up carrying him around and then, at night, he wouldn't sleep, at least not in his own bed. I think we got a book that outlined how to put a child to bed, let them cry for a few minutes, then go in and reassure him (but not pick him up), leave him for a few more minutes, go in, reassure him etc. Gradually increasing the timeframes. I remember it killed me, him crying at all, but it must have worked eventually. Or perhaps I got his father to do it? One of us must have, because he did end up going to sleep ok. Does he have a special toy? Both of mine did and it really helped. And a blankie. Cheers, N x