neilmartin.me
Beats, Business & Life
Proud Dad and family man. A lifelong obsession with music. 3 decades in business and technology. Stuff about this thing called life that I’m still figuring out.
Latest
Fresh off the press
Separate the Moment From the Meaning: Epictetus and the Story You Tell Yourself
A simple way to pull apart what happened from the story you’ve told yourself about it, so the meaning you carry is one you chose.
Stop Lifting the Weights for Them: Samuel Smiles on Help That Makes Your Team Stronger
Why doing your team’s work for them keeps them weak, and the question that helps you hand a task back so they grow into it.
Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat) by Digable Planets: The Record for Keeping Your Cool
The 1992 jazz rap single with that Art Blakey bassline, the facts behind it, and a record to put on when you need a cool head and a warm heart.
The Next Small Thing: Marcus Aurelius on How to Stop Carrying the Whole Year in Your Head
A simple question from Marcus Aurelius that shrinks a year of worry down to the thing in front of you, and the small next step that gets you moving again.
Track by TrackA soundtrack for Today
Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat) by Digable Planets: The Record for Keeping Your Cool
The 1992 jazz rap single with that Art Blakey bassline, the facts behind it, and a record to put on when you need a cool head and a warm heart.
Previous tracks
Keep On Movin’ by Soul II Soul: The Steady Groove for Getting Through a Long List
Soul II Soul’s 1989 single with Caron Wheeler, the sound system story behind it, and why a steady groove is the way through a long list.
Mama Said Knock You Out by LL Cool J: The Record for When You’ve Been Written Off
LL Cool J’s comeback single, the grandmother behind it, the night it went unplugged on MTV, and the record to play when somebody has written you off.
Money Mad by London Posse: The Record That Let British Rap Sound British
London Posse’s 1988 12-inch, the BBC Two documentary where I first saw them, and what a record made in their own voices says about doing it your way.
Overcome by Tricky: The Record for Getting Through Hard Things Together
Tricky’s 1995 single, his own remake of Massive Attack’s Karmacoma, and why it’s the record to play when you’ve got something hard to get through with people beside you.
Beats
From the Decks
A lifetime of following music down the rabbit hole. The beats, the lyrics, the samples… but more than anything, how it makes you feel.
Sunday Selector
Sunday Selector: Student Once
Ask me what I was listening to as a student and these are the songs that come out first. Twenty five of them, about an hour and a half, from Audioweb to Dinosaur Jr.
I was at UEA, the University of East Anglia. Nobody ever said it in full. On campus there was the Large Common Room, and nobody called it that either. It was the LCR. On Thursday nights it was the big student club, and the rest of the week it hosted some incredible gigs.
read more…Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat) by Digable Planets: The Record for Keeping Your Cool
The 1992 jazz rap single with that Art Blakey bassline, the facts behind it, and a record to put on when you need a cool head and a warm heart.
Keep On Movin’ by Soul II Soul: The Steady Groove for Getting Through a Long List
Soul II Soul’s 1989 single with Caron Wheeler, the sound system story behind it, and why a steady groove is the way through a long list.
Business
Business In Plain English
Some of it’s about tech. Some of it’s about teams. All of it’s about the conversation that changes everything.
Stop Lifting the Weights for Them: Samuel Smiles on Help That Makes Your Team Stronger
Why doing your team’s work for them keeps them weak, and the question that helps you hand a task back so they grow into it.
Do the Sums First: Sun Tzu’s Many Calculations and Four Questions to Answer Before a Big Decision
Four questions to answer before any big business decision, from the cash to the forecast, so you go in knowing your numbers the way Sun Tzu’s winning generals did.
Write to One Person: Claude Hopkins on Marketing That Actually Connects
How to stop writing for a crowd and start writing to the one person most likely to want what you sell, with the questions to ask before your next post or email.
Life
Everything Else
The stuff off the clock. Good food, fresh threads, and trying to be a bit better than yesterday.
Separate the Moment From the Meaning: Epictetus and the Story You Tell Yourself
A simple way to pull apart what happened from the story you’ve told yourself about it, so the meaning you carry is one you chose.
The Next Small Thing: Marcus Aurelius on How to Stop Carrying the Whole Year in Your Head
A simple question from Marcus Aurelius that shrinks a year of worry down to the thing in front of you, and the small next step that gets you moving again.
The Mistakes Worth Making: Why Playing Safe Stops You Learning
Why playing safe keeps you stuck, the famous story of a very expensive mistake, and a cheap one of my own that taught me a lesson I still use.
About
Hi, I’m Neil
I got my first turntables in 1987, when I was 12, and I’ve been playing records to people ever since. I’ve been in business for three decades and I wrote a book called Done Beats Perfect. This is where I write it all down.
By day I’m Director of Marketing & Edutainment at ActionCOACH UK.
DJing since 1987Three decades in businessAuthor, Done Beats Perfect
The book
Done Beats Perfect
A short, honest book about putting things off, and how to stop. Paperback, Kindle, or the audiobook read by me.
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