Seneca said take your time deciding who gets in, then trust them fully. Why I think trust is a clean sheet of white paper, what eight hours at a mentor’s house taught me, and why the friends I trust most mostly listen.
Neil Martin · Beats, Business & Life
Life
Discipline First, Habit Later
Small daily habits came up again and again on my 2019 summit. For most of the guests they started as discipline and slowly turned into habit.
Small Nudges, Big Wins, and How I Celebrate Them
A friend told me I’d lost weight on the very weekend I took off from my new routine. Two wins from my week, the small nudges behind them, and the simple ways I mark a win.
An Example or a Warning
For years the picture I kept of my dad was a hospital bed. What I found when I looked again, and why every life is an example or a warning.
Whose Opinion of You Gets the Final Say?
One review of my book still rings louder than every DM. Why Marcus Aurelius says that happens, and a simple way to give your own opinion the final say.
The people who shaped me before I’d ever met them
In 2016 I made a list of people who’d changed my life without ever meeting me. Who was on it, what each one gave me, and a question that might help you find your own list.
Stress Is a Signal, and It Gets Louder If You Ignore It
Lessons from my 2019 summit on treating numbness and lost motivation as signals, and on knowing when to stop or walk away.
What Joe Cross told me about his biggest achievement
In 2014 I interviewed Joe Cross from Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead on his day off. What he said about his biggest achievement, an ice cream in Harrods and the routine nobody sees, and what it says about what really counts.
The Extra Certificate Cost Me the Better Degree
In my second year at university I picked modules for a British Computer Society badge instead of ones I actually enjoyed, and it cost me the degree I could have had.
What I’d tell 25-year-old me about confidence and time
At 25 I looked confident and thought I had forever. Neither was true. Two things I’d tell my younger self, and a question that might help you spot the same in you.
The Day I Jumped Out of a Plane
Saying yes to a charity skydive was the easy bit. What the jump itself taught me about change, and why the scary middle bit has the best view.
The year I ran my Dad’s race
At 12 I watched my dad run the Southampton Half. In 2015, years after losing him, I ran it for him. What that race taught me about making peace with the past.
Every week
Get The Mix
One short email a week. One track, one idea, one thing worth your time.
Two minutes to read. Unsubscribe in one click.
Free stuff
Free downloads
Planners and one-page guides to print and scribble on. No email needed.
About
Hi, I’m Neil
DJing since 1987, three decades in business, and the author of Done Beats Perfect. This is where I write it all down.