Category: Journal

Resolutions for 2017

So it’s the final day of 2016 and the start of 2017 draws ever closer.   As such now is the time to conclude my 2 part blog, which started with a look back on 2016, by looking forward and setting out my plans, pledges or resolutions for 2017.    My targets for the year ahead are not as quantifiable as those set for 2016.   This is the result of reflection which has led me to conclude that the narrow focus of quantifiable targets, which although good for motivation, fails to allow for the appreciation of the richer nature of life and the achievements of a whole year.   As such this years resolutions are more broad strokes, with quantifiable and measurable targets set on a weekly or monthly basis as need arises.

So on to the resolutions:

#BeHappy

I think this is of key importance which I why I am listing it first.   All the achievements, success, etc. isn’t worth a whole lot if you are not happy.    I also give some thought to the book I have just finished, Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely.    He suggested that our feelings may have a link to our successes, so if I am more positive I am more likely to succeed.   He also suggested a link between feelings and health with someone more positive more likely to overcome colds and other common aliments than someone who is negative or unhappy.   For me this all links to mindfulness and being aware in myself of how I am feeling.   So in 2017 I hope to be more happy which will require me to be more mindful.

#BeConnected

I will continue my efforts from 2016 into 2017, continuing to blog and be active in twitter in particular however also engaging in conferences and other events as they arise.   I also want to continue to write and submit articles for inclusion in #ukedchat’s magazine.    This said, I will try to avoid myself feeling obligated or forcing myself to write a set number of pieces or tweets per week or per month.   Where more important matters arise my connectedness may fall however this is to be expected and accepted.   I need to keep a better eye on putting first things first.

#BeChallenged

I am not sure what my challenge for the year ahead will be, whether it will be to refocus on Google Certified Educator, on Microsoft Certified Educator Expert or on something totally different however in 2017 I will push myself to achieve some form of certification or accreditation.    As it stands I still await results from the CISA exam I sat in December.   Hopefully these results will be released in January and it may be that I choose to follow an industry IT route as opposed to an educational route for a while.  I will leave the specific decision as to the route I plan to take to some point towards the end of January.

#ToExperiment

In order to find the best solutions it is important to continually experiment and try new things.  In 2017 I want to make sure I engage in such experimentation as a leader, as an educational technologist, as an IT Director and as an individual.

#ReadReadandReadSomeMore

I have found re-engaging with reading to be very useful and also fun during 2016.    In 2017 my target will once more be to read a minimum of 1 book per month.   I would love to subscribe to do 1 book per week however I don’t believe this is realistic for me both in relation to time available and also in relation to my chosen reading materials which can seldom be considered “light reading”.  As such the target of 1 book per month seems more realistic and reasonable.   I will also need to try and ensure that the books selected cover a variety of different topics as I feel some of my more recent reading has converged on a single topic which therefore reduces the breadth of benefit I get from reading.

#BeHealthy

I repeatedly reflected on my poor fitness level and also my poor commitment to fitness overall.   In 2017 I need to do something about this.    So I will be restarting walking across school campus every morning as a starting point.    I will also be setting a weekly target for steps.     Key to me here is likely to be coming up with some sort of motivational reward to encourage myself to actually stick to fitness efforts.    This will become even more true if I am to take up something more strenuous than just walking, such as jogging.     The main aim here will be to close 2017 in a much more healthy and fit manner than I came into it.

#BeFamily

In 2017 I need to make more time available to spend with my youngest child, who is 11, and also with my wife.    I also need to make sure that it is “quality time” as opposed to just time.    One part of this will be to have some sort of family holiday in 2017, something which we haven’t actually done in many years.   I also need to be more “romantic” as I wife puts it; Something which doesn’t come that naturally to me being more of a pragmatist and get things done type of person.

2016 was a good year especially when viewing the quantifiable targets, and possibly more so if viewed beyond just these targets.     I hope that 2017 is even more successful.    And so it begins anew………

 

Photo “Terraces on the Tor” by Rodw, Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0

 

A final reflection on 2016

It is that time of year when many people start posting their reflections on 2016, so I would like to lend my hat to the ring.   This is the first part of a two part blog marking the end of the year.   The first part, this part, will focus on my resolutions/pledges which I made back at the end of 2015, in respect of 2016, and how the year has gone in general.    The second part will set out my resolutions and pledges for 2017.   So here goes for part one:

When I set out my resolutions back in 2015 I tried to set out things which would be quantifiable in that this would make things easier when it came to review progress.  The resolutions I set are as below, along with comments as to progress:

  1. To Blog at least twice per month throughout 2016: My blogging generally throughout most of 2016 has been at a rate of a post per week, while in February as part of #teacher5aday I posted daily for the whole month.   Quantifiably I easily met and exceeded my target however I have found myself questioning why I blog and also questioning the fact that at times I have found arriving at a subject for posts to be difficult and even forced.   I now wonder if the rate of blogging was the wrong thing to look at, instead I should have focussed on measuring what I hope to get from blogging.   I also wonder whether if I would have blogged had I not set a quantifiable target;  The fortnightly target may have acted on my motivation and ensured I kept up the effort.
  2. To maintain my presence and contributions to twitter (1.9 tweets per day): Again like for blogging, I have exceeded the target achieving a rate of almost 5 tweets per day.    Looking back I don’t think I appreciated the use of twitter chats and the number of tweets generated when you get truly involved on a regular basis.     As such the target may have been on the low side.   The other thing which is key here is that the value wasn’t in the number of tweets but in what I got from the twitter chats in particular.   I may have tweeted less or tweeted more however still have benefited to the same extent.     I occasionally spent time, albeit a small amount of time, keeping my buffer account full while thinking about the 1.9 tweet target; was that time well spent?   I am not sure it was however again the quantifiable target may have acted to sustain my motivation.
  3. To achieve Google Certified Educator Level 2 status: I didn’t hit this target mainly due to never really getting started.   This was mainly due to focussing on Microsoft Innovative Educator status which I achieve and also on the Certified IS Auditor status for which I am currently awaiting the results having sat the exam recently.    So the target as far as I am concerned is met in that I achieved another status in MIEE status.    It is also an area which I value in challenging myself to work or study towards qualifications or other certification.  Thinking back though, and following feeling totally knackered for a week after the recent CISA exam, I do wonder whether I may have pushed myself a tad too hard.   Was I overdoing it?
  4. To read at least 1 book per month: I read more than 12 new books during 2016 and very much enjoyed doing so.   At times finding time was difficult however I found that once I got started I ate through books and from each book identified follow on books to read.     The idea of a persons knowledge being measured by the books in their library which they are yet to read, as mentioned in Talebs Black Swam, very much appeals to me so I intend to keep my library full of books yet to be read, and to keep on reading.
  5. To use tools such as Evernote and Buffer to allow me to work smarter: I think I made a limited amount of progress here in that I have developed coping strategies and approaches however these approaches may not truly be “smart”.   An example of this is emailing myself with interesting articles to read, for future review.   I could easily make progress here for example emailing to Evernote as opposed to my email account however this requires a change in established habits.   This is something which still requires work.
  6. To get involved in twitter chats: As mentioned earlier during 2016 I got involved in a number of twitter chats including #sltchat, #mltchat and #edchatmena.   I would suggest that the target of fortnightly was met, however again it isn’t the frequency which actually mattered, it was the value I drew from the discussions.    Did I enjoy the chats as they were useful, due to the fact they challenged my perspective and ideas or due to the fact they confirmed my perspective and ideas?    (Confirmation is easier to stomach than challenge of ones ideas and perspective however this doesn’t make it better or more beneficial, just easier.)
  7. To get involved in events and conferences: I did get involved in a couple of conferences and events during 2016 however I wouldn’t say it was to the same extent as I had been involved in the UAE.   As such I made a start on this during 2016 however there is still work to be done if I want to reach the level of involvement I would like to see myself achieve.   There is a question here with regards available time and trying to do too much and therefore I may also need to re-evaluate what is most important including whether event involvement is actually important to me.
  8. To experiment with video and YouTube: I did very little on this until December when I contributed a little video as part of #teacher5aday.     Thinking about it I wonder whether my target hadn’t taken into consideration how comfortable I feel with regards video;   It just isn’t something which sits easy with me.    As such I will need to consider whether pushing myself out of my comfort zone is an important factor as during 2016 it wasn’t and therefore I made little progress on this target.

Overall looking back I feel I achieved well on the largely quantifiable targets which I set myself.    I should be happy about this in the easy way with which I can measure the success of 2016 however is a years worth of effort, sweat and toil meant to be easy to measure?    Is life that simple?    I would suggest that it isn’t and therefore maybe the targets, albeit easy to measure, weren’t as valuable as they could have been now that I reflect on 2016.     Their quantifiable nature also hides any real discussion as to the importance of what I was looking to achieve.     The flip side here however is that without the quantifiable targets I may not have sustained my motivation in the way I did during 2016, and some of the targets may have fallen by the way side.

As I look to consider targets for 2017 I need to bear the above in mind.    On reflection I may have posed more questions than I have presented answers however as I mentioned before, maybe this is due to the fact that life just isn’t simple.    That said, I would say 2016 was a busy and successful year.  I think I achieved a fair amount although maybe the figures associated with the targets above just don’t tell the full richness of the story of 2016.    I would like to hope that 2017 is successful first, and possibly busy as a secondary attribute!

 

 

 

Social Media: Do you take photo at events?

I recently read an interesting article on Social Media use from the Guardian (You can read the post here)

It got me thinking about why I post as I am conscious that I am one of those people who occasionally posts photos taken from conference events as referred to in the article.

I think I have 2 main reasons for posting photos from a conference.   The first of these is to promote a discussion of a point raised at the event.    Conference events are largely one way, with the sage on the stage presenting their theories, opinions and thoughts.   As such there isn’t really an opportunity to spark up a discussion beyond the usually short Q&A at the end of each session.  By posting a photo to twitter you can seek to start a discussion or see how much agreement, via liking, exists as to the point.   The act of posting also pushes the point being raised to a wider audience, beyond that of the venue in which the event is being held.

The second reason I have for posting a picture from an event is as a record for myself.   Once I have posted it, it is logged within my twitter account for review later.   As such I can relocate points at a later stage where I need to plus I can also reflect on my previous thoughts and opinions based on what I posted as opposed to what I remember.    I am conscious after reading various books including Talebs, The Black Swan, of the potential falseness of memory, so being able to look back on my social media posts to ensure my recollections are correct is very helpful.

Some of the best events I have been to have involved the presenter making use of social media as a back channel to support a greater degree of two way communication however that is not for everyone.

I will continue posting comments and photos from events.   I will try to be as discreet as possible in doing so in order to avoid impacting on the experience of others attending such events however if you are sat behind or beside me and I am detracting from your experience please feel free to let me know.

 

December: A time to reflect

It is the 2nd of December, the festive season begins, the first term of the 2016/17 year draws to a close and its almost time to consider my resolutions for 2017.   But before I get to that I thought it would be a good time to reflect on the year so far as it nears its close.

Back in December 2017 I set myself a number of new years resolutions which I have revisited throughout the year.   Generally I feel I am doing pretty well with them however there are some areas where there is room for improvement, as there always is.    There are also things which have arisen during the year, which were not on my resolutions, which I should give thought to.

Looking back at my resolutions a number of them revolved around engagement with the wider educational community through the use of online tools.   This included contributing regularly to twitter, blogging on a regular basis and engaging with various educational twitter chats.   In each of these cases I have significantly exceeded the SMART target which I set out to achieve.   As the year has gone on though this has raised a question with me.   My contributions take time;  could this time be better spent on other areas of my life, job, etc?     Now I don’t have an answer for this as it is not an easy questions.    Blogging for example takes time, however in the future provides a useful window into my thinking at specific times in the past.    Looking back now to 2015 I did not blog anywhere near as much as I have been doing and now looking back I wish I had, as I am sure I had specific thoughts and ideas, found resources, etc. however as I haven’t committed anything to a blog I don’t have access to my thoughts.   Looking at 2016, my various blog entries and tweets provide quite a detailed view of my thinking and the issues arising at various points throughout the year.    I also wonder about the overall global educational context.    If everyone who blogs suddenly stopped then the online educational world would have lost a lot of its richness, being only filled with those educators with sponsorship or advertising deals.    As such I see my online contributions as something I need to continue however also to monitor.     It is important to keep focus on what matter, or “first things first” as Covey put it, so I need to continually reassess if my contributions matter.

Reading was another key target I had set myself as prior to the start of 2016 I read books only very occasionally.   Throughout 2016 I have endeavoured to read a variety of books, with one new book per month.   I have pretty much managed to do this and feel that this is something which I definitely want to continue.   The books I have read have allowed me to question some of my own assumptions and to explore new ideas.   As Taleb put it in “The Black Swan” the important factor isn’t however the number or titles of the books I have read, but the books I am yet to read.   As such I am already intent in 2017 seeing me reading even more frequently and seeing more books added to my library of books still to read.

Back in December last year I had also set myself some targets as to new things to achieve and to try.    These are the items which I have succeeded to a lesser extent.    Looking back though I think that may have been due to the fact that I saw these items as of a lesser priority.    Sadly the priority of the resolutions was not identified when I listed them; This is something I need to take into consideration when it comes to creating resolutions for 2017, to list them in priority order.     At this stage I haven’t achieved my Google Certified Educator Level 2 however I did achieve Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert.      My work smarter target hasn’t really seen me use Evernote, although I have experimented with a number of apps.   I would say there is still work to be done here.    And as to video blogging or other video contributions this isn’t something I have made any real progress on this year and therefore is either something to carry out to 2017 or something which I need to put to the side as no longer being important.

As the year draws to a close I cant quite believe how fast it has disappeared however I will take that as a sign that I am enjoying things which can only be a good thing.    2017 represents a new year, new challenges, new opportunities and an opportunity to try new things.    I look forward to 2017 and to continuing to record my thoughts and ideas via this blog.

Merry Christmas to all!

 

A smashing exit: Things not to do in the Middle East.

Myself, my wife and our two sons spent the first two months calling the Hilton home.   It was also the companies head office for when staff weren’t working in schools, for meetings and for all administration activities.

From what I can remember it must have been a weekend when the phone rang and we were informed that we were finally relocating to our company accommodation, accommodation that was to turn out to be our home for the next three years.    The problem with the phone call however was the notice being provided.    We were aware that the accommodation was becoming available soon however we had no details as to when “soon” actually was and therefore everything continued had normal.  The Hilton had continued to be home.

The phone call changed all that as we were pleasantly informed that our apartment was ready and that we should check out of the hotel.    We were to check out by noon.    The issue being that the phone call came at around 10am giving only two hours to get ready to relocate.

Now you wouldn’t think you would have much to relocate from a hotel room however it is amazing what you pick up after two months living in a hotel especially where two children are involved.    And so that morning we set about the manic task of gathering all our belongings from the two hotel rooms we inhabited ready to move.

It was slightly before noon when the knock at the door came as the concierge made himself available to assist in the relocation, at least to the foyer of the hotel if not beyond.    It was like a reverse game of Jenga loading up his trolley when the various bags and items we had, carefully balancing each new item in the hope it wouldn’t fall off the trolley and break.    Upon getting almost everything on the trolley, we picked up the remaining items and made our way to the elevator, where we then travelled down to the foyer.   It was as we crossed the middle of the hotel foyer that the Jenga tower failed.   The one bag we didn’t want to fall to the floor, did just that and fell to the floor with a smash.

And there we were stood in the middle of the Hilton as a smashed bottle of vodka spread its contents across the floor.   Panic does not do justice for the way I felt.    I suspect the concierge may also have felt panic, albeit paired with a quicker reaction time.   Before I knew anything about it he has started to mop up the liquid and glass with the first thing that came to hand, my wife’s Chinese dragon embroidered bath robe.

Thankfully no one made comment as to what had happened.   I am not sure if that was due to the concierges quick actions or due to the busy or quiet foyer;  I can’t remember which it was.   The moral of the story is make sure you decide to carry the alcohol personally as opposed to relying on someone else when moving through the foyer in a middle eastern country.

First days, and broken toes

The following a second posting resulting from some of the events of my time working out in the UAE.   It is not the normal fare for this blog however I thought I would share:

 

Having arrived as a family in Abu Dhabi in the early hours of the morning, the first thing which we had to deal with was the two hour bus ride to our eventual home in Al Ain.     The four of us, being myself, my wife and our two children, were joined by a number of other families all coming to work with the same company as we boarded a bus, and I hasten to point out that it was a bus, and not a coach.

The conclusion to this journey was our arrival at what was to be our home for almost the next two months.    The Hilton hotel in Al Ain.    Checking in we met with our first significant problem of the trip being that only a double room had been booked for us however as I mentioned a moment ago we were four individuals.    This meant that a single hotel bedroom was a little on the small side.   Sadly given we had arrived on the weekend meant that there was no-one available from the company I had came to work with, who could resolve this issue with the hotel.

This eventually meant that we, and all of our luggage, were helped up to a single bedroom which if memory serves me correctly was on the fourth floor of the hotel.    The bell boy helped us get the luggage into the room as we supervised the children.   Limited in space he made the inappropriate decision to place one of the suitcases on a table.

It wasn’t long before, given the limited space, the table was bumped and the suitcase came crashing down, landing on my wife’s foot.    I can remember thinking to myself, “what a great start this is, only been in the country for less than 24hours and we already have an injury!”

Now at first we didn’t take the injury to be that serious, or at least I didn’t take it to be that serious.     As a result I thought walking it off would be the best course of action, thereby setting us all off in a mission to walk to the local mall.   Now sadly I had misjudged this as the local mall was not as local as I had thought, plus there was the added issue of the change in temperature as only hours earlier we had been in the winter of the UK whereas now we were in the winter of the Middle East, some 15 to 20 degrees warmer.   All of this did nothing to help the now throbbing foot injury which was visibly causing my wife to limp and grimace in pain.

Upon finally getting back to the hotel it was clear that medical attention was required however we knew little of our options in this regards.    As such we spoke to the Hiltons manager who was all to obliging although thinking back this may have been the result of concerns he held with regards potential liability or injury claims.    He pointed us in the direction of a local hospital which we duly got a taxi to transport us to.

Arriving at the hospital our next hurdle was the fact that hospitals here in the UAE expected you to have medical insurance from local companies.    The travel insurance we had did not appear to be something they had to deal with very often and as such the easiest option was to pay “privately” meaning that each doctor we say and each X-Ray, etc had to be independently paid for.   Thankfully at this point I had a reasonable level of cash with me given we had no long arrived in the UAE so this did not pose much of a problem.    Some hours later the diagnosis was provided, that my wife had a broken small toe.

Now the key messages from this are to make sure you know about accessing medical services, etc when going abroad; something I didn’t do.  The second message is to take injuries which occur to your wife seriously no matter how minor you think they are, or otherwise you might still be living to regret it as I do, some seven years later!      And thirdly, “walking it off” is never a good idea either!!

Photo: “Film X-ray Both Foot ( Front View )” by stockdevil from freedigitalphotos.net

Reflections: doing what matters?

Have finally got around to sitting down to do a short review the past month, or in fact the past two months given I never actually managed to get around to reviewing September.

Firstly I would say that it is amazing how quickly the last two months have flown by.   Now I suspect this is very much due to the busy nature of the start of the new academic year.   This has clearly played a part in the fact I never got around to posting a reflection on September.

On a personal level October has been very important to me as it includes my eldest sons 21st birthday party.   I had missed his 18th as he had been in the UK while I was still living and working in the middle east and unable to get back for it.   As such it was important for me to take time out over the half term to be with him for his 21st and also to take in some football matches in the couple of days which followed the party.   I very much enjoyed actually sitting with him and watching a couple of games over a pint down the local pub, albeit the score of one particular game was not exactly in my favour.

The flip side to the above is that I never contributed to the half term #teacher5aday sketch as I had planned to.    I also contributed little in the way towards twitter over the period and my blog entries were a struggle.

I feel a tinge of regret in how I have let my contributions slide over the last month however it also worries me that I feel this way.   Surely something as important as a milestone in my sons life should take precedence over twitter and blog contributions?     This all makes me consider the issue of the limited amount of time we have available to us on a day, week, month or year and how I manage this finite resource.    Am I focusing on getting as many things done as possible or I am focussing on what is important?    The fact I feel that time has flown over the last two months suggests I have been busy however in being busy have I truly allowed my time to stop and think, to review and ensure that I am doing the right things, the important thing.  Come to that, for me, what actually is important?   Also if I stop doing some things due to them being of lesser importance, is it possible that by my narrowing of focus I may miss out on opportunities which only arise as a result of a broader focus?

I think this is something I need to reflect on in much more detail possibly including reviewing Coveys Seven Habits and First Things First books.     I may share some of my thoughts over the coming weeks but for now I am going to consider the X-Factor and a game of Warhammer with my youngest son to be what matters.

Thoughts on social media

I have seen lots of excellent infographics with regards why teachers should make use of social media such as twitter.   This has got me thinking about the question of what we use social media for.

We use it to get access to new ideas, resources and perspectives.   This is the very much about access to and consumption of content.    Social media provides access to a wealth of individuals and the content which they are sharing via social media sites such as twitter, pinterest, personal blogs, etc.

We use social media to curate content of linked topic areas or subjects.   Using sites such as Storify and Paper.Li we can gather content together and re-share with others.    This is particularly useful where a twitter chat or other event has occurred and we want to create a record of the various comments which were made via social media as part of the chat or event.   This is the start of producing our own content, albeit this new content being nothing more than a collection of content produced by others.

We use social media to share our ideas.   This is very much about producing our own original content and sharing with others.

The above three activities were those that came first to my mind however I have recently been also considering a fourth area, being how we engage with others content, the content which we have read.   Through social media we can comment in shortened form via twitter, however we can also comment in a longer more detailed format via blogs, linking back to the blogs of others to which we are referring.

For me social media now occupies a key place in my work and in my ongoing professional learning.    The challenges in hand are very much about getting more of the teachers who currently consume content, to begin contributing content so that the content available becomes more representative of the teachers working in schools all over the world.    The other main challenge is encouraging those teachers who haven’t engaged with social media at all, who therefore are missing out on a wealth of ideas and resources.

I look forward sharing with you!

First week back

The first week back came and went in a whirlwind of activity.   I had forgotten quite how manic the first week, and I suspect the second, can be.

The main thing is I did manage to make a few steps in the direction I want to be taking this year.    I started parking across the campus meaning every morning and every evening I am getting a little bit of exercise, a little bit of thinking time plus the odd networking opportunity as I walk across the site.     Its only between 8 and 10 minutes of walking in either direction however that’s 16 to 20 minutes more exercise than I used to be getting.   Also looking at my weekly step count over the last month or so shows an increase in a positive direction.

Linked to the above I am also trying to be more visible.   I am very conscious that during my first year in my current post I seldom was seen out and about, something which I am embarrassed or possible even ashamed of.   As such I want to ensure this year that I am more visible and in order to assist in this I sent out my first annual briefing to all staff.    It has to be noted that in the busy period of the first few weeks only around 10% of recipients actually clicked the link to the document however it’s a start.    One reflection I have also realized that the document was never sent to the students so this is something which I think I will need to address at some point during the school year.   In addition, am making an effort to go on walkabouts to be visibly seen around the school.    Currently am focusing these on the start of each day in order to help with the odd lost student however this is something I want to make sure and build on during the course of the year.

The first week was also about resetting priorities for the year and identifying which projects I will prioritize and which will need to take a back seat.      On Saturday I had a good chance to brainstorm one of the current issues which I intend to focus on during the course of the year and in turn this highlighted something else I need to make time for: brainstorming and discussing issues and ideas.    Coming out of the discussion, and it was a pretty informal discussion with lots of ideas and thoughts being thrown around, I felt I had a greater understanding of the issues surrounding the project in hand and in doing so had a better idea as to the best route forward.

So its one week down and………… I am stopping myself there before I count the number of week until half term, Christmas or the end of the year.    Life is too important to wish away so on that note I will focus on week two and on building on the first week back.

 

 

 

It’s the little things that make the difference!

I have been struggling in addressing my personal fitness for a significant part of the year.   Ideas with regarding taking up jogging have came and went.   I just cannot seem to get up in the morning early enough to go out before work and am too tired after work.    I have considered buying a running machine, however I remember my previous attempts when upon purchasing one out in the UAE the most exercise it ever saw was the two blokes who had the unfortunate job of carrying it up the stairs.    I just seem unable to make much in the way of progress.   The want, or mind, is there however the motivation, the heart, isn’t.

That was until the other morning, when I decided to park my car on the other side of the school campus due to attending an event in the evening at that side of the school and wanting to leave directly from there.   The walk across the school took around 10 minutes and according to my phone accounted for around 850 steps, most of which being uphill.    Then it hit me, here was an easy solution at least to make some progress towards improved fitness;  to park at the other side of school every morning and walk across the campus.    This would amount to regular exercise without have much of a significant impact on my working day.   Yes I would need to get up slightly earlier however it would also give me the opportunity to network with colleagues who I suspect would be around campus in the mornings, as well as allowing me to take in the lovely grounds of the school.    I would be getting exercise, appreciating the surroundings and also improving my overall visibility and presence on site.

So there we have it; a little thing in parking across school, which could make a big difference.    I suppose, if I am being honest, this is easy enough now however the challenge will be whether I can keep it up when the winter weather returns!