Inspiration

Quality Time

February 24, 2026

Quality time is time spent on good things.

Quality time could be 5 minutes.

Quality time is also turning ordinary time into durations that feel more productive. I find that an hour of uninterrupted work can feel hellishly unproductive. But if, in the middle of the hour, I go for a 5 minute walk or have a stretch break, the time (which is now shorter) feels much better,

We can transform the feeling of time with what we surround it with.

How do you turn ordinary time into extraordinary time?

Resourcefulness follows commitment

January 5, 2026

Said another way: If you’re committed you will find a way. What does it mean to truly be committed? Well I think it means there is no other option. If you’re hungry you’ll find a way to get food. So the magic doesn’t actually come from the ‘how’ but from the commitment. Let’s not look for resources before we commit. We don’t need to vet our commitments. We just need to decide this is the way it will be, ensuring it aligns with higher human values of love, generosity and growth and we will simply find a way. With commitment comes resource. Don’t worry about the level of your resource. Concern yourself with the level of your commitment.

The right form

December 27, 2025

To kick a rugby ball you need the right form.

You approach the ball at the correct angle. You run up on the correct leg. Your breathing is a certain way. Your foot meets the ball at a precise point and follows through as the ball glides up.

Kicking the ball, holding the golf club or making the high jump requires your body to be in the right form.

This isn’t magic; it’s form.

And form isn’t limited to sports.

Take a second to imagine these…

What is the ‘form’ of an excellent writer?

A fast reader?

Or a highly engaging speaker?

What does an effective teacher look like?

What is the form of an efficient artist?

What does an entertaining host look like?

You may be able to conjure these pictures in your head. (If you can’t, now’s a great time to find some models.)

If we can imagine their form, we can adopt it.

If we can adopt it, we can get similar results.

See it to see it

December 25, 2025

Visions work the same as film scripts.

To see it… you have to SEE it.

In order to realise the production of a feature film, the screenwriter has to build the script page by page. Each word adding to the tapestry. The script is a written vision.

“Here, this is what it will look like.”

Years before the projector shines the the magical lights of a movie on the silver screen, the movie existed only in someones head.

And it was just as vivid as you’re seeing at the cinema.

Before anything exists it first has to be a crystal clear vision.

To see it in real life, you have to see it in your head first.

Don’t skimp on the script. See it first, so we can too.

Changing your information diet

December 1, 2025

Ever feel like you’re in a loop of the same ideas and concepts?

On the one hand it’s excellent to mull and chew on ideas to deepen your understanding of them,

On the other hand it can feel a bit like a maze that loops in on itself.

If I find myself circling the same ideas without deepening my connection to them, I change my diet.

New inputs makes new outputs, right?

If I change the things I consume, new ideas start to circulate and I form new relationships with them.

The best part is, the new information diet frames the old ideas.

You can revisit them but you do so anew. You’re knowledge is broader, you’ve lived in new strange lands and you’re taller than you were.

You see the old idea in a new light. Your knowledge deepens and grows and you aren’t stuck with stagnant water, but a roaring ocean of living information!

Be the boss of your notifications

November 30, 2025

Here’s the easiest way I know to be more productive:

Don’t let any apps send you notifications.

Smart phones are awesome but they’re also annoying. If anything happens on any messaging, email or social media app, it tells you.

There’s a noise and then that enticing red-apple-looking-notification sign with a number of how many juicy messages you get.

I’ve removed them all. My phone doesn’t tell me if I get an email or message.

The apps are still on my phone, they just don’t talk to me.

They can wait, thank you very much.

A number in a little red bubble doesn’t have the right to divert my attention.

I let them all accrue- messages, dms, notifications, emails.

And then I go and visit them when I’m ready.

I’ll look at you and deal with you when I’m good and ready. And some days I’m simply not ready. I can check tomorrow or next week or never.

Of course it does take some training to fight the urge to check. But once you get over that, you’re a bit free aren’t you?

And that’s pretty nice.

Less time reacting to red number bubbles and more doing things that matter to you.

Where does magic come from?

November 20, 2025

I think we all encounter magic now and then. It’s that spark we feel when we completely fall in love with something, when what we’re working on ‘clicks’ or when we are held spell bound by something.

Magic can happen with people, with the art we consume or create, in random encounters in the world or in the work we do in the world. And a million other places.

If magic is the ephemeral and abstract, what is it’s predecessor?

Thankfully, the genesis of magic is concrete (well, some parts anyway). Here’s a few ingredients.

Generous.

Magic comes from a generous act. When the intention behind an action is a generous one. Magic is magic because it increases the level of joy in the world, and generosity is directly aimed at that.

Possibility.

Magic arrives when we invite something that didn’t exist before. We must release the need for certainty and open up to what could be. Just because something hasn’t happened before doesn’t mean it can’t. It just means it hasn’t happened before.

Presence.

Magic is alive to what’s happening now. It’s alive and it’s listening intently. Magic requires you to forget what you thought you knew and be with only what is.

Magic is mysterious but it’s downstream from these beautiful pillars.

Care to make magic?

When energy meets purpose

November 11, 2025

Goals are easy when you first set ‘em.

It’s exciting! It’s the 3rd of January and the new habits are going well!

Even better, people are watching! They see what you’re doing and that feels great!

I’m really interested in what keeps us going on the 3rd of August. When the habits are boring and no one is watching any more.

This is where the real magic starts to happen, but it’s also when our enthusiasm fades (if not way sooner).

There’s a lot out there to help with this; people like Simon Sinek talk about connecting to your why. I agree, your purpose is the driving force.

One thing I’m thinking about recently is how we come to our why. We can’t think about our why and expect it to instantly move us. We have to meet it with energy.

Have you slept enough?

Have you moved?

What are you eating?

Check all your fuel inputs- then check in with the why.

Our ultimate purpose will only energise if we meet it with that same zest first.

Eureka

October 23, 2025

Where does ‘a ha!’ come from?

I was listening to a brain scientist talk about his process recently.

He had written over 300 peer reviewed papers- not only is that a lot of work but it’s a lot of seeking and discovery.

That orientation alone is powerful:

I’m looking for something. I’m trying to figure it out.

With this kind of focus, you’re bound to discover something.

Something that has stuck with me is his explanation of how the ‘eureka’ moments happen for him.

He says he lays all the data points out, all the bits are spread out clearly in front of him, and the subconscious does the rest.

He doesn’t think his way to ‘a ha!’ but he lets go of the reigns to allow for it.

The ‘a ha!’ moments feel different to the black and white ‘work’. They rush upon us like any creative idea.

Our job, then isn’t to seek it, but to lay everything out to allow for it.

Don’t forget the victories

October 17, 2025

What was once a dream that is now part of your every day life?

We’re really good at forgetting good stuff.

It might be because of the insatiable human appetite for progress. Forgetting milestones probably serves us well in our pursuit of more and better.

But that’s a bit of an empty existence- success without fulfillment.

It might seem like a silly example but when I first started acting I remember how an audition would rule my entire day.

Well, to be perfectly honest I’d get the audition through and I’d question whether I could get anything else done that week…

If I was auditioning at 2pm on a Tuesday, nothing else existed until after that audition. Even then I probably took the rest of the day to gather myself and recover.

These days I can pack a full day around an audition and still have a great time.

This is progress- I’ve grown a LOT since the old days. I found myself lamenting that I wasn’t getting enough done recently and I suddenly remembered where I came from.

That I once couldn’t have imagined having the types of days I’m having now.

But of course now it’s just an ordinary day.

I think we’d do well to remember it wasn’t always like this. To give ourselves some credit and celebrate the things we forget to celebrate.

What is in your life now that was once a dream?

JUSTIN ROGERS

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