Welcome to this edition of the Friday Footnotes.
Last week I found myself in Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club, listening to some incredible live jazz with a friend. There’s something about live music, the unpredictability, the flow, the way great musicians respond to each other in real time, that feels like a reminder of how we should probably be operating more often. Less rigid. More present. More in tune.
Where in your life could you loosen the structure slightly, and trust your instincts a little more?
The Progress in Practice Podcast (my Podcast): Turning Complex Cases into Yeses with Ross Jones
In this episode, I sit down with Ross Jones, founder of Home Financial and Evolve Commercial Finance, for a refreshingly honest conversation about building a business that doesn’t fit neatly into a box.
Ross shares how adversity shaped his path, and why leaning into complexity, rather than avoiding it, became his edge. It’s a powerful reminder that the “messy” parts of business are often where the real value lies.
What stood out most is the idea that, more often than not, the biggest constraint in any business isn’t the market, the competition, or even the strategy, it’s the founder. Their thinking, their bottlenecks, their willingness to let go.
If you’re in a phase where growth feels harder than it should, this one might help you spot what’s really holding things back.
Reading: Hacking the Human Mind
This is one of those books that quietly shifts how you see everything, especially when it comes to decision making, marketing, and behaviour.
It explores why people do what they do, and more importantly, why they don’t do what you expect them to. Whether that’s a client hesitating, a prospect not converting, or even your own resistance to something you know you should be doing.
What I enjoyed most is how it challenges the assumption that logic drives behaviour. It doesn’t. Emotion, bias, environment, they’re all playing a much bigger role than we like to admit.
Once you start to see that, you begin to communicate differently, sell differently, and even manage your own habits with a bit more awareness.
TED: Reclaim Your Time and Reignite Creative Thinking: A Conversation with Juliet Funt
Juliet Funt makes a compelling case for something most of us resist: doing less.
She introduces the idea of “white space- those small pockets of time where nothing is scheduled, nothing is demanded, and your brain is allowed to breathe.
It sounds simple, but in practice it’s incredibly rare. We fill every gap, chase efficiency, and wear busyness like a badge of honour.
Yet, as she explains, it’s often in those quieter moments that the best ideas surface, problems get solved, and clarity returns.
If you’ve been pushing hard but not quite getting the breakthroughs you expected, it might not be a case of doing more, but creating space for better thinking.
Watching: The Shark Whisperer
From the same producer as My Octopus Teacher, this is a fascinating watch that challenges how we see sharks, and, perhaps more broadly, how we judge things we don’t fully understand.
It’s not quite as emotionally gripping asMy Octopus Teacher, but it still draws you in with its calm, patient storytelling. What stood out for me was the trust and respect built over time, rather than force or control.
There’s an interesting parallel here. Whether it’s people, clients, or even your own development, trying to dominate or rush the process rarely works. Understanding, patience, and consistency tend to win over the long run.
A good reminder that not everything needs to be forced to be effective.
Tech: Grok
I’ve been experimenting with Grok recently, particularly using it while driving (hands-free, of course) to have proper brainstorming conversations, as it is now built into Teslas.
It’s a different way of using AI. Less about quick answers, more about thinking things through. You can explore ideas, challenge assumptions, and almost “talk your way” to clarity.
What I’ve found useful is how it turns otherwise dead time, like being in the car, into productive thinking space. Instead of reacting to emails or calls, you’re actually creating.
If used well, tools like this can give you back one of the most valuable assets you have: uninterrupted thinking time.
The Trusted Team – The Productivity Focuser
There’s a theme running through a lot of this week’s Footnotes—focus, space, and removing noise.
Whether it’s Ross talking about founder bottlenecks, Juliet Funt on white space, or even using tools like Grok to think more clearly, it all points to the same challenge: we’re busy, but not always effective.
That’s exactly what the Productivity Focuser is designed to tackle.
In a world where we’re interrupted every few minutes, switching tasks constantly, it’s no surprise that important work gets pushed aside. The real issue isn’t effort, it’s fragmentation.
In this session, we break down how to identify the specific distractions pulling you off course, and more importantly, how to create the conditions for deep, meaningful work again. From structuring your week more intentionally, to eliminating unnecessary noise, to actually accessing that “flow state” where your best work happens.
Because when you can focus properly, everything changes. Work takes less time, decisions get easier, and progress starts to feellighter.
Inspiring Quote – “Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes… including you.” – Anne Lamott
As I left Ronnie Scott’s, what struck me most wasn’t just how talented the musicians were; it was how well they listened. To each other, to the moment, to the subtle shifts in rhythm.
There’s probably something in that for all of us. Less noise. More awareness. Better timing.
Have a great weekend.
