Brian Conroy’s Post

If you're making your bed wrong (and you 𝗮𝗿𝗲) what ELSE could you be doing wrong!? Hey, wake up and smell the chaos—have you heard about the Great Bed-Making Debate? Spoiler alert: it’s hardly a debate. There’s a camp (hello, Admiral McRaven fans), that champions making your bed as the first win of the day. You know the drill, make your bed and somehow, magically, the universe aligns in your favor for the rest of the day. But wait, let’s back up the truck a bit on the make-your-bed bandwagon for a second. Making your bed? First thing in the morning? Really? Aren’t there, I don’t know, a million other things you could do with those precious minutes? Here’s a radical thought: 𝗗𝗢𝗡'𝗧 make your bed. Yeah, I said it. Skip the tuck, ditch the fold, and let those sheets fly free. It’s not just a minor act of rebellion—it’s a full-on revolution against the morning routine monotony. Why? Because saying "𝗡𝗢" to making your bed is deliciously defiant. It's your silent scream against the tyranny of the ‘𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘴’. You should do this, you should do that—well, how about you shouldn’t? Imagine this: An unmade bed as your daily badge of honor, a symbol that screams, “𝘐’𝘮 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘰𝘬𝘢𝘺!” Let it be a reminder that not everything in life needs to be picture-perfect. In a world obsessed with Instagram-filtered lives, your unmade bed is your own private protest. And here’s the kicker: it might even be healthier. Skipping the bed-making can disrupt the cozy, damp playground that dust mites love. Less making, less mites, more breathing easy. Who knew being a bit lazy could be so beneficial? So, next time you look at that messy bed, don’t see it as an undone chore—see it as a victory against unnecessary burdens. Embrace the mess. Embrace the extra minutes. Embrace the freedom. And just maybe, start asking yourself what else you’re doing just because you’ve always done it. Curious? Intrigued? Maybe even a little rebellious? Click through to discover more about why breaking the bed-making habit could be the best thing you do for yourself today. [𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀!] 👋 Hi, I'm Brian a reluctant polymath/multipotentialite ✏️ I write about potential and making the most of yours 🔔 Click the bell to follow and get notified of my posts ➕ Sign up for my newsletter and read the whole post on substack (linked) #polymath  #Multipotentialite #JackOfAllTrades #Generalist

If they started their own firm it would be the 𝟮𝟱𝘁𝗵 biggest firm in the country by fee earner numbers! It's mind blowing how big the gap is from the biggest firms to the 'rest' of the firms. There's only 47 firms in the entire country that have more then 21 fee earners (according to the latest figures from the law society). And this lot are twice that number. There was 27 of us when my intake from McCanns headed down the Blackhall Place. The trainees for the top 5 firms make up about 30% of students doing the professional practice course of all solicitors in the country. No wonder most people hated us! Well done to the newly qualified solicitors. Let the legal hunger games begin!! _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ 👋 Hi, I'm Brian a reluctant polymath/multipotentialite ✏️ I write about potential and making the most of yours 🔔 Click the bell to follow and get notified of my posts ➕ Sign up for my newsletter and read the whole post on substack (linked) #polymath  #Multipotentialite #JackOfAllTrades #Generalist #Law #Legal #solicitor  

We can learn important life lessons from surprising teachers. Like a Slap Bass Youtuber (yes, really!) Like the lesson I oncelearned from YouTuber "Davie504" Davie is a passionate bass guitar player. Most specifically, he's a slap bass afficionado. If you don't know what that is, think of the bass guitar sound of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers song "Can't Stop" (addicted to the shindig indeed). And what Davie504 says about learning a hard slap bass riff is equally applicable to life and nearly everything you want to achieve. "If you you can play it slow, you can play it fast" Actually, starting slow and small is something that is second nature to musicians generally. A lesser known but equally impressive musician to Davie504 and Flea from the Red Hot Chilli peppers is, well me. 𝗜𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁 (𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗞 𝗜𝗡 𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗦) I both: 1. Teach you how to play the drums; and     2. Teach you how you should approach any new task, goal or project in life as if it was a drum beat you're learning and trying to master. And more impressive than that, I teach you how to play the drums 𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗠𝗶𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝗼𝗳𝘁 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗱. See, multipotentialite. 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗿𝘂𝗺𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗮 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝗯𝘆 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸! 👋 Hi, I'm Brian a reluctant polymath/multipotentialite ✏️ I write about potential and making the most of yours 🔔 Click the bell to follow and get notified of my posts ➕ Sign up for my newsletter and read the whole post on substack (linked) #polymath  #Multipotentialite #JackOfAllTrades #Generalist PS - A word of warning, if you click on the post in the comments, you'll go to the blog. I've got a Davie504 video there, and his videos are surprisingly addictive. Consider this a rabbit hole warning!

If you've ever described someone or something as "SO ANNOYING", this is for you: 𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁. That's it, that's the post. Ok, fine, I'll go a little further. I am a short tempered, easily annoyed and irritated, premature grumpy old man. I get annoyed at "small stuff" all the time. And it needs to stop. Because being annoyed at the types of people, places and things that I have no control over is a complete waste of my time and energy. And it's a waste of yours too. I think I can convince you of this. • 𝗜 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗲 𝗮 𝗯𝗹𝗼𝗴 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗶𝘁 (𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝗶𝗻 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁) This, is the story of why the new Irish "return" recycling campaign both is 𝗮𝗻𝗱 is not SO ANNOYING. Learn from my mistakes and 𝗺𝗮𝘆𝗯𝗲 you'll have a more peaceful existence no longer annoyed by: • People who wait for a bus, then when it arrives don’t have their money ready to pay the bus driver. Like, HELLO, what did you think was going to happen when the bus arrived.    • People who stand in the aisle on a plane for ages putting their bags up, then adjusting their clothes, thinking some great thoughts, having a chat with someone and generally causing a nuisance of themselves.    • People who get to the security scanners in airports and then start getting ready and asking questions the answers to each of which have been on about 300 signs and videos right under their nose while they queued.    • People that are oblivious to other people. This typically presents itself in them standing in the way of everybody, blocking a door or a gate or something while they chat to a (similarly ignorant/clueless) friend. They will eventually (probably, on prompting from you) realise they are in the way. Life. Is. Too. Short. 👋 Hi, I'm Brian a reluctant polymath/multipotentialite ✏️ I write about potential and making the most of yours 🔔 Click the bell to follow and get notified of my posts ➕ Sign up for my newsletter and read the whole post on substack (linked) #polymath  #Multipotentialite #JackOfAllTrades #Generalist

I 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲 what you think about me.  And I 𝗵𝗮𝘁𝗲 that. I spend a of time "in my own head". Sometimes that's a nice place to me, other times, not so much. I once described how I think about things to a counsellor and she replied "that sounds exhausting". And she was right. There's a lot of time thinking about whether what I'm saying/doing or thinking of saying/doing is the "right" thing to say or do. I spend a lot of time worrying. I spend a lot of time in fear. And I've realised that 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘭𝘺 what I'm worried about or afraid of is what total or relative strangers 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 think about me. It is really behind most of my decisions and most of my thought patterns. If I'm afraid of failure, why? Because I'm afraid that "𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦" will think less of me if I fail, right? Or that I will let "𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦" down. 𝗜'𝘃𝗲 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗮 𝗯𝗹𝗼𝗴 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗶𝘁 (𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝗶𝗻 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗼𝘄), where I think about it a bit more deeply and touch on some of my favourite quotes about this: • "You will become way less concerned with what other people think of you when you realise how seldom they do"    • "Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those we matter don't mind"    • "You can please some of the people all of the time, all of the people some of the time, but you can never please all of the people all of the time" The irony of course, is that: • I don't want to care what you think about me; • But I want to share my thoughts with you, why? It's quite the paradox, especially for creative people. They want to share their art/work, but they don't want to care what people think about it. I spend a disproportionate amount of time wondering whether a person who paints paintings but never shows them to anybody is an artist (or a painter) or is it the act of putting it out into the world what makes you a painter. Anyway, the moral is the story is LOVE ME. #creativity #caring #polymath #multipotentialite

It's VERY rare for me to think "𝘏𝘮𝘮𝘮𝘮, 𝘮𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘐 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴". But this post made me. Typically when people talk about jobs they didn’t get: 1. the job in question was a long time ago;     2. they are  now rich and successful, and it’s a tale of how “𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶” or some sort of sliding doors analogy about how not getting the job turned out to be a blessing in disguise. This isn’t one of those posts. This is a post about a job I applied for in my current workplace, and found out I didn’t get about 7 weeks ago or so. It sucked. And that’s why I decided to write this post. I don't ever recall (though I'm sure people have posted them) seeing a post about a job application failure like this on Linkedin. And, that makes perfect sense. If you think about it (and I have, a lot) there's any number of risks, for example: 1. any current colleagues may think "𝘞𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘧 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘫𝘰𝘣, 𝘮𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴" and     2. prospective future employers may think "𝘐𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮" So, why AM I sharing it. Because: • it's the truth. • it has almost certainly happened to loads of you • it is now part of my experience and my makeup and informs my world view • MOST IMPORTANTLY - It's nothing to be ashamed of. I gave it my best shot, it wasn't to be. I worry that because of the way we present ourselves on social media, people who are applying for jobs and not getting them are thinking that they are the only ones. I worry that people are judging themselves too harshly and thinking there's something wrong with them. I worry that people are taking 'rejection' when it comes to job interviews & promotions too personally. • NOTE - See link to the full post (including a list of ALL jobs I've not gotten) in the comments But know this, if you've applied for a job/promotion you thought you could do really well and were a really good candidate for and a good fit for....and didn't get it, I'm with you. And the fact that you didn't get it is nothing to be ashamed or embarrassed about. You don't 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 to take it as a personal insult and immediately slow quit and curse the ground the person who does get the job walks on. 𝗠𝗮𝘆𝗯𝗲 it is a sign you're not appreciated where you are. But maybe (quite often, I suspect) it's not. Of course, I could be completely wrong. And an oversharing idiot. Who would hire that?! 👋 Hi, I'm Brian a reluctant polymath/multipotentialite ✏️ I write about potential and making the most of yours 🔔 Click the bell to follow and get notified of my posts ➕ Sign up for my newsletter and read the whole post on substack #polymath  #Multipotentialite #JackOfAllTrades #Generalist

"I forgot" Probably one of my most use phrases in the English language. But the towel?? Why always the towel? 👋 Hi, I'm Brian a reluctant polymath/multipotentialite ✏️ I write about potential and making the most of yours 🔔 Click the bell to follow and get notified of my posts ➕ Sign up for my newsletter and read the whole post on substack (linked) #polymath  #Multipotentialite #JackOfAllTrades #Generalist

Has anybody ever described you as an overachiever? What about a Jack of All Trades? (and presumably a master of none) Well I've been thinking about it a lot lately, and took a deep dive into: 1. what it actually means to  be an overachiever; 2. considering whether I am an overachiever or otherwise; and 3. trying to figure out of it's a good or a bad thing to be an overachiever. TL:DR 1. It means you're above average; 2. I definitely am one; and 3. It depends. Surprisingly, the definition of overachiever is "one who achieves success over and above the standard of expected level" Either I'm going mad (entirely possible) or that basically says that anybody who is above average is an overachiever. Which in a way makes sense. But in another way, is nothing like what we typically think when we think about an overachiever, right? Click the link to read the whole article (please and thank you). https://lnkd.in/e8HjTHAZ 👋 Hi, I'm Brian a reluctant polymath/multipotentialite ✏️ I write about potential and making the most of yours 🔔 Click the bell to follow and get notified of my posts ➕ Sign up for my newsletter and read the whole post on substack (linked) #polymath  #Multipotentialite #JackOfAllTrades #Generalist

"I could have been a contender" So goes the line from the famous movie starring Marlon Brando. But are we thinking about our potential all wrong? I think so. Maybe. https://lnkd.in/eBSbM882 👋 Hi, I'm Brian a reluctant polymath/multipotentialite ✏️ I write about potential and making the most of yours 🔔 Click the bell to follow and get notified of my posts ➕ Sign up for my newsletter and read the whole post on substack (linked) #polymath  #Multipotentialite #JackOfAllTrades #Generalist

Do you ever feel "𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗰𝗸"? Yeah, me too. ALL the time. GOOD NEWS. My 4 year old daughter has the solution!! https://lnkd.in/eMstqMSC I'm 'an ideas guy' (self-diagnosed and self-proclaimed, admittedly) and I regularly cannot decide what I want to say or do. For way too long in my life, this has resulted in my not taking any meaningful action. This is often referred to as "analysis paralysis" and/or "the paradox of choice" - In very short summary, you've got so many options that all seem equally good (or equally bad, depending on your mental state) that you can't make a decision. You are terrified that whatever option you do pick will end up being the 'wrong' option and you'll have wasted your time and energy on the 'wrong' thing. What's worse, in picking the 'wrong' thing, you're also screwing yourself out of the inevitable success, fame, riches and glory that would without doubt follow if you just picked the 'right' thing. Is this ringing any bells for you (ding-a-ling-a-ling) 🔔 The surprisingly simply solution to beating your analysis paralysis / choice paradox is to: 1. Start anything; and 2. Start anywhere. I've written more complete and detailed blog post about this in the link. It's a slightly surprising insight I learned many years ago from an author and NLP Master Brian Colbert about how to write a book. And it's something that has popped up again more recently in watching my 4 year old daughter making jigsaws. If the goal is to make a jigsaw / complete a jigsaw puzzle, it doesn't matter which piece you start with. And there's an even bigger question about whether the goal should be to to make/complete the jigsaw. Maybe ( in fact, probably) your goal should be different. Maybe you should consider a goal to: 1. spend 10 minutes making a jigsaw (set a timer, spend 10 minutes and stop); or 2. put together 20 pieces together; or 3. count the number of jigsaw pieces; or 4. ask yourself do you really like making jigsaws or are you just making a jigsaw because some idiot on LinkedIn started down a jigsaw metaphor road. What about a jigsaw that's missing pieces? Would you still start a jigsaw if you knew it was missing pieces before you started? What about if you only discovered it was missing pieces at the end? Life is like making a jigsaw, except you'll never have all the pieces and the jigsaw is never finished. It's amazing what you can learn from your 4 year old daughter and her, frankly, renegade and psychopathic approach to making jigsaws. See link! This post started when I got stuck. I didn't know what to write. So I started writing anything. And here we are. 👋 Hi, I'm Brian a reluctant polymath/multipotentialite ✏️ I write about potential and making the most of yours 🔔 Click the bell to follow and get notified of my posts ➕ Sign up for my newsletter and read the whole post on substack (linked) #polymath  #Multipotentialite #JackOfAllTrades #Generalist