Be here now!

Three innocuous little words that, if you pay them a little heed, can be an incredibly powerful force. Words that, among the myriad distractions of modern life, it’s all too easy to dismiss.

I remember the first time I heard them back in the mid-nineties. I’d just got a job as an IT project planner with Transco, the pipeline and distribution arm of the former British Gas. As part of a massive restructuring programme the company was sending all of its tens of thousands of employees on a training course called “You make the difference”.

It was one of those touchy-feely American things, all about the power of individuals to make a tangible contribution in business and in life, designed to boost morale, develop soft skills and, for the company, to ease the acceptance of organisational change.

Naturally enough most of us were pretty sceptical, and it’s fair to say, on reflection, that the course contained more than its fair share of feel-good bunkum. But it also got you out of work for a couple of days, was a lot of fun, made you turn the spotlight on yourself to reveal things you otherwise might never see, and, it has to be said, included a couple of real little gems.

“Be here now” was one of those gems.

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