This page pulls together my top articles, resources, and podcasts on developing and fueling a career.
There are pieces on going out solo as an independent consultant or freelancer; positioning yourself; building resilience; which labels to use in your work; and much, much more.
Below are some of my most popular articles by theme, or keep scrolling to access every Career Fuel article.
Thirsty for more? Got a topic in mind you’d like me to write about? Just drop me a line.
Top 10
- How to find portfolio/audience fit
- A simple recipe for working independently
- Undertaking a 2019 Annual Life Review (Guide & Template)
- Life’s a Pitch…but for who?
- Learnings from the other side of an accelerator program
- Freelancer to Entrepreneur: The Forest, The Mountains, and the Water
- Overrated Mentors, Underrated Coaches
- Battle Scars
- How to build your network in a new city, country or culture
- Be Like Bowie
Entrepreneurship
- The Dollar Bill and The Golf Ball
- Learnings from the other side of an accelerator program
- Workshop Slide Deck (guided): Lifecycles in products, companies, and careers
- Hiring? Look out for the goalkeeper
Freelancing
- How to find portfolio/audience fit
- A simple recipe for working independently
- Switching to Annual View
- Freelancer to Entrepreneur: The Forest, The Mountains, and the Water
- Employee of the Month
Positioning
- Serious Fun
- Positioning: Get Uncomfortably Narrow
- Be Like Bowie
- The Microscope & The Telescope
- Lowercase skills
Storytelling
- Thinking in Bits
- Life’s a Pitch…but for who?
- How to articulate your vision in 4 post-it notes
- The Gallery
Resilience
- Pre Game / Post Game
- Two types of role model
- Keep it boring
- 3 circles for managing control, influence, concern, and anxiety
- When you’re not killing it
All Career Fuel posts
- Finding your edge February 15, 2021
- Now Obvious January 31, 2021
- How to find portfolio/audience fit January 31, 2021
- “This call may be recorded for quality & training purposes” January 28, 2021
- A departure point for innovation January 18, 2021
- How I do Morning Pages January 15, 2021
- Frames and Lenses December 14, 2020
- Free or full price November 24, 2020
- Do you remember your first 10? November 24, 2020
- The Rust November 19, 2020
- 30 degree days November 18, 2020
- Zenith & Nadir November 3, 2020
- Pareto in a pandemic November 3, 2020
- The $15m unbranding November 1, 2020
- The flipped fortune cookie October 14, 2020
- The Rough Edges October 12, 2020
- The cycles of alchemy October 5, 2020
- Do you like dogs? September 21, 2020
- A simple recipe for working independently April 26, 2020
- Pre Game / Post Game April 26, 2020
- The Entertainers April 2, 2020
- The Dollar Bill and The Golf Ball March 26, 2020
- Opening Credits January 10, 2020
- Thinking in Bits December 28, 2019
- Undertaking a 2019 Annual Life Review (Guide & Template) December 11, 2019
- Serious Fun December 10, 2019
- Life’s a Pitch…but for who? November 26, 2019
- The Tension: Chaos / Order October 29, 2019
- The Tension: Time / Energy October 22, 2019
- The Tension: No One Cares October 15, 2019
- The Tension: Natural / Rounded October 1, 2019
- The Question: ‘So, what do you do?’ September 24, 2019
- The Tension: Microscope / Telescope September 17, 2019
- Overwhelm, Skateboards, and a new podcast August 27, 2019
- The Secret August 27, 2019
- Stories around the fire August 22, 2019
- On Stage August 6, 2019
- Talking to Humans: Go anonymous July 30, 2019
- Talking to Humans: No intro, no get-go July 30, 2019
- Fear, Envy, and Contempt July 24, 2019
- Group Dynamics: Sitting in Circle July 16, 2019
- What was it like? July 10, 2019
- Learnings from the other side of an accelerator program June 27, 2019
- Alchemy before Chemistry June 24, 2019
- No Reply = No Interest? June 22, 2019
- Work labels: word salad and connotations June 19, 2019
- Switching to Annual View June 19, 2019
- Lucky Number 7 – and a 40-degree day June 17, 2019
- Two types of role model June 17, 2019
- Positioning: Get Uncomfortably Narrow June 15, 2019
- The Vessel & The Lens June 15, 2019
- KPIs: The slide snap June 14, 2019
- Dominant Design May 29, 2019
- A simple way to get unblocked May 25, 2019
- 22,000 songs in your pocket May 21, 2019
- Back to business school: the new case study May 18, 2019
- Freelancer to Entrepreneur: The Forest, The Mountains, and the Water May 15, 2019
- Labels In, Labels Out May 15, 2019
- Going Solo? You’re still in the Rat Race May 10, 2019
- Why we need to get rid of ideas May 10, 2019
- Becoming a wizard May 8, 2019
- Overrated Mentors, Underrated Coaches April 30, 2019
- The Rotation April 26, 2019
- Two Tunnels April 24, 2019
- Keep it boring April 16, 2019
- Bonus Content April 15, 2019
- Signposts and Surprises April 6, 2019
- Cultivate your questions carefully April 5, 2019
- Game Time: History Repeating April 3, 2019
- A lot can happen between now and never April 2, 2019
- Over Indexing March 30, 2019
- Question time: Getting booked to speak at conferences March 26, 2019
- Gateway Drugs March 26, 2019
- Cross Training: The ChefTender and The KitBar March 23, 2019
- Natural or Rounded? March 21, 2019
- Idea Fuel: The Creative Observer March 1, 2019
- Battle Scars February 28, 2019
- How to build your network in a new city, country or culture February 27, 2019
- Beyond the 1 hour meeting February 25, 2019
- 7 Lessons from Jim Collins on The Tim Ferriss Show February 25, 2019
- Suggestible, Susceptible? February 22, 2019
- The Portfolio Career Podcast February 22, 2019
- The Prestige February 21, 2019
- Be Like Bowie February 20, 2019
- Tension February 20, 2019
- The Crier, The Glue, The Word, and The Arrow February 19, 2019
- How to articulate your vision in 4 post-it notes February 19, 2019
- Bringing the Essential Mix to work February 15, 2019
- Pressure brings performance – or does it? February 13, 2019
- 5 x Why, 5 x Who February 13, 2019
- The Action & The Juice February 12, 2019
- The Gallery February 5, 2019
- From the Magpie to the Hummingbird February 4, 2019
- A simple way to overcome nerves and anxiety in a first meeting February 4, 2019
- Why we should think more like Detroit’s techno pioneers February 4, 2019
- Managing the feeling of being scattered February 4, 2019
- Employee of the Month February 1, 2019
- Should you be Standing Out, or Fitting In? January 31, 2019
- Rules of the Game January 30, 2019
- Finding mentors & advisors: 1:1 or a roster? January 29, 2019
- Trade-offs January 29, 2019
- Trust, Lock-in and Switching Costs for Coaches, Consultants, and Advisors January 28, 2019
- What do they remember you by? January 25, 2019
- When is it hard to do, or easy to finish? January 25, 2019
- Workshop Slide Deck (guided): Lifecycles in products, companies, and careers January 22, 2019
- Why Penn & Teller ignored the audience January 19, 2019
- Navigating Uncertainty: Climbing the Ladder, Going out to Sea January 17, 2019
- It’s hard to tell other people’s stories January 17, 2019
- Hiring? Look out for the goalkeeper January 15, 2019
- The trouble with saying No January 14, 2019
- Trend Spotting: How to identify what’s coming next January 11, 2019
- Be the person you needed when you were younger January 1, 2019
- Undertaking an Annual Life Review (a Guide & Template) December 28, 2018
- What kind of artist are you? December 27, 2018
- The Microscope & The Telescope December 17, 2018
- Two quick tips on Trend Spotting December 17, 2018
- Being Typecast December 14, 2018
- Demo Night December 14, 2018
- The Quick No December 11, 2018
- If Jobs were Houses December 11, 2018
- Lowercase skills December 11, 2018
- The fissures on your path December 2, 2018
- How to create your own personal investment thesis November 26, 2018
- Pressing pause on Tetris scheduling November 26, 2018
- Life Advice from Underground Resistance & Marcus Aurelius November 25, 2018
- 3 elements for making deals as a freelancer or consultant November 21, 2018
- Untangling Time & Energy November 14, 2018
- 3 elements of a successful entertainment venture November 13, 2018
- From Code School to Podcast School November 9, 2018
- Company Name* (required) October 30, 2018
- Shipping, Unshipping and the Creative Handbrake October 23, 2018
- Mind the Gap: A primer on Biases and Mental Models (slide deck) October 23, 2018
- Intensity or Technique? You choose September 18, 2018
- 3 circles for managing control, influence, concern, and anxiety September 17, 2018
- 5 lessons from Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola September 10, 2018
- Forcing Mechanisms August 28, 2018
- Connecting different dots May 23, 2018
- Here’s your perfect brief April 25, 2018
- Are you built for the big company? Take a tip from Ripley April 25, 2018
- Enjoy the silence April 18, 2018
- Career Fuel: signal vs ability, illicit activities, and the future of work April 6, 2018
- What’s your circle of competence? March 27, 2018
- Advisor, Mentor, Coach, Counsel: what’s in a name? March 22, 2018
- Career Fuel: Portfolio planning for the full stack freelancer March 7, 2018
- Get paid like a DJ March 7, 2018
- Harness your curiosity. Beware the Magpie. January 2, 2018
- When you’re not killing it August 7, 2017
- Note-taking, creativity and 80s action movies May 22, 2016
- So you wanna be a boxer? March 24, 2016