eureka!
i have discovered the answer.
as i write this i assume that everyone reading will be familiar with the exclamation “eureka”, and the ancient greek mathematician archimedes who coined the term.
but that is probably an unfair assumption, so if you remember the story really well please skip the next part of the blog, but if you are unfamiliar with the backstory, enjoy.
archimedes was one of the finest mathematicians of antiquity.
he derived the formula for the volume of a sphere, and found an accurate value for pi.
but it is the story of king hieron II of syracuse and the gold crown for which he is most famous.
the king had commissioned the crafting of a crown as a tribute to the gods.
he gave a carefully weighed amount of gold to a smith, who produced a beautiful crown within due course.
the king became suspicious, however, that the craftsman had not used all of the gold he had been given in the crown.
it was a common trick to alloy gold with cheaper silver, but the king knew no way of proving that the craftsman had been dishonest.
he called upon his close friend archimedes to solve the problem. archimedes knew that gold and silver have different densities, meaning that a lump of gold will weigh about twice as much as a lump of silver the same size.
the trouble was that no one knew how to work out the size of an irregularly shaped object like a crown.
whilst he was pondering this conundrum, archimedes went to the public baths to relax.
as he slipped into the water he noticed some spilling over the edge, and he had a sudden flash of inspiration.
the displaced water must have exactly the same volume as him, and if you know the volume of an object you can easily calculate its density.
all archimedes had to do was find out whether a lump of pure gold, with the same volume as the crown, weighed more.
the crown would be lighter than it should be if the craftsman had deviously used some silver instead.
archimedes, in a fit of jubilation, leapt straight out of the bath and ran naked down the streets shouting “eureka!” – “i’ve found it!”.
the goldsmith soon confessed and was dealt with by the king.
well, i am approaching my 61st birthday in a couple of weeks, and i have been remembering that last year on my 60th i went public on my parkinson’s, which for me, was quite a big thing to do, and it made me feel very vulnerable, and scared me somewhat.
and prior to ‘coming out’ about my diagnosis i had messaged and called a number of friends to tell them, one of whom, my mate jessica told me to use my ‘s**t as my superpower’, and that she was excited to see how i use it.
whilst i understood her theory, i hadn’t discovered how.
until now, this morning.
so, last week chloe and i did a formal talk together for the first time in public, where as well telling the bigmoose story, we also addressed our health issues.
but rather than getting melancholic about what a bum hand we’ve both been dealt, we told our audience about things we had achieved whilst managing our health challenges, and showed a slide with fundraising one million pounds in 486 days, being invited to meet the prime minister at number 10, saving fifty plus lives, and a few other very powerful wins.
unexpectedly it drew a spontaneous round of applause, which took us both by surprise, and caused us post event to discuss the power of what we do, and the benefits of sharing the story so far, warts ’n all.
yesterday chloe was in valencia doing a talk to a group of business leaders, which i am so proud of her for doing, and after the talk she regaled the story of how her audience ignited into applause at the same slide, and this morning the penny dropped.
eureka!
i need to address the parkinson’s more.
definitely not allowing it to define me, but showing what you can achieve with an uninvited encumberment, and hopefully inspiring people to think if he can do that with his shizzle, i can do more too.
so i have discovered how i need to use my s**t as my superpower, it’s taken me almost a year, but i think i’ve found a mechanism.
instead of doing talks, and almost apologising for my condition, i am going to be loud and proud, so if you know anybody who wants a talk for their company or team, drop me a line, i feel a linkedin post coming up.
in conclusion, my daughter, who inspires me every day with her can do attitude, even with her chronic kidney disease, has shown me the path i need to take, and i need to copy her bravery and step into the unknown, i’m ready.
so thank you chloe for lighting the way.
until next week, thanks for opening and reading this, and for supporting me and bigmoose, and if this blog inspires you to use your own s**t as your superpower please email me and i’ll tell jess.
blue skies,
jeff
