Your intentions can transform the ordinary into an inspirational and transformational experience.
I moved into an office a couple of months ago, and I insisted that everyone refer to the office as ‘The Accelerator’.
You might think that ‘accelerate’ and ‘speeding up’ mean the same thing but they don’t. ‘Accelerate’ is speed with a purpose. For something to accelerate it needs a vector. Velocity implies constant acceleration and a bearing – a constant direction.
I didn’t want to get busier, I wanted to get better, more efficient, more focused, and I wanted this initiative to sweep through every aspect of my life.
So in the weeks leading up to the move, every time I said “The Accelerator” I knew that everyone thought it was sort of funny, a typical ‘Dennis idea’ but the concept has completely taken hold, far better and quicker than I had hoped. Give people a good idea, they’ll surprise you.
An office, in my experience, is where things don’t get done. There is too much distraction, noise, and interruption. Offices are often expensive and uninspiring places.
When we rented The Accelerator I wanted to make sure that it wasn’t just a place to go to work. I wanted to ensure that every aspect of my life, and Nick’s life, improved because we had The Accelerator as a resource.
If we could do this – Accelerate – then the outlay of money wasn’t going to be an expense, it was going to be an investment that paid a dividend. Had we moved and achieved the same results that we did before, the investment would have been a loss.
I have to give full credit to Nick who found The Accelerator, he had a brilliant idea and we jumped all over it. One of my secrets to my success is that when I hear a good idea, I love it, whether it was my idea or not.
Nick suggested that we rent a 1 bedroom apartment within walking distance of my home. The Accelerator is the 3rd floor of an old brownstone. When you look out through the windows you get the feeling that you are in a tree house because we are surrounded by maple trees that are a few stories high. It’s a lovely, peaceful place to be.
I am set up in the living room, and Nick is working out of the bedroom. We each have our own office. We also have a full kitchen which is stocked with everything you would require, obviously a full bathroom and as a bonus a sun deck that is probably 16 x 16 which is fantastic. I’ll point out that if I had rented a traditional office with the same features (two offices, full bath, full kitchen and sun deck) it would cost me at least $2,500 a month. Because Nick thought outside of the box I only pay $925 for The Accelerator.
Dennis Moseley-Williams Strategic Consulting has a single purpose. Our purpose is to inspire entrepreneurs to innovate and implement meaningful changes in their lives, and the lives of others.
We believe that meaningful change must be lasting change and we believe that in order to meet our mandate we have to take our own medicine. We need to inspire ourselves. We need to innovate whenever we can to ensure that we can continue to be inspired and continue to implement changes in our business when we can that will improve our lives and the lives of our clients.
Absolutely any innovation that can be made, that will directly improve the delivery of our experience, and help us achieve our goal, must be considered. This truth is non-negotiable.
We invested in some new top of the line phones and wireless headsets which are such a simple innovation I almost feel silly to say that it has changed my life. When I am on a conference call I usually stand outside on the sun deck with my shirt off catching some rays – it’s good for the soul and it’s been very good for business. Previously I’d be sitting at my desk, and while it worked just fine, nothing is as good as sipping a coffee in the sunshine, looking over the canopy of leaves and knowing – feeling really, that I have the world by the tail.
I ride my bike to work, and I can make it in about 10 minutes or less, but I make the ride longer because then I get some physical fitness out of the deal – thus Accelerating my health, and improving my physical well-being. Previously, I was stressed about finding time to exercise, I was aware that I was losing my strength. That physically the Dennis of a few years ago could throttle the present day version of me. Stress kills, and I was stressed and in my books that means that death is imminent.
Nick and I don’t walk up to the trendy street and eat lunch in the trendy restaurants because that costs money and time, and money and time are two scarce resources. We prefer to use our money and time for other things – like having fun. Instead, we make lunch in the kitchen, its healthier (Accelerating our health) and its cheaper (Accelerating the achieving of our fortunes and independence.)
The company bought weights and a bench for The Accelerator too. We work out pretty much every day, and it has become a bit of a running joke in our office. If I Iook over, and see Nick cranking out weights, I will walk right in there and do the same, and we both get a little laugh out of it, usually because I’ll say something like “beefing up to try and take me out punk?”
So The Accelerator has also brought Nick and I a little bonus – some added camaraderie, and I for one am proud to see how happy he is to be exercising, eating well, and getting further ahead financially. It makes me feel like a better leader.
It is clear to me that the concept of Acceleration has caught on. We are getting good. Really, really good.
Nick loads my Accelerator days up with calls and appointments. I put in massive days, and I don’t think I have ever been as productive in my professional career. Meaning, I get more done in the same amount of time, or less and it happened almost immediately.
We are working on some additional innovations. We need some deck chairs. We need some plants. I want The Accelerator to be a place we are proud of. I want The Accelerator to be a place that when we walk in we feel good. I want to see beauty all around me, seeing beauty reminds me of small miracles, that anything is possible.
I know I wouldn’t get the same benefit out of an office, in a commercial building or “office park” (typing “office park” just made me laugh out loud.) I can’t imagine I’d want to get to the office and dig in like I do now. I don’t think I’d like to be stuck inside, breathing recycled air and having a key to a public washroom. Somehow I know that wouldn’t work for me.
One final detail. I never changed my work address, so The Accelerator has the added bonus of being a secret location, hidden on a leafy street, somewhere between here and there.
The Accelerator is The Accelerator because I wanted something better than an office. My intention was to improve my life and Nick’s life by creating an environment that promoted health, focus, possibility and purpose.
This is so simple, but the rewards and results to date have been staggering.
You can do the same thing.
Get inspired. Innovate. Implement. Make meaningful changes in your life and lead by example.
