Last week the washing machine went haywire: having finished the spin cycle it just kept refilling with water and wouldn’t stop! As you can imagine this was somewhat alarming. When the engineer came he was surly and depressed, angry and complaining. Eventually he fixed things but it was a very effortful, laborious process.

For me it was an object lesson in how to sabotage yourself. And it looks like this poor man – only in his 30s – has already turned this way of being into a lifestyle. To me this is a tragedy. He has a skill set which he could build on. Instead of a Journey to Mastery this looks like a journey to misery.

By contrast developing an innovation mindset enables us to keep improving incrementally, at our own pace, in a direction that is more fulfilling to us personally.

As always it’s a choice – and our mindset will determine which way we go.