Welcome to Postcards from the Ledge. Two or three times a year we take the most interesting articles, links and pictures the Totem team have found over the preceding few months and put them into an email which we deliver to your inbox. Expect pieces on outdoor learning, tips and tricks for the workplace, beautiful photos and news of upcoming open courses. Our aim is to provide a little bundle of inspiration in what can sometimes be a grey world.

We love hearing from people so if you enjoy this issue, let us know and if you come across something you think we might find interesting, send it to us and we may include in the future.

Sam
sam@totemdevelopment.co.uk

Definite Articles

The best articles we've seen on the internet over the last few months.

40 Inspirational Speeches in Two Minutes
A clever piece of editing that takes moving, powerful lines from a selection of classic films and turns them into what might be the most inspirational speech ever. This will have you standing on your desk cheering!(more...)

The Marshmallow Challenge
Tom Wujec presents some surprisingly deep research into the Marshmallow Challenge, a simple team-building exercise that involves dry spaghetti, one yard of tape and a marshmallow. Who can build the tallest tower with these ingredients? And why does a surprising group always beat the average?(more...)

Management Lessons on an Aircraft Carrier at Sea
Those of us who work in the 'softer' area of the outdoors often shy away from the military approach to training, which appears from the outside to be all drills and shouting. This short article reflects on a trip to an aircraft carrier and what lessons we could all learn from life on board.(more...)

The Hand
Andy Kirkpatrick is one of the worlds most impressive alpinists, described has having a penchant for the wet and the high. Here he talks about a mental trick he uses to hold himself together in stressful situations.(more...)

Who's in your team?
An interesting short exercise from Call of the Wild, one of our clients. Most people's teams are a lot bigger than they think they are. Give it a go and find out if you are underestimating the number of people you work with.(more...)

A View on the World

From indexed.com.

Best of the Blog

We try and fill our blog with the same interesting articles you get in this newsletter, mixed with a good amount of original content. The best of the last few months is gathered below

January 25^th - Little Big Adventures

February 23^rd - Sorry Cards

March 2^nd - Expedition Behaviour

March 16^th - Mapland

Wise Words

You can't get to wonderful without passing through alright

Bill Withers

On the Shelf

The Yes Man Danny Wallace
Publisher: Ebury Press; New edition edition (6 April 2006)
ISBN 978-0091896744 Paperback, 416 pages

Danny Wallace is probably best known for appearing as a slightly mad-cap, very enthusiastic comedian, presenter and guest on various TV programmes. His writing style is not dissimilar to his stage presence.

Meeting a man on a bus one evening and lamenting the lack of excitement in his life, he is struck by the simplicity of the advice the stranger offers him; “Say ‘Yes’ more”. Taking this advice to heart, he makes a bet with a friend that he will say ‘yes’ to every opportunity that is presented to him in the next six months.

More...

Totem News

Busy times here at Totem, with work for Vestas, Network Rail, VT Flagship, Call of the Wild and a number of schools. We've also managed to work on some bushcraft, go sea kayaking, swim in the Sound of Jura and swim with seals in North Wales. It's back into the office for short while for us now, to tackle the mountain of paperwork but I'm sure it won't be long until our next adventure.

Join us in conversation...

We love hearing from people and sharing our ideas about learning, the outdoors and life in general. We use the following social media services so if you have accounts with any of them, click on the logo, befriend us and join the conversation.

Our pictures end up on Flickr and we have a blog .

That's all for this time...