#039: The Rocking Chair Test with Cemal Ezel - a podcast by Alex Chisnall

"At the start of this bus journey this american traveller sat next to me and asked me what I did. I explained I wasn't too happy with my job and he basically said something that changed my life. He said if you're not happy you should do the rocking chair test.

Essentially this is to imagine sitting in your rocking chair at the age of 90 and thinking about your legacy in the world, who you have helped, have you left the world in a better place, who's going to remember you, and for why.

That was a pretty profound moment at the start of an eighteen hour bus journey. I was thirty minutes in going "No, no, no. I haven't done anything of any significance that's going to make a difference in the world. If I died tomorrow no-one's going to remember me. I've not left the world in a bette place and that really struck me hard.

Whilst everyone else was asleep on the bus I was bolt upright thinking about my life about what I need to do to make changes."

I speak to Cemal Ezel, founder of social enterprise Change Please. Last month Cemal was crowned Lloyds Bank Social Entrepreneur of the Year.

Change Please essentially uses coffee to tackle homelessness by training homeless people to become baristas and providing a London living wage job, housing, a bank account, therapy and support. Selling coffee across London through mobile vans, Change Please coffee is now being stocked in Sainsbury's supermarkets nationwide and with locations in New York and San Francisco after a chance encounter on Richard Branson's Necker Island the future is one of hope and promise.

Cemal and I talk about the rocking chair test, regular reviewing and celebrating, networking..plus rocketships and parachutes..stay with us on that one..

Wishing you a very Happy Christmas - spare a thought (and some change) for those who are homeless this Christmas. Donations to Change Please.

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