Saturday, February 03, 2007

Thought of the Day - The life you love

I´m thinking today: loving the life you don´t have is a big source of unhappiness.

I guess this is another way of saying ¨Love the life you live, live the life you love.¨ But I wonder: why do we, humans, so many times end up confused and unhappy with our reality? I think we have been told too many lies. Lies about being a perfect human being (Hitler), lies about being someone you´re not or go to hell (oppressive ways of understanding Religion), lies about the sources of poverty (21st century Socialism in the form of utopian projects of politicians like Hugo Chávez, Evo Morales, José Luís Rodríguez Zapatero...to name a few).

Our full potential resides not in living a utopian life but in getting the most out of our current reality.

Yeah, pretty obvious. But time and again we get stuck.

What are the sources of unhappiness in your life?

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Full Potential

Having written a bit about achieving full potential and being convinced as I am that getting there is paramount for living a gud laif, it was very refreshing this morning to see a post by Chris Nel on Tom Peters´blog.

Words of wisdom. Hell yeah, let´s get over 20th century management and start redefining business relationships. Base them not on control, but on TRUST. Distrust is one of those lame self-fulfilling prophecies (I thank my boss for teaching me how to identify one).

For all it´s worth, let´s base our lives on trust as a means to achieve our full potential and that of the people around us. Genuine trust. The kind that allows me to genuinely know you and by which I believe in who you are and what you say. When I have questions, doubts, I openly talk about them with you, because I believe in you and trust you...and because it´s the best thing for both of us, not just me.

Yes, it´s that simple...and it still gives you the butterflies, huh?

El Morro




A fortress teaches us to have a strong foundation.
This is ¨San Felipe del Morro¨, built in San Juan, Puerto Rico by the Spaniards half a millenium ago. I took the picture last Saturday on a boat ride with two of my cousins. Its a different angle than what you´ll normally see in postcards or tourist guides.

When you look at it, the fortress tells you about the many hurricanes, the gunshots, the fires it´s been through. And still, there it is, in the same place, still magnificent. Seems like everything it went through made it even stronger. Why? Because it has a strong foundation.

What do you hold on to when times are tough?

Sunday, January 28, 2007

I agree

LinkMichele is one of my mentors and she´s kindly lent me a book called ¨Leadership is an art¨ by Max De Pree, former CEO of Herman Miller.

I am eating up the book, and there is one word I can use to describe what I think about his view on leadership: agreement. I´ve tried to express it in the photo above (that´s the book with the shadow of my face projected on it...trying to give the blog an artistic touch ;-)

The book starts talking about achieving your full potential, to me the cornerstone of a good life. Then he goes on to statements like these, which should be ¨graffittied¨ in some managers´ office walls:
¨To make a commitment, any employee should be able to answer ¨yes¨ to the following question: Is this a place where they will let me do my best?¨
¨Would you rather work as a part of an outstanding group or be a part of a group of outstanding individuals?¨

He asks this, because trust is a result of understanding the different gifts people bring to the table. And trust, like full potential, is built and achieved by people, not structures.

So...what structure in your life is preventing you from achieving your full potential? Is it external...or internal?