gUd LaiF

Procrastination is...

2009-04-01T20:33:00.002-04:00

Not blogging in four months because you can´t figure out how to set your blog to redirect to a .com address instead of the good ol´ .blogspot one...and refusing to do the obvious. Which is this: leave it as .blogspot.

Anyways, I have been blogging, just elsewhere. Here: www.cualeslanecesidad.org
Turn homeless people into entrepeneurs. Easier said than done (in the process of).

Este blog es bilingüe. Creo que me he ganado la batalla.

Hi again.

Your personality

2008-12-07T09:57:00.003-04:00

Never thought a machine could figure out my personality type according to the Myers-Briggs test in the blink of an eye.
I arrived at the Typealyzer website via Kevin Kelly, entered the URL address for this site and it turns out I´m an ISTP, ¨The Mechanics¨:

The independent and problem-solving type. They are especially attuned to the demands of the moment are masters of responding to challenges that arise spontaneously. They generally prefer to think things out for themselves and often avoid inter-personal conflicts.

The Mechanics enjoy working together with other independent and highly skilled people and often like seek fun and action both in their work and personal life. They enjoy adventure and risk such as in driving race cars or working as policemen and firefighters.

Funny thing: I pretty much agree with everything. Hah.

I can´t I can´t I can´t

2008-11-15T11:29:00.009-04:00

Thought I´d share this.
If I write anything I´ll ruin it...

Ok.
Maybe this toon from a while ago helps:

The lesson for companies: how many Nick Vujicic attitudes do we have?
Okay. Or first: do we think this attitude will take us farther than the fearful ones?
Then why do we insist on instilling control over trust?

We promote fearful behaviors. And we make decisions about our professional future, our dreams, our everyday responsibilities....based on that fear.

Why? Why the first thought that crosses our minds is ¨hhhmm...don´t think so...¨ or ¨who? me!? Naahhh...¨
Maybe cause we don´t want to let ourselves down, or we don´t want to think we can and then be wrong when we fail (one failure is enough).

I guess I´m forgetting the positive side of this.
Life is too interesting to settle for living without knowing ¨what could have been¨.
If you dream about it, go TRY IT!

“Success means having the courage, the determination, and the will to become the person you believe you were meant to be” ~ George Sheehan (via jungle of life)

You might as well

2008-11-12T23:52:00.002-04:00

Mediocrity is poweful

2008-11-11T22:46:00.007-04:00

It´s no secret. If you´ve been in the ¨professional world¨ for at least a week of your life you´ve seen it in action.
CYA. Cover your Ass.
The tactics, to name a few:
- Copy everyone and their dog in an e-mail ¨to make sure everyone is informed¨.
- Repeating ¨we have to¨ and ¨we need to¨ instead of ¨we are going to get this done by this specific date¨.
- Nodding your head like an hypnotized cow in meetings when you don´t know what the hell is being said instead of asking for clarification (many times the person talking doesn´t know what she´s saying either).
- Avoiding to commit to a date for something you know is important ¨because you depend on others¨.

No matter how big the plans or how bold the strategy of a Company, the CYA guy is as powerful as the CEO, cause he is the guy that PREVENTS things from getting done.

The problem: Mediocrity is contagious. And grows exponentially.
Just like y= x³, you get an ever bigger (exponential) increase of mediocrity (y) for a steady increase in the number of people acting that way (x).

The paradox: We all know this. However, at some point, we´ve all seen ourselves there. Sometimes for a day, sometimes for a week, sometimes for the rest of our ¨careers¨.

We humans are weird beings: we want to do stuff but more often than we´d care to admit end up on the other side of the spectrum when we try. Specially if there are others involved.

Life is too short. No offense, but we can do much much better. We´d get so much more done if we focused on 10 or 20 things.

So I´m in the middle of something to try to contribute. Watch this space.

Oh, and what´s true in business is also true in life.

Debunking the myth that all rock songs have stupid lyrics #1

2008-11-11T00:45:00.003-04:00

From Motion City Soundtrack´s album ¨Commit this to memory¨, a song that speaks to our fear of failure. And the melody gives me the chills:

Why can't you finish what you've started?
Why can't you try and understand?
It doesn't make a bit of difference if you start what you can't finish
Every story needs an ending, after all.

I think I've known it for a long time
Suffice to say, it's been a while
You're too afraid to face the outcome
Quite likely, you're a failure
It's a shitty thing to say, but hey man - the clock is ticking

....

What fills the magic in the meantime?
I know it’s hard without advice,
You need to find a new solution,
Adaptation and retribution,
If you truly do believe in something,
Somehow it all works out.

Voi lá:

Empty yourself before filling yourself up

2008-11-08T11:38:00.003-04:00

Two summers ago I drew this. I didn´t know where the third cartoon came from at the time. ¨Empty yourself before filling yourself up¨? Lately I´m figuring it out.

Enter meaning. We spend a lifetime looking for it, the answer to the¨why, why are we here?¨. We keep looking in the wrong places: ¨the what¨ and ¨the how¨.
The what: I want to climb the corporate ladder. I want to marry that person. I want to have a private jet.
The how: I´ll become a Wall St. broker. I will hang out with the ¨right¨ people. Someday I´ll win the lotto.

Where´s the meaning? Why all this? I don´t think that´s the reason why we´re here. That´s ¨filling yourself up¨.

Mark Earls talks about ¨the Purpose Idea¨. Not new, but a fresh way of asking ourselves (or our Organizations) ¨WHY do I get up every morning¨? What´s the point? As it turns out, ¨the Purpose Idea¨ helps us figure out a way to ¨empty¨ ourselves first.

And so by asking ourselves ¨what´s my purpose?¨, meaning responds.
It responds not when we focus on ourselves first (¨filling yourself up¨) but on something bigger than us that becomes our purpose (¨empty yourself¨).

Bonus: A good way of finding your purposes is by leading a Tribe. Seth Godin knows about it, and he explains it beautifully.

The problem with Elections...

2008-11-02T21:18:00.002-04:00

...is that we just look for reassurance of our own beliefs, our need to be right, before thinking of the whole first, and viewing ourselves as part of it.

Have I read the Program of ¨the other¨ political party?
Can I name ten non-personal reasons why ¨our¨ Program is better than theirs?

I once coined the most idealistic and unachievable phrase: ¨The right to vote should only be earned by those capable of demonstrating they can think of ¨the others¨ before themselves¨. Unrealistic. Yes. I can´t help it.

Art explained

2008-09-27T20:12:00.002-04:00

This has to be one of the funniest (and true in some cases) explanations of art I´ve seen. It´s from 2004, by Hugh MacLeod.
I like getting into this whole confusions id´ ing thing so I loved it.

Funny how the common denominator in life when screwing up is putting EGO as your priority. Funnier (sadder, really) is how easy we get played into it.

Enjoy

The idea of...the expectation of...

2008-09-21T23:34:00.006-04:00

The WHAT: Internal barriers, not seeing the world as it is.
The HOW to remove them: from Evelyn Rodriguez:

Enlightening isn't a self-improvement exercise. It's more of a stripping away: who/what you are without the heavy weight of ideas of who/what we all are, each and everyone, obscuring our perception and knowledge.

And Adyashanti:

"Spiritual people always think the Truth is hidden from them. It is not hidden. What gets in the way is the idea of what it is going to be. Find that place of what actually is. There is only One manifesting as everything. Ponder and meditate on this until you realize it yourself through and through."

Hmm...the idea of, the expectations of. Reminds me of a t-shirt out of this laiftoon:

Internal vs. External

2008-09-17T22:55:00.005-04:00

Seth Godin says:

¨...there are plenty of places just dying to host your content. And your blog is the best place to launch your idea. The biggest challenge is that there are no barriers. If you want to do it, go do it. Ideas worth spreading, spread.¨

The biggest challenge is that there are no barriers. A-ha moment. But keep looking: Why is it the greatest challenge? Why, if there are no barriers, do we hesitate?

Enter Marianne Williamson:

"Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate, but that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, handsome, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?¨

Seth refers to the absence of external barriers: no costs of publishing our ideas to the world, access to an infinite communication channel, free reference on anything we can think of...No barriers on the outside.
Marianne refers to other barriers: the internal ones.

Removing on the inside is harder. We're too focused on the outside.

Yes I am!

2008-09-04T07:12:00.000-04:00

Welcome to "meta-blogging"

Am I mobile yet?

2008-09-03T23:26:00.000-04:00

If you see this on the blog, it means I know how to post from my
phone :-)
And I'll be happy.

T-shirts in Europe!

2008-08-02T22:15:00.003-04:00

The good news is:
If you´re in Europe and fancy a gUd LaiF t-shirt, but don´t wish to pay the international shipping costs from the cafepress store, you can now check out the store at Spreadshirt!

Same designs, quicker and cheaper to your European door ;-)

Thanks for reading, enjoy!

Rest in Peace, Randy Pausch

2008-07-25T15:36:00.003-04:00

The Carnegie Mellon professor whose vitality and approach to life -in spite of suffering from pancreatic cancer- has inspired many (I count myself among those) passed away today.

His ideas about achieving your childhood dreams have been a wake up call. They´ll remain with us, along with his memory.
Thank you Randy.
-------
Here´s the link to Professor Pausch´s Last Lecture on Carnegie Mellon, on December 2007, watched over 3 million times on YouTube.
Here´s the link to an interview on ABC news.
Here´s the link to his book, which he dictated to a friend while riding his bike.
Even Business Week featured an article with the business lessons from Randy Pausch´s last lecture.

Some of his quotes:
¨Never lose the childlike wonder. It´s just too important. It´s what drives us.¨
¨The brick walls are there for a reason. They're not there to keep us out. They are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something.

Rest in Peace, Randy Pausch.

Thought of the Day - Paradox

2008-07-24T19:00:00.003-04:00

Thought of the Day from another Thought of the Day post, by metacool´s Diego Rodríguez.
The quote is originally from John Mackey. The key part, to me is this:

¨Yet, happiness is a by-product of pursuing those other goals and I think that analogy applies to business as well. The paradox of profits is that, like happiness, they are best achieved by not aiming directly for them.¨

In other words, not confusing goals (great products, customer satisfaction...) with outcome (profits). If profits are your goal, everything else becomes your means to an end. What´s the problem with that? You stop doing things because you´re passionate about them, but because they´ll ¨bring you money¨. Way to go...

I finally did it (II)

2008-06-25T01:01:00.001-04:00

The second piece of my evil plan is up and running ;-)
Say hello to little www.gudlaif.com.

gUd NaiT.

I finally did it

2008-06-23T23:18:00.003-04:00

I allowed myself to make it happen.
Years ago this idea of ¨t-shirts that start conversations to inspire people¨ hit me. And hasn´t left.
Then this blog came along. Like I said on the third? post:

Why do I blog? What do I blog about?
I think blogging is a great way to enter this ¨global conversation¨ the web is becoming. I write about life in general, and then try to make a contribution. How?

A few years ago I thought:
- Conversations are the best way to share thoughts, feelings, etc.
- We all deserve a good life, but often don´t know how to live it.
- T-shirts are a powerful way to start conversations.

Why not put together the three: life, t-shirts and the desire to live a gud laif? I established my mantra: be gud. live laif.
...
And so the idea was born. Every once in a while I make t-shirts with thoughts on them. Thoughts about life in general, generally those that I believe contribute to living a better life. Then those t-shirts become conversations when worn by someone.

That was November, 2006. After months of dealing with the ¨you know whats¨ involved in the creative process, finally the t-shirts are a reality. And the nice part is they´re (becoming) available to the world (little by little) over at:
www.cafepress.com/gudlaif

Expect to see more t-shirts coming soon.
Then what? Who knows. But like they say: it´s the things we didn´t do that we truly regret.

Fell free to check them out and let me know your thoughts, here in the comments section or by e-mail: gudlaif@gmail.com

Thanks for reading!

Bonus:
Feeling you want to do something really interesting and don´t know how to start? Feeling insecure about what people might/will/could say or think?
Read this post by Seth Godin.
Then read Hugh MacLeod´s ¨How to be creative¨.
Then thank them, not me.

Blogging is like Sex (III)

2008-06-18T22:34:00.006-04:00

So...
Back by popular demand (no, motu proprio really) is the Trilogy ¨Blogging is like Sex¨ with its third (and final?) episode. Who would´ve thought you could find 19 similarities between both. Heh.

Wait!

If you haven´t done so yet, read the
first
and
second
chapters first for the full experience ;-)

Then enjoy the third:

Blogging is like Sex (III):

14. ¨He´s worried his post is not long enough for her...¨
15. You shouldn´t pay for someone to blog...you.
16. It´s not nice to accept money to blog for other people, either.
17. If I were you, I´d worry if you only post every six months.
18. I´d worry even more if you don´t get any comments about your [infrequent] posts.
19. There really is no good blogging without LOVE.

Got another? Leave a comment with it!

Get off the ladder!

2008-06-13T20:18:00.002-04:00

They call it the Corporate ladder. And they say you should climb it. That´s the goal.

I say the Corporate ladder is a state of mind. The wrong one to be in. I say it´s confusing goals with outcomes.*

Why?

When ¨moving up the corporate ladder¨ becomes your career´s goal, you do stuff that´ll take you up the ladder. Never mind sacrificing your passion for the sake of moving up the ladder you´re in.

Get off the [corporate] ladder!

I feel like making a series of t-shirts with these ideas in them. What do you think?

* For great examples of confusing goals with outcome, in the realm of trust, visit Charles Green´s blog.

Who would have thought?

2008-06-13T18:45:00.005-04:00

A while ago I wrote this post about the similarities between blogging and sex.
Then I wrote a second post.

Lately, I´ve been getting a lot of visits from random countries, mostly Eastern Europe. I did my research, and...

As it turns out, if you google ¨sex laif ¨, the third hit is the first episode. Heh.

The third episode is almost ready. Now, for integrity´s sake, I need to make a t-shirt... Humor is another way of changing the world, no? ;-)

Stay tuned.

Public Service Announcement for Spam victims

2008-06-09T00:17:00.003-04:00

Do you live in Puerto Rico? Have you been getting lots of spam sms messages (unsolicited, irrelevant to you, stuff that just interrupts and annoys you) on your phone for a while now? Signed by ellow.mobi?

Call them and tell them you don´t want their unsolicited e-mails. I did and, contrary to my expectations (I thought this was an AT&T thing that I´d have to stand if I wanted sms service), it stopped. They did say they got the information from my carrier (shame on you AT&T...Yes, I know that must be somewhere in our Terms of Agreement. Shame on you still).

I´ll spare you the visit to their website. Their phone is (787) 707-0750. And they do spam phones other than AT&T´s.

Happy end of spamming season.

Old San Juan

2008-06-04T22:45:00.004-04:00

This is a street in Old San Juan.
The light was great for pictures that day. Photo taken with my iPhone.
But the coolest thing was the visit I placed Ben & Jerry´s after that ;-)
By the way, the owner of that B&J´s in Old San Juan is Michelle Campi, yep, that Michelle Campi.

Confusions, chapter N+1

2008-05-14T00:18:00.002-04:00

Why?

2008-05-13T23:33:00.000-04:00

Why did you get up Today?
Tough answer?
Just wondering...

Confusions, chapter N

2008-05-07T00:29:00.001-04:00

Expect everything...

2008-04-14T23:24:00.003-04:00

Here´s to ¨you´re everything I ever expected...¨ Cheers.

How much heart is there in a song?

2008-04-12T13:22:00.002-04:00

Feel it yourself.

Via the crazy Famous Mortimer.

What goes first?

2008-04-11T08:19:00.002-04:00

No matter how many times...

2008-04-07T23:48:00.004-04:00

In short: Shel Israel is a renowned blogger, book writer and consultant, advising companies on how to adopt social media and ¨embrace the conversation¨, even when it´s hostile to you . Loren Feldman is a smart provocateur.

The story by Mike Arrington is here.

Bottom line: When faced with harsh criticism from Feldman, Israel did exactly the opposite he proclaims and makes a living out of.

That doesn´t make him a bad person. The hardest thing to do in life is to ALIGN your actions with your beliefs/predicaments, or ¨live your personal brand¨ if you want to put it that way. The problem is that, in that very hardest moment, you have to kill your ego. That´s the lesson we learn day in, day out.

No matter how many times we hear it, we agree on ¨the what¨. But ¨how?

Chances are...

2008-03-31T20:05:00.003-04:00

Facebook now has 64 million registered users. That means 1 out of 100 people on Earth are registered.
Think about it...

With so many options available to us in every aspect of life, it is critical now more than ever to align your daily actions with your long term goals. And it is now easier than ever to find people with interests and beliefs aligned with yours.

One click away, not six degrees anymore.

Blogging is like Sex (II)

2008-03-30T22:40:00.007-04:00

Back by popular demand:
[Click here for the first episode of ¨Blogging is like sex¨. Thanks.]

8. Don´t ever think that post you wrote drunk at 5 AM impressed anyone...
9. Thou shall not covet your neighbor´s blog.
10. ¨I´ve seen his blog. Nothing to be impressed about...¨
11. They say you should blog to please yourself first.
12. Yes, it´s a myth: No one can post 10 times a day.
13. Having a blog does not mean you´re going to post everyday.

Perfect Sunset III

2008-03-30T22:21:00.003-04:00

Another sunset...the third of the series.
The first one I took in Aruba.
The second one in Miami.
This one´s here in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

There´s always something special with sunsets.

The problem with not understanding

2008-03-20T01:19:00.003-04:00

Web 2.0 = human dynamics 101.

That's my opinion. These web 2.0 tools we have today are just enablers for us to interact, in the same way we do offline, on a larger scale and faster pace.

One unexpected feature of these tools is that they drive control freaks crazy. Why? Cause you cannot control the interactions that take place when you use them. Hence, the need for authenticity and transparency, of really focusing on the other side of the interaction, rather than your own.

Authenticity and transparency nurture trust. The problem with not understanding these tools, is that you will never align your behaviors online with those that a connected, hyperlinked world values. At the core, these are non other than, I think, our true nature.

Blogging is like Sex (I)

2008-03-05T23:37:00.006-04:00

Blogging is like Sex.

You start doing it out of curiosity.
You don´t have to wait until you´re married to blog. Not anymore.
Your parents never taught you how to blog.
You´ll always remember your first post.
Had you known it is this liberating, you would´ve started years ago.
¨I can´t blog right now. I´ve got a terrible headache.¨
¨No, seriously. I really enjoyed your last post¨.

Global Warming

2008-02-28T02:08:00.001-04:00

Looks more like WRONGbal Warming...

En español...

In English...

Oh well.

The problem with Customer Loyalty...

2008-02-26T23:27:00.000-04:00

...is that it should be Loyalty to the Customer.

The problem with Human Resources

2008-02-20T00:00:00.005-04:00

...is that humans are not resources.

When utilizing a resource, such as fuel, it gets used, burns out and all remainings are waste. It doesn´t benefit from the interaction in any way. Not a good analogy for humans, although all too familiar sometimes.

Humans want realization. The problem with treating humans as resources is that it might be ALIGNED with a company´s needs for something to use and burn out, but certainly not with humans´ wants.

I´ve been thinking about this for weeks. Today I read Seth Godin´s point of view: why not a VP of Talent.

Everything wired to everything else

2008-02-16T13:05:00.004-04:00

Wow.

Talk by Vilayanur Ramachandran in 2007´s TED conference.

The problem with selling

2008-02-15T23:17:00.004-04:00

Today someone gave us a presentation on his product. Things I remember in no particular order:

1. Seven bullet points in a single slide, all appearing at the same time...as an introduction.
2. Misspellings in several pages.
3. ¨Yes, I´ll answer that but first let me show you this other feature because if not we´ll be here ´til tomorrow morning¨. (yes, he did say that).
4. He spoke for 20 minutes more than we had agreed.

The message I got was:

¨I´m here to tell you about my product. I know you have problems, and I don´t know them yet. If we have time at the end, we´ll discuss your situation; but first, let me tell you all about the features of my product and the things it can do. I hope this will impress you enough to ask me to come again, and then prepare a proposal.¨

You have an option: try to sell features, or offer to solve problems (that those features happen to solve). The problem with the first approach is that people can tell it´s not ALIGNED with their needs.

This guy is the General Manager of the Company.

2K

2008-02-15T23:05:00.002-04:00

2,000 visits and counting! Thanks for stopping by, seriously. Attention is a gift, so I appreciate your reading this.

Be gud. Live laif. ;-)

Suspicious Office Humor

2008-02-13T23:25:00.005-04:00

3pm, exhausting day @ work, your mind starts spinning...You come up with a suspiciously funny joke:

¨How do they mute a phone in [insert favorite place here]?¨

Life Template

2008-02-12T23:16:00.001-04:00

Here´s to vicarious existence...

Extreme 9 to 5

2008-02-11T23:17:00.000-04:00

Come n´ play, come n´ play...

My idea of you...

2008-02-11T22:55:00.002-04:00

Will you marry your idea of me!????

Update: Craig Harper says it better. Read his post the morning after posting mine. Talk about coincidence. Worth reading ;-)

Intelligent quotes remain

2008-01-28T14:58:00.000-04:00

So it turns out that trying to get something from someone is really not a selfish act. At least not if you want to be successful.

Dale Carnegie wrote ¨How to win friends and influence people¨. A central idea to the book is that there is only one way to make someone do something; and that is by making that person WANT to do it.
So the next question is: how to MAKE someone WANT to do something?
Enter Charles Green, author of ¨The Trusted Advisor¨ blog. ¨In order to get someone to buy from you something she needs, first you need to understand what it is that she wants (in life).¨

Is what you´re asking for ALIGNED with the other person´s values and desires?

The increase

2008-01-23T00:01:00.000-04:00

Here´s to the ladder´s perks.

Heaven is a shopping mall

2008-01-23T00:00:00.001-04:00

Here´s to ¨I´m afraid to die, that´s why I have 33 pairs of shoes.¨

Una de fotos...

2008-01-17T22:51:00.001-04:00

Por aquello de que me encantan las analogías...

Esta imagen me pareció la analogía perfecta para mi estado de ánimo cuando la tomé. Llevaba así un par de meses: cuesta arriba, sabiendo que iba a algún lado pero sin entender muy bien dónde ni si quería.

Desde esta semana es más algo como así:

Amplitud, serenidad, empezando a percibir la luz que se asoma.

Qué foto define tu estado de ánimo?

Edu-llaboration

2008-01-16T17:17:00.001-04:00

This makes me wonder what the future of education as we understand it will be like:

www.freebase.com Via techcrunch: "Freebase is a massive database. The purpose of the database is to centralize as much data as possible, and allow participants to freely add and access data - developers can extract information from Freebase via a set of APIs and add it to their web applications. It also builds relationships between highly structured pieces of data, something that can’t easily be done with distributed data controlled by different entities. "

Formalismos Laborales

2008-01-16T15:05:00.001-04:00

Pensamiento cínico del día:

“Lo de que el cambio frecuente de trabajo se ve mal en el curriculum se lo han inventao las empresas mediocres, hombre! Para que no se les vaya la peña en cuanto descubren lo mediocres que son.”

Ja!

Firmado: yo.

Tú eres nuestra ¨Venta Nueva¨

2007-12-20T19:20:00.000-04:00

Tenía curiosidad por saber cuánto cuesta un seguro médico individual, así que hoy llamé al número del primer seguro que vi.
Como de costumbre, una máquina te recibe. La opción pre-programada para atender llamadas de potenciales clientes nuevos se llama (y lo digo porque entenderlo no fue inmediato): ¨Ventas Nuevas¨. Esto es una sutileza, pero demuestra en quién estaba pensando el que programó el cuadro telefónico. Peor aún, hace pensar que la programación la aprobó cualquier ¨comité¨ formado ad hoc a tal efecto.

¨No me importa quién llame, para NOSOTROS esto es una venta nueva.¨ o ¨Hola, me estoy dirigiendo a tí en mi idioma...y quiero que me compres.¨

El problema con declararse ¨orientado al cliente¨ es que hay que alinear cada operación del día a día con ello. Y programar los sistemas de ATENCIÓN AL CLIENTE basados en tecnicismos internos, no lo está.

PD. Nunca cogieron el teléfono. Esa es otra...

More versus less

2007-12-13T08:59:00.000-04:00

Words of wisdom for the day, by Seth Godin: “More is easy to sell. Less almost never is”.

Yesterday I was thinking about the “positive-action oriented” rather than “negative-action deterrent” ways of saying things or giving feedback. “Don’t do this” versus “do more of (the opposite)” .

If we are to achieve our goals, and we want to align everyday actions with the long-term vision, I suggest we approach things from a standpoint of DOING rather than NOT DOING. The latter leads to inaction, that leads to fear of failure. And fear of failure is Evolution's bottleneck.

Process Re-engineering leads to alignment?

2007-12-03T12:27:00.000-04:00

What do we do when a process doesn’t work in a Company?
We re-engineer it. After all, “process re-engineering” is to problems what aspirin is to headache: let’s shift some responsibilities, move some people around, arrange more meetings. And then, management’s selling line: “We are sure that OUR PEOPLE will understand this and execute accordingly”.
What have we done? We (think we have) have aligned “what we (must) do” (must is key here) with what we want to achieve.

The problem is that we seldom pay attention to the HOW and the WHY.

How people should execute processes is more important than the processes themselves, because it gives you the ability to improve them naturally. The correct HOW is achieved when people understand WHY. In other words, to achieve your long-term objectives, you need to make sure people understand why they do what they do everyday and how their activities contribute to achieving those goals. Because not always people understand WHY they must do what they are doing.

In your company, what percentage of people would you say can connect what they do everyday to the business strategies?

How grateful are we...?

2007-12-03T00:35:00.000-04:00

This from the website www.plantingpeace.org

Did You Know...

30,000 people die everyday from starvation
150 million street children world wide
842 million people across the world are hungry
798 million people in the developing world are undernourished

Half the world -- nearly three billion people -- live on less than 2 dollars a day.

The developing world now spends $13 on debt repayment for every $1 it receives in grants.
To satisfy all the world's sanitation and food requirements would cost only $13 billion, hardly as much as the people of the United States and the European Union spend each year on perfume.

Makes you think...
Aaron Jackson is the founder of this organization. He said some very interesting things tonight on the Larry King show. Like the fact that you can deworm 2,000 in Haiti with $100. It´s possible to donate to their cause on their website.

Alignment of long-term strategies and day-to-day operations is not just a ¨corporate¨ concept. Here´s a guy who, at age 26, fully practices it. His organization´s mission (to which he fully commits himself 24/7) is:

Urging humans to make a conscious personal effort in there daily life’s to bring betterment to the planet so every creature grandchildren's grandchildren can simply live.

He´s built orphanages and homes for kids and adults in Ecuador, Haiti and Guatemala; more projects underway.

What´s your vision for yourself and what do you do everyday to accomplish it?

Ojito, mucho ojo

2007-12-02T18:05:00.000-04:00

Así se te queda el cuerpo antes de entrar a la cafetería de mi oficina. No porque el cartelito está al revés (lo que pasa es que no consigo darle la vuelta), sino por lo del OJO.
El cartel cumple uno de los dos objetivos por los que está ahí: captar la atención. El segundo (que la gente haga caso) no se cumple, por culpa del primero.

Por qué? Si has tenido que poner ese cartel en la puerta, cuando hace meses que las instrucciones están visibles en otros sitios es porque quieres advertir claramente que estás pendiente de ello. Te estás dirigiendo a los que no te hacen caso, simplemente estás gritando más alto.
Interpretación del cliente que no ¨roba¨ (que es la inmensa mayoría): les importa más reducir una ¨pérdida¨ de, digamos, 25 centavos por 100 personas que lo hagan al día (que lo van a seguir haciendo, las instrucciones ya estaban), a asegurarse de que, por ejemplo, la cajera te hable (no digo ya sonría) para que tu experiencia en el lugar sea buena y vuelvas mañana.

Si tu estrategia a largo plazo es alta satisfacción de clientes, deberías asegurar que la interacción de estos en el día a día está alineada con ello. Y un mensaje de bienvenida (no una advertencia) ayuda. Mucho.

¨Traducción¨:
* Combo = menú
* Refill = relleno

Ah, yo bebo agua, no Coca-Cola ;-)

Promotion fastrack

2007-11-27T23:16:00.000-04:00

The whole ¨promotion¨ (¨corporate ladderism¨) as a goal in itself is broken.

Back

2007-11-27T23:10:00.000-04:00

Ok, I´m back. ¨Stop and smell the flowers¨ kind of lapsus.

Alguien muy sabio me dice por ahí que al blog le hace falta vidilla en español, así que como estoy de acuerdo...bienvenidos al primer blog bilingüe que conozco ;-)

Dear blog

2007-10-25T00:03:00.000-04:00

Dear blog,

I think we should stop seeing each other for some time. It´s not you, it´s me.

Cartoons on demand

2007-10-01T23:19:00.000-04:00

Funny how in a matter of weeks you reconnect with two classmates you haven´t seen in ages (one since 8th grade). How? LinkedIn and Facebook, of course.

So, my dear old friend Irene sees the cartoons and she asked me if I could draw one with this theme in mind: people who don´t get the ¨coaching¨ thing, and believe that a coach, mentor...is there like a parent to a little kid, mainly to solve your problems, not helping you find the answers, whichever those may be.

Well, here it goes, Irene. And thank you, cause it got me thinking that we all are a little bit that person sometimes. I´m myself currently sensing that little boy inside asking for help and solutions more often than not. Luckily the older brother takes over just in time with a serenading ¨hey, just relax...keep looking that way. And enjoy the journey¨.

Hmmm....maybe the journey is the solution.

Who would you like to sue today?

2007-09-20T06:16:00.000-04:00

Maybe God Himself?

http://tinyurl.com/2czz93

Craaazy crazy world...Have a good one.

Maturing...

2007-09-14T00:28:00.001-04:00

Free Anesthesia

2007-09-14T00:06:00.000-04:00

Here´s to soul numbing...

Problem solving...

2007-09-09T22:49:00.000-04:00

Thanks Manny!

Kidnaptionship

2007-09-05T23:09:00.001-04:00

My perception of what it must have been to go through a ¨kidnap.tionship¨. Descriptions out there? Anyone?

Empathy

2007-09-05T22:31:00.001-04:00

We all wish other people, especially our loved ones, behaved in a way they don´t, or achieved things we deem easy for them (because they are easy for us).
I think one of the hardest things in life is being able to let go of this, just letting people BE. It all comes down to empathy, being able to walk a mile on the other person´s shoes and understand how hard that thing can be under their circumstances. The other hard thing to do then, is help them create the circumstances that will allow them to achieve it, IF they want to.

Jose Antonio Marina says that intelligent behavior is characterized by the creation of possibilities.

That´s why managers who inspire get a lot more done in the long run than those who use a command-and-control approach.

Meanwhile...

2007-08-16T18:12:00.000-04:00

¨Life is...what happens to you while you're busy making other plans".¨

- John Lennon

Feliz Aniversario

2007-08-14T11:57:00.000-04:00

And speaking of true love and affection, today is my parents´ 32nd anniversary.

Felicidades papá y mamá!!

Hugggggg

2007-08-14T11:50:00.000-04:00

A little true versus fake (conditional and conditioned) affection...

The Long Ladder

2007-08-14T11:37:00.001-04:00

Been drawing, not only intimating with Cruzcampo during vacation. These are some thoughts on Corporate ¨ladderism¨ (the new extreme sport....it has tremendous side effects in the long run).

Whose ladder are you climbing...? Ever tried climbing your own?

Vacations with a Purpose

2007-08-14T11:12:00.000-04:00

Greetings from El Puerto de Santa María, the town where I grew up, located in the province of Cádiz, Spain. Life is getting interesting and I needed two weeks to reflect on all things work.(Michele calls these getaways ¨hiatus¨, which I find very representative).

Nothing like sunset contemplation to clear your head. This one´s a view of the town of Rota, next to El Puerto, with the Naval Base in between both cities (those are navy ships).

Living abroad as I do, it´s good (important) getting to see your friends at least once a year. If you ever need an agency to help you with your corporate identity, packaging and a non-traditional but effective marketing campaign, check these guys out. They´re doing great things lately. It was founded by my friend Kisko, who I find to be a great innovator in this field.

Dear blog

2007-07-18T23:30:00.000-04:00

Dear blog,
I haven't forgotten you. It's just that I still don't have internet connection in my new apartment...and probably won't for a while.
In the meantime I cheat on you with your younger sister nanoblogging, by updating my twitter page several times a day. Soon I will be bringing you both together.
While I'm away, please don't forget to greet the fellow "terricoleans" who pass by and offer them a thought or two, either written or drawn.
With no further instructions, I leave you til next time. Send my kind regards to your Google host server.

milestone weekend

2007-07-08T22:49:00.000-04:00

Long time...writing from my blackberry tonight: first mobile blogging experience. Getting used to the pearl's keyboard. Writing in telegraph mode cause my left finger is yelling at me...and cause I'm doing Twitter lately. That's the "nu thang, y'all know?"
Oh, and milestone weekend cause I moved to a "new" (long story) apartment. Lessons learned?
1. Mom & Dad's infinite generosity towards their children
2. Murphy's law applies to moving too
3. I avoided much of it by remaining calm and positive (law of attraction)
4.general contractors are to construction what copyright lawyers are to music.

Gud nait

Take me to your leader...

2007-06-23T01:36:00.000-04:00

Me likey di blog...

The word of wisdom today comes from Seth Godin on this post: if you have anything you´d like to say, tell the world, get it out of your system or simply type, do it. Just once, and see the effect it has on you.

Like Hugh MacLeod likes to remember that Clay Shirky says:

"So forget about blogs and bloggers and blogging and focus on this -- the cost and difficulty of publishing absolutely anything, by anyone, into a global medium, just got a whole lot lower. And the effects of that increased pool of potential producers is going to be vast."

Here´s my afraidsumé...

2007-06-19T21:46:00.000-04:00

Wishi washi

2007-06-19T21:37:00.000-04:00

Here´s another one for the ¨it´s not you, it´s me¨ style of gracefully not getting it... hah!

Dad

2007-06-17T21:44:00.000-04:00

Feliz día de los padres papá!!

Gracias por todo.

Business expired

2007-06-16T12:59:00.001-04:00

Wrongbal Warming

2007-06-16T12:45:00.000-04:00

Turns out it´s not that clear whether an increase in CO2 levels drives an increase in the Earth´s temperature or it´s the other way around.

I can´t find the tiny little post, but if you do, please send it to me. Thanks!

PD. I promise I´ll get better at the drawings, hah!

Mental Model

2007-06-16T12:27:00.000-04:00

What´s your mental model?

What dots?

2007-06-16T11:09:00.000-04:00

I guess some days it´s harder to connect the dots than others. You lose perspective, or hope, or simply patience...That´s ok, as long as you find posts like this one, by Nick Smith (again).

Flow me...

2007-06-14T07:25:00.000-04:00

From life2pointO:

The alternative to planning and organising is to be open to receive. Not in a passive 'do nothing' type of way, but as an active surrender to our inner knowing... and moment to moment engagement with our experience of life as it unfolds before us.

We think that without our conscious control our lives would be chaos. Not so, in truth they would reflect only Love and harmony.

Sort of a self-critique...

Innothon

2007-06-12T23:36:00.000-04:00

Have you ever spent 17 straight hours talking about innovation and human dynamics? I just did. Hope I can wake up tomorrow... ;-P

Laif is gud.

Reassurance

2007-06-05T21:45:00.001-04:00

Would you like BALANCE with that?

2007-06-04T22:29:00.000-04:00

Back from the Dominican Republic. Two words: Alignment (my favorite word lately) and Balance. That´s how you can sum up the benefits of having a Project Portfolio Management (PPM) methodology in your company. That´s what I told the potential client (the purpose of the trip was to tell the success story of implementing a PPM methodology in our Company).

Something I realized during my visit: these people GET IT. I´m talking about the joy of living and taking it easy. Granted they´re a developing country and you begin to see ¨first world-like activity¨ in the city (rush hour, horns, rising prices, etc). But when you interact with them you still get the paused and HONEST ¨Hello, how are you?¨ that all of us fake in the other places I´ve lived in. It makes you smile back to them and CONNECT.

I wonder if it´s because they still have alignment and balance in their lives...

This is a view of the beautiful garden and pool in the Hotel El Embajador.

Island hoping

2007-05-31T00:27:00.001-04:00

I just found out Today that I fly to Santo Domingo, D.R. tomorrow at noon. Unexpected, but it´s always a good time to fly away and give presentations on alignment.

No blogging ´til Saturday. I hope to take some cool pictures to post.

Have a great weekend.

¨Poltrona¨ lifestyle

2007-05-28T01:33:00.000-04:00

Guannovation

2007-05-28T01:10:00.000-04:00

Yes, it´s THE question.

What is Innovation? Lately it seems like the ¨mojo¨ word, but what does your Company understand by innovation?:

a) Keyword in any strategic plan that needs immediate attention in order to be executed ¨as usual¨;

b) ¨Naipes joker¨ word used as an excuse to explore ¨new ways of doing things¨ (read: to postpone important decisions that rock the boat...);

c) Must-have word in the cover of cool business magazines;

I think innovation is a MINDSET. It´s realizing that:

1. We are not in control. Anyone who pretends to be is set for a good deal of frustration.

2. Nothing that got us here is guaranteed to take us there.

3. Yes, we will fail. And get up. And fail. And get up.....

4. It´s a whole new game... in every industry.

5. Connection is what matters. It´s what brings success. Oh, but don´t search for it; rather, open yourself to it. Otherwise it won´t happen.

And aligning everyday actions and decisions accordingly. That is: reconsidering everything, embracing the chaos, preparing to sail the boat of disruption.

Everything else is...well, tonight´s word: guanno . vation.

What is Innovation for you?

¨Cluelessy¨

2007-05-28T01:03:00.000-04:00

Wouldn´t it be cool to have such a word? It rhymes with ¨cruelty¨...I guess because it´s cruel not to know yourself...or having the outcome of your interactions with other people be leaving them with that idea.

1,000 !!

2007-05-18T17:57:00.000-04:00

We´ve officially crossed the line of a thousand visits!

My first post on this blog was back in October 29. Thank you for coming by, for your comments on and offline. I still suck at drawing on the Wacom pad, but that´s another story ;-) Let´s continue the conversation.

I want to thank all these bloggers for writing on their own voice and inspiring other people, me among them:

Hugh MacLeod
Enrique Dans
Charles Green
Seth Godin
Evelyn Rodríguez
Miss Rogue
Nick Smith

It´s a gud laif. Enjoy...

F.E.A.R., Inc.

2007-05-15T23:19:00.000-04:00

Fear of failure

2007-05-14T23:44:00.000-04:00

This is an idea I´ve had running around in my head for a while...Tonight I saw this post by Henrik Edberg and finally got it out of the system. Highly recommendable blog.

Ok, sleepy again. I wonder if I´ll ever get to sleep more than seven hours. Don´t you wish you had enough with just three? I do. Tomorrow the day starts at 6 am, meeting at 8. Maybe we all need to read this book ;-)

gud nait.

Review the six degrees!

2007-05-12T13:08:00.000-04:00

I think it´s time we review the six degrees of separation statement/axiom/theorem, don´t you?

I mean, what year was that formulated? It came out of an experiment, right? Hmm...let´s see.

Ok, here´s what Wikipedia says. Apparenty the experiment was carried out in 1967 and then again in 2001. In the latter, the conclusion was that six degrees is an average, not a maximum.

Anyways, my point is that the connectedness we´re achieving by means of technology should lower this number in the next decade or so, at least to 4. What do you think?

Too many...

2007-05-12T12:23:00.000-04:00

Inspired on this post by Nick Smith.

Reengineer

2007-05-12T11:29:00.000-04:00

I bought this Wacom Graphire4 tablet and have been practicing drawing on it. At first it´s harder than drawing on paper but then you start getting the feel of it and discovering features, etc. The previous post was drawn on it too.

This is my modern version of ¨So much ado about nothing¨...

So loooong...

2007-05-06T00:43:00.000-04:00

The facts are: more and more people get divorced each year and people are losing faith in marriage/life-long relationships. There were 14,000 divorce cases in Puerto Rico in 2006 (25,000 people got married). Spain is the EU member in which marriages last longer, an ¨astonishingly¨ 13.8 years.

Why? Why do we make the difficult decision to spend the rest of our lives with another person and then fail miserably in so many cases? Is there a way we could save the drama? Let it be clear that I´ve never been married, let alone been in a relationship that lasted more than 8 months. But I think a good way to analyze this is in terms of goals and outcome.

Think of the many times you´ve heard somebody say ¨I´m ready to settle, at this time in MY life, finding a partner for the rest of MY life is what I need.¨ Their GOAL is to spend the rest of their life with someone (mistakingly identified with marriage). The outcome is very likely to be a STRIIIIIKEEE 1!! after a few years.

Now ask a couple that´s been together for, say, 30 years. Ask them ¨how do you do it?¨ You´ll get an answer that talks about them living for the other person, loving the other person everyday is the goal. As a result (OUTCOME), they´ve been able to spend their lives together.

How about changing the approach to marriage from the mindset of ¨I want to spend the rest of my life with someone, let´s go out and find her¨ to ¨I want to make someone happy that will make me happy, and as a result spend the rest of our lives together¨? Make the other person´s happiness your goal, and find someone with the same intention.

This is another smallapproachtothebigpicture. What´s yours?

Time...Laif

2007-05-01T22:57:00.000-04:00

So this gets a bit personal Today. It´s about not being aware that THIS is the only moment we have.

It´s funny: everyone who goes through a near death experience always says how it changed their perspective on life, and how they try to live to the fullest, enjoying each minute.
It´s even funnier how all of us that haven´t gone through it don´t even bother to try.

Someone said Today ¨...it´s only noon, I wish it was 5 pm already¨ and I started counting the many times I´ve said that too, and wondering if that´s what we´re here for: Longing for moments of joy while living (dying) through the ¨rest of the time¨. Obviously not. I´ve got the ¨what¨ clear. Now, ¨how¨ not fall into that?

Maybe this helps: Today is the only day of your life. I think I read it somewhere, so my thankful apologies to whoever said it so wonderfully. How many things would you regret not having done (mainly because you kept putting them off) if you died in two days?

I bet that´s an exercise the people that´ve gone through a near death experience have done, either at the time or after.

¨One Day Life¨ was the name of the band I played drums in back in Spain. The band was named so because (this is how we would explain it): our songs are about life in general; life is condensed into 1 CD; what if you could condense all life into One Day?

Well, Today I realized the real reason is because your life is only one day long: Today. And back in the day I used to play guitar too, which I enjoyed very much. I´ve been willing to pick up a guitar and start playing again for months! but for a few stupid reasons still haven´t done it. So Today I went, bought one, and played and played and played (yes, my fingers are yelling at me...). And it felt great. Can´t wait to be able to play Jack Johnson and sing along.

I think this is all related to the idea of ¨flow¨, ¨embrace the chaos¨, etc. The Smashing Pumpkins said it better back in 1993:

¨Today is the greatest
day I´ve ever known
can´t live for tomorrow
Tomorrow´s much too long¨

And that´s another smallapproachtothebigpicture, another way of living a gud laif.
Enjoy :-)

The text in the picture is a haiku I wrote back in eighth grade, somehow I always remember it.

Fluffy

2007-04-23T00:11:00.001-04:00

Here´s to ¨I want to look beautiful but I don´t know why...oh wait, I do...because that´s what´s expected.¨

Name your insecurities....then kill them.

Nowhere Path

2007-04-22T23:57:00.000-04:00

Inspired by Incubus´ song ¨Nowhere Fast¨.

Some lyrics:

Will I ever get to where it is that I am going?
Will I ever follow through with what I, what I had planned?
...
Will I ever get to where I'm going?
If I do, will I know when I'm there?

Do you have a vision for your life and a way to get there (other than ¨live everyday....carpe diem...bla bla bla)? Is what you do on a daily basis ALIGNED with it? I think this is one of the simplest ideas to articulate yet most difficult things to execute. What do you think?

20 extra minutes

2007-04-21T14:50:00.000-04:00

You call a company to demand a service. They´re open from 9am to 5 pm. It´s 5.02 pm and already nobody answers the phone. Result: you think ¨these lazy people drop the pen at 5.00 and they don´t care. I´m sure they´re still around and don´t pick up cause I´m 2 minutes late...¨ The ¨go the extra mile for our customers¨ attitude is nowhere to be seen.

If I were responsible for customer service, I´d pay the receptionist or whomever it is that answers the phone in the first place 10 minutes of overtime before and after business hours to be there and make sure those ¨borderline¨ calls are properly attended. I believe it exemplifies the customer-centric attitude it is talked about so much (¨we´re not just here from 9 to , we´re here for you¨). Plus, those ¨borderline¨ calls are usually very important.

What do you think?