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.
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.Funny thing: I pretty much agree with everything. Hah.
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.
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)
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.
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?Voi lá:
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.
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.
...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.
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 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:
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?
"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.
If you see this on the blog, it means I know how to post from my
phone :-)
And I'll be happy.
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!
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 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...
The second piece of my evil plan is up and running ;-)
Say hello to little www.gudlaif.com.
gUd NaiT.
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?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:
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.
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!
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.
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.
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?
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
