Archives March 2020

So here we are. The 100th entry in this blog.

One day I decided to write. I would be like Seth Godin. I would have a lot of insights and reflections to be part of the world.

That decision connected me with you, reader. With the ripple effect, it also connected me with people that haven’t directly read me. It connected me with people that don’t even know I exist! I guess that is the artist in me: creating despite the odds of never being known or applauded. In that sense, this practice is, at least for now, a paradox created by me and for me. I am writing even though i know the probability of reaching someone is really, really tiny.

Anyway, each day I’m eager to sit in front of this empty canvas, to surrender to this blank page. Each day I try to contribute. Each day is a struggle and a bliss. Kind of like giving birth and parenting. Each day I hope the right reader is going to stumble on these words and start a dialogue that starts another dialogue and another dialogue like dominoes. Until that time comes, and then more eagerly, I will show up for myself and for any person this words may resonate with.

Cheers / Namaste / Likke / Godspeed / Abrazos a todos!

You see on the news people fighting each other when the toilet paper pallets comes allong the hall in Costco. You see them and think, damn these people are really stupid. Why would they want to hoard this particular product?

But then, it is your time to go get some groceries. And, as you pass the toilet paper aisle, you see the crowd running to get the last packages of the white gold…then you feel the urge to join them in the shopping frenzy.

After a few steps forward you hit the breaks. How isn’t possible that you was going to indulge in the collective folly. Yesterday they were stupid for you. Today they don’t look so idiotic. As you walk back to your car, they look dumber and dumber.

Well that is the depiction of an irrational behavior. One of many we humans do. Actually we are mostly irrational. And the stupid things one does, have a particular way to seem logical to that person.

So what’s your stupid? Have you ever thought what habits or behaviors are becoming, or have been a ballast in your life? In your career? In your business?

Among one of the new stuff to try to enhance your personal resources, there’s one in particular that could help more, given the context.

There is a breathing method that is supposed to enhance your immune system. This method is proposed by Wim Hof and it is inspired by ancient breathing methods from India and other milenary cultures.

I won’t explain the method here but just wanted you to know about it so you may draw your own conclusions.

For me it has been beneficial. I get less sick, feel energized after doing it, and somehow more relaxed.

Here’s the link to one of his videos.

The app and first levels of the method are free. So go study his findings and the science behind it. Then if you are curious or feel compelled, give it a try.

So you are stranded. You are home. Maybe with kids and wife. You are in a situation you didn’t ask for and you have to make the best of it.

There is a lot at stake. Your relationship with your kids, your marriage and maybe even your own sanity, but, the good thing is you can design a routine that will give structure and hopefully give some valuable outcomes.

You may become your own guinea pig to perform an experiment. Try something, anything. It could be a meditation practice, some workout routine, a new nutrition plan, or a new mind set.

My suggestion is: design a daily schedule. Fill every minute. Don´t leave any space for desperation, boredom or fear to jump in.

Your control group will be everybody else in the house.

Even if you are the only one trying things, it is better to have one less person in a feedback loop of anxiety.

Amazing what happens when you manage to meditate…really meditate for more than half an hour.

So I got this “epiphany” and…well. A few years ago I would have jumped and start the action without thinking it twice.

Now I will acid test what ever comes to my head.

I guess even in esoteric revelations we grow up wiser and less prone to react. Hopefully I will be able to pass it through first principle thinking.

Will let you know about this.

“What is your take on business books? -Give them all to your competitors”.

A tweeter exchange between somebody and Naval.

Naval is not so kind when it comes to “business skills” and how to learn business from authors, influencers and even, yes, business schools.

Coming from a guy that reads and reads a lot, my guess is he has found little, no value or no practical application for all the theories, advise and tools depicted in all the books he has read.

For me, till I saw his opinion (and a radical one for that matter), I was an avid business books reader. I’m thinking I will not change this on a short term, but for sure I will see them in a whole new perspective, more skeptic, more critic, more scientific. Who knows, maybe I will stop reading business books altogether in the future.

BTW I have an MBA…Lol.

When people like Elon Musk or Jack Ma take action before catastrophes such as the covid-19 crisis, and go help thousands, if not millions of people in need, I have moments of awe and inspiration.

Not only they restore my faith in humanity, but they renew my will and confirm my goals to become one of this new kind of serial billionaire entrepreneur.

Old political systems are harming us and the planet. They are even harming themselves. We need new ways of organizing ourselves, and more often than not, these guys keep advancing in solving yhe biggest humanity’s challenges.

Thanks for that, and for all the hope and inspiration.

The world out there is so much bigger than the world your mind has created.

Your day to day world, your spaces, people and activities are just a micro subset of the spaces, people and resources out there.

Think that the next time you feel overwhelmed by dead end situations.

When normal isn’t good enough, a shift in our lives so drastic as the one we are living today in this covid-19 crisis, could be seen as an enormous opportunity for a personal evolution.

If the old normal, before the social and physical distancing, was a life not so amazing for you. If it was a life increasingly divergent from your goals or fulfillment, then the mandatory change is (could be) refreshing. It becomes an open window to design a new routine, new habits and a new normal more aligned to your dreams.

Now, you don’t have to try incremental changes, because in the old normal that was all you could afford. Now you can change overnight, you are doing it anyway.

The thing is, instead of going back to the old normal when the crisis is over, you will become a new you in the course of the next 4 weeks, you will put yourself in a position where going back to business as usual is no longer possible, where the only route is onward, ahead to the future your new self has designed.

Today is a good day.

A good day to begin anything. At least anything within yourself and/or within your house.

Today I will make a shift in the blog. As you may have figured it out by now, I will start posting in English.

As the English language is not my mother tongue, I apologize in advance for any misspelling.

It is also a committment for me to show up, to be more present here, with you guys.

More thinking, more writing, more action, more accomplished.

Let’s make it so.