Archives May 2020

That’s why, when my parents said NO to me and my intention to attend to music school, sadly, I now realize, I was kind of relieved.

You’ll see, that way, there was NO CHANCE that I would fail at being a musician, something I cared too deeply.

It is kind of refraining yourself of talking to that girl you like so much, so you avoid being rejected.

Of course, the downside is you live your life thinking what would have happened I you would have pursued your dream. Please don’t do that. Just don’t.

So you set yourself in a field. You have rules and you abide to those rules. You play the game and you keep losing. Nevermind the reasons. What is important here is the outcome: you consistently keep losing.

What are your options?

1. Do nothing and keep losing
2. Keep trying until you master the game and succeed
3. Change the opponents so they are amateurs
4. Change the rules so they favor your abilities
5. Change the game so your position yourself in better position regarding your skills

Each option brings a whole different outcome and life. Think slow and choose wisely.

It seems as if people are living in islands with small groups of people. Most of the time, these islands never touch another island, but sometimes the islands are overlapping with other islands.

There’s the island of poverty versus the island of ostentation. The island of power versus the island of powerless automats. The island of scarcity versus the island of abundance.

There’s an island dichotomy that has caught my eye lately. This dichotomy seems to define on what other dichotomy you will be allowed to enter, or inflict yourself upon: the island of desperation and hopelessness where there is nothing you can do and the island of everything is in your hands to achieve.

I believe, as of now, I have no concluding evidence that I might be living in or the other, so, it comes to ME TO DECIDE on which of these island is my reality developing.

That being said, we all have the ability to place ourselves into the series of islands we choose to be but this pair is the mandatory first choice (and perhaps the most important) we will ever make to construct our own reality.

Having it so easy to get straight a’s during all my student life made me cruise for all those years in school. It also made me feel that everything would be as easy on the forthcoming years.

It made me feel too comfortable to realize that other challenges were out there. Challenges like creating a business and a living that would be entirely up to me.

Can’t be too hard on myself because every single advise and compliment I got back then reinforced the idea that being great at school would lead me to a great job and a great life. Of course that wasn’t the case.

I realize the harsh truth later in life. The bad news is that you never get back all those “wasted” years. The good news is that those years are only lost if you learn nothing. And also, that is never too late to learn new tricks.

It has arrived a time to unlearn all that shallow, misleading data. I feel I am doing it really good.

A brand new beginning.

Start with hope. Joyfully. With open heart & mind.

Start over like there’s no other option. Because there isn’t.

So how about realizing after 13 years of being a consultant, that some of the amazing solutions developed within the projects were not what the client really needed? Maybe what he expected, even what he asked, but not what he needed.

I’ve been a consultant since 2003. More than 13 years sitting with people concerned with the performance of their business, overall or a particular process or department. Every time my goal has been to develop real solutions with real value. Every solution developed has been based on the understanding of the client, the client’s problem and the client’s client problems.

Extensive research and expertise has been applied to each one of the projects. The solutions has been flawless, both in the eyes of the team and the eyes of our clients. We both have been proud of the outcome of the consultancy process and yet, a few of those projects have become binders in the drawers, collecting dust, being forgotten.

Thinking back, some of the projects were developed using analogy reasoning. A huge trap, I’ve come to realize, that leaves everyone convinced that the solution is great, even those who devised it.

When you face a complex problem, always should apply first principle thinking. Even if after a few iterations you draw upon some analogies. It will result in a cleaner, stronger, more creative solution.

If you care you prepare.

I heard a podcast a few days ago. There was this girl asking the host how could she maintain the diet and exercise routine she needed in order to have the body and fitness level she wanted. She kept deviating from the rules and actions set in a plan she herself had accepted.

The answer was short but sharp: “My guess is you don’t want it bad enough.” He said she should turn her wants and goals into a burning desire so there would be no other option than adhering to the rules and plan.

So if you think you want something bad enough, you should be behaving accordingly. If you find yourself delaying work, lacking discipline or procrastinating…maybe you should change your dreams or goals into something you really, really care.

It is 6 a.m… you just woke and start checking what happened in the world since you went to sleep. On every social network, as well as in every news outlet you find sad stories.

Bad news is something we are kind of used to. Some of us have even learned to ignore them. But the hate around social networks is sort of new. And it is produced by us, the people: our kids, parents, friends, acquaintances. It is supposed that we should care about what concerns to our close circle of friends and family. And then there is the unknown people that produces hate and that we get in our timeline because someone we know reposted it or because they started . They are strangers and we are consuming their hate. And we throw our lot also.

Long distance, “inconsequential” hate to strangers, is still hate to our brains. Our brains can’t differentiate between what’s real and what is virtual.

Even worse if this hate is sustained, methodical, hate. It becomes a neural path in our brains and we then become what we do and consume every day.

If we take the time to curate our social networks and those we follow and listen we may turn it into a tool for hacking our happiness and boosting our growth.

You might feel overwhelmed by the amount of time and effort you have to invest in something in order to arrive to the level you wish you had.

If you get frozen by fear when in front of a client or an audience because you feel you are not ready to do it yet, there’s one trick that could be helpful: visualize anything you’re doing as prectice, one of thousands times you will execute, and not as the one show that is the pinnacle of everything you’ve done so far.

That will relief a lot of the stress of not having the adequate level.

Sso chill, relax, flow and enjoy.

Imagine you witnessed a lion attack from the distance a couple years ago. Fortunately, you and your family were a few meters away when the beast jumped from the bushes and the poor trio that were ambushed didn’t make it.

It is 56,000 A.D. and is that time of the year when the drought forces your tribe to move almost 300 kilometers to be able to survive.

You were 16 back then and the scene was forever carved in your psyche. Now you are walking again that same path to survive the droughts and suddenly you see a four legged silhouette on top of the rocks to the left. You are not sure if it is the same beast: it is not the same size, not the same posture, hell , it doesn’t even have the same way of walking, but nevertheless, you sound the alarm to the rest of the tribe so everyone is aware of the menace.

Analogy served us perfect a few million to thousand years: what was a threat would always have the same basic characteristics. So it made perfect sense to react to alike events in alike manners. Fight or flight.

However, today, is a completely different story. The complexity of the system we’re in has multiplied manifold. And almost not one of the decisions we encounter in our lives represents a matter of life and death.

So our brains have grown obsolete.

Or are least, the software of heuristics and quick conclusions based on previous experience and culture that we try to apply to, for example, our business, politics and economic decisions.

In those kind of cases, where no one has previous experience, like the covid19 crisis, or the private special tourism race, or the psychedelic industry, or just about anything we try to start up nowadays, for these situations or systems, analogy reasoning will equal disaster.

To minimize the risk and maximize the odds at success, let me introduce you: first principles thinking.