Archives 2020

We all want to be liked. People will answer your polls and surveys accordingly.

“Of course I would recommend your brand.” That is my default answer when someone ask me if I would recommend something to a colleague or friend…

We all just want to be polite and be liked. That is why our answer will be, most of the time, what we think they want to hear. And to think brands keep asking that.

That is just silly.

If you want to know if someone would promote your business for free just ask them to.

That is all you need them to do, and that is all it takes to know if you are indeed of any value to them.

It takes courage to pour yourself into creating something that didn’t exist before you made it happen.

It just might not come up as you wished (almost never does). It is very likely it won’t end up looking anything like you dreamed it. And that is scary.

You could end up investing days of not years into something that could or could not work. And that is scary also.

But what is the alternative? Remain forever stagnant? Stale your growth just because fear has showed up in the scene? Forever quitting on your dreams? Yeah, I didn’t think so either. That is not even on the table, right? Right?

It is addictive. You will want to breathe, eat, read and dream your passion. You will have endless energy to research, think and create around your passion.

Sounds beautiful, if you only knew what your goddamn passion is.

Sadly, the vast majority of people keeps waiting for that moment when everything will make sense. They will have find their passion and all things will come easy. So they wait, and they wait and they wait.

Instead of waiting for perfect conditions where you find your true passion and actually execute on it. You must come to a point where you decide what to do…and THEN then develop this passion. It will only come if you are consistent and show up everyday for that passion to arise from the practice of whatever you chose to do. Committing to excel at it is how you do it. You must research, learn and practice…that’s how you do it.

And then you will become addicted to feeling passionate of that particular craft nobody can do like you can.

Yes it is. And get over it.

Well, at least all the things that matter. And it is not a matter or fair or right. It just is.

Actually, we humans, tend to make things harder by refusing to accept how hard things really are and loose time, resources and energy complaining and looking for sympathy.

So we better start feeling comfortable with hardship in our lives. The sooner you get it, the sooner you will start facing things as they are and you will actually have a shot at beating the current challenges you may be facing.

I was reflecting on the purpose of this space (my blog) and I realized that, in the beginning, it was supposed to be something that I was creating for myself. It is not uncommon for me to create stuff that my eyes, and only my eyes, will see: It is invigorating for me and it kind of helps me manage, or at least, keep at bay my own personal demons.

And then I became a father. Everything changes… and I know, I know, it is a cliché, but it actually does change everything.

Before me becoming a dad, I thought about my life’s legacy as something that would come in the form of a mega impact on the world. It would be forever remembered by humanity. The huge impact my opus would have. It would be a story told generation after generation, all or nothing. It was supposed to be that big, or it would mean nothing for me.

But when you are a part of a new human being’s process of becoming, if you are careful enough to put attention, you will realize that the little things are actually the things that matter the most: being there, being kind, being consistent, being open, being vulnerable, being available…all those small things transform your un-transcendental existence into a selfless launchpad for those new humans. It is as simple and as epic as that.

So naturally, I have revisited my definition of legacy. It has become something more humble, but also, something more tangible and powerful. It is something that hopefully my family will find useful. And if they do, maybe some other people might find it useful too.

So here it is: My Legacy. My heart and soul delivered in the the form of characters. This is going to be here as long as the internet is around. It will outlive me. This is legacy. And happily, it is also a gift to myself.

So welcome again to my thoughts, reflections & conversations about how our journey is a nonstop series of momentous little victories over ourselves. My effort on trying to understand the game in which mindset plays a determinant role in our drive, our outcome and our fulfillment…Our levers in this realm where Mindset Matters.

Just like some musicians affirm when they say there’s no new music and everything is a mashup of previous compositions, in business, we could say the same.

Who has come up with really innovative, breakthrough ideas that nobody ever even imagines and that they resemble to nothing previously seen? It is hard to think about one, right, let alone 20.

Now imagine every entrepreneur would need a new idea in order to succeed. There would be not one new business from now on.

So if new business can’t depend only on new ideas to be succesfull then what may drive success?

Success depends on the combinación of ideas, execution and passion.

The thing is, in order to be able to come up with the right combination of ideas, there should be one or more of the next elements:

• Deep knowledge of more than one craft. Deep knowledge in only one craft may bring new ideas, but chances are, they will be marginal and incremental. Hardly a breakthrough.

• Insights into the needs and wants of a particular set of people to be able to create something of value to somebody.

• Creativity, and the muse must find you working so grinding is a must.

• Prototyping skills to be able to iterate on the idea since almost no one can come up with the idea fully developed and perfect right out of their minds. Well Tesla did it but let’s assume we are not him.

And then execution and passion will close the claw.

Avoiding going into quantum mechanics, tomorrow is non existent. It is a construct and it will always be in the future.

It is a moving target so we will never reach it.

Would help us understand that those things that inhabit the future (and that, in our minds, will bring us love, peace or happiness) will never become real as we imagined it. Even if they materialize, they will never be exactly as we envisioned it, so in this sense, they will never become real.

That is why we shouldn’t live for tomorrow. It is just always in the future.

You can’t do it. You are useless.

You can’t do it yet. You are powerful, in control, full of hope and possibilities. You trust yourself and the process.

Choose your pain or pain will choose for you.

Pain is there. It will always be there. Unless you arrived into nirvana, pain is a constant in human life.

What would you rather experience?

Today, each day, you are whether choosing the pain of discipline, where you live everyday grinding to become who you want to be and accomplish those extraordinary goals, or the pain of regret, watching your life go by, looking back to all those wasted years.

Again, my friend, put like that is so goddamn obvious, right?

In media, when you are trying to reach a new audience, you have to create a campaign. And the more people you reach the more money you will spend. This makes sense right? More people, more money.

But are you sure it is the right kind of people? Why should you pay premium to reach everyone? If something, you should pay less. It is a waste of time and money.

Now, reaching for SOMEONE, that is valuable. That someone should be THE ONE.

Please, take your time defining that someone. It is like choosing a spouse. It is one of the most important decisions you will take in your life.

On serving a target with your business…who do you want to marry?