Epicycle 1
Week 1
February 17th, 2014
When does the Leviathan become unstoppable?
“People shouldn’t be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.”
- V, V for Vendetta
Cuba, the Nazi Germany, the Arab Spring, Ukraine, and now Venezuela. All of these countries have suffered or are suffering the devastating consequences of Socialism and big governments. The so-called leaders, better called tyrants, of these countries have made atrocities, including killing the citizens, in their attempts to stay in power. With the false assumption that they are doing everything for the sake of the people, to have a better country, and to have equality among their citizens, they have justified their crimes to these same citizens, attempting at their life, liberty, and property.
These tyrants have built enormous governments to control their citizens, but there’s always a time when people start being less tolerable to the violating policies that these public institutions create. There’s a time when people can’t bear with them anymore and start speaking out about these injustices. But most of the time the same government shuts them down, and this leads to an increase in violence. This leads to a revolutionary process and attempts to remove the government tyrants from their privileged position. We can see this in Ukraine and Venezuela, where people are rising up against the government, and the government strikes back with more violence in order to preserve their power. But history has showed us that the balance of power always end up favoring the people, and it’s only a matter of time for them to succeed in creating the future they think would be best. So, the question is not whether people would be able to succeed in overthrowing a government, but when and at what cost?
When does the Leviathan become unstoppable?
“People shouldn’t be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.”
- V, V for Vendetta
Cuba, the Nazi Germany, the Arab Spring, Ukraine, and now Venezuela. All of these countries have suffered or are suffering the devastating consequences of Socialism and big governments. The so-called leaders, better called tyrants, of these countries have made atrocities, including killing the citizens, in their attempts to stay in power. With the false assumption that they are doing everything for the sake of the people, to have a better country, and to have equality among their citizens, they have justified their crimes to these same citizens, attempting at their life, liberty, and property.
These tyrants have built enormous governments to control their citizens, but there’s always a time when people start being less tolerable to the violating policies that these public institutions create. There’s a time when people can’t bear with them anymore and start speaking out about these injustices. But most of the time the same government shuts them down, and this leads to an increase in violence. This leads to a revolutionary process and attempts to remove the government tyrants from their privileged position. We can see this in Ukraine and Venezuela, where people are rising up against the government, and the government strikes back with more violence in order to preserve their power. But history has showed us that the balance of power always end up favoring the people, and it’s only a matter of time for them to succeed in creating the future they think would be best. So, the question is not whether people would be able to succeed in overthrowing a government, but when and at what cost?
February 18th, 2014
On Coworking
Cultures have changed and the way we do things have progressed and adapted to our necessities now a day. We can no longer be working linearly and independently; we need to work creatively and collaboratively. In order to achieve this, we must need an environment suited for this purpose and if you’ve guessed correctly you would know that it’s not a traditional classroom or office. We need open, dynamic, ever-changing environments where communication and information flow freely between the workers.
As it’s usually named, coworking is more than a place; it’s a style of work, lifestyle, and community. It’s based on building an environment of independent as well as collaborative work, where people share the same values, and work as a community, both inside the coworking space as well as outside that environment.
We’ve experienced a coworking community at MPC and today we were exposed to another one called Chamba. It’s really interesting to see similar places to the MPC and exciting to think how we can create these kind of places where awesome potential can be exploited. We should never underestimate the power of working together; you never know when other person has the other half part of your idea. I remember Seth Godin talking about this in a TED talk, where his main point was about the importance of environments in the creation of great ideas. We should aim at that and facilitate the process by creating the conditions necessary to do that. So far, coworking is the best option for me.
On Coworking
Cultures have changed and the way we do things have progressed and adapted to our necessities now a day. We can no longer be working linearly and independently; we need to work creatively and collaboratively. In order to achieve this, we must need an environment suited for this purpose and if you’ve guessed correctly you would know that it’s not a traditional classroom or office. We need open, dynamic, ever-changing environments where communication and information flow freely between the workers.
As it’s usually named, coworking is more than a place; it’s a style of work, lifestyle, and community. It’s based on building an environment of independent as well as collaborative work, where people share the same values, and work as a community, both inside the coworking space as well as outside that environment.
We’ve experienced a coworking community at MPC and today we were exposed to another one called Chamba. It’s really interesting to see similar places to the MPC and exciting to think how we can create these kind of places where awesome potential can be exploited. We should never underestimate the power of working together; you never know when other person has the other half part of your idea. I remember Seth Godin talking about this in a TED talk, where his main point was about the importance of environments in the creation of great ideas. We should aim at that and facilitate the process by creating the conditions necessary to do that. So far, coworking is the best option for me.
February 19th, 2014
What would be your Legacy?
What’s a legacy? What kinds of legacy there are? What is your legacy? That’s how I started my morning, talking about these questions with Marce, Kevin, and Mafer at the MPC. I learned good stuff that has helped me answer these questions.
First, what’s a legacy? A legacy is something that would remain after you are no longer somewhere. Usually, it refers to something after you die, but it can also be after you leave some place, like my legacy at MPC after graduating from it. Then, are there different kinds of legacy? I think so. I believe there are two kinds of legacy, something tangible like a product, service, or company, and something less tangible like your human experience transmitted in a book. Now you may say that these are practically the same, but the difference is the validity they have over time. For example, Steve Jobs’ legacy can be seen in two parts. First, Apple of course. It’s a company that has disrupted the market and has created amazing products we all enjoy now. The second part is his biography. In this one, he expresses his human experience and learnings he had. So, which one is more important? If you say that the latter is just a book and cannot be compared to the great benefits that the former has brought to us, you are missing the point. The problem with the first one is that it’s perishable. It has contributed to our progress as a civilization and has made our lives easier, all of which is great, but there would be a point where that legacy would vanish. After all they are products that would change enormously over time. The second is less perishable if it is. The legacy of your learning experience as a human being is more valuable in the amount someone else could learn and live a better life. The greatest insight I’ve had from this is our capacity as human being to do extraordinary things. Ordinary persons doing extraordinary things, and that’s beautiful. We’ll keep on talking about my legacy…
An excerpt from Marce’s daily reflection
(http://amrichardson.weebly.com/epicycle-1.html)
Where does time go? To memories? To legacies? To facts? To your mind?
It is completely amazing the day I had today.
It all started when Marce found her perfect outfit for today. Black tights, blue jeans short, and white shirt, her gray sweater and her boots that have walk thousand memories with her. As she was getting out of the car she had her earphones on and was listening one beautiful song, that made her thought that all she can imagine could be real. Smelling the fresh cut grass at UFM, crossing by with different individuals who pursue their own dreams amazed her even more. As she was climbing up the heel she could feel the vibe of a very intense day, yet her look was very determined. Anything could happen today. Because she was going to make IT happen.
…
Well, the fluency of people on the terrace called her attention, so she went to it. There was Polanyi Café day, she knew this day couldn’t have had a better start. Anxious she sat in a table that had the Polanyi café name in front, shared a table with Diego, Mafer and Kevin. They opened the envelope in front of them, to answer the question not other than the one she had chosen for her Christmas mpc gift and that is: What is my legacy? Before even arranging the order of the question she intuitively said out loud the question. She confirmed it moments later. Finally it was her time to articulate her thoughts. First she started by saying that legacy didn’t meant only leaving something physical in the world, but the impact you create upon other people who you cross with in your entire journey of life. To make the story short. Diego acknoweledge her that because of her he had learned the importance of assuming a responsibility that everything you do, say, act should be to create value to the world, not destroy. If her eyes could speak, they would’ve said “YES! Somebody believes my ideas to be not so crazy” the answer to the question was finally thought and articulated in the way: that everything I want to do is live my life in accordance with my integrity and my own values, finding a way in which human beings can share the one thing that makes us the same, regarding race, religion, work, income etc. now the big questions remains open. What is that thing that makes us unique? Is it our liberty, our liberty that we are able to choose what we want in our own lives, without the guidance of a legislator? Capitalism has shown that this is possible, free market is run by individuals pursuing their own interest, benefiting societies. From Kevin she learned, the beautifulness in Japanesse Cherry Blossom trees, and the word sincerity comes from the Romans sculptures that meant “sinccera” without wax, the statues that were made in one complete try, not with repairs.
What would be your Legacy?
What’s a legacy? What kinds of legacy there are? What is your legacy? That’s how I started my morning, talking about these questions with Marce, Kevin, and Mafer at the MPC. I learned good stuff that has helped me answer these questions.
First, what’s a legacy? A legacy is something that would remain after you are no longer somewhere. Usually, it refers to something after you die, but it can also be after you leave some place, like my legacy at MPC after graduating from it. Then, are there different kinds of legacy? I think so. I believe there are two kinds of legacy, something tangible like a product, service, or company, and something less tangible like your human experience transmitted in a book. Now you may say that these are practically the same, but the difference is the validity they have over time. For example, Steve Jobs’ legacy can be seen in two parts. First, Apple of course. It’s a company that has disrupted the market and has created amazing products we all enjoy now. The second part is his biography. In this one, he expresses his human experience and learnings he had. So, which one is more important? If you say that the latter is just a book and cannot be compared to the great benefits that the former has brought to us, you are missing the point. The problem with the first one is that it’s perishable. It has contributed to our progress as a civilization and has made our lives easier, all of which is great, but there would be a point where that legacy would vanish. After all they are products that would change enormously over time. The second is less perishable if it is. The legacy of your learning experience as a human being is more valuable in the amount someone else could learn and live a better life. The greatest insight I’ve had from this is our capacity as human being to do extraordinary things. Ordinary persons doing extraordinary things, and that’s beautiful. We’ll keep on talking about my legacy…
An excerpt from Marce’s daily reflection
(http://amrichardson.weebly.com/epicycle-1.html)
Where does time go? To memories? To legacies? To facts? To your mind?
It is completely amazing the day I had today.
It all started when Marce found her perfect outfit for today. Black tights, blue jeans short, and white shirt, her gray sweater and her boots that have walk thousand memories with her. As she was getting out of the car she had her earphones on and was listening one beautiful song, that made her thought that all she can imagine could be real. Smelling the fresh cut grass at UFM, crossing by with different individuals who pursue their own dreams amazed her even more. As she was climbing up the heel she could feel the vibe of a very intense day, yet her look was very determined. Anything could happen today. Because she was going to make IT happen.
…
Well, the fluency of people on the terrace called her attention, so she went to it. There was Polanyi Café day, she knew this day couldn’t have had a better start. Anxious she sat in a table that had the Polanyi café name in front, shared a table with Diego, Mafer and Kevin. They opened the envelope in front of them, to answer the question not other than the one she had chosen for her Christmas mpc gift and that is: What is my legacy? Before even arranging the order of the question she intuitively said out loud the question. She confirmed it moments later. Finally it was her time to articulate her thoughts. First she started by saying that legacy didn’t meant only leaving something physical in the world, but the impact you create upon other people who you cross with in your entire journey of life. To make the story short. Diego acknoweledge her that because of her he had learned the importance of assuming a responsibility that everything you do, say, act should be to create value to the world, not destroy. If her eyes could speak, they would’ve said “YES! Somebody believes my ideas to be not so crazy” the answer to the question was finally thought and articulated in the way: that everything I want to do is live my life in accordance with my integrity and my own values, finding a way in which human beings can share the one thing that makes us the same, regarding race, religion, work, income etc. now the big questions remains open. What is that thing that makes us unique? Is it our liberty, our liberty that we are able to choose what we want in our own lives, without the guidance of a legislator? Capitalism has shown that this is possible, free market is run by individuals pursuing their own interest, benefiting societies. From Kevin she learned, the beautifulness in Japanesse Cherry Blossom trees, and the word sincerity comes from the Romans sculptures that meant “sinccera” without wax, the statues that were made in one complete try, not with repairs.
February 20th, 2014
Life is about transitions
“Life is about transitions and living a good life is about making good transitions.”
- Me
Some months ago, while I was having my little crisis and wanted to get out of MPC to have more time to work on my projects, I started reading a book Daniel H. gave me. It’s called Quitter by Jon Acuff and I didn’t read much of the book, but it gave me a very nice learning. Acuff talks about calculated risks, about not leaving everything to start something and gradually make the change to what you’re doing to what you want to do/become.
I understood that life is about making transitions and the better we do this transitions the better we will become in changing our actions, or habits, or self. The process of transitioning from one state to another can be controlled in its major part, giving us more calmness and happiness. This doesn’t mean that sometimes we would need huge life changes and that may work too, but the smoother the transition, the better we will be.
During Spark, we talked about The Startup of You and about building a personal business model canvas. I really like the idea of focusing on how you are adding value to others through your actions and realizing that what you want to be is not necessarily who you are now, but it gives you a good perspective on the state you should transition to in order to reach that wanted and better state.
Life is about transitions
“Life is about transitions and living a good life is about making good transitions.”
- Me
Some months ago, while I was having my little crisis and wanted to get out of MPC to have more time to work on my projects, I started reading a book Daniel H. gave me. It’s called Quitter by Jon Acuff and I didn’t read much of the book, but it gave me a very nice learning. Acuff talks about calculated risks, about not leaving everything to start something and gradually make the change to what you’re doing to what you want to do/become.
I understood that life is about making transitions and the better we do this transitions the better we will become in changing our actions, or habits, or self. The process of transitioning from one state to another can be controlled in its major part, giving us more calmness and happiness. This doesn’t mean that sometimes we would need huge life changes and that may work too, but the smoother the transition, the better we will be.
During Spark, we talked about The Startup of You and about building a personal business model canvas. I really like the idea of focusing on how you are adding value to others through your actions and realizing that what you want to be is not necessarily who you are now, but it gives you a good perspective on the state you should transition to in order to reach that wanted and better state.
Week 2
February 24th, 2014
Building Your Future Living In The Present
It happens very often that I’m too concern about the future and my idea of how my future should be, that I forgot that those imaginary scenarios don’t exist and the only thing that does exist is the moment I’m living, the present. Realizing that you only have the present, not future or past, makes you have mixed feelings. It makes me feel less worried in the sense that I can act now to improve how things are, but I also feel worried and afraid that my actions would build my future and that if I don’t act now, all these imaginary scenarios in my head about the future would not exist anytime. It’s exciting and troublesome at the same time.
Jean-Paul Sartre said, “Man is nothing else but what he purposes, he exists only in so far as he realizes himself, he is therefore nothing else but the sum of his actions, nothing else but what his life is.” When we think about this, it’s amazing how it all depends on us. It’s afraid and exciting at the same time, to realize that you build your own world through your actions and that only you and no one else are responsible for your future. That’s what I love about existentialism.
From this ideology, mixed with some Conscious Business and a little of The Startup of You, I decided to share the exercise about building your Personal Business Model Canvas during the morning meeting. We also watched a video called It Is Always Now by Sam Harris that talked about living in the present, and finally I invited my friends to join me with the #100HappyDays challenge, which we all enjoyed eating some bread with Nutella and bananas.
“We are our choices”, said Jean-Paul Sartre. We are responsible for what we do and how we live our life. So we can keep thinking about imaginary scenarios that are most probable never going to happen, or we can work and live in the present to achieve what we want. It is always now and it’s up to us to make that decision.
Finally, one more quote from Sartre, “Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does. It is up to you to give [life] a meaning.” Assume the responsibility of being free, mold your decisions to what you value most in this life, and always aim to give your life more meaning and happiness.
Extra Material
It Is Always Now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3JzcCviNDk
The Fallacy of the Broken Tooth: http://vimeo.com/87521807
Excerpt from Marce’s daily reflection
So she arrived to the MPC at 6:45 a.m, there were already a couple of her classmates waiting to give 7a.m. One who amazed her to be very active was Diego, and indeed it was his morning meeting. Started with leaving the chairs and standing up to give the announcements. Later on he explain the activity which included making their own personal business canvas, they went for 10 minutes to write the values they each give to the customers, or others. Marcela wrote she gives honesty, an awe about life, spirit of joy, speaks the truth, had a kainzen philosophy, a constant learner, curious explorer, in search of her own happiness, encourage other to be great in what they do, and a good listener. After that Diego showed them a video which gave Marcela inspiration to live her life to the fullest. The morning meeting ended with a Nutella and banana sandwich.
Building Your Future Living In The Present
It happens very often that I’m too concern about the future and my idea of how my future should be, that I forgot that those imaginary scenarios don’t exist and the only thing that does exist is the moment I’m living, the present. Realizing that you only have the present, not future or past, makes you have mixed feelings. It makes me feel less worried in the sense that I can act now to improve how things are, but I also feel worried and afraid that my actions would build my future and that if I don’t act now, all these imaginary scenarios in my head about the future would not exist anytime. It’s exciting and troublesome at the same time.
Jean-Paul Sartre said, “Man is nothing else but what he purposes, he exists only in so far as he realizes himself, he is therefore nothing else but the sum of his actions, nothing else but what his life is.” When we think about this, it’s amazing how it all depends on us. It’s afraid and exciting at the same time, to realize that you build your own world through your actions and that only you and no one else are responsible for your future. That’s what I love about existentialism.
From this ideology, mixed with some Conscious Business and a little of The Startup of You, I decided to share the exercise about building your Personal Business Model Canvas during the morning meeting. We also watched a video called It Is Always Now by Sam Harris that talked about living in the present, and finally I invited my friends to join me with the #100HappyDays challenge, which we all enjoyed eating some bread with Nutella and bananas.
“We are our choices”, said Jean-Paul Sartre. We are responsible for what we do and how we live our life. So we can keep thinking about imaginary scenarios that are most probable never going to happen, or we can work and live in the present to achieve what we want. It is always now and it’s up to us to make that decision.
Finally, one more quote from Sartre, “Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does. It is up to you to give [life] a meaning.” Assume the responsibility of being free, mold your decisions to what you value most in this life, and always aim to give your life more meaning and happiness.
Extra Material
It Is Always Now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3JzcCviNDk
The Fallacy of the Broken Tooth: http://vimeo.com/87521807
Excerpt from Marce’s daily reflection
So she arrived to the MPC at 6:45 a.m, there were already a couple of her classmates waiting to give 7a.m. One who amazed her to be very active was Diego, and indeed it was his morning meeting. Started with leaving the chairs and standing up to give the announcements. Later on he explain the activity which included making their own personal business canvas, they went for 10 minutes to write the values they each give to the customers, or others. Marcela wrote she gives honesty, an awe about life, spirit of joy, speaks the truth, had a kainzen philosophy, a constant learner, curious explorer, in search of her own happiness, encourage other to be great in what they do, and a good listener. After that Diego showed them a video which gave Marcela inspiration to live her life to the fullest. The morning meeting ended with a Nutella and banana sandwich.
February 25th, 2014
Why We Shouldn’t Trust Second-Hand Sources
The origin of the war of the Nazis against the Jews was not apparent at first. It was a hidden initiative by the leaders of the Socialist Party that started by making fun of the Jews and their physical traits. There were caricatures, jokes, and songs that started alienating the Jews from the rest of the German society. The other Germans started to see the Jews as the others, like they were from a different origin and that were separated from their reality. After these jokes and mockery sank in society and became normal to see the Jews in that way, the rest of the discrimination took place. It transformed into thinking that the Jews were the roots of all evil. The documentary Night and Fog illustrates this point about how small jokes and conversations let to create an anti-Semitism culture of hate and fear. In the Nazi Germany, fear and hate made them unified and gave them a common enemy to attribute all evil.
The terrible thing about all of these was that most of the fear and hate came from second-hand sources, from the word-of-mouth of people that didn’t see what was really happening and only were repeating what others said to them so they’ll fit in society. Their opinions had the solidity of pure wind and still it was listened.
We should never escalate rumor, we shouldn’t gossip. We should focus on the important things in life and not about other people. Eleanor Roosevelt said, “Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.” Let everyone live their life and be happy as they find it more convenient. Help others become better persons, but don’t impose what you believe it’s better for others. Rely on your senses and experiences and don’t let others think for you. And finally, never put someone down to set yourself up.
Why We Shouldn’t Trust Second-Hand Sources
The origin of the war of the Nazis against the Jews was not apparent at first. It was a hidden initiative by the leaders of the Socialist Party that started by making fun of the Jews and their physical traits. There were caricatures, jokes, and songs that started alienating the Jews from the rest of the German society. The other Germans started to see the Jews as the others, like they were from a different origin and that were separated from their reality. After these jokes and mockery sank in society and became normal to see the Jews in that way, the rest of the discrimination took place. It transformed into thinking that the Jews were the roots of all evil. The documentary Night and Fog illustrates this point about how small jokes and conversations let to create an anti-Semitism culture of hate and fear. In the Nazi Germany, fear and hate made them unified and gave them a common enemy to attribute all evil.
The terrible thing about all of these was that most of the fear and hate came from second-hand sources, from the word-of-mouth of people that didn’t see what was really happening and only were repeating what others said to them so they’ll fit in society. Their opinions had the solidity of pure wind and still it was listened.
We should never escalate rumor, we shouldn’t gossip. We should focus on the important things in life and not about other people. Eleanor Roosevelt said, “Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.” Let everyone live their life and be happy as they find it more convenient. Help others become better persons, but don’t impose what you believe it’s better for others. Rely on your senses and experiences and don’t let others think for you. And finally, never put someone down to set yourself up.
February 26th, 2014
What Is Your Value Proposition?
It’s very rare that someone thinks about himself as a startup company, where they have to define their customer segments and value propositions. We tend to think that the principles of a company don’t apply to persons and this limits our capacity to think about ourselves as something that can improve constantly in order to add value to others. This is what Reid Hoffman in The Startup of You says about living in Permanent Beta. This means learning to adapt and improve constantly in today’s world and seeing your career and life as a startup company.
With this in mind, everything has changed in my view of how I should participate in the world. Acting whimsically disappears and you turn your actions, feelings, and thought to only those that would create value to others. It also means grounding your values and principles in solid foundation and acting with integrity. “Integrity, says Fred Kofman, is the adherence to a code of values. Your behavior always expresses your values-in-action. Your integrity hinges on whether your values-in-action agree with your essential values. When they do, you feel pride. When they do not, you feel guilt.” Of course, there would be things out of our circle of influence that we may not control, but we can choose how to respond to them (also Kofman’s approach to responsibility). And in life and in our actions we may not always adhere as we wish to our code of values and so, we must linger between two extremes, but the importance is to stick to our beliefs and modify our actions to reach that desired state in order to become more virtuous over time. Aristotle says, “Virtue, then, is a state of character concerned with choice, lying in a mean, i.e. the mean relative to us, this being determined by a rational principle, and by that principle by which the man of practical wisdom would determine it.”
Today I watched Sophie Scholl, a movie about the story of an anti-war German activist group called The White Rose during World War II, and how they got captured and executed. The power of this story is transmitting how much evil and destruction a human being is capable of. How can there be people willing to do so much evil? People killing people because of ideologies and desire of power. People who believe themselves to be superior to others and that this gives them the right to treat others like they were not humans. It’s horrible to think that we are becoming less humans and don’t think anymore about the great things we can create together. We are thinking more about destruction than creation. I realized that we can change this and it must start with each of us. Part of my mission in this life is to spread and transmit the values that make life flourish. It’s about treating each person as a person and defending it no matter what. It’s about reducing until elimination the evil in our life and spread goodness, value, and joy to the ones around you.
What Is Your Value Proposition?
It’s very rare that someone thinks about himself as a startup company, where they have to define their customer segments and value propositions. We tend to think that the principles of a company don’t apply to persons and this limits our capacity to think about ourselves as something that can improve constantly in order to add value to others. This is what Reid Hoffman in The Startup of You says about living in Permanent Beta. This means learning to adapt and improve constantly in today’s world and seeing your career and life as a startup company.
With this in mind, everything has changed in my view of how I should participate in the world. Acting whimsically disappears and you turn your actions, feelings, and thought to only those that would create value to others. It also means grounding your values and principles in solid foundation and acting with integrity. “Integrity, says Fred Kofman, is the adherence to a code of values. Your behavior always expresses your values-in-action. Your integrity hinges on whether your values-in-action agree with your essential values. When they do, you feel pride. When they do not, you feel guilt.” Of course, there would be things out of our circle of influence that we may not control, but we can choose how to respond to them (also Kofman’s approach to responsibility). And in life and in our actions we may not always adhere as we wish to our code of values and so, we must linger between two extremes, but the importance is to stick to our beliefs and modify our actions to reach that desired state in order to become more virtuous over time. Aristotle says, “Virtue, then, is a state of character concerned with choice, lying in a mean, i.e. the mean relative to us, this being determined by a rational principle, and by that principle by which the man of practical wisdom would determine it.”
Today I watched Sophie Scholl, a movie about the story of an anti-war German activist group called The White Rose during World War II, and how they got captured and executed. The power of this story is transmitting how much evil and destruction a human being is capable of. How can there be people willing to do so much evil? People killing people because of ideologies and desire of power. People who believe themselves to be superior to others and that this gives them the right to treat others like they were not humans. It’s horrible to think that we are becoming less humans and don’t think anymore about the great things we can create together. We are thinking more about destruction than creation. I realized that we can change this and it must start with each of us. Part of my mission in this life is to spread and transmit the values that make life flourish. It’s about treating each person as a person and defending it no matter what. It’s about reducing until elimination the evil in our life and spread goodness, value, and joy to the ones around you.
February 27th, 2014
On Life
“Life is too short to be small.”
- Benjamin Disraeli
A good life is a life that when you look back you don’t regret about it and that if you would live again; you would live it in the same way. But even when we already know this, and I talk for myself on this one, we keep on wasting time on unproductive and useless things and not the ones that matter. Why? Time preference is a factor for sure, but it’s also because of our imaginary creations about the future and how we picture it to be. We imagine greatness and prosperity, but we don’t act in congruence to achieve that. There’s this quote I don’t remember the author, but it goes like this, “If we knew our time is limited, we wouldn’t waste so much time”. By the passing of the years, you feel like they pass faster and faster and you don’t catch up with that pace, but it’s only your perception of it and in relation to the things you want to accomplish.
Ironically, we still believe that we have a lot of time and that leads most of the time to inaction. We may be comfortable in the short-term, but this inevitably ends up in a life of discomfort, unhappiness, and regrets. Benjamin Disraeli puts it very simple by saying that, “Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action.” Few people I know, if any, regret more about the things they did than those they didn’t. Life is about facing uncertainty and taking risks. Your worst-case scenario may not be as bad as you think and in the process you can learn many things and grow as a human being. One thing is for sure, if you are going to do something do it passionately and with all your heart so that if you failed you can be calm that you did your best. “Fail faster, succeed sooner”, says David Kelley from IDEO. Be optimistic at every moment and strive to make things happen. Live life at its fullest and act, act, act, and keep on acting until you succeed. “Reflect on everything, regret nothing”, said Michel de Montaigne. Don’t let your life be wasted by inaction and regrets. Fill it with exciting endeavors, success, happiness, and meaning.
On Life
“Life is too short to be small.”
- Benjamin Disraeli
A good life is a life that when you look back you don’t regret about it and that if you would live again; you would live it in the same way. But even when we already know this, and I talk for myself on this one, we keep on wasting time on unproductive and useless things and not the ones that matter. Why? Time preference is a factor for sure, but it’s also because of our imaginary creations about the future and how we picture it to be. We imagine greatness and prosperity, but we don’t act in congruence to achieve that. There’s this quote I don’t remember the author, but it goes like this, “If we knew our time is limited, we wouldn’t waste so much time”. By the passing of the years, you feel like they pass faster and faster and you don’t catch up with that pace, but it’s only your perception of it and in relation to the things you want to accomplish.
Ironically, we still believe that we have a lot of time and that leads most of the time to inaction. We may be comfortable in the short-term, but this inevitably ends up in a life of discomfort, unhappiness, and regrets. Benjamin Disraeli puts it very simple by saying that, “Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action.” Few people I know, if any, regret more about the things they did than those they didn’t. Life is about facing uncertainty and taking risks. Your worst-case scenario may not be as bad as you think and in the process you can learn many things and grow as a human being. One thing is for sure, if you are going to do something do it passionately and with all your heart so that if you failed you can be calm that you did your best. “Fail faster, succeed sooner”, says David Kelley from IDEO. Be optimistic at every moment and strive to make things happen. Live life at its fullest and act, act, act, and keep on acting until you succeed. “Reflect on everything, regret nothing”, said Michel de Montaigne. Don’t let your life be wasted by inaction and regrets. Fill it with exciting endeavors, success, happiness, and meaning.
Week 3
March 3rd, 2014
Happiness and Meaning
Most of time, I’ve thought that happiness was the ultimate objective of my life. I want to do things that would make me enjoy life at its fullest and be more happy. The best way to achieve this, I thought, was through reaching my goals as well as the process of achieving it. What I didn’t think about was that doing the things that made me happy and doing the things that gave meaning to what I did were different approaches.
I was reading an article that Juanma Bonifasi posted on Facebook called A Happy Life May Not Be A Meaningful Life. It made the difference between happiness and meaningfulness in our life and that sometimes living a happy life doesn’t necessary imply living a meaningful one. Happiness can be expressed as excitement and joy one experiences when doing something. Meaningfulness on the other hand, is having purpose in our life. Daisy Grewal, the author of this article, says, “More broadly, the findings suggest that pure happiness is about getting what we want in life—whether through people, money, or life circumstances. Meaningfulness, in contrast, seems to have more to do with giving, effort, and sacrifice.”
Later this day, I had lunch with Juanma and we had a very nice dialogue about happiness, meaningfulness, values, and principles. We talked about sharing your values with others and the ways you can achieve this, about compassion and being empathetic of other people and expressing that understanding, and about the importance of having solid foundations in our values so that we can act with integrity and apply more meaning to our life. One of the things that left me thinking a lot was the concept of compassion. It contrasted my view of letting into your life only the people who share your values. Compassion means expressing your understanding of another person’s situation and acting with the objective to help them grow as a person. I really enjoyed talking about this and about the difference between happiness and meaningfulness. What I learned is that having a meaningful life may not be happy all the time. It involves sacrifices, hard work, and acting with integrity, while being happy does not necessarily require all of that. Of course, your aim should be to make both happiness and meaningfulness converge and that’s where you start living life at its fullest. When you accept the importance of doing everything you do, say, and think with the aim of adding value to others, it becomes easier to recognize the things that add more meaning to your life. As I said, sometimes having a meaningful life won’t be happy all the time, but you’ll enjoy a more peaceful, satisfactorily, and joyful life.
Happiness and Meaning
Most of time, I’ve thought that happiness was the ultimate objective of my life. I want to do things that would make me enjoy life at its fullest and be more happy. The best way to achieve this, I thought, was through reaching my goals as well as the process of achieving it. What I didn’t think about was that doing the things that made me happy and doing the things that gave meaning to what I did were different approaches.
I was reading an article that Juanma Bonifasi posted on Facebook called A Happy Life May Not Be A Meaningful Life. It made the difference between happiness and meaningfulness in our life and that sometimes living a happy life doesn’t necessary imply living a meaningful one. Happiness can be expressed as excitement and joy one experiences when doing something. Meaningfulness on the other hand, is having purpose in our life. Daisy Grewal, the author of this article, says, “More broadly, the findings suggest that pure happiness is about getting what we want in life—whether through people, money, or life circumstances. Meaningfulness, in contrast, seems to have more to do with giving, effort, and sacrifice.”
Later this day, I had lunch with Juanma and we had a very nice dialogue about happiness, meaningfulness, values, and principles. We talked about sharing your values with others and the ways you can achieve this, about compassion and being empathetic of other people and expressing that understanding, and about the importance of having solid foundations in our values so that we can act with integrity and apply more meaning to our life. One of the things that left me thinking a lot was the concept of compassion. It contrasted my view of letting into your life only the people who share your values. Compassion means expressing your understanding of another person’s situation and acting with the objective to help them grow as a person. I really enjoyed talking about this and about the difference between happiness and meaningfulness. What I learned is that having a meaningful life may not be happy all the time. It involves sacrifices, hard work, and acting with integrity, while being happy does not necessarily require all of that. Of course, your aim should be to make both happiness and meaningfulness converge and that’s where you start living life at its fullest. When you accept the importance of doing everything you do, say, and think with the aim of adding value to others, it becomes easier to recognize the things that add more meaning to your life. As I said, sometimes having a meaningful life won’t be happy all the time, but you’ll enjoy a more peaceful, satisfactorily, and joyful life.
March 4th, 2014
Having a Meeting
“SET THE RULES in your favor: Limit access to your time, force people to define their requests before spending time with them, and batch routine menial tasks to prevent postponement of more important projects. Do not let people interrupt you. Find your focus and you’ll find your lifestyle. The bottom line is that you only have the rights you fight for.”
- Tim Ferriss, The 4-Hour Workweek
While I was reading The 4-Hour Workweek in my aim of being more productive and achieving my goals, I realized that I have a lot of habits that restrain me from accomplishing what I want. There are many but one of them is how I use my time with others. The clearest way we do this is by having meetings. I’m not against having productive and necessary meetings, but I realized that many of them are unnecessary and end up being unproductive and detrimental to reaching my goals.
Tim Ferriss recommends 6 things to improve your productivity on this subject.
1. Use the following means of communication in order of preference: e-mail, phone, and in-person meetings.
2. Respond to voicemail via e-mail. Be concise and offer solutions to avoid the traditional back-and-forth. Use a “if…then” structure to be more efficient.
3. “Meetings should only be held to make decisions about a predefined situation, not to define the problem.” Have the agenda before the meeting to bring solutions in a more efficient way.
4. Define the end time of the meeting.
5. Limit your availability to others and make them be concise about what they want from you.
6. “Use the Puppy Dog Close to help your superiors and others develop the no-meeting habit.” Propose a way to use time more productively and cite what are your improvements. Make a free and reversible trial.
I decided to create my own rubrics for having or not having a meeting:
1. Define the problem via e-mail or other collaborative tool. By defining the problem you are advancing in defining the objective of having or not the meeting.
2. Once you’ve defined the problem and figured out that a meeting is necessary, find the place and time where it’s going to happen. Use the “if…then” technique to avoid back-and-forth e-mails.
3. Create an agenda before the meeting and be clear that everyone agrees with it. It should include the problem, the objective and sub-objectives of the meeting, the “homework” necessary to bring beforehand, the process of approaching it (e.g. brainstorming first, then selecting the best ideas, or presenting each one’s work and then selecting, etc.), and the time for the meeting (start and end time).
4. When in the meeting, first read the agenda and then proceed in accordance with the agenda.
5. Review the completion of the objective and each sub-objective. Finish with actionable items for further similar problems and any other thing that was left unfinished.
6. Celebrate your accomplishments and productivity!
Having a Meeting
“SET THE RULES in your favor: Limit access to your time, force people to define their requests before spending time with them, and batch routine menial tasks to prevent postponement of more important projects. Do not let people interrupt you. Find your focus and you’ll find your lifestyle. The bottom line is that you only have the rights you fight for.”
- Tim Ferriss, The 4-Hour Workweek
While I was reading The 4-Hour Workweek in my aim of being more productive and achieving my goals, I realized that I have a lot of habits that restrain me from accomplishing what I want. There are many but one of them is how I use my time with others. The clearest way we do this is by having meetings. I’m not against having productive and necessary meetings, but I realized that many of them are unnecessary and end up being unproductive and detrimental to reaching my goals.
Tim Ferriss recommends 6 things to improve your productivity on this subject.
1. Use the following means of communication in order of preference: e-mail, phone, and in-person meetings.
2. Respond to voicemail via e-mail. Be concise and offer solutions to avoid the traditional back-and-forth. Use a “if…then” structure to be more efficient.
3. “Meetings should only be held to make decisions about a predefined situation, not to define the problem.” Have the agenda before the meeting to bring solutions in a more efficient way.
4. Define the end time of the meeting.
5. Limit your availability to others and make them be concise about what they want from you.
6. “Use the Puppy Dog Close to help your superiors and others develop the no-meeting habit.” Propose a way to use time more productively and cite what are your improvements. Make a free and reversible trial.
I decided to create my own rubrics for having or not having a meeting:
1. Define the problem via e-mail or other collaborative tool. By defining the problem you are advancing in defining the objective of having or not the meeting.
2. Once you’ve defined the problem and figured out that a meeting is necessary, find the place and time where it’s going to happen. Use the “if…then” technique to avoid back-and-forth e-mails.
3. Create an agenda before the meeting and be clear that everyone agrees with it. It should include the problem, the objective and sub-objectives of the meeting, the “homework” necessary to bring beforehand, the process of approaching it (e.g. brainstorming first, then selecting the best ideas, or presenting each one’s work and then selecting, etc.), and the time for the meeting (start and end time).
4. When in the meeting, first read the agenda and then proceed in accordance with the agenda.
5. Review the completion of the objective and each sub-objective. Finish with actionable items for further similar problems and any other thing that was left unfinished.
6. Celebrate your accomplishments and productivity!
March 5th, 2014
What makes a Rich rich?
Money of course! Pretty obvious huh? Well, not entirely, at least not in the common sense. A rich person is defined by more important factors other than money. Now, I don’t want to get into the spiritual/I live a rich life only with little things realm. I’m really talking about being rich and having the means to achieve most of the material and immaterial things you want. In this case, money is important and useful but it’s just a mean to live a richer life.
Money has to be combined with other means to create the environment suited to have the true lifestyle of a rich person. Tim Ferriss calls this Lifestyle Design for the New Rich. He says that the main currency of the New Rich is time and mobility. I find these two also necessary means to achieve this lifestyle. For now, we have money, time, and mobility. I’ll explain them later in more detail. Then, there are two main factors that are harder to measure because of their intangible nature. I’m talking about happiness and meaningfulness. In conclusion, money, time, mobility, happiness, and meaningfulness make a Rich rich. I’ll leave you with some questions about each one of these so you can measure the degree in which you have them and work on them to become richer.
1. Money – Do you have enough money to do what you want? Remember that being rich is not only having money but also having things that are worth money. Aim for passive income and scalability.
2. Time – What’s the purpose of having tons of money when you work +15 hours per day, 7 times a week? Liberate time so you can use the money you earn.
3. Mobility – Are you constraint to live in a specific place or can you work in any place you want? Remember that traveling is a great way to enjoy life.
4. Happiness – How much of your time you spend thinking you want to do something else? Are you excited or bored most of the time?
5. Meaningfulness – Why are you doing the things you do? What’s your purpose in life? Do you want that to be the legacy of your life? What would make that more interesting, life changing, and would add more value to humanity?
Good luck in your pursuit of become richer!
What makes a Rich rich?
Money of course! Pretty obvious huh? Well, not entirely, at least not in the common sense. A rich person is defined by more important factors other than money. Now, I don’t want to get into the spiritual/I live a rich life only with little things realm. I’m really talking about being rich and having the means to achieve most of the material and immaterial things you want. In this case, money is important and useful but it’s just a mean to live a richer life.
Money has to be combined with other means to create the environment suited to have the true lifestyle of a rich person. Tim Ferriss calls this Lifestyle Design for the New Rich. He says that the main currency of the New Rich is time and mobility. I find these two also necessary means to achieve this lifestyle. For now, we have money, time, and mobility. I’ll explain them later in more detail. Then, there are two main factors that are harder to measure because of their intangible nature. I’m talking about happiness and meaningfulness. In conclusion, money, time, mobility, happiness, and meaningfulness make a Rich rich. I’ll leave you with some questions about each one of these so you can measure the degree in which you have them and work on them to become richer.
1. Money – Do you have enough money to do what you want? Remember that being rich is not only having money but also having things that are worth money. Aim for passive income and scalability.
2. Time – What’s the purpose of having tons of money when you work +15 hours per day, 7 times a week? Liberate time so you can use the money you earn.
3. Mobility – Are you constraint to live in a specific place or can you work in any place you want? Remember that traveling is a great way to enjoy life.
4. Happiness – How much of your time you spend thinking you want to do something else? Are you excited or bored most of the time?
5. Meaningfulness – Why are you doing the things you do? What’s your purpose in life? Do you want that to be the legacy of your life? What would make that more interesting, life changing, and would add more value to humanity?
Good luck in your pursuit of become richer!
March 6th, 2014
Why, How, What
I often got discouraged and unmotivated by the things I was doing. I got bored and stopped realizing how much value was being added to my life by doing some of the things I was doing. It’s like the classical example of the student who asks the math teacher why they’re learning integrals and differential equations when they won’t use them in their entire life! Both situations are rooted in the same problem, a lack of vision and a clear objective.
When you are doing something and the objective is blurry and not entirely clear, it’s easy to get lost in negative feelings and disengagement, leading you to poor and unmotivated performance. Without a clear purpose and how that it’s going to add value to your life, you won’t be successful in accomplishing it with excellence. Knowing you why is the first thing to establish in any goal.
After knowing your why, you must define your how. This would be the means by which you are going to achieve your why. You can see it as the process and not the product.
Finally, it comes the what. Your what is going to be the most tangible part of this process. You can see it as your product. It’s very easy to start doing your what without the other two, but in my experience it won’t be sustainable. You may end up frustrated when a good obstacle comes in your way and if you have not defined your purpose in doing it, the easiest way to let that go.
Btw, Simon Sinek has an amazing TED Talk called, How Great Leaders Inspire Action, which would expand your knowledge on all of these. I strongly recommend you watch it.
Why, How, What
I often got discouraged and unmotivated by the things I was doing. I got bored and stopped realizing how much value was being added to my life by doing some of the things I was doing. It’s like the classical example of the student who asks the math teacher why they’re learning integrals and differential equations when they won’t use them in their entire life! Both situations are rooted in the same problem, a lack of vision and a clear objective.
When you are doing something and the objective is blurry and not entirely clear, it’s easy to get lost in negative feelings and disengagement, leading you to poor and unmotivated performance. Without a clear purpose and how that it’s going to add value to your life, you won’t be successful in accomplishing it with excellence. Knowing you why is the first thing to establish in any goal.
After knowing your why, you must define your how. This would be the means by which you are going to achieve your why. You can see it as the process and not the product.
Finally, it comes the what. Your what is going to be the most tangible part of this process. You can see it as your product. It’s very easy to start doing your what without the other two, but in my experience it won’t be sustainable. You may end up frustrated when a good obstacle comes in your way and if you have not defined your purpose in doing it, the easiest way to let that go.
Btw, Simon Sinek has an amazing TED Talk called, How Great Leaders Inspire Action, which would expand your knowledge on all of these. I strongly recommend you watch it.