Monthly Archives: May 2018

If you are given a piece of information on purpose, the first thing you tend to do is work out why this was sent to you. Sometimes the reason is blatantly obvious. What if it is not?

The first thing you respond to will reveal your motivations and how you perceive the information in your mind. If you are not ready to reveal this, it is best to wait or find out the real purpose of sending this in a more direct way. Very often you can’t get a good idea of what is intended, and sometimes this is done on purpose.

This is actually how viral messages work. The message content is vague and not intended for a particular audience. Everyone attaches their own meaning and soon it means something else other than what was intended.

We can therefore make use of this to get people talking. Or we can be at the receiving end and move the message in the intended direction.

Everyone of us has slightly different needs to fulfil. It could be as simple as a cup of coffee to get you going for the whole day. Often it is just symbolic more than functional. Yet there are times when there is some other internal wiring that gets messed up.

Overlooking these needs tends to come and bite you later on. It can be put off for a short period of time but an unfulfilled need will accumulate and can compromise our delicate internal ecosystem.

As they say prevention is much better than cure. Try to understand yourself better to ensure you are getting what you need. It will be different for anyone else.

When you are struggling to get something started because you are unsure it could be worthwhile to try doing twice of it. The idea is not to overwork but to overcome any inhibitions.

The irony of motivations is that you often need to get moving to get started. Yet the first impetus is hard to come by because we like to wait for something else to happen before taking action.

Doing things once propels you forward. Doing things twice hopefully doubles that.

I have been reading Peter Thiel about how these days we are being indefinitely optimistic. This means we are positive about the future but are wishy-washy about it. Perhaps we really should challenge this in our daily lives.

By being indefinite, we keep playing the jack of all trades. We don’t put our eggs in one basket because we don’t believe that the basket will take us there for sure. We learn everything at school in case we want to do different things in life. Could we improve on that?

If we were to instead be laser focused on something and take things through, we might actually be able to carve our own future better. Most of us just wait for someone else (a company or a customer) to determine out next step. The result is we become reactive and lose the initiative to really push ourselves.

Spreading the risks will likely yield a meager but positive result. It is called playing safe. Doubling down on what we truly believe in – that’s what makes the difference.

When are items more valuable than experiences? The wisdom of generation Y and beyond is that experiences trump everything else. But is that always true?

People like to say those who buy expensive cars or branded items are just showing off. Their money would be best be used to… Doing what? Going on a holiday? In some cases yes it makes a lot of sense to just go for a holiday, especially if you have a simple job or a golden spoon. But what if time was extremely precious? Wouldn’t it make sense then to spend on something you can enjoy everyday?

There will be people who pursue luxuries for the sake of showing off. This is epitomised by Instagram. But there are some people who believe their time is better much spent doing what they need to or what they love. And there is nothing more foolish than a person who has lots of riches but lives until death like a pauper.

Do not underestimate the power of one brief moment. We are programmed to think we need to spend months or years to learn something because of compulsory school learning and structure. Yet it only takes a single moment to change your knowledge, perspective and actions.

For example you might be working on a project and doing it the usual way. Then you get one insight from a senior who completely changes the way you design and execute. Or it could be an idea that popped into your head that was inspired by a single scene or line from a book.

Executing can take a long time. However changes in perspective happen in an instant. Do not make the mistake of prioritising a learning course just because it is longer.

If we seek to find something that everyone agrees on, it means it has been done before and it’s proven. You will need to try and do that if you are representing the government because you represent everyone. But in some cases you should just be yourself without consulting externally.

This is confidence we are slowly losing and are complacent about. One cannot make effective decisions if we are constantly requiring feedback. The wants of many are often impossible to accommodate, it is best to stick with making yourself satisfied with the decision.

Be brave and be bold. There will definitely be people who support you.