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Michael Josephson has penned a fantastic poem about purposeful living which became very relevant to me in the last year. I wish I had that perspective when I started my first business, so the best I can do is learn it and pass it along ;)


Enjoy.

------
Ready or not, some day it will all come to an end. There will be no more sunrises, no minutes, hours or days.

All the things you collected, whether treasured or forgotten, will pass to someone else.

Your wealth, fame and temporal power will shrivel to irrelevance. It will not matter what you owned or what you were owed.

Your grudges, resentments, frustrations, and jealousies will finally disappear. So, too, your hopes, ambitions, plans, and to-do lists will expire.

The wins and losses that once seemed so important will fade away.

It won't matter where you came from, or on what side of the tracks you lived, at the end. It won't matter whether you were beautiful or brilliant. Even your gender and skin color will be irrelevant.

So what will matter? How will the value of your days be measured?

What will matter is not what you bought, but what you built; not what you got, but what you gave.

What will matter is not your success, but your significance.

What will matter is not what you learned, but what you taught.

What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion, courage or sacrifice that enriched, empowered or encouraged others to emulate your example.

What will matter is not your competence, but your character.

What will matter is not how many people you knew, but how many will feel a lasting loss when you're gone.

What will matter is not your memories, but the memories that live in those who loved you.

What will matter is how long you will be remembered, by whom and for what.

Living a life that matters doesn't happen by accident. It's not a matter of circumstance but of choice.

Choose to live a life that matters.

--- Michael Josephson
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I can't tolerate most self-help books. They all seem say the same thing and few of them focus on others as a means of bettering yourself. That's why this book caught my eye.

Keith Ferrazzi, author of NYT and Amazon.com bestseller  'who's got your back' suggests, if you choose to work on a better future, that you must commit to four vows:

1) We've chosen to help others and stop worrying only about ourselves.
2) We've chosen to let our guards down so others can help.
3) We've chosen transparency and candor over politics and BS.
4) We've chosen to hold each other accountable so that we don't fail.

Food for thought.

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Sorry for the silence. Life has been a roller-coaster as we are nearing the end of my wife's chemotherapy treatments. Managing the kids, her well-being, my work, the collective emotions and our relationships has stretched my spirituality as well as my time-management skills. I'll blog about all the lessons learnt when it's all over and the dust has settled.

One of my students at the engineering school I teach Entrepreneurship at, had an interesting quote  that she put at the footer of her emails. I thought it applied well to me when I read it and it applies even more to entrepreneurs caught in a spiral of self-doubt about their choices.

Excellence can be obtained if you :
care more than others think is wise, risk more than others think is safe, dream more than others think is practical and expect more than others think is possible !

It reminded me of a little story I read as a child that stuck with me and fueled me on those days when I had nothing left:

A retired business executive was once asked the secret of his success. He replied that it could be summed up in three words: 'and then some'.
'I discovered at an early age,' he said, 'that most of the differences between average people and top people could be explained in three words. The top people did what was expected of them - and then some.

'They were thoughtful of others, they were considerate and kind - and then some.

'They were good friends to their friends - and then some.

'They would deliver on their promises at work, at church and at home - and then some.

'They could be counted on in an emergency - and then some.

'And so it is when we put our trust in God's goodness. He returns our love - and then some.'

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In the last months, I've researched and studied quite extensively the phenomenon of personal branding and all that it entails. From high-flying strategies to down-to-earth tactics, with the help of hundreds of books, blog posts and bookmarked pages, I’ve mindmapped and vulgarized the concept. And I've come to one single conclusion:

It's stupid and false.

The foundational premise found everywhere in personal branding is that we need to identify within ourselves that ONE thing that distinguishes us, that makes us different, that renders us unique in the eyes of the world. I had to find the answer to the riddle : 'I am that (insert something here) guy'. What was it: that digital strategies guy ? that IT entrepreneur guy ? that Christian or church guy ?

After months of too many suggested tests and soul-searching questions later, I became frustrated at my lack of finding that ONE thing to pin everything on. I already knew what my core values were (link) as well as my belief system (link). BUT what was that ONE thing ? What made me special in the eyes of the world surrounding me ?

But wait… who was that world surrounding me ? Who did I need to develop my personal branding for ? Whose my target demographic ? My wife and kids ? My parents ? My friends I grew up with who knew me with all my zits ? My clients ? Anonymous readers on my blog ? My Facebook ‘friends’ ? People I didn't know who see me in conferences ? My students at my alma mater ? And what if I didn’t care about anyone and just focused on what I thought of me ? And what about God… isn't that who I am ultimately accountable to ?

The authors of personal branding applied some age-old marketing principles used for corporations to individual human beings, perpetrating the narcissistic and hazardous notion that we are developing a Me Inc. society. The relationships we end up developing become a matter of ‘what’s in it for Me Inc. ?’ And that is what I dislike about the whole social media wave: the notion that we make ourselves out to be important people by showing off our wonderful belly-button-looking side.

I cannot adhere to the principle that we are defined by ONE thing and that we need to push that image on others as some kind of single source of validation. If we want to sell our expertise and demonstrate our knowledge, fine. But we are so much more than what is in our head.

Therefore, there is not ONE single element that will define me, be it my work, my knowledge, my experience, my values, my relationships, my service, my social standing…whatever.

I’ll look up as the basis for my beliefs, look inward as I try to become a balanced and whole person and then look outward to see who I can help.

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Disclaimer : I know it was a television stunt, but I'm looking at the video as if I was an innocent bystander.

Here's why I think this video demonstrates essential ingredients to making your company (and this world) a much better place:

- They had no shame.
- It was a complete spontaneous surprise.
- There was an obvious concerted effort to please others.
- It started with one person who dared which then grew to hundreds.
- There were no requests of a 'return', it was a gift.
- The receivers (the crowd) demonstrated their stupor and their subsequent approval. They clapped and, most importantly, participated in their own way (check out 2:47).

It answered the fundamental question : 'why would all these people do this ?' ...  with the best answer possible 'because we wanted to'.

And that makes me smile.

Austin (hat tip) rightly called it 'Random Acts of Happiness'.

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Famous failures 01/19/2009
 

I don't usually just post a video in this blog, but once in a while, one comes along that reaches inside, takes a hold and doesn't let go.

Enjoy.

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I saw the 1939 classic movie 'The Wizard of Oz' again over the holidays and it struck me how current the film still is. It was originally meant as a political satire of the time, but it's messages can still be applied in today's society. I think the following quotes are self explanatory about today's distorted views on courage, love, knowledge, belief and beauty.


All about Courage

Cowardly Lion: Come on, get up and fight, you shivering junkyard!
[goes over to the Scarecrow]
Cowardly Lion: And put your hands up, you lopsided bag of hay!
Scarecrow: Now that's getting personal, Lion.
Tin Woodsman: Yes. Get up and teach him a lesson.
Scarecrow: Well, what's wrong with you teaching him?
Tin Woodsman: Well, I hardly know him.
--
Cowardly Lion: All right, I'll go in there for Dorothy. Wicked Witch or no Wicked Witch, guards or no guards, I'll tear them apart. I may not come out alive, but I'm going in there. There's only one thing I want you fellows to do.
Tin Woodsman, Scarecrow: What's that?
Cowardly Lion: Talk me out of it.
--
Dorothy: Weren't you frightened?
Wizard of Oz: Frightened? Child, you're talking to a man who's laughed in the face of death, sneered at doom, and chuckled at catastrophe... I was petrified.
--
Wizard of Oz: You, my friend, are a victim of disorganized thinking. You are under the unfortunate impression that just because you run away you have no courage; you're confusing courage with wisdom.
--
Cowardly Lion: Read what my medal says: Courage. Ain't it the truth? Ain't it the truth?

All about Love

"I shall take the heart," returned the Tin Woodman; "for brains do not make one happy, and happiness is the best thing in the world."
"I think you are wrong to want a heart. It makes most people unhappy. If you only knew it, you are in luck not to have a heart."
--
Wizard of Oz: A heart is not judged by how much you love; but by how much you are loved by others.
--
Wizard of Oz: As for you, my galvanized friend, you want a heart. You don't know how lucky you are not to have one. Hearts will never be practical until they can be made unbreakable.
Tin Woodsman: But I still want one.
--
Tin Woodsman: Now I know I have a heart, because it's breaking

All about Knowledge

Dorothy: Now which way do we go?
Scarecrow: Pardon me, this way is a very nice way.
Dorothy: Who said that?
[Toto barks at scarecrow]
Dorothy: Don't be silly, Toto. Scarecrows don't talk.
Scarecrow: [points other way] It's pleasant down that way, too.
Dorothy: That's funny. Wasn't he pointing the other way?
Scarecrow: [points both ways] Of course, some people do go both ways.
--
(my favorite)
Dorothy: How can you talk if you haven't got a brain?
Scarecrow: I don't know. But some people without brains do an awful lot of talking, don't they?
--
Dorothy: What would you do with a brain if you had one?
--
"All the same," said the Scarecrow, "I shall ask for brains instead of a heart; for a fool would not know what to do with a heart if he had one."
--
"A baby has brains, but it doesn't know much. Experience is the only thing that brings knowledge, and the longer you are on earth the more experience you are sure to get."
--
Wizard of Oz: Why, anybody can have a brain. That's a very mediocre commodity. Every pusillanimous creature that crawls on the Earth or slinks through slimy seas has a brain. Back where I come from, we have universities, seats of great learning, where men go to become great thinkers. And when they come out, they think deep thoughts and with no more brains than you have. But they have one thing you haven't got: a diploma.
--
Scarecrow: The sum of the square roots of any two sides of an isosceles triangle is equal to the square root of the remaining side. Oh joy! Rapture! I got a brain! How can I ever thank you enough?
Wizard of Oz: You can't.

All about Beliefs

Guardian of the Emerald City Gates: Now, state your business.
Dorothy: We want to see the wizard!
Guardian of the Emerald City Gates: The wizard? But nobody can see the great Oz, nobody's *ever* seen the great Oz... even I've never seen him!
Dorothy: Well then, how do you know there is one?
--
Cowardly Lion: I do believe in spooks. I do believe in spooks. I do, I do, I do, I do, I *do* believe in spooks,

All about Beauty

Glinda, the Good Witch of the North: Only bad witches are ugly.

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4 ways to 'Hang' 10/23/2008
 

Chrystian Guy (www.cguy.org), a friend of mine and literary artist came up with 4 'hanging approaches' to desperate situations. Impressive how it adequately describes our common reactions, all related to the word 'hang'.

The 4 'hanging' approaches when things go bad
1. Hang in there
2. Hang yourself over with any type of numbing substance
3. Hang yourself - period
4. Hang up on it.

He then brings it all together in a nice simple package with these words of encouragement for those of you going through tough times:
If you decide on #1, we could meet for #2, trying to avoid #3 and find ways to do #4...

Love it.

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Sebastien Provencher, from praized.com, quoted JG Ballard on his blog and I thought it was worth repeating here. It is interesting to see the relationship between your local Yellow Pages and your society.

Quote of the Day: JG Ballard on the Los Angeles Yellow Pages
June 26th, 2007 by Sebastien Provencher

"I have only stolen one book in my life, and that was a copy of the Los Angeles Yellow Pages, which I took from my suite at the Beverly Hilton hotel. This was in 1987 when I attended the premiere of Steven Spielberg's Empire of the Sun. A Hollywood premiere is an extraordinary event, but in many ways it was outclassed by the LA Yellow Pages, which I read during a bored moment. It struck me that I should hang on to this precious volume which transformed my holiday at the expense of Warner Brothers.

What is interesting about the LA Yellow Pages is the picture it gives of real life in Los Angeles, so different from the glitzy world of film premieres, stars and directors. There are more psychiatrists listed than plumbers, and more dating bureaus than doctors, and more poodle parlours than vets. Like the classified advertisements in newspapers, which provide a picture of the readership, the Yellow Pages of any great city reveals its true underside. The Los Angeles Yellow Pages is richer in human incident than all the novels of Balzac."

- JG Ballard on the subject of holiday reading in The Guardian. -

What's in your Yellow Pages ?

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Former City of New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani gave us a brilliant and memorable quote at the Republican Convention a few days ago. (I'm not showing my colors - I've watched most of both Conventions).

This quote sums up everything I believe in about two grand concepts I love: change and strategy. I take it out of context and I do not apply it to American politics, but rather to my experience in the corporate world and in human relationships.

"Change is not a destination just like hope is not a strategy".

Bullseye.

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