Best Sentence(s) Read Today :: Thoughts on tour « Hoehn’s Musings

I actually shouldn’t even call them failures, because they were really just attempts. There’s a huge difference there. Everyone has failures, but most people never attempt things just for the sake of trying out something that looks fun, interesting, or challenging. For some reason, a lot of us reach a point where we stop doing things for the hell of it.
Why do you think I’m such a huge proponent of free work? Doing work for free forces you to find jobs where you can honestly say, “I would do this even if I weren’t being paid for it.” That’s an expression I took a bit too literally, but it is spot on.
My favorite part of The Dark Knight is when the Joker is talking to Harvey Dent in the hospital, and he says: “Do I really look like a guy with a plan? You know what I am? I’m a dog chasing cars. I wouldn’t know what to do with one if I caught it! You know, I just DO things… I’m not a schemer. I try to show the schemers how pathetic their attempts to control things really are.”
via Thoughts on tour « Hoehn’s Musings.

Read the whole thing. I’m guilty of this, I’ve fallen for the habit of trying to find the path to money from stuff that I do for fun.  Blogging started out with that in mind, It has since changed.  I now feel as if I need to write things down, as if things not written in the blog will just be forgotten. I have to DO!!!! Again, Read the whole thing!

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rePost::Inventory of normality « Paulo Coelho’s Blog

Inventory of normality
Published on December 21, 2009 in News. 83 Comments
in “The winner stands alone”, by Paulo Coelho
1] Anything that makes us forget our true identity and our dreams and makes us only work to produce and reproduce.
2] Making rules for a war (the Geneva Convention).
3] Spending years at university and then not being able to find a job.
4] Working from nine in the morning to five in the afternoon at something that does not give us the least pleasure, so that we can retire after 30 years.
5] Retiring only to discover that we have no more energy to enjoy life, and then dying of boredom after a few years.
6] Using Botox.
7] Trying to be financially successful instead of seeking happiness.
8] Ridiculing those who seek happiness instead of money by calling them “people with no ambition”.
9] Comparing objects like cars, houses and clothes, and defining life according to these comparisons instead of really trying to find out the true reason for being alive.
10] Not talking to strangers. Saying nasty things about our neighbors.
11] Thinking that parents are always right.
12] Getting married, having children and staying together even though the love has gone, claiming that it’s for the sake of the children (who do not seem to be listening to the constant arguments).
12ª] Criticizing everybody who tries to be different.
14] Waking up with a hysterical alarm-clock at the bedside.
15] Believing absolutely everything that is printed.
16] Wearing a piece of colored cloth wrapped around the neck for no apparent reason and known by the pompous name “necktie”.
17] Never asking direct questions, even though the other person understands what you want to know.
18] Keeping a smile on your face when you really want to cry. And feeling sorry for those who show their own feelings.
19] Thinking that art is worth a fortune, or else that it is worth absolutely nothing.
20] Always despising what was easily gained, because the “necessary sacrifice” – and therefore also the required qualities – are missing.
21] Following fashion, even though it all looks ridiculous and uncomfortable.
23] Investing a lot in exterior beauty and paying little attention to interior beauty.
24] Using all possible means to show that even though you are a normal person, you are infinitely superior to other human beings.
25] In any kind of public transport, never looking straight into the eyes of the other passengers, as this may be taken for attempting to seduce them.
26] When you enter an elevator, looking straight at the door and pretending you are the only person inside, however crowded it may be.
27] Never laughing out loud in a restaurant, no matter how funny the story is.
28] In the Northern hemisphere, always wearing the clothes that match the season of the year: short sleeves in springtime (however cold it may be) and a woolen jacket in the fall (no matter how warm it is).
29] In the Southern hemisphere, decorating the Christmas tree with cotton wool, even though winter has nothing to do with the birth of Christ.
30] As you grow older, thinking you are the wisest man in the world, even though not always do you have enough life experience to know what is wrong.
31] Going to a charity event and thinking that in this way you have collaborated enough to put an end to all the social inequalities in the world.
32] Eating three times a day, even if you’re not hungry.
33] Believing that the others are always better at everything: they are better-looking, more resourceful, richer and more intelligent. Since it’s very risky to venture beyond your own limits, it’s better to do nothing.
34] Using the car as a way to feel powerful and in control of the world.
35] Using foul language in traffic.
36] Thinking that everything your child does wrong is the fault of the company he or she is keeping.
38] Always saying “I tried”, even though you haven’t tried at all.
39] Putting off doing the most interesting things in life until you no longer have the strength to do them.
40] Avoiding depression with massive daily doses of television programs.
41] Believing that it is possible to be sure of everything you have won.
42] Thinking that women don’t like football and that men don’t like interior decoration.
43] Blaming the government for everything bad that happens.
44] Being convinced that being a good, decent and respectful person means that the others will find you weak, vulnerable and easy to manipulate.
45] Being convinced that aggressiveness and discourtesy in treating others are signs of a powerful personality.
47] And finally, thinking that your religion is the sole proprietor of the absolute truth, the most important, the best, and that the other human beings in this immense planet who believe in any other manifestation of God are condemned to the fires of hell.
via Inventory of normality « Paulo Coelho’s Blog.

I so love this list.

rePost::The story of the pencil « Paulo Coelho’s Blog

‘Fourth quality: what really matters in a pencil is not its wooden exterior, but the graphite inside. So always pay attention to what is happening inside you.’
‘Finally, the pencil’s fifth quality: it always leaves a mark. in just the same way, you should know that everything you do in life will leave a mark, so try to be conscious of that in your every action’
via The story of the pencil « Paulo Coelho’s Blog.

loved reading this!!!

Best Read::Alex Payne — In Which I'm Not Alone

Ultimately, I have a deep-seated belief that people should be able to do what they love from wherever they want to be, and that it’s my responsibility to make that true for myself and others. Portland will be an experiment that tests that belief. I’m looking forward to it, and time will tell if it’s the right fit for me and mine.
via Alex Payne — In Which I’m Not Alone.

This is Alex Payne on moving to Portland from SanFo.

Convention of those wounded in love « Paulo Coelho’s Blog

Article 2 – Once struck by a stray arrow fired from Cupid’s bow, they should immediately ask the archer to shoot the same arrow in the opposite direction, so as not to be afflicted by the wound known as “unrequited love”. Should Cupid refuse to perform such a gesture, the Convention now being promulgated demands that the wounded partner remove the arrow from his/her heart and throw it in the garbage. In order to guarantee this, those concerned should avoid telephone calls, messages over the Internet, sending flowers that are always returned, or each and every means of seduction, since these may yield results in the short run but always end up wrong after a while. The Convention decrees that the wounded person should immediately seek the company of other people and try to control the obsessive thought: “this person is worth fighting for”.
via Convention of those wounded in love « Paulo Coelho’s Blog.

I wish. Read the whole thing!

Advice::How To Know You've Hired A Killer Team

Basically, you need people who do their jobs as if the life of the company were on the line.
Why?
Because the life of the company is on the line. Every day. The day you forget that is the day you'll be headed for the scrap heap.
Many talented folks from big companies are seduced by the idea of startup life…right up until the time they actually start working for one. Then they realize that the company depends on them in a way that a larger company never will, and they find the responsibility (and workload) overwhelming.
A great startup executive, meanwhile, wants to carry the fate of the company in his or her hands.
You need to find the latter folks. And you’ll find them, in part, though trial and error. Interviewing and reference-checking helps, but you won’t know for sure that you’ve hired a winner until they hit the ground and start sprinting.
via How To Know You’ve Hired A Killer Team.

I’d like to work in a startup again, hope the second time would be better for me.  Generalizing this advice is useful for Non-Profits, Non Governmental Organization, Government Workers, etc.  Give me a group and we can use this to determine if you have a killer team. It’s very simple if you think about it. I feel that in most projects you just need one uber mind and the rest just helps in assembling, or making the vision work. I believe this is how Apple operates and in a sense how many open source projects work, with their BDFL.
I love this quote from The West Wing:

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

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rePost::Psychoanalyst Adam Phillips on our fascination with excess | Books | The Guardian

Excesses of appetite are the ways we conceal from ourselves what we hunger for. Kafka’s Hunger Artist – the man in the story of that name, who does performance-fasting for a living – is asked why he devoted his life to starving himself in public; he couldn’t help doing it, he says, “because I couldn’t find the food I liked. If I had found it, believe me, I should have made no fuss and stuffed myself like you and everyone else”.
via Psychoanalyst Adam Phillips on our fascination with excess | Books | The Guardian.

loved this article! I’m reposting my favorite line. Hope you can read the whole thing, don’t agree with a lot, but it made me introspect!

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rePost::God and real life « Paulo Coelho’s Blog

Christian tradition
A protestant priest, having started a family, no longer had any peace for his prayers. One night, when he knelt down, he was disturbed by the children in the living room.“Have the children keep quiet!” he shouted.His startled wife obeyed. Thereafter, whenever the priest came home, they all maintained silence during prayers. But he realized that God was no longer listening.One night, during his prayers, he asked the Lord: “what is going on? I have the necessary peace, and I cannot pray!”An angel replied: “He hears words, but no longer hears the laughter. He notices the devotion, but can no longer see the joy.”The priest stood and shouted once again to his wife: “Let the children play! They are part of praying!”And his words were heard by God once again.
via God and real life « Paulo Coelho’s Blog.

It is easy to understand the apprehension towards religion of a lot of people, It is in a sense because religion boxes what is intuitively boundless. FIND the JOY, FIND the LAUGHTER!

Advice::The Intrapreneur's Ten Commandments

pointer from ben casnoscha .

THE INTRAPRENEUR’S TEN COMMANDMENTS
1. Come to work each day willing to be fired.
2. Circumvent any orders aimed at stopping your dream.
3. Do any job needed to make your project work, regardless of your job description.
4. Find people to help you.
5. Follow your intuition about the people you choose, and work only with the best.
6. Work underground as long as you can -publicity triggers the corporate immune mechanism.
7. Never bet on a race unless you are running in it.
8. Remember it is easier to ask for forgiveness than for permission.
9. Be true to your goals, but be realistic about the ways to achieve them.
10. Honor your sponsors.
via The Intrapreneur’s Ten Commandments.

Loved this list, I have to say that I agree with most of the things written. I believe 4 is the hardest for me. As I have said in the past I can’t seem to find someone to mentor me.