Beware of your alliances

The second world war witnessed the most unlikely alliance of all modern time.

Against Nazi Germany, an alliance was made between England, United-States that didn't want to get involved.  And communist Russia with its two other capitalists allies.

The necessity of the time pushed that alliance.  But is necessity all?

What if you have an ally that you can barely control?  One that can unleash forces againsts your opponents that seams great in the beginning.  But can backfire on you afterward?

The UK was happy to ally with the United-States.  But at the end of the war it became clear that the USA were not to leave the European affairs.  And the days of the British Dominion would be numbered.  What seamed like a good idea for Britain became quite a puzzle after the war.  As per the Soviet Union.  No one trusted them anyway.  Nor did USSR trust its "western" allies either.

So the question remain.  Is it better do ally with some mighty forces knowing you will have to deal with it afterward.  Or try to maintain that country out of the way while you fight against your opponent?

Trying the later deploys some energies that would better serve the war.  But not getting this ally on board you risk the chance for that ally to join the other side.

If you think you cannot overcome your opponent all by yourself, you might want to ally with the might force, dealing with its problem later while solving the current problem of your present conflict against your opponent.

But day one, you must prepare a plan to tame, calm or overcome your ally in the future.  Or worst.  Prevent it from plainly turn against you, since it had beaten you current opponent.

In life it is the same thing.  Ether you ally with people or organization.  You must think of the aftermath.  And what are the possible consequences.

Praise the ally.  Praise its alliance.  But never take it for granted.  And plan!  Plan for the possible outcomes in the future.  Even the ones you might think... improbable at present...

... I live to tell. 

Do you realy think the players have a chance?

Its one cocky thing a player.  They are the product.  So they think, I guess, that everything is due to them.  That since they are the product, the owner is nothing without them.  "Lets just take more than 50% of the owner's money as a business model and if the owners doesn't like it.  Eat it!"

Well... do you really think that any one who starts a business.  Just what ever that is, will be willing to take all the risk and then share more than half his revenue with his employees?

Get real people.  Shall I remind you that the NHL is not on strike?  Its on lock out.  This means that its the owners that closed the doors.

And who's bringing the offers on the table these days?  Yes.  The players. 

Why?  Well guess who needs his pay check?

Most owners doesn't just have the NHL team as a revenue.  Most of them held more than one company and are making money coming from different streams.  Does this sound familiar?   What am I shouting one should do all the time?  Yes... Multiple streams of revenues.  So you don't get stuck with only one when it dries out.

So who do you thing has the better strategy here?  The players that are nothing without the fans and the money they bring?  Or the owners who makes money from other businesses?  To put it simple.  On the owner's side.  The millions they are not making so far are just changing column.  Its goes from "benefits before tax & general admin" column to "operation loss" column.  And guess what?  Most get a tax deduction from what goes into the "operation loss" column. So.... bring it on!

So the owner's strategy is very simple.  Just sit tight, cross your arms, and wait.  They will have them in the long run.  It can be long because its millionaires against billionaires.  So the money takes a little more time to dry out than it takes for me and you.  But its coming.  Sooner or later.

Praise for education

I'm just out of my exam.

This is the one that gives me a license to do part of the work I am studying for if I pass.

The exam did not go well.  But I always say that so...

I calculated my mark to be around 66% at best.  We'll see.

Anyway.  What I wanted to comment about it is the actual performance of writing the exam.  I was in such intense focus during the exam. I came aware of it at one point.  And I said to myself.  Even if you pass or not.  You should continue on studying for the remaining of your life.

Why?

Because it is so good for the mind.  You force it to learn something then focus on vomiting all you know in and exam afterward.  It`s like weight training for the brain.  And since we loose millions of neurons every day.  I am sure that, if someone use his/her brain a lot to learn new stuff,  the rate of decay must be much slower.  I have no proof of that but logically...

I see so much people every day engaged in small talk while sucking on their cigarettes in their break at the office.  I am sure that they could use their time more... efficiently.  And healthily.  This is a judgement from my part I know.  Who am I to judge their actions.  But never the less I strongly believe that learning something new year after year all along your life is good for your health. 

Studying year after year... slowly but surely.  The Japanese have a word for that.  Kaizen. This means "step by step" or "little by little".  In other word they mean that, by improving one small bit at a time,  in the long run, the change will be tremendous. 

You'll get better off most people both on knowledge and on brain health on average.  And I don't even go on telling what it can do for you and your career if you appear to care for one.  This is just one other manifestation of getting an edge which, in strategy, is so important...

... Just a thought.

Evidence that Apple is doomed?

The king is dead!  God save the King?

We should say "God save his kingdom". 

There are numerous examples in history that an empire did not prevail the death of its emperor.  The empire of Alexander the Great is one of the most notorious.

Why?

Vision!

There is a lot of technocrats in this world.  But there is very little people with vision.  People that are able to foresee where the future lies.  Alexander the Great had a vision.  Just what ever it was will be forever lost in his mind.  The idea of a whole human unification into one great empire?  Or just mere personal greed?  We shall never know for sure.  But he had a vision that is for sure.  Just before he died, on his death bed, he left his empire "to the ablest".  What did he means by that?  No one know for sure.  The strongest?  The ablest in military art?  Or perhaps the one that shall have the broader vision?

Apple is an empire that lost its leader.  Have you seen Apple's advertizing lately?  They are selling colors!  That's it!  The plain good old ipone with some technological improvement I'll grant them that. The same good old iPad, same good old iPod.  And the iStore that goes with it.  But what else?  The only things I see in the advertizing is that the products are sold in multiple colors now.

Woohoo!  What an improvement.

Those people are good at what they are doing.  They are good marketing people.  Good at keeping books.  Good at managing a business.  They are good technocrats. But they are no visionaries.

The king is dead.  The soul of the kingdom is dead with him.  Now they carry on a borrowed time.  And without a genuine Jobs like idea to propel it further.  It is just a question of time before in crumble.

And history repeats itself.  When they first fired Jobs, the company went to hell.  Why?  They thought they were selling technology.  And they thought they could sell it on their own.  Without the help of the king.  They were wrong.  They were selling a vision.  A way of life with technology.  They had to call him back to save the company.  And he did. But now its going to be a little harder to bring him back.

The flaw is in the passing of command.  Most kings, emperors, CEOs, are getting busy in conquering the world.  They have few time, if any, to consolidate and master a plan to pass the soul to the next generation.  To pass the grand thought, the grand idea.  Then the empire falls with the death of its ruler.

I shall make another post on how to gather vision and pass it along.

But for Apple.  I see it doomed.  It is just a question of time.  If nothing is done to brings it back as the leader of thought, leader of technological vision it was.  And just as the fall of the Roman Empire.  The place left with be taken by several regional kingdoms.  Or several technological competitors and start-ups as we shall say in our modern times.  Until one day. Another Cesar will rise.  Another Alexander the Great.  Another Jobs or Gates.  And that person, with his vision, shall bring our world once again to the next level.

And we shall call him or her: a "genius".  Just as we did with Jobs.

Some further proof of the imminent fall of Apple:

In the elevator to hell its... going down!

The frog that didn't know it was cooked.

If you put a frog in a cauldron filled with cold water.  The frog will feel nothing.  The water is as usual and everything is fine.

Then start the oven.  But very slowly.  At first the frog will feel nothing.  Then the water will start to getting warm.  Still the frog will do nothing.  Its knows warm and it can handle it.  Then after a while the water will get hot.  Still the frog feels that its a little hot but it can adapt.  Then the water will get hotter.  By then the frog will get used to the temperature and when you're hot your muscles feels relax and you don't feel like any quick move and you feel like to sleep.  If you pursue.  The frog will cook and it will never know that its getting cooked.  It will never react before its too late.

On the other side.  Take a frog and put it into already hot water and it will instantly jump out of it.

Interesting isn't it?  Because we can apply this little story to many things in our lives.  Relationships, politics, society.

For example.  Ask any couple.  No one will tell you that it started going wrong on a Friday afternoon at 2h34.  Most will tell you that they don't really know.  It started just like this.  They started to move apart, evolve apart and so on...

Another example.  If you take television for the matter.  What we watch today is way more permissive than what we were used to watch like 20 years ago.  More sex, more coarse language.   Things that would be unthinkable to show 20 years ago like same sex couples for instance.  Where did that change come from?

Getting the idea now?  Its the cooking frog syndrome.  When a change is coming very slowly.  We do not notice the change until the day we wake up and it is too late.

How do we prevent this to happen to ourselves?  Is there tools to use to make sure that we watch and notice the increment changes so we can react fast?

There is.

They are three:

- Consciousness
- Memory
- Points of reference

Consciousness

First.  You have to be and remain conscious.

You have to be conscious of what is happening around you.  And what is happening inside you.  Have you ever felt that, you didn't know why but something was wrong.  Something was odd.  You couldn't identify why but its a feeling you had.  There is good chances that this was because the water was changing, it was getting hotter.  And even if you were adapting, you felt that something was going on.

So beware.  Constant vigilance.  Its hard to do.  It is very easy to lower our guard.  But we must learn to be vigilant at all times.  Now don't turn paranoid neither.  The other extreme is no better.  Just be aware.

Memory

We all have encountered scandals in the news on situation that were going on.  And we knew that a few weeks from now, no one would remember.  Its like that.  We don't have good memory.  So we must develop our memories.  Don't let things pass by unnoticed and once they're noticed.  Remember them.  So when it comes again the alarm will set off and you will remember.

If we do not develop a good memory.  How can we compare the now to what the situation was?  And then assess for ourselves if the new situation is good for us or worst?

Points of reference

How do we make sure that our schemes of analysis are good?  And remain good?  How can we make sure that we are not passing by something that we should have considered?

We have to develop points of references.  Both internal and external.  Internal, when you feel uneasy.  You don't really know why.  This is for sure that you feel the situation is some what different from what it used to be and the new change is now optimal to you as it used to be.  Listen to yourself.  Some times the rational analysis of the outside world will give you no insight.  But you feel deep inside you that something is going on.  Listen to yourself.  And make sure to recognise and know the meaning of you internal alarms.  If you don't already start studying yourself.

You also have to develop external points of references.  Has the point of view of others have change about you?  Not that you should care but this is material.  Indications that you can use.  Learn to see yourself in the mirror of others.  Once again not because you should care what they think of you.  But they reflect an image of you that you can use as a reference and see if it fits what you want.

The different stimulus you receive from the external world.  If it changes and makes you unhappy or uneasy.  This is an indication that something is going on.  The water might be getting hotter.  Now may be its not.  May be its something else.  But at least you'll have the tools to determine this.

Finally if your emotions changes.  Learn their meaning.  Why do you feel that way?  Why did it change?  What your inner self is trying to tell you that you brilliant rational self does not understand?

Case study: Cristina

Cristina is a wonderful portuguese woman that I know and that I love dearly.

A few years ago she was cribbed with debts like most of the middle class people and she couldn`t stand her job, her boss and her husband.

She decided to get free of slavery and a miserable life by taking the bull by the horns and solve the problem by the other half of the coin compared to me.

My solution is to get out of debt fast by limiting your expenses and increasing you means of income.  So you can become free of your employer.

She did just that by getting rid of the husband and getting rid of the big house and the big payments that goes with it.  And she got rid of her job.

A little extreme but very effective.  She felt it was the right thing to do.  And she has absolutely no doubt she took the right decision.

With the sell of the house she paid the remaining loan and the other debts.  She took and apartment.  A modest one but a very cute and cozy one.  Very nice. Now every penny that comes in her hand is hers.  She only has to pay the current monthly bills like electricity and the rent.  She has an excess of income now that goes grow her safety nest and for her retirement.  She is building her freedom with every pay check.  No need to find another job or another source of income like I do.  She don`t have a debt any more. 

Next week she`s making herself a gift.  She is going on vacation for three weeks in Tunisia.

Now as I struggle to get my freedom, she is already free.  Her strategy is faster than mine.  But she had to make sacrifices along the way.  Its ok if you are prepared to make them.  She valued her freedom more than a house and material goods.

Being debt free means that she does not fear her employer anymore.  This is a very powerful weapon.  And she used it well.  She has a co-worker that was making problem to her (like I have one that is making problem to me).  Before, she would have said nothing for fear of being a trouble maker in the organization and suffer eventual consequences.  But since she is free and is absolutely scare free from her employer, she took her boss in his office and she stated the problem. When he tried to wave the problem, she told him that he either does something about it or she is leaving.

He did something.  He got rid of the other girl. And now she feels better in her job.

See what happens is I see too much people accepting too much situations that makes them uncomfortable or plainly unhappy.  But they endure and say nothing for fear of being tagged as trouble makers.  They accept the unacceptable.  They support it until they break and go on sick leave or quit their jobs.

But not Cristina.  Not anymore.  She`s free now.  And she made an oat to herself.  For now on.  She will never accept nor support the unacceptable.

And she can!  Because for now on. She has the power to just walk away!

There is a weakness

I looked closely to the curriculum of the certificate that I am making.  And I have found a loophole.

There is a weakness in the curriculum that I will exploit.  There is this course that is at the end of the process.  And I've found that by making this course, it gives me a license to do part of the job I am studying for.

If I can make an analogy to give a better understanding.

This is like saying that you want to become a mechanic.  Before you are one you cannot set foot in a garage.  You have ten courses to do to become a mechanic and its at the end of it only that you will be able to practice.  In around two years from now.  At the end of the process there is a course.  This course requires no prerequisite. This means that even if the curriculum suggests that you do that course only at the end.  There is nothing that prevents you from doing it at the beginning.  And guess what?  This course gives you the right to get into the garage and do only breaks.

So ok it is not the full fledged mechanic that you want to become just yet since you can only work on breaks.  But!  You are allowed from the very beginning (instead waiting at the end) to get into the garage and do part of the work.

This means in other terms that by doing this one course, it will give me my joker that I want to get to stop exposing myself.  And instead of getting that joker in two years, I can have it by about Christmas.

Guess what course I am going to do next?

Pfffft.... Haaaaa! Haa! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!

I passed!

I passed!

Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!!!!

I passed my exam!!!!

I got 67%.  This is not much according to my usual standards.  Not to say unacceptable.  But I'll be honest... I'll take it!

So I will not abandon the program entirely. I will slow down the pace in order to make it good. But I will continue.  For once I get the certificate.  This will be a joker that will remain in my back pocket.

My previous conclusions remains.  I am exposed now.  And this is a mid term strategy for I will take a longer term to complete it. So I need a more adequate strategy that will deal with the current situation.

So I need a short term strategy that will close the gap on my exposure.

This is like saying that you have a pipe leak in your house's bathroom and the solution you put forward is to change all pipes in the house to put copper pipes... starting in the kitchen.  Not an adequate strategy.  First you must deal with the current emergency.  Then, and only then, you can put forward a mid term strategy to make sure that the situation does not arise again.

Dah! Will you say... That is so evident.  But is it?  Some times you are caught in situations that does not permit you to see clearly.  And you have to take the best decision with the information you have.  On my case I thought I had more time.  It happens that I cannot count on it.  Thus moving from mid term strategy to close the gap short term strategy.

More on that in the coming posts.

Exam finished!

The exam is finished!

Woohoo!

Free at last.  Now I can devote my time to what ever I want.  To be porductive... like... NOW!

I feel like there is 200 pounds less on my shoulders.

It is time now to take actions.  Practical and immediate actions.

Actions dictates priorities. So stop planning, stop making congections and assessments.  Just do it.

(By the way my best estimation following the exam is that I miss the pass mark by 10 points.  I'll know for sure in 10 days).

Welcome! To the Hunger Games

Can you imagine that?

You arrive coming from a hole in the ground.  Once the count down is made.  The game is on.

GO!

Anything goes.  There is no rules.  You have to survive and do what ever it takes to remain alive. This is how the Hunger Games are played.  Isn't it?  According to the book and the movie.

What a harsh game isn't it?  Well my friend.  Doesn't remind you of another game?  A game that is pretty much the same as the Hunger Games... no clue?

Let me refresh your memory.

You come out from your mother.  And as soon as you take your first breath.  The game is on.  And the game goes on until you expel your last breath.  That my friend is the true Hunger Games.  For if you don't do anything.  If you lie flat on your back.  You will suffer hunger.  And you will die.

Of course we gave ourselves some rules.  And we cannot kill each other like savages on the street.  Thank god.  But we prevailed for our instinct to manifest itself.  Its called the corporate world.  In the corporate world you cannot be killed of course.  But you can be fired on a dime.  War can be made among corporations with little to no care on the casualties on the part of the workers. You can be beaten morally (if the law prevents it physically).  People will pass over your head, spit on you, plant a dagger in your back, for the slightest hope of the corner office.

And you have to play the game.  Or suffer the consequences.

So you have to become a warrior.  In the Hunger Games they call it going career ( what a coincidence).

So wake up. Wipe your nose and start to get clever.  Develop your skills just what ever that is: good at politics, have college degrees, tons of experience, etc...

Develop your warrior skills on a larger scale than just the office.  If there were a war tomorrow, a civil war like in Syria.  Would you survive?  Or would you be among the first to die?

Either you want it or not we are all in the great Hunger Games called life.  You have to make the most of it with the cards that has been dealt to you at birth.

Think about it.

slaughterhouse

Summary of my study project.

Not good.

Tomorrow I am going to the slautherhouse.

Too much matter to study in too much little time.

Too much free time at the same time so very easy to drift away.  Especially when the subject studied is so boring.

I know that this is a 90 questions pick and choose the good answer question.  The passing grade is 60%.

So I need 54 good answers.  I will have to focus on that.  Generating 54 good answers.  The idea is to pass on each question and answer.  In the margin there will be eather :); ? or :(

:) means I know the answer is good.

? means I don't have a clue.  I will have to make up the most likely answer.  I have % chances of success on each of these question.  Or 12.5% if there is five choices per question.

This is not much.  The statistics are against me.  I can upgrade the odds in my favor by working out the answer as close as what ever choice of answer they provide me.  But then I will deal against the clock.

Well see...

One thing for sure that it made me realize is that the subject of study is of no interest to me.  I was not able to boost myself into genuine study this last week.  Even if the subject of money, making money and acquiring money is dear to me.  The format then provided it sucks.  And I find no joy in that.

Case study: Nadine

One good example of what I just explained in my previous post is the case of Nadine.

Nadine is a girl I know.  She's a nurse.

Now not only does she works in a field that is highly on demand with a continuous aging population, but she also managed to take a specialized course in feet care.

Now don't ask me what feet care is like.  I don't have a clue.  All I know is that this is a niche within the health industry and she sensed a demande in feet care.  She took the courses thhat cost her several thousands of dollars.  But it paid off.

She have a full calendar of appointments.  And she is making tons of money working for herself when she is not scheduled at the hospital.

She has other means of income than the hospital she works for.  And this is exactly the embodiment of what I mean
 when I say that one must not depend solely on one source of income.

Nadine is a single mom.  And I am sure that, as any single mom, she struggled at times to raise her child.  But Nadine has a house and a car and everything that goes with it.  She was able to maintain her standard of living by being wise and understand that nothing will come to her, not even a steady pay check from the hospital.

She took the bull by the horns and he won!

Way to go Nadine! 

My learning experience update

This has been a week now that I study.  I am something like 60% thru the topics.  This not going well.

I am questionning my entire strategy here.  Some times you have to make a step back and assess what is the objective again and see if the strategy undertaken is still the good one.

For my part... I'm not sure.

The objective I pursue is protection.  Get yself an insurance policy against a employment market that can get rid of me at any times.  Because lets face it.  We are all expendable in the corporate world.  Today you're a hero, next thing you know there is a change of manager and this one hates your guts and next you're a zero.  This is the way it is way you don't hold the final decision about your means of income.

So the idea is to give the employee a very good job  A professional one and provide genuine solutions to its problems.  Be part of the solution, not the problem.  But at the same time, work into developing an alternate source of income.  Be not dependable on a sole source of revenues.  This is stupid strategy.  Diversify.

So the course I undertake was to open a door to advancement in my corporation.  A new field of jobs that is denied to me right now because I don't have the papers they require.

But what is the big Why?  Why do I do this?  Is this for the job itself?  Or is it for the insurance policy that I will be able to change job fast if ever something happens to me?  And the answer is the lather.

So am I engaged into the right track?  At the shortest I will get this certification in 1.5 years or 2 years.  This is to say that my insurance policy would be activated in two years from now.  So what happens next week?  And the week after that?  What happens from now until two years?

I am exposed.

And this is not good strategy.

I made a mistake.  I put all my eggs into the same basket which would provides its fruits only in two years.

There is other ways to get my insurance policy in place.

Getting a second job part time
Reimbursing all my debts on a fast track pace
Getting a cushion.  A emergency fund
Talking to people.  Networking.  Getting myself known so if there is a problem, opportunities would be at my grasp.

That is the conclusion I came to yesterday.  I took the entire day of yesterday.  And I am very proud I did.  It opened my eyes.

So now I am not going to trow this course out the window.  I will continue on studying.  But the outcome of the exam will be of no major relevance to me.

If I pass, I will pursue at a slower pace and develop some of the solutions I came up with above.

If I fail.  Then I will abandon that idea and pursue more than one, if not all, of the above solutions I came up with at a faster pace.

We'll see.

Update on my studies

Its day three of my study experiment.

Monday I packed 10 hours study. More than planned.  Yesterday I packed 8 hours.  And today, I should pack something like 9 hours study.

The stuff is more dense than I expected.  Not that its complicated.  Its just dense... a lot of stuff.  And a lot of details.

I am nit sure this is the way to go.  Packing 7 days straight of studies back to back, scraping a week vacation in the process.  Its so sunny and hot outside.  I will never the less have a few laps in the pool later.

I am committed to go on this experiment.  We'll see at the end.

The bet I took

I took a bet with myself a few months ago.  I have this finance certificate that I wan to do.  I know that this will open doors for me on new jobs opportunity (in the mean time that my own business kicks off).

Because you see.  This certificate will provide me with a joker in my cards.  This will open doors on jobs I didn't have access before in my own firm.  And this also represent a wonderful employment insurance policy for I know that, having that certificate, I will be able to find a job in any financial company there is.

The problem is... I have absolutely no time to study.

But I have to do this course if I don't want to stand still.

This is a distance course.  So I can study on my own pace.  There is ten courses to take and as per the education center, it takes from three to six months each courses on average.  Now I don't want to take three to five years to complete the curriculum.  It would deceive my purpose of moving as fast as I can.

So here is the bet I took.  As per the education center, this course should take at least 45 hours study.  I took one week vacation.  My exam is scheduled for August 27 at 1h00 PM. This means that there is seven days remaining.  I made absolutely  no study so far except reading and high lighting the books.  If I put five yours a day study on this, I should pile up 35 hours study.  I will get short as per their proposed requirement.  But I am a fast learner and I count on it.

That is the bet I took: piling up study hours and trash the exam in one week.  If I succeed, I will do the same with all the other courses.  So I should be able to do something like one course each two months or so.  May be less (two weeks reading and highlighting, one week study then exam = course done in 3 weeks). I should finish the curriculum in one year and a half (may be less) instead of the three years minimum they suggest.  (This is still long by my standard for I would like to have the certificate like... yesterday.  But never the less, its better than five years).

That is a challenge I know.  But I'm in it now and there is no turning back (I already paid for the course).

I will report my advances and findings here.

The list

Do you have a list?  If you don`t then you should make it a priority to make one for yourself.

But what is the list?

Its all sort of dreams, realization that you would like to achieve for yourself.  Now there is one thing that is of prime importance when making the list!  It must be a list of EVERYTHING you would like to realize.  What to walk on the moon? Write it down.  Nothing is too stupid.  The first thing is to have a liste.  What we don with it we`ll see later.

Think it cannot be done?  Think again.  As an inspiration I strongly recommend you go visit John Goddard list on his web site.  It will open your eyes.

Here is my list in no particular order:

1. Make a world round trip
2. Make a world round trip by sailboat
3. Become a government deputy for at least one mandate
4. Have the body of a Greek god
5. Become a mPUA
6. Develop the FoS project (to be explained)
7. Learn bass guitar
8. Learn to sing
9. Become black belt in a martial art10. Practice Olympic shooting
11. Learn to program
12. Learn to speak 5 languages
13. Start my own micro-enterprise
14. Make 1 000 000$ aka. become financially independent
15. Do a PhD
16. Take part in a Triathlon17. Make a round America trip in a Winnebago
18. Go into space
19. Learn to fly a plane
20. Be a teacher for at least one semester
21. Own a personal library of 10 000 books
22. Own an office/laboratory
23. Be a wine connoisseur
24. Become good in mathematics
25. Publish a book
26. Participate to the Olympics
27. Become a very good cook
28. Take part to the Paris-Dakar race
29. Do parachute jumping at least once
30. Go kayaking
31. Get into the Arms forces reserve
32. Climb the Kilimanjaro
33. Climb mount Olympus
34. Climb mount Sinai35. Learn to dance Salsa
36. Run 10 km easily
37. Take part to the Sun Dance Festival
38. Get a custom motorcycle
39. Get a Cadillac
40. Meet the president of United-States at least once.
41. Participate to La Tomatina in Spain
42. Do scuba diving once more
43. Go to Antarctica
44. Do Planeur
45. Become an international specialist in something
46. Win the Peace Nobel Price47. Learn Karv Maga
48. Repay all my debts
49. Found and name a star
50. Become good at chess
51. Learn Hypnosis
52. Become a member of the Mensa
53. Stop completely to bite my nails
54. Make a consistent revenue on the side of my main source of revenue
55. Make the CFA certification
56. Pass a day in a nudist camp
57. Win the Solaris price
58. Host a seminar
59. Write a book
60. Take part to the desert race61. Do some Delta Plane
62. Do at least one show with a band
63. Make my own garden
64. Visit Nunavut
65. Meet the Queen (or the King) at least once
66. Become good at poker - Texas Hold'em
67. Become one of the richest man in my state
68. Break a Guinness record - One with the largest personal library in the world.
69. Patent some invention

70. Run the China Wall run

71. Climb Machu Picchu

72. Go to Burning Man

73. Participate to the SunDance festival
74. Make relatively close friends all around the world (want to be mine?  Click here)

Do more

As you know this blog is about strategy.

Do you want to know one very powerful way of getting an edge on anything that you want in life?  Either its loosing weight, getting this job you're looking for, taking over an opponent... just about anything...

... DO MORE!

That's it.  Do more.  Just when ever you think you're done, do one last think that will give you just this incremental advance.

If you work in sales and the others do 80 calls a day.  Do 81.  That will be about 260 more calls than average per year.  Who's going to get lucky sooner or later?

You swim, swim a little longer.  You run 5 Km.  Try 5.1 Km next time.  You list 100 pounds on the bench press?  Try 102 pounds next time... You get the idea.  Just incremental improvement and its amazing what difference this would make at the end of the year.

The Japaneses have a word for this: Kizen.  Which could be translated as "continuous incremental imporvement".

One last example.  Lets say you want to write a novel.  You always push its start to the next day.  Because I your head the task is so huge and there is so much amount of hours to commit, your brain gets over driven before you get started.  But what if you tell yourself that you'll do a page a day.  No more that a single page per day.  But no less than a page.  That's 365 pages at the end of the year.  You got yourself a book right there.

So start today.  Ask yourself, on each task that you are doing: "what is the little thing that I can do on this before I leave the task?"

I don't know who said it but someone said:"Work every hour of your day, and you will accomplish more that anyone".   This is so true.

Start today.  Do more.  And its amazing what you will accomplished at the same time next year.

Know thyself

The first step in my philosophy of living like a hero is to take control of my body.

I want to go from this:

 To this:



















And I want this resust by October 31st. 2012.


The game plan

How am I going to do this?

First I am going to follow this schedule of training:

Monday: Weight training
Tuesday: Running
Wednesday: Weight training.
Thursday: Running
Friday: Running
Saturday: Weight training.
Sunday: Off.  Relax.

This is until september.  Because in september I am going to join the Adult swim team of my town.  The reasons for that are a) I was a swimmer when I was young.  I love it.  b) swimming will be very good in training all my body parts and increasing my cardio capacity.

So from september to November I should juggle with swimming, running and weight training until the first snow falls.  Then for the winter I'll stick with swimming and weight training until spring.

My weight training:  I will follow the 300 Spartan Workout

Motivator:  In order to stay on track I already subscribed to my town marathon in September.  And I subscribed to the Spartan Race next May 2013.  And for the up coming Halloween, I want to dress like the spartan in the picture above.  So I need the body that goes with the suite. I also subscribed to a running course in my town.  And I will join the swimming team in September.  It's all about commitment!

Eating:  I eat like a pig and I eat anything that comes into my reach.  I need to change my entire view on eating.  I shall make an entire post on it. Coming soon.

And strategically speaking if you eat better than average, you should be healthier than average (all things being equals).  Which puts the odds on your side a little more compared to the average guy.

One last thing about eating.  I start training first and I will start my eating habit detoxification a little later.  When I reach that part.  I shall have a last meal.  Just like the death sentenced prisoners.  I will go and eat fat food and potatoes chips and all that for one last day.  Then.  The next morning, I start my new eating regiment.  Which will consist on decreasing the size of my meal and choosing a low fat regime.

Oh!  And one last thing about the Spartans.  Are you still looking for some moral and ethic axioms and maxims on which to run your life?  How about the spartan life motto:

• A Spartan pushes their mind and body to their limits.
• A Spartan masters their emotions.
• A Spartan learns continuously.
• A Spartan gives generously.
• A Spartan leads.
• A Spartan stands up for what they believe in, no matter the cost.
• A Spartan knows their flaws as well as they know their strengths.
• A Spartan proves themselves through actions, not words.
• A Spartan lives every day as if it were their last.

Pretty cool isn't it?

Link of the week: Make it count - Awesome Inspiration

Here!  Watch this!  Its awesome!

Make it count

Live your life like a hero

 "What we do in life, Echoes in Eternity"

What does it means to live you life like a hero?  What is a hero.  What can be considered as heroic?

This shall be the start of a new post time that I will add to this blog: live your life like a hero.

Whouldn't you like to wake up in the morning and be happy to be alive.  You have a purpose, you know exactly where you're going.  And you just can't wait for this day to start in order to accomplish what you are aimed to accomplish?

I shall come back in further post on the concept of hero, what is it, what it represents and all.  But in the mean time ask yourself this question:

"What does it means to me being a hero?"
"What would I consider hero to me?"

For someone this could me something as simple as loosing 10 pounds.  For another is being more at home and learn to say no at work in order to pass quality time with friends and family.  For someone else this could be running a marathon or climbing mount Kilimandjaro.  Or plainly taking care of a sick loved one.

What does it mean to you?  What is your definition?

In the mean time I am going to leave you with Ayn Rand's definition of a modern hero:

"My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute."

Share it here in the comments if you want.

We shall develop on this concept more on the coming posts.

Asymmetry of information

There is a concept in economics that is facinating me for a while now and its the concept of asymmetry of information.  One must understand this concept if one wants to get a strategic edge on one’s world.

As per Wikipedia, the Asymmetry of information is defined as “the study of decisions in transactions where one party has more or better information than the other. This creates an imbalance of power…”  lets not look further for now.  This creates a imbalance of power.  To whom?  Well in favor of the people who has either more or better information or both.  And this you can find it everywhere.  Those who make money on the stock market are the ones who gets the information before the others.  Those who gets the jobs are the ones who know the key hiring people in the company.  Those who get the girls are those who are good in flirting and closing.  Those who get the sales are those who are good in identifying the customer’s needs and hidden motivations… and I could go on like this for a very long time.

So seek to have more information and better information than the counter parties in the field you wish to apply your influence.  There is several questions that you must look for and define for yourself:

1. What information is good information?  Not anything is useful.
2. Where does the information comes from?  And can you have access or better access to it?
3. What channel does the information takes to spread?  Can you channel it?  Can you control it?  Or at least can you increase your speed in getting that information from those channels?
4. What can you do with that information?  How is it useful?
5. What are you willing to do with that information?

Don't get confused between 2. and 3.  In 2 this pertain to where does the information lies and you can get it.  Before anyone if you can.  In 3. this pertain to where does the information go and how if you cannot have direct access to its source, you may develop better ways to collect it once its out.

The last question is very important (number 5.).  You may get information that could be very useful, but using it would go against your values or life principles.  For example the information in question could either hurt someone or put someone in trouble.  And you have to assess if it’s the kind of information that you do want to use in order to further your cause.  Just as long as it stays legal, the important is to like the person you see in the mirror every morning.

The asymmetry of information can be caused by the followings:

-         Geographical location
-         Lack of means to access it

-         Lack of skills

-         Lack of adequate time

-         Lack of adequate capital

-         Status and influence asymmetry

One must be aware of these sources and adress each of them in their own sphere of influence to maximize what one can make of it.  If one don’t, then the door is open for one’s opponent to get ahead in one of those field and get an edge on one.

Link of the week - On the art of winning

No I am not dead.

I haven't posted lately... very busy dealing with... awkward,erratic and totally irrational people.  I shall make an entire post on it... in time.

In the mean time there is no pain in a little study about what are the traits of winning and those who wins.

Here is a link to a must read article on "The art of winning".

Enjoy.

Hegemony to Great power to you

As per Wikipedia, Hegemony is an indirect form of imperial dominance in which the hegemon (leader state) rules sub-ordinate states by implied means of power rather than direct military force.  In Ancient Greece (8^th c. BC – AD 6^th c.), hegemony denoted the politico-military dominance of a city-state over other city-states.  In the 19^th century, hegemony denoted the predominance of one country upon others; from which derives hegemonism, the Great Power politics meant to establish hegemony.

And what is Great power?  Still as per Wikipedia a Great power is a nation or state that has the ability to exert its influence on a global scale.  Great powers characteristically possess military and economic strength and diplomatic and cultural influence which may cause small powers to consider the opinions of great powers before taking actions of their own.

Now imagine that every individual is a state that has the ability to rule oneself, take one own decision and auto-determine oneself.  I know its hard to do but try for a moment.

Now the individual is in one’s cubicle minding one’s own business.  And here comes the Great power: the boss.  Now why is the boss the Great power?  Because as per wiki’s definition of a Great power, it has military powers (the boss can make you escorted out of the premises); it has economic power (the boss has a definite impact or one’s salary, pay increase/decrease, bonus, or termination of one’s mean of income); it has diplomatic power (the boss can ask the individual in his office and diplomatically ask one to change one’s behaviour or else); and it has cultural powers (the boss can make understand that it is in one’s best interest to wear a tie because that’s the way it goes here.  He doesn’t really know why it is so but it is so and one must comply with the culture).

So the boss has hegemonistic powers over his employees.  Because he “influence” the employees’ behaviour, conduct and productivity.  And the employees (the small powers) will consider the opinion of the great power (aka the boss) before taking action.

Living in such world is not a problem.  But not knowing that you are living in such a world or worst, denying its existence makes you a slave.  Because you will always behave according to the whim of the current Great  power (aka the current boss).  When you are aware of the game that is played you have two choices.  Either you play the game to acquire power.  To that I will refer you to Nietzsche’s Will to power.  Or you can immune your self-state from the Great powers.  On this later one, I shall expose it in a up coming post.   

Don't shoot the messenger - Link of the week

This week only one link.  But a great one.

This is a blog I am following for some times now.  She is a very witty woman with strong opinions and I like her point of view.

I recommend it to anyone.

In her post called "Don`t shoot the messenger"  she goes about talking about people that get mad at people that tells them what is.

Yes you`ve heard it.  There are people out there that asks question and kinda want to ear a specific answer.  Or wants to get a specific outcome.  And if they don`t, they get mad at the mesenger.

Never get yourself into that mind backouts.  How?  This is not an easy task. You have to be in constant vigilence with yourself.  I always say that if someone asks a question or act in a particular way, that persone has to live with the consenquences.

Which I`ve found that most people don`t.  So they blame anyone else but themselves.

Don`t do that.  Always ask yourself first "Where did I go wrong?" Then and only then, if you get that it was not your fault at any level, work to correct the outside probelm.  But not before.

The Albanie strategy

If you ever come to work for a sick corporation, you might have to revert to the Albania strategy.

- What?  Alba what?

Yes!  Albania.  Do you know that, in Europe there is a tinny country called Albania?  You didn't?  You never heard of it?  You know of nothing that is coming out of it?  That is exactly what the Albania strategy is about.

In some organization, there is people that are placed into management position that they shouldn't hold.  They are micro managers, demanding, nothing is never good.  They say that they praise good ideas and welcomes it.  But when an employee does, he is always turned down.  The managers scrutinize the employee's work.  At the slightest shadow of a mistake the manager is on the employee's back.  Consequently the employee gets nervous and increases his/her mistakes.  Which turns into a self fulfilling prophecy. Then the atmosphere gets heavier.  People are on their guards against anyone.  People that were team players before turns solo.  Some practice information retention.

Does this description rings a bell?

If it does then one way to go under the radar is to practice the Albania strategy.  Albania used to be a very closed communist country.  Not much was heard from it.  Not much was said, done, or came out of it.

So in a hostile workplace environment, practice exactly that.  Be closed.  Don't propose anything.  Don't offer your services.  Work on your side to either get out of that department or out of the company all together.  But in the mean time don't contribute to anything.  You do this for two reasons.  First its for your career survival.  Second that manager does not deserves you nor your ideas or energy.  Lets that person corporately die without doing anything to prevent it.

A little harsh?  Well some people deserves it.  Those of you who have lived in that kind of work environment knows what I'm talking about.

Seeking one's Ideal Me

As per psychologist Carl Rogers, people evaluate all experiences in reference to oneself.  People want to conduct themselves in accordance to the image they have of themselves.  But for Rogers there are two concepts of self.  There is the real-self.  And there is the Ideal-self.

We all have an image of the person we would want to be.  This notion is close to the Ideal-self.  And who you're actually are, is the Real-self.

The more the Ideal-self is close to the Real-self, the more the person experiences fulfilment, joy and happiness.  And as the opposite the more you feel that your Real-self is away from the Ideal-self, the more unhappy.

There are two deviations that can occur.  One between your Real-self and the evaluation you make of it.  For example a person is successful and respected by his/her peers but still feel a failure for some reason.  The second deviation comes from the difference between the Real-Self and the Ideal-self.

One must learn in being careful to correctly assess reality adding nor subtracting any positive of negative side of one's reality.  Fair assessment is the road to good mental health.

But what fascinates me in Rogers theory is this idea of an Ideal-Self and Real-Self.  And the discrepancy between the two.

Strategically speaking.  Sit down with a pen and a piece of paper.  And write do who is it you want to be.  The way you want to think; the kind of decisions you want to make; the kind of philosophy you want to live through.  Once this is done, look at your life right now.

Is your real-Self close to your Ideal-self?  

If not, by about how far?

What would it take to get you closer?  Write it down.

THEN DO IT!

Now if you realize that you are far enough it is not a reason to depress or something like that.  For the first time in your life you now have a map of where you are and where you want to be.  That is positive.

Some of the choices you will have to make might be painful.  That will be for you to decide.  For myself it came to realized that I was not married to the right person for me.  I on purpose decided to put the problem aside for some times because it was not the time for me to deal with it.  Until the day came in 2001, then I made my move.

Now I am not suggesting you should throw spouses, friends and family by the window.  Make a relevant assessment.  And try to correct, patch, and improve to get closer to your Ideal-Self.

This means you may have to work on some internal issues you have as well.  Everyone has his or her own journey.

But as you know, on the road of improvement and fulfilment, the journey is as important as the destination.  

Case Study: Dominic

In my whole philosophy of getting independent from the corporate world, I think that Dominic is someone that stands out.

Dominic works in my enterprise.  He works in the telecoms department.  He is the sole specialist of some switches lists of translations for calls to get through... or something like that.  I won't get into any details here but understand that he is a guru in his field of expertise that is in high demand in any large company.

So right there Dominic has been able to ensure his employability to the company.  He has the knowledge that no other has in the company.  So he is indispensable in his department.  He is not un-expendable.  Working for corporation we learn to know that no one is.  But at least he knows that if the company wants to get rid of him, it will have to train someone else for a few weeks before he barely get to speed (not even get to Dominic's level).

This brings a second advantage.  Since no one else can do Dominic's work and that his work is in high demand in the industry, Dominic has an edge in his wage negotiation.

But Dominic was not happy with only that.

In his spare time he decided to start a home business.  He decided to rent portable hot tubs for people who wants to throw parties in their backyard.  He was not able to start that over night.  In the beginning he had a hard time.  He had to deal with the providers, get a place to store the tubs.  At one point in peak periods, he had to hire an employee.  He learned the hard way: his costs went sky rocketing.  So he managed to downsize and finds ways to cut cost, fine tune his processes and do some of the work himself.

It took him two years of trials and errors to get to the current business model he is at now.  And his business is so fine tuned that he can devote to it only a few hours a week and rake in the money.

He told me that at this rate, if revenues continue to grow, he will repay his house loan in about four years!  Not bad at all.

So if I summarize, Dominic has been able in two years to:

1. Become a valuable asset for the company so he is hard to fire
2. Has developed and launched a business that generates a revenue (that he don't need since he has a job)
3. The over and above revenue generated by his business is used to repay his house loan (which means by having no debt he will be even less vulnerable to the corporate world)

Dominic is an example to follow on the road of total freedom.

Acta Non Verba

Philosophers and theologists devises the world in two orders : the actives and the contemplatives.

When I was younger, I was on the active side.  And this is the part of my life in which I remember most victories.  I was athletic, outgoing, extrovert, life was just there for me to take.

But at one point back then I stopped to reflect.  I thought about all those books that lies out there.  All those people who wrote all those brilliant books and shared brilliant ideas.  All things that, back then, I had no clue they existed.  And I wondered if I would live my life and pass by all those wonders.  All those things that I will never know.  Literature, philosophy, science, theology, strategy, economics, politics and everything else.  I had a thirst for knowledge.

So I set to start reading all those books.  Before that I never had time to.  Now, I took the time.  And I read, and read, and read.  At some point I got caught in a behaviour in which I would rather sit down and read than going out and doing things or meeting people.

To strike a balance is the key. Read and learn, but apply! Do, create, move, shake, build, improve.  Do something.  Do it for yourself and not for others or for a mere company that doesn’t give the slightest peace of crap about you.

Go out there and do your stuff.  Plan and make projects.  And make them happen.  Use your knowledge at best of your capacity.  Don’t hide behind a book.

Because we live in a material world.  Either you want it or not.  And in such world, actions rules!

Do you want to make money?

I don't know for you but I sure do.

And there is only one thing to do to make it.  Build value.

Just whatever you do.  Either you create a new product, refurbish an old one or you plainly want to keep your job.  Just build something that has value for the buyer.

Put yourself in the shoes of your eventual customer.  And then ask yourself "what's in there for me?" But not for you the seller.  Not for what YOU think they are getting out of it.  But rather what is it that they are really getting.

Create value.  It sounds so simple isn't it? But it’s not. It is just lately while I was observing a tramp in my neighborhood that it dawned on me.

See this tramp is there every morning.  He stands at the door in the subway.  When ever someone comes, he opens the door for them.  He has a can in his hand and hopes that people will drop a few pennies in the can for the service he provided.

Most people don’t.  In fact I can see in their eyes that they are a bit annoyed he actually tried to help.

Why is that?

See in his mind he thinks he’s performing a service to people that passes by.  But what he misses is that this service is of no value to people. It’s something that they can do themselves in no time.  There is no value in that. 

As a comparison.  I was in Boston a few years ago for business and after the meetings I decided to go for a walk and visit the city.  There is a historic cemetery there where famous people were buried like the original people from the Tea Party.  There is a lot of tourist in the cemetery wondering around the tombs.  At the entrance of the cemetery there is a tramp.  The guy gives to the passing by tourists a map of the cemetery and a short description of who is buried where and what did they do in history.

Now talk about value creation!  When people gets out of the cemetery they give the map back to the tramp… with a tip.  And I can assure you it is not only a penny.  I myself gave a 5$ bill because this is what I felt it was worth to me.  

So this guy understood one thing.  He understood that there is a lot of people not from the town wanting to know who were lying there and he managed to create maps and description for people to follow.

He did the process.  He put himself in his target market’s mind and asks what himself what they want.  Its either something that the customer cannot do, cannot create, or don’t have time to create or needs it for other purpose that will bring him even more value.