I am scheduled to depart from this Earth on June 21, 2088. This means that I still have 77 years to live, which is more than what I’ve lived so far. And since I was born in 1968, this means I will die at age 120. Which is more than anyone I eared of so far!
I can live with that!… sort to speak.
Here how it happened. I received a SMS the other day stating “We have calculated the date of your death. According to our calculation, you will die on June 21, 2088…” This is some sort of weird advertising for some sort of service they offer. At first I laugh when I saw that. But then it made me think. Imagine if we would all know our death date? Wouldn’t we want to make the most of it between our birth date and the fatidic date? Since we don’t know what is our expiration date, we live on the impression of immortality. And we can see it everywhere: save now for when you’ll retire; people caring more about futile activities instead of working on themselves and on others; people working nine to five and damning their cubicle job instead of breaking free and doing what they like… etc…
I find that knowing the date of my death gives me an advantage. Since I know when it will end, I can plan ahead and make sure I will be able to do everything I want to achieve before the departure date.
Uneasy with this post? GET OVER IT!! Just give yourself a good kick in the butt. Stop applying the ostrich strategy by putting you head in the sand. It will do you no good. Face it! Face the inevitable with a sharp eye, you back erected and your chin high. It WILL happen either you like it or not. Either you think about it or try to elude the idea. Look right in the face of the ineluctability. And stand your ground: “I will make the most of it while I’m here and there is nothing you can do about it in the mean time!”
Now take a piece of paper and write down everything you have postponed so far in your life but are dear to you heart. Then apply Nikes strategy: “Just do it!”
“What is the purpose of life” you ask your self? “What is the meaning of life?”
The answer is very easy.
The purpose of life are to pass on you genetic code and remain alive. Period! That’s it.
What is the meaning of life? None! There is no meaning to life. But wait! Since there is no intrinsic meaning to life. This means that there is no meaning to life OTHER than the one YOU settle for YOUR SELF!
Now THIS is a powerful thought isn’t it? Can you imagine the spectrum of freedom this gives you? You are free to undertake just what ever endeavour you want for yourself. So now that you have the answer to the most profound questions of existence, stop wondering about it and go out and do something of your life. Just what ever feel right for you before your expiration date.
Friday, June 10, 2011
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
So… You’re a push-pen?
I cannot help but it hurts me at some point. Yesterday my 16 years old boy asked me "dad, what do you really do at work?" So I explained to him that I am in charge of the Quality department for my department. "Ok but what is it that you actually do?" He replied. So basically I… do reports. "So…" my son replied, "You’re a push-pen?" And then he went to say "I really do want to end up like this, pushing pens…"
I cannot help but in hurts me at some point.
I know that for a fact and for a long time now. I even call myself a "glorified personal assistant" for I produce reports that are way under my brain capacity and of my formal training. You might call it a Qualitiy specialist, Quality Manager, Quality Strategist, what ever. At the end of the day you end up producing reports to people that will seldom read it.
I always wanted to be a model for my kids. And I must admit that, on this topic, I failed.
Thus my renewed vigour in becoming a successful business man. One who shape the world to his values and one with increasing power on his surrounding instead of the other way around like most people live. That will be the teaching I will pass to my children. Not the singular image of an insipid cubicle push-pen.
Wanting to be a model to my children is a great motor and motivator. I shall not deceive them.
P.S. The reason why I am a push-pen right now is because I’m on brain strike. An Atlas Shrugged’s John Galt’s like strike. For those of you who read the book, you will understand.
Given my experience in the corporate world I came to the conclusion that it does not deserve my brain and I shall use it instead to propel myself on my own, starting my own company. But I cannot explain that to my son. Not now. He doesn’t have the professional experience and the knowledge of Ayn Rand’s book to understand my stand.
May be one day…
I cannot help but in hurts me at some point.
I know that for a fact and for a long time now. I even call myself a "glorified personal assistant" for I produce reports that are way under my brain capacity and of my formal training. You might call it a Qualitiy specialist, Quality Manager, Quality Strategist, what ever. At the end of the day you end up producing reports to people that will seldom read it.
I always wanted to be a model for my kids. And I must admit that, on this topic, I failed.
Thus my renewed vigour in becoming a successful business man. One who shape the world to his values and one with increasing power on his surrounding instead of the other way around like most people live. That will be the teaching I will pass to my children. Not the singular image of an insipid cubicle push-pen.
Wanting to be a model to my children is a great motor and motivator. I shall not deceive them.
P.S. The reason why I am a push-pen right now is because I’m on brain strike. An Atlas Shrugged’s John Galt’s like strike. For those of you who read the book, you will understand.
Given my experience in the corporate world I came to the conclusion that it does not deserve my brain and I shall use it instead to propel myself on my own, starting my own company. But I cannot explain that to my son. Not now. He doesn’t have the professional experience and the knowledge of Ayn Rand’s book to understand my stand.
May be one day…
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Projekt 26 - Obituary of Albert Bachmann
When England was under the constant Nazi attacks and pressure, Churchill asked for a resistance plan to be put in the eventuality that the Nazi would invade England. Little is known about this resistance plan. And of course this was never used. But I find it of good defense strategy for a nation, any one of it, to have a resistance strategy parallel to the regular army.
Imagine your home land being invaded. And your home land's army forced to retreat. Now you live in an "occuped" zone. You want to do something for your country but you don't know what. You would want to resist but you don't know who you can talk to. Is my neighbor a true patriot or is he a simpatizing coward? But if you actually are already member of a resistance party, you know your people, your are trained with the regular army. Nor to perform regular army's tasks, but to collect information, deliver messages, even... transform yourself into a terrorist against the invader.
This is exactly what Albert Bachmann did during the Cold War. Here is the obituary of a very colourful persona. And food for thoughts.
Albert Bachmann, Switzerland's least effective but most colourful spymaster, whose dread of a Soviet invasion led him to create a secret intelligence service and guerrilla force unknown to the Swiss government in the 1970s, died on April 12 2011, in Cork, Ireland. He was 81.
His family, in an announcement printed in the Zurich newspaper Tages-Anzeiger, said he died after a brief illness.
Bachmann, who held the rank of colonel, brought dash and panache to Swiss spy craft in his relatively brief but highly eventful leadership of Swiss military intelligence. A communist in his younger days, he became a hard-line cold warrior after the 1968 Soviet takeover of Czechoslovakia, which he regarded as the dress rehearsal for a full-scale invasion of western Europe.
After being appointed to run Swiss intelligence in 1976, he created Project 26 , a secret army of 2000 resistance fighters trained to wage guerrilla warfare against Soviet troops in the event of an invasion.
To ensure the survival of the Swiss state, he bought Liss Ard, a 200-acre estate near Cork, to serve as a refuge and headquarters for a government in exile and, in the basement of of its two Georgian houses, a vault for Switzerland's gold reserves.
Loyalists regarded colonel Bachmann as a fearless visionary. Others agreed with the intelligence agent who dismissed his former boss as "a glorified Boy Scout who saw evil everywhere and believed that he alone possessed the absolute truth about national defence."
Colonel Bachmann came to grief after sending one of his operatives, a management consultant named Kurt Schilling, to spy on Austrian troops carrying out maneuvers near the town of St. Polten in November 1979.
The need for cloak-and-dagger screcy was unclear, since the Austian goverment had invited observers from all over the Eastern bloc to watch the operations. Schilling, equipped with maps, binoculars and a notebook, nevertheless spent several days snooping around military barracks and command posts before the Austrian police pounced.
Called "the spy who came in from the Emmentaler", a reference to Switzerland's most famous cheese, Schilling was put on trial for espionage. His mission, he hold the court, was to gauge the ability of the Austrian Army to resist a Soviet attack.
The affaid proved deeply embarrassing to Switzerland, and colonel Bachmann was suspended. Further investigation into his activities exposed Project 26 and related initiatives.
All were a complete surprise to the Swiss defence minister, Georges-André Chevallaz, who found them so outlandish that their architect was briefly suspected of being a double agent.
Colonel Bachmann was soon forced to resign, bringing down the curtain on one of the more intriguing chapters in the history of the cold war.
After being forced into retirement in 1980, colonel Bachmann moved to Cork, where he dealt sucessfully in real estate.
"He was an amazing character with a great sense of humour - but a lot of people thought he was a retired banker and not an intelligence officer," a local resident told The Irish Independent.
Source: The New York Times
Imagine your home land being invaded. And your home land's army forced to retreat. Now you live in an "occuped" zone. You want to do something for your country but you don't know what. You would want to resist but you don't know who you can talk to. Is my neighbor a true patriot or is he a simpatizing coward? But if you actually are already member of a resistance party, you know your people, your are trained with the regular army. Nor to perform regular army's tasks, but to collect information, deliver messages, even... transform yourself into a terrorist against the invader.
This is exactly what Albert Bachmann did during the Cold War. Here is the obituary of a very colourful persona. And food for thoughts.
Albert Bachmann, Switzerland's least effective but most colourful spymaster, whose dread of a Soviet invasion led him to create a secret intelligence service and guerrilla force unknown to the Swiss government in the 1970s, died on April 12 2011, in Cork, Ireland. He was 81.
His family, in an announcement printed in the Zurich newspaper Tages-Anzeiger, said he died after a brief illness.
Bachmann, who held the rank of colonel, brought dash and panache to Swiss spy craft in his relatively brief but highly eventful leadership of Swiss military intelligence. A communist in his younger days, he became a hard-line cold warrior after the 1968 Soviet takeover of Czechoslovakia, which he regarded as the dress rehearsal for a full-scale invasion of western Europe.
After being appointed to run Swiss intelligence in 1976, he created Project 26 , a secret army of 2000 resistance fighters trained to wage guerrilla warfare against Soviet troops in the event of an invasion.
To ensure the survival of the Swiss state, he bought Liss Ard, a 200-acre estate near Cork, to serve as a refuge and headquarters for a government in exile and, in the basement of of its two Georgian houses, a vault for Switzerland's gold reserves.
Loyalists regarded colonel Bachmann as a fearless visionary. Others agreed with the intelligence agent who dismissed his former boss as "a glorified Boy Scout who saw evil everywhere and believed that he alone possessed the absolute truth about national defence."
Colonel Bachmann came to grief after sending one of his operatives, a management consultant named Kurt Schilling, to spy on Austrian troops carrying out maneuvers near the town of St. Polten in November 1979.
The need for cloak-and-dagger screcy was unclear, since the Austian goverment had invited observers from all over the Eastern bloc to watch the operations. Schilling, equipped with maps, binoculars and a notebook, nevertheless spent several days snooping around military barracks and command posts before the Austrian police pounced.
Called "the spy who came in from the Emmentaler", a reference to Switzerland's most famous cheese, Schilling was put on trial for espionage. His mission, he hold the court, was to gauge the ability of the Austrian Army to resist a Soviet attack.
The affaid proved deeply embarrassing to Switzerland, and colonel Bachmann was suspended. Further investigation into his activities exposed Project 26 and related initiatives.
All were a complete surprise to the Swiss defence minister, Georges-André Chevallaz, who found them so outlandish that their architect was briefly suspected of being a double agent.
Colonel Bachmann was soon forced to resign, bringing down the curtain on one of the more intriguing chapters in the history of the cold war.
After being forced into retirement in 1980, colonel Bachmann moved to Cork, where he dealt sucessfully in real estate.
"He was an amazing character with a great sense of humour - but a lot of people thought he was a retired banker and not an intelligence officer," a local resident told The Irish Independent.
Source: The New York Times
The Mirror Strategy, beware of what you might find
Have you ever found that, in a relationship, sometimes, there is always one partner that does most of the effort for the relation compared to the other?
We've all seen that. Perhaps you lived it. And if you feel that you are actually living it right now, here's a trick: The Mirror Strategy. But be warned. This could be the start of a spiral down to the end of you relationship! Use this with caution.
The Mirror strategy consist of mirroring your most significant other's affection patern. If he/she gives you affection, you give some back. If he/she don't, you don't. Its as simple as that.
There is two ways on how your significant other might respond to that. First he/she can realize that you're getting farther and colder, and he/she might want to win you back by giving more love, attention and affection. If it is so. Then you made your point. Resume with your relationship, you know it's worth it.
The second response is a significant other that mirror you back. If it is so, you have two ways to deal with it. First you end the "cold war" and resume to your relationship the way it was. Willing to accecpt the consequences of this relationship. Second, you continue the mirror strategy in giving even less attention and affection.
This last path is dangerous. You can end up in a spiral down of less and lesser attention and affection from your significant other and you to him/her. At the extreme, this can spiral down to the end of the relationship. If it does, would you have provoqued the end of the relationship? You might. But the true question is, if the significant other doesn't respond to less and less care and affection, is this relationship worth it?
That's for you to find your own answer.
We've all seen that. Perhaps you lived it. And if you feel that you are actually living it right now, here's a trick: The Mirror Strategy. But be warned. This could be the start of a spiral down to the end of you relationship! Use this with caution.
The Mirror strategy consist of mirroring your most significant other's affection patern. If he/she gives you affection, you give some back. If he/she don't, you don't. Its as simple as that.
There is two ways on how your significant other might respond to that. First he/she can realize that you're getting farther and colder, and he/she might want to win you back by giving more love, attention and affection. If it is so. Then you made your point. Resume with your relationship, you know it's worth it.
The second response is a significant other that mirror you back. If it is so, you have two ways to deal with it. First you end the "cold war" and resume to your relationship the way it was. Willing to accecpt the consequences of this relationship. Second, you continue the mirror strategy in giving even less attention and affection.
This last path is dangerous. You can end up in a spiral down of less and lesser attention and affection from your significant other and you to him/her. At the extreme, this can spiral down to the end of the relationship. If it does, would you have provoqued the end of the relationship? You might. But the true question is, if the significant other doesn't respond to less and less care and affection, is this relationship worth it?
That's for you to find your own answer.
Friday, June 3, 2011
Why Scundrels rule?
I caught an article in the paper titled Why scundrels rule. Its a must read if you want to know what it takes to stake out the crowd and make it happen where most people fail.
It is also a good way of life: you do what you want, how you want it. But there is pitfalls that must be watched. It is said that those who make it (not all of them but most) have a particular trait with psychopaths. They do what they want regardless of the opinions of others. And that I find is one of the most important aspect in getting an edge. How many times did I see capable people renouncing just because they where afraid of what people might think.
I have one simple example of this that happened this week. I'm in a group that is forming to go to the Kilimandjaro. We decided that we would sell stuff to finance the project. We have no cause. All the money belongs to us. We don't ask for charity, we give value for value: you like our product, you buy it and we are happy to sell it to you. Period. What we do with the money is none of the people's business.
But there is one of the girl in the group this week that quitted. She was uneasy with the fact that we are not giving the money to a cause of some sort. So she was affraid of being taken for selfish because we were keeping the money.
See? This girl is willing to let go of a once in a lifetime trip because she is afraid of what people might think of her.
THAT is the mark of failure. THAT is the signs of weakness. All grat people I've seen in history were able to atchieve what they did because they gave little importance of what people might think.
Read the article. Its worth reading. And it gives good advises if you want to get a strategic edge on how to live you life.
It is also a good way of life: you do what you want, how you want it. But there is pitfalls that must be watched. It is said that those who make it (not all of them but most) have a particular trait with psychopaths. They do what they want regardless of the opinions of others. And that I find is one of the most important aspect in getting an edge. How many times did I see capable people renouncing just because they where afraid of what people might think.
I have one simple example of this that happened this week. I'm in a group that is forming to go to the Kilimandjaro. We decided that we would sell stuff to finance the project. We have no cause. All the money belongs to us. We don't ask for charity, we give value for value: you like our product, you buy it and we are happy to sell it to you. Period. What we do with the money is none of the people's business.
But there is one of the girl in the group this week that quitted. She was uneasy with the fact that we are not giving the money to a cause of some sort. So she was affraid of being taken for selfish because we were keeping the money.
See? This girl is willing to let go of a once in a lifetime trip because she is afraid of what people might think of her.
THAT is the mark of failure. THAT is the signs of weakness. All grat people I've seen in history were able to atchieve what they did because they gave little importance of what people might think.
Read the article. Its worth reading. And it gives good advises if you want to get a strategic edge on how to live you life.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Links of the week
One good explaination of the concept of the Overman from Nietzsche. This has to come from The Matrix producer... Listen to this and you'll understand my philosophy of life.
I am not a conformist. Far from it. But I do acknowledge that, when it comes to group behavior, we have to learn from nature. Precisely from the ones that lives in groups: bees and ants...
This would help us in getting more effective... as individuals.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Political career assassination
The medias last week were full of the story about allegations against Dominique Strauss-Kahn for sexual assault.
I looked at the farce on television and could believe that those people (the medias) were actually believing what they were saying. Lets just say, for their sake, that they were just objectivelly reporting the presented facts.
The guy was arrested, and by enchantment this was publicized right away nation wide. Either the medias are very effective in getting news or… someone somewhere had all the intentions for this story to become public. And everything was done to make sure that Strauss-Kahn looses face before the eyes of the public: we saw him chained like a vulgar criminal, when it was time for his trial, they passed him between two low rank truants. Even Michale Jackson had a better treatment than that. Now I can ecknowledge that Jackson was a good singer, but we are talking about the head of the IMF here!
What’s my point? Look at the facts behind the facts. Today the president of France is Nicholas Sarkozy. Sarkozy is of central right confession, he worked under former president Jacques Chirac in the Union for a Popular Movement Party which is a center-right party. Sarkozy won the presidency at the last elections against the Socialist Party.
And do I have to remind you that America is lethally allergic to socialism? So having a centrer-right president at the head of France plays the game of the United-States.
But now here comes the time for the next elections in France. And this time Sarkozy doesn’t rank well in the polling. In fact it’s the Socialist Party that is foreseen to win the elections. And who is the leader of the Socialist Party? Your bet! Strauss-Kahn!
So this is veeeery convenient to some that Strauss-Kahn has beed arrested and treated like he was. The blow to his reputation is undenyable. Strauss-Kahn lawyers said this week that they are confident that Mr. Strauss-Kahn will come out of this white as snow. I believe them. But that’s not the point. Because the aim of the entire affair has been filled: to kill Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s reputation.
So we just witnessed the assassination of a political career. Don’t be fooled about it and about what you hear. And don’t over exagerate too. I am not talking about global conspiracy and the Illuminati and all that. I don’t say neither that this was asked by Sarkozy or anyone around him. I don’t know who’s the sponsor behind it. And I don’t care to know. I just say that this story serves some people good. And that this is just a plain good old political career assassination at a grander level. To me, this is not purely accidental and random that this story happened just now.
Strategically speaking, since this is a blog on strategy, put all you values and innibitions asside and look coldly at what was done and atchieved. We must admit, all feelings and values asside, that all this was well planned.
I looked at the farce on television and could believe that those people (the medias) were actually believing what they were saying. Lets just say, for their sake, that they were just objectivelly reporting the presented facts.
The guy was arrested, and by enchantment this was publicized right away nation wide. Either the medias are very effective in getting news or… someone somewhere had all the intentions for this story to become public. And everything was done to make sure that Strauss-Kahn looses face before the eyes of the public: we saw him chained like a vulgar criminal, when it was time for his trial, they passed him between two low rank truants. Even Michale Jackson had a better treatment than that. Now I can ecknowledge that Jackson was a good singer, but we are talking about the head of the IMF here!
What’s my point? Look at the facts behind the facts. Today the president of France is Nicholas Sarkozy. Sarkozy is of central right confession, he worked under former president Jacques Chirac in the Union for a Popular Movement Party which is a center-right party. Sarkozy won the presidency at the last elections against the Socialist Party.
And do I have to remind you that America is lethally allergic to socialism? So having a centrer-right president at the head of France plays the game of the United-States.
But now here comes the time for the next elections in France. And this time Sarkozy doesn’t rank well in the polling. In fact it’s the Socialist Party that is foreseen to win the elections. And who is the leader of the Socialist Party? Your bet! Strauss-Kahn!
So this is veeeery convenient to some that Strauss-Kahn has beed arrested and treated like he was. The blow to his reputation is undenyable. Strauss-Kahn lawyers said this week that they are confident that Mr. Strauss-Kahn will come out of this white as snow. I believe them. But that’s not the point. Because the aim of the entire affair has been filled: to kill Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s reputation.
So we just witnessed the assassination of a political career. Don’t be fooled about it and about what you hear. And don’t over exagerate too. I am not talking about global conspiracy and the Illuminati and all that. I don’t say neither that this was asked by Sarkozy or anyone around him. I don’t know who’s the sponsor behind it. And I don’t care to know. I just say that this story serves some people good. And that this is just a plain good old political career assassination at a grander level. To me, this is not purely accidental and random that this story happened just now.
Strategically speaking, since this is a blog on strategy, put all you values and innibitions asside and look coldly at what was done and atchieved. We must admit, all feelings and values asside, that all this was well planned.
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