Work Like A Slave. Command Like A King. Create Like A God.
June 9, 2013 at 3:15pm
On Staying Gold
My New Year’s Resolution was Stay Gold! It was a commitment to myself, made to make sure I could be content with me. I needed it, because as the poem has it, often it felt like nothing gold can stay.
More than ever, over the last few months I realized the key to being true to myself is being true to my values and principles. They are the root of everything good I have accomplished so far.
When faced with difficult decisions acting according with your values is usually the hardest path. Although it rarely feels good, it always feels right. The reward comes in the long run.
Defining personal values and principles is a tough task everyone should take, at least once every few years, especially in their mid twenties. Sticking to them is a permanent commitment, that is even harder to put in practice. If you have not done this so far, set a day for introspection and do this much needed exercise as soon as possible.
Never borrow values, codes or beliefs without doing your fair share of thinking. You will be surprised on how little you will adhere to some common values when you are completely honest with yourself.
One thing I learned and I’m happy to share: stay away from people without a personal value system. They are easy to deceive and use by anyone. They will act without thinking, thus causing much harm to themselves, you and others. Not to say the rest are perfect, they at least have a personal accountability process in places.
In the end nothing is worth compromising your value system. The compromise will be your self destruction button. Never forget it.
Stay Gold! You will feel gold :-)
May 31, 2013 at 12:57pm
Key Concepts: Ambivalence
One of the most important things I learned over the last years is mastering ambivalence.
The short version: ambivalence is the state of having contradictory feelings and beliefs.
Ambivalence is a very efficient way of being prepared for anything. Being prepared is an important part of having a strategy for dealing with any specific situation.
Every time when faced with a situation of importance I apply ambivalence: calculate possible scenarios and learn to live with any outcome, good, bad, or in between. This way I rarely get surprised by the outcomes and there is always a clear next step.
Living with conflicting feelings is rather difficult for human beings. Neurotics do it involuntarily. After some exercise it becomes natural. The downside is that kills the buzz sometimes. You won’t be able to experience the joy of being foolish. If you get to be really good at ambivalence you will become mildly depressed [that’s not a fact, just my theory].
Try it the next time you have to make a big decision, or a big life or career move. It will feel a bit awkward at first, but over time your next decisions will feel easy. Plus, the personal impact will definitely be a lot lower, even when things get really ugly.
Long live ambivalence! Or not ;-)
May 22, 2013 at 3:14pm
Vice.com is by far the best source of kick-ass documentaries. I’m completely hooked on it!
This documentary, The Vice Guide to Liberia, reminds me how fragile our social equilibrium is. As a global society, we are all much more closer to chaos and destruction than our limited environment makes us think.
Oh yeah! Prepare for something completely insane… a way of life a westerner can not conceive.
May 14, 2013 at 3:50pm
Economics in One Lesson
Can you have decent economic knowledge if you read just one economics book your entire life? Yes. If you read this one:
It was written in 1946 and updated in 1978, just to prove the author had it right from the beginning.
I like because it is easy to read, easy to understand and easy to use, even for those that are not interested in economic literature of philosophy.
Read it and profit!
May 13, 2013 at 2:01am
Are you happy?
Happiness is always at the top of our wishlists. But how often does one actively think and work on being happy. Sounds weird? Only if you haven’t done it before.
The second you start thinking about happiness you step on the glorious grounds of Philosophy.
You can start your journey of finding personal happiness by studying the work of humanity’s greatest thinkers. It sounds like a big task because it is a big task. But don’t worry, there is a quicker way. Here comes instant gratification:
Watch the Guide To Happiness - a series of six very entertaining short documentaries that summarize the basic principles behind happiness. It will be the best spent 2.5 hours of your entire year.
You will love it, but make sure you recommend it to your family and friends. It’s a great kick-start into practicing philosophy.
Be happy!
May 12, 2013 at 4:09pm
Dubai, as I felt it. A great documentary that captures the true essence of the place.
Every documentary I saw until now about Dubai or the Emirates focuses either on the glamour or on the horror, both usually presented artificially, at made up levels, just to be shocking.
