Tag: self-improvement

In corpore sano

Fabrizio1 Comment

I am a lazy person, and I have so far failed at taking care of my body.

Despite being very active in my teens and early twenties, I have basically refrained from doing any type of regular physical activity in the past fifteen years.

This year, I have decided that I am also going to change that. Because I am getting old, and a healthy body is important and shapes the impact you want to have in the world. And so, after taking on light exercise in the form of Tai Chi training from January, today I have started (lightly) a more intense training that will hopefully take me to run a half-marathon in two years.

Wish me luck.

Are you engaging?

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Around the world, only 16% of employees say they are fully engaged with their work (see also here).

It is possible that your company is an exception, and yet research shows that it is a whole lot more likely it is not. This means, most of your employees approach their work as just a job.

How do you turn this around? How do you make sure that people you hire remain motivated in the long term and do not start planning their next career move within the first six months?

Leaders need to take a step back.

The power they have is not in telling others what to do, or arguing they have the right answers, or playing games to favor their ascent. Nor it is in hiding behind “busy”, in travelling 90% of their time, in delivering what is not necessary and failing to deliver what is, in being late to meetings.

They can bring people together around a purpose, and then work from the sideline to support team members at every stage of the journey. The power they have is in making others better, not in making themselves better.

It is a radical shift that still has to concretize. And who gets there first, will have a considerable competitive advantage for a long time.

Just a small part

Fabrizio1 Comment

When faced with bad news, there’s a natural reaction that almost automatically kicks in.

It’s about making the bad news the totality of our reality. We feel discomfort, pain, despair, because we have just been told that something does not conform to the idea(s) we had about our life. And we often take this to the extreme. We amplify the discomfort, the pain, the despair. It becomes all we see around us and perceive within us. We go to a dark place.

And that is fine.

As long as we know that is not true. The discomfort, the pain, the despair, they are just a part of our reality. A small part indeed. So the following step, that is all but automatic and instictive, is to look at things around us for what they really are.

Ok, we did not get the job, and still we have that hobby we always wanted to dedicate time to.

Ok, our relationship is shattered, and still we have a dear friend that deeply cares about us.

Ok, our body is not working as it should, and still our mind is present, vibrant, open.

The second step is not about being optimistic. It’s about realizing that things happen to us all the time, a neverending flow. And that focusing all our attention, energy, commitment to a single one of them, no matter how bad, is a limit to expressing the potential of each life.

The bad news is you’re falling through the air, nothing to hang on to, no parachute. The good news is, there’s no ground.

Chögyam Trungpa

Consider future costs

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Everything you do is a trade-off.

When you are lucky, it’s between two options. More often than not, it involves multiple options, some of which are equally appealing.

If you go to the movie, you cannot stay home with your family or spend time reading a book. If you buy a new car, you’ll have to refrain from other big expenses for a while. If you accept that offer, you won’t be able to pursue your dream of being a freelancer or a full-time YouTuber.

It’s self-evident, I know. And yet, there are two things about trade-offs that is worth keeping in mind and reminding when appropriate.

First of all, the nature of a trade-off is that you leave some stuff behind. Regrets, while natural, are kind of pointless, as you know you would still be missing something, one of the options, would you have made another choice. It’s intrinsic to the idea of decision-making.

Nonetheless, and this is point number two, that does not mean you cannot change your mind. Even if the other options are no longer available, the fact you invested (time, energy, commitment) into your choice, does not mean you have to stick with it even in front of clear evidence it is not working. What you have to keep in mind is not what you put into the option you’ve pursued, but what you will put into it from now on. Is it better putting that bit into something that is not worth it anymore, or in something new, perhaps something you still have to discover yourself?

This second one, of course, is the basic idea of sunk cost. One of the easiest economic concepts to understand, one of the most complicated to put into practice.

Begin with listening

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An important reminder by Bernadette Jiwa.

If you want to be listened, begin with listening.

If you want to be heard, begin with hearing.

If you want to lead, begin with opening to the people you want to lead.

If you want to sell something, begin with understanding the people you want to sell to.

It is that easy.