Tag: writing

Try

Fabrizio1 Comment

Tomorrow you can try to:

  • Avoid an argument
  • Let go of an opinion that’s causing friction with colleagues
  • Close a project that’s not delivering results
  • Tell somebody they are right (and perhaps you are wrong)
  • Give away an idea that you know you will never have the resources to implement
  • Not indulge in a habit that’s consuming your time
  • Leave the mobile phone in the other room
  • Reply to messages only at dedicated times
  • Stop working at 2pm
  • Compliment something that they have achieved
  • Say that you are sorry about something that’s causing bad feelings

If you do, take note of how it is. And if it is good, try to do it the day after as well. Perhaps try to add another one from the list, or from your list. Expand from there.

Be the guide

FabrizioLeave a comment

If you want people to listen to you, use their own agenda, their language, their motivators.

If you want people to act, show them yourself.

If you want people to change, help them reflect and find their way.

There’s this idea that bossing people around is effective. It’s only partially true. You might get people to listen, to act, to change by commanding them, but that’s never going to stick.

They are the heroes to their own story. At most, you can be the guide.

Record and write

FabrizioLeave a comment

Record your thoughts. On video, audio only, no matter the equipment.

Write your thoughts. On a journal, a notepad, no matter how clearly.

Recording and writing your thoughts is a sure way to free space in your mind, to clarify your ideas, and to improve your skills when it comes to elaborate complex concepts.

Play with it. Do short form, long form, free form, scripted form. Try different things, repeat and confirm, change your mind, enjoy yourself.

And find the courage to hit publish, sooner rather than later.

P.S.: Perfect is an excuse.

PP.S.: Tools are also an excuse.

Blame

FabrizioLeave a comment

What good is it to blame it on others? People who might or might not be still around. People who’ve passed by, who stopped for a while, who’ve been a constant, whom we’ll never talk ever again.

And what good is it to blame it on the circumstances? What has happened, what might have been, what will be tomorrow. The weather, the economics, the politics, and the structural difficulties.

At the end of the day, we are the greatest enemy to our own achievements.

We are in control, just not of the things we tend to blame.

We can decide to wake up and do the work.

We can extend an hand and help a friend.

We can be kind, inspiring, and motivating.

We can say thank you and I am sorry.

We can still talk when nobody listens.

Or we can shut up when we decide it’s enough.

One way or the other, we can.

And we should.

Cautionary tales

FabrizioLeave a comment

This one here from The New York Times is a cautionary tale.

It’s about never trusting the glamour and sparkles you see on social media. Even when they seem to be selfless and well-intended.

And it’s also a tale about not confusing the object with the subject. Just because the latter is rotten, doesn’t mean the former is as well. That is to say, it is still possible to pay a fair wage to your employees, build a good company, and not be a total asshole.

This other one from The Guardian is also a cautionary tale.

It’s about the inevitability of being caught at fault when you are a public figure. It’s about the fascination of newspapers of any kind and size for stories which are not stories. It’s about the need to accept that the better you are at what you do, the more others will try to take you down with frivolous items, leveraging both the inevitability and the fascination described above.

And it’s also a tale about letting all this wash over you and continue on your path.