Tag: life

Categories
Business

Mexican Story – Four Hour Work Week

Girl-on-Beach-Hammock

This story kicks ass. Its from the Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss.

I don’t think the lifestyle is for me I’d probably get bored, but the story has stuck with me.

The perspective is the complete opposite to my capitalist mindset so I like to think it brings me closer to the middle somewhere.

Enjoy!

American consultant was at a pier in a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellow-fin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.

The Mexican replied only a little while.

The consultant then asked why didn’t he stay out longer and catch more fish?

The fisherman said he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs.

The American then asked the Mexican how he spent the rest of his time.

The Mexican fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life, senor.”

The American consultant scoffed, “I am business consultant and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and, with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat, you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution.

“You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually NYC where you will run your expanding enterprise.”

The Mexican fisherman asked, “But senor, how long will this all take?”

To which the American consultant replied, “15-20 years.”

“But what then, senor?” asked the fisherman.

The consultant laughed, and said, “That’s the best part! When the time is right, you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public. You’ll become very rich, you would make millions!”

“Millions, senor?” replied the Mexican. “Then what?”

The American said, “Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos.”

Categories
People Travel

A Simple Tip for Socialising while Travelling Solo (or How to Have Mind Blowing Nights Out when you’re on your Own)

bar scene

Travelling alone is one of the best things I’ve ever done. It opened my eyes to both the external world and internally into my own personality and mind.

One of the changes I had to quickly adapt to was that if I wanted any type of human interaction I had to go out and find it. Moving about constantly means you need to be able to make friends quickly or else you may find yourself eating dinner alone, which is no fun.

While there are hundreds of ways you can go about meeting people while travelling, with hanging out in a hostel being one of the easiest, I want to share a simple strategy that I used all the time in every country with a 90% success rate (I just made up that number but it basically works all the time). It’s also a strategy you can use if you are staying in a nicer hotel or on a business trip so don’t worry if you don’t plan on going backpacking any time soon.

The Bar Strategy

Sounds like a pretty unique strategy right? Just read…

If you’re travelling on your own (even if you’re in your own city really) and feel like meeting someone new and not spending the evening alone, here is what you do. Spend your day sightseeing or in your meetings. While you’re going about during the day look out for bars that you feel are your kind of style. When I say a bar, I mean a place with a bar. Not a lounge, not a club and not a beer garden. You want somewhere that has an actual bar, around the bar tender area with stools you can go and sit on.  Plus they should serve food. If you see a place during the day, pop in quickly and chat to the bar tender.

You: “Hey, I’m new in town and looking for somewhere to hang out tonight, what’s this place like?
BT: Its good / Its bad.
*If it seems like somewhere cool that you could hang out at, and it seems like it gets a little busy follow up with this.*
You: Awsome, sounds cool. I think I’ll head back here later. Thanks so much for helping me out. What’s your name?
BT: No problems, I’m Julie.
You: Julie, nice to meet you. I’m Vinay. Are you going to be working tonight?
BT: Nah, I finish at three.
You: Ahh, too bad. I wanted to see you again so I could give you a HUGE tip for helping me out. Do you know who is going to be working tonight?
BT: Yeh its Dave I think.
You: Dave hey, what does he look like?
BT: (blah bla description)
You: Ok cool. Thanks again Julie, it was nice talking to you. I may see you again tomorrow.

What you have just done there is properly sussed out a venue. It’s only a 1 min conversation but if you jump into 5 different bars throughout your daily venturing, it can seriously help out the quality of your night. Plus, now you have something to talk about when you go back in later. It works just as well if the bartender is still going to be working that evening.

Come back into the bar, ideally earlyish. 6 or 7. With the plan to eat dinner and get a few drinks (or not if you don’t drink). Sit down at the bar, in the middle of the bar. Next to other people and ideally near the section where people come and buy drinks. Strike up a conversation with Dave telling him how you met Julie earlier. Tell him you’re new into town or on holiday. Ask him what is happening in the area tonight. Talk LOUD (but not obnoxiously) so that others in the bar can hear your conversation and contribute. As soon as you get chatting with the people next to you, introduce yourself. Find out what they’re up to (if they’re staying for a few or about to leave is all you need to know). If they’re staying for a while, offer to buy them a drink straight away. Don’t worry, you will get one back. Tip the bartender big the first time.

You now have a whole bar full of friends. When people (read girls) come up to the bar to order their drinks, bring them into your conversation. Introduce the girls to the bartender and to your new friends. Can you see the snowballing effects here?

Don’t worry if the bar isn’t the coolest place in the world. You can always move on later in the night. Also, don’t worry if you don’t get a chance to check it out during the day. If its fairly busy and has a bar, it still works fine.

I can’t tell you how many crazy nights I have had that have started off in this exact manner. I’ve ended up being taken out by the bar tenders, the people next to me and the girls that walk up. To all sorts of crazy places, in different countries. You never know where you’ll end up.

As a closing rule, if you are travelling and out to experience. Try Do not to say no to anything. If some old dude invites you to his kids birthday: Yes. If two seedy guys invite you to a strip club: Yes. If two beautiful girls invite you back to their place…

Life can be awesome if you let it.

Categories
People

Discovery vs Debate – A Tale of Two Conversationalists

Have you ever gotten into a discussion with someone and had it feel like a wonderful journey of discovery, where both of you were bouncing off each other, teaching, learning and debating yes; but growing together with the conversation?

What about a discussion where right off the bat it gets straight into a heated debate, where one person is certain that the other is wrong and instead of tying to discover the truth, they are trying to force their opinion?

Have you noticed that the same people initiate the same type of conversation over and over?

I’m not saying this is a hard and fast rule. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from meeting thousands of people all around the world it’s that:

You can never be 100% when dealing with humans.

That being said, there are patterns that form from interacting with enough people and this is one of those patters.

Which type of person do you prefer to interact with?

Which type of person are you?

 

Categories
Travel

Travel and Me

One of the best things about my life recently has been the amount of travel I have been able to do. I love travel and am so grateful for all the places I have been and experiences I’ve had.

Travel is amazing for so many reasons. It boosts confidence like nothing else, constantly facing the unknown makes you more comfortable in every situation. It makes you more social with people of all walks of life. It expands your knowledge in so many areas including culture, geography, history and language just to name a few. It makes you more interesting and gives you a holistic perspective of the world just to name a few.

This has been my travel for the last year and a half:

  • Sydney, Australia – Dec 2009
  • Bangkok, Thailand – Jan 2010
  • Vientiane, Laos – Jan 2010
  • Bangkok, Thailand – Feb 2010
  • Vancouver, Canada – Feb 2010
  • Manhattan, USA – Mar 2010
  • Vancouver, Canada – Mar 2010
  • Amsterdam, Netherlands – April 2010
  • London, UK – April 2010
  • Leeds, UK – April 2010
  • Edinburgh, UK – April 2010
  • Whitby, UK April 2010
  • Budapest, Hungary, April 2010
  • Dublin, Ireland – May 2010
  • Budapest, Hungary – May 2010
  • Lake Balaton, Hungary – June 2010
  • Budapest, Hungary, June 2010
  • Berlin, Germany – July 2010
  • Dublin, Ireland – July 2010
  • Barcelona, Spain – August 2010
  • Ibiza, Spain – August 2010
  • Barcelona, Spain – August 2010
  • Vancouver, Canada – September 2010
  • Las Vegas, USA – October 2010
  • Vancouver, Canada – October 2010
  • Las Vegas, USA – Jan 2011
  • Vancouver, Canada – Jan 2011
  • Tempe, USA – Feb 2011
  • Las Vegas, USA – Mar 2011
  • Tempe, USA – Mar 2011
  • Lake Havasu, USA – Mar 2011
  • Tempe, USA – Mar 2011
  • Pittsburgh, USA – Mar 2011
  • Fort Lauderdale, USA – Mar 2011
  • Miami, USA – Mar 2011
  • Tempe, USA – Mar 2011
  • Los Angeles, USA – April 2011
  • Current Location – Australia, April 2011
UPDATE – 25-Nov-2012
  • Tempe, USA – Jul 2011
  • Cabarete, Dominican Republic – Sep 2011
  • Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic – Jan 2012
  • Punta Cana, Dominican Republic – Apr 2012
  • Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic – Ju 2012
  • Tempe, USA – Jul 2012
  • San Francisco, USA – Jul 2012
  • New York, USA – Aug 2012
  • Bangkok, Thailand – Aug 2012
  • Koh Samui, Thailand – Sep 2012
  • Sydney, Australia – Oct, 2012
  • San Francisco, USA – Oct 2012
  • Tempe, USA – Nov 2012
  • San Francisco, USA – Nov 2012

UPDATE – 4-April-2013

  • Las Vegas, USA – Jan 2013
  • Santa Cruz, USA – Feb 2013
  • Los Angeles, USA – Feb 2013
  • San Diego, USA – Feb 2013
  • Tempe, USA – Feb 2013
  • Pittsburgh, USA – Feb 2013
  • Shanghai, China – Mar 2013
  • Ningbo, China – Mar 2013
  • Hong Kong, China – Mar 2013
  • Macau, China – Mar 2013
  • Los Angeles, USA – Mar 2013
  • Buenos Aires, Argentina – Mar 2013

Update – 28-April-2015

  • Santiago, Chile – Mar 2014
  • Uruguay – Apr 2014
  • Chile – Apr – 2014
  • New York  – Sep 2014
  • Boston – Sep 2014
  • San Francisco – Feb 2015
Categories
People

The Secret to Eternal Youth – Play the Game of Life (It’s Actually a Game not a Metaphor)

The Game of Life is an awesome game. I’ve been playing it for a couple of years now but have slowed down since I started travelling. I managed a few decent sessions in Budapest but you really need to know people (usually) for longer than a few hours to get them to join in on the fun.

So what is the Game of Life?

The game of life is a game, where in once you join the game, you have to play it for the rest of your life. Hence the name…

The game rules are as follow:

If someone who is also playing the game of life asks you a question, any question at all, at any point in time, for any reason, and within your response to the question you use the word ‘mine’ you have to drop and do 10 push ups. Right then and there.

Here are some examples:

Simple foolery:

Hey, who’s beer is that?

Mine

Haha get down!

Ego rubber:

Wow, this place is awesome. I love that xyz thing. Who’s idea was it to come here?

Mine

Haha get down!

Advanced trickery:

What is the name of that bomb thing between that blows up when you step on it? They have them between North and South Korea…

Land mine?

Haha get down!

As you can see, it’s pretty straight forward.

The game can get very deceptive and seeing how it is played 24/7 you can really catch people at inappropriate times.

The game is the secret to eternal youth because its a constant reminder to always have fun. To be juvenile. To not take things so seriously. Failed attempts, triumphant successes and harsh defeats will all bring a smile to your face.

Maybe not while you’re doing push ups in a fancy bar wearing a suit, maybe not while you’re half way through a conversation with a cute girl and you get done, maybe not after you’ve been woken in the middle of the night, asked a question then forced to do push ups. But you will eventually smile.

And with that smile, you will remember the good times. With that smile you will realise there are still more to come.

I’m very young, but I hope I never stop playing The Game of Life.

You shouldn’t take life to seriously. You’ll never get out alive. Van Wilder

Categories
People

Are You a Decision Making Douche?

My latest and faviouritest book is Psycho Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz. I have the audio version and am on my third listen. Which is no small feat as it’s a monstrous book.

The book is crazy famous and has been used by countless athletes, actors, CEOs, entrepreneurs, coaches etc…

For those who don’t know, Psycho Cybernetics is the father of self help books. Its topics include self image, emotional state, action quota, decision making, success mechanisms, happiness, visualisation and I don’t even know what else. It is literally like 5 books in one. Each time I have listened to it, it has been like whole book of new information.

It is one of those books that will resonate with you differently depending on where in life you are. This is why I think so many people go through it multiple times. It’s like reading a different book the next time around.

One of the topics that stuck with me this time around was the topic of decision making. I wrote here how important decisions are and how much of a dramatic impact they can have on your life.

Maxwell Maltz goes into decision making in great detail. Here are some of the takeaways:

Making a decision

Making a decision is incredibly important. While you should use the information you have to assess the pros and cons of a decision you should not dwell on it too long. Decisiveness is one of the strongest traits of any leader and is a key hiring characteristic for management in the corporate world. Being able to quickly come to a decision, act on it and have others follow you creates motion instead of stagnation.  Motion is the breeding ground for innovation, creativeness, success and happiness. Stagnation is the breading ground of doubt, lethargy, boredom and depression.

If you are thinking about doing something, decide if you are going to do it or not, then act on your decision.

Locking away the Decision

This brings me to the next point. Locking away a decision. Once you have made a decision, you need to lock it away in the ‘lock box’ as so famously quoted by US Vice President Al Gore. There is no use worrying or stressing over whether or not you made a correct decision after you have made that decision. Once the decision is made, you should completely detach yourself from the outcome of the decision and just work on taking action. All analysis and concern should be done before the decision is made, not after.

If you spend time thinking about whether or not the decision was the correct one is that going to help you achieve your goal?

No.

Worrying and stressing about the ‘correctness’ of your decision is a stupid waste of time, energy and emotional state.

Making the Correct Decision

In his lectures to business leaders, Maltz quotes a few cogent remarks from his attendees:

“Dr. Maltz, the truth is that there are few inherently right decisions or wrong decisions.  Instead, we make decisions, then make them right.  That’s what leadership is all about.”

“You can always correct a poor decision, but if you do nothing, you can never get the time back.”

As stated above, worrying about whether your decision was the right one or not is not only stupid, but it increases the chances that the decision will end up as the wrong one.

If you decide to start a project, but spend all your days worrying if it will be successful or not instead of working hard to create the output necessary to complete the project, you are creating the result of a poor decision.

Whereas if you had decided you are going to start a project and work five hours a day for the next two weeks on it and not worry whether or not it will be successful, you are creating the results of a completed project which has a higher chance of being the correct decision.

You can significantly alter the outcome of your decision helping to determine its success factor.

Moral of the story

If you’re thinking about doing something, decide and move on. If it turns out you made the wrong decision, make a new decision and move on. Don’t stay in a state of limbo and don’t worry about if you are making the correct decision. Worst case scenario you fail. Who gives a fuck! NEXT.

Categories
People

Bobby Chang from Incase on Socially Responsible Businesses

I got a chance to work with the guys from PathPacific.com in Dublin a while back. We were shooting a video for a product launching in Asia (weird I know). Path Pacific had recently recorded the Dublin Web Summit where Bobby Chang was among one of the many impressive speakers attending. I had never heard of Bobby before, but he is one of the founders of Incase, the company that makes the official cases for Apple products.

He did a great speech on the background of his business, collaboration and building socially responsible businesses. Check it out:

Categories
People

The Importance of Decisions (How a Single Decision Changed my Life)

“Each indecision brings its own delays and days are lost lamenting over lost days…what you can do or think you can do, begin it. For boldness has magic, power, and genius in it.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Firstly, apologies for the latent posts… Too busy having fun! A bit of an update, I’ve just landed back in Vancouver where I will be staying for the foreseeable future. I’ve had an amazing time (the best time of my life…) travelling through South East Asia, North America and Europe but I was moving very quickly and found it difficult to find my zone. When travelling, there are so many new and exciting things to see and people to meet, I didn’t want to be spending my time working, or writing about what I was doing. Heck, I even felt that planning my next destination and accommodation was a waste of the valuable time I had in a place. So I’ve decided to settle down in Vancouver and get some work done.

It is interesting the journey that has brought me here. It all started with one key decision: Quitting my day job. I had a very comfortable life – six figure job, nice apartment all that good stuff. But looking back over the last 9 months, and the opportunities I’ve discovered, the people I’ve met and the places I’ve been, I’m very happy I made the decision.

Since setting off on my journey, I’ve built a network of online businesses that are netting me a small profit; I’ve become a partner in another business and am at the initial stages of setting up a third business. There is lots of work cut out for me in the future, but I’m excited and think know it’s all going to pay off.

What’s interesting about all of this is that none of it was planned before I made the decision to quit my job. And if these opportunities had arisen before I made the decision (which they wouldn’t have), I may have looked at them negatively or not even given them thought. The initial decision is what sparked the momentum.

So if there is something you’ve been thinking about doing, whether it be starting a new project, asking your girlfriend to marry you or completely changing your life, make a decision and stick to it. Because

“In any moment of decision the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.” -Theodore Roosevelt