Reflections

I have been reflecting on the past few months, from both a work and personal perspective and have made some observations:

1. Things are never as bad as they seem to be, while you are experiencing them.
2. No matter how low you may go, you will always sink lower, if you allow yourself to think that way...
3. Following the crowd is NOT an option
4. People are extremely resilient...extremely so....
5. Time is relevant to how much you have to do, or rather how much (or little) time you have to do it in...go figure.....

I am always amazed at how simple life really is. I try and stop myself when I feel that Life is becoming to complex. Just do the Scrum thing. Crouch. Touch. Pause. Engage. I think we humans or is that Us humans? tend to load our plates with so much things we Have to do, instead of carefully selecting what we Want to do. Sure, there are some things we Have to do, but on the whole we need to find the time (see point 5 above) to do the things we Want to do. So each day, I try and do at least 1 thing I want to do. I find the pleasure of that 1 action can often drive me, motivate me, encourage me, to do the other Have to things that need to be done.

more later...

Happy Days

Indeed...

Looking forward to the Cape Town Book Fair at the Cape Town International Convention Center this coming weekend. This will be my 4th fair, and I am looking forward to meeting the authors and publishers - kind of re assuring that some things are still the same. Which gets me to thinking about all the things that have changed the past 4 years....

...2006 - I was still living in Joburg, but was already thinking of coming back down to CT.

...2007 - Back in CT, working for OM

...2008 -

...2009 - ???

Blurry, but some highlights stand out - the Eagle, old Louis B Nkosi - what a character. He went awol a few hours before the main event. We found him, in a bar, down the bottom of Long Street, drunk as a Lord! And he still made it to the function on time....guests of honour - Trevor and Maria!

07 was interesting too, with an expanded floor and a lot more activities...John Van Der Ruits Spud was one of the attractions...

last year we had Wilbur Smith and Max du Preex livening things up and this year its going to be another exciting adventure.


Look forward to seeing you there - and if you need a free ticket...just give me a call 079 352 0590

The @#$#@%

That's my word for this thing called the Recession...

I got to reading the other day, some or other blogger that was mumbling about all the cutbacks they had to make and the downsizing and the other stuff people in the US are having to do to get through the Recession. Well that got me to thinking. We have been pretty isolated here in good old Zumababwe (South Africa, the Republic of).

So how it works is like this - we have to cut back, spend less, save more, and some other stuff I lost rack of. Anyway, having gone through some pretty tough times over the last 15 years, and some pretty good time too, I thought about this. We need to spend less - less on so called luxuries. So I got to making a list of luxury items I buy regularly. Nothing. Zip. Zilch! I cant even remember when last I bought a decent Tshirt (my main clothing wardrobe item). Or a pair of good jeans. All essentials. But I digress. I got to think about the few remaining luxury items - a nice chocolate, or a meal at a nice restaurant.

So what was I thinking. OK - so we all cut back - and now the chocolate maker suffers. He sells less Chocolates. The restaurant goes bust cause he cant pay rent, meaning he lays off more people, causing more unemployment, and so the cycle continues. 

So what to do? Mmmm, I been thinking. We need some anti recession thinking here people! I think we need to scale down, not out. Lets form chocolate eating groups (I dont think they exist yet? do they?). We all pool some funds - buy a box and split the cost. Split the goodies so to speak. Maybe we all get a few blocks less, but we all still get something. A little bit of chocolate can go a long way. The Chocolate maker is happy (relatively) and he gets to keep his business open. We need to think out the (chocolate) box people (as can be seen, I love chocolate and really miss them - badly...). Or the restaurant - lets do a deal. A table of four, normal cost, R 400. Maybe do a set meal deal - R200 bucks! Every one pools R50! We all get a meal, a desert, maybe 1 drink (soft) and we all smiling! Sharing is caring people! I really think this can work, so I'm starting a Facebook group - anyone can join - search for the Recession Busters group - anyone can join, suppliers, customers, friends! Join now - lets kick the @#$%$# out of this stupid Recession! Now!

now where was that last piece of Lindt?????

Lessons Learned...Again..

A wise man once said that the most important lesson one should learn from setbacks is just that - the lessons! 

So what can I add to the lesson I just learned. 

• Start business relationships with good intentions (but know that that is not enough..)
  
• Know what you want from the business - dont compromise (it will come back to bite you on the ass).
• Pay legal fees - they worth every cent!
• Ask your lawyers to review ALL your contracts.
• Ensure that you have ALL your bases covered in said contract - you will not regret it!
• Ensure that you have a founding statement. 
• Ensure that ALL partners agree to the founding statement.
• Choose your partners wisely - sleep with dogs and you will get fleas!
• Agree shareholding stakes UPFRONT! The share allocation is not that important - yet...
• Ensure you have a buy out / buy in / buy more strategy...
• If in doubt, don't do it! Call said Lawyers again...
• Hire a top notch accountant - she is worth it!
• Don't take shortcuts when forming legal entities - this could prove costly!
• Ensure that ALL partners / shareholders have great credit - if not, ensure that you do not end up carrying deadwood...
• Agree roles and responsibilities upfront - take time to discuss this, in minute detail...
• Minute and document ALL meetings.
• Ensure ALL stakeholders are present when making decisions affecting YOUR business - remember that they are stakeholders too...
• Curb over enthusiastic contractual spending (cell phone contracts are usually 24 months)
• Create Loan accounts - for each partner. 
• Use the Loan account wisely.
• Keep track of your startup expenses.
• Agree on who your bankers are...before you sign the first deal - you will need a bank account to put your money in.
• Make sure money paid is paid into the BUSINESS account - at all times.
• Remember - everything is easy before the money comes rolling in....

I'm sure there are more things, but we sometimes forget that we are getting into business to make money. If it was easy, everyone would do it. Business is about Risk - but minimising Risk is being a sensible business person, and hopefully a wealthy one too...

Pain

Why do we feel pain?

How do we define pain?

What makes us happy?

We cannot make others happy...we can only make them conscious of our current state. Consciousness is being aware of what you are feeling - pain, joy, happiness, sadness, its all good, if it creates a clearer state of consciousness.

When a man and a woman come together, feelings become more intense. And this intensity carries the relationship.

When a man and a woman separate, the feelings do not just go away. This persistence of the feelings is what we feel as the pain of separation. At the same time that we accept that the other person is no longer there, we know that we are still connected, in some way. We make promises to each other, and sometimes imply certain things. We infer. We plan. But when these promises and plans do not happen, we feel betrayed, lost, hurt, used...

Living in the NOW means being fully conscious of these feelings. What are promises, but the allure of tomorrow, coated in whatever 'need' we perceive we have? Why can we not accept that today we will simply be the best we can be? Why do we resist the outcome, when the outcome is already determined? Why form new friendships, when the old ones have not served our purpose? We cannot grow as individuals, or as a society, if we do not learn from our mistakes. Every human interaction is an emotional one. Once we accept that fact, we can learn to be fulfilled right NOW, and not put things off till later.

We cannot be blinded by the current expression of our reality. We create that reality through our thinking, and it can either build us up, or hold us back. Taking responsibility for our thoughts and actions gives us a measure of control over our feelings - what we say, what we do. Relinquishing control over our partners and friends frees us to do the things we need to do to fulfill our lives. True friendship become apparent when we allow our friends to be what they are, and not judge them according to what our expectations are. When we relinquish the old thinking, and allow our hearts to feel.

When the mind (ego) is no longer in control and we experience our own version of reality, we are truly free. Set the thinking free and the free reality must follow. When we stop chasing ghosts, when we allow ourselves to follow our dreams, we can fly. For without dreams, we die. Spirit will live, expression will follow.

Peace...Love...Joy

Here and Now

I sit here, happy, glad that my Internet service has been restored, appreciating access to the world of information at my fingertips...Oh how sad and pathetic then that with all the information out there, I cant think of anything I would like to go and find....So, its happy and sad...a contradiction and yet again perhaps an apt metaphor for my life at this time...

Was reading some Eckhart Tolle last night - The Power of Now - some heavy stuff, but he writes in a very easy way, using words that do not intimidate. Live in the Now...I like that.

Words

Words, sometimes so powerful and sometimes so meaningless...

take the word space as an example - dictionary.com definition number 19: 

freedom or opportunity to express oneself, resolve a personal difficulty, be alone, etc.; allowance, understanding, or noninterference: Right now, you can help by giving me some space. When used at an inappropriate junction within a relationship it could sound the death knell, the proverbial beginning of the end, and at other times, it could be just what is needed to keep a relationship healthy...just a word, but it can be so powerful if used at the right time, and so destructive at other times... Sometimes my word flow so easily, and at others, I struggle to get the right words out. Conflict, resolution, abrasive, easy, hard, happy, sad, etc.etc.. just words used to describe feelings, feelings sometimes kept under wraps. Opening doors that cannot be closed, doors closing, new ones opening, all just words...*sigh* I'm really struggling to get the words out. I'm not making any sense lately, and I'm always saying the wrong things - probably an indication of the conflict going on in my mental space. Must find the time to clear the cobwebs, make plans for 2009, answer the questions that need answering, find the me that's not quite me at the moment. I'm so tired of asking for somethings, tired of not having enough, tired of waiting to be happy. So I'm doing a mental stock take, chucking out the old thinking, and replacing it with what I know works. Finding new words - Joy, Happiness, Abundance, Success, Fun, Creativity... I have been a victim of my own thinking again - using the wrong words to create my current reality, hiding form the now in the past, languishing in self pity - but NO MORE!!!! So today I start the 10 day Joy Program - out with the old, in with the new....