Month: March 2017

While reading Amy Rosenthal’s “You May Want to Marry My Husband”, I got a glimpse of her abundant energy, pressure for time and undying love for her husband of 26 years. From the long list of to dos, she tried to fill the void she was about to create. If this isn’t love, I don’t know what love is.

Amy Krouse Rosenthal, author and filmmaker died yesterday at the age of 51.

I have never met nor spoken to this woman. The little I know about her is based on two short articles. I think she was great, and today I’d like to celebrate the late author and filmmaker. A human being. A woman. A mother. A wife. A friend, and many more…

From the second article, I’m told that when Amy turned 40, she figured out how many days she had left to enjoy various aspects of life before reaching 80 years old. Her original calculation? 14 600 days. In reality, she would live to see 4015 more days… or 27.5% of her original calculation.

“How many more times, then, do I get to look at a tree? Let’s just say it’s 12,395. Absolutely, that’s a lot, but it’s not infinite, and I’m thinking anything less than infinite is too small a number and not satisfactory. At the very least, I want to look at trees a million more times. Is that too much to ask?” – Amy Krouse Rosenthal

It took me six months to finish Big Friendly Giant (BFG) by Roald Dahl.

I’m a fast reader.
Restricting myself to only few pages at a time,
I didn’t want the story to end…
Not wanting to say goodbye to the characters within.

Why?
To be slow at something, which is the opposite of how I operate.

I dislike wasting time.
So I drive outputs.
I’m in the business of getting things done.
I park personal issues and ask others to do the same.
Focus and ensure minimal disruption.

Why did I slow down? I was trying to be someone else.
I had gotten it all wrong.
On my way up, I can mark the spots and let others follow.
Or bring the fast scouts with me and send them back to guide the rest of the troops.
And create rest steps. People can climb at their own pace.

I’ve started to sprint once again.

We are 19.7% into the end of 2017.
72^nd day of committing to write a word, a sentence, a paragraph, or a page, which has turned into 40,000 words and 65 pages.

Netflix’s first season of Chef’s Table showcases their exciting journey, serving one plate at a time.

Inventions are nudged from scarcity. Hardships forcing negotiations with nature, people, and ideas. Famine. War. Injustice. There is no greater unity than the sense of the common threat.

They start out by imitating the perceived best. They move to Paris. They ignore their past. Living for today and tomorrow. Eventually, they end up feeling like nothing more than an impostor. Mere copycat.

Discouraged, they quit. They pick themselves up. They reflect and finally see their core instead of their outdated versions. They return to the past – the origin. They embrace the crops they grew up with. They own what they know; things took for granted. They plant the seed, harvest and prepare what’s familiar to them, but foreign to everyone else.

They do the work. Invent. Push themselves. Embrace tension. Fingers turn to mush from working 18-hour days. 32,850 hours over the five years or 1,825 days.

One day, someone credible writes about them. Talks about them. The masses join and they form part of the top 50 restauranteurs in the world.

There is no such thing as overnight success.

This morning, I choose gym.
Too early to eat and not hungry at all, I peel off a banana before heading out.

Repetition causes discomfort. The body shakes. It nears muscle failure. Forced to focus on just the physical motion, mind’s wanderings fade away. Both sets of lungs fill with much needed emptiness.
Must execute every exercise with near-perfect form. The body can’t afford another injury. Combined with sweat, endorphin pours out of me.
I pedal faster.

It’s been 65 days since I’ve abstained from consumer goods.
Allowing myself only food and experiences. Marketing campaigns have no effect on me: Get 50% off. Buy two, get one free. Win a voucher, shopping spree, a spa, or a trip of a lifetime…. Go here. Click here. It’ll look great on me! What easy way to pay!

The space between the stimulus (marketing campaign) and reaction (buying stuff) has become infinite. I’m no longer tempted to get a deal. No need to wonder around inside the mall.

I’m in between houses. I get a glimpse of how it feels to be “homeless”. Despite the tremendous generosity and kindness from friends, I can’t help but feel a bit displaced. (I know… such a first-world problem)

But I try to extrapolate my current experience by a factor of 10,000. How tough (understatement, I know) it would be to live out of one small backpack, children in tow. No places to put occasional use items like nail clippers.

How blessed am I to have a roof over my head. A vehicle to carry me. Friends to lend me helping hands. Family members to connect me to the past and the present. A sound mind. Healthy body.

The more you do, the more you can do.
The more you say no, the more time you have for more important things.
The more you delegate well, the more free time you have for the things only you can do.
The more you develop others, the more they can do.
The more you help, the less you have to do.

What are you doing that you should stop doing today?
Who are the people you should be enabling instead of trying to do everything yourself?

We’re inundated with too many articles that start with, ‘how to get…’

1. that promotion!
2. flat belly in ___weeks
3. a woman
4. a man
5. happy
6. to early retirement

The list is endless.

What are we looking for? Why do we read but don’t action? Do we really need to be told the answers? Don’t we already know?

1. Work smart. Don’t be a scumbag. Talk to people. Tell them what you want. Be kind to your colleagues.
2. Don’t eat too much… we’re omnivores, not carnivores. Processed food isn’t your friend. Exercise.
3. This is a mystery. If it were so easy, we wouldn’t have so many beautiful songs, stories and movies….
4. So is this.
5. You know what makes you happy. If you don’t know, you’ve got a lot of soul searching to do.
6. Spend less. Save more.

I hope my writing sparks bias towards action, even if it’s for a fleeting second. But my writing won’t give out a list of ‘secret’ answers that won’t help anyone.

You go back to school after falling in love with dirt under your fingernails. You love to break and build things. You quit your high-paying job… You surround yourself with kids fresh out of high school. You study hard. You move to nowhere. You make big sacrifices. You’ll soon become a nuclear engineer.

You and your partner are looking for fresh opportunity elsewhere. So you leap to action to move to another continent. It takes 15 days to get a working visa, and another few months before you pack up your life into four suit cases. Your partner gets a job within two weeks. A month later, you join a high-ranking official’s legal team.

You’d rather use your talents to save children instead of selling fizzy beverages. You quit your job despite being promoted. You pack up your things and move overseas without a promise of a job. Within one month, you are offered two positions. You’re lucky to share a swanky pad with a lovely human being inside the big apple.

Change in top leadership leaves your school in disarray. Children have learned to disrespect the inconsistent authority. You decide to take command of your classroom. You set clear boundaries. You become a leader of your domain. You take charge. You become the beacon of decentralized authority.

You’re not happy where you are, who you are with, and what you do. You quit the place, the person, and the job. You move to the city that never sleeps. You find yourself happier with people of your tribe, end up doing the thing you’ve been putting off for far too long. You learn to savor the fruits of your labor. You embrace discomfort. You make difficult decisions.

You’re full of creative energy. Your parents tell you to pursue a professional degree. You do to make them happy out of respect and love. Bills need to be paid, and so you continue. But you pursue your passion outside ‘normal operating hours’. One bead at a time, you create beautiful statement pieces to celebrate your customers’ special day. You launch your brand. Your passion is ignited and the work you do sustains your creative outlet. Can you believe it? It’s already been since months.

They said you were crazy to leave the comforts of a steady income. You were told to stay put. Instead of listening to naysayers; instead of just wishing and hoping, you made a decision to act. And act, you did.

Whose approval do you seek before you decide to act? When will you embark on the journey towards yourself?