Words like violence Break the silence

I finally have restarted running.
The last months have been quite strange as different types of problems kept me away from some of the things I like to do.

But now... new year, new life or, making more sense, better life.

Following some of my friends, the real ones that you always realize you meet too little, I found very nice places where to run. Quite hard to reach, on top of hills, but really nice and most of all, quite close to my place.

Running though is a hard stuff. If you stop, even three  weeks, it will take three months to come back to the point where you were.
And, unfortunately, that was the case.
I was running uphill, huffing and puffing, looking down as I was scared of what was still to come.

Motivation, resilience and all the good words I wrote about in this Blog during the last months were hammered down by a miserable form and too many happy dinners during Christmas holidays.

Then I suddenly stopped. Still breathing hard and looking down.
BPM were quite above 160... too much to keep for a long time in such a bad condition.
Slowly I went down to normal and I could look around. And...

This is what I saw. This is what I could have enjoyed if I only had used my forces wisely and not, as usual, trying to go faster.
Immediately the "COMPETIVE" approach was replaced by the "MEDITATIVE" one.
Is it always necessary to compete, to show yourself and everybody your muscles and letting other great and important things pass?

I decided then... for a while I will run looking around and enjoying what's around me. I will meditate and not always compete.

Going at the speed that you can keep is the only way we have to do the right things in the right time.

Always, while running and while working. To really see what's around, listen and act with some more facts in front of me.

At least until I will be back to a decent level.

As a new king around his realm.

Enjoy...

It does not matter how many times you get knocked down, but how many times you get up.

Florence, a 27 years old guy uses Twitter to tell everybody he's quite annoyed because this summer he will stay home.

His name is Giuseppe Rossi; typical italian name. 

There are thousands of Giuseppe Rossi in Italy but this one is different.

He's gifted. He was born in the US, his parents being from southern Italy, and he came back to Parma when he was 12. One year later he started his career. He's a football player.

Parma, Manchester when he was 17, Newcastle, Parma again and then Villareal and Florence.

An expatriate like thousands of italians in the early 19th hundreds that had to motivate himself and always proof he was good enough to be there.

When he starts at Manchester he's playing with Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Diego Forlan, Rio Ferdinand, Ryan Giggs just to name some.

A lot to learn, a lot to fight.

But he's gifted. He's a striker and he can score. He scores a lot of goals both in his team and in the National team. In 2008 after his 1st injury, a meniscus broken, he's 21 and he's preparing for his 1st World Championship. 

That's THE EVENT. 

A player has probably the possibility to play two World cups. A good one three. 

16 players could play four editions, 2 played five.

Giuseppe is 21. He has 10 years at least in front of him. 10 years are 3 World Cups.

But Marcello Lippi, a semi-god after he won the 2006 edition, decides it's not his time yet. 

He stays home and Italy comes quickly back from South Aftica after one of the worst world cup ever for the team.

For the 2012 European championship though there is a new Italy manager, Prandelli, that thinks Giuseppe must play.

He's now playing for Villareal. 32 goals in one season and he's the top scorer ever for the Yellow submarines, so is Villareal known for its yellow shirts. The first "human player" after the two aliens Cristiano Ronaldo and Leo Messi that play for super teams though. Real and Barça.

That's what Italy needs to remember another Rossi, Paolo Rossi, that brought us to the top of the world in Spain 1982.

26/10/2011, Madrid. During Real Madrid vs Villareal a ligament of his knee breaks. 6 months out. There's still time though for the Euro Cup in Summer 2012. But the recovery will be long and tough.

Giuseppe is a strong guy though. He went around the world since he was 12 and he lost his father few months earlier. He had to do it for him.

The day after his ligament was back and now 6 months of pain. Out of the pitch for the recovery.

Winter goes by quickly and in April Giuseppe is ready again. But it's not over yet.

The 12th of April he's doing his training and... crack. Same knee, same ligament. 6 more months out.

This would have killed everybody's hope.

But Giuseppe is strong. And Fiorentina thinks he can do it and although he's still out, signs him for the 2013/2014 season.

And he's back on duty on August 2013. Goal to Catania. Then 2 goals to Genoa, 3 to Juventus and 2 to Sampdoria.

He's the usual Pepito, the nickname that was given to him when in Spain was one of the top scorers.

5th January 2014.

 

A tackle and his knee goes bad again. 4 months out.

I think that you must ask yourself why this is happening.

What "God of the football" you have insulted to make him hating you so much. Where you can find the strength to restart, again, for the 3rd time in 3 years. Always alone in a team game.

Resilience. Giuseppe has got a lot of it. And a lot of motivation.

Football world cup in Brasil is waiting for him. Football at the top level and he deserves to be there.

He's back again on May and ends the season with an impressive 16 goals in 24 games.

He's on the 30 players of the Italian team that will be shortlisted to 23.

On June 2nd the final list. Giuseppe is not there because he's not been considered ready after the last injury and he tells everybody he does not agree.

He will probably have his last chance in Russia in 2018.

Cheer up Giuseppe!!! You'll do it.

Ah... I could not run the Cortina Dobbiaco last week. 

6 months of training and 600km gone. My meniscus was broken. The little devil won but I'll try again next year. I will have much more chances than Pepito to do it.

Have a nice week end

The little Chemist

It's spring!
Finally the temperature is going better and the days, after a very long wet period, are starting being more pleasant.
The garden is then the natural place to spend the day. The first two days though are used to bring it back to a "proper shape". It's not only cutting the grass but trying to get rid of all the things that were put outside during winter (you do not wish to go out in winter at out temperatures).

In doing this you suddenly realize the real essence of our economy today...

We got rid of an entire big bag of games that, I am sure, my children used veeeery little. Then suddenly this video came to my mind.

99% of the things that are moved around the US is TRASHED AFTER 6 MONTHS!!!
I do not think Europe is so different.

But why is this happening? Is it just a question of buying useless things?

I am sure that whoever has got children agrees that they much more than what they can enjoy. They are simply getting more than what they really need.

This comes from a "natural" reason.
Two of the chemicals that are responsible for the "feelings", the Seratonine and the Oxitocine, are generated by growing the sense of "relationship" and "feeling of love and trust".
In reality these are chemicals that we have since thousand years and their main target was to keep us alive favoring the "sense of belonging to a group" and making the group healthy i.e. having always food and protecting themselves from dangers.
And today it is artificially generated. One of the ways is to give presents, to give something regardless is needed.
It is somehow like the famous quote of the movie "The Devil's Advocate" where Al Pacino, describing love, was saying "Overrated. Biochemically no different than eating large quantities of chocolate."
So today we are BIOCHEMICALLY simulating a atavic behavior giving presents 99% of which are thrown in a bin in 6 months.
And in our environment, this is even more required as the Fantastic 4 chemicals (Endorphins, Dopamine, Seratonine and Oxitocine) are always fighting against...

CORTISOL that is generated by the stress and anxiety

The original function of Cortisol was in reality to raise our attention and pump sugars in our muscles either to fight or to run.
Good if you are in a forest some thousand of years ago.
Good if it happens once every now and then.
Not good if stress is continuous.

So, among the usual bad feelings, the usual sleepless nights, the usual problems that stress is generating we are also trying to generate some "good chemicals" to fight it by doing the WRONG THINGS.

And we go back to the usual point.

Life is simple. It's just about doing what you REALLY like with the people you REALLY like. Doing it well and enjoy it. But most of all, do good things for people that is around you at work and at home. Create a sense of safety and trust.

Do not try to artificially feel well. It's not working on the long run and does not help yourself.

Music is also a good way to grow one of the Fantastic 4.
That's my favorite song (and also my children's) these days .

Enjoy
Have a great week

It's a kind of magic

"The sculpture is already into the block of marble. The artist must only free it."

This is what Michelangelo used to say in the 15th century and this is what he managed to do ONLY freeing the sculpture from the marble block.

Nice one, isn't it?
We could say that also nice paintings are trapped into the pencil or the brush and the artist's task is "just" to take them from there to the canvas.

But how?

These are both paintings. YES! Even the first one that looks like photography.

The painter in that case is Diego Fazio a.k.a. Diego Koi while the second one is, as most probably all of you recognized, Pablo Picasso.
What's the difference then? Not that the Picasso woman got stuck while going out of the pen, but the WAY people are using their talent and skills is different. What's behind these skills is always difficult to understand. And it's not only the 10.000 hour rule saying that takes roughly ten thousand hours of practice to acheve mastery in a field (see "The Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell)

They are, in my humble opinion, both mastering their field.
They are just showing that in different ways coming from:
- their life experiences
- their ideas
- their skills

To better understand this, let us look at photography.
I am so lucky to live in one of the most beautiful mountain areas of the world: The "Dolomiti Bellunesi"

What's behind these fantastic pictures? Is it just being in the right place in the right moment? (thanks to Federico Musashi)
Is it a question of luck or of being quick at taking out the camera and shot?



Well not only that...

The GREAT RESULTS are always a mix of:

- Training
- Skills
- Passion (love your work)
- Preparation

7 minutes of difference are crucial to take the picture you want to take and you must probably camp for days to take it as the weather conditions as always unpredictable.

In this quick discussion about artists and talent we forgot about some important things though.

How many failures they had? How many times Michelangelo hammered the wrong point? How many Picasso sketched something he didn't like? How many wrong takes are behind a breathtaking picture?
But also, who were their mentors or guides that saw their talents and gave them the directions? 

None of these artists has stopped trying and improving and none was scared or discouraged by the mistakes. They all love what they do and this is the fuel to keep their passion.

This is not only valid for artists though. It's also true in our everyday life!
Whoever manage people has a big responsibility not only for the company they are working for but also for the people they are managing (not to mention the responibility we have for our children).

If you manage people you must understand their talents, mentor and support them when there are problems or difficulties.
Everybody is a nice sculpture trapped into a marble block. It's just a question of be freed.

Have a nice week end

It's just a virus

This winter has been quite good so far.

I don't know if that was because of the mild conditions or because I built more immune defences but fortunately I did not catch any flu nor strange things during my holidays.

Every year infact, as soon as I stop working...
Bam a tiny virus decides to take over the control of my body and obliges me to stay in bed for some days.
Last week though, I started my personal battle with the flu. I was almost giving up but at the end I limited that toa cold and headache.
Clearly, all the ladies that are reading this Blog would say... here it is.
The usual man-flu; it's even been formally defined.

Though for me, average italian man, this kind of flu takes away mental and phisical strength.
And this week this has been worsened by some events that people I know and I work with had to face.

Problems, things like a child or a relative being seriously ill or a job lost that happened and that I did not know anything about because they were either keeping very secret (and I can understand them) or that suddenly recently happened. Everything this week, and it really touched me.

I tend not to believe to "signs" but, probably because I am getting older, I took these events happening during my "man flu" as something to think about how little I should complain. Funny enough, I also got this message from a friend of mine...

Be kind. Always.
Tough target isn't it.
Because if there are people that are VISIBLY fighting a battle, and then it's reasonably easy to be kind with them, and others that are keeping everything inside.
But when you fight you do not need other enemies but allies regardless your battle is outside or inside you. And someone kind at you is an extra help to find the strenght to overtake the problem.

I invite everybody to see this video. Again quite a casual thing that happened this week, a lead I got that is perfectly fitting into the mood of the week.

There is something to learn from every event of our life. Clearly the bad ones are the worse to overtake but WE WILL BE ABLE to overtake them only if we are ready and prepared to do it.

Prepare yourself, increase your competence and live well your life to tackle the bad moments.

Never give up. Never stop learning. Stand up and keep on going.
Have a nice week end

Things to do in 2014

Wishlists and rankings.

I really do not like them and this time of the year, everybody is making their own "special recipe" with things to do to become a great man, a leader, to earn more money or simply to lose some weight.
I have seen a list of 26 (twentysix!!!) points required to be a better leader.
Probably the point number one should be "NEVER write a list of points to become a better leader".

But apparently to be a great Blogger you need to put down a list. And here I am.
In this Blog I want to list the things I would like to do to improve myself and, in all modesty, that I think everybody should try and implement.
Simple, clear and straight forward points.

Let us then decide how many of them though.
I think that 3 is the perfect number. Enough to remember all of them and to give most of the information. Also when doing my presentations I tend  not to list more than 3 things in one slide or to give three reasons why something works better than something else.
Trying to limit the number of items obliges you to think about what is really important.
It is clear that "give more time to your family" or "try to have an hobby" are good points to improve life quality. But everybody knows that and everybody tries to do this. So I took these things out of my list.
I managed to bring the list down to 4 points. This is the bare minimum.

4 things to do in 2014 to be a little happier.

1) Always follow what you think is right.

It looks something normal but it's not.
We must first understand WHAT we believe and what we think it's right. We need to understand WHO we are and WHY we are doing what we are doing. We need to leard how to communicate it and then stick to that.
If you want to behave differently you will not show your abilities and your best parts. You will be simply an actor playing a different role from what you really are.
Always remember: “If you can't do great things, do small things in a great way.”  

2) Mens sana in corpore sano (a healthy mind in a healthy body).

We need to keep our body fit. Not only doing some sport but eating properly. I was once told: "would you put gravel instead of fuel in your car? Well, by eating what we're eating today we are doing this with our body".
I sincerely think that we are overestimating our "healing capabilities" by not caring about ourselves at all. Until it's too late.
Then, once we are taking good care of our body let us focus on our mind. Read, listen and learn. Find one new thing to learn: a Language, a sport, a game, whatever, and do it.
Keep your "mind gears" well lubricated.

3) Semel in anno licet insanire (once in a year one is allowed to go crazy)

Do something crazy. One thing that you want to do and that you always postpone.
Do one of the things that you want to do before you die.

4) Celebrate the achievements

We are always setting our targets higher and higher and working hard to reach them. It is always a difficult road, paved with problems, hurdles and difficulties. But when you are able to win, when you are capable to go there you must celebrate. Have your celebrating time will allow you to be rewarded and restart full and motivated.


Here it is then. My first list and, in all fairness, I quite liked doing it.

Some of these points are included in this manifesto.
This is my present for a great and happy 2014.
See you soon

 

Resilience

The Wikidefinition of Resilience is the ability of a material to absorb energy when it is deformed elastically, and release that energy upon unloading.
This has been the definition that I studied during my University times.
Then I started working and Resilience changed from being a Material characteristic to being a PERSONAL characteristic.
Books, meetings and presentations made me understand the meaning of this new meaning for Resilience and the importance of this attitude to succeed achieving your targets (see my Post "Persevere").

But last Sunday I have clearly understood what it means.
First Half Marathon of my life. Good conditions, slightly cold (around zero deg.C) and great view of the mountains around.
This has been my "running target" for this year and to reach this I have trained early in the morning or late at night regardless the weather conditions. Well, I tried my best to be prepared and FINISH the race. 
Finish my first half marathon.
750 people were at the startline ready to run 21km (and some meters) around a beautiful Belluno. 

750 normal people and some real athletes ready to prove themselves they could do it. 
That they could arrive or run faster than last year: simply everybody had a WHY to have moved from other cities, other countries even to be there on a freezing Sunday morning dressed with a red shirt ready to run.

And during the race there were difficult moments, bad feelings, things not working fine but also other runners that helped keeping the right pace or giving some piece of advice to help out of the crisis.
The more you're getting close to the end, the more you are alone though.
And then the last three km are the worst. I was tired, my legs heavy and feet soaring. I am definitely not a real runner and I was clearly feeling that.
But, finally I could see the finish line. Go, go, go, slightly faster to finish propely the race.
Then... no, although the finish line was at 20meters we had to do 1 more km going around the town first down and then uphill.
one km, one thousand meters. After having run 20km. I was completely out of fuel.
Resilience is the ability of a material to absorb energy when it is deformed elastically, and release that energy upon unloading.
I was "deformed" (my feet definitely were) and I had to release the energy, the last energy I had coming out of this.
And that was a real understanding of it.
Now I can say that I am an Halfmarathon finisher (1h 54min... not an athlete yet) and that I know quite well what resilience means.

As usual it is a question of setting targets and work to get there with passion and belief. 
No excuses. No "I do not have time". No "I will do it tomorrow".
As usual a question of people and to give them targets that they can achieve even if there is a "last minute problem". 
And, at the end, sit down and appreciate you have reached your target. 
Then set another one.
Need to stay alive. Need to set the next step and work to reach this. Need to enjoy this.

Next step... 30 km. Bellunofeltrerun

This is my next "running target".
I should probably avoid the thousand of calories that we will have during the dinners on next days. I should, I do not know if I will.
Happy Christmas to everybody

Assemble or Produce?

I must thank everybody's reading my posts.

So far this blog has been read almost 1600 times, but what is really great for me is that some of the people that read it contacted me to comment and to give me some more ideas for new posts.

This confirms what I once read... if you have something to say, you will find someone that will listen.

One of the recent chat I had with a colleague of mine about my last post was about the fact that what I am writing is not "produced" by myself but I am assembling ideas of others.

That's a good point indeed.
Is this reducing the impact or the meaning of what I am writing?
Well, I am not so sure. Let's put it in this way...

The company I work with is assembling components made by others (even though we are still manufactoring some of the key components that our competitor are buying outside) but we are continuously innovating and differentiating.
The clear strategy we have is to approach in a different way the market to give to the customers SOLUTIONS to increase the efficiency of the system, to improve the indoor air quality and to reduce the total life cycle cost.
But we are doing this assembling components that are made by others.
Where's the secret then?
The secret lays on HOW WE ASSEMBLE the components and HOW WE COMMUNICATE our ideas.

Well, that's also what I am doing. I am assembling in MY OWN WAY what I read, hear and see from others.

If I must be frank, the real reason why I am  keeping this Blog, beside the fact that I like doing this, is to try and learn and put down in a tidy way what I gather from others in order to share it with everybody.

"Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others" and to grow yourself you must ALWAYS study, listen, look and learn.

At the moment I try to be a good assembler and this allows me to use, AGAIN, a quote from Mr.Jack Welch.

In one of his books, Winning, there's a good point. “You are not a leader to win a popularity contest – you are a leader to lead”

No reason to assemble for the sake of showing you are good.

Assemble to learn, to share and to give some ideas.

Ah, before going... I would like, like millions others, to remember Nelson Mandela BUT in a different way. I am sure he would have liked this, still modern after 73 years...

Have a nice week end

As time goes by

Saturday morning is MY morning.
I am using it to try and do things I like among which there's also writing on my Blog.

I had a chat this morning with a friend. We were complaining about the fact that in the three months we will be travelling a lot and we will not have time to do our things. To try and get a life.

Try to be happy.

This is the point. And trying to be happy, for you and also for people that are with you, is quite difficult.
And this is not a question of being selfish. Being happy is not equal to selfish and the things that really count for you will only benefit of this.
To be happy though, you must have time to dedicate to things you like. To yourself, to your family to your passions.

You will never make ANYBODY HAPPY if your not happy yourself. And the point is to try and fix things that are going against this.

But the time is always the constraint.

I am a strong supporter of priorities and choices. Probably this is a direct consequence of my technical and engineering background. Quite schematic.

But not being able to decide the priorities, and consequently what must be done first and what after, will take you away from your target.
Stop being driven by the events. Put yourself in the driver seat.

This is a big change for most of us.
Being in the driver seat is a difficult target though.
You must decide what to do and what NOT to do. You must learn to say NO.
You must take the responsibility to that and to make somebody upset.

But what's the other choice?
Well... The other choice is that YOU WILL BE UPSET.

Time management is therefore a sort of initial step to try and be happier.

Choose what to do and what to be.

Set your Targets. Work to get them... and GO THERE.

DO IT

I like a lot this manifesto

This does not refer to Work only. This refer to everything.
The base is always the same though.

DECIDE WHAT YOU WANT TO BE

Enjoy your week end
 

Persevere

TOR DE GEANTS

This is possibly one of the hardest races in the world.

330km with 24.000mt positive altitude range

These two figures give you the idea about what is this running race.
Yes, you must run!
And this year 706 people from all over the world started this challenge and 383 finished it within the max time.
I have started looking at this type of races (just looking though) after I read a nice book. Again in Italian...
PERSEVERARE E' UMANO (Pietro Trabucchi).

This book is about motivation or, better, self motivation. Pietro Trabucchi is a psychologist that is active in the study of sport performances. He's been following as a doctor, but also as an athlete, some of the most phenomenal "extreme runners" (it is a shame that nobody knows them) like Bruno Brunod or Jean Pellissier.

I am not a Psychologist. In reality I really could never understand Psycology even though in my life I must behave often more as a moral support than an engineer or a salesman (or maybe a salesman MUST be a psychologist). I found in that book, though, quite some communalities with my ideas.

The key point is MOTIVATION, DRIVE.
This is the real difference that is making us developing. To persevere in what we think is the right direction.

Clearly this means that:

1) we have a CLEAR target
2) we know what we must do to reach this target

Too many times today we continuously change our ideas or our strategy simply because we are proceeding through trial and error.

NO CLEAR TARGET, NO DIRECTION, NO CHECK POINTS.

What is even more important is that, according to Trabucchi, we are today living with some myths that are completely wrong:

1) Talent
2) Luck
3) External motivators

This is clearly valid for sports but we can also consider this true for your working life.

Some people are today using these myths as excuses for not being able to reach their targets.
I am not saying that Lionel Messi is not talented. I am saying that EVERYBODY MUST SET THEIR TARGETS and fight to reach them.

Are people doing Tor de Géants different or more talented from who's doing the "Camino de Compostela" (800km walking)? NO, THEY HAVE SIMPLY A DIFFERENT TARGET.

We are today confused by this continuous competition area.
This is giving bad input to people. In the Tor de Géants race the target is, first of all, to FINISH IT.

BE A FINISHER.

Try to get close to the limits and not be afraid of being scared is something goes wrong. Just be scared, check where you are and correct the mistakes.
Then start again with great personal motivation and focus on the target.

Are Coaches useless? Clearly not. But they can only show the direction.
TARGET and PERSONAL MOTIVATION is something personal.
In sport and in life.
Sometimes being a finisher is much important of being the champion.
Expecially if you have managed to reach your targets according to your plan.

Have a nice week end.