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...

“Elementary my dear Watson."

In business, I think expecially in sales, working is more and more trying to find out new opportunities: and quickly.

"Running to stand still" is infact the biggest concern.
Going around to find new business JUST to fill up the reductions coming from other areas that are suffering due to the business environment.

You may say, it's better to stand still than to go back but, from a purely motivational point of view, to see a double digit growth is the best fuel for everybody's self contiousness. On the other hand, seeing that all your work has brought a mere 3% is like someone cutting your tyres.

The business approach therefore is therefore quite moved towards the "new opportunity analysis" than towards the optimisation of the current contacts.
We are more and more becoming a sort of detective seraching for evidences and things that could change the game.

And what's the best detective ever if not mr.Sherlock Holmes?

I picked up some hints from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's novels that could give us some pieces of advice to focus your magnifying lens.

'You see, but you do not observe. The distinction is clear.'

Quickly is the key word in today's business scenario. Doing things quickly means, most of the time, doing things "AS WE HAVE ALWAYS DONE". So, first of all let's stop and observe what we can do better or in a different way. Improve the efficiency and the effect of your work.

Data!data!data!" he cried impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay.”

We are flooding into datas. We can see things in thousands of perspectives and, unfortunately, this means a lot work because there's always someone searching for the different angle to see the numbers. 

"If you have a watch you know what's the time if you have two you are always uncertain". So let us find the right datas to look at and distill all the info out of them. Data are necessary to understand where to go and what to expect, too many datas are dangerous.

"The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes."

First look into close to what you have always done. There are a lot of companies looking for big changes, big investments and new ventures.
These are clearly good things to do and part of a develoment strategy that can ensure a long term result (maybe) but are quite time and menpower consuming.
Quick and reliable results can sometimes come from places that you thought were not interesting.

“Elementary my dear Watson."

In reality there is no novel where Sherlock Holmes said these words but, everywhere in the world, this is one of his typical quotes.
Having said that, these point seem elementary and obvious but, when people are stressed and desperately looking for some solution, they often loose the calm and pragmatic approach that is necessary in these cases.

That's all for this week.
See you soon and enjoy today's "POST SONG"; U2's "Running to stand still"

5 Things to do this year (Again)

Hallo to everybody again.

It's been quite some time since my last post. 6 months have passed with many things that happened and that kept me away from this Blog.

During these holidays though I read a bit and this picture made me remind the post I wrote 1 year ago (Things to do in 2014).

Were my resolutions also completely missed?

Curiosity killed the cat and I went immediately to check.
The answer was: yes and no.

I had listed targets so generic that could not be measured (except some quite general things) so, sorry to say, these were not resolutions nor things to do.
These were only good will thoughts.

In that list I made most of the mistakes that people can make when writing down such lists.

- The target was too far or not clear. Exercising is a nice thing. How much and to reach which level is something that people must have in mind. The result is that today I gained some kilos although I made more exercise than last year
- There is no idea of the consequences of these things. In a word, as these are things we never experienced before we cannot predict how better we will feel when these will be reached. And then, why should we suffer to get there?

What happened in reality was that I met people that changed a lot of small things in my life. I must really thank all of them (and I normally do personally) because today I am probably better than last year.
This is my first thing.
1) THANK PEOPLE THAT ARE DOING GOOD THINGS TO YOU. I hope I will meet more and more people that will be important to make me a better person.

On the other hand I have also questioned some people and found myself completely upset for some decisions. Paralelly then
2) TELL PEOPLE YOU DISAGREE BUT NEVER TAKE IT PERSONAL (...if it's not personal). This is something I need to work a lot, expecially not to "overheat" and to keep my pressure down.

In the last months the time that was left for myself was really minimal. I decided to spend it with my family, my children and my "better half". I neglected some of the things that I loved to do though but that I considered less important.
But now it's the time to
3) DO ONE THING YOU NEVER DID BEFORE. It doesn't matter if it's learning a new language, do paragliding, walk on top of the Himalaya or run the New York Marathon. Just find one thing and work to do it.

This will not be very simple as I am often travelling. My job, that I love, brings me a lot around the world, meeting different cultures in different places and keeping me away from my family.

Now, though, it's time to share some of this with them so
4) SPEND SOME DAYS WITH YOUR BELOVED ONES IN A SPECIAL PLACE. There are a lot of places that I visited and inspired me a special "flavour" to share with my family. Just pick one...

Last one, that seems obvious but it's not (at least it was not for me in this 2014)
5) LOOK AFTER YOURSELVES. If your body tells you something's wrong check it immediately. "What is always speaking silently is the body." Listen to it. Do not take it as granted.

That's all for today.

See you soon
Ciao