Too many choices... no choice

VERONA, one of the most beautiful cities of the world.
Besides the Arena, the Juliet balcony and all the "touristic attractions" what I like of Verona is the atmosphere. A mix of new and old, roman theater with Venetian style squares with "high Street" style shops.
And, clearly, the shopping part is one of the main attraction for "my better half"... my wife.

We were there with some friends and we decided to go and look for a restaurant.
I took out my mobile and started surfing and checking on Trip Advisor. Despite some recent facts that ruined the reputation of Trip Advisor, I usually choose the restaurant and hotels after a quick check there.
So... around Piazza delle Erbe...

this wonderful place where to have a drink, there are tens of restaurants and pizzerias. We looked at them, checked them and discussed whether that was a good one and at the end we ended up going to the usual one, the "Trattoria alla Colonna" that is known for its cotoletta.

This made me think about the incredible choice we have today in all the aspect of your life.

It is something that is creating expectations and a continuous sense of "not being satisfied" because the other choice was probably better.

But also there's a waste of time. What shall I buy? What shall I choose? Is it the right choice?
And this aspect is delaying the decision.

There is a great video of Barry Schwartz about this point that is explaning this effect quite well.

Clearly I am not as good as Barry Schwartz but I do basically agree on what he says. On every point he's raised. Even the Blue Jeans even though, I must say, my style is slightly different from his.

What I am currently experiencing is the same effect also on my work.

For a salesman having too many choices leads to not being able to focus on anything and always to try and find someone that had got something more.
People are not satisfied and stressed because they have too many things to sell and they're never enough.

-No specialization
-No knowledge
-No expertise

But also this is a bad sign of the current strategy of the companies.

Everybody is offering the same thing with some small little variations. Some details. Everybody swimming in the same red sea. Everybody eating each other and fighting on... price.

The  book "Blue ocean strategy" is a good manual to find how to get out of this deadly loop.

This is also part of the strategy. Product strategy, management strategy, development strategy.

Few things. Be different. Be happy.

 

2...000 is the magic number

It is a fact that today we are consuming more resources than what we have available.

This has been the effect of a 150 years development that has used the fossil resources to an extent that made everything EASY AND APPARENTLY COST FREE (at least in this part of the world).

August 20th 2013 was this year's OVERSHOOT DAY, marking the date when humanity exhausted nature’s budget for the year. We are now operating in overdraft. For the rest of the year, we will maintain our ecological deficit by drawing down local resource stocks and accumulating carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
As this condition is a result of more than 150 years development, we cannot expect to change it overnight.
It would be like braking a car running at 350km/h in 1 meter... without seatbelts.

Clearly it is a process that will be long. Hopefully not too long as time is not infinite.

The main point is to reduce our energy need and, finally, try and limit our fossil fuels dependence.
As I highlighted on my last blog

1) EFFICIENCY AND ENERGY SAVING (starting from buildings)
2) USE OF RENEWABLE ENERGY both electrical (like photovoltaic) and Thermal (like heat pumps)
are two key points that would allow our energy footprint to reduce.

BUT BEWARE!!!

This does not mean to worsen our life quality. Innovation must develop to help us doing this.
We must simply reduce what is thrown away.

There is a great project ongoing in Switzerland in this respect.
It's called 2000W society (http://www.2000watt.ch/). It targets to reduce the energy requirement per person from the actual 6000W to 2000W that is the energy level that would be sustaionable for an equal and even distribution Worldwide.

It will be a long process. I am sure we will be able to go there and we cannot stop going that direction.

Whichever different thought would mean that we think it's over and...

There are small things that we can start doing though.

One exemple is the bottled water.

Not disputing the taste and the quality of the water that, normally, are good both for bottled water and for tap water, I invite you to follow me in this quick calculation.

Italy is drinking an average 184 liters of bottled water per year i.e. 123 bottles of 1,5 liters.
Every bottle weights 0,04 kg so we need an average of 5kg plastic per year per person that we throw away. Everyone of us.

Now the point.

To produce 5kg of plastic we need:

1) 10 kg of oil (63kWh of primary energy)
2) 87,5 liters of water (every kg of PET needs 17,5 kg of water)

And I am not counting what is required to transport them.
Then we throw it away

This video will probably be more explanatory...

Cheers
Have a nice week end
 

IT COULD WORK!!!

It is true.

People living in small towns or villages are spoiled. It is easy to reach everything. And, even though we always complain, we are not wasting so much time commuting.

India is the maximum exemple of this. Time is not measured in minutes. It is measured in hours. Whichever distance you have to cover in a big town, regardless is 8am or 11pm, will take hours. One two three... Nobody knows.

Unfortunately, this is also happening in Europe. My last trip to Paris was a good example. 6km. I can run 6km in less than 30min.

But I was well equipped. A VW golf, a good navi system, traffic control to suggest the best routes to reach the goal. 6,5km.

Departure time 18.00.

Go.......

I have been given thousands of info, of suggestions that I have followed precisely. 6,5km. C'mon.

And looking around me there were hundreds (probably thousands) of cars going moving like in rails. 20km/h. Stop. Change line. 20km/h. Stop.

I reached the goal at 19.10.

1hour and 10 min. If I'd run I could have taken also a shower.

 

Yes the result was very nice (not so much the food) but it needed some energy.

 

 

In a scarcity society (that is a concept that should be well developed), TIME is today one of the most important resources.
How many of you are not able to do something "because I do not have time". How many are staying in the office longer because time is never enough?
This will probably need a post on its own. There are hundreds of "time thieves" every day. We need to properly use our time.

 

Is it queing in a motorway the right way?

Is it good to waste liters of fuel and hours of life in your car, maybe alone, talking with your hands free device?

Accepting this means that we do not realize how important is to reduce the energy consumptions and maximize our efficiency.

I am not commenting the SUVs stuck in the traffic or the big engines car that were slower than myself running. I was impressed though when I read that the average speed for a car during its life is around 50km/h and I was wondering about the real need of these. But this is part of the personal happiness and there are some nice muscled cars that I would like to drive.

I am commenting the huge waste of energy and of resources that are burnt every working day queing and doing nothing. Human energy, fossil energy, mental energy.

 

Not renewable energies

This is probably not sustainable for very long time. Probably it is not sustainable already. We need to start thinking about how to be more efficient.

Starting from everybody's house . It is probably the simplest thing. And is does not mean to live like into a monastry. I think that technology today must be used to improve the efficiency of your life and of things around your life.

- Insulation

- clever use of energy

- use of heat pumps and Photovoltaics/Thermal solar

are some of the possibilities we have to reduce our CO2 impact. And have a modern, confortable and long lasting home whose value will be high for long time.

Are these too expensive? Is it something only Rich people can afford?

Well no. If we properly value the time and the energy that we are daily wasting.

We must start doing something before it is too late.

 

Technology is available. Knowledge as well.

 

 

 

Now it is up to everybody to suggest how to make it.

That is all for today. Maybe I have been slightly negative. But I was "kidnapped" in an airport for 8 hours after having been trapped in the traffic.

Far too much for a mountain guy. Looking forward arriving to his small and quiet village among the mountains.

I would appreciate you input this time.

What can we do to make our life less "energy eater"?

Have a nice 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.

People always get used to beauty, though.

I always thought that people get used to beauty. And today, surfing the internet, I found that also a good writer, John Green has the same idea.

And this is also what I thought last week, when, unfortunately , it was everything but a beautiful day.
It was raining and that was one of the typical days in which you start understanding that summer's over and now it is time to start wearing your raincoat.
We decided to go to a new museum. The MUSE in Trento.
Designed by a great Italian architect, Renzo Piano, this is part of a bigger former industrial area that has been completely transformed called Le Albere.

This is at the foothill of the mountains and, in its modern development, it is designed not to take the scene to the majesty of the Dolomites (the mountains that are in that area) but to properly mix with the nature thanks also to the high quality of the finishing that is minimising the consumptions.
It is using local materials, the same wood that you can use in the old houses built in that area. And the same wood that was used in the Paganini's violins and in this fantastic speaker set.

Everything was build with the same concept:

-use local materials
-create something that is not "shouting" but that is well placed in the environement.

Everything not to take the attention out from the natural beauty that is all around and that, after a while, people do not see anymore.

This is where I live. That's what I can see (almost) every morning. (Not today... unfortunately it's raining for the week end, again!)
There is no artifact, no human product that will be able to compete with the natural beauty of these mountains.
So, the only possibility is to produce, to build, to create things that are helping the natural beauty to be well appreciated.
This is normal for me. I often do not even see what's around as I am also used to that beauty.
But I am lucky enough to have guest from all the world and they are opening my eyes, often closed and looking at the daily problems.

And thank to the people that give respect to this natural masterpiece, people like me should remember that we need to always give the importance to this.

Is this art? It probably is. Not the art as we commonly think about but still art. Something that we must take inspiration from and not destroy.

And most of all, art that we must Always remember to properly appreciate.
This year is the 50th anniversary of one of the most tragic events that happened in this area. The flooding of a massive area on the Piave river. This is the tragedy of the Vajont Dam. You can have a look at the story clicking on this link.

On 12 February 2008 UNESCO cited the Vajont Dam tragedy as one of five "cautionary tales", caused by "the failure of engineers and geologists".

We should always remember this.

Never try to win the Nature. Just help the Nature being appreciated.


That's all for today. I just want to finish with a link to a TOP GEAR episode. This is my favourite one. Jeremy Clarkson is presenting one of the most Amazing Italian Cars. The ALFA ROMEO 8C. Pure art.