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.

 

Back to the roots

Pasta al pomodoro

Yes, Pasta al pomodoro is the food I mostly miss when I am abroad.

And the recipe is quite simple. I still remember my grandma preparing it.

A little bit of onion, one carrot and celery.

Then olive oil, tomatoes and basil.

You chop a slice of onion, the carrot and the celery together and you put it in the olive oil that is already warm. Few minutes with fire veeeeery low until the onion is light brown and then you put the canned tomatoes and you wait.

You see it starting bubbling, always at low fire stirring every now and then for some time until the oil starts been on the surface and the sauce is thick enough to be able to stay attached to the pasta.

Then the magic touch... Basil...

And that was starting at 8.00am and when I was child I had my milk and cereals with the pomodoro sauce bubbling in the background.

But that's Italy and I have a golden rule. NEVER expect finding something similar to Italy when you are abroad. And this is valid mostly for food. Not that the local foods are bad but the Italian food outside Italy is simply not the right one.

And once, a colleague of mine tried what I had told him to avoid. He tried to order a pasta al pomodoro during a business trip. I will not tell you what he received te comments that followed. But that was obvious. This was not their recipe. Not their cup of tea.

This allowed me to taste some delicious plates. Tajin in Morocco, Dahl in India even a well prepared Huggies in Scotland!

These were simply perfect. The right food in the right place.

Although the recipe is quite simple infact, to prepare the right Pomodoro sauce you need the right ingredients someone that has taught you how to put it together and experience.

This exemple came in my mind this week, during a meeting.

I had a meeting with my salesforce discussing about some opportunities they had.

One of the remarks I got from a lot of them was that we were missing some types of units because in one job they could not quote with what we had.

Always looking for what is missing and not arriving to the top of what is available. Being the best in a specific area is today crucial, more crucial that having everything and being one of the many swimming in a red ocean.

Most of the companies, expecially italian companies, must work as a corner store.
With their resources, that are limited, they must focus on one thing doing it very well.

And in today's world this is part of the strategy.

Clear cut choices. Unless you are a big name like NIKE, APPLE, SAMSUNG (but sometimes even if you are such a big name) you cannot be everything for everybody.

Simply identify where you can be the best, what you must have in term of tools and the IMPLEMENT everything.

IDEAS, TOOLS, PEOPLE

TOMATOES, A PAN AND MY GRANDMOTHER

Buon appetito