Mind Your Words
Day One. We are curators of our lives, whether consciously or unconsciously. Our digital persona tells our individual stories as they unfold. If you take the time, regardless of how created it is, you can discern the root of a person simply by following them on social media from both what they talk about and what they leave out. When I am to meet or have met someone, I generally go through their online persona, exploring Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+, About Me and any other platform I can find them on. In fact, I use Charlie App, which “combs through 100s of sources and automatically...
Each Game Is A Moment
The Beautiful Game! How does one describe the full breadth of emotion that is born out of watching eleven versus eleven on a field in a battle for supremacy over a football where the weapons are skill, strategy, determination and passion? How do you articulate the feeling of pure joy when your team wins or the pain when the team is going through a rough patch? It seeps into all parts of your life, often made worse by the banter and chirping from those around you who support rival teams. It’s that time of the year that every football supporter dreads – end of season. Regardless of where your...
Who Is Responsible For You?
A little boy does something his parents are not suitably impressed with. When he is reprimanded, his response is “but Thabo did the same” which is why he did it. He then gets – at least I hope he does - the relatively standard talk about how, just because someone does something, you shouldn’t do it. For example, “if Thabo jumped off a cliff, would you do the same?” As a child, I was on the receiving end of various derivatives of this talk, several times, and, as a parent, I often give the same talk. “Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a...
My First Time
As painful as it is to quote a former Manchester United player, French footballer Eric Cantona is quoted as having said, “You can change your wife, your politics, but never, never can you change your favourite football team.” As someone who has supported the same teams for as long as I can remember being into football, this is something I believe. The science of how that team is decided in is absolutely inexact and, often, stems from those who came before us. My father is a Liverpool supporter. I honestly don’t know how it came about, only that it started when he lived in Europe. Even though...
Be Different, Happily
Pharrell Williams seems to have reached an interesting space in life. His work as a producer and musician has allowed him to venture deep into a range of diverse projects in ways that most of us wouldn’t be able to. Like many others, I am fascinated by his life’s trajectory but more so by the projects he gets involved in, most under the banner - i am OTHER. It is defined as follows: “i am OTHER, created by Pharrell Williams, is a creative venture and way of life. We are proud to be different and believe that individuality is the new wealth. This shared philosophy flows through each pillar...
Register for the Wings For Life World Run
One day, Christopher Reeve was Superman. And the next he was in a wheelchair having suffered a serious spinal cord injury while horse riding. He went on to dedicate the rest of his life to funding research into the curing of spinal cord injuries as well as helping those living with paralysis through the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation. Wings for Life is a non-profit foundation, founded by former motocross world champion Heinz Kinigadner and Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz, that is also dedicated to finding a cure for spinal cord injury and does so by funding research projects...
So They Said No
Learning how to say NO is one of life’s most important lessons. In her post Tiny Wisdom: It’s OK To Say No, Lori Deschene says, “…today I invite you to join me in remembering it’s OK to say no, and our world won’t fall apart because of it” and then details instances when it is ok to say no. Over the last few years, this is a lesson I have learnt well, saying no without feeling guilty and only say yes when it has value or I have the capacity to handle what I am committing to. I have no qualms about turning down requests for time, money, energy, IP, etc with peace of mind but I had forgotten...
Contextualising The Opel Adam
2015 started with work on the launch of the Opel Adam, which is the ‘first shot’ in the German manufacturer’s (although it is owned by General Motors) repositioning of the brand, under the theme ‘New Germans’. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9c-rgtEbJ8 We (Project Fable) were involved in hosting and developing the content for the partner, consumer and media/entertainment launches of the Adam. Being of German roots, there was a kind of synergy to being involved as well as with Opel’s reconnection with its German engineering heritage. As part of hosting the various events, I explored Opel’s...
The Past Has A Place
Make a pact with yourself today to not be defined by your past. Sometimes the greatest thing to come out of all your hard work isn't what you get for it, but what you become for it. Shake things up today! Be You...Be Free...Share. – Steve Maraboli The past should be left in the past. The past gets a raw deal. Being conscious and present in the present is absolutely necessary. It has been explored extensively by minds much sharper than mine and it is something I try to implement daily. But, the idea of discounting the past is often interpreted in a way that I am not comfortable with. We are...
Random Thoughts: Writing
Discovering a certain knack for putting words together in a manner that is occasionally engaging or worth reading has influenced the trajectory of my life immensely. Discovering that, as with most things, mere talent counts for very little has made that journey, at times, painful. Talent is merely the starting point. Learning how to use the tools of the trade – grammar, language, form, genre, craft, etc – is where the real work lies. Exercise the writing muscle every day, even if it is only a letter, notes, a title list, a character sketch, a journal entry. Writers are like dancers, like...
Random Thoughts: Transition
Recently, I had the opportunity to participate in a panel at GIBS on Career Transitions. It was little daunting because my fellow panellists were people who have been working in the career coaching, executive recruitment and organisational development spaces for some years. But, it was an insightful experience to participate in because, in a way, it allowed me to get clarity on some of the lessons I have learnt about building career and transitioning between industries by simply doing (and reading). In a weird way, having spent extended periods of my life writing, I have had to both...
Random Thoughts: Motion
“What I have learned from all of the difficulties in my own life is that human beings have very thick skin. I call that skin, spirit, our Highest Most Powerful Self. Spirit is the key to everything we desire. It is our weather-proofing, our Teflon, our line of credit that assures if we keep putting one foot in front of the other, one day; there will be a miraculous payoff.” Iyanla Vanzant There are those people. You look at the path they have travelled and you marvel at how they were able to make it through, land on their feet, without bitterness or anger. You look at their lives and you...
Play: The Fitbit Charge HR
A couple of weeks back, Fitbit South Africa launched the Fitbit Charge HR with an amazing race type event at Gold Reef City in Joburg. Split into two teams, the collective of journos, bloggers and other partners had the opportunity to get firsthand understanding of the Fitbit, including difference in heart rate before and after rides like the Anaconda. Yes, heart rates did generally rise. Fitness and health is one of those areas that many a tech company has been exploring and the last two years have seen an explosion of apps, features and wearable devices all designed to help us track and...
Random Thoughts: Expectations
Bruce Lee once said, “I’m not in this world to live up to your expectations and you’re not in this world to live up to mine.” I sincerely believe this is one of life’s biggest lessons that, literally, took me time to learn. From a young age, the decisions I made where made within context of responsibility to family, first, and myself, second. The older I have become, the more comfortable I have become with making decisions for me first, everyone else second because I sincerely believe that, if I am in a good space, I am better able to contribute to the important and meaningful relationships...
Random Thoughts: Mastery
Jiro Ono has been making sushi for over 70 years. The documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi gives a glimpse into the mind of the man behind Sukiyabashi Jiro, the three Michellin Star 10-seat counter restaurant in Tokyo. The Japanese has a fascinating philosophy, shokunin which refers to artisans/craftsmen who is solely devoted to perfection in their chosen craft. Jiro falls within this. At 85 years old (when the documentary came out about three years ago), he was still on this quest for perfection by improving every day, bit by bit. [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1UDS2kgqY8[/youtube]...
Playing With The New Nintendo 3DS
In the mid 80s, a Game & Watch Donkey Kong handheld game from Nintendo made its first appearance in the walkways of the high school I attended in Lesotho. Not long after that, I was fortunate enough to be able to hustle one out of my father. This was a glimpse into the unimaginable future; being able to sit, on your own, and navigate your way through this game, on a small screen. This character, Mario, hopped over barrels that a big gorilla threw down in an attempt to stop Mario. It was bliss. Fast-forward a decade or three, while I had drifted away from handheld game consoles over the...