tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15298552648064046252024-03-20T11:47:03.487+02:00Ellie in South AfricaElliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08639115021659785758noreply@blogger.comBlogger313125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1529855264806404625.post-50744856208558322122013-09-08T12:21:00.000+02:002013-09-08T12:21:30.968+02:00This blog has moved to tippingdominoes.wordpress.com<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Time to move onto a more extensible platform. I fought it for ages. In some ways, I don't like change.<br />
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But life is about managing change.<br />
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So you can now find my musings here, at <a href="http://tippingdominoes.wordpress.com/">http://tippingdominoes.wordpress.com/</a>.<br />
<br />
E</div>
Elliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08639115021659785758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1529855264806404625.post-54472127391694974702013-09-03T18:58:00.000+02:002013-09-03T18:58:07.055+02:00Photos of orange fields & fairy tales<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Elliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08639115021659785758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1529855264806404625.post-87401425322945344972013-09-03T18:53:00.001+02:002013-09-03T18:53:07.794+02:00Chasing Daisies<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Before I came to South Africa, I heard that there were these
spring wildflowers that extended as far as the eye could see. I resolved to go
see them when I first came here, because at that point I thought I would only be
here for that eight month period.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Never happened. Too busy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Same thing the next year. And the next.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">This year, I’m actually properly busy. Like things that should
have been done weeks ago still not done busy. Life of an entrepreneur. Not that
I’m complaining. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Heck I haven’t even breathed since this break enough to write a
blog post. True story.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">It felt good to be away from it all, though. As much as I love
most everything about my life right now sometimes you just need a break when no
one is asking you what to do, or telling you something you already know, or
trying to make their problem yours.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">The break wasn’t long enough.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">But it was breathtaking. The stories were true. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">After Upington I drove back to Springbok and the roads we’d been
on the day before when the daisies had their petals closed to the sun. How
different in the daylight! The patches were orange. Bright orange, like a
nuclear spill you might see on a cartoon. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">What a thing to see the roads lit up like that!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">After a quick stop for food in Springbok I headed about 45 minutes
south to a small town where I stayed overnight at this retro little hotel. It was literally
like something out of the 1960s or 1970s South Africa, and it was nearly like
going backwards in time to be there. I met a pair of flower-seeking ladies at
dinner and they invited me out with them in their 4x4 to the National Park the
next day, which saved some wear & tear on my car’s suspension. Plus they
knew the names of all the flowers. Piet Snots! Who would have known??<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">After a while seeing carpets of fluorescent orange as far as the
eye can see got to be a bit repetitive. On the drive out we stopped because we
saw a couple of different colours in one area, and this was the magic of the
entire trip for me. Walking through a dry creek with multi-coloured daisies;
even running through them on the way back to the car. It was like a fairy tale.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">There was also the feeling of standing in the sun, feeling its
warmth on my cheek. Nothing but nothing feels like the spring sun. It somehow
seems like it’s been a long winter, perhaps because I’ve been travelling for so
much of it that whenever I return there is this shock to the system.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I did have one of those ‘oh CrossFit’ moments when it was about
2pm, we hadn’t eaten since breakfast, there were no restaurants for at least an
hour’s drive, and the local grocery store didn’t even have biltong! I wound up
eating some sort of tinned fish like mackerel or something, with a cucumber
& avo. Sometimes you just have to laugh; probably my cat would have
appreciated the way the fish tasted but to me it meant one thing: protein. And
it was actually quite tasty.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Thanks to our amazing mobile carriers, I was with internet the
entire trip just about. It made it possible to make sure there were no fires to
be fought upon my return, but it disallowed me from completely checking out.
Digital detox indeed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I know I’m skipping ahead of myself, but I also realise that it
could be a lot worse. If I let it. I guess we will see what happens.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">My triumphant return to Cape Town brought me to see friends at
&Union. The flowers have their magic, and so does Joburg, but there’s no
place like home, and sleeping in your own bed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I’ve felt this way before. When I was at Ask Jeeves International.
One of the happiest times of my career to date.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“She never rests!” – Rudolph (this was after he called me Boss
with a capital B in an email …. hilarious)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“There’s something wrong with most males, in my opinion.” – Judy
(LOL)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I know that you bake cupcakes and strangle people with ropes.” –
Jason (he wasn’t talking to me)</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
</div>
Elliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08639115021659785758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1529855264806404625.post-67524681540555349052013-08-25T13:10:00.001+02:002013-08-25T13:10:51.533+02:00Play<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I rarely rest, except for of the so-called planned variety. I don’t
rest my brain, my body, or even my emotions much.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Before I came to South Africa for my first 8-month stint that
wound up becoming a tad longer, I had heard stories of spring wildflowers
stretching as far as the eye could see, and I resolved to go see them. I never
did, and I’m busier now than I’ve ever been so I figured what the heck, I’ll go
see them this year and continue up to see my lovely friend Aliwiya, who I met
in Cape Town, and who now lives in Upington.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Long trip, but although I’ve never read Jack Kerouac even, I love
to drive, I love the open road and the space it gives you, to see a place, and
this place is a magical, special, fantastic place.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Some people run long distance and claim they get clarity of mind through
the moving meditation. I get bored with running. But I can drive all day! This
is why I also hate driving at night or on a boring road (I-89 in New Hampshire,
for example). I like stimulation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Anyway. I had meant to go out an earlier weekend but then I
changed it to suit someone else’s schedule (work first …!), but finally I did
go. Before leaving, however, I firstly had the pleasure of a great breakfast at
Tasha’s with Carla. Ahhh Tasha’s, a little piece of Gauteng in Cape Town. No
but really, you look at the clientele and you may as well be sitting in
Sandton. Two girls in their gym clothes didn’t quite fit in, but then again,
Carla and I don’t quite fit in anyway. Not that we care, especially.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">THEN I got to do something that I had been waiting for literally
for a year, which was to go play with the new tech being developed by my
friends at HealthQ. And by play with, what I mean is be guinea pig for. They
made me race up and down the street which was probably more fun for me than for
poor Nicol who had had three hours of sleep the night before, and had to run
with me!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">But what I was really looking forward to was putting their device
through a CrossFit workout, and to see the results of said workout. Haven’t
seen the results yet, but I was there for them, not for me. I did design a
workout specifically to cause metabolic failure as soon as humanly possible. It
was originally going to be burpees, running, and dumbbell push press but then
to keep the geographic area small I modified it to be just burpees and dumbbell
thrusters in small enough sets that I could always keep going at a very high
pace.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">The problem was, I was actually too effective at designing the
workout because by about one minute in I wanted to die! You just can’t go at
that pace for too long. I did well though at going into that pain cave where
you don’t know what’s going on around you. AMRAP5 of silent pain.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Then I took a rest and did it again for another two minutes and
this time … oh my word the second minute was probably one of the longest
minutes of my life!! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I guess I was right with what I told Rick a few weeks back –
CrossFit is my ‘me time.’ And qigong is my parasympathetic ‘me time.’ But I
should really just chill out on a hammock reading a book. And maybe one that’s
not about physiology or Olympic lifting or macroeconomics or behavioural
psychology. Yeah, right! I’m not even fooling myself here!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Afterwards I stayed around for another two hours or so chatting. I
did know better, because winter nights are short and I dislike driving in the
dark, but … I was enjoying myself.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Finally I did hit the road and one thing I forgot about was that
driving on the South African national highways is really not relaxing! The
roads are quite narrow often, and then you have to be constantly overtaking
slow-moving vehicles. So you can’t just zone out and look at the scenery … you
have to be constantly on your toes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Which I guess is a metaphor for this whole country. Everything is
a metaphor, everything is everything.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I overnighted at a guest house in Springbok and the next morning
was something like an extract from Twin Peaks. But I did learn something – apparently
if you don’t rest your brain you can go mad. Not sure if this is true. But it
sounds like it could be.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">So, resting! Loving the beauty of the Northern Cape, and the warm
embrace of loving friends. Carla said it well: when people are similar, they
know it. And we embrace our time together. Aliwiya may be like J, where I will
see her once or twice a year but when I do, it’s quality time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Everything comes down to that. When you run, run. When you rest,
rest.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">When you play, play.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I suppose I don’t need to move to Joburg. If I ever miss it I can
just come sit here!” – Ellie</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“When people are similar, they know it.” – Carla</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I like these kind of ‘no filter’ relationships.” – Carla</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“You stop when you’re done. Or when time runs out.” – Ellie</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I did say that, didn’t I? I’m beginning to regret I said that.” –
Ellie</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“There goes the lawn.” – Nicol</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“It’s an unwritten rule of parenthood that if you send your kids
to UCT, they don’t come back.” – overheard at breakfast</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I’m an athlete. My drug is dopamine.” – Ellie</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“We’re all being groomed for something.” – Aliwiya</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“And the worst thing is that the ones that suffer are the
children.” – Aliwiya </span></li>
</ul>
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</div>
Elliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08639115021659785758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1529855264806404625.post-84025506595247101442013-08-15T23:56:00.003+02:002013-08-15T23:56:58.976+02:00History is people<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I am a student of people. I’m an extrovert, I like people, and I
like to read about behavioural psychology. I started this as a way to
understand myself better, which is always important, but between this and maybe
just growing up (??) I’ve developed a pretty decent instinctual understanding
of people. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I have a new … geez not at all sure what to call him. Not quite friend
… not at all sure what to say. Guy I may be doing business with will do.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Interesting character. Fascinating, in fact. He taught me a few
lessons in just a few days. Mainly he taught me that he scares me because he’s
one of the smartest, and most lateral thinkers I think I’ve ever met. Now this
is a compliment from someone who considers herself pretty smart, a pretty good
lateral thinker, and a pretty good piecer together of puzzles.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I often see myself in other people but this time … it was weird.
Same sense of humour, same filter problem, same ability to see implications beyond
what most others see, same ability to read other people.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">He said it best, and I quote: “Every time I see you, I learn more.
And I get more and more scared.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I’m scared because this man sees things in me that most others don’t,
and faster than most other people who figure me out. He gets that I’m flexible,
and understands the value in that I see complex relationships between people, politics,
organisations, etc. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">It’s not enough just to see value. Getting things to happen
requires people, and knowing what people want, what are the realities on the
ground, etc. I’ve learned my sales pitch for my target markets, and it’s
getting better and better every day. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">But heck enterprise sales takes so long sometimes I wish for the
simple joys of product management: make it so. Yeah. Once you go broad it’s
hard to go narrow. This damn job is ruining me for life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Back to my friend. I won’t say I underestimated him. But I
underestimated his EQ.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">My first clue was that he does his homework. By the time we
arrived at dinner a few days ago, I’d discovered that he had me at a
disadvantage because he not only knew that I did CrossFit, but he’d checked out
some of my competition results, and learned enough about the sport to draw
certain conclusions about me, all of which were pretty well true. I’m persistent
(stubborn), I’m strong, but most importantly – I am always trying to push the
limits of what I’m capable of. It’s not enough just to compete, it’s that drive
of always getting better, always lifting more weight, etc.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">There’s other things, but it’s the offhand comments that give away
the insight. If you know what to listen for. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">So here’s what I learned. He’s a student of history; history of
many countries all over the world. He knows more about American history than I
do, and that’s just sad. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">But by understanding history you understand people. Why leaders
did what they did, why people reacted as they did, why, say, Ethiopia, is so resistant
to foreign ownership in key sectors. It’s a funny thing to be in the presence
of such a personality, who is unassuming and yet has the most gravitas in the
room. Fascinating.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Anyway. Crazy week at work as it was a short week for me.
Everything from meetings about a big deployment to playing a strange sort of
matchmaker to an internal reorg to a product planning meeting to various
different business development lunches to giving product advice to a potential
vendor to a meeting with one of my favourite vendors where, I kid you not, the
trigonometry came out. Well, I guess angles are important in this game. Not my
job. I just sell solutions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I had no idea this job was going to take me to the places it’s now
taking me. But it is. I’m not complaining. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Nor am I along for the ride. As Jax Panik put it so well: ‘I don’t
roll with the punches. I hand them out.’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Speaking of … I LOVE my coach. OK I hate him too. But wow am I
loving this programming. It’s a great mix of strength, technique, and metcon
(you know, classic CrossFit), and variety. I can see how it builds better
athletes, and very rapidly, because I can see the logical structure behind it.
My gymnastics have always been a weakness but I actually got a compliment this
week on my chest-to-bar pullups while out playing with the coach at CrossFit
City Bowl. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">And, it turns out I’m pretty good at kipping handstand pushups if
forced to practice them. It’s just a matter of being forced to do what you don’t
necessarily want. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Being comfortable being uncomfortable: that is CrossFit, and that
is my life across most levels. But as I said the last post, there are things
that scare me, sure. CrossFit is funny. You can be lying on the floor writhing
in pain and an hour later be at work like nothing happened. Very little that
happens in the board room can scare me. You win some, you lose some, the worst
thing you can really lose is face.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Evil Jackie? That was emotional. I feel like we have a ‘get on the
rower and die’ every week. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">But hey, if you can face that you can face anything.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“That’s nothing!” “I know.” – my Sunday night date & me</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“But how can they do that, when they’re losing so much money?” “I
don’t know! But they are!” – my date & me</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Yes. I would love to see that email. And I will be very careful
what I do with it, I promise.” – Ellie</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“A bottle of brandy and two 4Mbps lines.” “Wait. Who’s buying the
brandy?” – Rudolph & Ellie</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Well played.” – Rudolph</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“So… I believe you’ll be breaking our toys on Thursday. Can’t
wait!!” “YOU can’t wait?” – Nicol & Ellie (seriously, I’m the one being
pushed to metabolic failure. I fail to see why others could be more excited
than I am)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“The trick is to outrun everyone else. As quickly as possible.” –
a very smart man</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“This has real momentum to it.” – same guy</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“This is so bloody exciting. But let me tell you:” – same guy and
I forget what he said next</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I feel like we’re selling cocaine. But it’s only Wi-Fi.” – Ellie</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“They’re the ones that could upset the apple cart.” – Rudolph</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“The better you play that the better it will be for everybody.” –
Jeff</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I think he’s one of the most well connected people in Cape Town.”
– Rudolph</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Metabolic failure … definitely not muscle failure.” – Riaan</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Avoid asking questions to which you don’t want to know the
answer.” – Ellie</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“And if your credit card company doesn’t have fraud protection,
you should get a new credit card.” – Ellie</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“LA is a highway. Joburg is a shopping mall.” – a fan of Cape Town</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I made a mistake.” “What was your mistake?” “Alcohol.” – me &
anonymous friend</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Every time I see you, I learn more. And I am more and more
scared.” – a partner</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“What we’re trying to do, no one has done anywhere else in the
world.” – same guy (maybe this should scare me but it doesn’t)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“You’re more than a competitor.” – a student of people</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I wondered why you were so calm.” – Adam</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“So many bills. Can’t we just stop buying some of these things?
I’m going to go book a flight to Joburg.” – Ellie</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“How do I phrase this, now?” “Carefully.” – Rudolph & Stefan</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Why is that going to be a problem?” “I don’t know. I just have a
feeling.” – Ellie & Stefan</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“We’re going to need 20,000. For Cape Town alone.” – Rudolph (at
this point, Stefan dropped his pen in shock and it rolled across the table)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“The areas I think we can sell to is –” “All of them.” – Adam &
Rudolph (love my boys!!)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Force them. That’s a good idea.” – Tamas</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I told you I wanted one for Christmas.” – Ellie</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I’m always drinking.” – Elizabeth</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I have learned one thing. If you close your eyes you’re never
going to see anything.” – Peter</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Nothing much, just an orchestrated attack on churches, police
stations, government buildings, and civilian property.” – Maged</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Air can be bad any time. But hard to turn down an AK-47.” – Mom </span></li>
</ul>
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</div>
Elliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08639115021659785758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1529855264806404625.post-62340155593634288112013-08-13T07:00:00.000+02:002013-08-13T22:46:19.720+02:00The body image post<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">This one has been a long time coming but it’s reached a critical
mass of other people blogging about this topic.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">So we have little Tash, who weighs 58 kgs (that’s less than 130 lbs for
you Americans out there), whose tiny body and strength to weight ratio are the
envy of most girls in our gym, including myself, <a href="http://wiselywastingtime.wordpress.com/2013/07/28/my-pants-are-tight-around-my-thighs-and-other-tales-of-lament/">complaining that she can’t quite get over the number on the scale being so high</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">She knows she’s being ridiculous. I mean, she was in bloody Cosmo
with ‘body of the month’ or some such not too long ago. And yet.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">You have an ex-model <a href="http://cherryblossomboutique.blogspot.com/2013/07/how-models-magazines-and-modern-world.html">who couldn’t stand the meat-market casting-calls and feeling like the ugly duckling in the room full of taller,skinnier, prettier competition</a>. When you think about it, being a model might
sound like fun but how hectic to be looked up and down and judged solely on how
you look, and most of the time you’re not the right look, and no matter what
you do you feel like you can never measure up? And at a certain point, you
start to internalise the feedback, however unfair and unrealistic?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">So you can be healthy, and happy, and good looking enough, and yet
want to be model gorgeous at all times, and successful in your career, and a
good wife/girlfriend … where does it end?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">You have my beautiful friend Katie, <a href="http://inthegates.wordpress.com/2013/08/02/its-been-a-long-time-comin/">who is <i>literally</i> uncomfortable in her own skin</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I was once told, before I was old enough to understand: Beauty is
as beauty does.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">What I posted in the comments section of Katie’s blog included the
following:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: #F3F6ED; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">It’s a crazy thing in this day & age that we let other people’s
opinions colour our own opinions of ourselves and our confidence. But we do.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background-color: #f3f6ed; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 18pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 12pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">I also hide my face behind makeup. So do most of us. Even minor flaws
aren’t tolerated in a society where you’re expected to be perfect.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">And then there is our Africa Regional winner, Carla Nunes da
Costa, writing <a href="http://paleoandoverload.blogspot.com/2013/08/jekyll-and-hyde-at-crossfit-games.html">a blog post on body image</a> that gets something like 22K hits
after The CrossFit Games shares it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Here’s an excerpt:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">So there I was at the CrossFit Games, I was about to embark on a
massive journey, and one of my stumbling blocks is a pair of shorts I was
given. After all "who wants to see those chunky legs and that cellulite!
There will be cameras!" Really Carla? Really?! </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Yep. I know that feeling well. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">There is very little to say that hasn’t been said before. Yes, men
have body issues too. Yes, a lot of this is a bit ridiculous.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Actually, it’s navel gazing to an extreme level. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I every once in a while make an insensitive comment about my own
current level of ‘fatness’ when I am not really fat at all, to someone who
actually is legitimately a bit overweight. They almost always call me on it.
Because REALLY I should watch what comes out of my mouth and the effect it has.
Yeah I’m carrying around a bit more than I should be. But it’s winter, it’s the
off season, and why the heck am I so damn vain?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Why is it that I have to go to the gym with foundation on lest
someone see my spots? Why it is that when I am running late for a plane and I
go to the airport without any makeup on but a huge grin on my face because I’m
happy, everyone smiles at me anyway just like normal?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I think the question isn’t why we’re none of us completely
satisfied with how we look. That’s kind of the human condition. At the end of
the day I’m pretty satisfied with my appearance, and whatever the reason for
that, I don’t know, I don’t care, I don’t question: but given that my little
insecurities become interesting for self-analysis or self-parody, but they are
not paralysing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Sometimes I’m the prettiest girl in the room in my own opinion.
Sometimes I’m not. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder anyway. Usually it
doesn’t really matter. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">The question isn’t even why do we care so much what other people think.
We know the answer to that question. Behavioural psychologists answered it
years ago: we are pack animals, there is a pecking order, and appearance is one
of the aspects on which we compare ourselves. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">The question is actually this: why do we feel the need to talk about
it so much? It may be this: that if we’re secure enough to talk about our
insecurities, it can make us look vulnerable, but in a controlled way.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Sure, ask me how I feel about my body. Just don’t ask me about the
stuff I don’t want to talk about.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">P.S. I do not mean for this in ANY WAY to make light of the psychological issues or struggles that a lot of women go through. Because those can be absolutely debilitating. I think the reason that many bloggers blog about this subject is that those self-same people are confident, strong enough, etc that they don't mind putting a little insecurity out there. Tash and Carla and the rest know they're strong beautiful women. And if they don't know it, everyone else does.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">But hey since we spend so much time worrying about what others think we may sometimes miss how awesome we are in many people's eyes. I see this insecurity blind spot all the time. </span></div>
</div>
Elliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08639115021659785758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1529855264806404625.post-83843492819362528012013-08-11T13:55:00.000+02:002013-08-11T13:55:11.748+02:00Just another week; same same but different<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">You lose 100% of the time when you don't try. When you don't ask,
when you don't put yourself out there, when you don't give 100% at work or in
the gym. The biggest cop out is not to begin.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">They say the more things change, the more they stay the same.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">This might be true. Then again, sometimes your life changes in
just an instant. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">And out of this pivotal moment you may think: ‘Gee, I wish I hadn’t
gone down this path that has led me to this calamity.’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Or you may think: ‘Is this really happening to me? How lucky am I?’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Or, in my case: ‘That was too easy.’ Maybe the next one will be
harder?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Business relationships are like dating. Kind of a lot like dating.
Especially because in business if you have resources it’s very very tempting to
do everything yourself. Because you can, and it’s easier, and there’s none of
this ‘can I trust these people; can they deliver,’ etc. In my position as
medium-sized company trying to get big, looking for partners makes sense. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">But which ones, and why? More importantly, what’s in it for them?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">You have your initial meetings. These are kind of like getting
introduced by friends or meeting at some random place. Sometimes you are, in
fact, introduced by other companies, or friends in the industry. Then you
realise it’s going somewhere and it’s about to get serious. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Then the nervousness begins: do they REALLY like me (insecurity)?
Who else are they talking to (jealousy)? Can I really trust them (fear)? Are we
really doing things that are in the best long-term interest of both parties or
are we missing something (doubt)?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Trust your instincts. My gut has so far, always been correct. When
I try and force what I want to happen over what my gut tells me is the reality
of the situation OR just what other people want that’s not aligned with my own
desires, then it’s been a mess. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Every. Single. Time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I had what can really be best described as a work date on Thursday
night. Took out a potential new business partner to dinner at The Roundhouse
(as one does when one is trying to show off). And hell if I wasn’t as nervous
as I have ever been on any date, EVER! Sheesh. Luckily I’m charming, at least
when I’ve had a glass or two of wine.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I should say, though, that it was an effort to get my charming
mode on. I was feeling under the weather. I am going to start calling it Jozi
flu. I go to Jozi, have a whirlwind of fun & excitement, then come back to
Cape Town and immediately get sick for 2-4 days. Not sick sick … just under the
weather and not wanting to train. I woke up Saturday morning, after a massive
struggle to get out of bed, and got as far as putting on my CrossFit clothes
and socks, and had my shoes halfway on before I realised: I don’t actually feel
that well, I have no desire to train, oh yeah and that shoulder does need good
chunks of rest throughout the rehab programme. So I changed into civilian
clothes and made myself breakfast.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">See, I am getting smarter. Slowly. So no gym pictures this post,
ha!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">So my beautiful friend Hes is getting married. I love Hes because
she’s kind and genuine, and wow to listen to her: she takes much more seriously
than I do the experience of the new girls coming into the CrossFit gym, and she
takes so much more seriously her personal transformation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">For me (see above post), it’s sort of like: ‘Oh ok yeah I’m no
longer an overweight couch potato. OF COURSE I’m one of the best athletes in
this small region I find myself in. How do I get better?’ It’s a sort of mix of
not being satisfied with the current condition but also not doubting too much
there current position in which I find myself. Hes gets excited when I, an
athlete she considers elite, compliments her muscles in a photo. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Just another reminder: careful what you say, and how you say it.
People are listening, as my pal Chris reminded me not so long ago in London.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Back to Hes. She’s beautiful inside and out, and she’s also very
much one of those WYSIWYG people that I love so much. Plus, her friends are
cool. Her friend Samantha, down from Pretoria this weekend, is another amazing
girl. I am so blessed with cool women in my life right now. For a girl who was
always mostly just a tomboy, in my growing maturity I’m now appreciating women.
The smart, insightful, non-weird ones that is (cuz girls can be weird, mostly
by not saying what they think. Boys can be weird too, actually usually for the
same reason!!). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I am so happy for Hes that she’s getting married to someone who is
definitely the right person for her. Well, they are perfect for each other. You
know sometimes people get married and you just think: ‘This is probably not
going to work’ but no one wants to be the messenger of the truth. Of course
just because the emperor isn’t wearing any clothes doesn’t mean being the
messenger is a fun task! But then people like Hes & Ryan get engaged, or my
friends from Ask Jeeves days, Dave & AJ. You see those people and you just
think: yes. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I’m especially appreciative of the women because of all the men I
have in my life. Mostly the competitive CrossFitters are men, mostly the people
in my industry are men, even most of the people in my company are men and I am
definitely not making gender-based hiring. Not that I don’t love men, because I
do, and even a lot of aspects of my own personality are very male-oriented, but
you need balance in your life, and finding balance through your girlfriends is
an excellent way. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">This musing has nothing to do with National Women’s Day. Just
randoms.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Jozi flu aside, I did have a pretty productive week. Getting to
the bottom of things is always … interesting. But it was a great week! Got to
see Henk briefly, who I love to catch up with because I can explain things to
him in five minutes and he just gets it. Quite a few other business development
meetings, some internal tactical stuff, and, the beginnings of some coaching. I
need someone to keep me honest. Also, asking the right questions is key. I
realised that to make what I want to have happen, happen, I only need to have
one domino fall, and the rest will fall into place. I also learned that I need
to stop talking and start making a plan to focus on what is really important.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Unrelated but also true: I am loving my new CrossFit programming.
I can see not only that it works, but how it works, and also it’s FUN. And if
it’s not fun, why do it? But if I want to get better I need to control the one
thing that is now out of control, and that is my stress level. Even good stress
is stress on the body, and stress takes its toll.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">This weekend was a public holiday weekend. I pretty much took a
holiday as well. Resting, changing light bulbs (!), lunch on a wine farm with
my wonderful, inspiring, amazing friend Riaan, braai with Hes & some of the
rest of the Ballistix crew. Going out to the winelands and Somerset West just
makes me happy. There’s something magic in the air in Stellenbosch, especially
with snow on those mountains, and the view of the Strand from the Somerset West
hills. Magic, I say. Saturday, I went out of my way to see a dear friend of
mine, Jo, who lives relatively far from me but I always love seeing her. Plus I
love the drive down the peninsula where she lives. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Sunday, today, back to work.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">My cat is fine, by the way. I think the cleaner accidentally
locked her out. It was so hard for me, feeling like I’d just gotten a message
from a dead cat in my dream to be more appreciative, to come home and have my
cat be missing on a stormy Tuesday night. I just knew she was outside (as
opposed to dead) but it was dark, and raining, and she can’t hear very well
anyway, and you can’t just go climbing about across people’s backyards at
night, it’s not safe. So all I could do was go to sleep.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">That’s another thing. Sleep. When I go to Joburg I don’t sleep
well. Altitude affects different people differently. Up there, I wake up after
five hours, on the dot, and can’t get back to sleep. It’s the electricity in
the air.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">It may be a South African version of Los Angeles, and I can
understand why on the surface Cape Town is far superior in terms of majestic
beauty, lifestyle, wine farms 45 minutes away …. Well, I’ve decided what I
want. I want it all.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">And when I really want something, I do try to make a plan.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I know more about telecoms than roads; promise!” – Peter</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I’m going to meet with them.” “Ooh. You like to live
dangerously.” – Ellie & Jeff</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that and just go back to my
email.” “Ooh. Denial. I like it.” – Ellie & Anita</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“They make routers that just aren’t very good at all.” – Jeff
(I’ve taught him well!)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“The company that drinks together stays together.” “As long as no
one takes pictures.” – just two Skyrove employees</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I could answer those questions if you ask them one at a time.”
“That was only one question.” – Jeff & Ellie</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I don’t compete at drinking unless you challenge me.” – Ellie</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I need to prep for dinner.” “Who are you having dinner with?”
“This guy.” “Are you cooking?” – Ellie & Adam</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I trust people until they give me a reason not to. But this is
making me start not to trust people as much.” “That’s not a good thing.” “Or
maybe it’s a very good thing.” – Ellie & Jeff</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“They are crazy!” – my secret date</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“They’ll lose two years.” – my date again</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“That’s peacocks.” “Oh…. I thought it was people.” – Riaan &
Ellie</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Either we will break Ellie, or Ellie will break our device” –
Riaan (or both!)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“It’s the most fun game there is.” – Riaan</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Too late.” – Neil</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“They have an axle?” “They have two.” – Neil & Ellie</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Not just a pretty face.” – Samantha</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“You lose 100% of the deals you don’t know about.” – Ellie </span></li>
</ul>
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</div>
Elliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08639115021659785758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1529855264806404625.post-72105423552334969972013-08-10T09:54:00.001+02:002013-08-10T09:54:39.884+02:00Being appreciative<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">There’s a fine line between being critical enough to diagnose and
correct fault, and just being critical. How harsh is too harsh? At what point
do you become high maintenance? At what point does self-criticism turn from a
self-improvement tool to a re-enforcement of negative self-perception?</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">On Sunday I ran a trail race. I once used to be quite good at
these things, but my metabolic conditioning is not very strong at the moment,
firstly, and secondly … well, there is no secondly. I’m just not in ‘cardio’
shape. But my overhead squats are pretty kick-ass … at least when my shoulder and
wrist stay stable. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Anyway as always you learn lessons in such a situation. I always
knew that long distance stuff like this is more mental than anything, and I
also learned that my mental muscle is a bit tired at the moment. I just didn’t
feel like keeping up with the leaders, so I didn’t really try, and the end
result was predictable. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I also learned that you can’t run in anger for too long. I didn’t
start at the front of the pack so instead I had to overtake all these slow
pokes and run around them … and as a result I lost a lot of unnecessary energy,
exhausted my ATP stores, and wasted a lot of time. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Now on the positive side: it has been years since I’ve been able
to run a trail race and not be afraid of the downhills because of my right
ankle which was sprained three times in as many years, the last time very VERY
badly. This time, amazingly enough, I could actually run down the single track
downhills with relative ease. And THAT is one of the reasons to trail run – to just
lean into the downhill, let your body go, and reach crazy speeds, all while not
being quite sure where your feet are going to land, but figuring it out as you
go along.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Monday-Tueday was a Joburg trip. It turned out to be very well
timed trip as I met some key people, got some key insights, and started to see
just how exactly to make the puzzle fit together the way I want. It’s always
good to know yourself well, your own strengths & weaknesses, and also to
have a sense of what the competition is doing, why they are doing it, and who
you need to be afraid of and why.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">One thing I’ve learned is that there are two things I’m doing,
that might be the key thing, that the others are unlikely to copy. Because either
would be too scary for them, but for me, I have no choice. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">On a related point, my positioning is appealing and I can tell
because the indirect players in the value chain are telling me so. When you end
a meeting and the OOH guy literally hugs the OTT girl, you’re probably on the
right track. Just … I have to hurry.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Monday night I went to a networking event and in the words of my
pal J … I really do have a knack for meeting the right people. I was having one
of those times when I was not necessarily in a networking mood; I was tired, I
didn’t really know anyone except for this one guy who I don’t like or trust,
who I was hoping wouldn’t see me … so I walked up to the people at the end of
the bar and introduced myself. Turns out they worked for a company I’d been
meaning to contact but never got around to. An hour later they had introduced
me to another good contact, and we’d had a good meeting of the minds.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Then I went out to dinner with a friend who is in the middle of a
couple of very rough transitions right now; one of which is to leave his
current job. For a number of reasons, all of which I agree with. But heck, that
still takes courage and a lot of it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Courage? So CrossFit, like life, like work, always involves some
of those moments where you think: I am in no way prepared to do what is being
asked of me. But then again, neither are the other competitors in the lineup,
and more importantly than them: to heck with it, I’m going to do it anyway. And
no, I’m not going to fail. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">One of the things that I do by nature is to see all the various
areas for improvement. I finish a workout or a lift and the first things that run through
my mind are how I could have done better. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">This is a useful self-improvement tool. But … It may also be overly
self-critical, in a game where the mental aspect is arguably more important
than the physical. You have strength, conditioning, technique, and then the
power of the mind. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I was in a meeting Monday afternoon with a man who is a successful
entrepreneur and businessman, but also just quite an interesting person. Our
companies are becoming closer partners and each time we meet we learn more about
each other, as one does. Somehow this whole subject came up, and he gave me a
very clear message, almost a warning: that I needed to take care to be more
appreciative. No specific ‘or else’ because there are a lot of potential ‘or
elses.’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">That night, after my networking event & dinner, I got back to
my guest house and there was the 2009 annual report of this guy’s company, with
his photo plastered everywhere. OK so far so random. Then I had a dream, and in
my dream a cat I used to have came to visit me. This cat was killed by a car
after I moved to South Africa (I shamefully admit to allowing emotional abuse
push me into letting the poor cat be an outdoor cat at all to begin with … but
hey we all have our weaknesses). Long story short, I dreamed about a dog losing
part of a limb, then my dead cat came to say hello, then I woke up.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Be more appreciative, because you just never know how long
something or someone is going to last. Message received.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Started my next day with a good long training session. The photo
above just about sums up that day. Lots of technique and efficiency work. It
was nice, actually, REALLY nice since my first meeting wasn’t until late
morning, to be able to spend three hours in the gym. Yep, definitely a luxury
this CrossFit thing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Just like ‘when do we see you again’ is a lot better than ‘oh you
again,’ it has now gotten to the point where when I fly back to Cape Town it no
longer feels entirely like home. I was driving into the city (again, after
landing in rain after leaving a stunning day up north), and as I came around
the bend on De Waal Drive all I could think was what a beautiful backwater this
city is.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Charming, wonderful, multi-cultural, and with character that
extends past shopping malls and office parks. But if what I like is getting
things done, and you can’t do new things without having those personal
relationships, I will be spending more time in Joburg. How much more is the
question.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Trying to be more appreciative makes me also appreciate Cape Town
that much more. It is magnificent. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I got home that night hoping to see my cat, and give her some love
since I’d woken up in the morning dreaming of the other cat. No such luck, as
she was missing when I arrived home. If there is such a thing as the universe
conspiring to tell me something about appreciating what I have while it’s still
around, it would literally be shouting at me right now.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I think I get the message. But what I do with it is another
matter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“A strange kind of winter.” – Jarred</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Yes. It is how you going to deal with it.” – Neil</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I’m just going to sit back and wait for that to happen. Because
we need it to happen.” – Craig</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I think I know who you’re talking about.” “Yeah. I drop really
subtle hints.” – Ellie & Craig</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Approaching --- would take courage.” – Doug (or not)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I don’t normally share this with people. But you will understand
it.” – Doug (way to give a girl a compliment!)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“They have a plan. The rest are just lucky.” – Doug</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“We have to control our emotions. So that we can control our
thoughts.” – Doug</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“And also, no one takes you seriously [if you don’t live in JHB].”
– Byron</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I’ve never trusted him.” “Your instincts are good.” – Ellie &
my Monday night date</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I think what you’ve just seen is the end of the beginning.” –
Lance</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“If you look around the table and you can’t see who the sucker is,
the sucker is you.” – Lance</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“This is not a book club.” “It’s not?” – Rick & Ellie</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“You kicked over the chalk bucket the last time you were here!” –
Jason</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Oh my God. I can’t believe I just called CrossFit ‘my alone time.’”
– Ellie (but it is)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I want to no rep Spencer Hendel!” – Rick</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I’m not quite sure where this is going but it’s going somewhere.”
– Mark</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“No. I’m going to do it.” – Ellie </span></li>
</ul>
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</div>
Elliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08639115021659785758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1529855264806404625.post-79452307749604752562013-08-04T07:00:00.000+02:002013-08-04T13:00:44.857+02:00The mental game<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times. I really like
people. At least the cool ones.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">It’s also trite but true that you get out of things what you put
into them. This is definitely true in CrossFit – the harder you push that
intensity, the better the results. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Same could be said of friendships; or even most relationships. A
while ago I wrote a post about what I look for in a relationship … any relationship.
I’ve been so focused on my work these last few months that if I care enough to
spend time with you, I sure as heck want that to be quality time. Not that the
people I haven’t seen in ages mean any less to me … it’s kind of complicated. I
should call some people.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Anyway. This week I was lucky enough to see one of my absolute
favourite people in the Wi-Fi space on Thursday night, followed up by meeting a
very VERY cool girl who I hope may become an addition to my stable of close
friends.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I was re-reading <a href="http://ellieinsa.blogspot.com/2012/04/what-i-like.html">the post I wrote ages back</a></span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">, and it’s mostly still accurate. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I want to surround myself with people who can carry on interesting
conversations. People who have similarly high aspirations to my own, who push
me and stretch me, and question me, and don’t let me get away with cop outs
(although let’s face it, if you’re going to avoid something you’re going to
avoid it!).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">There is an appropriate mix of driven selfishness that makes you
interesting to me, but when you do care, don’t pretend to care. Actually care. None
of this polite smiling then sniping behind peoples’ backs. OK, wait, I do do
that too. Shoot.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">But there are better people out there than I. People who spend
hours helping other people with no specific guarantee of reward. People who get
out of their own head to go hug their brother before the final event of the
competition. People who actually get emotionally involved at the plight of the
beggars.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Someone once said I’m nice but dangerous. I think sometimes that I’m
a strange combination of soft and hard. I’m pretty much a softie, unless you’ve
annoyed me, or attacked me, or unless I’m going for the jugular. In that case,
beast mode on, all bets are off. (running in anger, I suppose)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Why am I blathering on about this? Because everything in life is
about the people. You want to sell Wi-Fi? You need people. Especially, to move
up the value chain and do interesting things, you need partners and you need to
know how to talk to partners and answer the what’s in it for them question. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I’m not saying I don’t also have an altruistic streak, because I
do. But there is a part of me, as I said above, that is definitely an attention
whore. I wouldn’t want to be so famous that I had to worry about every person
meeting me just wanting to be associated with an image of me. But in a small
way, this may already be the case. It’s kinda like chauvinism; it might be
there but I choose not to see it, so it may as well not be. It’s all in the
head.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I was not feeling myself from last Saturday through Tuesday. Just
head not in the right place. Mentally tired; physically tired, even to the
point where I skipped a training session. CNS meltdown as a result of too high
of ambient stress. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Like when you’re sick and then you forget what it feels like to be
well, but you do vaguely remember that there is a time when you just feel
normal; that’s what this was like. Yeah, I can vaguely remember having energy
and enthusiasm. I was also affected more than I realised by some pretty
incisive comments by Jeff, making me question just why I was doing all this,
anyway. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Back to basics. Doing it for me, to learn. I’m achieving that. Don’t
need to be resentful of other things along the way; just be grateful. And I am.
My life is amazing. Like really amazing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">So what’s up with the mental game? Well at Saturday gym I watched
Grant fail his 107kg snatch over, and over, and over, and over. The boy had the
lift. He was under the bar; not quite solid maybe … but it was so frustrating to
watch him. His head wasn’t in the game. Somehow this had the opposite impact on
me and once I remembered that success in a move is more mind than body all of a
sudden my snatch balances came together, and my overhead squat with it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I’m at a point in my training cycle now where you should be
missing some lifts. If you’re not, it means you’re being too conservative with
the weights. So my deficit handstand pushups were … challenging. And I did miss
some reps. And the overhead squats aren’t as pretty when the weights get heavy;
it’s stubbornness that makes the lift not necessarily perfect technique. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">So what? So I’m happy that I’m not playing it safe with the
weights, but a part of me still feels like I failed when I miss reps. The curse
of the Type A personality is that I cannot be perfect, I cannot do everything
at once, I must delegate and deal with the lack of control issues that result.
Just means I need a good team around me; the sort I want anyway, where we are
stronger together than we are apart.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">But frustration abounds, nonetheless, of course. I can actually
feel the instability in my shoulder and I don’t like it. I don’t like how slow
the rotator cuff is to heal. I want to get back on those rings and practice bar
muscle ups … but I can’t. It’s so frustrating, but I’ve learned this lesson the
hard way. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">We’ve been having all sorts of fun things in the programme like
this one: 2x max duration weighted plank hold. So you put a weight on your
back; go into a plank position … and hold it as long as you can. The problem
with this? It starts to hurt eventually, after about one minute, and you kind
of have to decide how long you are going to hold it. And it’s empowering at the
same time as it’s not; because if you held it for 2 minutes you probably could
have held it for 2:10, and so on.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">There is no perfect. But hell. The CrossFit is so empowering to
decide you’re going to do something and then go do it. It’s not about ‘my
warmup is your workout.’ It’s not even about the competition; the competition
is just there to make you push yourself harder. And this is why competitors have
a bond that is the same type of bond that CEOs have (as I’ve now discovered). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">There’s a certain intensity of presence in a moment and focus on
outcome that is so intense it’s almost blinding. It can be; actually. You can’t
understand unless you’ve felt it. Was watching an old CrossFit Games video
where Spealler is saying how there’s of course an intensity to competition but
there’s also this sense of calm where everything suddenly gets quiet, and slows
down. I’ve felt this, and it’s intense: the presence in that moment. The same
sort of thing you hope or strive for in the rest of your life, where you’re so
focused on the person in front of you that you do not want even to look at your
smart phone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">It takes a mental strength, or a courage, to do things that scare
us. To walk out on that floor, to do Fran, to go for a max lift, to call a
difficult customer, to take the advice of your girlfriends when they want you
to do something you know you must but don’t want to do. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">So we’re all of us insecure and afraid of things. Failure,
rejection, losing, whatever. This is why it’s better to laugh at yourself and control
the conversation than wait for others to laugh at you. And they will talk
behind your back, but screw it anyway; you can’t live life under the sheets of
your bed being worried about what might happen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Or so you think until the guy you buy your vegetables from has his
arm in a sling because he was robbed and stabbed. And your new friend tells you
that the worst thing isn’t a bad Fran time or losing a customer or having to
make tough painful decisions involving people, but it’s losing a limb, or
getting raped, or dying young.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Maybe I’ll be a Joan of Arc on my mission to make public Wi-Fi
good, reliable, free, and secure (here’s a hint: the business models of the
future don’t rely on selling throttled internet access). That’s actually only
the beginning. Maybe I’m tilting at windmills but if you have any sense of what
the future holds and you don’t skate to where the puck is moving, you’re not playing
the game right.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Better to be crucified but at least try. I learned some new things
this week that make me very, very scared. It’s an interesting and dangerous
time for digital privacy and radio frequency air rights, and location-based
advertising. There’s a right way and a wrong way to do things, and some of what
I am seeing scares me more than a little. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">If shaking trees doesn’t get me what I want, it’s going to be time
to break out the axe. Bring a little knowledge to the fore, and see what
happens then. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">In two weeks I’m taking a weekend off and going up north to see
the flowers, and some friends. I can use the rest for my brain and my body. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I have a feeling I’m going to need it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Overhead squats! I should really come watch you train; to observe
all the different kinds of tension-causing activities.” – Byron</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“He said: ‘Why do I need to wait for five more people?’ They had
to hold the mast in place.” – Rudolph (Africa.)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Next thing is I’m going to have words with ---. Except I can’t do
that yet because one of them’s in the hospital. And I didn’t send him there.” –
Ellie</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Be warned. It’s not a nice face.” – Stefan</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“You probably already thought of that, huh?” – Rob</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“So I’m not a random!” – Rob (definitely not)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“One thing is clear. We’re going into uncharted territory here.” –
David</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Well I like him because he replies to my mails.” – Tim</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I must have missed something. Well obviously I missed something.”
– Stefan</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“It’s an essential part of training.” “What? Chocolate?” “Snatching.”
– Richie & Ellie</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I’m starting to wish I didn’t have so much respect for you.” –
Jeff</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Trust me. I may be impatient. But I’m also realistic.” – Ellie</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 16px;">“He should be informed before playing.</span><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 16px;">” –</span><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 16px;"> Cedric</span></li>
</ul>
</div>
Elliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08639115021659785758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1529855264806404625.post-36517264801013860222013-07-31T22:55:00.003+02:002013-07-31T22:55:41.732+02:00Inspiration<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">This city I call home is pretty damn amazing when you think about
it. I got home very late on a Friday night, and slept as much as was humanly possible.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">It was good to be home. Much as I love Johannesburg, and
everything else that’s going through my head, it was nice to show back up at
Cape CrossFit. It was nice to see everyone, to get goosebumps at the audio
selection, and to snatch alongside Grant. Although his snatch is way prettier
than mine.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">What was nicer, in a way? To have one of the girls in my gym
comment on my Facebook check-in that I was looking super strong and it was
inspiring to watch me continue to get stronger.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">You know how I said above that you can only inspire people who are
paying attention? Well, sometimes, apparently, you can be an inspiration
without even knowing it. I had no idea she was paying attention to me like
this; I was aware of her getting stronger, but it never occurred to me, really,
that I was being watched in my own way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">But seriously, it’s a great feeling to provide any sort of
encouragement to women to be strong, when our culture doesn’t necessarily
encourage this. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">It happened again not once, but twice in the week. One day I was
in the gym in the evening doing my rehab, and this girl who has been training
for a while, I don’t know her name but she has the heart of a fighter and that
is why she will one day be very good, came up to me right after her workout and
asked me, all in one breathless question (she’d obviously been waiting all
class to come ask): “You know that thing they did in the Games with the
one-legged pistol squats with kettlebells? Can YOU do that?” I said I had no
idea, but probably: let’s go find out. So we did, and I could. And she left
happy. That thing she’d seen on TV, performed by a living, breathing, female
that she knew.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">And then the next morning I woke up to a great long Facebook email
from a friend that said, in part, the following: “Thanks for helping me think a
little out the box and for teaching me to not be afraid to do things that night
challenge me - like you so often do - probabaly without thinking. I just take a
little longer. Boom!</span>”<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">So, what did I learn? While I may be hard on myself for lacking a
sympathy gene, and while I may feel inadequate most of the time because I feel
like I’m too self-centred, and especially now where if it’s not CrossFit or
Wi-Fi I’m probably not that interested in it (tunnel vision, anyone??),
apparently I do have an impact, and on some people it’s a positive one. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">While I may or may not have been whining on this blog recently
about sometimes the attention [that I do crave, let’s not lie here!] being all
a bit too much, and just wanting to crawl under the covers some days and not
come out, well life gives you what you need, right? Just because it’s hard
doesn’t mean it’s not too much to handle, and we all have our ups and downs. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">What I meant to say: I am happy and proud to be a role model of
sorts for some people, just as I look up to many role models around me. And for
any of us to go whining about how it’s so much pressure to be a role model is
just silly. It’s like in certain situations I can see and feel that I have a
little bit of star power to me, for whatever mix of reasons. I go certain
places and my presence is felt, let’s just put it that way. It’s not important
why, but it’s disingenuous to pretend it’s not there. I’m just glad I’m not
actually famous. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Back to reality. Training. Then Saturday accounting lunch, and
afterwards some errands and what can only be described as a mental vacation. I
took a hot bath, relaxed, and was so indecisive I couldn’t even figure out if I
wanted to put away my groceries or do laundry first. Mental rest day. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Sunday morning was literally magical. I was meeting my friend
Justin for a mountain run. Justin’s an Ironman so it was very nice of him to
take it slowly for my deconditioned ass, but as we started out running up
Devil’s Peak, a rainbow came out. And it was not a subtle rainbow, it was an
across-Table Mountain, full-fledged, cross-the-sky rainbow.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Then we ran up the mountain, and some niggles in my body that I’d been
ignoring came out. Time for more mobility. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">This city is stunning. The way the mountains frame the city, the
way the colour of the sea and the sky complement each other so perfectly. About
this time of the winter the depth of the green of the mountain, and the
different kinds of fynbos, with the blooming proteas and aloes, and the clouds
and sky and even the cold temperatures make you feel spectacularly alive. On
the way up we jumped a stream. On the way back we got caught in a squall, and
got soaked. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Something that struck me the other day as I was getting off the
highway in Johannesburg was that although I obviously am a foreigner in a
foreign land, and there is no mistaking my accent and different upbringing,
I’ve been here so long now that it does all feel pretty familiar. The road
markings. The brands. The way people speak. The architecture. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Like the entrepreneur’s curse is always to be walking that
tightrope of fear and responsibility, and feeling guilty when not working, the
expat’s curse is to feel almost at home, but not quite, both in country of
birth and country of residence. When you’re an American working in America, you
(or at least I, and I did quite a bit of work with overseas organisations so I
like to think I’m pretty open minded) tend to have a feeling of ‘other’ when
dealing with anyone outside your country. It’s not a trust issue, it’s a
familiarity issue, and it is damn weird when a Bostonian actually does have
more in common with someone from Toronto than someone from Little Rock.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Be that as it may, this is how I now feel about South Africans.
‘They’ are ‘mine’ in that this is now as much my home culture as America is. I
may never love or understand rugby like I love or understand football. But I
feel more and more at home every month. Justin even commented when we were
running: How long have you been here? Six years? THREE? Only three? Wow. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Yeah. I feel that way too sometimes. I was just looking through my
photos from 2010 recently. That feels like a lifetime ago. Different people in
my life; I couldn’t yet do a pullup, different field of work, certainly a lot
more immature. And if I’m this much more mature three years later, I have a lot
of growing to do still. I’m tired just thinking about it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">But back to reality. That run was an epic way to start the day! I
followed it up with lunch at Sandbar, accidentally running into Roland and
getting some great feedback on mobility, dorsiflexion, and Olympic lifting,
while I was busy doing whatever it is I was doing. Brain still not fully
engaged. And I forgot to write down his best quotes. Although I’m sure he had
some. Probably wasn’t trying hard enough.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Then: I flew to Port Elizabeth to speak at a conference, which I
wasn’t really in the mood to do but you do what you must. Was fun though, as
always! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Back again to Cape Town and a welcome sleep in my own bed, but the
weekend and first half of the week was telling: last week did take it out of
me. Overtraining and overworking manifest similarly. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">And then there was a bit of a shock to the system on Tuesday
morning. I can tell when people are being emotional, of course, but when there
is a deep truth to what they are saying, and the truth is something you’ve not
really concerned yourself with because it’s kind of immaterial to you, but that
doesn’t mean it’s immaterial to others. Makes you think. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I was trying to explain something to Jeff on Saturday – how sometimes
just because you CAN do something doesn’t mean you SHOULD. It may be better to
lose a battle than to lose the war, and there’s a hell of a lot more to life
and work than money. I don’t know if I’ll be in the telecoms space, or in the tech
space, or in Cape Town, or Johannesburg, or even on this continent in the next
few years. What I do know? The way that I go about doing things matters. I may
not be perfect, but at least I try to do good.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Intrinsic motivation, and aces in their places. That’s kind of the
name of the game this week. I am about to unleash an interesting series of
events, internally and externally. Will be interesting to see what happens when
the dust settles.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">But damn, it hurts when I see someone I care about get hurt. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I also want to pat myself on the back for listening to my body.
Trained Tuesday morning and just wasn’t feeling it … at all. I couldn’t snatch
to save my life, so I stopped early. Next day woke up at my normal 5:30am time
and felt exhausted and unmotivated. So I skipped gym and went back to bed.
Clearly what I needed was rest, not more training. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Got it back that night when I went to throw down with the boys
Nick and Peter at CrossFit City Bowl. My snatch was back, and we did a sneaky
little workout that kicked all of our asses …. But hey, I still beat the boys.
That was the idea, after all. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Training by yourself might have an element of Rocky to it, sure,
but as I said above it’s a bit lonely. And lacking girls to throw down with, I’ll
play with the boys. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I think we both know that’s completely untrue.” – Jeff</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“5 is nearly 6. 3 is nearly 2!” – Sam</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I kind of like them both.” – Ellie (indecisive much?)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“A frustrated man with a smartphone? Well you could take a photo
of me right now!” – Andrew</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“We got a verbal on the Cape Town event.” “What, even after my
porn joke?” – two of my crew</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I also like Joburg.” “Yeah. I don’t understand that.” – Ellie
& Damon</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“It’s pretty!” “It’s pretty useless!” – Ellie & Stefan</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I’ve said that to a number of them. It didn’t go very well.” – Jade</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“In my opinion, I’m right and you’re wrong, no matter what that
date says.” – Jeff</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“You’re going to kill us!” “That’s the idea!” – Peter & Ellie</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Even if we’re not really competing; it’s still a competition!” –
Ellie</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“You get around a lot, hey!” – Nick </span></li>
</ul>
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</div>
Elliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08639115021659785758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1529855264806404625.post-91752322774860518102013-07-30T11:00:00.000+02:002013-07-30T11:00:10.329+02:00In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">There is a certain amount of power you have just by having
knowledge, and context. Information asymmetry, in other words.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">This is why we [should] respect masters and gurus and teachers and
people with more wisdom than we have. It’s also a way to get things done. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">When you have knowledge and/or connections others lack, you hold
the cards. You can see, more clearly, the playing field. You can see when your
competitors are playing checkers on a chess board. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">You may not see when your knight is about to get taken, but you’re
usually pretty aware of where your queen is at and your strategy to win.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Interesting week, last one. I was in lovely Johannesburg. The pull
to this place gets stronger and stronger every time I go. It doesn’t help that
the winter up there is somewhat nicer than in Cape Town. The nights are cold,
yes, but the days are sunny and warm. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I was in Jozi this week primarily for lead generation. I was speaking
at two conferences: one on shopper marketing, the other a telecoms conference
about customer loyalty and retention. For neither of these audiences was Wi-Fi
necessarily a topic they knew about, and for both it was a bit of a mental
stretch, I think. But the people who got what I was saying, why, and the
implications, properly got it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">So, mission accomplished. I’ve also discovered that I really do
like public speaking. Especially by the Friday morning presentation, I was
flying. Then again, I’d just come out of what was possibly one of the most
important meetings of my career (on another, broader, business development
topic), and it had gone even better than I could have expected. This is what
knowledge, context, and framing gets you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I was pondering a bit this week, again, as I was having dinners
with a few different folks, whether I am more salesman, connector, or maven.
The first dinner was with a guy I knew from WBA. Unfortunately for both of us,
the way that dinner went was that I had to drink him under the table (make him
struggle to keep up, at least). This only happened because I warned him who he
was dealing with, and he didn’t listen. The second was with a gentlemen I’d
just met, from Egypt. Most interesting series of conversations, that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">There’s three types of people in the world: the ones who know what’s
going on and control it, the ones who can see what’s going on but can’t predict
or manipulate it, and the ones who don’t know what the hell is going on. I
obviously prefer the first type – these are the ones who make change. And change
is fun.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">To be a salesman, connector, or maven doesn’t mean that you’re not
all three. In a way, my role is actually more maven at the moment than
salesman. But the salesman always comes out. Maybe because the tech I’m working
with is just so cool, and so complex. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Like one of the conversations this week: the telecommunications
industry is a bit addictive because it’s always changing, and it’s insanely complex.
How do ISPs keep from being dumb pipes? And how do mobile carriers stop from
becoming a different sort of dumb pipe, with OTT companies eating them for
lunch? How does one innovate before you’re on a burning platform? Especially in
a big company? This is what keeps such smart, SMART people as I’ve met in this
last week in the industry for 10+ years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Speaking of titans of industry, I met one of the sharks I’d heard
rumours of this week. Is it possible to be excited and apprehensive at the same
time? I suppose, in my position, one must be. To be anything less would be naïve.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">You really only live in your own head. I discovered, a bit to my
chagrin, that I lack the sympathy gene, or at least the false sympathy gene. It
goes with the filter problem: if I don’t care, I have a hard time pretending.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Sometimes I do care, but even still: I feel more sorry for myself being
injured and food poisoned last year at Regionals than I do for the others that
under-performed. But even still, there is a specific understanding that only
athletes who have lived that specific scenario at the same time can feel, and
when one of you brings it up, it just causes emotions to come to the fore,
followed by other, related emotions of frustration. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">It’s funny too: a comment that to one person might not have a lot
of meaning, someone who is listening, and who understands, can feel the emotion
behind. I suppose in a way even to reveal this part of yourself requires a bit
of trust. Top athletes don’t just let out their fears and frustrations in
public; you’re supposed to congratulate the ones who did well and not be mired
in self-pity. But yet you feel what you feel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Being injured sucks. And being out of control sucks, at least when
it’s not willingly. And it’s a pipe dream, but sometimes I wish that I could
have someone really smart and competent would take care of me, and make all my
decisions for me. I’d hate that in the long term, but at times of emotional
overload I wouldn’t mind a day or a few like that. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">There’s a difference, I guess, between having stuff be more than
you can handle, and more than you can comfortably handle. Plus, at the end of
the day, you don’t really have a choice, and that’s how you get stronger. You
don’t quit in the middle of a CrossFit workout. It’s just not done. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I was just saying above how I act funny when I’m a bit insecure.
It’s …. Interesting, I guess, to see someone else acting similarly funny. What
makes us insecure in different scenarios, and why we act as we do: no real
answers of course.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">One thing I don’t care for in Joburg is the traffic. I could NOT
raise myself out of bed Wednesday morning and then had to drive to the gym, so
I got to my hosts for the week at CrossFit Kyalami a bit later than I’d
anticipated. And from there, the teasing began: “I thought you were going to
come EARLY!”. I do so much enjoy travelling about to other boxes because you
learn something new from each of the coaches. Plus it’s quite nice to have
people about when I’m training. The loneliness of the 6am training session at
Cape CrossFit is dramatic, sure, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s not
lonely.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Gyms do take on the personalities of their owners, and this one is
fun. It’s serious, yes – technique is important. But you can’t spend five
minutes there without smiling. At least I can’t. But then again it’s like
Schrodinger’s cat: I have no idea what it’s like when I’m not there to observe.
But the logo is pretty cool. I like the logo quite a lot. I guess it doesn’t
take that much to generate a brand affinity in me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Come Friday night flight back from Joburg I was flat exhausted.
Not enough sleep, a bit too much of emotional highs and lows. When I landed in
Cape Town, it was raining sideways. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I do sometimes question this almost irrational pull to
Johannesburg. But it’s like most matters of the heart: the heart wants what it
wants, regardless of what actually makes sense. There are some things and
people in Cape Town that keep me here, and may well continue to do. But there
are also people that pull me to Joburg.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">So much for predicting the future. For now I will be content that
I live in a place that I love deeply, and I get to travel to another place I am
coming to love, and develop relationships that side as well.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Logic always wins, Ellie.” – Riaan</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Don’t look now, but your boss is behind you.” – Ellie</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“You know me. You don’t need to know anyone else in here.” – Lance
[true]</span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“What, are you too short?” – Ricky</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“It didn’t work?” “No, it didn’t work because you have to pay for
it.” – Ellie & Gabriel</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“You woke up at 4 for gym and you don’t know why you’re
exhausted?” – Cedric</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“You have all the cards.” – Spencer</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“But you do, just by being there.” – Spencer (ah, to be exotic for
no good reason)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“And unfortunately for them, you’re also intelligent.” – Spencer</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Yeah. You learned your coach isn’t Jewish.” – Ricky (I learned
this one the hard way…)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“That’s not really a fair question, because the answer is always
yes, even if the answer is no.” – Ellie (this got me something closer to the
actual answer)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I think you just get used to it.” “I don’t want to get used to
being exhausted!!” – Megan & Ellie</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Choose. And the status quo is also a choice.” – Ellie</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 16px;">“Oh. You're [brand]. Of course you are.” – Ellie</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Those skills we can replicate. We can’t replicate the thinking
behind it.” – Maged</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Yes you are.” – Cedric</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Sometimes I think it may get a bit confused.” – Ellie</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“What, did you get attacked by a lion?” “No. An elephant trampled
my guide.” – Ellie & [can’t disclose … stupid NDA!]</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“You’re dealing with them. You must know.” – Adnan </span></li>
</ul>
<br />
</div>
Elliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08639115021659785758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1529855264806404625.post-77254286387357407792013-07-28T14:30:00.000+02:002013-07-28T15:56:03.983+02:00TEDx and Beyond<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Sometimes, I frustrate me. I absolutely hate that feeling of
mental and physical exhaustion … especially when I know fully well that it’s
poor decision-making around sleep and lifestyle that is going to come back to
bite me if I’m not careful. What’s the point of all this training after all?
Yes, it’s for lifestyle, and yes it’s for fitness, but it’s also to perform
well in competition but there’s a hell of a lot more to THAT than just putting
in the hours in the gym practicing technique.</span><br />
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Saturday I woke up at some ungodly hour of the morning to drive to
Lanseria to fly back to Cape Town. It was the more ungodly because after a
girls’ night at Montecasino, I spent far too long on chat before finally going
to bed. Adding insult to injury, I accidentally miscalculated how long it would
take to get to the airport, but luckily at that time of the morning in Joburg
no one really seems to obey the traffic lights much. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I arrived mid-morning at TEDx Cape Town, where my spectacular team
were busy saving the day, and keeping the Wi-Fi up and running. An afternoon
routing crisis on my core network got me much more upset than it probably
should have; yet another reason why sleep deprivation is not a good idea. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">For what I was able to see of it, I enjoyed the TEDx. It gave me
goosebumps to see my friend Riaan speak, to check the whole thing from the
catwalk (best seats in the house), and there was the magical musical
performance of Shannon Hope. She had this one line: ‘Just being a grownup is
hard. May as well do something that makes you happy.’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">She was talking about her own search for passion and meaning in
life, which she found in music. Great as long as the music can pay the bills,
as she acknowledged. I was having a bit of a hard time with some of this
because while it’s true in theory that you can inspire other people, you can’t
TRY to inspire them as that’s just disingenuous, and you can be as inspiring as
you want but you can’t make people pay attention. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">She was saying that you can’t measure your success in dollars and
cents. In a way, this is true. In another: this is actually how I WANT to
measure myself. Is it a poor reflection on me that I want to play by the
established rules of the business world, where power is power and money is
money and money is power? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Those are circles I’m comfortable in, and that I like. People have
told me I should open a CrossFit gym or some such. No desire. None. I don’t
want to measure my success in terms of changing other peoples’ lives. That’s
why I could never be a teacher. I want to build things, not people. That’s more
important to me than the money, but the money follows.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I will build people too, as such is part of being a manager and a
leader, and at the end of the day I do love my people. Skills you can buy;
loyalty you cannot. You need both. But I get more pleasure out of building
someone who then fulfils a function that I need than in just building people generally.
It’s the same as software – the pleasure is in the building blocks.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Back to TEDx. There was also this woman who had come out of the
aid space who was talking about the twin devils of pity and contempt for anyone
poorer and darker than we, and the arrogance of sitting around presuming to be
the ones who could come up with a solution. She went on to say that countless
times they must have talked about plans and goals and initiatives …. But not
once had they sat down and admitted they were wrong, or they should learn or
change or grow. And here I sat, with a sort of smug satisfaction that I didn’t
hold people in such contempt (but I suppose I sometimes do), and that at
Skyrove we are as quick to talk about things that we are not doing well that
should be fixed as we are about our wins (and yet we don’t always fix them, and
we do have blind spots).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I guess you can only try to do your best.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">But hell, even that is a big ask. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">After TEDx, I went to observe a video shoot for my friends at
HealthQ, at Black River CrossFit, where I’d hooked them up with the owner. So
in a way, I suppose I was almost the godfather of the video. In a moment
somewhere between highly embarrassing and highly flattering, it turns out that ‘the
talent’ for the video actually recognized me from a CrossFit competition. And he’s
actually the semi-famous one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I act very silly when I’m feeling a bit insecure. I suppose that’s
how one can tell: if I’m bragging, I’m probably feeling insecure. If I’m making
fun of myself, I’m comfortable. Usually, I’m making fun of myself. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Sunday was another emotional day as I slept in (for like 10
hours!) then got up to have brunch with my gorgeous, intelligent, and
gregarious friend Elizabeth who just moved to Cape Town. She asked me what was
going on, and I spat out this great long plan. But she got it. She’s smart. And
the plan is, at least, coherent. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I’m excited to have her in town.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Then I went down to Misty Cliffs to say a pre-goodbye goodbye to
Kerry and her family. It is hard to describe how I feel about this, other than
that, in a way it’s a bit hard to accept. She’s been there through my very
beginnings in CrossFit, and at Skyrove, and now I’m at a different place with
both, and still moving: because, well, what choice does one have?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Someone asked me recently what is the point of the CrossFit
training. For once I came out with an honest answer. For now, for right now, it’s
to perform as well as possible in competitions. It won’t always be this way.
But try and take the competitor out of a competitor. Not gonna happen. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Monday was actually a really bad day. I woke up in the morning to
do my normal thing, and it was raining and cold, so I didn’t get to see the
sunrise I’ve been accustomed to. Then I did a workout that was called ‘Barnacle
Bashing’ but may as well have been called ‘Get on the Rower and Die’ because it
ended with a 500m row and so you knew the entire time that you were going to
get on that rower … and die.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">So after that, how could the day help but get better? Normally
this is fine, but I started to feel ill, and that made me very unhappy because
I had a big week ahead of me and could not afford to get sick.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Plus, sick means can’t train, and sick means burnout. But hey I
had an interesting lunch with a competitor and then spent two hours going over
our customer database. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Every day is different, and the difference between a good day and
a bad day is between the ears. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I think you and I both need to get more sleep.” – Ellie</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I think we like you, Ellie.” – Riaan</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I mean it. I don’t say things I don’t mean.” – Riaan</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“He’s not even breaking a sweat.” “That’s ok. We have baby oil.” –
Ellie & video producer</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“It’s ok. We don’t hate all of them.” – Nicol</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Oh! You’re the rocket scientist.” – Ellie (sometimes I’m a bit
slow on the uptake)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“You were so sharply close I’m stunned.” – Cedric (one day he may
stop being surprised)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“If you’re going to go to a beer festival in South Africa, how
better to do it than with a bakkie full of Namibians?” – Tim</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I didn’t give him full access. He just took full access.” –
Rudolph </span></li>
</ul>
<br /></div>
Elliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08639115021659785758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1529855264806404625.post-38392169454013974852013-07-23T10:30:00.000+02:002013-07-23T10:30:01.819+02:00Shaking trees<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I am starting to get excited. Like: properly excited. I’ve started
shaking some trees to see what happens, and so has Rudolph. So far, so
interesting.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">The last week was a pretty epic one for me. It had both highs and
lows, as does every week, but more highs than lows. The biggest deposit in
company history on Monday, a verbal yes on a very exciting pilot on Tuesday,
agreement for free bandwidth on a cool little project on Wednesday, one of my
sales team got her first verbal on an event that same day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Oh and we had a little company party to celebrate a birthday,
three anniversaries of employment at Skyrove, and some of our recent wins.
Which, if I have anything to do with it, will be just the start.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Thursday I was in Joburg and after watching the deeply strange
launch of smart ID cards on Mandela’s birthday on SABC, the highlight of THAT
day had to be drinking wine in the boardroom of one of our partner companies.
Best part of this was that two of the other guys there are both serious
athletes: one is an Ironman and the other an ultra-marathoner. So here we are
drinking wine and eating biltong and talking about biomechanics of running in
between Wi-Fi talk. Yeah so fun but not necessarily terribly exciting although
I got what I needed out of that meeting as well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Friday started off with an early morning CrossFit session at
CrossFit ProForm; a bit rushed due to my underestimating the ability of the
Johannesburg traffic to start at 5am!!, then into downtown for a most
interesting meeting. Yes, you need to know where you stand, and why you matter
to your potential partners. This may be the beginning of something very
interesting. We shall see. That afternoon brought a presentation on Wi-Fi in
retail to NATIVE, and my intro to the very smart and insightful Jared Cinman,
then some balcony wine, a girls night at Monte Casino, and back for some late
night chat that kept me up past my bedtime.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">What a week. It was fun, yes, but also utterly exhausting and not
in a good way. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">So when I’m a bit stressed I drink coffee and eat a bit too much.
When I am very stressed I stop eating and I can’t even sleep; I wake up after
5-6 hours. This does not fit well with the athlete lifestyle, and I know full
well it can’t continue. But stress is in the head, so how do you control your
head? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Starts with more sleep. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I want to give a particular shout out to Riaan this week, who was
there for me when I needed him, and I didn’t even realise I needed him. Even
super heroes need moral support, hey. To realise and assess where you are,
openly and honestly, is the only way you can move forward.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">The last post had some interesting responses: within a few hours
Craig and Kate had both replied to say thank you, and, by the way, I had
impacted them for the good as well. My ego needed that, I think, because while
on the one hand you can be so confident (and must be confident), on the other
you do suffer with this shadow of doubt, especially when people look to you for
answers and results.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">It is mentally exhausting even while being fun. It’s my job, after
all, to calmly assess situations and make rational, adult decisions. It’s harder
to be the grownup when you’re tired. But I must also remind myself, yet again,
that it’s not just me learning from those around me …. It’s me teaching them as
well. It’s wonderful that I can ping my friends about the world for their
thoughts and feedback on business models and such, but I’m sure they get
something as well out of helping me out.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I have found myself thinking about a few things lately; mostly
related to Wi-Fi but not entirely. I’ve long ago credited my non-profit work
for teaching me lateral thinking. One of my business partners put it well this
week when we were talking about how you can’t really teach that (I know you
tried, Babson, but no, it didn’t work!). You learn lateral thinking when you
want to do something and can’t. So you try another way. And another way if that
doesn’t work.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">If I want something badly enough and I think it’s possible, I will
figure out a way. If it’s what I’m focused on. Right now I’m focused on some
very complicated multi-party negotiations, and most of the parties involved are
in Joburg. So I’m, again, looking to Joburg.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Now Joburg is a place that I really enjoy. I think it’s the energy
of the place, but also this: when I first visited South Africa, I enjoyed the
rough edge of it. The reality of living in a place that’s less mollycoddled
than the USA. But then again, Cape Town is not reality. It’s too beautiful and
too safe and too cosmopolitan and European. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Joburg is more of an African city (not that I have much experience
with Africa to know). I find it charming that the traffic lights go out and
that the security is for real and not just for show as in Cape Town. It’s not
actually charming. It’s unpleasant. But it’s also more real. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I suppose you create the future for yourself that you envision,
and I’ve been thinking a lot recently about my own future. Will I outgrow Cape
Town? Rather, when will I? Is it a problem to worry about things, and people,
that will ‘tie me down?’ I’ve been burned before by letting a groove turn into
a rut and before I knew it I woke up living someone else’s life and was
absolutely miserable, but I’m more aware now and that result is less likely to
occur.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">But still, Joburg has a pull to it. Maybe some day I will live
there. Or maybe I will just have what is, in some ways, the perfect life, where
I live in one of the most beautiful cities in the world and my close friends
are here, and maybe, just maybe, I could even settle down here, but in a life
that lets me travel to places like Joburg and London on a regular basis.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">When I was at Ask Jeeves International at the tender age of 21 or
whatever, I recognised then that I had pretty much a dream job. I have pretty
much a dream job now. It will be better in six months. I hope. I plan. I know
what needs to happen for it to get better for me, so now to apply those lateral
thinking skills and that good old competitive nature.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Yeah. Running in anger indeed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Merry Christmas.” – Jeff</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“How did you do that?” – Allister</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Also struggle to tick off items on your to-do list fast enough?
Look on the bright side: you have a to-do list.” - Nicol</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Yeah, I guess I didn’t actually answer your question but evaded
it, huh?” – Ellie </span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Wow.” – Stefan (this was a good wow. We like those.)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I’m not sure how much free will really exists in this world.”
“There is that.” – Ellie & Paul</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Is this where you get on the rower and die?” “Yes.” – Ellie &
Amy</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“It looks good and glad to see you're a vegetarian.” – Spencer</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“You can tell that they’re all technically inclined.” – Jade</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Please don’t fail.” – Cedric</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“It’s a gangster business.” – a gangster</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“There’s no real benchmark.” “Not in this country. No.” – John
& Ellie</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“My brother carries knives around.” “Yeah but he’s probably not
crazy.” “He’s a chef.” – Tim & Adam</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Welcome to the club.” – Cedric</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I invest a lot, especially in my guys here because: knowledge is
power.” – Rudolph</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“It’s one of the best I’ve seen.” – Rudolph</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Stop telling me things like this. Just fix it.” – Ellie</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I’m just reading the email … Telkom installed lines in the
library instead of the server room.” “Oh. Yeah. That makes sense. Where is
that?” “Pretoria.” – Ellie & Tim</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“If a lot of people hate you, that’s a good place to be.” – Paul</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“No. You’re going to be on the front lines. Not us.” – Paul</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Failing over to Seacom is like failing over to 3G.” – Ellie</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Well isn’t that funny, I happen to know someone who works in
sales there.” “Of course you do.” “Well. This is Cape Town.” – Ellie &
Rudolph</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I’d say being evil is a good thing to be average at.” – Charles</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“This counts [as hitting me over the head].” – Ellie</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“That’s more than ok!” – Ricky</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“No, it’s definitely the third kind.” – Andre</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“The fundamentals don’t change.” – Murray</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“We were talking about Wi-Fi. They somehow we got onto pig
entrails.” – Ellie (true story)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“When Doug’s on a mission, I don’t think that’s not impossible.” –
Simon (!!)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“How did we drink two bottles of wine?” “I don’t know. Ask Murray.”
– Simon</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I also suffer from the ‘have problems keeping my mouth shut’.” –
Nicol</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I can a little but with some limits.” – Cedric</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“You can walk the walk, hey?” – Louie (this was not a question)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“It’s all about breakage.” – Eugene</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“You don’t have a typical nerd profile.” – Vuyisile</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“A straw would be great, but not with the wine.” – Vuyisile</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“No, that doesn’t make you look like a tourist at all.” – Willem </span></li>
</ul>
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</div>
Elliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08639115021659785758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1529855264806404625.post-38327707916703691702013-07-21T13:05:00.000+02:002013-07-21T13:07:35.978+02:00Lessons learned<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">You learn so many things from other people, and the situations you
are in.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I had a bit of a weird situation last week where I had asked a
question on Whatsapp then didn’t actually read the answer until I left another
meeting, in which the same subject had come up. But I’m getting ahead of
myself. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I thought I was busy before but the level of intensity got turned
up a notch in the last week. Busy is the wrong word, actually. I am not always
working smart, if I don’t take the time to step back and evaluate what is going
on.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">There’s some magical ‘they’ who say it’s always darkest before the
dawn. I’ve been waking up very early recently and I disagree. Before the dawn
is no different than earlier in the night. There is something very VERY dark
about the witching hour time of around 2-4am. No one should be awake, then.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I find that there is a certain time of the day when the world
around you starts to wake up and reply to emails. It’s around 7am. That time of
6-7am when I’m essentially alone in the new room of the gym, just me, my
barbell, my demons, and the rising sun. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">It sounds so dramatic that way. But I do. In some ways I cannot
imagine life to be different than it is. In other ways, it’s crazy that I’m
here now, in this place, in this job, doing this sport. Perhaps in my own way I
am fighting demons in each of these areas. And what I’m avoiding?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Well, with my feet firmly towards the future, before I recount the
events of the last week at Skyrove which were, in a word, amazing (things are
finally, FINALLY, starting to come together as I’ve been working towards), I
was reflecting a lot on what I have learned that has enabled me to do what I am
now doing. Because, what I am now doing requires an understanding of lots of
different things. What triggered this is that my dear friend Kerry Murray, who
has recently been doing some PR/content marketing work for Skyrove, is moving
back to the States and I am bummed. I think I learned most of what she has to
say that’s valuable to me in the here and now. But it is hard to lose a friend.
Especially this one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I have been so lucky in my past to work with some people who are
expects in their field and who managed to teach me a lot not explicitly but
just by their desire to do the best thing possible for the company. So, with no
further ado I bring you:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>PR & Content Marketing:</b> Kerry Murray. The key insight? What
place is to the four Ps of marketing, applies also to PR. Get in front of your
people where they consume, whether that is online, print, conferences, and make
sure that your web site structure allows you to capture this. The whole notion
of writing opinion pieces as a method of lead generation is new to me in the
last year, and I get the basics now, thanks to Kerry.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Enterprise Sales:</b> Rick Lamy. There was a time when I resented, a
bit, Rick’s customer focus. Since I was in charge of product management
sometimes there would be a tendency for the tail to wag the dog and sales to
push for features to be added that were not core critical in my opinion, but at
the end of the day he knew his sh*t backwards and forwards. I learned from this
man what channel sales needs to look like, how to support the channel, and what
an enterprise sales cycle looks like. I may never have had a day of formal
sales training in my life, but I know how to sell largely because of Rick.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Product Marketing:</b> Kate Mosteller. I also used to get a bit
frustrated with this lovely woman because she wouldn’t immediately understand
what the product did and why it was important. ‘It has feature X, can’t you see
why that’s so critical?????’ Yeah. No. She taught me the difference between
function and benefit, and that you need to sell the ‘what’s in it for me’
element. If you can’t explain what your product or service or feature does for
a customer, may as well go home.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Strategy:</b> Harry Graff. Actually a marketing professor. Right up
there with Michael Cummings in my book, but what stood out to me about Harry
Graff was that he finally made me understand that product management (my
career) WAS marketing, and marketing WAS strategy. At least if you do it right.
Strategy is an over-arching umbrella that starts with the customer and ends
with consistency of execution to the brand promise and the specific product or
service being sold.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Line Management:</b> Craig Larson. He used to run a McDonalds. Then he
ran the Exit41 call centre. I am not going to claim that I have his managerial
skills, or even close … but he taught me a thing or two about no-nonsense
thinking and not taking crap. You must manage people differently but in the
last week, as I suppose, in all weeks, I’ve had to lay people down and say that
what they wanted to do was not going to work, and we had to find another way. I’ve
always been blunt. I try to be kind. But I’ve also been always a bit of a
softie, and I can feel that part of me falling away, because it has to. This is
neither here nor there, but a part of Craig I always respected, and I am now
emulating.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>The Right Approach: </b>Robin Keller. I recently was thinking of Robin
and emailed him, and in his reply he mentioned something about Wise Speech, a
concept from Theravada Buddhism. He taught me not to rush into things, and a
lot of tactical things about software development that mainly boil down to
this: figure out what you’re going to do, do it right, and for heaven’s sake, don't be sloppy when it counts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">There have been many, many others over the years for whom I have a
deep respect. Z Holly, Ed Boudrot, Clay Johnson, Steve Pennypacker, Chris
Hanaoka, Matthew Temple, Sakiko Kimura, Steve McDonnell, Steve Lilley, Laura
Snow, Eric Stromberg, Bernhard Kohlmeier. I am sure I am missing a bunch. Kevin
Ho, who taught me that smart people can think very differently from me, and
that if you have access to a machine you 0wn the machine. A lesson I’ve never
forgotten.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I have a tendency, for better or worse, to say what I feel. I don’t
like to lie because then I must remember what I lied about. That’s one thing.
Worse is that there is some part in me that does not like to leave something on
the table. You ask me something and I’ll tell you what I think, pretty much all
of it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Sometimes too much. But I do reserve the right to change my mind
when presented with new information. Anything less would be pretty foolish. Way
worse to lead off a cliff than to admit your path was not a good one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Here’s to not being foolish, and seeing what is there and not just
what you want to see, although I do believe we create or influence our own
futures to a certain degree. The degree can vary but deny it at your peril.
Believe you will succeed and you may. Believe you will fail? Then you must
definitely will.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">But why think like that? Life is far too bright & precious to
worry about fear & failure.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Back to the type I and type II errors. If we all regret more the
things we didn’t do or the path we didn’t take, why is it that the fears hold
us back every day are the little ones? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">What, at the end of the day, is the biggest fear we all have?
Rejection, probably. Not sure if it’s a real study or urban legend that people
are more afraid of death than of public speaking. I think the fear is of making
a fool and being embarrassed by that. Yeah so if you approach a company for a
deal and they say no or you go for the close and are turned away … move on.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I suppose it may also be good to think of both the long term and
the immediate future but not everything in between. Just like a CrossFit
chipper. Know how to pace yourself but don’t think about those 20 front squats
at the end. Speaking of which I want to do that one again. And 13.5 now that my
chest-to-bar pullups are improving.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">The great joy of following a training programme is that you don’t
have to think for yourself (ok, I do, freedom with responsibility). But I can’t
just go and do workouts that I think would be fun. Doesn’t mean I’m not going
to mix in some trail races though! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Life is short. If you’re not having fun… why bother? More on this
in the next post. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Elliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08639115021659785758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1529855264806404625.post-24005601722821847082013-07-14T22:09:00.001+02:002013-07-15T12:12:56.547+02:00Addiction, part deux<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">What am I addicted to now, you ask? Well, it's a new one. Not coffee or training. Validation, maybe? Greener grass?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Last week was a busy one. I had a case of déjà vu, another of a
weird case of nostalgia where it almost hit me like a wall that I walked into.
Something about the smell, maybe, putting me back into the shoes of myself as a
child in Vermont, when my father helped me and my brother create terrariums.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Why that particular memory? No idea. None.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">That same day the fog was so thick and heavy that you could not
see Table Mountain. It was there, but if you didn’t know you wouldn’t know. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">To be blindsided is not fun. It’s in my nature always to blame
myself for not doing things I should do, or missing things I should have seen
coming. It’s very rewarding in a way, this whole doing CrossFit while
recovering from injury, because I have now taken 100% full responsibility for
my own recovery. I told Chris a while back that I was over being stupid. So
that means full responsibility for making good decisions (like not competing in
the SA champs for power lifting when I’m still healing my back and shoulder),
and bad ones (like not sleeping enough).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Here’s to not being stupid, and to sorting out problems you’ve
been ignoring. I am as pain-free as I can remember being since I started
CrossFit … and I’m learning all sorts of stuff from the video analysis of
myself. The programme is working.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I was debating with one of my co-workers this week about people
and employees. He was wondering how many people just come into a job, don’t
want to re-think things if they are not done well, because it’s too much of a
hassle to figure out how to fix it. My sense is that most startup employees are
not like this. You almost cannot afford to be.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Lots going on in this week as I split my time between revising the
budget, an all-day offsite with my rock star technical manager to plan for the
future, moving some tactical balls along, getting more hands-on with my own
sales pipeline and helping the team with prospecting, and a most interesting
series of discussions starting.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Even the weather was strange – there were some days that were
properly warm, and then the weather turned and it got cold and rainy, then back
to sunny and cold. What a winter! And speaking of change and variability, how I
am enjoying the training in the mornings!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">The weekend was similarly interesting between a Saturday birthday
epic wine tour with my friend Riaan, and a Sunday spent hiking Table Mountain
and talking about the future of the internet and dumb pipes, before going to
stare more at spreadsheets. Figuring things out always makes me happy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">One of the discussions I was having on Saturday (aside from the
weirdness of all the Bastille Day decorations in South Africa) was about how
the journey must be as much a consideration as the destination. If training isn’t
FUN, if work isn’t FUN, then what’s the point?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">But also – once you start down a rabbit hole and start noticing
things, it can be very difficult to turn around, or stop noticing things that
you once walked right on past.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">In this next week is where the rubber meets the road, for real. It’s
one thing to talk about things that could be done, it’s another to go to that
next step of agreement in principle. I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Whatever the bottle the most important is the wine inside.” –
Cedric</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“How better to be known than having your network everywhere?” –
Rudolph</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Believe me I know how they think.” – Cedric</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Yes. I do. You have NO idea.” – Ellie</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I’m disgusted, actually.” – Carla</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“They’re weird and insecure.” – Ellie </span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“And you do that by yourself?” – Simon</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Well that was a mistake. Unfortunately.” – Jeff</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I try to laugh a lot but sometimes it’s sad.” – Jeff</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“According to my calculations …. No. My calculations are wrong. Damn
it.” – Ellie</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I don’t want to design a system that fails. I mean … what’s the
point?” – Jeff</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I don’t have a monopoly on being right.” “I think you do this
time.” – Ellie & Jeff</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“What, you mean like a drug addict?” – Jeff</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Well you can get away with it because you’re actually blonde.” –
Lindy </span></li>
</ul>
<br /></div>
Elliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08639115021659785758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1529855264806404625.post-55678832794176439552013-07-09T11:30:00.000+02:002013-07-09T11:30:01.334+02:00Running in anger<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Ne vous mettez pas en travers d'un sanglier qui charge.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">So there’s this lovely turn of phrase in Romance languages that is
roughly translated to English as ‘running in anger.’ I got a chat message a few
days back mentioning wild porks running in anger. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I’ve always been amused by TV shows and the like where the
translation isn’t exactly in line with the original. I even got an email this
week that made me laugh for similar reasons. French and the other romance
languages are so expressive and have subtleties that I seem to think English
lacks, but perhaps because I grew up with it I just do not properly appreciate
them. What I love about wild porks running in anger is that you don’t even need
to be there to be able to visualise it clearly. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">In CrossFit we have something called ‘beast mode’ where you shut off
anything outside what has to be done in the here and now, and just go as hard
as you can. Normally applied to competition; can be applied to training as
well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">In both cases – don’t get in the way. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Back half of this week I was in a bad mood. My staff were amazing
rock stars from Rudolph working with me on a quote past midnight while he was
on leave to Stefan knocking out two major changes, a big bug fix, and scoping
some integration work to Jeff drinking from the firehose to Tim thinking
through an operational issue in Durban to Jade, as always not taking any crap
from anyone at any time, myself included. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I especially love people who tell me when I’m wrong. At least,
when they understand the situation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">What I don’t love? Abuse.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">But thank goodness for my team because nearly everyone and
everything else was annoying me. Total sense of humour failure.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Look, I’m a very nice person. Possibly too nice. I have a long
fuse. But you make me snap and I snap. I don’t generally tend to be vindictive
because who has time for such petty things … but you conduct what I consider to
be an unjustified attack OR you act in a morally reprehensible way and I can go
from being nice to being …. Well, let’s just say, don’t cross me. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I can be patient but stupidity is annoying.” – not my quote but
may as well have been. Like minds.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">And for heaven’s sake do not get in the way of something that I
want. When I’m running in anger as I am now, I can build up a significant head
of steam.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">There is a difference though between the running in anger where
the anger is controlled and running in actual anger. The second half of this
week was both but more of the latter. I have only myself to blame for this,
however, because I didn’t get enough sleep. I’m particularly annoyed at myself because
I do know better.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">When I was at Exit41, our drive-thru technology was ahead of its
time. And this ultimately caused it to fail (among other things). But one
lesson from this: you can have the opposite of strategic drift whereby you have
an idea ahead of its time. Both are equally problematic.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I’ve said before, and this is no secret, that what we remember
isn’t the substance of the conversation or the work we did but the people and
how we felt while doing it. Out of every interaction what you remember is how
the other person made you feel. Good; engaged? Bad; enraged? Motivated?
Demotivated? Excited? Overwhelmed? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I don’t take as much time as I should to make sure that all my
interactions are carefully thought through. I’m running in anger, especially
now – now that I know exactly where I’m going (or where I think I’m going, if
we encounter roadworks we’ll need another plan!), I’m often so focused on the
end result that I do sometimes forget about the process.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">This is wrong, actually. CrossFit isn’t about the competitions,
it’s about the people, and the training time in the gym, and what you learn.
That’s why hanging out in a place I don’t normally hang out … all the way at
the bottom of an overhead squat, is so good for me. Get comfortable being uncomfortable,
and don’t dodge the unpleasant.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I procrastinated a difficult call all week. At the end of it, I’d
not only gotten what I wanted but more to boot. Lesson learned.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I also did something I’d procrastinated for ages, which was to
have myself checked out for any sort of tears or structural damage to either my
back or my shoulder. Confirming what I already suspected, both are fine,
although my back remains tender because of an imbalance between right and left;
but I now have a rehab plan for this as well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Keep doing the same thing over and over again and expect different
results? Or how about change the plan?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">On Wednesday morning I woke up, not in anger, but in amazement. I
had this long series of messages on chat telling me a story that quite frankly boggled
my mind, and the only reason I got this long set of messages was because I’d asked a specific question, out of
curiosity. It’s kind of like hanging out with Kelly Starrett for a week then
later realising who exactly your new friend is, what he’s done, and what he’s
busy doing now. I’m still a little bit in awe. To accomplish big things you
need a strong vision, lots of dedication, and some serious people skills.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">On another note, some great feedback from an old manager of this
same friend: At the end of the day it’s not about being right. It’s about HOW
you are right. No one likes the jerk who is always right or always saying I
told you so or always saying how you should be doing x, y, z.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">You can be right, sure. But do it gently and make sure the others
are along with. This week I spent a lot of time with my technical team, letting
them know all sorts of details from the market feedback to why I am thinking
how I am, some funny and amazing stories from my overseas friends’ experiences.
And they appreciated it (I think!). They asked good questions. Everything else
aside, work is about the people, as frustrating as they can be at times and as
much as I box them about the ears at other times. It’s usually not about them
anyway, it’s about me, and how I react to the people about me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">But hey, get the motivation right, get the goal right, and you can
have quite a few porks running in anger.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I told you it was the carriers.” – Arno (it wasn’t)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“You allowed yourself to go out and have fun? I’m surprised.” –
Jeff</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I’ve been screwed over by so many people in this industry.” –
George</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I also found out that there’s no internet in the car.” – Miles
(Wi-Fi FTW!)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“You cannot pretend to not be a dumb pipe if you don’t think out
of the box.” – Cedric</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“At the end of the day you’re judged on successes, not on trials.”
– Cedric</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Well we need one.” “What, a brain or a certificate?” – Ellie
& Adam</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I can’t have cake!” “Well, I didn’t know if you were still in the
Paris/London phase.” [pause] “Good point.” – Ellie & Jeff (the answer is
no)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“It is good news.” – Stuart (rotator cuff not torn)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“You’re worshipping sunk costs! You fool!” – Ellie (said with
love, believe it or not)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“It’s always good when good people get screwed over. Oops! I mean
bad people!” – Ellie</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I didn’t want to rock the boat. I said leave that to Ellie. She
likes to rock the boat.” – Tim</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Well, that was unexpected.” – Tim</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“That’s weird … why would it …. I’m going to take it out.” –
Stefan</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“It’s a bit worrying how much I like them.” – Tim</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Well this was a fantastic meeting!” – Ryan</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“We’re not gossiping. I’m sharing information about an event in my
life.” – not a gossiper</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“There is this sort of inbred mentality.” – another non-gossipper</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Oh no. That’s even more disturbing.” “That’s terribly
disturbing.” – Ellie & Michelle</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“The more consistent you are at whatever you do in life, the more
successful you will be.” – Jean</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“It’s very important that I inform you.” – Byron (not that we’re
messing with my spine or anything like that….!)</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
</div>
Elliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08639115021659785758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1529855264806404625.post-4032466567334538722013-07-07T09:20:00.001+02:002013-07-07T09:20:41.173+02:00It's quite a thing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">To walk on your hands. At least, I feel like it’s quite a thing
for an adult to learn how to do such a thing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">It’s not the sort of thing you can muscle your way through, and
you have to be as comfortable as you can while upside down and trying to move.
It’s very unstable, as you learn, and you somewhat feel like you’re falling.
You have to have that correct balance of arms, legs, balance, movement … I
never feel quite so gangly as when I’m trying to control my body when it’s
upside down like that. A handstand pushup against the wall is one thing; this
is quite another!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">When I first started to learn, I wouldn’t be able to do it at all
because I would never kick up high enough, being afraid that if I kicked up too
hard I would go all the way over. To this day I am afraid to fall. But it
showed up in my programme for this week, so I did it, and I was better than I’d
ever been!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">My new programming (training plan for the uninitiated) is, by its
very nature, challenging, tailored to me, and the goal of it is to get better
at everything but specifically my weaknesses, while rehabbing my injuries. All
of them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">So this means now a change to my routine whereby I go to train in
the mornings rather than the evenings. Sometimes I have a physio or something
in the morning, and so on the first day of this new week and beginning of new
training cycle I woke up at 5:30am and went to the gym. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">It was cold, and that Cape Town wind was blowing. There may not
have been rain or snow but I felt a bit like Rocky that morning. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">We’ll see how I feel in a few weeks. One thing I suspect; I’ll be
better at squat snatches in a few months.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">It’s a change. A big one. One of many, as this entire month feels
like so far. It’s like a mid-winter spring cleaning of a bunch of old things
tying me down, and clearing the decks for new things. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">A very important part of CrossFit is the group aspect. Training by
myself, in the morning, is just not the same. But it’s back to how I started to
do CrossFit, and it’s lovely to see the city wake up. It’s just a transition I
am going through; part of coming into my own as an individual athlete where
now, weaknesses that are not addressed have no excuse. The programming is and
can be tailored. So I also worked on my double unders and kipping handstand
pushups this week.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">How do you get good at something? Skill. How do you get skill?
Practice; yes, but also paying attention. I’ve been taking videos of myself and
I have learned some things. My overhead squat is already much improved in just
one week as a result of practice, analysis, and application of new things.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Speaking of new things: if you have to do something you’ve not
done before in a training situation or in competition, or at work, is motivation
and determination enough to see you through? Motivation, determination, and
belief? Motivation, determination, belief, and enough talent? Luck? Does luck
factor in?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I’ve been thinking a bit about all things in their time. There are
some meetings I’ve had the last month that I could not have had three months
before …. Or at least not effectively. I was wondering when the feeling of
drinking from the firehose was going to end. Well, there is always more to
learn but the learning curve does eventually flatten out. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">To get anywhere you must know where you are going but you must
also know where you are now. I’ve emerged from the fog of not knowing what on
earth backhaul is through knowing the general direction I wanted to go but not
finding the path to now knowing exactly where we are and where we’re going.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">This now is the fun part, when you’re done your warmups and it’s
time to get the workout on. The workout is painful but through it you should be
smiling. I normally do, whenever I’m not grimacing!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I was thinking back over the past few months and one part of the
learning slowing down is that things which used to make me pause to think: what
exactly should we bundle? How should we price? What customers do we want? Which
do we not want? In what situation should I worry about the competition? How do
we do prospecting and lead generation? What exactly is the messaging, and where
do we fit in the ecosystem and where do we not?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">It’s fun to see how the puzzle pieces fit together. Like walking
on your hands. This takes a lot of different skills from being able to kick up
the right way to being able to balance in a handstand to then being coordinated
enough to move not just your arms but your legs too, all the while keeping your
core tight so you don’t fall down. Getting that to work is a puzzle.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">But then you get it and you think you’re pretty cool. Maybe even
into that snide ‘elite’ category of CrossFitters. So when does confidence turn
into arrogance? There is certainly something in me that is snarky and
competitive and likes to feel superior. But I’m also a realist. I know what I’m
good at and what I’m not. Ask me what I’m good at and I’ll tell you some
things. Ask me what I’m NOT good at and you may be there a while.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Actually, not what I’m not good at. What I’m not confident about.
Some things I just plain suck at, some things I don’t really care for but can
do just fine, and some things I think I can maybe do if I just applied myself.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">This place I live in is kind of magical. The colours are so vivid.
I think maybe especially in winter. The sky, the clouds, the water, the
mountain, the flowers, the buildings, the people.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I love seeing photos from other places in the world. My friends’
backyards in Boston, Dodgers games, Egypt, the insides of random CrossFit gyms.
You see this photo and part of you wonders what would happen if you were there,
right then.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">This amazing world we have of mobile networks and text chat
enables us to send pictures in real time all the way around the world. What an
interesting way to share things: you could literally almost share what your
life was like all the time, to someone who had never been there. But it really
doesn’t work like that. You can’t remotely share the taste of a fresh cherry or
smell the Camps Bay air.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">The world is small, but also large. South Africa is a special
place, but it some days feels very remote and insular.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Or maybe that’s just how I feel right now, training alone, living
[mostly] alone, leading alone. Well, you keep going. Unless you hate something
about your life, then you fix it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I hated being injured, and my shoulder is well on the way to full
health. Just you watch, I’ll be doing strict muscle ups again in a month or
two!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Next time I'm walking on my hands I'll take a video. So I can have a picture for the blog and so in three months when I can walk across the room I'll be able to look back at how far I've come.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I have nothing to teach you.” – Cedric (he was exaggerating)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I protect my energy.” – Kerry</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Wi-Fi can mean all sorts of different things.” – Greg</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I’ve seen that list and it scares me a little.” – Jeff</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Did you install Linux on it?” “No …. But Stefan might have.” –
Ellie & Rudolph</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Some people don’t handle change very well.” – Rudolph</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I would stay in a Halal hotel that did not serve alcohol but if
it didn’t have Wi-Fi then f*ck off.” – Sam</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“This isn’t a video game. I’m not trying to hit them.” – Ellie</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“It’s always good to have something to fight for.” – Jeff</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Just keep going.” – Stanley</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“It’s me here that’s the freak of nature. Not you.” “I want to be
a freak of nature.” – Ellie & Lushwill</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“It’s the only play they have.” – Dominic</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I have some interesting friends, huh?” – Ellie</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Nothing says a keen legal mind like getting locked in the
bathroom.” – Rolf</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Who is the actual customer here? I’m confused.” “It’s a secret.”
– Ellie & Jade</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
</div>
Elliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08639115021659785758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1529855264806404625.post-79263503412246363502013-07-01T12:02:00.000+02:002013-07-01T12:02:00.214+02:00Motivation<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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</div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Adversity causes some men to break; other to break records.”
– William Arthur Ward </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“No fear. No distractions. The ability to let that which does not
matter truly slide.” – Fight Club</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“What are you waiting for? You're faster than this. Don't think
you are, know you are. Come on. Stop trying to hit me and hit me.” – Morpheus</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Sometimes all you want to know is that someone’s got your back.
This may be why adulthood is so jarring for some people.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I remember when I was a child. Not all of it. But one thing was,
yes, my parents would get mad at me (and rightfully so, I am sure), but at the
end of the day I knew they had my back. I knew if I didn’t come home one day or
if I got hurt or if someone bullied me or something bad happened, they would be
there for me. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">It’s like when you’re sick and some friend brings you chicken
soup, or when a co-worker does something pro-actively without you having to
even think to ask them to do it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Sometimes support comes in another form. There is all sorts of
support, from the tough love of a parent to the honesty of a partner or
manager, because you never get better without constructive criticism. Criticism
to tear down is another matter, and one of the interesting parts of people and
psychology is to know what works the best for a given person: is it the
‘criticism sandwich’ or to be blunt? Is it to bully or encourage or shame? I
know what works best for me!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Motivation is like culture. You sure as hell can’t impose
motivation on someone else. My motivation, that of those around me, and the
intrinsic motivation of people in general is a perennial area of interest for
me, as is how we intentionally and unintentionally affect the motivation and
behaviours of others with our own actions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I said in my last post how easy it was to go ‘cold turkey’ from
CrossFit and just start eating and drinking whatever I wanted. Especially when
you’re stressed, as most of us white collar workers get, and you tend to stress
eat on the one side, or, my own personal favourite, use caffeine as an upper
during the day and alcohol as a downer in the evening. This is one of the
reasons that I do train, so that I don’t need something like wine to relax me
of an evening, and so that if I do take it, I feel the effects in the gym and
that keeps me away. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">So I go back to the gym for the first time in, oh, about two
weeks, and those two weeks of eating and drinking whatever and not always
sleeping very much. The end result? Rack jerked 70kgs like it was 50 … and then
absolutely hit the wall after two rounds of my metcon. I wanted to DIE. I
wanted to quit. I actually lay down between rounds 3 and 4 and considered doing
just that. Actually, worse … I did quit thinking I was done, it was my first
day back, I couldn’t bring the intensity that I knew was required ….. then I
got my head in gear at least enough to go out there for the final round. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">My coach after asked me how I felt; I said terrible, and he said
well I looked terrible. I watched the videos after and the only round that
resembled how I should look was the first round. It’s …. Not fun to see
yourself like that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I was realising recently that this 2012 Regionals dumbbell snatch
was actually more of a defining moment for me as a person than I probably
realised at the time. When I signed up to be on the team, I didn’t know it was
going to result in the entire team relying on me to do something I wasn’t sure
I could do.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">To look back on it now, it was a strange position to be in: about
to enter a competition floor, having never completed a 32kg snatch with the left
arm, but be utterly confident that I would succeed. I can still remember that
moment in my car when the realisation suddenly came crashing down on me that
this wasn’t anything to do with me at all, and I would nearly rather die than
let my team down. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">It was actually more visceral than that, even. It was: I am NOT
going to let them down. It is NOT going to happen. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Confident? Yes. Over-confident? Probably. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I’ve said this before but it bears repeating: when it comes to max
lifts or things you think you won’t be able to do, once your brain has decided
it’s impossible, once you lose faith in yourself, you miss every time. Same in
most things in life. The most dangerous Cape Town drivers are the ones who fail
to commit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I went back to re-read my blog post, hence the first quote above.
I was not actually supported in this endeavour. My teammates wanted me to
succeed but there was this undercurrent of lack of faith. But … I actually didn’t
notice at the time. All I could think about was that stupid dumbbell and how I
wasn’t going to let everyone down. What the others thought didn’t matter.
Rather like in competition – you’re doing what you’re doing, and you don’t know
or care who is shouting for you in the audience. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">So as I am returning now to training and to my sport and thinking
through support, and lack thereof. I now compete as an individual. What does
this mean for me in terms of motivation? What does this mean in terms of
support? One thing I can say, not for good or bad but it was what it was: I
competed at Regionals, complete with food poisoning, without a lot of emotional
support. I had friends, sure, but they had their own stuff going on. I didn’t
have that one single person who was specifically there to have my back. As I’m
now trying to hook Carla (who won Regionals) up with some support in the LA
area, it makes me wonder: is that why you have a coach? To give you that
support when you compete? Or is the anonymity better/easier?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I’ve heard the saying that people’s futures or realities are shaped
by their thoughts. That’s where ‘self-fulfilling prophecy’ comes in. It is
possible that my thoughts and will single-handedly snatched that dumbbell for
me, in a way that I couldn’t get that muscle up this year even though I knew I
could do it and was shocked and baffled that I did not. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">The other day, I was WhatsApping with a friend who was giving me
some advice for a meeting the next day and actually at one point I became a
little bit overwhelmed with the feeling of: how lucky am I? What on earth did I
ever do to deserve this sort of moral support at 9pm on a school night? Well,
four hours later still chatting and then I couldn’t train the next day because
I hadn’t slept enough … I have only my own decisions to blame for my lack of
sleep, but that’s another matter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I guess what I’ve been thinking is this: I do, and don’t, care
about the peanut gallery. I do care that my coach basically just told me I
suck. But I’m not going to fix it for him; I’m going to fix it for me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Other people are different. Some people are highly emotional. I’m
not the sort to scream & shout or knock things about. It’s not in my
personality and I don’t really think that’s how you get the most out of your
relationships. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">It is so interesting to me, comparing my thoughts and condition and
experience with others, especially those who have been in my seat before. To
know you’re not in it alone and that there are people you can ask for help and
advice; but it must be the right advice. Every CrossFit athlete who’s been
doing it a while, and every athlete has an opinion. And you can’t waste your
time talking to everyone. You must find the ones who actually have the
experience or education to give valuable feedback.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Where to draw the line between ‘measure twice, cut once’ and ‘shoot
first, ask permission later’ is a difficult one, and there are no right
answers. To sort out my shoulder and to get to that next level I am now making
a dramatic change to my training, at least for a while.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Following a programme is like anything else. It must at least appear
to be a good programme for the individual. What I don’t need right now is
Smolov squat programme. And it must be followed for long enough to know if it’s
making a difference, and tracked and measured, and then evaluated at the end. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">The funny thing is: now a year later, it doesn’t matter at all if
I snatched that dumbbell or not. I was talking with both Chris and John about
this in London: how strange it is that we have so much care in us about
whatever it is that we are working on at work, then a few years later we’ve
moved on and could literally care less? What does this tell us about our own
selves and lives? Everything is sooooooo transient. At the end of the day I
remember more what I learned and the fun we had, together, than the specific
details that seemed so important at the time. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">There’s a lesson in that too, I suppose.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I have also a type of professional coach, and I asked him why he
does it, because in part I am baffled, as I told him: I’m an athlete. I’m a
doer. I cannot sit from the sidelines. I remember when I first moved from my
on-the-front-lines job at Jeeves into a higher level role, feeling separation
anxiety from the low-level details. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Knowledge is power, and you cannot debate on a level playing field
with someone who has more knowledge than you do. You’ll get caught out and even
if they are wrong, they’ll call you as ignorant and it’s game over. This is one
of the reasons I’ve had to learn Wi-Fi so fast. It’s actually not so funny when
you don’t understand a router from a switch or ADSL contention, what is
point-to-point vs point-to-multipoint, or what it means for fibre to be ‘lit up’
or what is layer 7 or interference. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Thank goodness all that is behind me: there’s plenty I still don’t
know, but I’ve got enough of the basics down that the plan is in place, plan
has been and is being validated by my WBA friends, and all that matters now is
the execution of said plan.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I am just realising also that I have turned into my first mentor. Wow.
The more things change the more they stay the same, huh? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">But one thing I am eternally grateful for is my amazing friends
and acquaintances who provide moral support, advice, and even just that
confidence to prop me up. It did more for my confidence going into Regionals to
have one of the guys in the gym make an offhand comment about how he thought I
‘belonged’ up there at the top of the leaderboard than my own internal thoughts
could do. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">One of my other dear friends asked me a question the other day and
when I was too slow to respond and it was clear I was hiding something, she
didn’t just let it go. That sort of friendship and support is what you need.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Not sure why, but sometimes that support makes all the difference
in the world. We may be individuals but we’re not alone.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Your shoulder is injured because of tension in your spine.” –
Byron</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“My life is going to be easier now that Ellie’s back.” – Rudolph</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Can’t fix stupid.” – Jade</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Wait …. This from the guy who wore a Meraki shirt to a Ruckus
training?” – Ellie (judgment!)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Oh yes. You need help.” – Willem</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“There is nothing on this planet that handles interference like
Ruckus.” – Rudolph</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“The road is littered with people who thought they were indispensable.”
– Rudolph</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“And when they understand it’s better.” – Cedric</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“You look like a girl!” – Bennii</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“You looked terrible.” – Chris</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“We’re all such singularities.” – Mark</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Wait. Are you saying your dad’s horse is named after your mom?” –
Ellie </span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Of course they did. That’s how they roll.” – Rob </span></li>
</ul>
<br />
</div>
Elliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08639115021659785758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1529855264806404625.post-56540904435801329912013-06-28T22:21:00.004+02:002013-06-28T22:21:53.906+02:00Careful what you wish for<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">When you check in at a Double Tree hotel, you get a cookie fresh
out of the warming tray. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">This makes an impression, even if you don’t eat cookies. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">It’s those little details like the hand-written card, or the gift
that you bring when you show up for dinner. It got me thinking: what is
Skyrove’s check-in cookie? What should it be, rather?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Or is that a B2C thing that doesn’t really apply? B2Cs are weird
things to me: for every Amazon there is a Webvan. And then there is Polaroid.
When you live in Boston you see the ghosts of Polaroid in a few places, and you
have all of Waltham which used to make watches, and all the old mill buildings
that are now office parks like the one my old company was in. That building had
a ghost for a while.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">London has ghosts, too, I suppose. Paris must have ghosts but
those would be French. The only thing that’s constant is change, and time. Time
moves on, at the pace that it moves, and there is no getting time back. This
time is rare, time is precious, but how we choose to spend it is ours, and
also, how we choose to relate to what goes on around us is also ours.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">In the few days back in London after Paris I was rather heads down
in the to-do list, combined with a little bit of politics and game theory.
Strategy; and tactics because as we all know, strategy is not a strategy if it
doesn’t include an application plan.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">The same could be said for my sport, not that I’ve been feeling
like much of a sportsman lately. But that’s fine; my body hasn’t actually had a
full on rest of this long since I started CrossFit, and I’m sure it’s overdue.
The first few days of WBA I had niggles coming out of the woodwork and I
thought to myself that I should just stop resting because when I trained the
pain was less, and maybe it would heal just as fast if I was training
carefully. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">My physio advised me to give it up cold turkey. Turns out it was
pretty easy to do.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Yes, I’m going back, and going back with a vengeance, and doing
something I’ve meant to do for a long time. How I go about it remains to be
done, but I’m an ENTJ and when I decide to do something, I do it. The days of
long Paris nights and drinking on school nights are over with the month of
June. At the end of the day, I actually don’t enjoy living like a normal
person. It’s far too easy to go back to being a couch potato.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Plus I have goats to tackle. Big time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I had some interesting times in London my last few days;
everything from a visit to a street flower market to the London version of the
Loading Bay (complete with &Union beer!) to running into someone I know
while walking the streets of Holborn to a great catchup lunch with a friend
from Heart who now works for the GSMA to what was very much a meeting of the
minds at Heathrow airport followed by receiving an email the serendipity of
which shocked me. I didn’t check out the body armour for sale at Harrod’s,
though, never quite made it that far.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Be careful what you wish for. I had dinner with a friend named
John, who I didn’t know that well prior to the dinner but about six courses of
Thai and two bottles of wine later, we’re a bit closer now. One of the things
that came up over and over again was this notion of careful what you wish for.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Like the genies who granted what you asked, and the ask was never
one of moderation, be careful what you wish for. I wished for a learning
experience. I’m getting it. I’ve wished for some other things. I may get them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Well, it beats the alternative. But like the once-in-a-century
rain in Spain that John was telling me about, best to be ready to take it as it
comes. Have a plan, always have a plan. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">If you don’t like something, change it. I read an article today
that said that 70% of U.S. workers are either bored, demotivated, or checked
out to the point of going around their companies spreading ill will. Been
there, done that. Never again. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">An interesting article also that I read about some unknown,
introverted researcher <a href="http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/05/twin-primes/all/">who made a breakthrough in number theory</a></span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">. What struck me about this? It wasn’t his persistence although
that’s impressive. Plenty of people persist and succeed, but good on him. It
was how the insight came to him – at a friend’s place before going to a
concert. Right brain, baby, right brain.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I’m wary of the human brain’s tendency to assign meaning where
none exists and to find patterns where there is just randomness. Coincidences
are just that, not the universe trying to tell you something. Or, maybe they’re
the universe trying to tell you something.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I was in Notre Dame cathedral having a conversation about religion
(more specifically, lack of adherence to any of man’s dogmas). As one does. But
in that conversation I was relaying how a metaphysics course at Harvard had
done more to give me faith in the wonder of the universe and wonder if there is
perhaps some higher power. Before that I would have called myself an atheist.
After that, no longer. What I know is that I don’t know, and by definition you
cannot know when it comes to faith.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">In happier news, this week saw the birth of a new political party
in South Africa. <a href="http://agangsa.org.za/news/entry/launch-speech-from-dr.-ramphele">The launch speech can be found here</a></span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> and as I read this, lying in my bed in Bloomsbury, I literally
got goosebumps. It’s beautiful and terrifying all at the same time. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Promise hope (but not too much). Promise change (but not too
much). And what if they do succeed? What if they fail? But you know what, damn
it, they are trying, and trying hard to do something good is worth a whole hell
of a lot. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Interesting times in South Africa. Nelson Mandela, Madiba as he is
known, lies on what is probably his deathbed. All good things must end. I was
hoping against hope that he would make it until I returned because if I thought
it was bad to miss the hail in Cape Town I can only imagine the FOMO I would
have by missing being in the country I now call home when its shining star,
it’s beacon of hope and forgiveness, passes on to better things. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">L’herbe est plus verte … be careful what you wish for.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Sure: be careful what you wish for. Sounds straightforward enough.
Except that it’s impossible.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">It also sounds trite as hell.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">And also, sometimes the best things that happen to you are when
you don’t get what you want.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Be ready, I’m sober.” – Cedric (oh dear…)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“The most valuable thing is time because it’s rare and flows
without stopping.” – Cedric</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“They’re leading surgeons. They’re not bothered by crumbs on the
counter.” – John</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“The stories people have inside them!” – John</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I felt so uncomfortable that I just said well, I’ll plant my
jasmine and leave.” – John</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“And people will pay for it.” – Chris</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“But the thing is? It doesn’t matter. I’m an entrepreneur. You
can’t tell me what to do.” – an entrepreneur</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I hear you ended up in France.” – Steve (different Steve)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Like the way you’re thinking.” – Rudolph (I suggested that we rig
our multi-plugs to give electric shocks if anyone touched them. I was not
serious.)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Trust me, it’s a good place to be – right on the crest of
opportunity.” – Steve</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Child’s play, right?” “Could not agree more with you.” – Ellie
& Steve</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“It was close to lawyers.” – Neil</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Layer 7? You may as well have been talking about a layer cake!” –
Ellie</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I know that everyone’s losing money.” – Pete</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I think you’ll find you’re in a really good position.” – Pete</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“… and then there’s [------].” “Bwahahaha!” – Ellie & Pete (a
rose by any other name)</span></li>
</ul>
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Elliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08639115021659785758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1529855264806404625.post-11017765580076170092013-06-24T11:00:00.000+02:002013-06-28T21:58:09.867+02:00Paris in photos<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
... because they would NOT fit into one post and I could NOT choose.<br />
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Yep, it made an impact! I can't wait to go back to France!!<br />
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Elliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08639115021659785758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1529855264806404625.post-61859343866232090992013-06-24T10:00:00.000+02:002013-06-24T10:00:06.650+02:00Paris<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Unlike London, Paris is not a place I had spent a lot of time. It’s
also not a place I felt particularly comfortable, because it’s one of the many
places in the world where I do not speak the local language and if there is one
thing that makes me inherently uncomfortable it’s extreme conscious
incompetence.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Of course you find a way; my understanding of spoken French is
decent, and by the end of the weekend I was translating between the French menu
for the Russians at the next table who could not read the French but could
speak decent English. I suppose on day one I did make it past a security guard
in a building that I suspect did not get many international visitors. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">But aside from this, and to that there is a solution: learn
French! the French leg of my trip was splendid. I had been to the city once
before, briefly, and remembered it being charming in the extreme, with all of
the brasseries and bistros with their red chairs facing the street, and a
frantic yet relaxed pace. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">My last day in the city I wandered about by myself, looking in the
shop windows at the ornate dishes and soaps and flower shops and patisseries.
How could you not just fall in love with a place like this, where there is hundreds
of years of history, consistency of architecture from back in the day when
things were built to last, ancient grandiose cathedrals nearly every street,
and hidden passageways leading to small courtyards and secret gardens with pink
roses and red geraniums? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">And did I mention the food? I can happily report that I paid
completely no attention to my normal diet. I am not in Paris every day. But I
can also feel the impact on my energy & health, and so quickly. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">OK sure, it’s a city. The traffic is terrible there is no parking
and it’s a little bit dirty. But it’s Paris. I mean, in what other country do
they have classical music playing in the car parks, and perfume? No, I’m not
kidding, there was perfume. And classical music. In the car park. You can’t make
that up. It made quite an impression on me, obviously! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">So there’s a group of friends from the WBA who planned to go to
Paris and Champagne the week after the conference. As I technically had a week
of leave, I decided to tag along. It was a good call, as before this trip I
would have called these guys acquaintances. Now they are friends, albeit
friends who live in far-flung corners of the world. One works for what I
suppose you can best call a software house in London, one runs a Wi-Fi operator
in New Zealand, and then there was our Parisian host, Cedric, who works for
Orange which is a mobile carrier. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">And as hosts go, you couldn’t ask for more. I love playing host of
Cape Town when people visit, and it was pretty clear that Cedric enjoys doing
the same thing for Paris.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">The first night we got a driving tour of the major landmarks then
went for dinner at a restaurant that a friend of his used to run, followed by a
visit to the base of the Eiffel Tower, then a midnight drink. As one does. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Now I should report at this point that our friend managed to
parallel park his vehicle in a spot that was probably something like 10cm
clearance on either side by the time he was done. I can honestly say I have
NEVER seen someone fit a car into a tighter spot in my life. That is some
serious parking skills.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">The next day was a full-day tour starting at Notre Dame, then a
walk about the old part of the city which was made all the more exciting by getting
rain dumped on us. Eventually we ran back to the car. I was impressed by Cedric’s
ability to move – he ran faster than I did (not that I was really trying, but
point made!). It was quite funny though. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Drenched, we went to an area that was very non-touristic for a
beautiful lunch before moving back to a tourist area of Sacre Coeur de Paris de
Paris, where we avoided the pickpockets and saw a guy performing amazing feats
of gymnastics while enjoying a panorama of the city. Onwards to Versailles to
pick up the final member of our crew and check the palace & gardens, and
where I ran into someone from my Cape Town gym. Small world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">That evening was one of the highlights of the trip. We went to a
restaurant called Chez Marcel where the chef was a friend of Cedric, and the
food did not disappoint. Possibly the best thing I had to eat all trip was the
starter: salade de champignons de Paris de Paris et jambon de Paris de Paris.
There is a small vineyard still in Paris, so why not mushrooms & ham? Then
there was my introduction to chartreuse (not just a colour!) and drinks at the
top of Paris. And all this with great company. Who could complain?? It was just
a little bit magical.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">The next day, we broke every speed law on the way from Paris to
Champagne due to a hangover-induced late start (not mine). The bigger champagne
houses there have fixed times for tours and you are supposed to book two weeks
in advance, and when the tour of the caves leaves, it leaves. There is this
little video that plays just before the tour departs. We got into the movie room
at Mumm just as the video was finishing. Perfect timing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Mumm was interesting considering that I had been to their
California branch with Cathleen a few months back. Completely different feel. Fascinating
though, I didn’t really know how champagne was made or anything about the caves
and now I do. It was certainly like a French version of Napa Valley. And then
we went to the French version of a small wine farm in Stellenbosch, which was
basically beneath someone’s house. Complete with two dogs and a cherry tree. And
a drive through the countryside beforehand. Well, and a lunch where my teasing
from the day before about my secret career was replaced with some not-entirely
deserved and not-entirely-underserved teasing about cradle-snatching. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">These champagne caves were amazing. Yes I know I use this word a
lot, but really … this was like family history and world history all combined
into one. The roadside poppies were just as beautiful as I had imagined, and
the French towns as cute and quaint as could be. These caves were from the
houses of a married couple (the husband had died some years before), and the
caves from one house were extended to meet the caves under the house across the
road. Imagine; you’re standing on a road in a small town and right underneath
you are champagne caves generations old. We even got to turn some of the
champagne ourselves, which is not an experience you can really get any more as
so many of the houses move more and more towards mechanisation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Adding to that, soldiers from World War II had hidden in caves
like these, and even these caves: we saw some inscriptions from those WWII
soldiers. Certainly had a different impression on my psyche than seeing the
caves in Vietnam. I think there is something very francophone in American
culture, or at least in my household growing up; going to rural France felt a
bit like going home. Not in the same way Africa did, but similar. This is a
history I can identify with, in a way that I just don’t when I go to places in,
say, Asia.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">And to eat cherries from a cherry tree? I had never done this
before. Always birds would get to the cherries first. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">In another first, I managed to live for four days without a SIM
card, as it was not an easy process to get a pre-paid SIM and Cedric hooked me
up with a 7-day Wi-Fi pass. Why he couldn’t get me a SIM card is a bit of a
funny story. But c’est la vie! So it was like my own version of the Liron Segev
Wi-Fi challenge … survive in a foreign country with no phone and no mobile
internet. It was interesting, and taught me a thing or two from a user
perspective. Turns out Cedric’s panel comment that there is a risk to brand
dilution of not so good Wi-Fi was spot on. Although Orange is such a strong
brand that even as an American I have a strong affinity for the brand to the
point where inconsistently working Wi-Fi was not about to change my mind. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">So there I go, I am the exception to my own public statement that
even if something is free, people are demanding and get mad if it doesn’t work.
All depends on your mindset I suppose. Connectivity is like a drug.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I have always loved Europe, but it’s one thing to visit, another
to live. As one of my emails said at the end of what amounts to a mini-holiday
for the crew of us who spent some time in Paris over a few days: ‘now back to
reality.’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Back to reality indeed. I really could have used a longer break
than three days, but I really don’t have time. I feel like what I need isn’t a
rest, but just finishing some things (incompletions are mentally taxing; it’s
been proven). But there will always be more things. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">The trick is to feel ahead of the curve not behind it. I’ll get
there. And in the meantime, July is shaping up to be very interesting.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">One of the things that struck me was in the middle of this amazing meal, in an amazing city, in comes this old man, selling I think roses. We dismissed him quite quickly, as one does, but after the moment was gone I watched him approach the other tables in the restaurant and I wondered to myself what this man must be facing in life, to be, at that age, about peddling roses in Paris restaurants. And here we are, I am sure I'm the poorest of the four on my third world wages but still, with plenty of money in the grand scheme of things. Money is a barrier if you let it be. That's what I've realised lately. But .... at the end of the day you must also pay your bills. Reality indeed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I think one of the other offhand comments made these last few days
made me realise that I really don’t smile enough, and I don’t smile enough because
my mind is preoccupied. Certainly less naïve now that I’m trying to build a
whole damn bakery. I was telling Steve as we entered Notre Dame cathedral that
as we are all so concerned with trying to maximise our slice of the pie when we
should be setting up a bakery. Then what do we see a few minutes later? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Save water, drink champagne. And cake may not be paleo, but on
this trip I ate cake. And plotted how to have my cake and eat it too. Easier
said than done.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">L'herbe est toujour plus verte dans le champs du voisin</span>.
Ain’t that the truth??<o:p></o:p></div>
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<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I’m American.” “Well, nobody’s perfect.” – Ellie & Sebastien (LOVE!)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“You can do a lot of damage in an hour.” “Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We
know!” – Ellie & Francois</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“They’re the best.” – Francois</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Yesterday at ten o’clock in the morning it was as dark as night.”
– Yves </span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“That’s a space invader.” – Steve</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“They’ve got rocks in their heads. What are they going to do with
those when they’ve got 200 clients connecting?” – Steve</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 16px;">“It's easier to get in than to get out.</span><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 16px;">” – Cedric (ain't that the truth!)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I wonder what happened to the Ruckus dogs.” “They were stolen.” –
Steve & Cedric</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Watch out for the train.” “!! I thought he was kidding. But there’s
a train!” – Cedric & Steve</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“You’d break them in half!” “Of course. I do. That’s why they’re
scared!” – Steve & Ellie</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“There’s an app for that. Of course there is.” “Oh no. It’s worse
than that.” – Ellie & Mark</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“It’s not drinking. It’s religion.” – I actually can’t remember
who said this … memory poor when involved in religious activities</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Chartreuse? I thought that was just a colour.” – Ellie</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Four green??” [pause] “OK. I do what I want.” “Oh guys. We are
dead.” – Pierre & Cedric</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Paris nights are short.” – Cedric</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Guys, you’ll have your croissant after champagne.” – Cedric</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Guys, we made it!” – Cedric (the legend!)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Oh, that’s not good. You can’t sell it like that.” “It’s ok, they’re
going to show us how to remove it.” “Oh, really?” “OK. Now I show you how to
remove the sediment.” – Steve, Ellie & our tour guide</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Pivoines.” “What does that mean, pink?” “No. Peonies.” – Cedric,
Steve, & Mark</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“There aren’t any eggs.” – Ellie (there was actually an egg on my
plate at the time)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“We heard they had to put the room back together.” – Mark (I bet he also knows what happened to the Ruckus dogs!)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Guys, stop buying champagne. The car is full!” – Cedric</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I’m not saying it’d good. I’m saying it could work.” – overheard on
the train</span></li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
Elliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08639115021659785758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1529855264806404625.post-37195297015052793982013-06-23T14:00:00.000+02:002013-06-23T14:00:06.996+02:00Brighton<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Last weekend I took the train to Brighton. I had never been there
before. I’d been out of London before, once to a country estate off-site in the
Jeeves days and once up to Edinburgh. But not for years, and I’d never been to
Brighton.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">What I knew about Brighton from The Economist is that it was a bit
like some of the New England carnival seaside towns, Hampton Beach and the like.
In other words, a place whose best years were behind it. Sure, it has some of
that slightly run-down feeling but actually much of Europe has that. It’s old.
It’s what gives it its charm.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Brighton is super cute, with little walkways, lots of shops, the
insane Brighton Pier that The Economist makes fun of (and for good reason…),
and many of the row houses of varying shapes, sizes, and construction that
England is known for. It also had quite the number of installations of white
lilacs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">One thing I do miss about North America is the flowers, most
particularly lilacs and also peonies. There is something just intensely
romantic about a peony. More so than a rose. Not sure if it’s the size or the
almost overwhelming smell they can have, but a bouquet of peonies is like not
much else.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Not sure how I got on that topic. I must have been distracted.
There were a lot of peonies in Paris, but I’m getting ahead of myself. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I was visiting my friend Katherine who lives in Brighton. I met
her briefly in South Africa and we have struck up a long distance friendship,
seeing each other in such random places as Durban, Cape Town, Johannesburg,
and, now, Brighton. She is getting a tertiary degree in something kind of
related to my old social enterprise field, which led to some interesting
discussions with her and some of the people in her programme, about the
differences between the world of theory and the world of practice. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Heck if businesses can’t even get positioning right, imagine how
researchers must feel trying to influence the black box that is policymakers or
the management of NGOs who are driven by what donors want that doesn’t
necessarily make sense.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Beware of the tail wagging the dog. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I’m also uniquely positioned to get this part as I’m sitting with
a company in a commodity space and trying to figure out how to create a
sustainable competitive advantage. It’s devilishly complex when you get right
down to it, because there are a lot of moving parts, a lot of buyer ignorance,
a lot of commodification, long sales cycles, and high customer acquisition
costs. But hey, you hit on a mix that works, and you’ve created real value. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">What I’m going through now seems like something straight out of my
Babson case study library. A burning platform on the one side, and turning the
whole go-to-market approach on its side while trying to keep the old one going
too, because you have to pay the bills at the end of the month. Lots of things
means never more important is focus.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Every cloud has a silver lining. You know what they say,
perception is reality? Whose perception and how do you guide that? I’m just
struggling with my own impatience, but as I was telling Chris at dinner the
other day, it’s ultimately all my responsibility. Whatever we accomplish is
because we chose to prioritise it and whatever we don’t is because we didn’t,
whether consciously or subconsciously. The nice thing about sounding like a
broken record is that you do get stuck in peoples’ heads.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I was telling Katharine about my shoulder injury. Finally, and I
mean finally, I can actually say with credibility behind me that if something
hurts, fix the damn problem and don’t try to train through it. My shoulder is
feeling much better after another rest week, and I was careful not to do
anything to it this weekend. Just main strength & ignorance moves: strict
press, weighted pullup (PBs on both, despite my weight gain from a week of
debauchery in London), and, on Saturday, I did Fran with the men’s weight. It
was easier that way because the weight is too heavy for it to hurt too much,
and I was wicked dehydrated (my calves started cramping when I was doing
pullups … never a good sign). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">But it led to words being spoken that you will rarely hear in a
CrossFit gym: ‘You know that weight’s too heavy, right?’ And after the next
day’s workout a few people came up to introduce themselves saying words to the
effect of: ‘You’re really GOOD!’ I forget sometimes. I’ve been doing this a
long time. But yeah, I guess not everyone walks in off the street and does
men’s Fran one day and 3 rounds of 10 strict handstand pushups the next. It’s
normal for me, but that doesn’t mean it’s normal.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">So time to appreciate how far I’ve come, as I sit about getting
fat (normal behaviour will resume when I get home). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">The same, by the way, goes for my company, where every little
thing, good and bad, is amplified. If the art is in the programming in CrossFit
then the art of work, actually almost any job, is in the focus.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Knowledge is power, and context is knowledge. I’m working in
Africa, but it’s fascinating to talk to the European ISPs & mobile carriers
about their problems. In some ways they are very similar, in some ways very
different. I love product management. I even more love the Cranky Product
Manager, who is now writing a book and had an awesome quote about it: ‘Bottom
line is the book is late because I obnoxiously thought it would be easy.’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Reminds me a bit of me. Well, it beats the hell out of being
someone who is so conservative that they sandbag everything and their bosses
think they look really really awesome but everyone with any sense knows the
truth. Not that I’ve ever seen THAT before.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Speaking of easy, we decided to go take a ‘swim’ after Saturday’s
workout. This in the Atlantic Ocean. It had some significant swells that day,
so hectic that I could barely get in over my head before the waves knocked me
on my ass (literally). Didn’t help that the aforementioned cramping calves
meant that I couldn’t really stand. Dehydration is hectic! But I did learn one
thing – the ocean is warmer in this part of England than it is in Cape Town.
True story.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Back to London and a couple of meetings. There is nothing, and I
mean nothing, like sharing thoughts and even some secrets I suppose, with likeminded
people and similar experiences. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Request-response. I,
like most people, like when people think the way I do. Also when you can
discuss that fine line between crazy, bold, and foolish.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">It’s a small world yes, but there are also some very long
distances involved. That’s what makes all gatherings, be they Wi-Fi industry
conventions or CrossFit competitions. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">There is always a sense of sadness and letdown that I get when
conventions or competitions end and everyone goes home. It’s like that magical
moment with my St Paul’s graduating class or my Babson graduating class where
we are all together, having shared so much, and you know that never again will
that exact set of people be together in one place.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">But I miss my team. And I miss my home. Which, as much as I love
it, London is not. At least not now.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“You like it THAT MUCH?” – Katharine</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“You know that weight’s too heavy, right?” – Andy</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“You had me at spirulina.” – Ellie</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“So we’ll go out for tea, and I can teach you how the internet
works.” – Ellie</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Don’t be afraid to practice. It doesn’t mean you’re failing. It
means you’re learning.” – overheard at CrossFit</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“It’s not that England is inherently awful.” – Katharine</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I’ve only had one egg today. It’s upsetting.” – Ellie</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“That’s crazy.” “That doesn’t mean it won’t work.” “I didn’t say
that.” – David & Ellie</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I don’t do anything halfway.” “And you’re calling *me* crazy?” “Maybe
I’m just bold.” – David & Ellie (or something else!)</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
</div>
Elliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08639115021659785758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1529855264806404625.post-15842194445479871862013-06-18T09:00:00.000+02:002013-06-18T09:00:15.089+02:00London<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">It had been a long time since I’d spent more than a few hours in
London. When I was at Ask Jeeves I used to come over here a lot, and I even
thought about moving here but I never did.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">It used to feel very exotic. Now it feels much less so, because
there is a lot of British influence in South Africa. Actually it feels mostly
like a colder, busier, version of home, with slightly different brands and accents.
And a lot more warning signs (Beware the pickpockets! Don’t climb on the fence!
Please leave quietly!).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">What else used to feel different was the Wi-Fi conference I
attended. The first time I went to one, in San Francisco, I didn’t know much of
anything. I knew no one, I didn’t know what Wi-Fi offload was, and I really
thought Ruckus was the enemy. True story. Now, I wasn’t able to be at the venue
for two minutes without seeing a friend, I not only know what offload is but I
know how to debate with mobile carriers what their core competency is in the
Wi-Fi space, and Ruckus is one of my two favourite hardware vendors. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">They’re still rookies for letting their dogs get stolen. No, I
didn’t steal them. But really. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Well, the conference started off with a bang when I went to the
pre-day Roamfest mostly just to scout out some stuff for a partner, and of
course wound up running into my old drinking buddies (aka friends), one of whom
managed to get me a ticket to this river cruise/London Eye tour hosted by The
Cloud. That was fun. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Not so much the staying out until 3am drinking bit when I had a
7am call with Cisco, was speaking on a panel at the conference later in the day,
and my hotel’s Wi-Fi didn’t work. So I stumbled into the local Starbucks to use
the free Wi-Fi, and I was so tired the boy who’d made my day the day before by
speaking to me in Afrikaans tried to make my day by giving me an extra shot
that was really strong …. But there comes a time when caffeine cannot help you.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">This time around I didn’t learn too much from the conference. I
did, however, make some very good connections and not just at the bar. It’s a
question of positioning and of core competence. I am starting to understand the
ecosystem very well, where the value sits in the value chain (as they say in
MBA speak), and where I think Skyrove should go. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">By the time my last meeting on Friday was complete I was drained.
Physically (getting as little sleep in two nights combined as I normally get in
one, plus more drinking than I had done all year long), emotionally, and even
mentally. Friday brought three meetings, two with very large companies and one
with a telecoms industry analyst. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">One thing that is interesting. When you look at a problem
differently or refuse to accept constraints put on you, things happen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">But also, saying something doesn’t make it so. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I was lucky enough to have dinner this week with one of my wonderful
friends from the Ask Jeeves days, who has now made it to the senior levels of a
big, and, from what it sounds, well-run multi-national. One of the things we
discussed is that awful feeling you can have in the pit of your stomach when
you go home every day and feel terrible about the decisions being made at work,
and you can’t do anything about it because either it’s not politically accepted
to do so, or you’ve voiced your opinion and been overruled.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">The thing about being in charge is that you don’t ever have that
problem. You have other ones: the fear of ‘is this the right path?’ The frustration
of ‘why can’t I be six places at once?’ or ‘why hasn’t this happened yet?’ or
trying to stay the stable rock because that’s your job when everyone else is
busy worrying about the part that they are concerned with, and it’s your job to
give context to everyone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">He also said something very important, which is that you must not
forget the impact that you have on the people around you. Little things you say
matter, and at the end of the day if you’re a leader you must push people to be
better and to deliver, but as someone said so well on Twitter this week: ‘Never
push someone past the point where they don’t give a f*ck.’ <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Or past the point where they just get annoyed. Speaking of
annoyance, the side benefit of not training this week is that my rotator cuffs
are doing much better. Still a niggle, and still annoying.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">A few things I’ve been repeating to my team over and over again:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">There is an opportunity cost to everything; focus on what is
important.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">We don’t make decisions on gut feel; but you don’t </span><i style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">always</i><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> need data (some things are
obvious).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">The only thing worse than no data is bad data. A number that’s not
good is OK; juicing the stats is not.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">You will make mistakes; that’s fine. Covering it up is not.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">When the company makes a mistake, we apologise and take responsibility,
and try not to do it again. Don’t forget the last part.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">So did I learn much at the conference? Not really. Some of the
implications in terms of messaging I will wait for our PR engine to bring to
life, but it was really in the meetings in and around the conference that the
interesting stuff happened. Of course, the first rule of non-disclosure is …. I
know nothing.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">There’s this quote attributed to Greg Glassman: “The magic is in
the movement, the art is in the programming, the science is in the explanation,
and the fun is in the community.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Well, when it comes to Wi-Fi, the magic is in finding what the
venue actually values, the art is in the go-to-market approach, the science is
in the solution mix, and the fun …. well, the fun comes from figuring it all
out.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">The whole conference there was only one speaker who really focused
on the first point with any degree of specificity. No one really talked about
the second, other than the hardware vendors talking about their kick-ass
solution sets, and much as I love my vendors, it’s mostly all a commodity
space. The right mix can be compelling, but the needs and capabilities are
constantly shifting.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">The same can be said of most things in life: sport, business,
hell, even relationships. When things aren’t going well, you can normally tell.
Don’t be afraid to admit it, but figure out why, and change. People aren’t buying
what you’re selling? Find out what they want. Don’t just try and sell them
something else and hope they buy it. Constantly injured or never getting
stronger or seeing results but not losing the weight? Don’t be afraid to look
in those dark places.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">But that bit above about not pushing other people past the point
where they don’t give a damn? Don’t push yourself there, either. I’ve been down
that road before, and it’s also not a good place to be.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Enjoy the journey. Like it or not, you’re on it, may as well smile!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I forgot I was working!” – Zama</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I know there’s a bar here. It says: ‘bar.’” – Chris</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Don’t underestimate the power of those little statements.” –
Chris</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“You’re never going to get through your to-do list.” – Chris</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Ellie, we did have summer last week.” – Carole</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Welcome to the best city in the world.” – David</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“The cost of the capex is almost free.” – overheard at WBA</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Google likes moonshots.” – Paul</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“You know tonight’s gonna be worse.” “How can it be worse??” –
Mark & Ellie</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“If you can’t get 600kb or 1Mbps, back onto cellular you go.” –
CEO of BandwidthX (LOL)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I don’t think I should drink any more gin tonight.” “What are you
going to drink, then?” “I don’t know. More gin?” – Steve & Ellie</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Well, when you have a CEO who doesn’t know what auth is.” – Steve</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“I’m not speaking French. I just said ‘hibou.’” – Ellie</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“That’s a Ruckus dog!” “No it’s not … oh. You’re right. It is a
Ruckus dog!” – Cedric & Ellie</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Perfect timing.” – Cedric</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“You know exactly what to say. You’re just too polite to say it.”
“True.” – David & Ellie</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Is that a metaphor for something?” – David (he actually left me
speechless. I was impressed)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“And then he wasn’t at the bar!” – Steve</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“You know what? Just grab it.” – Spencer </span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“It’s my favourite attribute.” “It’s a weapon.” – JT & Steve
(naivete)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“ … my advice on who you can trust. Assuming you can trust *me*!”
“The way that you say that makes me think that I can.” – Ellie & Paul </span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“You’ve come into the industry at an interesting time.” – Russell </span></li>
</ul>
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</div>
Elliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08639115021659785758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1529855264806404625.post-31138719701680687312013-06-09T07:30:00.000+02:002013-06-10T17:12:20.271+02:00Interesting times<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="line-height: 115%;">So many people are afraid of others stealing their idea. Sure, it
may happen. But here’s what I’ve discovered in recent weeks: I would rather
work with people who see things similarly to the way I do, and the feeling
seems to be mutual, so the likelihood that someone will steal your idea and all
the thinking that led up to the idea rather than just partnering with you to do
it …. Well, it does depend on the situation. But I’ve made my point.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">I made a mistake recently. Not a bad one, but an avoidable one,
where I was so focused on the 20% of revenue that I would miss out on that I
kind of forgot about the other 80%. I’m making up the numbers, it may in fact
be 5% and 95%. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">In that case, it was partly bad expectation management on the part
of my partner. It is way worse to be in the airport and have them tell you
every 30 minutes your plane is delayed another 30 minutes than to tell you
there is a four hour delay, rather go to the airport lounge or the restaurant
and chill. You may not like an answer, but you’ll live with it. What is
annoying is being constantly promised something will come ‘soon’ and it never
getting there. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;">But still. I knew better.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;">No one is perfect, and I learned a good lesson. Maybe I shouldn’t
say that. You won’t catch all your own mistakes. That’s what you have sounding board
for.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">This week was pretty awesome. Actually, it was phenomenal. I think
the worst thing that happened is that my physio was in a bad mood and finally
told me what she’d been wanting to say for a while, which boils down to that I
should really retire from competitive CrossFit if I care about the long-term
health of my body.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">It’s not CrossFit’s fault. It’s not even my fault. It’s that my
mobility and pre-hab programme does not match my training programme. That is
fixable, if you identify that you want to fix it. But, the fix will not be
easy. No, it’s not easy to stay away from any and all ring work and butterfly
pullups until my shoulder is properly healed. I just wish I knew more about
anatomy to figure out what exactly to rehab, and it’s tough because as with the
back, you may spend weeks and lots of money and no one seems to know exactly
what to tell you to do regarding movements to avoid and rehab exercises to do.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">In the week I managed a new personal best on front squat, despite
a bit of a CNS fail since I hadn’t lifted heavy in about three weeks. My legs
wobbled when I unracked the bar and I still made the lift; so I’m actually
probably 5kgs stronger than that. 100kgs I am coming for you. I also hit a new
squat snatch PB, about 10kgs more than I normally can squat snatch as I have
issues getting under the bar. And this was after missing a lift and falling on
my bum in the warmup.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;">Oh, and I
discovered that even 45kg thrusters aren’t that heavy unless you’ve just done a
ton of pullups or rowing. What was terrible? Tuesday’s workout. Left me wanting
to cry like a little girl. How to make burpees hard? Clapping pushups& sled
pull & push beforehand. OMFG.</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;">There was this
time when I was in high school that my mother would brag that I could bench
press 100lbs. I couldn’t. Now I warm up with that weight. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
So in a world of relativity, as much as I’m as competitive
as the next person, at the end of the day you’re not going to win everything.
What does matter is that constant improvement, and pride in what you’ve done.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
Speaking of pride, I am so proud of my team. Of all of them,
but especially this week of Rudolph for having the insight into his team and
into the company history to give some context I had completely missed, and of
Jade for basically just being awesome. I have at least five rock stars in the
making amongst my staff at the moment, and even the ones who aren’t ambitious go-getters
are solid team players. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
Not saying we are perfect; but one message I relayed loud
and clear this week along with our revenue goals & bonus scheme for the
next six months is this: you will never accomplish anything if you don’t keep
your eye on the prize. Know where you’re going, and live it. Otherwise you’ll
get distracted by the minutia.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
Here’s my management philosophy, and it will be interesting
to see if the Ellie of ten years from now agrees with this. But I think you
must let people have as much autonomy as they can take. Hire good people and
let them do their damn jobs. Trust, yes. Verify, yes. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
I tell my team constantly that there are two truths that I
live by:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0px;">
</div>
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">You will make mistakes, and that’s ok. We all
do. What’s not ok is trying to hide a mistake.</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">The only thing worse than no data is bad data
(read: do NOT cook the stats. I will find out.)</span></li>
</ol>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
This week, as I said, was pretty epic. What happened?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>We are very close to signing the biggest services contract
in company history</li>
<li>A joint pitch with a channel partner to a big customer met
with resounding success</li>
<li>I met with a big competitor, who it turns out would actually
much rather partner with us</li>
<li>I got a huge compliment from the founder of a name-brand
company; more importantly someone that I very much like and respect, and he is helping
me with something I’ve been wanting to do for a while now</li>
<li><span style="line-height: 115%;">Aligned the company with sales & operational goals and began
discussing KPIs for each key group</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 115%;">Lunch with my lovely friend Ingi</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 115%;">Had a visit from one of my favourite vendors</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 115%;">Had a visit from another of my other favourite vendors; one that
is quickly crossing into partner status</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 115%;">Skype calls with half my board members</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 115%;">Did an interview ab</span><span style="line-height: 115%;">out conference Wi-Fi</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 115%;">Met a guy, and had a kind of a meeting, that rocked my world in a
good way (it’s the Starlings magic, maybe, just maybe)</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 115%;">Prepared for my London trip, which excites me to no end. I know
what I want, and this is my shopping trip to go acquire it</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 115%;">Met with one of the local ISPs and, among other things, told the
what this whole TVWS thing meant to them, so I’ve now earned my bubbly &
cupcakes at the next reseller evening</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 115%;">Great Skype call with a Silicon Valley company whose tech I find
very interesting</span></li>
</ul>
<o:p></o:p><br />
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<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">You know what? You don’t climb out of the kiddie pool by yourself.
Organic growth is fine, but I’m far too impatient for that. Skyrove won’t get
there any time soon without some serious partners, and I do mean plural.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">Three-way trades in sport are way harder than two-way trades. I have
this nutty idea that is going to be more like a five-way trade. But what the
hell. I’m a connector and a salesman. Go big or go home, right? So far so good.
It’s encouraging when you meet others who see the world the same way you do.
That means either you’re all right, or you’re all deluded in a similar way.</span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://www.wired.com/opinion/2013/02/moonshots-matter-heres-how-to-make-them-happen/">This article</a></span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> is awesome because it basically says that most people and most
companies think that big paradigm shifts are the job of someone else. Big companies
think small companies are better placed, small companies think big companies
have bigger war chests. Well …. Put two and two together and you can figure out
what I think. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">One thing I do think: I have no time for crap, or being
disrespected (have always hated that). Like passive aggressives and covert
aggressives. There’s a fine line between being unintentionally ignored (as I do
to my cat sometimes) and intentionally shunned (as I do to the specific car
guards who I don’t like). My EQ is decent. If you are weird with me, I will
notice. And I will not just let it sit. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">Accept the situation, change it, or leave it. Usually the route is
clear, even if it’s not easy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">Back to those cognitive biases. I feel like we can rationalise
nearly anything. In sport, that’s why we need a coach, to make us work our
weaknesses and through the suck. Same thing in the business world, and yet how
many executives let someone ask them the difficult questions? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">There’s questions you can think on the fly and answer. And then
there’s the ones that cut close to home. It’s actually painful when someone asks
you a question about something you’re not talking about for a reason. But what
did we ever gain by hiding things from ourselves?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less travelled
by.” – Robert Frost<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">That old Chinese curse: ‘May you live in interesting times?’ I like
interesting times. And I think the next few months will be very interesting.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="line-height: 115%;">“My dog ate my passport.” – Rudolph</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 115%;">“You can’t search that question from Google. You have to search it
from within Meraki.” – Adam</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 115%;">“There’s a dead stuffed lynx upstairs and you’re telling me this
is normal?” – Ellie</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 115%;">“I’m not sure how something that looks so easy can be so hard!” –
Ellie (I should know better by now!!)</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 115%;">“We charge by the centimetre.” – Victor</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 115%;">“You’re right. They do give Wi-Fi a bad name.” – Victor</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 115%;">“What do they call it when they come knock on your door after
midnight?” “Jehovah’s Witnesses?” – tax guy & Jade</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 115%;">“You can’t put a 2Mbps uncapped on a 4Mbps line. … I’ve tried it.”
– Adam</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 115%;">“Oh look, it’s a guest appearance from Ellie.” – Shirmo </span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 115%;">“I need someone who will ask me the questions I can’t answer.” –
Ellie</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 115%;">“You certainly don’t seem to have a problem with the vision part.”
– Casper</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 115%;">“I spend that much money on CrossFit.” – Ellie</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 115%;">“Is everyone even at A?” – Casper</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 115%;">“Oh no, you have to let people do their own learning.” – Kerry</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 115%;">“That’s a very mature approach.” – Kian</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 115%;">“Yeah, I get the idea that I’d rather bash my head against a brick
wall than use your online configurator.” – Ellie</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 115%;">“Wait. They installed Linksyses and told them they were Ciscos?” –
Ellie (yes they did. Our industry can be a bit dodgy)</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 115%;">“I am always dubious when I am told I will love someone.” – Rob</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 115%;">“We need a way to get you a bigger footprint.” – Doug</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 115%;">“How long ago was that?” “About 12 years.” “See, you’ve been dodgy
for 12 years!” – Rudolph & Ellie</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 115%;">“I smuggled --- into -----.” “Nice.” “Nice.” “Nice.” “Nice.” –
does it really matter who said what?</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 115%;">“Don’t give me guesses, dammit!” – Henk </span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 115%;">“No one cares what you’re selling. They care what problem of theirs
you’re solving. ” – Ellie</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 115%;">“I hope your body still likes you when you’re older.” “I’m not
convinced my body likes me now.” – Bryony & Ellie</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 115%;">“Cold turkey.” “No!! You can’t tell an addict they need to go cold
turkey!” – Bryony & Ellie</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 115%;">“At least I can talk to you.” – Eugene</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 115%;">“No one is thinking of this as – .” “I am. You are.” – Eugene
& Ellie (they will be if they read this, and we do not want that, now do
we??)</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 115%;">“Cartels are fine, but screw the cartel. Just build it yourself.” –
Ellie</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 18px;">“I was trying to Wi-Fi the world.” “I was trying to get here.” – Ellie </span><span style="line-height: 18px;">& Adam</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 115%;">“Now, go get it!” We’re starting now.” “Yeah, I suppose you are!” –
Ellie & Tim</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 115%;">“It’s easy to point the finger when it’s someone else.” – Jade</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 115%;">“What’s going on? What’s so funny?” “We’re trying to figure that
out.” – Ellie & Tim</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 115%;">“I don’t like to get under.” “But you have to get under.” “I know.
That’s why I’m practicing.” – Ellie & JP (and I hit a squat snatch PR a few
minutes later)</span></li>
</ul>
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Elliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08639115021659785758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1529855264806404625.post-6602660001494897682013-06-03T11:43:00.002+02:002013-06-03T11:43:52.090+02:00It’s not the radio, it’s what you do with the radio<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Insight from one of the radio manufacturers at the conference I
was at.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I had never really thought about it, but obviously the realities
of a third world economy makes you innovate. One of the Google speakers was
talking about the notion of extremes of arbitrage and pay-as-you-use in Africa,
using taxis as an example. No taxis in Africa ever have a full tank of gas. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Similarly, someone said that prepaid airtime was invented in
Africa. It sure as heck was effective; airtime is essentially an alternative
currency in South Africa. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">It is amazing, when you think about it, what the mobile carriers
have done and continue to do. Firstly, it wasn’t that long ago that we didn’t
even have Wi-Fi. It wasn’t that long ago that we didn’t have mobile phones. I
remember when I got my first one. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">When you think about what’s actually involved in putting together
a network of ubiquitous coverage and high uptime, covering not only voice calls
that have a fixed start and end, but data? I may complain continuously about my
mobile carrier’s lousy uptime of its data network in Cape Town, but from
another perspective this actually says more about my expectations than it does
about anything else.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I made this point in recent weeks: when I look at the world from
my perspective, from one angle it’s not that innovative. I’m in a commodity
space. How innovative can you be when you have to assemble an offering of
off-the-shelf products? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">The innovation isn’t the what, it’s the how. It’s the go-to-market
approach, for one thing. I was going to say it’s not product, it’s placement of
the product. But that’s actually not true. It is the product too. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">That is one interesting challenge: if the grand goal everyone is
working towards at the end of the day is to get better, cheaper, coverage in
Africa using whatever mix of technologies, there’s got to be innovation in the
business model. It seems like mostly the innovation is in the mobile carrier
space, and a lot of that innovation is in the past. Fixed line, point-to-point
needs to find a place to live with mobile, and nomadic point-to-multipoint. And
who pays?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I’m not sure who is the genius who invented prepaid airtime. But
whoever that is helped bring connectivity to millions in Africa, by enabling
micro-purchases and thereby making it actually affordable. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Is there a Wi-Fi equivalent of prepaid airtime? I don’t mean
prepaid airtime over Wi-Fi, which is what Skyrove sells now. I mean something
completely different. I don’t know, but I sure as heck would like to find out! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I did learn one more lesson, and that is never to leave the
country again without my U.S. bank card or credit card. I was unable to draw
cash in Senegal, and this made life very difficult, especially when I wound up
in a situation that I’m not going to describe in detail, where I really needed
a small amount of local currency. Well, as they say in South Africa, you make a
plan. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Scratch that. I learned two lessons. I ate some wheat, and within
an hour I looked like I was five months pregnant. I will not be making that
mistake again; the five months of very clean eating have made me far more
intolerant than I was before. Wheat may be tasty, but not at that price.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Like jobs that seem more glamorous than they are, there are things
that are fun or charming when they don’t happen often, just because they add
variety. If I actually lived in Joburg I probably wouldn’t find the constant
power failures at traffic lights and ‘load shedding’ aka brownouts to be very
fun at all. One does hope that things trend in the right direction, not the
wrong one. Nature does abhor a vacuum.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I remember a time before I came to South Africa when I was as
careful as anything. I even went to the AAA to get an international drivers
license. Now? I wing it. Wang would approve.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I am normally a bit apprehensive whenever going through an
immigration interview at the border. You just never know. When I landed back in
South Africa, for the first time I wasn’t nervous in the slightest. There was
even a miscommunication about whether or not I was working in South Africa with
a work permit, but the exchange ended by my showing the officer some Twitter
photos of the hail in Cape Town (there was so much hail it looked like snow),
and he made a joke about Julius Malema. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">A black South African citizen making a political joke to a white
American resident. That’s the rainbow nation. It made my day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">All I can say is: Africa. I’m definitely not in Kansas anymore. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I know that I don’t know what I don’t know. But I like to think I
learn fast.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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</div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“My exercise time was taken up teaching the FCC how to use a
Google Hangout.” – Charlie</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“At the end of the day, we’re just like the Nigerians. We’ll try
and screw you over, too.” – Kehenya</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“You must understand that you have some of that magic.” – John</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“No, it’s a good thing you didn’t. One of my employees did that
recently, and he’s now being fired.” – Dorothy (telling the truth in a public
statement)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Do they have Wi-Fi in here?” “No. You have to pay for it.” –
overhead at O.R. Tambo</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
</div>
Elliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08639115021659785758noreply@blogger.com0