June 21st, 2010
Often we get so wrapped up in what we’re doing that we’re not actually in what we’re doing anymore. Logistics, analysis, preparation, planning, future possibilities all take us out of the moment. I forgot all of this until I had some sushi.
Sushi isn’t just a food, it’s a ritual. The chef must take all the different parts – rice, fish, seaweed, vegetable, etc – and craft it into a roll that has cohesive shape and consistency. The fashioning of the food isn’t the zen-like part for you; eating it is.
If you shove any type of food down your throat, especially sushi, you’re missing savoring each and every taste. Food, like life, isn’t meant to be consumed just for survival. They’re both most enjoyable when you take the time to really relish every moment of the experience.
There’s a ritualistic nature about sushi that you just can’t replicate with other food. After the chef creates your roll then your journey begins. First fill your small dish with shoyu (soy sauce). Then spread wasabi on your sushi. Next add gari (ginger) to the top of each piece. Finally dip each piece into the shoyu and eat it.
The beauty of this ritual is that it takes time to create the final product before you’re ready to consume it. You become closer to the chef as you put your time and energy into creating your meal. Since this isn’t an instant situation it gives you cause for pause to really be in the moment with yourself.
Some might say that it’s important to relect upon your day – and I would agree with them – but this moment isn’t a place to do so. Reflecting upon your day and actually being in the moment are two different things. You should devote time to both and not confuse one for the other because they’re both as equally important.
When you take the time to be with yourself and truly experience life as it’s happening you get a much richer experience than if your mind is elsewhere. The past has passed and the future is beyond us. The present is a present that is pre sent. Savor it like the gift that it is.
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April 29th, 2010
I’m 30. April 29th 2010 was my 30th birthday. To me and many people that’s a major life crossover. Traditionally on my birthday I reflect on my life by myself by sitting under the cherry blossoms at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (it’s a beautiful tradition that I just happened upon one year).
As much as we should reflect on our lives past present and future on the day we were born we should be reflecting on it everyday. Doing this once a year is the equivalent to the new years resolution. That’s why I’m happy to say on my birthday I didn’t have to reflect and reposition my life. I just relaxed.
We can get so caught up in our day to day of doing that we forget about being. Just remember, your life is ending one minute at a time. Are you spending it doing what you truly want to be doing?
Life is interesting when you compare two different points in time. Last year on my birthday I was reading Ayn Rand’s ‘The Fountainhead’ at the gardens. This year I’m reading ‘Programming In Objective-C’. Sometimes the more things change the more they stay the same. While I’m still reading something at the gardens today I’m actively pursuing something instead of passively consuming something.
We only have limited amounts of moments to make our existence better each day. We can do anything we want to do as long as we put our minds to it. I decided that I wanted to create a tech product so I sought out like minds and found a cofounder and two developers. We’re all currently working on it and looking forward to telling the world in a couple of months or so when it’s ready.
My one takeaway about reflecting on my life at a major milestone – make sure you’re happy with what you’re doing and that you’re on the path to achieving the goals you want to be achieving. You can do anything you believe you can do (within the laws of nature of course). You’ll be much more effective if you’re passionate and believe in what you’re doing – I know I am.
Tags: 30th birthday, advice, ayn rand, brooklyn, brooklyn botanic garden, cherry blossoms, cofounder, core values, crossover, developers, existence, feelings, fountainhead, laws of nature, life, milestone, nature of course, new years resolution, programming in objective c, takeaway, tradition
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April 26th, 2010
Relationships are built over time from first encounter to the present. I emphasize “built” because to build something you must put active effort in with your own two hands. When building something you must put the proper energy into laying the foundation and constructing the supporting framework.
While many people may intrinsically understand this they forget one thing: you can’t just build a house and forget about it. A house needs upkeep just like relationships do. That’s where many people assume they still have the same relationship when in fact it has changed over time.
Everything thrives and deteriorates in the right conditions, physical or not. Relationships are special because humans act as a magnifying glass to amplify the situation. In this way they’re even more fragile that rare tempermental flowers. Flowers can and will thrive once again next season. Once damaged, human relationships can be beyond the point of no return because of hard feelings.
So how do we assume relationships? Think of people you have affinities to and for some reason or another communications lapse. Now picture this: the only time now that one person contacts the other is for a favor. To the other person it could come across over time that the contactor is just using the contacted. At first this communication is welcomed and the contacted will go out of their way to help their long lost friend.
Relationships take work from both parties, individual or business. Before you ask anything of anyone else ask them about themselves. Even if you’ve let your house deteriorate for a while just doing a little housekeeping before you decide to have a huge party makes the biggest of difference when it’s all said and done.
Tags: first encounter, hard feelings, human relationships, laying the foundation, long lost friend
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April 8th, 2010
You may not need an Apple iPad right now or think you’ll need it this year but mark my words, you will need it in one year. People aren’t quite sure what they do with it and to them I say wait and see. Time and early adopters will show you its many uses and how it fits into your life.
The iPad is definitely a pure consumption product, right now. As time goes on we will see more and more apps that are full-featured utilities. These will end up augmenting your day to day routines as you find yourself wanting to spend more time on such a compelling device.
Apple does an amazing thing for the computing industry and consumers in general. It sets the pace and tells you not what you want but what you will want. Apple creates demand and then effectively supplies it. A different way of doing things but Apple’s old motto is Think Differently.
They aren’t without their detractors. I definitely hear what detractors are saying. Yes the iPad doesn’t have a camera, video camera or support flash amongst other things. I also see that Apple is incremental with their firmware and hardware updates. This is to essentially milk as much money out of you as possible and keep you in the renewable consumption game. Essentially there’s no difference between the first iPhone and the latest iPhone if you really think about it.
My friend Carl put it keenly in a comment he made on my last post. Apple isn’t revolutionary; they’re evolutionary. Modernism has been going on since the 50′s. Nothing new here. They just took someone else’s style and applied it to their industry. Great artists steal.
Carl also had another great point that goes back to why you’ll need an iPad in a year. The major news services are essentially providing free advertising for the iPad, further fueling the feeding frenzy and stoking the fires of consumers. All this talk will drive you into an Apple store, you’ll play with the iPad, then you’ll want it. Even if you don’t understand or don’t want it right now you’re still curious and you’ll eventually come into contact with it. Call it the Puppy Effect.
As far as why you’ll really need an iPad a year down the road goes back to my previous point about how Apple sets the pace. Competitors may have had tablet pc’s before the iPad just like they had mp3 players before the iPod. What Apple does is to signal to consumers and competitors that a certain type of product is now a part of your life.
What will end up happening a year down the road is that consumers will have found all the little ways that the iPad makes their lives easier and better. Competitors will start creating competing products in droves to fuel the market even more. Technology and non-technology product creators will start creating accessories. Designers will start molding their creations to fit the iPad. Thus the iPad will become a part of your world one way or another.
You may not need an iPad a year or two years from now. What will eventually happen is that technology will advance so much that physical keyboards will become a thing of the past and the iPad will seem like a logical choice. If you think Apple doesn’t have plans on your entire life you’re dead wrong. If you think Apple isn’t already a part of your whole life then you’re sadly mistaken.
Tags: Apple, early adopters, feeding frenzy, iPad, stoking the fires
Posted in analysis, featured, life, media, technology | 4 Comments »
February 10th, 2010
A node is a point where many points meet. While this may seem like a linchpin, a supernode connects seemingly disparate topics and brings those groups together in a new group.
Supernodes can be found in many different areas – people, places and things. One place that’s a supernode is Rice.
Rice is a small chain restaurant in NYC known for their varied dishes. All of the dishes center on – you guessed it – rice. What makes this important is that instead of focusing on the traditional way of dining based on a culture (Italian) or a food (cupcakes) they unify multiple cultures around a single ingredient.
What comes from this is a new and unique experience. Your taste buds are allowed to intermingle many different flavors at once that they may have not been privvy to before. The conversation that’s created around the supernode is priceless. That’s what a supernode does.
A supernode is a trailblazer more often than not. A supernode also may take center stage because of the sheer fact that it is center and a point of congregation. What the supernode does best naturally is act as a conduit for many different streams to converge. It allows the different nodes to be on center stage and come together because it is by nature the center.
So what does all this mean to you? These supernodes are changing reality. We’re all more enriched and emboldened because of them. They turn the impossible into I’m possible.
Tags: flavors, linchpin, sheer fact, supernode, taste buds
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February 9th, 2010
Limitations are just a poor excuse for not doing something. Granted the natural laws of man (gravity, speed of light, transforming into a Liger etc) impart their own limitations on us – but that’s not what I’m talking about. The limitations are in your mind not in what you find.
Limits aren’t just embraced by the downtrodden; they’re especially loved by the ruling class. We were all born of the same blood and flesh. Many of us have risen to greatness despite or in fact BECAUSE of the obstacles. Most think they can’t do something because they only factor in themselves.
Che Guevara was a solitary man who was passionate about something he believed in. It doesn’t even matter what it was. What matters is that he believed that he could make a difference. Others believed in him because he believed in himself. His actions ended up becoming revolutionary.
Before you get hung up on the fact that he became legendary and revolutionary realize this: he reached that status by being lifted up by many many others. He may have been a man with a vision but it took many others to get there. The next time you say you can’t just think of all the others who believe you can and then you can.
Tags: che guevara, poor excuse, ruling class, solitary man, speed of light
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February 8th, 2010
We only think of failure as a bad thing when in actuality it couldn’t be better. Failure is what drives us to reinvigorate, reinvent, renew, refresh, restart. The only true failure is if you choose not to try again. Failure is what allows us to take our game to the next level. The only way you can turn failure into a positive experience is if you have a winner’s mindset.
Winning isn’t everything. In fact, it’s only a very small percentage of everything. Winners have to go through a lot of failure before “it” happens. Winners are not made over night; they’re made over many nights.
What do I want to do? Fail hard and fail spectacularly. I’d rather not have my wins come easy to me one after another. Savoring the glorious victory isnt as sweet without the experiencing agony of defeat.
Tags: actuality, agony of defeat, glorious victory, mindset, next level
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January 31st, 2010
Why do people gather? For that matter why does anything gather? To be around like minds?
To not be alone. As much as someone says they want to be alone they don’t. We all need others to define ourselves.
Online and offline you’ll see people gathering naturally:
Chat rooms
Discussion boards
Social networks
Microblogging platforms
Special events
Clubs
Concerts
Museums
These are places where people naturally come together around one centralized topic. If you look closer there are overlapping subtopics that look like many Venn Diagrams overlaid at once. They may have differing opinions and views on what they’re consuming but the one thing that remains constant is what they are there for.
Some ways people gather are apparent while others are more subtle. One thing is for sure – we gather and we gather often.
Tags: clubs concerts, social networks, subtle one, subtopics, venn diagrams
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January 31st, 2010
If you thought people would laugh at you before you did something would you do it? Do you think that if you did that’s brave? I do.
There’s a certain amount of chutzpah that a trailblazer needs. Innovators, entrepreneurs, activists, creators – they all regularly put themselves on the line to be critiqued. Why do they allow themselves to be emotionally ripped apart day in an day out? The benefits outweigh the bruises.
If you’re willing to risk humiliation for a huge reward you may just be one of them. Know this: it probably won’t come easy, there will be a lot of heartache but you will gain invaluable experience along the way.
What if Apple gave up at revolutionizing design in computing? Well we’d all have beige boxes and generally uninspiring hardware. Most people wrote Apple off as an “also-ran-as” but they kept forging on. Each one of us has what it takes to be a trailblazer. You just have to be willing to be laughed at.
Tags: beige boxes, chutzpah, heartache, innovators, invaluable experience
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January 31st, 2010
“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” -Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein started out working in a patent office [1] but clearly didn’t end up known as the best patent clerk in the world (although I can argue he was the most notorious). He changed his routine. He changed his world.
Which brings me to a larger point – everything doesn’t last forever and will ultimately change.
If you’re working at your job and have been for years in the same 9-5 Monday to Friday path look at it on two levels: macro and micro. On the macro level – you haven’t always worked at your job. You were in school. You had hopes and dreams beyond working in an office for a large company. On the micro level – you have new interactions everyday, with a coworker, a business associate, the coffee shop guy, the internet. Nothing you do will EVER give you the same results.
Why did something happen? How did you get to where you are? You ultimately decided to allow it to happen. You may have not forced the circumstances that led up to the decisive moment but you did let it into your life.
On the micro level Albert Einstein is wrong. You can never have the same results. There are too many factors in that moment to make it exactly the same. On the macro level he’s right. If you keep on doing what you’ve been doing the way you’ve always been doing it don’t expect a different outcome.
Change your view. Change the way you approach things. Do you walk the same way every day? Change your routine. Find a new way to get to done. In the very least it’ll make life more interesting. At most it could change your whole life.
*Side note – I’m changing my own routine. All branding and social media articles will be over at http://damienbasile.posterous.com. More general posts about how to ‘get to done’ will be over here from now on. I’ve done this to create clarity and save me time writing so I can use my time more efficiently elsewhere.
Tags: albert einstein, einstein albert, hopes and dreams, patent clerk, patent office
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