Touching the void - inspiration for entrepreneurs!

Simpson

A presenter once mentioned how the movie 'Touching the Void' is a must-see for entrepreneurs... extremely curious as to why - I watched it. And then I watched the movie many more times. It is inspirational!

What do you do when all the odds and natural elements are stacked against your chances of survival? Perhaps if he asked the question, hardly anyone would have told him that they think he could make it out of that one! Everything gloom-and-doom to the first order, do you give up? Even if you don’t give up... perhaps you don't have support and plenty of drawbacks, how do you go the distance?

A lesson that stood out for me was how he (Simpson) kept setting small, reachable targets and when he reached each one, he celebrated it and then set another... and so, 50-feet target by 10-feet target, he reached the five miles he was aiming for. The only option he gave himself was reaching the target!

This is how the movie goes, so don’t read this is you’re going to watch the movie:

• (+) The pair were the first to successfully ascend to the summit of Siula Grande via the almost vertical west face.
• (-) Due to bad weather, the trip took longer than they intended and base camp was about another 3,000 feet below
• (-) Disaster struck. On the descent Simpson slipped down an ice cliff and broke his tibia into his knee joint
• (-) They had run out of water
• (-) The second disaster struck. Yates lowered Simpson with a rope over a 100 foot overhanging cliff where he dangled in mid-air under freezing conditions
• (-) Simpson’s weight on the rope was slowly pulling Yates down the mountain.
• (-) Yates was forced to cut the rope, dropping Simpson into a crevasse.
• (-) The next morning Yates descended the mountain certain that Simpson must have died.
• (+) Simpson had survived, despite a 100 foot fall and broken leg.
• (+) He abseiled from his landing spot on an ice bridge into a void
• (+) He unexpectedly reached a thin ice roof with an opening onto the glacier.
• (+) He crawled out back onto the glacier!
• (+) He spent three days setting targets, crawling and hopping back to the base camp
• (-) He had no food and only splashes of water from melting ice
• (+) He reached base camp a few hours before Yates intended to leave.
• (+) Simpson’s survival is regarded as amongst the most amazing pieces of mountaineering lore.

Somehow, in spite of many hectic unfortunately's (-) one can produce the fortunate legendary ending (+).

Learning more about digital photography

Yesterday I did a basic introduction to digital photography.

Learned where to find everything on my camera, how and why to choose different settings, new techniques and very importantly, how to reset everything back to default settings, when the photo just doesn't come out right because of one forgotten setting that was changed along the way.

It was great to learn from an experienced photographer, who gave us valuable practical guidance and warnings about everything from buying the equipment, weather conditions, what to look out for on every occasion and how he does things.

I would certainly want to do more photography courses, as I am sure that each photographer has a host of important tips to depart. And maybe joining a photography club would also be a good next step.

  

How do they find the time to live?

Every day swarms of people are caught up in a cyclone of busyness - frantically racing and rushing about. At the end of each day they are worn and stressed out. They live lives filled with frustration, resentment and anger instead of lives of serenity. They experience their existence as empty and meaningless.
Amazingly often you will find that they are busy simply for the sake of being busy... that many of their actions are undirected or misdirected.

They are too busy scooping water out of the boat - to fix the leak. Too disorganised - to get organised. Too concerned with what they are doing - to consider all the implications. They are too busy growing that venture - to focus on their own growth. Their relationships suffer because they are too busy with red tape. Squeezing ‘being-busy’ into every moment of the day.

Both busyness and laziness lead to the same end, the neglect of the essential things in their lives.

How can they disentangle themselves from a life of perpetual busyness to one of purposeful and carefully thought out action?

• They need to take the time to go from ‘busy’ to ‘productive' - this means moving from impulsive action to purposeful action.
• They need to take quiet time for their inner creative force to study their options, analyze obstacles, and build a road map to successfully bring their dreams into reality.
• They need to break down the goal of controlling their lives into small manageable steps and start working at regaining control bit by bit.
• They need to grant themselves the time needed for rest, nutrition and exercise to perform at top efficiency.
• They need to plan and assemble resources. Then, when they have worked out what the next important step is, they need to take focused action.
• They need to aim at doing things thoroughly and right the first time, which is one of the biggest time savers and remember that the "desire to have things done quickly prevents their being done properly."
• They need to improve their definition of success, which may help them reduce the demands on their time and energy, and they will get far more from life, despite perhaps having a lower income and fewer friends.
• They need to make better choices - like saying no to any unfair expectations of anyone and switching the TV off more often.
• They need to pack more value into their activities by combining them - like going to the park to spend quality time with family/friends, getting some form of exercise done and savouring nature all at the same time.
• They need to be alert, present and aware of their every action, remain focused on reversing their trend, always thinking before they act, always reflecting on the purpose and outcome of their actions.

They do have enough time! They always need to respect their time and use it wisely so that they can reap the great benefits and fulfilling life it holds in store for them.

'Delivering the goods' like freshly squeezed OJ

Just read a blog post about how ‘delivering the goods’ aka being great in business, management, leadership, getting hired or keeping your job is like freshly squeezed Orange Juice... It goes for pretty much anybody.

Orange Juice represents getting that ongoing everyday enjoyment from something, even though it is the same thing over and over again, day in and day out. It’s great. It works. It delivers. It does the job. It’s perfect.

Do you deliver the goods the way real freshly squeezed orange juice does?

• It always delivers on the promise
• It’s honest-to-goodness real thing
• It does the job perfectly every time
• It serves a purpose and fulfills a need
• It’s best when present - past success is no guarantee of future results 
• It’s best when on time - every day delivery keeps them coming back
• It’s best freshly squeezed, not frozen, diluted or in any way diminished
• If it’s great in one situation, it won’t necessarily be great in another setting 
• It’s widely accepted in every country and city 
• It makes its mark on the w-o-r-l-d.  
• It's consistent, day in, day out.
• It can be enjoyed everyday!

Think of yourself, your staff, your product, your company as having the qualities and value of orange juice! Set your sights, lock in our trajectory, and set off to deliver the goods like freshly squeezed OJ.

How do you ensure success?

Stick to these points and you’ll go far in this world:

• Striving to be exceptional - a rare commodity
• Showing up on time armed with creativity and enthusiasm
• Being open to communication and dedicated to grow
• Setting glitches or mistakes straight right away
• Being committed to help solve problems
• Making sure that what you provide fits the need 
• Respecting the ecology and well-being of all

The Prophet

This must be one of the most inspirational books of all time. On a daily basis quotes from it are shared between friends and associates to provide comfort and encouragement for handling daily events.

This inspired me to embark on an artistic journey with this book to exhibit what the poems mean to me in other formats, such as the word-cloud on the right, 26 individual artworks and readings which are accompanied with music created to fit each one of the poems.

The word-cloud consists of the 82 most commonly used words in the book. The size of each word reflects the relative frequency of the use of the word.

Here's a snippet on Joy and Sorrow:

Your joy is your sorrow unmasked...
The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain...
I say unto you, they are inseparable.
Together they come, and when one sits alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.

They got me so emotional!

This performance group acted out the life stories of a couple of women through abstraction, mostly movement... man-oh-man, I had to bite my lip, think of other things and so forth, but the emotions they stirred in me was almost over-powering... others in the audience also felt that way. It is something about the performing arts that catches you so off guard, there's no scope for hiding from or becoming comfortably numb to it. It makes me wonder, are those the emotions we should be feeling about everyday tragedies around us, rather than just shrugging it off as we need to get on with our lives?