As a Population believes so they are.
A thought is a seed, that bloomes into an idea or dream.
That idea or dream becomes a meme and spreads through a
population following small world math.
We can shape our future, and this is why Philippines can and
will be the Innovation and Startup Hub of Asia.
We do not have a resource problem, we have idea and dreaming
problem.
We have an innovation problem.
From thought, to idea and dream into
a meme that affects a population.
Our schools and institutions are
killing our creativity, limiting our consciousness, forcing us to live in a
past and false reality. We penalize
failure, we criticize wild ideas, anything that threatens the status quo.
I asked the founder of a
company that had hired me to mentor and help their startup grow.
Me:
‘What are you most afraid of?
Her: ‘Failing, loosing my business
and the money, becoming broke.’
This fear of failure, and resistance
to creativity (even though her company deals in creativity) limits her conciousness holds her psychological map
prisoner and does not let her get from point a to point b.
We are a society the worships
success, the art of ‘BLING’ and the rockstar lifestyle. This too
is deeply troubling. Rather than listen
we live pathetic sad lives afraid to dream, love, risk any sort of failure. Some of us
exist vicariously through -chikka minutes and
the gossip of so called celebrities –
Nature evolves, so to must we.
Scar tissue is stronger than regular tissue. Realize the strength, move
on." Henry Rollins
Instead of being afraid of what
others think of you, stop. What do you
think you think of yourself?
Fail Fast and Fail Cheap.
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who
points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds
could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is
actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and
blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and
again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but
who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms,
the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at
the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who
at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so
that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who
neither know victory nor defeat.
Theodore Roosevelt
The Immortals = Self Proclamation of Greatness in Social Media
Attend innovation or technology conferences and see that Startups and Social Web are the new Indie Bands.
Are we doing a lot of marketing innovation or is real value created and ROI produced?
We need to start focusing on Intelligence rather than 'Viral or 'Buzz.
A young CEO and founder I
respected came to my home office asking for my help. He needed a business plan, serious marketing
strategy, and had no idea how he could make money from their technology. Without going into too much detail he stated
for my all my help, contacts and for writing the business plan, he would in fact put my
name on his website as an advisor...to HIM.
I told him flat out, in my life that
was probably the most arrogant offer someone had ever given me. Why on Earth do I care if my name is on his
Website? The only thing I cared about
was his business being successful and making him and me cash. My name has nothing to do with the 4 business
mores. (sell more to more people more often for more money.)
I gave him a quick lesson in WIIFM
and instructed him to always pay people someway somehow if not in cash, in
value. Never trust anyone who just wants
to help you, because in the end, you can’t afford their price. He left looking shocked, and his GF whom he
brought with him pretty much was cursing me to eternal life in hell. Utang Na Loob is sometimes too costly.
Arrogance and false
importance misdirect us. So many times my own arrogance and
self importance takes me off the course.
We all want to feel important and valuable. One thing that I truly believe is that if you
help people get what they need or want, they are more than happy to buy, invest
or work with you.
But we are afraid – well at least I
am sometimes, and that is okay too.
After one spectacular startup idea and failure I stayed out of the
public eye, and licked my wounds. Okay
sounds normal, but no, this went on for nearly 2 years. It was only thru the
ongoing encouragement of my mentors and others I slowly emerged. At the end of the day the reality of my life
was obvious I was tired and angry for all my moping.
We need to train like a boxer. Boxers fail, then they go back to the gym
watch recordings of the fight, see what they did wrong, and train to get it
right. If a boxer is getting beat up
pretty bad his team will often stop the fight, this is called ‘Saving the
Fighter’ because a brutal loss will not
only hurt physically but the risk is psychological more than anything. Hence why failing fast is always a great
thing.
Before the next big fight, a boxer
will usually have a few easy opponents, these are placed in his way to build
confidence and get the boxer ready for the big event.
So if a boxer (not often adored for
their supreme intellect) has all this support and effort why don’t we have
it? Why don’t we have teams that stop
our fight (idea or biz) to save us from worse damage. Why don’t we have mentors that analyze us,
groom us and brutally train us to greatness?
As Iron Sharpens Iron so does
another man sharpen the other.
Proverbs 13:20. It reads: “Whoever walks with the wise will be wise; whoever walks with fools will suffer harm.”
Our feeling sorry for our Scars,
singing pathetic love songs, and sappy movies about loosing ‘The One Person or
Idea of my Lifetime’ This limits
creativity and shapes a population that is afraid of failure (failure is the
best thing for us for by it we learn). A
Blue Fin tuna will release ten million fertilized eggs, with only ten remaining
to adulthood. The dandelion will releasemillions to the air in total randomness.
The richest and most powerful men of
my Generation did not follow the establishment.
They rebelled, grew long hair, used drugs made mistakes and in fact
where quite unreasonable. Madness you
say? Bill Gates and Steve Jobs both dropped out of University.
When I was 9 years old my mother
gave me a book, it was short stories about inventors and the act of creation,
the story of how the invention came about in the first place. The cotton loom, vulcanized rubber, the safety
pin, and yes even nails. I loved it so much I promised myself I would not read
it fast but instead focused on one story a week. Move over Hollywood and music, my heros became and remain inventors, people
just like you, ideas, startup weekends. I loved reading how Jonas Salk fought polio
and how Louis Pasteur created vaccines.
In a wild time in America growing up with such religious fever I never
understood the loud praying while holding rattlesnakes to heal someone, but I
understood that same God gave us a mind and two hands to fix them.
It was that same Winter in 1982 that
I got to see an Apple Computer, I don’t know how or why but I knew, I knew this
was my future. I just loved everything
about it, my parents spoke in awe, everywhere I turned Technology was becoming
the new way. The new way we would fight
cancer, hunger and heal kids like Annie the little girl next door who was scary
sick all the time, asthma, arthritis or something with her bones. She suffered in first grade while I ran to
the bus stop.
I wanted answers.
Maybe you do too.
Our thoughts shape us. So groom your thoughts.
Our life is the sum of our choices,
so damnit accept responsibility.
If you fail at something, admit it
quickly and say: ‘I could have done this, rather than I should have…
Never use the word sorry, instead
say: ‘I apologize for…(this action). Be
specific.
Do not accept or use sweeping
statements such as:
‘You
always do, say, act…’ instead be
specific,
‘You
at this time did this, and as a result we missed our client deadline and didn’t
ship on time’
Invest in people, surround yourself
with people who are better than you.
Accept that they are better in this area than you.
Be
very detailed.
Think
big, do not think forward, you are dreaming, what do you really WANT your life
and business to be in three years.
After you ‘Paint your Picture’ create a reverse spreadsheet on what you have
to do to get there. That is right, plan
your dream life in REVERSE.
Share your painted picture with
everyone. Including your customers, and
competitors.
Remain humble, make lotsa mistakes, fail fast, repeat.
Our thoughts become ideas and
dreams, become meme’s amongst a population, which becomes a movement which in
turn changes human history.
We are the next …. Because we are
first this within ourselves.
I change the world, when I change
me.
