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And So, Seven Years Later…

I‘m finally in Moscow, my native city. I’ve just pondered on the power of written goals, and those of you who’ve been reading this blog since 2006 might remember that one of my New Year’s reservations that I first publicised here at the turn of 2006/2007 was to go to my place of birth. Since then the goal has never left the radar but for one reason or another it was being delayed time and again. Maybe I was sharing the goal with the wrong people, I don’t know. The fact is, this year I\ve written down that I would go to Moscow in October, and just as I began to feel that I needed to delay the trip, Fate stepped in, and voila, I’m in Moscow now.

This reminds me of a saying by Jacques Prevert:

Even if happiness forgets about you a little bit, never completely forget about happiness.

Same for goals. Accept setbacks and delays but keep pushing, and one day you will get there. If in doubt, consult me.

I’ve not been out yet really, as the flight turned to be a bit more excruciating than even I expected. I left Manchester on a late warm and sunny afternoon, only to arrive into a typically Mancunian rain over Moscow. After all, I’ve been joking for a few years that my two countries swapped weathers. Upon landing and collecting my luggage, I was greeted by several taxi drivers who offer private services to visitors. Since 1990s taxi has been a strange kind of business: although there are certified companies in Moscow, a lot of work is still carried out by ordinary drivers. The ones at the airport were trading with all the best traits of direct sales technique: broad smile, good eye contact, polite rather than excited tone of voice. Eventually I asked one of them about the terms of trade with the airport. As one would expect, airport has a share in the drivers’ profit.

What has surprised me the most until now is the fact that when I look at my photos I genuinely don’t see much difference between me at 17-20 and now. Perhaps, those who cannot phathom my age (which isn’t 55, anyway!) are right. Yet when I look at my mother, grandma, and dad I see the changes, quite drramatic. Considering that my parents are the mirror in which I look to see myself, I am reminded of Dorian Gray story. But maybe a lot of us are reminded of it when we spend so much time away from those near to us.

The Power of Written Goals

Many people all around me are talking about the power of writing your goals down. Now, I did this in the early 2009, then something happened, it all didn’t pan out quite well, and I freaked out. I knew better this year, as I understood the difference between publicising the goals and actually writing them down. And even though I didn’t announce that goals I was working for, I made sure I had them in front me on the paper since January.

As a few people who tried to do this will know, you don’t always get to hit the goal. But you can get really close; and then, instead of deploring the fact that you didn’t get what you wanted in exact way, shape or form, you can assess the success, identify and minimise the lows, and maximise the highs. And then hopefully with the next set of goals you will get what you want.

I mentioned the difference between publicising and writing the goals. I believe setting the goals and working on them should be very personal. Of course, you cannot accomplish everything by yourself, so you do need a team. However, as some students of business might know there is a concept of GRASP, in which G stands ‘getting along with the right people‘. So, this year, rather than announcing my goals to everyone, I chose to attract those who were right for my project and/or for me.

When you write your goals down, something magical happens. Good things start occurring, positive changes begin, great people enter your life. It is important to remind yourself of those goals, no matter how things are actually going. And it’s even more important to remember that “it’s not how good you are, it’s how good you want to be“. This is the only thought that will always keep you afloat.

Syndromes and People

Recently I’ve been reading on the subject of autism and Asperger syndrome. Although there are certain similarities between the two, Asperger syndrome patients usually find themselves a place in the society, meet a partner and may even have children.

Both types are characterised by the lack of social skills, in particular; however, Asperger syndrome strikes me as an attempt to clinically explain the inability or the lack of desire to join the ranks of society, to socialise on the accepted terms, and to see things in a customary way.

Yesterday I was reading a chapter in a parents’ manual sold in WHSmith, and one example was quite funny. A teacher asked the Aspergerian boy “Do you have time?”, the boy replied “Yes”, and the teacher complained that the boy was rude.

Apparently, people with Asperger syndrome tend to either take things seriously or not see the seriousness of the issue. They may find something funny when it isn’t and fail to laugh at a real joke. They can take things literally (e.g. pull their socks). They may not be able to see the situation through another’s eyes. They will have difficulties establishing social contacts, building and maintaining relationships, and generally, they will have issues with being accepted. But they can also focus on whatever they are passionate about to the degree when they are capable of producing something astonishing.

The problem is, because of their idiosyncrasies these people are likely to be treated as misfits or even disabled.

My issue isn’t about stating that someone have a certain condition that make them too different for their own good. My issue is that this has to be described and analysed as a special condition rather than a completely natural way for a person to express themselves, even if it appears odd.

Because if you ask someone if they have time, the response is either “yes” or “no”. If this wasn’t the answer you were after, ask them what time it is.

How to Motivate Oneself

I often come across as the most motivated person out there. I am usually so passionate about whatever I am doing and so energetic that for an onlooker I seem to possess a special gift.

Alas, I am only human, and no matter how dedicated I can be to a project ultimately there comes a point when I feel knackered and cannot bear the thought about the project. Yet I do still find strength to finish them (or some of them) – how?

What usually helps is the understanding that there is an audience to attend to. Even if it’s just one person waiting, it’s already a worthwhile cause. Imagine if a hundred or a thousand people await?

Realising that the project is quite unique is the next important reason. Who else can do it, if not you?

I’d choose a rocking chair…

Every project invites a degree of exposure. Exposure leads to meetings, exchange of ideas, discovery of collaborators, and voila, new projects. If you’re ambitious, this can drive you like nothing else.

Finally, if you’re lucky to be doing the work you love doing then demotivation caused by a setback or mere tiredness will only temporarily surface amidst the all-embracing sense of purpose. As those who already know better will say, your goals should be huge enough to get you out of your bed in the morning. A project that makes you feel tired may not be large but if it is a link of your goal chain, you will find enough resources to accomplish it.

And then you will sit back and relax…

Image is courtesy of Interiors.

To What Purpose Do You Spend?

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I shall tell you of one experience I had recently. An old English gentleman and I had a conversation on the subject of a telephone bill. Although he knew he had to reduce it, he couldn’t find a good enough reason to do so. I said to him: “Sir, this is very simple: there are assets, and then there are liabilities. Your telephone bill is your liability that holds you down in one way or another. Personally, I’d reduce my liabilities to a minimum and invest money in my assets”.

 He agreed with me entirely.
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There is one big issue I have both with psychology and with economics. They both focus – or used to focus – primarily on the “negative”. Economics studied scarcity of goods and money, while psychology preoccupied itself with the study of abnormal. John Cleese had exactly the same problem with psychology, particularly family psychology.
Thanks to such approach, we’re meant to believe that, one, nobody is normal, and, two, there is not enough wealth to go round. Thus, firstly, we may end up diagnosing ourselves with everything except the proverbial housemaid’s knee; and, secondly, we’re conditioned to believe that wealth can only belong to a few lucky ones.
The law of attraction works in both ways. If you focus on abundance and all good things, you will get more of those. If you focus on poverty and scarcity, you’ll get more of that. Which is the reason, for instance, why I think that charitable programs directed at alleviation of the poverty burden are quite useless: they do not treat the causes of poverty. They do not change those outdated mechanisms of thinking and behaviour that are alone responsible for the fact that poverty is so pervasive.
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The title of the post is from John Ruskin’s essay, Unto This Last: Four Essays on the First Principles of Political Economy. And there one finds a poignant thought:
The vital question, for individual and for nation, is never ‘how much do they make?’ but ‘to what purpose do they spend?’
Indeed, why does it matter if or not you make enough money if you spend most of it on your liabilities, on things, sometimes immaterial, that only consume money without reproducing it? Today, the entire Advertising industry is based around this very question: what product to market, and how, so that people had the purpose to buy it?
There are a lot of economists and sociologists today who recognise the emotional aspect of economic behaviour, and not only among consumers, but among businessmen, too. A decision based on intuition again and again turns out to the right, successful, and profitable one. The question of purpose always highlights a bigger picture that involves not only logic, but also intuition, insight, and gut.
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Yet this question about “spending” shouldn’t be seen solely in the context of economic relations. Time is one of those precious commodities we can easily hoard. To what purpose do we spend it? Are we pouring it into our assets – study, work that brings us satisfaction and income, travel, communication with people who make a positive difference in our lives? Or are we spending our time on getting on with life that gets in the way? Are we dedicating our time and hence resources to things and people that don’t deserve it?
Where are our mental powers directed? Are we focusing our mind of something negative we cannot change, or are we directing it towards the positive things that we can influence? Because, unlike money, time and the damaged nerves cannot be regained that easily, if at all.
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This is not to say that we must become frugal in everything we do. Simply, we must be open-minded enough to see the true value of what surrounds us. We must be creative to find means to reduce liabilities and limitations in order to produce and attain more assets. Be it free time, free money or just better well-being, knowing how to multiply it is infinitely more important.

A Bad Weather Song

I‘ve already waxed lyrical about different Russian films on this blog, and now here is an opportunity to introduce to you a famous adaptation of the foreign classic – the “Mary Poppins” movie. Based on the books by P. L. Travers, the musical film “Goodbye, Mary Poppins” was produced in 1983 and featured a what you call star-studded performance, complete with a male actor playing a lady. It is adored by generations for all good reasons, but I personally love the music and one particular song about the bad weather.

The film follows in the footsteps of Igor Maslennikov’s recreation of England for his Sherlock Holmes epic, and from the start we see a clean and orderly street showered with endless rain, as it often happens in the UK. Lembit Ulfsak, an Estonian actor, sports a John Lennon look, complete with round glasses and a guitar. The singing voice, however, belongs to Pavel Smeyan, the late actor of Lenkom, one of the leading Russian theatres.
The changes in Nature happen year upon year.
Bad weather, bad weather, bad weather is now in fashion.
As if from the water conduit
The water pours down on us from the sky.
Bad weather is for half of the year,
Half of the year you can go nowhere,
Bad weather is for half of the year,
Half of the year you can go nowhere.
Nowhere, from bad weather we can hide nowhere,
But you cannot postpone life at all.
Nowhere, but remember that somewhere over there
Someone is searching for you in the rain.
The terrible thunderstorm strikes from sunset until sunrise,
Bad weather is the price for people’s sins.
It’s neither a cold nor a flu
But a much more serious trouble…
Bad weather is for half of the year,
Half of the year you can go nowhere,
Bad weather is for half of the year,
Half of the year you can go nowhere.
Nowhere, from bad weather we can hide nowhere,
But you cannot postpone life at all.
Nowhere, but remember that somewhere over there
Someone is searching for you in the rain.

Where to Find Inspiration

Whether it is a society myth, or something we embed into our minds as we contemplate the lives of artists, but one things is certain: finding inspiration is a massive task for most of us.

The world’s greatest, being human after all, admitted that there were days when they couldn’t work. Tiredness settled in, creditors kept banging on the door, the loved one either died or eloped with a lover – there were plenty of reasons to “lose the attitude” for one’s preoccupation. But that was in the days before the telephone and the Internet. As the world grows older, so grows the number of reasons to not be able to find inspiration and motivation. Suddenly, no matter how strong is your vocation, it fades in the background of the lack of inspiration.

The key to finding inspiration is not to look for it. When I planned my day for yesterday I dedicated 2 hours to spend on several things for this blog. What happened instead is that I crossed out a couple of items on the list rather quickly that then allowed me to write this post. And the inspiration for writing came from the moment.

Inspiration is born in the moment. True, you have to create that moment, perhaps by studying your subject and thinking about your project. But you cannot plan the moment. This is why so many good ideas are jotted down on napkins, not neatly written in the private notebook.

Losing the Attitude to Success

In my present work environment we talk a lot about “losing the attitude“. Usually it means that your spirits sink so low that you cannot motivate yourself to do the job.

I have realised the other night, however, that “losing the attitude” means – and should mean – a completely different thing. The loss of attitude is not caused by the lack of sleep or the frustration that things aren’t moving as fast as you’d want them to. The loss of attitude is the symptom of how you feel about people around you.

You are surely familiar with the concept of the law of attraction: what you focus on you get more of. The concept was massively popularised by the film Secret that illuminated how focusing on your wishes can make them come true.

When I look at everything I’ve achieved so far I know it is all the result of my precise unhindered focus on what I wanted to attract. But there is an area where I have been treading unconsciously rather than with a good understanding of its importance. The area is instrumental in one’s individual success or the success of a group of people.

To succeed, you’ve got to be comfortable with the success of others. 

It is logical: if you want to attract success in your life (wealth, love, and other goodness also count), you’d better get excited when others around you become successful. It makes no sense to only be happy when good things are happening in your life while the rest of the world lies in misery.

Paradoxically, the majority of people only get excited when they achieve things for themselves and maybe a few loved ones. They almost consider themselves as the only people out there worthy of achievement and recognition. When others are recognised and become successful, a lot of people go out of their ways to belittle, bemoan and deplore the others’ achievement.

It doesn’t mean that these people can never become successful just because they’re inviting success to themselves while resenting other successful people. What it does mean, though, is that whatever success they find will not be enough to make them happy or truly rich: because they’re taking pleasure not in Success as such but in an infinitely small part of it.

When people lose their attitude to the job they effectively lose positive, comfortable attitude to life and to people. They no longer focus on the abundance of opportunities to succeed that make success accessible to just about anyone. Instead they concentrate on that share of universal Success that can enter their own life, and this share will always be too small not to care about it. Suddenly they’re dominated by a poverty conscience rather than move forward guided by the knowledge that there is always more than enough for everybody.

In case you are wondering if this can really be true, I have just tried this on myself. A month ago at one huge meeting I had the opportunity to open my inner gates to the universal flow of success and achievement. I was incredibly happy for everyone’s achievement even though my own achievements have so far been modest. The result didn’t keep me waiting, and within days I stunned myself with what I was able to do.

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