In case you are planning to get into online dating you might want to check this guide out, based on a huge sample they have come up with a thorough guide on what online pictures are the most attractive – based on things such as aperture, time of day, camera make and so on.
In most places in the world Ramadan have already or will soon be starting. It is the month where the Qu’ran was revealed and it’s one of the most holiest months. To all my muslim friends around the world, I just want to wish you a great month ahead of introspection and spiritual connection.
In 2010 in June I traveled to New York. It was a slightly unplanned trip that I took from Boston/Cape Code where I was staying and I had no real plan coming there, but New York showed it’s best face and gave me a good time. I met a Tibetan monk, two french girls and a great friend. I had some interesting discussions and some great walks around the city. The best part of it all was that it gave me an energy and a buzz.
Btw. not to be missed: The High Line park, beautiful place a summer afternoon! Here’s my trip on Google Maps & the pictures I took:
Since I’m heading out for a new trip soon I figured it would be good to blog a bit about the places that I’ve been before. I haven’t done this very actively so far, so here it comes
In 2008 in the winter I traveled with Allison to Morocco. We visited Tanger, Fes, Moulay Idriss and Meknes. I must say that it was Moulay Idriss and Fes that made the most lasting impression on me. Moulay Idriss for it’s sheer beauty, perched on top of a hill with the flat olive trees below. Fes because of it’s “Alice in Wonderland” qualities, dropping down in the medina there you feel transported to a different place & time. All in all, Morocco is one of the most beautiful countries I’ve visited. Below is our itinerary and pictures attached!Researchers found the happiest people had about twice as many substantive conversations and engaged in only about a third as much trivial small talk as the unhappiest people.
“A happy daily life seems to be social rather than solitary and has meaningful conversations,” Mehl said.
Researchers defined “small talk” as uninvolved conversations where trivial information is discussed, such as: “What do you have there? Popcorn? Yummy.”
Substantive conversations involve more meaningful exchanges like this: “If you educate kids, they actually have a future. They’re not going to cause problems in society.”
In the happiest individuals, meaningful discussions made up about 46 percent of their total conversations.
I had a conversation today with a good friend about the difference of simply existing, engaging in little more than the logistics of life and how to make life move forward vs. engaging in things beyond your own life. She asked , “Well what is to say that you cannot be perfectly happy just ‘existing’?”.
Well, in a study at the University of Arizona researchers found that the happiest individuals in the study where having more deep, meaningful conversations as opposed to “small” talk. Given my enjoyment for understanding how things work I think that this type of result is exciting – potentially meaning that a habit of increasing the amount of meaningful conversations you have would increase your sense of well-being.
So now, go out and discussing something that’s not the logistics of life!
On WikiLeaks “…the best way not to get exposed is not to do bad things…”, secrets are as old as societies – is full transparency going to change our societies for the better? #transparency #society #government
@celestinechua agreed! Only challenge with life wheels might be used incorrect ppl will aim for a balance everywhere – even if it doesn’t correspond to their goals
Productivity Doesn’t Happen By Itself
There are three things that have to happen in order to define our work and be maximally productive about it. And these three things don’t happen by themselves. We have to train ourselves to do all three, and until we establish them as automatic, habitual behaviors, we have to exert a conscious redirection of our focus to get them done.
We have to:
(1) Make decisions about what we are going to do with our “stuff” and the next actions required to do it (what would “doing” look like?) “Stuff” is un-actionable until we’ve decided the outcome and the next step to move toward that result. Things on lists and in stacks and in email generally repel instead of attract us to get involved, until we decide what exactly our intention is about them and whether the next step is a call, draft a response, buy nails, set a meeting with someone to discuss it…, etc.
(2) Put those outcomes and actions down in written form, if we don’t do them in the moment we think of them. Even if we decide what we need to do about something, if it’s filed in our “psychic RAM” we run serious risk of losing sight of the option and (worse) we create instant failure and unnecessary stress. That part of our psyche seems to have no sense of past and future, and it acts as if we should be doing everything it’s holding on to all at once.
(3) Look at the reminders (when we can effectively use them and move on them). Even if you have decided the next step is a phone call you need to make, and even if you have written that down somewhere, if you don’t look at the reminder when you are at a phone and have discretionary time, you risk missing an opportunity to move something forward when it might be the best thing to do, given all the variables. When you are in a certain context, you need to reflect on all the things that could be done in those contexts, to be the most efficient. And you need to know what it’s OK not to be doing, even if you could do it there. If you don’t, something in your core knows that you’re not optimally handling your agreements with yourself.
These three behaviors combined are a master skill set for knowledge work. Yet virtually everyone I encounter could significantly improve the consistency with which he or she does these three critical productivity activities.
We were not taught these practices growing up. The workaday world of our parents did not require these critical behaviors of knowledge work. People just showed up, and did what obviously needed doing—they could see it in front of them. Few people work in that kind of world any more. These days, just showing up and expecting to work on what’s visibly been put in front of them, is hoping for a retro world that doesn’t exist, and is likely to be experiencing mounting stress that is not going to get any better.
“The ancestor of every action is a thought.”
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Those who make the worst use of their time are the first to complain of its shortness.”
-Jean de La Bruysre
Always when I speak to people about productivity it seems to me that it comes down to behaviors – are your current set of behaviors useful or a hinderance to achieving what you want. I think these three habits are quite useful and would in the end help a lot of people to have a more productive life.
AIESEC alumnus knows the secret of life (and exchange)
If you ever been in AIESEC you know there is one phenomenon that is equal everywhere: when current AIESEC members meet the organization’s alumni, the alumnus almost always regard their period in AIESEC the best in the universe possible and giving the impression that the current AIESEC members don’t know what they are doing (and start giving advice – obviously not considering the current situation of the organization). It’s an illusion of the bright past, but that doesn’t matter. What matters is that now that I am an alumnus, I can do the same!So here are my hints for AIESEC, now that I am only an alumnus
Sergio shares his thoughts on how to improve AIESEC, even though I think the organization shouldn’t listen to everything us alumni say (especially recent – we think we know everything), Sergio does have some really valid point.
An area that I find especially interesting is to see how the social media strategy of AIESEC evolves, especially from the perspective that there is such a wealth of stories and conversations happening within the organization – and these are just waiting to be much more open forum. If I’d add my opinion to the mix I’d say the key thing is for AIESEC to let go of the idea that we’re doing social media for promotion or marketing – rather the tools that we provide internally in AIESEC should be ways of telling stories and engaging conversations, of connecting the tribe and allowing more people to connect with and join this tribe – whether they are partner representatives, alumni or university students.
I really hope that information management & online collaboration gets the maturity within the organization that other areas such as finances, planning or internal processes have got! And, with the current leadership I have a good hunch they just might! 🙂
#fb AIESECers – 2morrow is last day 2 share how you’re making a better world this summer. Tweet ur story @dowserdotorg w/ #SummerImpact
http://bit.ly/bRKRC2
