Balance X Patience

I have never been a person who liked to look back at past experiences, but I am smart enough to know that everything happens for a reason and in each experience there are several lessons to be found. Currently, I have to be a patient man in order to achieve my goals and paving the way for them. I am still learning to be a patient man for good things to come even though it is in my nature to go after what I want when all I have to do is give it some time. Although I appreciate that character trait, it sometimes guides me into a situation I even want to be there for, or around, somebody even when I am fighting my own battles. I guess that is just my nature instead of trying to portray a certain role. When I deeply care for somebody I always make sure I am emotionally secure but sometimes I even go beyond that to be there for somebody else. It shows respect when that other person says that I am not the most qualified person to be there even when there is some cheering up to do :). It is the difference between what your mind says and what your heart sees and how one decides for himself to respond.


Every person has his own battles to fight, whether they stem from work, family history, upbringing or any other path that makes one the person who he/she is today. Personally, I allow any friend to be critical of me as long as they understand that when somebody really cares they also will say things that can be harsh or even difficult to listen to. Everybody is responsible for their own actions, as a friend you can offer your opinion and be there when the chips are down. After all, it takes a long time to grow an old friend. Sincerely, I have made mistakes to but I am grateful to have a few people around that when I've made a fool of myself they do not feel I've done a permanent job.

The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing... not healing, not curing... that is a friend who cares.
Henri Nouwen

Louboutin Kicks for Men

Searching for inspiration on such a nice day, it is 24 degrees down here in Rotterdam, these kicks caught my eye:

Christian Louboutin Spacer Flat Sneaker

Although the same causes some excitement for women, the focus of CL onto the men's market hopefully will cause the same response. Available through CL retailers in black leather, white leather and beige suede for the price of $1195. I do like the fact it is a hight-top sneaker where the buckles go up towards the diagonal zipper. Reminded of a Kris Van Assche sneaker of Autumn 09, Louboutin branches out into men's footwear and might do well there to with this bolder design. They are something to look at!


Source: My MANy Bags

Learning to be a Satisficer

Another day at Seats2Meet 030: today was one of the coolest and most awakening interviews I had in a long time. I had the pleasure to meet Kim van Velzen which is the general manager of the CDEF Holding which the concept of Seats2Meet belongs to. 
Officially it was an interview and with interviews for job positions a person has expectations. I had several great experiences with working at Seats2Meet and having a crowd of people around me which are, for the most part, open for conversation. However, the position which I am interested in was already occupied so this led me to a conversation (during the interview) about expectation management. 


Let's say you visit a great restaurant and you have a wonderful dinner. Even the person serving you is utmost attentive and kind an during the dinner you look to your significant other and say that you really enjoy being here and this must be a great place to work. The association between having a pleasurable experience somewhere leads to the assumption that it also must be a great place to work. This can be the case, but experiencing one thing and actually working at the place where you had the experience can be quite different. In my case of today: i will have to prove myself again from scratch which I am always interested in and can start fresh in an exciting organization.


What happened was: I projected my pleasurable experiences on my focus of potentially working there. I made this inference due to positive associations and experiences. During my days of moving towards my graduation I think a lot of what my next step is and how important that choice is because it might affect my whole career. For one part, this is true because choices involve other choices but the modern marketplace is a conspiracy to confuse, to trick the mind that believing that every choices (how small they might be) are actually extremely significant. I know people who actually others that they already should be a millionaire because they are approaching 30, the thing is: i am not kidding!


I personally believe that when everybody does the thing that they love or are naturally good at, which can be the same thing or not, a lot of people would be happier.
Rather then always focusing on maximizing, i would rather set criteria for adequacy, rather then to identify an optimal solution.
Most of the time we do not know the outcomes of our undertakings in life, we can rarely evaluate all outcomes with adequate precision.


What I gained from this cool conversation was a good lesson in expectation management, some personal insights and this blog which will remind to always be myself during any conversation. In the meantime, I’m going to continue my quest for self-improvement, reminding myself to be less of a maximizer and more of a satisficer

Lean & Mean

Today I was in Utrecht at Seats2Meet for a conversation with Vincent about allowing me to put out my survey amongst it's online community of professionals and entrepreneurs: Mindz.

The goal of the meeting was to make the survey fit to be distributed amongst it's members. He pointed some details which allows me to gather data which could make a different in my research and provide valuable insights in how a platform is adopted, being used and how informations spreads on it about services, products and of course the development of the platform itself since they are giving it a 'facelift'.

We both came to the conclusion that this could provide benefits for Mindz as well as for my research. What caught my attention was that Seats2Meet is all about meeting new people, connect and share stories. When I came in, I did not went looking for Vincent or went to their desk but just grabbed myself a coffee, unfolded my Macbook and grabbed a chair and after a short while Vincent popped up as well.


Realizing that I did not  go for the desk immediately but just took a seat in a relaxed manner, made me think about Identification. Seats2Meet pulls it of to make such a strong association between meeting people and connect that everytime I walk in, I feel welcome and talk with everybody around me. Well, most of the time ;)


How about that for a 'Touch point'!


What I did today:

• Made another step towards graduation;
• Received valuable feedback in making the most out of my survey;
• Finally enjoyed a nice dinner while having some laughs ;)

Thanks to a friend who showed me this after sharing my day>>

Can YOU smell it!! 

Backpack v.s Man Bag

For some weeks I am looking for a cool backpack. They have to be big enough to fit my Moleskine, laptop and several other articles that I carry along with me. I love leather bags but since my old Eastpak died on me with several holes in it, it is time for something different. One brand that caught my eye some time ago is Stockholm-based bag brand Sandqvist.

The brand was build in 2004 by Anton Sandqvist and includes products for everyday use combining style and durability. Their collection includes leather laptop bags and backpacks made from Canvas. Their Inspiration wall is definitely worth checking out!
Since my Eastpak made itself quite usefull, this specific model caught my eye as well as:

Eastpak Floyd

Checking out the Sandqvist collection of this year I came across this old school model featuring brown leather and made out of heavy navy blue canvas. This one definitely goes on my list!





 


Something to reach for!
Straight out of Japan by Yoshida Porter, this one is a keeper! This item can outlive your grandfather, hold your 15inch laptop and a water bottle for those difficult hours. For the shoppers, Nalden his blog is the place to be! My search continues on to find the Perfect Backpak.

J. Lindeberg Spring/ Summer 2011

Johan Lindeberg started J. Lindeberg as a brand back in 1996. J. Lindeberg is a Stockholm based designer who built the brand to what it is today. Coming from Diesel and wanting to establish his vision, he built J. Lindeberg as a brand he loves to wear himself and I have been digging the label's offering for quite some time now.

Currently, they are in their last days of their Season Sale which still has some great accessoires and fine quality knits that never go out of style. I first came across this brand a year ago and their cardigans fit like a glove and are being made from the finest wool and cotton. Their The Bridge Collection is definitely worth a look!

A cardigan from JL is definitely on my list!

J. Lindeberg Spring/ Summer 2011