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This is my dynamic, frequently updated homepage. This is a NewsLog, also known as a WebLog or Blog.
Everything is evolving, so don't assume too much.
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Nathalie dArbeloff
Netron
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Paul Hughes
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Ray Ozzie
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Rebecca Blood
Roger Eaton
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Ross Mayfield
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Skip Lancaster
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Ton Zijlstra
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Loic Le Meur
Nancy White
Mark Frazier
Merlin Silk
Robert Paterson
Colby Stuart
Nova Spivack
Dan Brickley
Ariane Kiss
Vanessa Miemis
Bernd Nurnberger
Sites to watch:
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French:
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GeeBlog
Absara
Guillaume Beuvelot
Ming Chau
Serge Levan
Jean Michel Billaut
C'est pas Mécanique
A Quote I like:
"There is no reality except the one contained within us. That is why so many people live such an unreal life. They take the images outside of them for reality and never allow the world within to assert itself." (Herman Hesse)
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I live in Toulouse, France where the time now is:
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| Monday, September 15, 2003 |  |
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 This evening we were coming back from dinner at our new friends Lionel and Silvie. And somehow I had thought that the metro went till half past midnight. But it doesn't on weeknights and the Capitole station was all closed up. So we were looking for buses, but there were none going to our part of town. One last bus showed up and my wife went to ask the driver where he was going. I instead were looking at the chart of bus plans and had already decided that it was hopeless. That bus was going to Empalot, which is in a totally different part of town, in a different direction. But a helpful employee of the bus company magically showed up, and after some discussion with the bus driver they decided that we'd just go with his bus, and when he was done with his route, he would drive us to where we needed to go. And, wonder of wonders, that's what happened. Instead of finishing his work day at 1AM, he drove us almost all the way home in his bus, and he was all smiling and friendly about it. The typical answer you get in this kind of situation here, when people go out of their way to help you is "c'est normal". "It's normal". Meaning: Of course we'll help you, it's the right and proper thing to do, no need to mention it.
But there's a way of getting there, and a way not to. Notice that my wife was over there, involving the bus driver and the bus company employee in our problem of how we get home when the trains and busses don't run any longer, and we're tired and have a little kid, and there's a long way home. That's when it becomes quite possible and likely that they'll decide to help us solve it. Whereas I was just grumbling about having misunderstood the metro schedule, looking at the bus plan and deciding that there was no way, unless we walked or took a taxi. I obviously have a few things to learn about how to work things here.
[ Diary | 2003-09-15 16:52 | | PermaLink ] More >
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| Friday, September 12, 2003 | |
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 One of the best demonstrations of economics I've gotten, I got from ... a monkey. It was a little monkey at City Walk by Universal Studios in L.A. It had its owner with it, who was playing an old-fashioned organ where you grind the handle and it plays a corny old tune. The monkey was dressed in a silly costume, and there was a sign presenting the simple business proposition: Get out a quarter and the monkey will come over and get it out of your hand. Get out a dollar bill and the monkey will not only come and get it, but he will also shake your hand. Which is all cute, and well worth a quarter or a dollar, just to see that the monkey knows how to get the money, and to feel that it actually shakes your hand. I got out a dollar. The monkey snapped it up, shook my hand, and moved on to other businesss. Not so much as a smile, but I still felt satisfied with the transaction.
But now, the remarkable business action going on becomes apparent from observing that there's continuously 50 to 100 people standing around, and the monkey is essentially running around as fast as it can, picking up dollar bills and shaking hands. Seemed like 10-20 customers per minute to me. And, well, despite that I'm no business genius, I can easily add that up to $600-1200 per hour. Indeed, the organ grinder had a a rather large box that all the money was dropped into, and it was running over when I saw it.
I was sort of stunned. But that is a money machine at its best. Once you've trained the monkey, it takes very little effort, brings in loads of cash, and all the customers are happy with the transaction. The monkey works for peanuts, but I'm sure he's happy too.
I have peanuts. I have a roomy bucket that will hold a lot of money. But where do I get a monkey?
[ Organization | 2003-09-12 09:05 | | PermaLink ] More >
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 I feel inspired to explore the subject of wealth and business. I'm both interested in unearthing the seedy channels that money flows through when we dig down a little bit. And I'm interested in discovering more integruous, but practical, ways that good people can have access to the wealth needed to live meaningful lives.
See, it still seems like most people are either wage slaves, who do things they wouldn't do otherwise, for people who make much more out of it than they do. Or they're the people who exploit the wage slaves, getting them to do as much as possible for as little as possible. Or people are self-employed or small business owners, who work harder than either wage slaves or big business owners, for more uncertain rewards. Or you're somebody who has found a way of exploiting the system, particularly if you're in a socialized country where you can get social security. Or, you've found you own niche where you've made some kind of deal or investment in the past, or you happened to have been married to the right person, and now can live off the fruits of that. Or you're one of the somewhat few and lucky people who actually are doing exactly what you want to do, and people voluntarily reward you for it.
I personally usually have ended up either being somebody's wage slave, or an indepenent contractor that works very hard, or sometimes I'm lucky that I'm rewarded for things I've done and enjoyed. And I've realized by now that it doesn't work well for me at all to try to act as an unscrupulous business person who sells useless stuff and buys things for too little. Or as a stock market gambler who buys and sells stocks based on numbers, rather than on whether they're good companies or not. Or an MLM guru who signs people up into questionable pyramid schemes by enthusiastic BS sales talk. Neither am I somebody who even sells myself well. What works for me has been to be very pure and integruous about doing the stuff I really care about, whether it pays or not, and then to take work where it is offered, even if it doesn't exactly match the stuff I really care about.
But the third possibility is to be instrumental in generating more true wealth in ways I actually can defend morally. Which for me points towards either helping people realize their dreams individually or creating networks that help them do so, maybe by doing business with each other. And to do so in a way that is actually viable, for them and for me.
It seems quite obvious that a sufficiently large network of motivated and skilled human beings can do great things together, if they each get clear on what they have to offer, and what they need, and they share some resources, knowledge and infrastructure.
Sofar I've been most into creating network facilities for purposes that are far removed from the idea of doing business together. It wasn't exactly intentional, but it is at least a reflection of my own distaste for phoney and blatant commercialism. The result is, however, that I mostly have managed to create spaces for stimulating human interaction and discussion, with not much grounding in tangible shared projects. But really I have nothing against facilitating that people do honest business with each other. And I have nothing against loads of money in my hands.
And there's the thought that *business* is a natural key point. Doesn't even have to be commercial business to make money. It might be putting together a non-profit organization. But there's something that happens when people go into business, where some real resources have to be committed, and there's something at stake, and a tangible outcome in sight.
And, not to complain about my friends, but it seems like most people I know aren't much into that. They're great and warm and interesting people, and interesting discussions can happen. But mostly they're not potential business partners. They have jobs, or they don't need jobs, or they have businesses but never tell me about them, or they have causes to promote.
Anyway, I'm just thinking aloud and considering that there's a way I can more actively pursue business opportunities, without selling my soul, and where I can explore the potential wealth of networks.
So, I will be exploring what is out there, and direct some of my energy towards a different kind of networking than I normally do.
A keyword is "Free Agent". Somebody who's neither an employee nor an employer, but who has some resources and skill, and a keen eye towards the resources of skills of others, and who's able to network them all well, so that the least possible effort gets the most result, and he/she is both well supported in life and free to pursue his interests, and others are too.
Another word would be "Weaver". Somebody who notices opportunities for something good to happen which isn't already. And who then helps some threads to be woven together, for the benefit of all involved.
It is still a conversation, but it is a conversation directed somewhere. Towards the realization of projects that are not only good and desirable, but also viable.
So, a key is to reframe business from being about cheating people to being about making activities be viable, finding the greatest good for all involved, and activating untapped potentials for greater synergy and leverage.
That becomes much easier if there is a supportive network, of knowledge and resources and tools, and people who're ready to play with others.
There are already lots of business people in the world, who already know well how to do their craft. I guess I'm mostly casting an eye towards the folks who're still stuck in jobs that don't serve them, who might be better off as free agents and entrepreneurs. People like myself who somehow can't quite figure out how to effortlessly generate the wealth to support their lives without selling their souls to those who do know how.
[ Organization | 2003-09-12 20:03 | | PermaLink ] More >
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| Thursday, September 11, 2003 | |
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 Oops, I forgot to blog for a whole week. No particular reason, other than that I've gotten into a daily routine, and there were plenty of other things going on each day, which took more of my attention.
And I still don't have DSL, so I'm still not as plugged into the rest of the blog world as I used to be. My phone line somehow registers as being not suitable for DSL, even though those of my neighbors are perfectly suitable. So, the person who signed me up had some technicians look at it, and decided that of course it should work for me too. But when other people in the same company then look at it, they've forgotten that, and the line just comes up as being unavailable. So I have to work through that maze. Oh, it isn't particularly harder than in the U.S. I had similar problems when I first got DSL in Van Nuys, and it also took more than a month. The language just makes it slightly harder to negotiate myself through things.
Part of the trick here, to pretty much anything, is that you know somebody. There is such a drastic contrast between the cold bureaucracy you often meet first, and the personal service of somebody who knows you. They don't have to be your pals from highschool or anything; I'm just talking about that they've met you a couple of times and recognize you. Like, at the France Telecom office, I asked for the same lady I had talked with a couple of weeks before. And she recognized me right away and came over and shook my hand and apologized that she had to finish up with some other people first, and she brought me a glass of water. And then, when she heard that I had taken the bus to their office, which is a little outside of town, and I had to walk a bit to get there, she said that, oh, I shouldn't have to walk back in that heat. So she got one of the other employees to drive me to town in his car. I would like to point out that nobody at the phone company in L.A. has ever driven me home, let alone recognized me and come out to greet me.
My older kids, Marie and Zachery, go to French classes at Alliance Francaise every day. Which has already made a huge difference, and they come home chatting away in French. Already after 3 days, Marie, who a week before insisted that French was just impossible to learn, was suddenly answering phone calls in French, and having a great time with it. The class is 3 1/2 hours every day, and lots of extra activities too, and chances to hang out with other people who've come here from all over the world.
Not much change in my work or money situation, so our life is still very modest. I.e. we can pay the rent and eat cheaply and ride the metro, and that is about it. Not that that is horrible in any way. I just prefer a little more abundance and freedom of movement. I got a couple of small new contracts, but I'm still looking for more significant business opportunties.
I'm still looking for some opening into getting a French social security card, while I'm waiting for paperwork I need for my Carte de Sejour (residence permit) card. Like, I need (I believe) fresh copies of birth certificates, with nice looking stamps on them, and in the proper language. I've gotten somewhat conflicting information about that, but I'll try to be as prepared as possible. The local Danish consul (who didn't speak any Danish, and not much English), and the Danish embassy in Paris, were very friendly and helpful in providing information, and in translating birth certificates to French. The local U.S. consulate, and the U.S. embassy in Paris, however, seem rather rude and uncooperative by comparison. Whereas the Danish Consul was somebody I just come by and visit, who spent quite some time with me, trying to help me as best he could, the U.S. consulate can only be contacted through an answering machine, asking for an appointment, which will only be available on Wednesdays. It took them about a week to call back. And then they insisted on sending me some papers I'd need to ask for birth certificates (which I probably already have), after which I have to call again to get an appointment to see the Consul. And I haven't received anything from them after about a week. And really, all I needed was a notary public to notarize a signature on a form that I could fax to the U.S. and I'd have the birth certificates I needed in a week or so.
My wife Birgit finally found a library that she could borrow books at. That took about four tries. The local library we first found was closed for the summer at first. And the English library that seems to exist at the university is not going to be open before the end of the month.
And little Nadia has found kids to play with at the playground. So life is pretty good for all of us.
Oh, we'd really kind of like to receive our stuff from the U.S. soon. We still have just the clothes we carried in our suitcases. Somehow the shipping thing turned out to be a bigger hassle than expected. First of all it was shipped a couple of weeks late, because they couldn't get a ship for it for some reason. And for some strange reason, they shipped it to England instead of to Marseille. And apparently it takes a while to clear customs and everything, and then they need to look for a truck that drives this way. Hopefully within a week. Not that we've been missing terribly much, but there's a few items that could come in handy.
[ Diary | 2003-09-11 07:22 | | PermaLink ] More >
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 There's a secret to how to live a relaxed and secure life. It is unfortunately one I haven't mastered very well myself, but I do have an idea of what it is about. It is simply that to do many things in life without being stressed about them, you need to get them out of your mind and embedded into a system which will run on automatic, even when you aren't paying attention.
This applies to money making, and it applies to organization.
As I've mentioned before, most people aren't actually making a living by doing good work and being duly rewarded for it. They do it by having a system in place that pays them money. The low level way of doing that is having a job. You show up every day, appear to be doing what looks like a job, and you get a paycheck every two weeks. More successful people have set up other kinds of systems. The most successful and leisurely way of making a living is to have set up a system that pays you each month forever, without requiring that you show up for anything, or do anything. That is called residual income. You happen to have invested some money wisely, or you've patented something or created something that people pay you royalties for. Or you happen to have gotten in early on some multi-level marketing scheme and have thousands of people paying you percentages. Or you have this website that sells things while you sleep. All of those are systems. You've set up something that will work automatically, with as little involvement from you as possible. The more involvement you have, and the more it depends on your daily work, the more you're a slave to work. And the more it has nothing to do with your actual daily work, the more you have succeeded and freed yourself. The more you can pass the buck on to somebody else who will do actual work, the better. In a capitalistic society, the ultimate accomplishment is to have a lot of capital which you can lend to others, and which they're forced to bring back to you with interest, without you being involved in how.
But it isn't just about passing the buck and living off of the work of others. It is also simply that it is generally a good idea to figure out how to do the most with the least possible effort.
That might be more obvious when applied to organization. Organization is generally about setting up a system that best deals with the stuff that is there to do, requiring the least possible brains to manage it every day. If there's a job to do, and a bunch of people to do it, you don't want to every day try to figure out how to do everything all over again. You'll make up an outline of how things will flow. Orders come in here, then they go over there, and these people here pack things in boxes, and those over there keep track of the numbers, and somebody answers the phone, etc. You set up certain posts, certain hats that somebody can wear, and some lines between them. And then, even if the posts are manned by half-asleep minimum wage employees, things are likely to get done. There's a system in place, and the system keeps things running, somewhat on automatic.
Same thing with my personal organization. Bills go into this basket, letters to answer go into this one, and there are file folders for everything, and a routine for doing things. A good system would require minimum attention, and one doesn't have to be very awake to carry it out. You just follow the system. A well designed personal organization system will take all the things to keep track of out of your mind, and down on pieces of paper or lists or in computer programs, or whatever it is that works. And you can just relax and concern yourself with more interesting things, trusting that the system is keeping track of things for you.
It is almost like it is a step in human evolution. If we're smart enough, we can potentially free ourselves from repetitive work and unnecessary stress. We figure things out well once, and then hand most of the job over to a system of some kind. And if it at some point is found not to work so well, we change the system. But we'd spend most of our consciousness on the things in life we actually enjoy spending it on, rather than on solving the same problems over and over again. So, maybe, if we successfully offload more of our lives to automation, we might pass on to another level of evolution.
I don't know. That's an idea. I can't say that I typically find rich MLM people or super neat people terribly evolved or worthy of admiration. But there's something to it somewhere. Some kind of message that we'll only survive if we can manage to offload bigger chunks of our lives into automated systems. Or there just isn't enough hours in the day to making a living and keep track of all you want to keep track of. A lot of us are drowning in things to do, and don't have a chance of doing it all the hard way.
As I said, I haven't really figured this out in some key areas of my life. I tend to end up doing most things the hard way. I work for a living, and the moment I stop or slow down, my checkbook is empty. And my desk is crowded with paper. I don't always remember to pay bills, and I often can't find where I put certain papers.
I do notice that some people do these things fairly naturally and effortlessly. Their desks are clear, and when something needs doing, they don't just volunteer to do it. They typically will find the way of doing things that requires as little involvement of their time and resources as possible. I need to study how that works.
Doing more with less. That's what I think I'm talking about. The right system can leverage your energy to you get the most done of what needs to be done, using the least possible resources. Which then can be free for other endeavors.
[ Organization | 2003-09-11 17:19 | | PermaLink ] More >
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| Thursday, September 4, 2003 | |
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 This region contains much history and many ancient mysteries and legends and interesting places and stories.
The Gold of Tolosa is one of the good stories.
Toulouse first appears in the history books around 24 centuries ago when the Celtic tribe Volcae Tectosages settled in the Garonne valley and called their main city "Tolosa".
In the 3rd century B.C. Celtic armies had been attacking Greece. It is a longer story, but affairs were a bit messy, and it was a tempting target. Battles were fierce but ultimately the main Celtic force, lead by Brennos and Acichorios in 279BC more or less defeated the army of the combined Greek city-states at Thermopylai. The battles had however been very bloody, losses considerable, so instead of trying to push any further, they decided to just go raid the temple of Delphi, where immense riches had been collected for more than a thousand years, and make their way home. And despite obstacles and opposition, the Celtic force apparently managed to leave as quickly as they had appeared, with most of the treasure.
All signs point towards that the greater part of this treasure ended up being consecrated by the Cimbrian Druids to their own gods, and that it was hidden in a sacred well in the main temple in Tolosa. Which happened to be located approximately in the spot where today the Saint-Sernin Basilica stands in Toulouse.
There the treasure stayed for many years.
But Tolosa was a wealthy and flourishing city already then, and was located in a strategically convenient place, so it was only a matter of time before the Romans started becoming interested in it.
Consul Q. Servilius Caepio plundered the town and the temple in B.C. 106 with a large army. And he dragged off the treasure from the well, planning to take it to Rome.
However, they didn't get far. Cimbrian and Teuton armies engaged them and wiped them out. Caepio was defeated and 112,000 Romans and allies were left dead on the field.
And the treasure vanished again mysteriously. Official history doesn't have anything to say about what happened to it.
Nostradamus thinks it was miraculously restored to a good hiding place back in Toulouse, to be re-discovered at a later date. "In Toulouse, not far from Beluzer making a deep pit a palace of spectacle, the treasure found will come to vex everyone in two places and near the Basacle." Sounds a lot to me like a metro station on the new B line they're building, which happens to pass right by St.Sernin Basilica. Often, when they dig new subway tunnels here in Toulouse, they run into ancient ruins. So, lots of things might come to light. I might even find the treasure in my basement some day, who knows.
Other people speculate that it might be the mysterious treasure that a priest seems to have found in the 1890s in Rennes-le-Chateau, rather than parts of a treasure the Visigoths took from the temple of Jerusalem, which is what is normally conjectured. And Rennes-le-Chateau is after all not far from where the Caepio was stopped in his tracks on the way towards Rome, so it makes some sense as a possibility.
Based on this part of history and the fate of Caepio and his army, a Latin saying developed, "aurum Tolosanum habet" ("He has got the gold of Tolosa"), which essentially came to mean "His ill-gotten wealth will do him no good". Caepio became the poster boy for bad karma acquired from laying your clammy hands on treasures that aren't yours, instead of doing your job. So, I guess I've better concentrate on my own sources of wealth.
If you are in the mood, somebody even made a game "The Gold of Tolosa", loosely based on this story.
[ History | 2003-09-04 10:37 | | PermaLink ] More >
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| Monday, September 1, 2003 | |
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I'm trying to find my way through the maze of paperwork needed to stay in France. And I have help, so maybe I need to change my mind about how difficult it is supposed to be. My new friend Leyla is dragging me around to government offices and doing most of the talking for me. She thinks it is easy, and that civil servants are there to help you. She is a lawyer, at least almost, and she just became a French citizen herself. Right now we're working on how we can have health coverage, without actually paying for it, which we need to get the residence permit (Carte de Sejour). There are various hurdles to go through, but people are friendly, and indeed it seems like things aren't all that much of a problem. And some new rules in various areas seem to have made things easier. That would be a nice change. Imagine that, government employees who actually are there to help you, and who care about finding the best solution for you. I somehow didn't expect that.
And today a company called me from Costa Rica out of the blue, wanting to hire me. They sort of randomly found my resume on the net in a search engine. And, despite that that resume is sort of arrogant, and kind of hinting that if they want to offer me a regular job, they can go jump in a lake - they wanted me to move to Costa Rica to work for them. That's a beautiful place, I'm sure, and I'd love to visit, but I'd really like to get this France thing worked out at this point. So hopefully I can work out something else with them. If not, it is at least a good sign.
[ Diary | 2003-09-01 17:03 | | PermaLink ] More >
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 A fairy tale from Max about traveling emperors.Then, a while later, in the far, far, away country, the silent voice talked to him again: "my son, so far, so good. But there is a secret you apparently are not quite aware of. If you want to feel true power and nothing but true power, you must start with nothing, absolutely nothing! This is the deepest of the secrets of all Emperors. So, if you don't mind, I'll arrange that you lose your remaining funds and income from the old new world while being back in the new old world. Just leave it up to me!" Alas, knowing the secret of emperors doesn't always make it easier. Sometimes a little magic would be nice.
[ Inspiration | 2003-09-01 17:03 | | PermaLink ] More >
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 A fellow named Marshall Brain wrote a couple of interesting articles, Robotic Nation and Robotic Freedom. Essentially he points out that it is pretty inevitable that in a few years a lot of jobs will be done by robots. Particularly minimum wage low level jobs, like clerks at Walmart, the people at the counter at McDonalds, etc. So, a lot of people will become unemployed, because their jobs can be done without humans, or with much fewer humans. But the people who own those companies will make the same or more money. Wealth gets amassed into fewer hands and large masses of people will have no chance of playing in that game. And the author then tries to come up with some creative scenarios of how wealth might become more distributed.
Many good points in those articles, and some good ideas too, although probably not all workable. I'd insist that there are some fundamental problems in our economic system which would need to be solved, and which won't be solved by creative ways of paying people money so they can keep being consumers. The current system is rigged towards amassing money for large corporations and banks, and little sub-schemes aren't going to change that.
The robot problem indeed points out some of those design flaws in the system. Indeed, if a piece of work could be done well by robots instead of humans for 1/2 the price, few corporations will hesitate to make that choice. So, take that a bit further and imagine that at some point most work could suddenly be done by robots. The "rational" decisions for a board of directors, if there's a cheaper and more efficient alternative, will be to fire everybody, except for a few managers or designers or whatever would still be needed. Taken to its full conclusion, we end up with just managers, board members, business owners, investors, and we don't need everybody else. Automated factories can ultimately produce everything, and smart robots can do all manual work.
But hey, where's then the future we were promised? If most things end up being done by automation, we'd expect to be able to live lives of leisure, pursuing purely artistic or philosophic endeavors. Growing orchids, painting, traveling, studying ancient languages. If machines could produce in abundance everything we need, there would be no great reason why we shouldn't. Then why isn't it going in that direction?
Despite announcements of us living in an information economy, we're really still living in an economic system designed for the industrial revolution, meant to centralize the production power, and the capital needed to finance it. Under such a system, ubiquitous automation would mean that almost everybody's unemployed and that the owners of the production apparatus would be incredibly wealthy.
That is not going to happen, just for the reason that the capitalistic system doesn't work without most of us being consumers. I.e. we need to be able to pay for whatever is produced. The wealthy corporate owners enjoy being very wealthy, but they know full well that it in their best interest to keep most other people in a state of being affluent enough to buy the products that are being produced, but stupid enough to not be able to threaten their position. So they would naturally look towards inventing some more useless jobs to replace the jobs that are automated. Probably they won't create those jobs themselves, but they might persuade a government to increase its budget or start a war or something. Or they might think of ways of making life more complicated so that some new kinds of professions are needed to sort it out.
There's also the entirely more optimistic possibility that the new technology will become inherently liberating for everybody. Just like the Internet tends to flatten out hierarchies and give equal possibilities to a much wider group of people. Robotics, artificial intelligence and nanotech might possibly do that too. There's indeed a trend towards putting the means of production more into the hands of regular people. It won't be all that long before you can have a "printer" in your house which can "print" things that are actually useful. Right now you can buy such a thing for making prototypes, and it will make plastic models of computer design, and it has dropped drastically in price over the last few years. Just like desktop publishing revolutionized publishing, desktop manufacturing will too. Potentially the advantage of huge centralized production facilities will disappear for many purposes. You might be able to produce things just as cheaply in your kitchen. Or maybe, as with desktop publishing and website design, even cheaper on your own than if it were done by a huge corporation.
And maybe, along with all that change, somebody will come up with a new economic system that actually is good enough that it sticks. A system where it actually is a good thing for everybody if something can be produced more efficiently, rather than an unemployment headache.
[ Organization | 2003-09-01 17:03 | | PermaLink ] More >
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| Friday, August 29, 2003 | |
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 There's an ongoing conundrum I have in my life, about how to both do good things that need to be done, and also happen to make a living from it.
Let me address it from a different angle, and provide an answer, even though it isn't one I entirely like.
I will often lean towards the new agey concept that if I just put good thoughts and works out into the universe, I will naturally be supported or rewarded in return.
It is a bit like putting a message in a bottle and throwing it into the ocean, and hoping somebody will find it and that something comes back. And if I'm in a bit of a hurry I'll just kick out a whole bunch of bottle messages.
I happen to have done that enough to know that it works. However, it is also very indirect, the results are unpredictable, and they happen by a timing I don't control.
Now, the more sensible, practical and grounded alternative is that I more directly create that which I want to happen.
If I want water, should I sit and pray for it? Should I write extensively about my problems finding water? Or should I just dig a well?
If I want to go to the movies, do I sit down and make positive affirmations, and visualize that somebody will come and take me to the movies? Or do I just get on the bus and go to a movie theatre and buy a ticket?
Things happen when you do something that makes them happen. Some activities are much closer to the target than others. If I want water, starting in the desert might be a bad idea. If I want to bake bread, a screwdriver is not the best tool. If I want my garden to grow, writing doesn't help.
Same thing with money. You make money by doing something that makes money. Duh. Certain activities in certain settings make money. Others don't. If you want money, you need to do some of those activities that make money, in the manner and in the environment where they happen to work. You are free to invent something new, but it has to work.
One of my skills is as a computer programmer. That can be a potentially lucrative and rewarding thing to do. However, that doesn't mean that if I just start programming, I'll automatically be rewarded handsomely. Not any more than a ditch digger will be rewarded for just starting to dig. You need to dig in the right place, a ditch that will be useful to somebody, and they have to agree to compensate you for that.
There's a structure to making things that work. Not just one structure. The trick is to find the structure that works under the circumstances. If you need to build a bridge over a chasm, you need to analyze the geology, the wind conditions, and many other things, and you need a considerable amount of knowledge and tools to create the right design. And considerable skill and manpower to actually build it, with the proper materials and techniques. Then the bridge will work, and you can drive over it. If you screwed up one of the steps, or your plan wasn't connected with the real world, it just wouldn't work.
So, some of the ways NOT to make money are:
don't do anything
don't make up your mind what you'd want to do
don't make any moves towards what you'd like to do
become skilled in something that isn't very needed
pick a profession that is badly paid
go somewhere where your skills aren't needed
don't mention to anybody what you can do
don't feel like working
don't ask for money when you do something
demand conditions that aren't available
sit down and wait
complain a lot
don't contact the types of people you'd like to pay you
don't do a good job when you have one
do something else than what is needed
You get the point.
It is a disconnect I know very well from my work as a counselor. Many people aren't getting what they want, because they just haven't connected A to B, and they didn't notice. "I'd really like to go out with Joleen, but she's not paying attention to me", "Well, did you ever try talking to her?", "..eh, no".
So, the short answer is:
get clear on what you want to do
make sure it is possible and needed
find out how to do it
find out where best to do it
go and do it
if it isn't working, learn why and adjust your approach
Very simple. So, as to money, money isn't made by being a nice guy, or even by doing good work. It is part of it. But money is made by making a profit, by getting something cheap and selling it for more. If you don't know how to do that, you hook up with somebody who's doing that, with you as part of the input or output. Which is called a job, or a contract, or a pension, or whatever.
The how-to is often hidden, particularly when we're talking about money. The people who know how will often not tell you, or will give you a cover story. The cover story will often sound like the new age supported-by-the-universe story. I.e. that they're just thinking positive, doing good work, and money just flows to them. Not to put it down. Being positive and doing good work is great. But the secret is often that, under the hood, something else is going on. People did some much more specific things to arrive at where they are at. Maybe some of them are coincidental and can't easily be repeated. But often there's a specific structure to what people do or did in order to make their lives viable. Not any one universal structure, but many different structures. All of which you can learn from. There's always some key details there.
I'd personally much prefer if I didn't have to figure out money making. I'd much rather just walk around and do what I'm inspired to do in life, and then receive a stipend from Universal Resources. It isn't fair.
There's obviously several schools of thoughts here. What I'm talking about here is the approach of figuring out the HOW and then doing it. That is contrasted with the approach of emphatically ignoring the how, but concentrating on the WHAT. Build it and they will come. Dream the dream well enough, and the details will fill themselves in. Each school of thought is a little distasteful to the other.
[ Patterns | 2003-08-29 11:42 | | PermaLink ] More >
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| Monday, August 25, 2003 | |
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Work like you don't need money,
love like you've never been hurt,
and dance like no one's watching |
I saw that in somebody's profile, and I'm sure I've seen it somewhere else before. And, hey, I'd like to think I live by that motto too.
I just haven't quite figured out the "Work like you don't need money part". To me it means to work on what you're inspired to do, to work on things that need doing. "Do what you love and money will follow" kind of thing. Except for that it isn't that simple.
I'm ready to believe the universe works that way. That you're inherently supported in doing what you're inspired to do. That when you feed energy to something, it becomes more real and viable.
But our economic system doesn't work that way. It isn't inherently based on supporting good things. It is to some degree based on scarcity and abundance. Because of the way money is created it is very much based, not on what is of value, but on what turns money into more money. So the point to making money is not so much producing something needed and valuable, but rather to manage to become part of a value chain that at some level produces more money than what is put into it. I.e. it matters not at all whether you're doing something totally useless if the big company you're working for is making money. It doesn't matter if your activities are good for anybody, as long as you have a contract or a relationship that compels somebody to give you money.
Doesn't mean it isn't possible. Some people manage to concentrate on what they actually want to do, and also be paid well for it, without having to worry about it. You can be an artist, a writer, a speaker, a consultant, a researcher, just doing what you like doing, in the way you want to do it. And others might notice that it is good and useful or desirable, and they will pay you for it.
And, yes, if you're good enough at what you're doing, and/or good enough at presenting yourself, that can very well translate into natural success in the money world too. But there's some kind of secret ingredient there. People who do so are usually either very confident about the ease with which they'll live, and good at compelling the universe to follow their lead. Or, their income is really from something entirely different than what they do now. It is a lot easier to be an inspired artist or philantropist or playboy if you have a trust fund, or the investments from selling your company 20 years ago, or the proceeds from that lawsuit you won, or whatever it is.
I'm looking for the real deal. The ability to dance to your own inner tune, to throw yourself into life, to live and love more fully, to do work that is there to do, that inspires and moves you. And for that to actually be a viable life style.
So, if it works like that for you, please tell me. And give us some hints.
There is another angle of interpreting it, of course, which I have indeed followed most of my life. It is that you might indeed pick a job for the money, but you'd work it like you didn't care about the money part. I have indeed found that I was most fulfilled and most useful if I did a given job the way I felt it needed to be done, no matter whether anybody agreed or whether I'd be likely be fired for doing it that way. In other words, do your work without fear. Do what is true for you within the circumstances where you find yourself.
[ Inspiration | 2003-08-25 04:01 | | PermaLink ] More >
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| Sunday, August 24, 2003 | |
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 Below is a list of books that I found useful in preparing to move to France, and figuring out what to do. Just to put it in one place for others to find who might be in the same situation.
There's a lot one can learn in advance by studying. But, well, not everything. Reading books can provide a good foundation, but there will always be things one won't know before one arrives at one's new destination.
And books don't necessarily tell the right story either. We were maybe over-prepared in terms of having studied how French people think differently, and how they have different norms for behavior, different patterns of doing things, and different motivations. Well, they do, if we stereotype it. But the books had prepared us for a bunch of difficulties which we didn't particularly find to exist when we got here. It wasn't nearly as bad as it was laid out to be. It wasn't such a great problem to just be yourself and do what seemed natural.
The stereotype is that French people are very private, and suspicious of strangers. Well, yes, they have a different rhythm in how they get to know people, but it isn't a big problem, and many people are very open to others right away.
Some pieces of information were mainly met with laughter when we asked people if it were true. Like, when you're invited to somebody's home, even for a five hour dinner party, don't ever expect to be able to use the bathroom, as your hosts would be shocked, and they probably hadn't even cleaned it. So you'd better go to the bathroom just before you arrive, and you better find some bushes right after you leave. We didn't find anybody who had even heard of such customs. I dont' know, maybe that's how it used to be in Paris 30 years ago. But it doesn't seem to apply to us.
France is a big country and many things are probably different amongst the different regions. We're in Toulouse in the Haute-Garonne department in the Midi-Pyrenees region, South-Western France, just above Spain. This is a relaxed and friendly place, accepting of foreigners, and not appearing to have any terribly strict norms for behavior that we're likely to violate all the time. You say "bonjour" to people when you meet them, and "au revoir" when you leave. If you can manage that, you're already doing fine.
People here tend towards a negative opinion of Parisians, as being more snobbish, rude and cold. I don't know if that fits, as I haven't met anything but nice Parisians either. But maybe all those rules and warnings might be more appropriate to know in Paris, and not here. ...
[ Diary | 2003-08-24 15:42 | | PermaLink ] More >
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| Saturday, August 23, 2003 | |
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Finally we're getting a bit of a social life here in Toulouse. By now we actually have a few local friends. We have had a couple of events to go to. And we've actually said hello to one of two of the neighbors.
I was a little worried about how difficult it was going to be, since at first we didn't really know anybody, and nobody spoke English, and it was a while before we met anybody at all. And the stereotype of how French people work is that after maybe a couple of years your neigbors might answer your "bonjour" and after five years they might invite you in for coffee. Or, like, the first 5 times you meet somebody at a party, they'll ignore you, and the 6th time they'll be your best friends. Luckily it isn't that bad at all.
French people aren't very superficial, so smiles and kindness and friendship isn't automatic, and not to be taken for granted. But it isn't far away, and it is sincere when offered. It is quite visible when people make a conscious decision to be your friend. Not a casual choice.
Aside from that it is enjoyable to know some good and interesting people, it is also a selfish matter of survival. There is a lot we need to know about how things work, which we can't all learn from books and websites. And it is extremely valuable if a French person can lead us through dealing with the authorities on various things, or even speak for us.
It is also very helpful at this stage to know some English speaking folks who've already gone through some of the things we're trying to figure out. And there are several places to do that. Americans in Toulouse has several hundred members, a very useful handbook online, and many events where one can meet others. Yesterday we went on a trip to the local aquarium with them. And this evening we went for a long run/walk with Toulouse Hash House Harriers, which is a crazy English drinking club "with a running problem". Which was good fun.
[ Diary | 2003-08-23 18:16 | | PermaLink ] More >
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| Thursday, August 21, 2003 | |
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 A little technique for becoming more able to imagine something being possible ...
You know, if you can imagine yourself in a certain state, or you can imagine a certain reality for yourself, it is much more likely to happen, of course. If you want to be a model or a great speaker or a pool player, it helps greatly if you can imagine in great detail and clarity in your mind how that would be. I.e. you can see yourself in that position. And preferably feel, hear and taste it too, and you'll be even closer.
But sometimes the hangup is to even be able to consider it possible. You say "Oh, I could never be a model because I have a mole on my chin" or something. Or you just can't imagine it being possible at all.
There would be many ways of improving that situation, but one of them is to sort of gradually move the possibility from the very general and far away to the very personal and close.
So, first, can you imagine that what you're asking for is generally possible? I.e. do you consider it within the laws of nature, and the realm of things that could happen? Not for anybody in particular, but just as a general phenomenon. Like, is it theoretically possible to be a model? If you don't think so, you're not getting any further. But if you do realize it is possible, in general, you're already one step closer.
Then, can you imagine some people you don't know that it is happening for. Either some imaginary people, or, even better, some specific people far away. Cindy Crawford is a super model, even though she has a mole on her cheek. You might even study their stories a bit and find out that maybe they were ordinary people and somehow they discovered it was possible for them to be super models or great pool players.
Next you can think of people you personally know that have something like what you're asking for. Or personal experiences of observing that which you're focusing on. I.e. you know somebody who's a model. You might study how they are, how the act, how they carry themselves, how they speak. Just get a sense of how those people seem to do what they're doing, and how it is to observe that.
If you succeed in doing that, the jump to the next step is much less. Which is that you imagine yourself being what you want to be. Or doing it, or having it, whatever the case may be. And you can expand on that, and begin to feel it becoming more real.
The thing is that we seem to have a need for our re-imaginings of ourselves to have firm backing. It is so much easier if we can refer to a history of similar things happening to others, if we can draw evidence from people we know, or, even better, from ourselves. We can feel more free in imagining something new if we can convince ourselves that it isn't really all that new, but it is perfectly normal and has been done before by other people, and you've seen other people do it, and it is quite clear how it is done, so ... no problem.
This is deceptively simple. But it greatly reduces the threshold towards embracing something new for ourselves. Start with the very general, because that is really safe and easy. Gradually become a little less general and a little more specific. Each step builds on the one before. The first steps act as beliefs that lay the foundation for the more specific personal steps.
If you want a job, then it makes sense to start with the general. There are millions, or rather billions of jobs in the world. Lots of people have jobs. It is possible to have a job. The more you can accept that, the easier it would be for you as well. For that matter, you might get magical results just by embracing a more freeing general truth.
Some people have a basic belief that certain things are easy or abundant. That's on the general level. They haven't necessarily bothered about figuing out HOW one does it. They just believe that "There's always money enough", or "It is easy to talk to people", and it is reflected in their daily experience.
And then, personal direct experience is a powerful driver towards making something happen. Big changes don't normally jump from a vague generality to a manifested reality. You need to fill in some blanks. And you can do that better if you examine how other people do it, and maybe how you yourself have done it in the past.
So, what I'm talking about is a sequence of imagining, which could be sketched out like this:
Abstract -> General -> Third Person -> Second Person -> First Person
And the point is to imagine and gather evidence to support a certain something which you'd like to be available for yourself.
[ Processing | 2003-08-21 06:23 | | PermaLink ] More >
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This is a collage of things that catch my eye, things that need to be said, and stuff I really care about
TRUTH
BEAUTY
FREEDOM
LOVE
TECHNOLOGY
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