TodayZ Lesson

All too often we keep repeating to ourselves in our mind the things we don’t have, or are not able to do. I believe a better way of seeing this would be, to constantly repeat in our minds what we actually have and what we are able to do. This reflection comes as I am recovering from a hip injury which is taking around 8 months so far and is expected to take longer.  I can see now that every time I focused on the things I was not able to do (such as playing the soccer tournament with my team, running, and sometimes feeling pain from just taking the stairs, or even walking), every time I focused on what I was not able to do my mind was filling with thoughts that didn’t serve me any good. I took an early decision of focusing in what I have, and what I can do. While probably soccer, running and jumping was not within my possibilities at the time, I was so glad I was still able to do cycling without much difficulty, and of course I could always have the opportunity to improve all type o...

Are there things you always wanted to do but the conditions were not good and you didn’t see it as viable? Did you ever saw a friend or someone you knew achieving that something? I bet at that point your way of seeing that something changed. Suddenly it went in our minds from not possible to possible haha. I know that feeling, I have seen it many times and that’s part of why I say nothing motivates us more than that. Just to remember a few times I’ve seen this pattern. I remember my older brother looking for the opportunities and doing all the process to go and pursue postgraduate studies overseas in a different language from our native language. That immediately expanded the limits of what I thought possible while growing up. If my brother did learnt a foreign language and got the opportunities to study and live overseas, why wouldn’t I be able to do the same? (If it aligned with what I wanted of course). I did learnt a foreign language too, and decided to live the experience of study...

What’s the real vision of the company? I know it will most likely be written in the website, but really, what’s the vision of the company for that precise year, and the next ones?  The next question, how can I help you to achieve that vision? How my contribution to the company will reflect on the potential achievements?  Why those questions? I would be offering my time and skill set for the most productive time of my day, five of seven days, who knows for how long, then, why should I content myself just with financial safety and feel realised just by getting a job?  I would like to know my daily efforts are meaningful, and relevant for a vision that I support. Why would I put most of my time and effort in a vision that I don’t share? For the money? Money helps, of course, but it doesn’t compare with a daily sense of purpose and intention, which a clear vision that affiliate with, does. I guess the real personal question is: How can that company help me understand their vi...

Remember when you walk on the street upright, feeling like actually smiling at people or saying “hi”, and not surprisingly many people offer a smile back? Remember when ideas were flowing in your mind? The inspiration and excitement of creating something, doing progress in a personal project, or just playing a sport with friends? Whatever it is, my memory still hold the sensation, an internal feeling of joy. I’m fortunate I felt that a lot when being a kid, and growing up. And I bet, you and most people can remember moments like that. Moments that stay in a precious part of our memories. The final game that we won in a tournament in the school. The project we did and spent many hour working on, which people were impressed about. The speech, music concert, or paintings we once made. And found out we were great at it. That’s the light I talk about. Growing up tends to put all those awesome moments into just memories. I believe if we revisit some of those moments we will find our best sel...

As we humans grow up at some point we find a suitable partner and decide to stay together for as long as possible. We then create a sort of group identity and dynamics that spread in all aéreas of our lives, we go from a strong personal identity, to a strong group identity. Partnership dynamics are complex. Partnerships create a new balance for our daily lives, we would hardly feel well if our partner is upset at us.  We have personal important needs that are met by having a partner. That person provides support and help helping us get into our positive balance, same as we do for our partner and so on, aiming for a good feeling relationship, which has great impact on our personal mood.  Communication, in time, becomes in one of the most important group skills in a relationship. Not understanding each other’s motivations and feelings, is almost a sure recipe for future frustration which sometimes starts building up without the other persons knowledge. We should aim for the best...

Yet, we neglect to read what some people have tried their best to consolidate from their experience, reflection and study. Why is it that we don’t seem so keen on receiving knowledge when others have tried their best on consolidating it for us? I don’t know the answer, I guess it requires that the recipient of it has the skill to read, enough focus and attention for it, plus an intrinsic motivation in whatever the topic is. Each person might be in their own stage of life, sometimes more appropriate for reading, sometimes not. And many times, it’s just unknown the power it could have. Bottom line, reading is good, really! Bottom line two, some day I would like to write a book, I have around 6 years time by now, of dedicated study in the topics I like, I don’t think it makes me an expert, it just made me realise that anyone daring to write a book, needs to have a message and something to say, it sure takes effort and my initial guess is that it might be around 10 years of dedicated work,...

I noticed that while I was trying to avoid making eye contact with a woman walking her dog, she said “good morning” with a smile and as I was busy trying to not look at her (even though she was right in front of me), it was late by the time I wanted to reply. That let me thinking, I have been trying to avoid making eye contact or saying hi to people I don’t know, even in situations like that in which people are nearby, because I noticed that’s what people do most of the time. However, somehow, it feels even more awkward not to say hi or do eye contact, that even that requires some effort and causes discomfort in some way.  My point is, it requires probably the same effort, it’s just that when saying “hi” and offering a smile we feel better about ourselves and most likely the other personas well, instead of avoiding eye contact pretending we are looking to our feet or somewhere on the sky and having a few very awkward seconds, which makes no one feel better. We tend to live in small...

Honestly, I wanted to provide a solid answer to anyone questioning the way I use my time.  I do like that the market value is constantly going up, the safety and peace of mind it provides, the approval from family and friends, and perhaps the “admiration” I imagined others might feel, in other words, it was guided by what “everybody” seems to want. I enjoyed the process of working towards a challenging objective. However, after more reflection, I now know why I wanted to buy a property and put so much effort into this. And it is the same reason I wanted to finish my bachelor’s degree in engineering as fast as possible (took me almost 7 years, which incredibly is the average for the small percentage of those who actually finish it in that well renowned university).  The reason? I wanted my freedom. Freedom has many ways of seeing it. For me it meant spending the time doing the activities that I like.  I didn’t know but my family’s and friend's expectations guided me for a ...

“Wealth is not what you have in your bank account. The ultimate wealth is what you wear on your face, it’s a smile” I liked a lot that sentence from the book “Not a life coach” from James Smith, an English guy, personal trainer in the fitness industry, coach, who lived in Australia, travel in many other places, and has a book full of good advice which I’m enjoying a lot 😃🚶💭📖 Remember, what we put in our brain is what we get out. In other words, the quality of the information or content we consume on a daily basis, is what we get out in the form of thoughts, behaviours and emotions. So, choose wisely what you decide to watch, read, do, because it will ultimately show up in our lives in one way or another. Anyway, I liked a lot the idea that real wealth is an internal sense of joy and fulfilment which ultimately makes us have a smile on the face. Sergio, morning meditation while walking in the park and listening to the audiobook “Not a life coach” from James Smith.