The time has come to acknowledge that this blog will go on hiatus for a while. I am not sure if ‘a while’ will be one month. one year, or even longer. For the time being, I encourage you to review the archive for some insightful and interesting articles.

I would like to thank all of you who over time have become loyal followers of this blog, and promise this won’t be the end. As soon as my circustances evolve once again, I will be back with more writing.

With my warmest regards,

–Diego

Image: Colombia, Villa de Leyva courtesy of momentcaptured1

It has been over 15 years since I left Colombia, and I have often been asked what was it really like living there. My answer always tried to balance the amazing beauty of the place with the very real and significant risks that come with being in my native country.

Recently I found a fascinating book by Australian writer Matthew Thompson. In My Colombian Death, Matthew describes the adventures he had while in Colombia. What I found fascinating about his book was that he showed a raw, and (in my opinion) much more real picture of Colombia than what you will often get when asking about my country.

If you’ve read the book, I’d love to hear what you thought about it. If you haven’t read it, I will leave you with two excerpts from his book that resonated with me. In both excerpts, he relates a conversation he had with a local girl who was serving as his guide while in Bogota.

“The thieves are very good here. Still, to be robbed is better than what else happens all the time — they decide to shoot or stab you. Or they think you are worth money and they kidnap you. You can be stupid in Australia, but you can’t be stupid here. But, like I said, sometimes it is just up to God, and if He decides it is time for you to die, then smart or stupid makes no difference and you will die.

’ Sounds like He decides a lot in Colombia.’

’ Yah, well, that’s because we live closer to God up here’. ”

(Note: Bogota, Colombia’s capital, is 2,640 meters above sea level)

” You think you have the same view of life as these people?’ she said while gesturing with a cigarette towards a very dark, short, and poor-looking family packed tightly together in front of us in the cable-car queue.

‘Well, I guess I have a better idea of how they see life than I do of how a Muslim or Buddhist does’.

‘Sorry sweetie, but I don’t think so. I am Colombian, and I was Catholic, but I still cannot understand these people. This is a complicated country. Those people are Indians. Maybe they were displaced by the war. They probably have indigenous beliefs that mix with Catholic beliefs. They probably see life and death in ways you can never comprehend. For them, death might be a door to another world which is neither heaven nor hell.”

‘That’s an extreme example’

‘This is an extreme country. If you come here and think you know what other people believe, you are a stupid gringo, and it is my job to see you are not. Your God is a philosophy book or old churches or art. That is not how God speaks in Colombia. You have seen a little of Bogota, enough to see donkeys on the street next to expensive cars. You have seen soldiers and beggars and students and whores. We have a war but you can live here without noticing it. Everything is here at the same time. I was bored when I visited my brother Eduardo in Australia. I am sorry but it is the truth. My sister is in America. Everyone expects me to leave, but I won’t. I love it here. I feel alive here. It is my country, and maybe it is crazy, but so am I”

What do you think? Share your views on the comments section below.

(Please click here if you can’t see the video above)

I recently gave a presentation where I discussed  how the explosion of processing power and communications networks have enabled collaboration across boundaries like we have never imagined.

Today’s video showcases an example of off-line collaboration that has taken the internet by storm. Playing for Change is a movement that aims at connecting people throughout the world through music. The twist? Songs are compiled virtually; a technical crew travelled the world, and with recording equipment, asked people who were on the street “playing for spare change” to collaborate. The result is incredible, and has now been shared with millions through social media and other platforms on the internet.

I hope you enjoy the music as much as I did.

“If there is anything that we wish to change in the child, we should first examine it and see whether it is not something that could better be changed in ourselves.” - C.G. Jung

Post written by Leo Babauta. Follow me on Twitter.

If you’re a hyperparent, you might not even know it — we parents tend to be in denial about that sort of thing.

But if you are, you might want to learn to relax — for your kids’ sake, and for yours.

Hyperparents are spotted when they are trying to educate their child from the womb, and expose them to the most intellectually stimulating music and art and literature before the kid can crawl. They obsess over everything, from whether the child is learning fast enough to how safe every single thing is to every little scrape and bruise. They are overprotective, overbearing, overwhelming to the child.

I admit, I was a hyperparent once, and still can be sometimes. It’s a habit I’m trying to break, with some success.

And for those of you who are hyperparents, and will admit it if only to yourselves, I’d like to share some things I’ve learned, in hopes that it’ll help.

Be forewarned that some of these suggestions take a very different approach to parenting than the traditional methods — I’m not suggesting everyone follow them, especially if you’re not willing to break with traditions. What I am suggesting is that these methods will help you relax, will help your child feel freer and less controlled and more able to explore and learn on her own, and could possibly result in a better relationship with your child and a happier child overall. I don’t have proof of that yet, but I have a strong hunch based on how my kids react when I do these things right.

1. When you get angry, pick them up and hug them. Instead of scolding or spanking or time outs or other controlling methods, try love. It’s a much better response, and you’re teaching your child through your actions rather than your words.

2. Make this your mantra: treat them with kindness, treat them with respect. Seems simple, but it’s surprising how little respect we give to kids, because they’re kids.

3. Drop your expectations of the child. Often parents have high hopes of the child doing well academically, or in sports, or of becoming a professional, when that’s not what the child wants. Or the parent hopes the child will be a certain type of person, and tries to steer the child toward that — a mild, kind child, or a bright, cheerful child, or a studious, hard-working child — but that’s not who the child is. Drop these expectations, and celebrate the child, as she is.

4. Let her play, let her explore. Stop being so overprotective. Allow the kid to be a kid. Let her run around outside, ride a bike, explore nature, play with fire. Teach her, of course, about safety and dangers, but let her be a kid.

5. Say yes, or some version of yes. Instead of saying no. Often parents have an instinct to say no. But this is controlling and stressful, to both child and parent. Stop trying to control the child, and give him some freedom. That doesn’t mean you can say yes all the time, because you have needs too, but it does mean you can say “Yes, we can do that … but perhaps later, when I’m done with what I have to do now.”

6. Stop trying to overeducate, and get out of the way. Parents try to impart all kinds of knowledge on kids. So do schools. But kids learn naturally, without us. Get out of the way, stop trying to force the kid to learn what you think he needs to learn. Encourage him to explore, and read, and figure stuff out. Get him excited about things. When he’s excited about something, he’ll learn. When you force it on him, he’ll do what he’s forced to do, but not learn much other than you’re controlling.

7. Just focus on making the next interaction with them positive. Many of these changes are difficult to make for parents, as we have deeply ingrained habits, stemming from our own childhood. So just focus on the next interaction. Just try to make the next one a good one. Don’t worry about when you screw up — just apologize if you’ve broken a trust, and move on.

8. Take a moment to pause, and see things from your child’s perspective. If you get angry, it’s because you’re only seeing things from your perspective. The child has a completely different view of things, and if you can understand that view, you won’t be mad at the child. You’ll try to make things better for her.

9. If the kid is “acting up”, try to figure out why, and meet that need. Often it’s a need for freedom, or attention, or love, or to be in control of his own life. Figure out what that need is, and find a more productive way to meet it.

10. The kid is already perfect as he is. You don’t need to change him. You don’t need to mold him into the perfect person. He’s already perfect, just as he is.

And now, relax. Enjoy every moment with your child, because they are too few, too impermanent. Trust me — my oldest daughter is 16, and I can’t believe how fast her childhood has come and gone. Cherish this time with them, and make every moment a good one. You’ll never regret those moments of happiness, those moments when you said yes, when you let your child play, when you stopped controlling and started loving.

“Never raise your hand to your kids. It leaves your groin unprotected.” - Red Buttons

Image: silhouettes 2 courtesy of migueltexeira

As you would have seen from my Manifesto, I aim for excellence. Yet the more I strive to live by this principle, the more I realise that to achieve excellence I need to constantly make trade offs. Yes, I am finding that achieving excellence requires me to live my life using Pareto’s principle: that is, I am constantly having to identify (in every one and all areas of my life) the 20% of effort that delivers 80% of results, and try to spend most of my time in these twenty-percents.

Why? The reason is simple: There isn’t enough time in my days to achieve perfection in all the areas of my life I care to perform in. There are many areas of my life that I care about: family, work, health, personal growth, social connection, fun; and I have found that unless I choose only 1 or 2 of these, I can’t spend enough time to achieve perfection. Obviously, focusing on only a couple would lead to an unbalanced life, which would go against another of my values.

An so I must find the right trade-offs, which means I must accept imperfection.

How about you? Do you lose balance by striving for perfection? Or have you found a way to simplify your life enough and achieve balanced perfection in all of yoru priorities? Please share your thoughts and experiences in the comments section.

(Click here is you can’t see the video above)

Today’s review is going to be short.The above video was created by a small firm (Grasshoper) to remind everyone that with turbulence comes opportunity; that uncertain times push us to discover new ways of doing things. I found the  messages in this video a wonderful reminder that ideas + action = success. It was a modern reminder of the Law of Action.

I was also drawn to this video because of my fascination with Creative Commons licensing. As you would know, a lot of my work is released under this licensin (see links at the bottom for some examples), so when I read this article about how Ogilvy & Mathers used similar music and message to create an ad for American Express, I had mixed feelings.  On the one hand, the Amex ad was not a direct ripoff from the above video; yet it was clearly inspired by it, and there is enough evidence to demonstrate that the O&M’s creative team heavily borrowedi from this inpirational video. At the end of the day, one has to answer the question of whether grasshoper deserved at least attribution for the idea, and whether there is enough in common in these 2 artistic executions to warrant a notice for copyright violation. What do you think? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below.

Before I go, I would like to highlight some of the messages that resonated most with me from this video:

• As an entrepreneur, risk isn’t the reward; the reward is changing people’s lives, fueling world, and making a better world
• Entrepreneurs are everywhere, and can be anyone… even YOU.
• Remember when you were a kid (when everything was within your reach) and then say to yourself quietly but with determination: IT STILL IS.

If you liked this article, check some of our previous video reviews below:

• January : Benjamin Zander at TED (video) (review)
• February: Story of Stuff (video) (review) (web site)
• March: Feel like the Incredible Hulk with Tim Ferris (video) (review) (web site)
• April: Pike Place Market video about the Fish! Philosophy (video) (review)
• May: Building a great team — a tribute to Herb Brooks (video) (review)
• June: Reflections of a Crazy Colombian Video Blog # 1 — A review of AMPlify 2009 (video) (review)

Links to some of the works by The crazy Colombian released under a Creative Commons license:

• Zen and the art of photographic story-telling (Online) (Print)
• The crazy Colombian’s manifesto (Online) (Print)

MAN·I·FES·TO

n. pl. man·i·fes·toes or man·i·fes·tos

A public declaration of principles, policies, or intentions, especially of a political nature.

intr.v. man·i·fes·toed, man·i·fes·to·ing, man·i·fes·toes

To issue such a declaration.

If you liked this article, please support the author by voting for the book-version of this manifesto, or check other similar articles:

• Zen connections: the power of photographic story-telling
• Can you tell a personal story in only 15 words?
• Want some wisdom? Have a Baci
  

Image: Blue and Orange and Red and Yellow courtesy of A National Acrobat

Today 20th of July 2009, Colombian’s take a day off in celebration of the day when we started our journey towards independence from the Spanish Conquistadores. Many of us forger the exact story behind this momentous day, so feel free to pay a visit to Wikipedia and read all about it (in Spanish only, sorry!).

In celebration of this important day, I am launching today a movement that will help us take one more step in our journey towards true and complete independence. You might be confused by this last statement; surely in today’s day and age, with Colombia being a democratic society, our journey towards independence is complete, right?

Wrong. Whilst Colombia is now independent from colonial ties to Spain, it is still a slave to the clutches of Violence and Organised crime; and it is in this domain that I am proposing a grass-roots alternative to achieving true independence as a modern society.

If you want to learn more about it I invite you to visit the web page that explains it all in Spanish or English. As always, I invite you to share your thoughts on this idea by dropping me a line in the comments section of this post.

Today, I decided to try again to tell a personal story in exactly 15 words. The results are in the image below.

How about you? Can you tell a personal story in exactly 15 words? Give it a shot and share it with us in the comments below.

Image: The Conversation courtesy of soylentgreen23

Once opon a time conversations were small, for all but a tiny number of powerful, well connected people. -Ian Aspin

Then social media came along and the number of participants and conversations exploded. As Ian said it in his article this is when Shift happened. Now Shift is happening all the time. And this is a cat that no one can put back in the bag.

A few week ago, Spike Jones told us at AMPlify ’09 that the secret to great conversations is having a story to tell. We all love our drama, and there’s no better drama than the one that is wrapped up inside a great story. As the online world has evolved there has been an explosion of places to start and participate in great conversations.

The first form of technology-enabled channel for virtual conversations was SMS. As the mobile phone became universally ubiquitous, we all became well-versed in the popular sport of ping-pong messaging. This form of one-to-one communication quickly evolved on the online world with the proliferation of Instant Messaging tools that enabled tech-savy people to have lengthy, often banal discussions online.

The next step in this evolution happened as we moved away from one-to-one conversations towards one-to-many-to-many interactions. This happened when non-traditional broadcasters came to the online scene using broadcast-over-IP technology, and provided a medium for passionate individuals to leave their conversation starters. Early pioneers of this new media include Bob Cringely’s NerdTV, and online marketplaces such as the Youtube and TED.com web sites. In these marketplaces, viewers are automativally invited and given a stage to participate in the dialogue via the use of text– and video-based comments; and have been enhanced by the proliferation of ‘Share-This’-type social-media buttons.

But the revolution only came recently as we were given platforms for easy personal publishing in the form of blogs and micro-blogs.Online platforms including Facebook, Blogger, Wordpress and twitter are the most prominent examples of what happens when you enable chaotic and complex human interactions with a conversation-rich layer on top of it all.This was the tipping point that turned online conversations from a marginal phenomenon to a global movement, increasing exponential the quantity, volume, depth and breadth of virtual dialogues.

In this richly-connectd virtual world we are currently living, not all conversations are the same. Some  are shallow and transient; others are deep and long-lasting. Whether the dialogue is about your plans to catch up over the weekend or a philosophical debate over the meaning of life is mostly irrelevant. What actually matters is that in this communication-rich environment, people are connecting with each other at levels never seen before.

As increasing numbers of people connect online, we are starting to see something odd: geographical boundaries, social stereotypes and simplistic assumptions about othershave become less evident; Our barriers have started to come down, and we are beginning to remember that beneath that shallow veneer of difference we are all the same.

“Once upon a time, a king invited his people to have a party at the town hall. At first, people were nervous. ‘What if he’s trying to find disidents to behead them’ said the conspiracy theorists. ‘There is no way I am going outside of my house; it is a dangerous world out there’ said the eternal pessimists. ‘There is no way that I am sharing my ideas with others!’ yelled intellectual-property holders. But as these minorities stayed behind closed doors, the majority of the town got together as the king had ordered. Everyone was silent for a while, waiting for the Royal signe that the party shall commence. But the king had given orders not to do it this time. Then the town’s dumb one got bored and started tallking to his neighbour. People around him tried to force him to be quiet, but he was dumb and bored, so he ignored their orders. It wasn’t long before the whole town-square was alive in conversation., and the king (who was in hiding nearby) decided his part was done. His last gift to the people of this kingdom was to help them connect at a human level with each other. As he retired to his chambers, the king acknowledged he had succeeded in leaving his kingdom in better condition than when he had become its king”.

We all have conversations waiting to happen, but like most townsfolk in the story we are afraid of starting the dialogue. As we patiently wait for The Leader to show us the path, we have forgotten that we are all leaders without title to those around us. .

What happens when conversations amplify? I am not sure; perhaps you can tell us in the comments section below.

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