Went to Ibiza in Seattle last Thursday and had a great time. I’ve seen quite a few dances. But the energy and jubilance of Samba makes it exceptional. I had an awesome time. See the photos below. The beautiful ladies are part of the Tudo Beleza, a Brazilian dance company in Seattle.
Read Tim Ferris’ book, the 4 Hour Work Week, a few months ago. And have thought about how it could be applied to my own entreprenurial life. There are a lot of things that make sense such as outsourcing and focus on the big picture. It definitely gives me a goal to aim as I grow my business. However right now in the infant stage, I still need to improve the business process before I fully trust someone else to take over. And even then, I’d break it into jobs into components so that no one is irreplacable.
Momentum is the best cure for procrastination. Many things seem scary or difficult from far away, but I’ve found them not really that hard once I get started. Action tends to energize my creativity. However I also like to put some thoughts & planning before I get started. But not too much though, otherwise I’d get paralized by the analysis. Overall, my philosphy is aim, shoot, and repeat until I hit the target. And once I have momentum, it’s a lot easier to maintain that course of action. Speaking of which, I need some momentum with this blog!
I’ve been taking classes since May, 2007, and made some observation:
- There seems to be more guys than gals in Salsa classes, especially the intermediate to advance levels. My guess is that since guys are leading, they have to learn the moves. For the gals, or followers, once they’ve gained the basics, they can pretty much follow most leads; any further progression is mostly styling, or optional.
- The attrition is high. Many people start their first class every month with interest and ethusiam. But over time, that tends to fade, some sooner than others. But for the ones who stay, there are some incrediable dancers. And I’m definitely insipired to become an expert!
- There are a lot of moves to remember! And it’s very easy to forget them. So I’m trying to attend classes more often, and even repeat the same ones. Though for economic reasons, I have to do it by observation instead of participating. So far I did a good job in internalizing some of the basic moves. And with practice, my style has become a lot more smoother. But like any skill, there’s definitely a cost in time & sweat, not to mention money. At $10/person/ group lesson, and $50-$75/hour for private, the popular Salsa teachers should make fairly good income!
But overall, I enjoy it very much. It helps me to keep in shape both physically and mentally. And through this activity, I’ve also met a lot of interesting people and new friends.
A good habit that I’ve developed recently has been writing down top 10 of my life & year goals respectively each day. This is a much long term outlook differs from the daily to do list. The exercise keeps me oriented on what’s really important and where I’m heading in life. The funny thing is at first the goals differed widely from day to day, but as I do it often, they become more the same, probably a signal that I’ve internalized them into my subconsciousness. Hopefully the exercise will hasten the realizations of my goals. I’ll revisit this later and provide an update.
This is probably the oldest time management trick in the book, and also the most effective. Instead of running around like the proverberial ”chicken with its head cut off,” this simple daily habbit allows to be much more effective and productive. It also enables a sense of control, which is kind of liberating.
Want to emphaize that writing a task down doesn’t mean getting to it right away. Delay unimportant things while focus on the ones that have the most impact. Finally we get to use procastination in our favor!
Ok, I think I’m getting a lot better in Salsa, not quite expert, but fairly decent intermediate dancer. Classes definitely helped, but it’s practice that really made it more natural and fluid.
Business is also picking up. But I still have a lot to do, especially building quality backward links to my site. I’m optimistic of my future. There’re a lot more great stuff to come!
At the risk of sounding like a neat freak, I can’t stand in being sloppy, messy and disorganized. It really sucks spending minutes if not hours looking for things. Especially with a bit of effort I can put things away, and mostly know where I can find them again. Plus complexity also adds a mental stress as the brain trys to keep track of everything.
Many people says that organization skill is a born-trait like brown eyes, and black hair, but it’s not hereditary and genetic. And though nurture places a key role, I know, coming from a messy family, in the end, being organized is simply a skill that anyone can acquire with practice.
The key thing is to practice simplicity. When doing something, get rid of distractions, and only keep things are necessary to complete the task. Fluff burdens the mind. Get rid of them.
Ok, I’ve been really bad the last few months in keeping my personal blog. No excuses, then though I have some really good ones such as learning Salsa & building my publishing business. But I’m going to start again and just make it a daily habit like brushing teeth. Been dancing a lot lately and slowly becoming better.
Realized a funny thing while dancing. Confidence and humility kind of compliaments each other. So if I’m dancing with a hot gal, I’m in the zone and focus purely on the music and her. And if she gives me signals or feedbacks, I’ll listen with a big smile on my face. Might agree or not. But I don’t really have that much of an ego to defend. And that probably helps a lot not only in dancing, but life in general.
Reserves are the stuff during normal situations not very important, but lifesavers in emergencies. Imagine how acrobats would feel if they’re 60ft up in the air swinging without a safety net below them, and you get an idea of a reserve’s value. This concept can be apply to everyday lives such as wealth, health, and relationships. In each aspect, we can strengthen and increase the reservoir if we make a conscious and determined effort. Losses will hurt, but only a lot less if we have other supports already in place.
So take an assessment of your own life and decide what reserves you might need down the road.