Zerebria

I have a retarded mind: I very often go through the best ideas in books and posts without noticing them right away. They usually become some sort of “seed” in my head and take 3, 4 days to fully grow, without me having the least intention to do anything about them. And then one day, as a flower that opens after a delicate nurture, I say: “wow”, and do something about it.

Writing the successes of the day was one of those great ideas. Simple, non-coded, very little time-consuming, it pays off in a way that is almost scary. (more…)

I remember my amazement as a kid when I was told about the presumed mechanic of advertising. The idea behind, as explained to a children, was that creating an association between this or that admired person, and a certain product, would make us go to acquire such product in a rush.

I also remember that my immediate, pure impression as a child, was that such a reasoning was, to say the least, defective; (more…)

It happened the other day. I was having the habitual fast-paced walk that is currently my sport of choice (remind me to recover my skates one of these days), when my way got obstructed by a family group. (more…)

Almost a month has passed by (funny how fast January always vanishes: like all newborns, the year is full of energy), and maybe there is enough distance already to recapitulate what were the latest Christmas like.

In my case, they were of a strange kind. (more…)

In “Getting Things Done”, David Allen affirms that the size of projects does not matter (for those who are not familiar with the GTD methodology, Allen defines “project” as any desired result that requires more than one simple action-i.e. a “pack” of actions with a defined purpose), and in terms of logic, he is right. Everything in his book is rigorously logic. But it makes me think of certain Zen masters. (more…)

I love books, so I always try to improve my reading system by making it as organic as possible; I intend to get a system that sort of “defends itself” from the aggressions of modern life, hurry and other everyday monsters. I’ll talk another day about the working and behavior of my reading pile, which is still evolving. Here I want to explain the tiny ecosystem of my “now reading” area and how it works. (more…)

I write this post after having heard this same cliché from the lips of several people, belonging to areas of the academic spectrum that range from illiteracy to PhD. In all cases, it exuded that feeling of filthy simplicity that I hate the most, and it’s my job to eradicate clichés and try to replace them with thinking. Here is the troublemaker: (more…)

In full obedience to David Allen’s teachings (there might be taller or stronger firemen, but he is the one who took me out of the flames), I periodically review my medium and long term goals. I have them written down in a list with a deliberately conventional, impersonal format, using infinitive verbs: “work as…”, “live at…”, “become…” (more…)