Month: December 2013

Rubber Band

Gerard S. HoffLeave a comment

REF24 splashed 100x150cm

Carpe Diem or in other words “Live in the moment” that’s what is said and that is good.

At the same time it is good to plan the future.

And sometimes it means that in order to get there you need to go through a period that is not so Carpe Diem and takes a lot of strength to go through. So how to match that? How to create enough motivation?

I created a way of thinking and it goes like this:

Today and the Future are connected by a rubber band. In order to get to the future, it is necessary to have enough tension on the rubber band.

Like when you start running, then a 5 kilometers run seems like an impossible distance and at the same time liberating. And the first training ‘run’ of 1 kilometer is really tough. But training in a consistent way will eventually get you to the 5 kilometers.

It’s the little voices that sometimes prevent you from starting, while without a start, there never will be any progress. Listen to these voices and then ignore them, go for great.

In short: Try to imagine a great future and enjoy the day as much as possible, creating tension on the rubber band. And when released, you’re launched into your future.

Do that in 2014
Happy New Year

PS: Happy birthday sis!

Rubber Band is part of the “Little Voices” series. Little voices are like the angels on the shoulders you see in cartoons, but not just good or bad. There are much more Little Voices, like the fearful one, the daring one, the sensitive one, the one who doesn’t like change and so on, but all of them influence behavior in one way or the other.

Fail more

Gerard S. HoffLeave a comment

REF22 Greatness 150x150cm

This year, fail more.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m not saying you should try to fail. What I mean is that you need to take more risks. You need to put more of your ideas into action – even the ones you haven’t fully worked out yet.

Of course if you do that, you’re going to fail more. But you’re also going to succeed more. Thomas Edison once said, “I haven’t failed. I’ve discovered 10,000 ways that don’t work.”

You’re going to learn what works and what doesn’t. You’re going to discover that some of your great ideas actually suck, and you shouldn’t spend any more time on them. You’re also going to discover some new, truly great ideas because of those failures.

Launch things before they’re perfect. Go for 80-percent – good, not great. Modify and adjust as you go along.

In 2014, fail more.

Fail more is part of the “Little Voices” series. Little voices are like the angels on the shoulders you see in cartoons, but not just good or bad. There are much more Little Voices, like the fearful one, the daring one, the sensitive one, the one who doesn’t like change and so on, but all of them influence behavior in one way or the other. (this post is inspired by Ferdinandi)