Who’s got it better than us? NOBODY! #Harbaughisms

Joyce reminds me that 1/11 PandaWhale turned one year old.

Right now we’re working on awesomizing PandaWhale, building on what we’ve learned from our alpha.

We draw on inspiration from Jim Harbaugh:

Who’s got it better than us? NOBODY! 

I repeatedly watch 0:55 into this clip…

The 49ers reached the NFC title game because of three things: The Team. The Team. The Team.

What transformed The Team from 6-10 last year to the NFC Championship this year? Jim Harbaugh!

I’m sad that Harbaugh hasn’t tweeted his philosophy recently.

That philosophy was imbued in Jim and his brother John “early on, an approach, a way of looking at things in terms of football, or life… That comes from our parents.”

Their dad Jack Harbaugh would chauffeur the boys to school each day and utter the same 20 words:

Ok, men, grab your lunchboxes and attack this day with an enthusiasm UNKNOWN TO MANKIND.

And don’t take any wooden nickels.

They turned out to be words to live by.

“In this world, you can choose to be positive or you can choose to be negative,” Jack Harbaugh says. “You can choose to see things through a set of eyes that sees good or you can choose to see things in life that aren’t so good.

“At least every day, they were reminded to look at it through a positive set of eyes. Let the lens of your eyes be positive.“

We try to stay positive as PandaWhale navigates our creative process to create a masterpiece.

Like Alex Smith after a 27-yard QB sweep!

So in honor of PandaWhale’s anniversary, here are 11 of my favorite #Harbaughisms:

11. “I don’t like that kind of football where you try and talk and intimidate. It’s not real. You play with your feet, your legs, you play with your hands. Just play football. Shut up and play football.“

10. “I just like being the guy who throws the rocks at the beehive every now and then.”

9. “I didn’t want to be in any kind of comfort zone. I didn’t want to be in any kind of guaranteed situation. The fact that it was uncharted waters, try to figure out ways to do things, gave me energy.“

8. “I don’t take vacations. I don’t get sick. I don’t observe major holidays. I’m a jackhammer.”

7. “As long as everything that’s said is said against us, we feel a certain assurance of success. It’s when they go the other way, when flowery words of praise start to be heaped upon us — that’s when we start to feel exposed before our enemies.”

6. “ALL OBSTACLES CAN AND MUST BE OVERCOME. That’ll be our approach without excuse.“

5. “We’re not sustaining a gosh darn thing. We despise the word sustaining. We despise the word satisfaction.“

4. “What’s YOUR deal?” (“I’m great.”)

3. “We want to win with numbing repetition.“

2. “Attack this endeavor with enthusiasm unknown to mankind.” (“EUTM” comes from Jack Harbaugh.)

1. “Who’s got it better than us? NOOOO-BODY!“

It’s worth reading Jack Harbaugh’s story of “Who’s got it better than us? Noooo-body.”

To this day, it gets Jim Harbaugh all fired up.

Bay Area rapper Bailey even turned it into a rap.

Been there, done that, got the tee shirt.

Nobody has it better than us. NOOOO-BODY!!!

And on that note, it’s back to the creative process we go, to create a better “masterpiece”…

Go Niners! Go Niners! Go Niners!

Meanwhile, special props to the 49ers Special Teams for being DELIGHTFULLY QUIRKY!

The 49ers Special Teams Unit can be seen dancing before every kickoff to a song by Future called “Tony Montana” …

There are shortcuts to happiness, and dancing is one of them.

Who dances better than us? NOBODY!

Who’s got a more colorful coach than us? Nobody!

Hail to Harbaughisms… 🙂

#42

Anything that happens, happens.
Anything that, in happening, causes something else to happen, causes something else to happen.
Anything that, in happening, causes itself to happen again, happens again.
It doesn’t necessarily do it in chronological order, though.
       ~ Douglas Adams

.

Most people do not comprehend,
[no matter how] they encounter such things,
nor do they understand what they learn;
they believe only themselves.
       ~ Heraclitus

.

Every thought is a seed.
If you plant crab apple, don’t count on harvesting Golden Delicious.
      ~ Bill Meyer

.

All the lessons of history in four sentences:
Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad with power.
The mills of God grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly small.
The bee fertilizes the flower it robs.
When it is dark enough, you can see stars.

       ~ Charles A. Beard

In the spirit of Thirty and Thirty-Five comes the following awesome, beautiful, and creative web of thoughts that occupy my brain.

No matter.

I’m not patient enough to write poetry or prose, so I’ll just count down after Futurama.

Don’t you worry about life, the universe, and everything; let me worry about blank…

42. We believe in the interconnectedness of all things.

41. Everything is about inclusion.

40. Everything is everythang.

39. Truth is, everybody is going to hurt you; you just gotta find the ones worth suffering for.

38. As human beings, our greatest glory consists not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.

37. Let it go. This too shall pass.

36. SIMPLIFY.

35. Lessons are repeated until they are learned.

34. The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.

33. Reflect on happiness.

32. People are very bad at predicting what will make us happy.

31. There are shortcuts to happiness, and dancing is one of them.

30. We are feedback loops. We are the stories we tell ourselves.

29. Love is when you open your heart to pain.

28. To get over grief, be there for someone else’s grief.

27. Kittie heaven is mousie hell.

26. Bird is the word!

25. The ride does not require an explanation. Just occupants.

24. It’s not going to stop till you wise up.

23. Character is destiny.

22. Reflection creates identity.

21.
You can do anything.

20. We can change the world with a pen and paper. We keep waiting, waiting.

19. Starting is hard.

18. We’ll see.

17. Life is… delicious ambiguity.

16. Beware drift. Do what you love!

15. True happiness comes from within.

14. Get yourself a giant panda! (Super kawaii!)

13. You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed.

12. That it will never come again is what makes life so sweet.

11. It goes to 11. (Be sure to read through to Andy Weir’s story, “The Egg”!)

10. Life is like business. It’s 20 percent what happens to you, and 80 percent how you respond.

9. 80 percent of success is showing up.

8. Our attitudes produce our luck.

7. Love more, fear less.

6. Be grateful for every breath.

5. Be who you are, as hard as you can.

4. Be here now.

3. Be excellent.

2. There is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way.

1. Only kindness matters in the end.

********* …enlightenment… *********

 

 

#NerdNewYear #111111

On 11/11/11, it goes to 11.

It is ON !!! Time to celebrate !!! 

11/11/11 = NERD NEW YEAR

Nerd New Year is a Redwood City event for charity!

Where? On Broadway. 2600 Broadway in Redwood City, CA, to be precise.

We closed down the streets and lit our countdown clock…

The panda is the best of friends. Not just to me, but to all who need him. Here’s details:

Drinks, food, fun, awesome prizes!

LIVE SHARK till 5pm, LIVE KITTENS till 6pm,robots, 22 FOOT INFLATABLE SLIDE!

106 Miles drinkup indoors at UnderGround (2650 Broadway), 6-9pm.

LIVE MUSIC, fire dancers, veterans, stilt walkers, 13 FOOT CLOCK COUNTING DOWN TO 11:11!

As seen on: 

• San Jose Mercury News
• Redwood City Patch
• NerdNewYear.com
• LA Times
• Mashable
• Yahoo!
• Xconomy 
• AllTop
• MSNBC 
• Chicago Tribune
• OMG Facts 
• USA Today 
• San Francisco CBS
• KTVU
• Photos – Robot Hackathon 
• Photos – 11/11/11 Event

Totals:

• Facebook LIKES: 927 (plus 127)
• Twitter TWEETS: at least 3879
• Groupons sent to: 1.2 million people (110 + 96 = 306 bought)
• #nerdnewyear trended on Twitter 11/11/11
• Estimated Redwood City attendance: 1500
• We’re still figuring out how much we made for charity…

Redwood City represent. I feel the love. +1. +1. OMG.

Every day I’m shuffling…

Everybody just have a good time! And smile, for cameras are everywhere…

The journey of 106 Miles starts with a single step.

We’re on a mission from God… Hit it!

New year‘s resolution: Live with intention. Walk to the edge.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ifindkarma/6267684956/

Live forward. Understand backward. I will always have a great memory of this day.

Be who you are, as hard as you can.

Once upon a time, I said, Be here now.

And then I rested, interconnected.

And I said, Be excellent.

WHAT?!

And then I read,

You is kind, you is smart, you is important.

Somewhere in there, rakeshlobster tweeted…

Great career advice from @sv_troutgirl to @joshelman:

Be who you are, as hard as you can.

So I tweeted…

I believe “Be who you are, as hard as you can” originated from @naval.

And Rocky thanked Naval and so did Josh…

That was the most meaningful advice I’ve had in a long time.

So I tweeted…

“Be who you are, as hard as you can” is so easy to say and so hard to do. It takes courage.

And Naval reminded me…

Easiest when you are cast out and have no choice.

He also said to listen to people whose opinion you value.

The key word in everything I’ve said till now: COURAGE.

It takes courage to grow up 
and become who you really are.

      ~ e.e. cummings

See, there’s always a tension between being and becoming.

We’re wetware on all fours, searching profoundly for four11‘s.

To be who you are, you gotta get yourself some rituals:

Once you are who you are, as hard as you can, you can focus on learning more and continually improve yourself.

How can you continually improve yourself?

Bakadesuyo highlights his most interesting research:

• 10 things you need to know to be happier
• 10 things you need to know about sex
• 10 things you need to know about persuasion
• 10 things you need to know about relationships 
• 10 proven ways to be more creat
  ive 
• 10 ways to be more intelligent
• 10 things you need to know about productivity

Be here now. Be excellent. Be happy. Repeat.

Breathe. Be silent. Walk on the ocean…

It goes to 11.

Somewhere, something incredible 
is waiting to be known.

      ~ Carl Sagan

Carve out one minute of your day for mindfulness.

Turn off the Internet and turn on the Innernet.

Every night as you fall asleep, plant a seed in your mind.

Every morning when you wake, take a minute to meditate.

It makes a world of difference.

     ~ Lili Balfour

Today I saw that a friend lost a baby unicorn.

And I realized, everybody hurts and everybody struggles sometimes.

We’ve been struggling at 106 Miles to create a charity event for the Nerd New Year (11/11/11) as we moved the event from Fox Theatre in Redwood City to the Redwood City Courthouse Square, and now (hopefully) to Broadway in Redwood City between the Caltrain and El Camino Real for a street party. See: NerdNewYear.com

Sometimes I ask myself, why even try do it?

Not because of synchronicity. That seems too far out to me.

Not because I believe in the interconnectedness of all things.

And not just because it goes to 11, though that does help.

 

I’ve been excited about 11/11/11 ever since January 11.

Truth is, everywhere I go this year, I see elevens.

11s have no meaning except as a personal wake up call.

A wake up call to do something meaningful.

I hope on 11/11/11 to raise awareness for 11 causes.

In their honor, here’s a list of my favorite eleven lists.

11. Eleven New Year Resolutions for 2011

10. Eleven Reasons Why Starting a Company is Hard

9. PandaWhale FAQ — 11 Frequently Asked Questions

8. Eleven Facts About Pandas (and then some!)

7. 11 Winning Strategies for Rock Paper Scissors

6. Eleven Inspirational Quotes (my favorite is the one from Albert Einstein, “I once thought that if I could ask God one question, I would ask how the universe began, because once I knew that, all the rest is simply equations. But as I got older I became less concerned with how the universe began. Rather, I would want to know why He started the universe. For once I knew that answer, then I would know the purpose of my own life.”)

5. 11 Firsts in Internet History (and Google 2001 finds)

4. 11 Videos in The Interconnectedness of All Things

3. Eleven Tips When You’re Feeling Nervous or Anxious

2. Eleven Essential Reflections on Happiness

1. Eleven Great Lines About Being Excellent

Enlightenment! 

All of those elevens really do wake me up.

We don’t know what will make us happy, but we think we do.

That it will never come again is what makes life so sweet.

Life ebbs and flows. Physically, mentally, emotionally.

Lessons are repeated until they are learned.

Life has many chapters, if you allow them to open.

Meaning is not something you stumble across. You have to build meaning into your life… And you build meaning into your life by the commitments that you make.

Commitments beyond yourself.

When we’re young, we search for identity: “Who am I?“

Your identity, actually, is what you’ve committed yourself to:

We close with a short story passed to me by Shuqiao, whose song is the Dalai Lama‘s “My religion is very simple; my religion is kindness” as she shares “The Egg” by Andy Weir…

You were on your way home when you died.

It was a car accident. Nothing particularly remarkable, but fatal nonetheless. You left behind a wife and two children. It was a painless death. The EMTs tried their best to save you, but to no avail. Your body was so utterly shattered, you were better off, trust me.

And that’s when you met me.

“What… what happened?” You asked. “Where am I?”

“You died,” I said, matter-of-factly. No point mincing words.

“There was a… A truck and it was skidding…”

“Yup,” I said.

“I… I died?”

“Yup. But don’t feel bad about it. Everyone dies,” I said.

Yo
u looked around. There was nothingness. Just you and me. “What is this place?” You asked. “Is this the afterlife?”

“More or less,” I said.

“Are you God?” You asked.

“Yup,” I replied. “I’m God.”

“My kids… my wife,” you said.

“What about them?”

“Will they be all right?”

“That’s what I like to see,” I said. “You just died, and your main concern is for your family. That’s good stuff right there.”

You looked at me with fascination. To you, I didn’t look like God. I just looked like some man. Some vague authority figure. More of a grammar school teacher than the Almighty.

“Don’t worry,” I said. “They’ll be fine. Your kids will remember you as perfect in every way. They didn’t have time to grow contempt for you. Your wife will cry on the outside, but will be secretly reliveved. To be fair, your marriage was falling apart. If it’s any consolation, she’ll feel very guilty for feeling relieved.”

“Oh,” you said. “So what happens now? Do I go to heaven or hell or something?”

“Neither,” I said. “You’ll be reincarnated.”

“Ah,” you said. “So the Hindus were right.”

“All the religions are right in their own way,” I said. “Walk with me.”

You followed along as we strolled in the void. “Where are we going?”

“Nowhere in particular,” I said. “It’s just nice to walk while we talk.”

“So what’s the point, then?” You asked. “When I get reborn, I’ll just be a blank slate, right? A baby. So all my experiences and everything I did in this life won’t matter.”

“Not so!” I said. “You have within you all the knowledge and experiences of all your past lives. You just dont remember them right now.”

I stopped walking and took you by the shoulders. “Your soul is more magnificent, beautiful, and gigantic then you can possible imagine.“

A human mind can only contain a tiny fraction of what you are. It’s like sticking your finger in a glass of water to see if it’s hot or cold.

You put a tiny part or yourself into the vessel, and when u bring it back out, you’ve gained all the experiences it had.

“You’ve been a human for the last 34 years, so you haven’t stretched out yet and felt the rest of your immense consciousness. If we hung out here for longer, you’d start remembering everything. But there’s no point doing that between each life.”

“How many times have I been reincarnated, then?”

“Oh lots. Lots and lots. And into lots of different lives,” I said. “This time around you’ll be a Chinese peasant girl in 540 A.D.”

“Wait, what?” You stammered. “You’re sending me back in time?”

“Well, I guess technically. Time, as you know it, only exists in your universe. Things are different where I come from.”

“Where you come from?” You pondered.

“Oh sure!” I explained. “I come from somewhere. Somewhere else. And there’s others like me. I know you’ll want to know what its like there but you honestly wont understand.”

“Oh.” you said, a little let down. “But wait. If I get reincarnated to other places in time, could I have interacted with myself at some point?”

“Sure. Happens all the time. and with both lives only aware of their own timespan you dont even know its happening.”

“So what’s the point of it all?”

“Seriously?” I asked. “Seriously? Your asking me for the meaning of life? Isn’t that a little stereotypical?”

“Well its a reasonable question,” you persisted.

I looked in your eye. “The meaning of life, the reason I made this whole universe, is for you to mature.”

“You mean mankind? You want us to mature?”

“No. just you. I made this whole universe for you. With each new life you grow and mature, and become a larger and greater intellect.“

“Just me? What about everyone else?”

“There is no one else,” I said. “In this universe, there’s just you, and me.”

You stared blankly at me. “But all the people on earth…”

“All you. Different incarnations of you.“

“Wait. I’m everyone!?”

“Now you’re getting it,” I said, with a congratulatory slap on the back.

“I’m every human who ever lived?”

“Or who will ever live, yes.”

“I’m Abraham Lincoln?”

“And you’re John wilkes Booth, too,” I added.

“I’m Hitler?” you said, appalled.

“And you’re the millions he killed.”

“I’m Jesus?”

“And you’re everyone who followed him.”

You fell silent.

“Every time you victimized someone,” I said, “You were victimizing yourself. Every act of kindness you’ve done, you’ve done to yourself. Every happy and sad moment ever experienced by any human was, or will be, experienced by you.”

“Why?” You asked me. “why do all this?”

“Because someday, you will become like me. Because that’s what you are. You’re one of my kind. You’re my child.”

“Whoa.” you said, incredulous. “You mean I’m a god?”

“No. Not yet. You’re a fetus. You’re still growing. Once you’ve lived every human life throughout all time, you will have grown enough to be born.”

“So the whole universe,” you said. “Its just…”

“An egg of sorts.” I answered. “Now its time for you to move on to your next life.”

And I sent you on your way…

11 Reasons Why Starting a Company is Hard …

In books we find we are not alone.

       ~ Carl Sagan

 

In stories we find we are not alone.

     ~ Jonathan Nelson

 

I’m giving a pariSoma talk to the Hackers and Founders Co-op Startup Class of 2011 tonight. And like Paul Graham, I found it helpful to write down what I’m going to say.

Like Evan Williams’ startup advice, I want to say something positive and useful.

My main message is that it’s important to have a network, because you can trade notes with other people who are doing similar things. This is why we started 106 Miles — so that any founder, engineer, or friend who joins us at our meetups will have a network to exchange knowledge and connections, and listen and learn.

That said, if I could tell entrepreneurs one more thing, I would say:

Being a first-time entrepreneur is hard.

Come to think of it, actually…

It’s hard starting a company even if you’ve done it before.

I’ve done it three times, and it’s still hard.

Off the top of my head here are 11 reasons why.

1. Having a great idea at the right time is hard. Big ideas are hard, and timing of ideas is hard. Being excellent is really hard but truly important, since nobody can steal an idea.

2. Designing an excellent and simple product is hard. User experience is hard to make excellent, and user interfaces are hard to make simple. Product-market fit is extremely hard.

3. Developing something people want is hard. Prototyping is hard, and iterating is hard. Minimum viable product definition is hard, and figuring out what people want is hard.

4. Getting traction is hard. Users are hard to satisfy. Attracting and retaining great users is hard, and attracting great content and quelling bad content is hard. Network effects are hard.

5. Keeping the damn thing up and running is hard. Technical operations are hard. “The Cloud” means some computer somewhere out there that you don’t control is going to go down at the worst possible moment.

6. Implementing a scalable business model is hard. Revenues are hard. Not all advice comes in three words. Although there is a lot of three-word startup advice, that matters not. Revenues require continual improvement of sales knowledge and the market, and that takes time, patience, and unbelievable tenaciousness.

7. Building a great team is hard. Finding a great co-founder is hard, and hiring is hard. Even if you read a lot about hiring, it’s hard. And sweet sassy molassy, managing people is hard. And being tough is very hard.

8. Raising seed money is hard. Angels are hard to understand. And finding a great fit between investor and entrepreneur is hard, very hard.

9. Raising venture capital is hard. Venture capitalists are hard to understand. Once upon a time you could
raise money with just a great idea. Then you needed a great idea and a great team. Then you needed a great idea, great team, and great prototype. Then you needed all those things and great traction. Now you also need a great business model, great revenues, great press, and if it’s not too much trouble, make the world a better place, too.

10. Turning away all the free advice is hard. People are unpredictable, and making decisions is hard. But it’s better to make any decision than no decision. Furthermore, the right people make all the difference in the world.

11. Managing your emotions is really fucking hard…      
Ben Horowitz said it best. Also, not quitting is quite hard.

If it were easy to start a company, everyone would do it.

But it’s not easy. And not everyone does it.

It’s hard. Really, really hard.

There’s a great analogy here: starting a company is like you’re 106 miles from Chicago, you have a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it’s dark, and you’re wearing sunglasses. Hit it!

Here are 11 things you can learn to navigate those rough waters, ripped lovingly from a long Quora answer I once wrote about mistakes entrepreneurs make. 

1. Learn the difference between important and urgent.
2. Learn the difference between working smart and working long.
3. Learn the difference between an opportunity and a problem.
4. Learn the difference between lucky and smart.
5. Learn the difference between focus and activity.
6. Learn the difference between publicity and reality.
7. Learn the difference between prepared and over-prepared.
8. Learn the difference between output and throughput.
9. Learn the difference between managing up and managing down.
10. Learn the difference between managing expectations and just riding the roller coaster unmanaged.
11. Learn the difference between knowing the path and walking the path.

Remember, you can do it. But it’s hard:

Keep your eye on the ball,
Your head above the clouds,
Your ear to the ground,
Your shoulder to the wheel,
Your nose to the grindstone,
Your finger on the pulse,
Your feet on the ground, and
Your head on your shoulders.

Now… try to get something done. 

 

In summary: Activate your network, work smart, work hard, open yourself to opportunities, close off some opportunities, overcommunicate, underspend, hang in there, stop things that aren’t working, collaborate, and listen.

 

Be excellent.

I want to be truly great.

I want to do something great.

So the question is, how do we become excellent?

 

You don’t become great by trying to be great. You become great by wanting to do something, and then doing it so hard that you become great in the process. ~ xkcd 896

 

Interconnectedness takes me from that illustration, to a place that makes me want to watch a Tony Robbins video.

Tony says being great depends on tiny differences that put a person in a state of certainty, confidence, and flow.

 

To be excellent, we train ourselves emotionally. Get rituals.

Incantations, not affirmations, embody what we want.

Incantations help us navigate MUSTs vs SHOULDs.

 

As we move from within our own minds out to interactions with others, influence is essential.

Because when two people are having a conversation, the one who is more certain is going to influence the one who is less certain. Always.

 

This is why I’ve been thinking a lot about conversations lately.

And conversations are the foundation of 106 Miles.

 

106 Miles recently had a conversation of greatness, which inspired me to find 11 great quotes…

11) “Greatness doesn’t take two months, or even a year. It takes years of focused practice to achieve even an ounce of it.” ~ Trizle

10) “Only one who devotes himself to a cause with his whole strength and soul can be a true master. For this reason mastery demands all of a person.” ~ Albert Einstein

9) “On the road to great achievement, the late bloomer will resemble a failure.” ~ Malcolm Gladwell

8) “Success is moving from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.” ~ Winston Churchill

7) “Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” ~ Will Durant, not Aristotle

6) “Excellence is not a skill; it is an attitude.” ~ Ralph Marston

5) “You do not possess a natural gift for a certain job, because targeted natural gifts don’t exist. (Sorry, Warren Buffett.) You are not a born CEO or investor or chess grandmaster. You will achieve greatness only through an enormous amount of hard work over many years. And not just any hard work, but work of a particular type that’s demanding and painful.” ~ Geoffrey Colvin

4) “Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

3) “Put your heart, mind, intellect and soul even to your smallest acts. This is the secret of success.” ~ Swami Sivananda

2) “It’s not what you take but what you leave behind that defines greatness.” ~ Edward Gardner

1) “It’s not where you take things from; it’s where you take them to.” ~ Jim Jarmusch

Now, I am incanting to take excellence to me.

 

 

I want PandaWhale to be excellent.

I want 106 Miles to be excellent.

I want my favorite pizza place to be excellent, too. (This will take time. Right now, people hate us on Yelp.)

And in my state of incantation, I include greatness.

As if I’m climbing the Ron Swanson pyramid of greatness.

Be excellent to each other, and party on, dudes.

Don’t just be excellent. Be excellent to each other.

Be excellent. Go beyond a limit.

This takes my mind to an epic night. A really epic night.

After a party like that, it’s difficult to focus.

I want to hear Lady Gaga’s “The Edge of Glory“!!!

Sing it, Gaga!!!

I’m on the edge… of glory…
And I’m hanging on a moment of truth… 

And I’m dancing like no one’s watching!!!

Did YouTube invent Lady Gaga or vice versa?

No worries. Hakuna matata!! Or is that…

Hasa diga eebowai!!

Um.

Where was I?

Oh, right, dividing my attention.

Unlike attention, happiness is something that multiplies when it is divided. (Thank you, @aaker @padmasree @paulocoehlo!)

 

Now, where does motivation come from again?

Tony Robbins says understanding motivation is the key to happiness.

 

Daniel Pink says we are happiest and most motivated in our work when we have the opportunity for mastery.

Now, I’ve been told it takes 10,000 hours to master something.

That said, being good at something makes us like it more.

And there is much power in perseverance aka “grit”.

Thinking about all of this puts my mind into a state of flow.

 

Which brings us back to where we started: xkcd 896.

Repeat after me: Do something so hard that you become great in the process.

 

PandaWhale — Frequently Asked Questions

Somewhere, something incredible 
is waiting to be known.

      ~ Carl Sagan

Since being named Fortune’s Best Networker, I’ve been barraged with questions about PandaWhale.

I realize that the PandaWhale Posterous does not say much yet, because we’re heads-down developing software.

So let’s start at the very beginning: 

• The values of PandaWhale are the values of the Web. 
• The values of 106 Miles are RISE. 
• What is PandaWhale and what is 106 Miles?

Next, here are answers to 11 Frequently Asked Questions.

Confacimus!

1. When was PandaWhale, Inc., incorporated?

Joyce Park and I incorporated PandaWhale on 1/11/11.

We picked that date because it’s binary and because everything in PandaWhale goes to 11.

She’s mirthful like that. Doesn’t she look mirthful?

 

2. What is PandaWhale’s mission?

PandaWhale’s mission is to expand the Web through social saving and conversations.

3. How will you expand the Web through social sharing?

PandaWhale is starting by building the website 106miles.net to organize the public conversations among the members of 106 Miles.

4. What is 106 Miles?

106 Miles is a networking group that started in January 2005 but has exploded since we changed to a meetup format in August 2010.

As of right now, we are 1100 technical startup people in Silicon Valley that have conversations over cocktails twice a month.

The mission of 106 Miles is to educate and empower entrepreneurial engineers.

PandaWhale serves the mission of 106 Miles by developing the software to organize our online conversations.

5. What’s a panda?

The term comes from a Posterous post I wrote in July 2010 called Pandas and Lobsters.

Pandas are Internet users who are self-interested foragers, spending their time searching and consuming.

We are developing PandaWhale to be loved by pandas. PandaWhale’s conversations will be searchable, lurkable, and transactable.

6. What’s a whale?

The term comes from a Posterous post I wrote in August 2010 called Whales and Lobsters.

Whales are the biggest Internet users. Whales have many followers and are always wanting more!

We are developing PandaWhale to be loved by whales like me and Scoble and Ben Parr.

7. Are Twitter and Facebook compatible with PandaWhale?

Yes.

PandaWhale conversations will connect with Twitter conversations around interests, bringing more value to all.

And PandaWhale conversations will connect with Facebook conversations around people, bringing more engagement to all.

8. What does “Save the Pandas, Save the Whales, Save the Web” mean?

In December 2010 I said that Facebook is shrinking the Web.

1 in 4 Web pages in the U.S. are now viewed inside Facebook.

At PandaWhale we love HTTP and trust HTTP.

So we believe the creator of the Web Tim Berners-Lee, who wrote Long Live the Web in Scientific American.

TimBL says that the time to Save the Web is now.

We are ready to do our part.

9. How will PandaWhale help to Save the Web?

Public conversations are the key to expanding the Web.

We believe this after many conversations with John Battelle about the Twitters and the Facebooks and the YouTubes and the Blogs and the conversational marketing movement, which gets me bloviating until you tl;dr… So don’t get me started.

Let’s just say that social media has had a great start.

We want it to go to 11.

10. Who funded PandaWhale?

As of right now, Joyce Park and I are funding PandaWhale ourselves.

Until someone wants to invest $11 million dollars. 😉

 11. What date should I save for a PandaWhale party?

Save Friday 11/11/11 for a party for 1111 of our friends. Still figuring out the details!

Like all things PandaWhale, it will go to 11…

 

And on that note, we go back to developing…

In 2011 I resolve to…

1. OWN AN ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE. I will be more thankful for who (and what) is in my life. I will not take my health or my happiness for granted.

2. THINK ABOUT WHAT I WANT, NOT WHAT I DON’T. Inclusion says my brain doesn’t understand negation so my thoughts will be more about what I want to attract, not what I want to avoid.

3. CONFIDENTLY TAKE A STAND MORE. When I disagree, I will be assertive in my position instead of politely demurring. When needed, I will be more fierce. I will get up one more time than I am knocked down.

4. BE EXCELLENT. Do something truly great. In the real world, not just in the online world. I want to show up, be part of an insanely awesome endeavor, and help make it even better.

5. BE PRESENT. I will be here now and spend more time engaging people and less time with my head down staring at a mobile device.

6. CONNECT MORE. And not just connect in a 106 Miles sense, but in a human-to-human, compassionate sense. Only connect. With empathy.

 

 

 

7. LET GO. And look to the future, not to the pasture.

 

8. MASH UP. Mash up my music. Mash up my life. All Day.

9. BREATHE. Just breathe. This time baby, I’ll be bulletproof.

 

10. BE HAPPY. There is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way.

11. BE KIND. Only kindness matters in the end.

 


—— …reposted from my Quora; here’s an update… ——

In the comments on this post, Albo P. Fossa adds: ‘A caution. I saw an interesting ecard for New Year’s this morning: “I can’t believe it’s been a year since I didn’t become a better person.”

‘[Also] I saw on the Today show this AM (12/31/10), an interesting idea for resolutions. Instead of proposing “godlike” aspirations doomed to failure, choose discrete (maybe even one-day’s-worth) goals. Such as, “I will make a $5 donation to xxx charity.” Or “I will wash my dishes on January 11th.” …’

So my discrete goal in 2011 is to buy Lucas and Joyce some Psycho Donuts in Campbell, CA on or before April 1, a date we picked together for shipping the first software for the 106 Miles community to use to connect with each other online. (Code name: PandaWhale!) Til then, it’s 106 Miles to Chicago …

For now, I leave you with this kitten in a box.

Eleven Essential Reflections On Happiness…

Wow.

That may have been the sweetest ending of a World Cup game I have ever watched.

You can watch the highlights on your favorite Interweb site, but they won’t really give you the feeling of 90 minutes of tense, do-or-die buildup , culminating in a super charged score in the final minute that propelled Team USA from elimination into first place in their group!

****** I am “Snoopy Dance happy” !!! ******

But I realize this is a temporary happiness that comes from adrenaline and other juices pumping through my headmeats. Soon that rush will subside, and I will go back to reflecting my baseline happiness.

Simply put, happiness is the way.

And happiness comes from within.

Which brings us back to one of the main characteristics that defines being and becoming and the gap in between them: HAPPINESS.

Note that we are not talking about absence of pain; we’re talking presence of happiness.

A hundred days ago I created this ifindkarma posterous because bakadesuyo inspired me with his. I love to read what he writes, and in particular I love when he reflects about subjects such as happiness.

If I had to distill all of bakadesuyo’s happiness musings into essential reflections, here are the key takeaways I’ve internalized… so far…

10. Happiness is increased by how much you make and lowered by how much you want.

9. Happiness is a feedback loop, not just internally but also through others.

8. So be careful who you choose as spouse, friends, and neighbors.

7. Relative wealth is more important than actual wealth when it comes to how happy you are.

6. Giving makes us happier than receiving. Outcomes trump incomes in making us happy.

5. Happy people tend to love their jobs; jobs do not, by themselves, make people happy.

4. We’re bad at realizing how good we are at adapting to circumstances.

3. When distilled to its essence, happiness is a simple process.

2. To be happy, focus on what you have, and not on what you don’t.

1. There are still many unanswered questions when it comes to happiness.

Which brings me back to me. If I had to distill all of my happiness musings into eleven essential reflections, here are the key takeaways I’ve externalized… so far…

11. Read these musings, especially the one you’re reading right now. Reflect! Repeat!!! 🙂

10. There is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way.

9. People are very bad at predicting what will make them happy.

8. Our attitudes produce our luck.

7. Most success comes from being present.

6. Reflection helps us be here now.

5. There are shortcuts to happiness, and dancing is one of them.

4. There are shortcuts to happiness, and breathing is one of them.

3. Happiness is interconnected to all things.

2. Happiness comes from what we want to include, not from what we want to avoid.

1. When it comes to happiness, lessons are repeated until they are learned.

And if all else fails, take a step back, breathe, think about a kitten wearing a tiny hat eating a tiny ice cream cone, and regroup. For tomorrow is another day, and we cannot waste today’s time cluttering up tomorrow’s opportunities with yesterday’s troubles.

Kitten. Tiny hat. Tiny ice cream cone. NOW!!!

Raindrops on roses and tiny hats on kittens aside, I want to take a moment or two to thank Jennifer Aaker and Gretchen Rubin and Tony Hsieh and Niki Leondakis and Caterina Fake for driving me to keep reflecting on happiness as I walk the earth. The tension between being and becoming has become more than an avocation for me… it’s something I’d love to work into my vocation, someday, someway. It is love incarnate.

Love is the condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.

To empower other people to find their own happiness, to me, is tantamount to enabling the childhood dreams of others.

There is no greater job than enabling the childhood dreams of others.

Read. Reflect. Repeat.

We conclude this tapestry with a trinity of TED talks that reflect on happiness: Tony Robbins on why we do what we do (emotion!) and how we can do it better (focus!); Barry Schwartz on the paradox of choice; and Dan Gilbert on why we are or are not happy:

(Cc: @Bakadesuyo @Aaker @GretchenRubin @Zappos @Niki_Leondakis @Caterina) 🙂 🙂 🙂

We believe in the interconnectedness of all things.

“We are feedback loops; we are the stories we tell ourselves…”
~ Doc Jensen on LOST  

“He who wonders discovers that this in itself is wonder…”
~ M.C. Escher

In the beginning, there was nothing but darkness. We all were one.

And then we said, “Oh hai, Let there be light.“

And then we LOOK closer and more carefully. We could see that there was nothing. Which is a funny thing to say because sometimes words are inadequate, and sometimes words have two meanings.

And then expansion started… Wait!

And we added things. And the universe expanded. And we added more things. And the universe kept expanding to accommodate adding more things. And everything was awesome. Fundamentally.

It might seem like everything was added randomly. And perhaps that is the case. But that’s not what we believe.

We believe in the interconnectedness of all things.

This idea was kept in the dark for billions of years. Instead, the reigning belief was detachment: “I don’t really want to know how your garden grows, ’cause I just want to fly.” And so, we lived forever…

…and life was but a dream. Edgar Allan Poe waxed poetic, “All that we see or seem… is but a dream within a dream.” (Thanks Ankita!)

And we thought about the words of Rumi…

“We come spinning out of nothingness, scattering stars like dust.“

“The wound is the place where the Light enters you.“

“The face of the unknown, hidden beyond the universe would appear on the mirror of your

perception.“

“They say there is a doorway from heart to heart, but what is the use of a door when there are no walls?“

“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I will meet you there.“

And the Primitive Radio Gods whispered quietly in the corner…

Am I alive, or thoughts that drift away?

Does summer come for everyone?

Can humans do what prophets say?

If I die before I learn to speak,

can money pay for all the days

I lived awake but half-asleep?

Suddenly we woke up with a kick. And we were no longer detached when we woke up with the idea. Not to spoil Inception, but merely to praise Inception:

“What’s the most resilient parasite? An idea. A single idea from the human mind can build cities. An idea can transform the world and rewrite all the rules.“

For our idea, Douglas Adams offered enlightenment. Specifically, Dirk Gently illuminated us.

I’m very glad you asked me that, Mrs Rawlinson. The term `holistic’ refers to my conviction that what we are concerned with here is the fundamental interconnectedness of all things. I do not concern myself with such petty things as fingerprint powder, telltale pieces of pocket fluff and inane footprints. I see the solution to each problem as being detectable in the pattern and web of the whole. The connections between causes and effects are often much more subtle and complex than we with our rough and ready understanding of the physical world might naturally suppose, Mrs Rawlinson. Let me give you an example. If you go to an acupuncturist with toothache he sticks a needle instead into your thigh. Do you know why he does that, Mrs Rawlinson? No, neither do I, Mrs Rawlinson, but we intend to find out. A pleasure talking to you, Mrs Rawlinson. Goodbye. 

    — Douglas Adams, Dirk Gentley’s Holistic Detective Agency

And then Tim Berners-Lee — or was it Dan Connolly? — distilled the words to their essence:

We believe in the interconnectedness of all things.

And then Jamie Zawinski reflected on the Vannevar Bush-influenced words of Ted Nelson:

Intertwingularity is not generally acknowledged —
people keep pretending they can make things deeply hierarchical, categorizable and sequential when they can’t.

Everything is deeply intertwingled.

And then the Internet developed its own connective tissue. Which itself is unsearchable.

And then I couldn’t believe what happened next. Free association. Say what? We’ll see.

And then there we were, all in one place, a generation lost in the fundamental inteconnectedness of all things, spinning in infinity. The eleventh dimension. The ten dimensions of reality. Pandas and lobsters. Insults. FFF numbers. Facebook grief. How the web was won. The search party. Google takes all. Cell 13 and the Thinking Machine. Penguins of destiny. Whales are the answer. Squid vs unicorn. Puking rainbows. The sky is blue. The World Wide Web. Conversations. Trilogies. Peripeteia. Jenny Holzer. It’s the end of the world as we know it (and I feel fine). Pause, to part the Red Sea…

…continuing. LOOK. We didn’t start the fire. America, fuck yeah. Freedom isn’t free. Terrible Disney lessons. The virus of faith. 2000″ TV. You’re the man now, dawg. Blue ball machine. Facebook is a lobster trap, and your friends are the bait. True happiness comes from within. It comes back to you, you’re gonna get what you deserve… lovin’ is what I got, remember that. The ride does not require an explanation, just occupants. Imitation of life. Noah’s photos. I’m expressin’ with my full capabilities, now I’m living in correctional facilities. Now let me welcome everybody to the wild wild west… California love… Regulators!!! I want it all: brand new socks and drawers. Why do I live this way? Heeeey, must be the money! Alright stop, collaborate and listen. How can I find a woman like that? Guitar: impossible. French bulldogs. OMG pwnies. Ready, set, bag. Speak with me. Meditate. Mediate. Kick. Things that make you go hmmm. Show me how to dance. Alejandro. Ra ra ra ah ah ah roma ro ma ma gaga ooh la la. Cameron Diaz dances. Stephen Hawking rocks. Time travel is horrifying. Outer space sucks. Crumbling cities. Pink houses. Iconic bras. Mad men. Ah, l’amour. Disney perversions. Episode 200. And 201. Freedom. Unconscious trumps free will. Disney deaths. Serial killers. Corporate slogans. At-at. Canned unicorn meat. What if you’re wrong? The purpose of purpose. The empathetic civilization. Emma Bates. Qualia. Reid Hoffman. Hegel’s philosophy of history. The unexplainable. Time-traveling brandy thieves. Life on Mars. LOST. The Little Prince.

I love The Little Prince. Whi
ch reminds me of some of my favorite words that Robbye Bentley has posted recently…

“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

“I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness because it shows me the stars.” ~ Og Mandino

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Life and Jah are one in the same. Jah is the gift of existence. I am in some way eternal, I will never be duplicated. The singularity of every man and woman is Jah’s gift. What we struggle to make of it is our sole gift to Jah. The process of what that struggle becomes, in time, the Truth.” ~ Bob Marley

“We are not human beings on a spiritual journey. We are spiritual beings on a human journey.” ~ Stephen Covey

Thank you, Robbye. I have some favorites of my own, too.

The words of Rumi echo in eternity, “The face of the unknown, hidden beyond the universe would appear on the mirror of your perception.”

Walt Whitman whispered, “Let your soul stand cool and composed before a million universes.”

Which takes me full circle…

“Three things in human life are important: The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. And the third is to be kind.” ~ Henry James

“Truth is, everybody is going to hurt you; you just gotta find the ones worth suffering for…” ~ Bob Marley

“I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they’re right. You believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.” ~ Marilyn Monroe

“If success or failure of the planet and of human beings depended on how I am and what I do… How would I be? What would I do?” ~ R. Buckminster Fuller

“We are all connected to each other, in a circle, in a hoop that never ends. How high can the sycamore grow? If you cut it down, then you’ll never know…” ~ Colors of the Wind

So it goes.

And Scott Adams said, “The best you can hope for in this life is that your delusions are benign and your compulsions have utility.”

So it goes…

 

And then a lot of peoples’ brains exploded. Such is rock n roll.

And then we rested. Or at least, we tried to relax and breathe and reflect…

And dream of no more “and thens”. And butterfly effects.

And appreciate that nothing can ever be truly, fully understood. Seriously.

At that point, when all are one and one is all…
Remember to be a rock and not to roll.

Still, three fundamental questions remain:

1. If everything is everythang, are being and becoming just limited beings’ perspective of the oneness?
2. If happiness is part of the oneness, why is it so difficult to be here now and connect to that happiness?
3. If lessons are repeated until they are learned, is learning just finding the right connection to the oneness?

And are there things we can never learn? We’ll see.

If some connections cannot be made, perhaps there is no spoon at all.

If Internet is the substrate for interconnectedness of all things, perhaps The Architect knows.

And are there things that cannot be taught? Richard Feynman refuses to explain how magnets work. Feynman concludes, I really can’t do a good job, any job, of explaining magnetic force in terms of something else you’re more familiar with, because I don’t understand it in terms of anything else you’re more familiar with.

Breathing is neither learned nor taught. It just is. And yet sometimes we must remember to breathe. And to be here now. And to be grateful for every breath.

And then when that gratitude gets us reflecting about the meaning of life, we learn to let it go; this too shall pass…

It’s one who won’t be taken, that cannot seem to give, and the soul afraid of dying that never learns to live, sang Bette Midler.

So it goes.

Savor every second; enjoy every sandwich, as the dying Warren Zevon put it.

So it goes.

You need to live before you die, said Steve Jobs…

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have
to trust in something, your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well-worn path, and that will make all the difference.“

So it goes…

It is through death, too, that we make a connection with Randy Pausch… Con te partiro.

In the end, there is no greater job than enabling the childhood dreams of others.

And in the end, everything will be okay. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end.

And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.

And in the end, only kindness matters.

So we dance. And LOOK. And simplify. And reflect. And breathe.

Which takes us back to the beginning.

And then… Bazinga!

Lessons are repeated until they are learned.

Today’s lessons are about happiness in life. And every day is today. So simplify. And dance. And reflect. And stop, collaborate and listen.

“Whoever is happy will make others happy, too.” I couldn’t find the true source of this quote, which has been attributed to Mark Twain at times, Anne Frank at other times. In any case, I believe it.

There is no way to happiness. Happiness *is* the way.

I also believe that true happiness comes from within. It’s one of the most important values I have learned and continue to learn. Life, the universe, and everything regularly emphasize that lesson.

When it comes to true happiness, lessons are repeated until they are learned:

• Breathe deeply. Anyone can find happiness, writes Amy Lukima.
• The Happiness Project studied everyone from Aristotle to Oprah, and found you’re not happy unless you think you’re happy. Also, our days are long but the years are short, says Gretchen Rubin.
• Happiness is all around us, if we take time to see. Riding the bus changes your perspective, says Snob on a Bus blogger Jacki Carr.
• If life is a game, these are the ten rules for being a human being, according to Chérie Carter-Scott.
  
• There are twelve things happy people do differently, according to Jacob Sokol. (Thanks seablackwithink.)
• Life is like business. It’s 20 percent what happens to you, and 80 percent how you choose to react.
• Nothing stays the same. Life regularly changes things up on you. Stroke of insight is Jill Bolte Taylor‘s inspiring TED Talk about starting over.
• Got all that? Great. Now roll up your sleeves for some lessons on how to quickly and easily improve your life, an anthology of lessons from my favorite posterous author, Eric Barker.

I am certain I will return to these lessons — and to this web page! — many, many times in my life and in my tweeting. And reflecting…

For now, just dance with Bobby McFerrin: “Don’t worry, be happy.“