The problem is simple. We live on a finite planet, there is not infinite resources. Not Oil not Food not anything.
To solve this issue we need to get rid of what drives the madness forward, in our case the economical system. It’s madematics and it doesn’t make any sense. The entire system is based on infinite growth, and there is no such thing.
In the last couple of months maybe even year, I’ve been thinking a lot about these gigantic problems. I’ve been talking about water crisis, poverty, aid, health issues and so on – and it has never been clearer than now. The problem is capitalism and the infinite growth.
To support and sustain our human species future we need to accept and embrace a paradigm shift. The world as we know it has to cease existence. And information technology might be the key to that success.
I personally must believe in the inventiveness we humans posses. And the possibility to adapt to our ever changing environment. We are the fastest evolving creature on the planet and information technology for one is making this possible. And in that same way we want information to be free, I would love to the resources to be free too.
“Glocally” is a buzz word of 2012 and it’s rooted in almost everything, act local and think global. It’s about time we really start to think about the real problems we as humans are facing. Health issues, Water Crisis and Energy crisis. If we want to live another millenium on this planet we must start to treat the planet differently. The way we currently live is unsustainable and will in one or another way destroy the planet entirely.
How can we solve this man made madness? How can we transform our world from a capitalism into an resourcism? I know these questions are not easy… and first you’ll say it’s impossible… but after a bit of thinking you’ll see it clearer. The world is running down a one-way street. This can not work in eternity, nothing does, even cells die.
So with those words, please consider the problems we are facing, and with our combined knowledge and eager to evolve forward think with me and on your own. Come up with ideas, larger than you that could help out fixing these enormous questions.
Do me a favour, get of mainstream media, and try to connect more to whats really happening out there, try to connect the dots. And get out of the filter bubble. It will make everything so much clearer.
Last friday night I’ve uploaded my Friday afternoon love hack ( made at winternet.se ). Basically I wanted to make something sweet to a girl I’m seeing, and I asked my colleague if it would be nice to make a compliments engine… She thought it was a good idea so I went for it.
75 minutes later I had a working build on kudo.io - running on my server.
The Web App
So basically I had a site, that looked good and told me nice things…
Now I wanted it to look damn good on any iOS device, so I started coding it as a Web App primarily instead of just a website. And then a couple of minutes later the thing was looking really sharp on the iPhone as well. To go the full length on my friday love hack, I registered the domain, started a couple of accounts, Facebook, Twitter.
I did not argue with myself over the fact that I’ve just managed to start yet another project, but I made sure it would not take more than the evening to finish this one, the purpose was clear, randomly make someone smile when entering the site or opening the app. Thats it, nothing else, other than the possibility to share the link…
Marketing like a baws
I didn’t want to put a lot of effort into this part, since I made it for fun and because I wanted to make someone smile <3. However the key ingredient here is that I hate all the internet trolling that goes around, and really want to push for more #Love on the internet in general. So basically I sent the link to a couple of friends who I thought would enjoy this, I also spammed my facebook and twitter with some links to my Friday hack.
With the @KudoApp I was more selectively into target some big shots in Hollywood, @Aplusk, @KeenanCahill, @Ludacris, @justinbieber and @ladygaga. But really no luck at all. But I’ll keep on banging my head against the wall on this one, maybe my odds will go upp if I tweet them every hour for the next year until I get a re-tweet.
The surprise x20.000
So of course I installed Google Analytics on the site before launching it… I mean I’m a stats geek after all. Did not reflect so much on that until yesterday when a drew a report on the first 5 days of life for this love sharing über site.
The numbers came in, and I must say that I’ve never launched a single handed thing ever with this much traction in just 5 days, 20.000+ kudos have been putting smiles on peoples faces during the last 5 days. I mean come on, I would never even managed to pull that off even if you made a straight line of people and had me say a kudos to everyone of them in line. Wouldn’t work.
Even more fun in terms of geographic spread, visitors from 44 countries and 356 cites across the globe, I couldn’t fit that either in the time frame of 5 days, even had troubles if I where Santa.
So in Retrospect
Making Kudo was really fun and I’ve got to use a lot of my programming skills that I never use otherwise, since I’m the photoshop and project manager guy… And I so far single handedly got to put loads of smiles onto peoples faces, and thats one of the most joyful things you can do in life, make others smile.
This year we’ve decided that everything we do, we do because we love it, we want to spread enormous amount of joy and love with Copygram, by making it possible for people to keep their digital made memories for a lifetime in the real world. By meeting awesome people from across the planet and make new friends, go on road trips and adventures, have hackathons and cook lovely food and invite our friends on big dinners.
A galactic commodity we have is the fact that we’re the only species with a consciousness and ability too use that mindfulness to propel ourselves maybe into become a interplanetary species. This however is not something I don’t think about every day, but today It struck me that I do think on big things far too often.
I ask myself these questions… Why I’m I here? Whats is the purpose? I’m merely a structure of atoms, made up by carbon and water, with something inside that I refere to as consciousness. How do you measure that? What is that? Can you prolong the livelihood of that awareness? What if you could download your brains information, because thats where consciousness lives right? Or is it in my nerv system… And then put it in the cloud for later use…
What if I could clock my brain to use 3x of its capacity, would that make me faster, stronger, smarter? Would I evolve new senses? Telepathic capabilities? xray vision? Super hearing?
There are so many questions, I fear there is not enough answers. How do I coop with this? I’m I the only one with these abnormal ideas? When everyone else seems to only care about the lastes reality shows or what their best friends wore during last weeks party, I tend to think of stuff like – Fusion powered reactors, De-extinction of animals and plants, medical advancements, how humanity could focus on finding a cure against cancer instead of spending billions of dollars on the military system and kill each other.
In the age of fingertip-information, I can not help to wonder where humanity is going with all this darkness. Why war? Why poverty? Why illness? Instead of solving these issues, we humans tend to check our facebook status.
We are all here for a blink of an eye, placed somewhere between our grandparents and our grandkids. We’re all part of the past and the present and also we have a good glimpse of the future. Still we seem so eager to just put our brains on auto-pilot and take anti-depressive pils… Why?
Music, People, Sunlight, Trees, Airwaves, Smells, Laughter…
What happend to reality. Are we all cyborgs, ready to be rebooted?
If there is others like me, please write to me I would love to share ideas, thoughts and simply just talk. Life is to short not too.
Find what it is that you want to do in life, find what makes you happy, then go do just that. Don’t let anything stand in your way. The truth is that you can achieve whatever it is that you want. It all comes down to whether or not it’s worth it to you.
2. Break the rules
“It is impossible to be a true original if you’re too well-behaved. You have to think outside the box” You must break the rules once in a while, not the law but break the rules.
Are you resisting starting a business because you think it wouldn’t be financially stable? Not following your gut on something because it seems ‘wrong’ or uncertain? How will you know unless you try?
3. Don’t be afraid to fail
Whatever it is that you do, never be afraid of failing. When I start a project, I always know that Im willing to fail, and if you wont allow yourself to fail you can never win. Failure is of great importance, ever failure is one step closer to success.
4. Don’t listen to the naysayers
Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t, who are they too say? If things hasen’t been done before it motivates me too solve the problem, and become the first that has done it. Everything can be done, it’s just a matter of how badly you want to solve it.
5. Work your butt off
To get to your goals there is no shortcut, you need to work your but off. Think of this, every time your out having a good time fooling around and having a party, there is someone working their but off. I’m not saying you shouldn’t party, but know that balance your life is important, and there are no quick corners to success. You really need to work hard. I find that I sleep 6 hours and there is 18 hours left to live life. Then some of you say, I sleep 8 or 10 hours, “I recommend you sleep faster!”
6. Always find time to give something back
When you are doing important and productive things, always try to take moments of time to sit down and think of things you could do to give back. And then do just that. Think of things you can execute that will give help out, there is no greater satisfaction in life than the one you get from standing up for others. Putting a smile on another persons face is not measurable in money. What do you really care about?
In memoria
In memory of my grandfather Jan, who got to travel the world as a young adventurer and found his true love, they got two amazing kids, my mother and her sister. He then spent his life working his but off. A true inspiration that work hard equals play hard.
My grandparents stayed together to the very end. Not loosing sight of whats important in life. There are no words for how much I miss you. I wish you could see all the things we’ve done… It’s our adventure now. Press Play.
The problems I’ll be talking about are hugh, and the startup community is some what hugh too. Weather if you are in Silicon Valley, or in the Alley, Maybe having lunch in Mitte, or taking the t-bana in stockohlm, we all Love solving Problems.
So where pretty much the techiest workforce in the entire world, with focus on Users, technology and game changing platforms and solutions of world changing proportions.
So basically I’m not here to talk about the technical diffuculties behind saving millions of playlists and sync them over multiple devices.
I’m not going to demo the new Graph Search, or talk about the Servers running it.
I’m going to talk about the problems that we don’t want to hear about, the problems we always heard about since when we were young kids, because they havn’t changed a lot in the last 40 years. Even though we made more technological breakthroughs in the last decacde than we did the century before…
In my mind there are all these objects, and I spend more time doing emails than practising mind control. I find this quite weird. Did you know Stanford University researchers consider it the #1 way to boost willpower? Regular meditation increases grey matter in the prefrontal cortex, which governs decision-making. Over time, you’ll greatly improve your ability to avoid distractions and stay focused on the task at hand.
2. Optimize Your Morning Ritual.
I try to understand that there is no such thing as “waking on the wrong side” It’s simply about your own willpower. How you spend your first waken hour sets the tone for the rest of the day. I’ve read that taking 15 minutes to get your body and mind into the right state will help you reach optimal performance levels. This can be done through meditation, visualization, physical activity, reading, practicing gratitude, yoga, journaling, or even taking a walk around the block.
3. Visualize Your Ideal Day.
I asked around fellow entrepreneurs how to stay focused, and almost all av them mention lists. I love lists but I also like the term visualize, like any high performing world class athlete, you need to have a certain visual goal set in your mind in order to preform on an optimal level. In the morning, before you start your activities do this. Get clear on what you want to accomplish during the day, then visualize yourself going through the different activities swiftly and efficiently. Once you open your eyes, you’ll be ready to make your own day a masterful performance.
4. Rest Before You’re Tired.
This is one of the things I find the most difficult to remember. But I need to become better at this due to the fact that one of the keys to optimal productivity is to stay mentally fresh through the day. Tony Schwartz says “Human beings are designed to pulse rhythmically between spending and renewing energy. That’s how we operate at our best.” To keep your mind clear take breaks every hour, 10 minutes, try out the app Time Out, it simply looks the computer for 10 minutes, forcing you to actually take the break needed.
5. Get Active During Your Breaks.
To optimize your 10-minutes break, we need to consider what the human body needs. In order to freshen your head we need to increase the blood flow to the brain, this can easily be done through a series of brief exercises take 5 minutes of physical activity (50 jumping jacks, 20 push-ups and 20 squats). Then use the 5 minutes left to practice some meditation. This helps you to stay focused on your previous visual goal, and not lose track of the things you need to get done.
6. Work with Intention.
Many of my friends giving me inspiration to write this post also mentioned that on thing that helps them out, is to work with intention. Internet is an amazing tool but it’s also the greatest time-waster in the history of mankind. To avoid falling pray to it’s endless distractions, make sure that every time you sit down to work at the computer, you’re intentional about your work. Get crystal clear on what you’re about to do and write it down. Once that’s done, get straight to work. Don’t waste 1 minute. If your able to turn of notifications, and block Facebook, and set times in your schedule when it’s ok to check these things. My good friend Niklas says – “For me, the most important thing I did was to turn of all notifications and only check email twice per day. That has literally rewired my brain into acting, not reacting”
7. Unplug AFT #FTW.
Like Jonas Lejon told me, “You need to get another hobby”. I try really hard to make sure that I have things todo outside the digital realm, things like running, regularly exercise, kite surf, long walks. This is good and all, but in a world that’s constantly connected, I forget how taxing this is to our cognitive system. So recently I’ve tried to take one day every week and completely unplug and do a techno-detox. I put the computer aside and seek out other things, spend time with my loved ones, read a book, paint, journal, lay in a hammock, call a friend, volunteer, etc. If you’re courageous, why not put your phone on airplane mode for a few hours too? I promise, the next day, you’ll wake up feeling refreshed and refocused. Some of my friends already got to experience how hard this is for me, even the simplest thing like sending a text is hard on a day when your off limits from technology… And mom the phone is of for everyone not just you.
8. Be Grateful – Make others smile.
Shawn Anchor best know for his TED talk on happiness, reveals that our brain performs up to 30% better when we’re feeling happy. A simple way to boost your happiness level is to take a few seconds every hour to think about the things you’re grateful for. In order to be happy you must also realize that happiness don’t come from the inside, you need to focus outwards, on the humans around you. If you make other people smile, stop thinking about all the things you don’t have but want and start out by doing things for other people. You will pretty soon understand that true happiness, comes from others. Just like #kidpresident says, “make something awesome, make other smile” . This is something that we program in the core culture at our startup, we want to make other people happy. And it has gotten us a long way.
9. Ask for Help.
If you find yourself in a position like me, there’s a good chance you’re the type of person who takes pride in doing things all by yourself. For the longest time, I did the same. But recently, I’ve realized that asking for help not only makes my life a LOT easier, it also gives other people a chance to show how amazing they can be, stop micro manage, and start handing out work. The people around you will feel more accomplished and you’ll grow your network, Win-Win. So the next time you find yourself stuck or uncertain on how to move forward, don’t but on Skrillex and bang your head against the wall, simply ask for help.
I got the energy that I needed so badly back, I got the chance to scout the internet for help, but most importantly I asked my friends and fellow colleagues for help. And your words and ideas and diverse thinking helped me produce this little article. The ideas are yours too, Thank you: Niklas, Daniel, Nell, Jonas, Arvid, Jonny, Niklas, Magnus, Oskar, Anna, Pia, Jonna & Otis.
Another day has passed, and my mind has been shadowed… There are all these thoughts. Big and small. Ideas, projects, must-dos & work…
This past time has been up and dow. I’ve had a twitch of the flu and I’ve been working long days.
Trying to love everything I do, trying to feel proud but things has been utterly chaotic this first month of 2013. Yeah I just realized it’s already been a month already. Things move so fast these days, and the noise is getting to me.
It’s not that I’m not motivated… I’m just not focused. I have a lot of things on my mind, and I’m trying hard to love them… The thing is that I can easily rest and relax, and that sort of botters me, because it seems like procrastinating has become far to easy.
In times like these I’m uncertain on the path I’m walking down (or not walking down). It’s like #kidpresident says, “there are two roads, take the one the most awesome”. Right now I’m not on the road “most awesome”, I’m on the “necessary” one.
Then these questions pops into my head like popcorns… what is necessary? Who decides this? What makes me happy? What moves me? What motivate me? For one thing, not working on saturday evenings make me happy, but anyways thats what I find my self doing. I love to make other people happy. In order to do so I must be happy.
I totally get how to explain my life now. Firts there is work ( that I have to do if I want money ). And there is work ( stuff I love doing, that don’t generate the amount needed to live on only that ). And there is my spare time, that I spend on the things I love ( read. the work I don’t need to do, but I love to preform ).
This is easily described with the simple word “Intertwine”. My life is not like a box of chocolate, its like a birds nest of strings, allocating different part of my memory during different times of the day and week. And they all Intertwine with one another. There is no clear line between my work and work and spare time. They are all the same.
I’m not alone to be in this position, and it’s sort of the same for all the entrepreneurs i’ve encounter the last 12 months. We all love what we are doing, however the mind is also trying to fuck us over. By throwing difficulties from the outside world straight in the path we are heading. Blinking could be fatal.
If you having similar problems like me and want to share a plausible solution, please comment or send me an email. And if you want to procrastinate, watch the Kite Porn video below… Mind Blown.
There are a few things that really amazes me, one of these things are at what rate everything is growing, and how many people that might be left behind if they don’t pick up on the skills of staying up to date with new technology. I find it hard sometimes to keep up, and I’m a big lover of technology. Yesterday a ran into a friend, she’s not old – but her reaction to computers are, I’m bad at computers so I don’t use them, I do understand my phone a little bit, but I don’t use computers… This scares me, we are building an infrastructure where everyone in the world is supposed to use technology and there in the middle of it all we have ha cluster of people that don’t even know how to use the technology. First i thought this must be a very small minority, but I’ve already realized that this is bigger…
By the year of 2020 Cisco says there will be roughly 50.000.000.000 ( yes 50 billion ) things connected to the internet. Thats a lot of things communicating with each other. And top that mobile traffic soars, dubbling ever year. There are 1 billion active smartphones in the world, and that number is said to increase like crazy the next 2 years.
Watch this video that Cisco released today, It gives me the goose bumps.
If you have lost faith in yourself, if you ever feel like your loosing track of what you are doing… If you ever feel down… Don’t say to yourself that you can’t do it, I know you can – I’ve seen you move mountains before, this is just one more hill. Don’t worry to much.
Meet Tommy Carroll.
Now picture this guys. Burn the image of him skating on your retina, and keep him there forever. Thank you Tommy Carroll for opening my eyes. This just makes everything possible. Never stop believe in your self.
“Falling is a skill you get good at…” – Tommy Carroll
Sidenote on the music, it’s totally amazing and I just want to share the tune with the rest of the world, you can buy it here.
Music: ”WHERE THE HEART IS” Written by: Marijn van der Meer and Jorrit Kleijnen Performed by:Marijn van der Meer
The team behind the production: Agency:The Odd shop Creative Directors: Niels de Wit, Robert van der Lans Production: Josefien Hofman
It’s another night in the Startup Villa, and I’ve spent the evening removing snow from the premises and also took a long walk loggin over 10.000 steps on my Nike+ Fuel Band. Damn I wish I could export that data and do fun with it.
So once I’m out walking I’m realising that I actually love being out, even though it’s snowing, it’s cold, and I actually went out walking in my purple rubber boots ( rain boots ). There was a certain calm pushing down on me, and I listened to Ludovico Einaudi also managed to squeeze in a couple of phone calls, but other than that I was completely free from distraction and the Internet.
In those times when I’m completely cut off, I often get sparks of ideas, crazy ideas, many wich I kill before they even manifest, but I also spark answers and multiple ways of solving problems that I might have ran into earlier. I don’t go out on a walk with the mindset that I’m going to think of those problems I got laying around. In some way my cognitive behaviour likes to solve problems, even when I’m taking time off.
Yesterday I watch this 9 minute long TED talk ( By Andy Puddicombe ) about doing nothing for 10 minutes – everyday, meditate, not even thinking. Do you know how hard that is? Sitting down and without even thinking, also be aware of your consciousness… I find It very difficult indeed. However from tomorrow I’m going to try this one out, I’m not sure if I’ll make it work, but I’m going to try until I get it to work. Because training our mind is very important, it’s the one and only organ that interpets the world around us.
So my creativity comes from the places where I least expect them to. I’m just embracing the opportunities.
