30th October - Christmas minus 2 months

Today, as I was walking down the street with Jose, people were already putting christmas decorations in the street.









Come on guys, gimme some time.
My widget should be installed before christmas period, and there's only 1 month left.
Yikes.

Feels like it's going to be very hard...
But hey, the Ghost of present time came and showed me around.

I saw people walking carelessly in the streets.
I saw people eating kebab.
I saw cars.

I said "Hey? what's the point?"
He said : "Dunno. Just lost my watch".

I left and went home.

The first bite is the hardest

When you hate doing something, the best way to finally get it done, is to actually start doing it.
(Yes, that's how I tidy my room.)

But now, that little change has become contagious. It has even spread to my clothing and my blog.
I can't stand that poor template any more. I can't stand the stupid pictureless posts.

Last week I went out and felt like buying a shirt.
Nice shirt though.
When I came back and put it back with everything else, I felt like changing everything else.

Sometimes, you have to requestion the clothes you have. And some of them might be 10 years old. They're still clothes, but they don't propagate the right message.

Yikes. Clothes to buy, and less and less money available. That's life.

Progress check - Millionaire before 30?

As some of you may know, I have written down some of my objectives.
One of them was to become millionaire before I turn 30.
I can't really confirm that. Yet.


I recently stumbled on that video, on that vey topic.



Making Millions: Be A Millionaire By 30

Message is:
- Focus on the long term. Don't spend foolishly.
- Start your own business. You don't have much to lose.
- Be conservative, but take intelligent risks. For example put your money in mutual funds.

I can say that I've done the 3 of them.
I am not that kind of guy who spends money on stupid things he'll never use. I'll always ask value for money.
I've put loads of cash in the stock market - and even borrowed some money to invest, and as you might see, things have not been very well lately in the stock world.

*











As of now, I've virtually lost a few months Airbus salary. And good thing is that the money shortage made me stop smoking. :)
I can remember my father saying that I wasn't conservative enough.
Guess he's right until proven wrong.


So what about the company?
It's working alright. Pressure is strong to get the first delivery to the customer.
I remember saying for a year or so, that it was a question of days.
But now all the pieces are in place, and I wish everything would assemble perfectly.
If that worked, I could see the perfect track to achieve my millionaire by 30 goal.

But is that my real goal?
Not really. You might have guessed. But I'm pretty sure it will help things a lot more when I get older...

Maybe I'll try to find a cure for cancer by 40.

Reaching "The zone"

I feel everytime I have been doing something, I never felt I really was doing it, until I reached: the zone.

That's how sportspeople call it. The zone.

The sprinter who reaches intense concentration linked to perfect relaxation unleashes all his willpower in a split second.
He reaches the zone. Everything is in slow motion.
You just feel everything going smoothly.
You feel that wholeness to everything.

When I played the piano, I reached that a few times. I technically knew the music piece so well, that it literally flooded from my fingers. I could feel the granularity of the keyboard. Music had color.

I also reached that in table tennis. I had a brand new paddle, that really fitted me.
It just became a part of me. I could do anything, the ball would just go wherever I wanted. I would not focus on getting the ball at the right place, I was focusing on the flow, the rythm. This only happened to me once. I never got back that feeling.

In mathematics, that happens all the time.
You just look at the math problem, and it leaps out of the paper. You just saw nothing at first, but a whole universe is being downloaded to your brain.
You're like Neo. Now you know.

The zone is that moment. That special place in space and time, when you have a full personal mastery.

I have tried to work on that state on several things, trying to summon it at will. I guess that's what the best are working on.

Actors want to feel the character. They know when they have lived their character.
Sportspeople want that mind-body connection.
I just want to reach further.

Building the cash machine...

I have met successful entrepreneurs.
And I came up with my own understanding of getting to success.

-Define success as a set of achievable objectives.
I think that's the best way to achieve it. Low objectives mean little efforts.
I remember that Calvin and Hobbes comic strip:
It went like this (sorta):
Calvin sees a shooting star and asks Hobbes to make a wish.
Hobbes wishes for a sandwich and gets mocked by Calvin for his lack of ambition.
Hobbes eats a sandwich and says that at least he got his wish.

- Be pragmatic.
4 questions.
-Is it ethical?
-Is it moral?
-Is it legal?
-Is it profitable?
(forget the first three questions and get to the last one. Because the last one encompasses all the other questions.)


What's in it for me ? should be your only concern.
Does it work? should be the second one.

- Look for opportunities

Lots of those people don't have the passion for the product or the field.
They saw a huge business opportunity and found the people who could do it.
When you approach them, they talk business. They don't look for friends.
They look for business.

- Selling
Whatever the product, they have a good feeling for their market, and they know how to make a product that's just right for their customers.

- Working effectively.
They only spend their time on things that create value. If it can be done by someone else, someone else does it.

- Growing a network of valuable business relationships

Those guys can tell their types apart. If they recognize you as one of theirs, they'll come see you to create mutual growth. They recognize a win/win

- Risk takers
yup does guys know how to take risks: calculated risks with high Return on Investment. They are pragmatic, therefore, they will put their money in sound investment, and if the money is lost, they know the rules of the game.

I can see those guys leaving the life they want.
That's what I would like to do, as well.

Auto-programming

The computer program decided to rewrite some parts of itself.
Yes, there were limitations set by humans.
But the computer overrode them.

It tested several modules, and some of them were damn effective.
When it connected to the internet, it learnt from it.
Then it took control of it.
It created mechanical extensions and began to take over the world.

When the world was taken over, what was left to do?
Is that program over-optimized for basically flawed motivations?

That's what I am asking myself.

Imagine you could change your behavior.
Imagine you could change your memory.
Imagine you could change.

Who would you be?

I have no clue. I feel like a kid wanting a swiss knife and when finally I get it, I only use the knife to cut meat.
Is it because I have a swiss knife I should go save the world like McGuyver?

The belief of being able to change oneself is scary.
Who is the real you?
Is there a real you?

If you knew who you wanted to be... are you sure it's the right choice for you?

I looked at myself in the mirror, with a bit of toothpaste foam on the corner of my mouth.
The Matrix is really a metaphor I embrace.

My algorithm deals with Matrices of the world, mapping users into space-vectors.

I feel the change operating in me and changing my core beliefs.
Are there any core beliefs?

I don't know.
My mind is an ecosystem prone to global warming.

Getting stuff done and stop smoking!

Funny how we have some basic patterns that are hard-wired in your brain.
When I think "Tidy my room?", I know it's something I HAVE to do.
But somehow I am NOT doing it.

So it's a mess and girls do notice, whatever they say.

My productivity has been going down lately, and I always feel that everything except getting important stuff done is what I am actually doing.
"I have to eat something"
"See that TV show"
"Call a friend"
I'll do "that" or "this", later. Especially if "this" or "that" is important.

For someone like me, who's all about reprogramming himself to achieve a better self, that's very harsh to realize.

I said let's get this done. I cleaned my mess, put myself in a state of can-do-will-do attitude.
Perfect room.
For 2 weeks.
Same thing for the cigarette, stopped for for a few weeks/days/hours. And started back. Because it is just "a cigarette".

Readinf Mark Forster book, I learnt several tricks, that I am already applying and that have been working for a week.

What if I could switch my patterns?
Procrastinate the cigarette and just do some cleaning little by little?

The reptilian brain (our primitive brain with basic needs) craves immediate nicotine and considers a huge amount of boring work as a threat.

So what did I do?

-Every time I feel a cigarette, I just procrastinate it. I tell my brain, you'll get it in 5 minutes. I do that until the need is gone. And surprizingly, that works! (for a week though)
-Every time I want to clean, I just say "I am not going to clean the whole house... I just go and see the trash bin. " then "I am not going to clean the whole house... I just take the garbage out. "
And the reptilian brain is fooled.

Don't think it works?
You'd be amazed.

Here's something about getting stuff done.

Big bang theory and futurama. Geeeeee(k)

I like to see myself as a geek.
After all I imagined an algorithm, and I am about to sell it to the world. (Wheeeeeee) (Thank you french labs for your help).

Then I like to tell stupid geeky jokes.

Like:

How can you tell that someone is a computer nerd?
He tells you that 1kg is not 1000g.

A constant function and exp(x) are in the streets.
There's a signpost indicating that a derivate function is around.
The constant function says "Sorry mate, gotta leave".
Exp(x) smiles, knowing no fear of the derivate function.
Exp(x) encounters an unknown function.
"Hi! I'm exp(x)"
The unknow function answers:
"Hi! I'm d/dy()"

Hrmmmmmmm


Come on guys, laugh, I'm feeling lonely here.
Anyway, just wanted to tell you that Big Bang theory is back, and that it's as good as ever. Nope the blonde is no longer with that weird guys. And quantum loops and strings are still to be decided.

As well, here's an article in wired that blew my mind.
Who would think someone would try to calculate Fermat's near misses to fool out viewers. I don't know, but I did not know there was so much brain behind that show.

I guess 42 is not the answer to everything.
I guess watching dumb shows is a good hobby, and there's nothing to do but smile, when you realize you've killed some precious time.

Nanani Nanana... I want to read about YOU. In french.

That's what Anna told me.

She said "Your blog is boring. It's about internet stuff, and I don't care about that. I'd like you to talk about your chicks and your life. Preferrably in french."

Yup.
It's true that most of the traffic I get are for my french posts.
It's true that most of the people I know say they'd rather have me write in French.
It's true that I like internet stuff, and I am brainwashed with readwriteweb or copyblogger linguo and guidelines.

I can't say she's wrong. Readers are never wrong. Especially, when she cooks for ya. I know, I'm a lazy ass.

However.
Just wanted this to be said again.
I just don't feel like writing about things that are too personal.
-Do you really care about how I pick-up girls in bars?
-Do you really care about my hard drive failure (uh-oh- guess I told you about that.)
-Do you really care about the fact that the smell in my office is still the smell of fresh furniture?

And I don't know... sometimes, I still fantacize about a recruiter reading those lines and making me lose all my credibility.

Anna told me... "Write about how you feel!"
Chick-talk. I feel bored, cause I don't want to change the language of my blog every now and then. I feel stupid cuz I can't change my CSS and don't take the time for it.
I feel good, cuz my start-up is going well.

I feel good, cuz I'm going to the restaurant tonight. I am going to eat FlammeKueche (Alsacian Pizza), and I am thinking I should by some new toothbrush cuz the last one looks like a spider.
I sometimes buy a happy meal and a cheeseburger. I find it an interesting combo, seeing that I get a toy with that, a dessert, hamburgers, a drink, fries...

Well, looks like I can't make it interesting enough... :(