#365of25 Archives - Page 14 of 26

Leaving lessons

I’ve spent a good amount of time today thinking about my last lecture tomorrow. The topic of the lecture is leadership, which is something I’ve lectured on before. However, I’m really struggling to put the lecture together.

I think this is because I really want to leave the students with some lasting lessons. I want my final lecture to have impact, to leave them inspired.

At this point, I still have no idea what these lessons are going to be. But I’m hoping that I’ll have some sort of epiphany in the morning that’ll lead to some really great lessons for the students.

Will report back on whether this actually happens :’)

Image is of an albino squirrel, taken in the company gardens

Song of the day: Tom Rosenthal - Was it you who I saw?

Blog 131/365. Read more about my #365of25 journey here

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Published by rspazzoli on March 22, 2018 | Permalink

Reflecting on Choices

This evening I met up with my great uncle for dinner (he’s my mum’s uncle or my gran’s brother. He’s also actually pretty great. He’s also know as our muncle, as he’s a monk and our uncle). We had an in depth discussion around having an impact on the world and the decisions that lead us to this. And a theme that emerged from this discussion was around choices.

Obviously we make hundreds of choices every day. These might include what to eat, what route to take to work or what things to check off our to do list. And many of these choices are insignificant. They have no sustained impact on your life.

But many of these little choices ultimately direct the big picture of your life. They may be a fundamental component to the habits you build, shape your career path or negatively/positively impact your health. Some choices are harmless, but some have real world consequences.

Reflecting on these choices

I told my uncle about my blog and how I write every single night. His observation linked back to this idea of choices. Every night I am able to reflect on the choices I made that day. I’m able to unpack the influence that these might have had on my life.

In doing this, I am able to have a greater awareness of my choices. And therefore, I’m able to direct them better.

So by reflecting every day, I’m able to improve the choices I make in the future and understand those made in my immediate past. And ultimately, have greater control over the direction of my life.

Image was taken at dinner with my great uncle

Song of the day: Feeling Groovy - Simon and Garfunkel

Blog 130/365. Read more about my #365of25 journey here

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Published by rspazzoli on March 21, 2018 | Permalink

The Sunday Hike

I sometimes feel like I’m not maximising the opportunities for adventure around Cape Town. But today I was able to go on a spectacular hike and experience the magic of this city.

It took me 15min to drive to the start of the hike. And when we were on the hike we it felt like we were in an entirely different world.

We started up Woody’s Ravine, spent about 20min at the top and came down Three Fire. The weather was perfect and the views were spectacular

Active downtime

This hike fitted in nicely with my post about active relaxation. Even though the 4 hour hike was quite strenuous, I felt great afterwards.

I think a good pattern is emerging. Saturdays is for passive relaxation, Sundays is for the active kind. And by the time Monday comes around, I’m ready to go again 🙂

Image as taken on our way down 🙂

Song of the day: Take my breath away - Berlin

Blog 127/365. Read more about my #365of25 journey here

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Published by rspazzoli on March 18, 2018 | Permalink

Cape Town Carnival

The first time I saw the Cape Town Carnival I was in first year. We got horribly lost and had no idea how to get home.

This evening we watched the endpoint from our apartment. We got to see all of it and still be in our pajamas.

An entirely different perspective on the same event. And both experiences perfectly catered to the stage of life we were in at the time.

Image is of the carnival, taken from our apartment

Song of the day: Portugal the Man – Live in the moment

Blog 126/365.

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Published by rspazzoli on March 17, 2018 | Permalink

The Friday Shoutout: Silulo

Today Luvuyo Rani gave a guest lecture to my Strategic Thinking class. Luvuyo is one of the founders of Silulo, an internet cafe, computer training centre and technology company based in the townships. It started 14 years ago out the boot of a car and has now trained 33 000 students, employs 200 people and has more than 40 branches. Luvuyo was recently awarded social entrepreneur of the year at the World Economic Forum.

I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Luvuyo speak in the class 5 times. He has also assisted with some of my entrepreneurial work and advised me on university projects. Every time I see him I learn something new.

Business in the township for the township

One point that Luvuyo emphasized today is that of building businesses in the township. And, importantly, building these to fill the needs of the township. The dominant narrative around townships is that they are places devoid of true entrepreneurship. Luvuyo proves otherwise.

And he’s putting his money where is mouth is. This month he’s launching a business incubator in Mitchells Plain. The objective of the incubator is to help scale township businesses and help them serve the areas where they come from.

I cannot wait to see the incubator come to life. I’m in constant awe of what Luvuyo and Silulo have achieved!

Thanks again for coming to talk to our students!

Main image was taken during Luvuyo’s talk. Image at the end of the post is a selfie with Luvuyo and his new General Manager, Bongiwe. This lecture theatre is where I teach every week. It’s pretty intimidating but I’ve gotten used to it 🙂

Song of the day: Rudimental - These Days

Blog 125/365. Read more about my #365of25 journey here

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Published by rspazzoli on March 16, 2018 | Permalink

Listening to records

This week was the much anticipated Spotify launch in South Africa. With this service, as well as Apple Music, Google Play and YouTube, music has become infinitely accessible. You can play any song by any artist at any time. And this has resulted in a counterintuitive trend: sales of vinyl records have been growing.

Why is the case?

Some people that buy vinyl say that it’s for the superior quality of sound that is produced. Which may be true. But it’s also possible to get high definition audio on all the streaming platforms

However, I think that the better quality of sound isn’t from the output of the speakers. It’s the fact that the physical nature of vinyl compels you to engage with the music.

The sound isn’t better. Your listening is.

And this is where I think the magic of vinyl exists. It forces you to become present, to be mindful.

You can press play on a Spotify playlist and ignore it for the next few days.

With a vinyl, your experience of music is different. You have to gently take it out of the sleeve. You then lift the needle and slowly put the record into place. Press the button and the needle gets into position. And once this is done, you sit and listen to two or three songs, which you do with intention. And then that side of the record finishes and you need repeat the process. When both sides are done, you need to pack it away with the same care as when you took it out.

You are present with the music. Every step of the way

Listening Sessions

Jared and I have gotten into the habit of listening to records on Saturday mornings and some weekday evenings. We’ll put one on and sit on the couch, only speaking occasionally.

I find it so soothing. We listen to every word. And experience it all at a much higher quality than when we experience other music throughout the week

The songs are the same. But our state is different.

We are present. And that’s what makes records so special: they usher in mindfulness.

Image is of Jared’s record player, guitar and collection of records.

Song of the day: Sorry for Now - Linkin Park

Thesis update: Had an amazing meeting with my supervisor to discuss my new results

Blog 123/365. Read more about my #365of25 journey here

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Published by rspazzoli on March 14, 2018 | Permalink

Broken streaks

Over the past week I’ve broken all 3 of my big streaks. I’ve been too tired to do Yoga, particularly as I was leaving home at 7 and getting back at midnight all of last week.

I thought I had meditated the one morning so didn’t do so in the evening. And my streak of 71 days ended as a result.

On Wednesday I wrote up a bunch of blog posts to automatically post because I knew work would be too hectic. I thought I’d written one for Saturday but turns out I hadn’t. And on Sunday morning I woke up with two messages asking what had gone wrong.

The truth is that I’ve been too overwhelmed to properly put effort into these activities. I’ve tried to find ways to mitigate this but at some point I wasn’t able to.

I broke the streaks

Getting back on the train

Initially I was quite angry at myself for this. I’d put so much effort into maintaining them and it felt like I had lost all that hard work.

But I haven’t.

I still have 121 blog posts.

I’ve still meditated 71 times this year.

And I’m trying to build a new habit around an exercise I find really difficult.

So I meditated an extra time on Friday. I wrote an extra blog post on Sunday. And I’m going to do an extended exercise session when I’m feeling less sick. The momentum hasn’t stopped. In fact, in spite of the chaos I’ve managed to keep my habits going. The momentum has pushed me on.

I’m still on track, and my personal institutions have helped keep me there.

And I’m proud of myself for doing this.

Image was taken in 2013 while I was on a run in Newlands Forest. I had stumbled across this run down shed which, oddly enough, I’ve never been able to find again.

Song of the day: Battle Symphony - Linkin Park (actually, the whole One More Light Album)

Blog 121/365. Read more about my #365of25 journey here

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Published by rspazzoli on March 12, 2018 | Permalink

Bad Strategy Part 4/4: Bad Strategic Objectives

Over the last few days I’ve been looking at the “Four Hallmarks of Bad Strategy” from Richard Rumelt’s book Good Strategy/Bad Strategy. Each of these will be linked to a South African example and concluded with a tip to avoid that element of bad strategy.

The fourth and final element of bad strategy that Rumelt highlights is that of “bad strategic objectives”. He explains that there there are two types of bad strategic objectives:

Dogs dinner objectives: instead of having one or two key strategic objectives, an organisation will try to write up a wish list.
Blue sky objectives: a “blue sky objective” is a simple statement with no path to achieve it

South African Example: Kauai Straws

I saw a great example of this the other day. I was at Kauai and noticed that they’d put a sign up that said they were no longer serving their drinks with straws. This is a really great initiative because single use straws are an unnecessary waste.

However, the sign also read that if you did want a straw you could ask the cashier for one. And clearly the cashier had gotten frustrated with this, so they moved the straws to next to the sign.

This nullified Kauai’s entire strategic objective to eliminate straws. Because it was a “blue sky” objective that didn’t have a path to achieve it

Setting good strategic objectives

Setting better strategic objectives involves two main considerations. First, keep them simple and focused. Test them by seeing if they can be recited easily by anyone they apply to.

Secondly, set objectives that have paths to achieving them. If you want to remove the straws, find a substitute or get rid of them entirely. Set tangible links to how your strategy will be successful, otherwise it is meaningless.

Image was taken at the Kauai

Song of the day: Mitis - Away

Blog 120/365. Read more about my #365of25 journey here

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Published by rspazzoli on March 11, 2018 | Permalink