Cafe-bar change up!

There are many "offices" available in the modern Western world, and some of them can even provide a high energy atmosphere or ambience for work, to help you be more creative, innovative or simply a great change of pace from your normal space.

Space/environment is critical to producing certain types of work. Sometimes I need I NEED quiet and intense focus. For a particular kind of "flow" or "zone" to occur, I usually need this quiet and focus (sans distractions) to get into a great flow or to resolve a particularly thorny problem or to crush a difficult task. Other times, I like the energy and liveliness of a cafe bar to enable my brain to make unusual connections or jumps that don't usually happen in the low distraction of my office setup.

Sometimes simply people-watching is enough to get my creative juices pumping and flowing, imagining their lives and their situations and their dramas. Life is the difficult pieces that are hard and less than ideal, whereas the easy and fun stuff is more like just the icing on a tasty cake for me. The texture and challenge of the tougher parts is what makes life living and enjoyable. Without the challenging we quickly fall into boredom and less than interesting. A problem free life is nothing that anyone ever has, first of all, nor would it be very interesting second of all.

Of course solving problems for myself helps me solve problems that others are facing. The beauty of age is that I have had the opportunity to do my fair share of problem solving. It is called experience and it is almost always negative in some fashion. How we approach it and perceive it determines if the negative rules or is merely a portion of the overall experience. Changing our working space regularly is a good reminder and helper in realizing that one reality is not the only reality. While I don't want to work every night in the cafe-bar, tonight it is a good time to realize that there is a whole big wide world of difference out there, and every problem can be view/resolved from an almost infinite number of ways and possibilities @ Play Cafe Skopje

Virtually yours

Buying a house while traveling to Europe? Well it is aaa serious juggling act I can tell you that for sure. I have done some crazy things in the past. In fact the last house that I purchased, I did sight unseen, actually never laying eyes on the physical place until six months after I had already purchased it. Did it all, every single bit of it, on the advice and recommendation of a friend . . . who also signed all the documents in my name!

Today I am trying the same thing in a different way.  I am placing a bid on a house in one state, while flying through two others, on my way to two other countries, all happening over the internet through a VPN, while never actually physically signing anything. This is just another side to the virtual world I live in all the time and the virtual work I accomplish every week. Most of my meetings and most of my work happens on the web, not in person. Virtually buying a house may just be the logical normal next step for a virtual president and CEO like myself.

Virtually yours, David

Rigor mortis

They have been sucking all the air out of the room for weeks! The challenges of working from my parents home are proving formidable. This was not true in the past, but it certainly is now. End of life scenarios run amuck in their presence. They have planned out their funerals, purchased their burial plots, committed themselves to rigor mortis, or rather a rigorous schedule of eating at precise times, certain foods, certain practices, all the confidence that these rigors will give structure and stability at a point in life that has none of those  certainties. It is difficult to watch, difficult to help, and difficult to bear - and all the while knowing that I am right behind them and wishing for my end to be different. That is what I mean by sucking all the air out of the room.

It is so overwhelming that it leaves no moments to think, to reflect in quiet, it is all too loud and noisy and boisterous even, to have some focus and clarity. It says far too much that I have to get on an airplane and cruise at 39k feet in order to find some thinking time, some reflecting time, some clarity time. 

We are all moving this same direction. Everyone before us has passed through these doors to eternity - our physical bodies coming to a place invariably where they refuse/cannot function any longer. No one is 100% certain of how our bodies and our souls can function without one another, none of us have ever yet had that experience, but it is coming, that is for certain. My brother believes when your physical body closes down, can't go any longer, regardless of the reason, then you simply cease to exist as a person. That is the END of all meaning and END of all existence in any form other than as fertilizer for the earth. 

But that simply is not the experience of the historical Jesus. And as Death's destroyer, He gives us hope and a future, even though I can't tell you or explain to you all the mechanics and physics of HOW it will happen, I simply do not have enough information nor am I smart enough to understand it even if I had it, to satisfy your curiosity (or mine). This historical Jesus is the One where I am placing my trust, in Him who broke the power of Death over us, and yes it can take us temporarily, but not eternally, and no I don't know how or why. Even 30 plus years as a theologian, and I still cannot explain it in a way that will satisfy the vast majority. I trust Him. My brother calls it "feelgoodism" and a "crutch" and a "desperateattempttohavehopewherethereisnone" among other things. I prefer to call it trust. "Trust is the evidence of things hoped for, the confidence of things not seen."

Goodbyes

There are always goodbyes and more goodbyes in our lives. It is simply a life of goodbyes, and I regularly tell newbies this when they are thinking about coming to our neck of the woods, or when they arrive. No sense in painting it as anything else. In a word, it is the highest regular price extracted of International Workers in my opinion.

This last week has been an oasis in life, hanging with the grand baby and two of the three kids, seeing them everyday, participating in their lives, making memories and having fun together. But the goodbye can always hang there in the corner of a cloudless sky if you don't take care to enjoy THIS moment, to enjoy THIS memory, to make this second count. The future is always, and never, there, to be encountered eventually. 

So tomorrow I will crank the bike up, and drive away . . .  as I have done countless times before, or said goodbye at some obscure airport in some hairy armpit of the world, or left them at boarding school, or flew away without them, and say goodbye. Then the countdown will begin until we can see them again. It is a life of goodbyes.

The thing I noticed today was . . .

Today is my first day in America on this particular trip and my son invited me to go with him while he accomplished a bunch errands, shopping and about town. I always love such invitations, and of course I said yes. Plus I needed to recharge my American phone chip to use while I am in the states, so accomplishing multiple things on one trip is always good, right?

So the thing that caught my attention today was that every single store, every single one, challenged/invited/requested us to join their bonus card, their discount card, their brand card, to get all their discounts, bonuses, and well, their stuff at a cheaper price. In fact, and this is gonna sound weird, I hate shopping at my two favorite (I already told you that this was gonna sound weird) grocery stores in the states, because every single price posted, demands that you have their "card" in order to get that posted price.

A much better way to get my commitment to their store, a devotion to their brand, is to simply give me that special price to begin with, without all the extra I-can-now-track-all-your-purchases mechanisms that they force us to do. This enforced process LOWERS my commitment and my devotion to them. Does not in any way enhance my shopping experience, nor has it ever a single time made me want to return and spend my resources in their particular store.

Those who make the shopping experience one that I want to repeat over and over, make it extra simple and straight forward. There is no "if you have our special discount piece of paper" price enticements or processes. If you want to build a long term relationships with me, think about my experience, not your desire to track me in some fashion.

High on earplugs

I have taken to ear plugs in a grand fashion. "Almost everything is noise" Greg McKeown said, and he was right in more ways than he knew. Not only have I taken to wearing ear plugs in such a way that I frequently have them with me ALL DAY, but I have now crossed an ocean (different oceans) 12 times without watching one single show on the entertainment screen in front of me. What did that cost the airline? Something like $10,000 per seat. All wasted on me, because almost everything is noise.

Here is the McKeown quote, "The prevalence of noise: Almost everything is noise, and a very few things are exceptionally valuable. This is the justification for taking time to figure out what is most important." Followed by an equally good one from John Maxwell, “You cannot overestimate the unimportance of practically everything.”

For transparency sake here, let me state that I do download and watch American Ninja Warrior and The Voice, because otherwise I would have nothing about which to talk to my brother and he is addicted to both of these shows and I like them fine too. I also am a huge hockey fan and watch games every week, and thank God regularly that the hockey season is nine months long :-). But that is it. No movies, no drama shows, no game shows, no TV in general, because it is all noise. 

The additional effect of the muting, that comes from the ear plugs, makes for a much quieter world, a world where you can think, a world where you must decide to be responsible for your life, a world where the frenetic noise of entertainment does not allow you a free pass. You have to choose what you do with your life, or someone else will.

Help at 4:22 am

I travel. I travel alot! It is practically a weekly activity for me. Needless to say I have missed my share of flights and connections. It happened again this week, even though I did everything humanly possible to prevent it, including running two kilometers through two airports, asking for help all along the way, trying to enlist every Turkish Airline employee I could, fruitlessly in the end, because I still missed my flight, by less than three minutes.

Fast forward two and half hours, I finally, finally, finally get to the hotel that the airline provided me, and then was informed by the front desk that I would have to be ready to go at 0400 hours back to the airport!! For a 8:00 am departure????  No thank you. I  told them firmly that I would find my own way to the airport. Since I visit Istanbul many times each year, I am well versed in how to get around on my own. I wanted no wake up call, and I would bear all the consequences for getting my own self to the airport.

I got to my room, and unplugged the phone just in case they did not get how serious I was. There was no way on earth I wanted a 0330 wake up call!  I set the alarm for 5:30 and went to sleep. Imagine my rude awakening at 0422 hours when someone was pounding on my door. They would not stop. They continued on and on. I finally got up and yelled, "what do you want?!?!?" The persons on the other side of the door informed me that the bus downstairs was waiting for me and that they frantically needed to leave NOW!  I told them to go on of course, and went back to bed . . . but the damage was done, I could not go back to sleep.

This is not the kind of help I need when traveling, but it is the kind of help that the Turkish culture is required to give. It is help, but not actually helpful. We do the same all the time, telling the truth without regard for how it will be received, talking about people not present in order to "help" the person dealing with them, or any other time that we decide what is best for someone without regard for their wishes. Sure there are exceptions to this rule, but not very many at all. Help at 0422 hours is not really help.

The energy and the power

World class cities have a energy that is very unique. Istanbul is a city of around 12 million jammed crammed people on endless rolling hills, awesome horrible traffic, a million refugees, no parking places, and sea of asphalt and cement. And it hums and it thrums with a powerful energy that comes from all this humanity, all this potential, all these possibilities thrown together in one small landmass. Yet it is relatively safe and unthreatening as world class cities go.

But there is so little chance that someone who lives here will meet a Christ-follower. There is almost no witness. There is practically no opportunity to hear Truth, to meet God on neutral ground, to choose Life everlasting, to read the scriptures, to hear His voice in the roar of the crowds and in the masses of humanity that vibrate with the pursuit of everything else and all other.

What if we rose up and responded with an equal energy, a response of love and compassion and redemption that was rooted in our daily powerful experience with Yahweh, the creator who pulses with power and light and clarity and love? It seems to be hard to find such people of character and competence and compassion, who will live the Kingdom dream rather than the Western dream or their personal ones.

A lovely day!

Its a lovely day to work and enjoy. Yes I used both those words in the same sentence. On purpose. Intentionally. First of all it is simply a lovely day. I am alive, the sun is shining (literally and figuratively), pollution is very low (rare here) since we have this nice breeze blowing, the cafe has their mist/humidifying system going, I have a great meeting taking place, followed by a vid conference with Cambodia/clients, followed by a vid conference to Ukraine, followed by a nice Honduran . . . well you get the picture.

I am alive, and I can choose, and I can decide, and I can change some things in the world. I can make some things better for some folks today. I can change parts of the world today. I can point people toward Eternity filled with God and Hope. It is a lovely day to work and enjoy!

There is that

A hot summer day, quiet and calm. Too much to think about and too much to consider. How to focus in that which produces the most good, that which is most significant and meaningful?

Contrast that with the mall nearby. People walking about dressed to the nines, mostly worried about the fashion statement they are making. And they ARE making fashion statements!

Worrying about what other people think is a powerfully disrupting force. To see and be seen? There is that. Or to create something powerful and moving? There is that!

Avoid this fatal mistake

There is so much fun going on with the English camps we are having in three locations in Macedonia this year. Tons of pics posted on Facebook. The team from York is doing a fantastic job. The volunteers from all three locations are super!

This kind of synergy requires tons of preparation though. It usually only comes about through a deep confidence in the person making the promise, the person who is going to deliver the results, the person bringing all the elements together. That kind of confidence can't be built in a short amount of time.

It takes years of delivering what you promise and more. Our foundational premise for delivering our commitments is “under-promise and over-deliver.” It is a perfect contrast to practically every American that walks through this part of the world. They promise everything and deliver little. 20 years abroad, and we see this fatal mistake happen endlessly. My wife has delivered the goods for decades here = three great camps!

Moments that take a decade to enjoy

Sitting in a building I spent years of my life building, listening to the stampede of kids running up and down the stairwells as they excitedly switch positions from crafts to sports and games. They have already had their first bible lesson, and learned some new songs, and when they finish their current class, they will begin their English lesson.

It is weird to be "sitting" here. I haven't done much sitting here. But I have sweated much, cried some, worked long long weeks and months every summer, while we built this place one step at a time. Watched and loved team after team come through here and work their vacations for free and even pay for the materials we used at each step. Remembering the many mornings that Pastor Sasho and I stood together, in misery because we did not have another single denar (penny) between us and we had no idea where the next one might come from . . . and then later that morning see God supply everything we could possibly use that day.

Experienced tragedy here, a collapsing deep trench, two friends dead, the worst kind of accident, no one really at fault, while all of us feel that we are in some manner. It changed us all. Nothing has been the same since. Some things better (more clarity) some things worse (court case and such). But here the building stands, and it is full of children from the neighborhood, having a grand time, learning about English, Jesus and and themselves. The place is alive and being used. This moment is worth much. The very best kind of chaos in the whole world.

Unimaginable

Seth Godin keeps me honest. I like that about him, because he asks the most difficult questions and I rarely have the answers his questions demand. That is a powerfully good value to provide in anyone's life. Today he asks in his blog, "How do we do something so difficult that others can't imagine doing it?" is a fine question to ask today."

What a great/frustrating question! Instead of the easy, the natural, the apparent, what am I capable of that is difficult, beyond the range and scope of others, so difficult that others can't even imagine doing it? That is a stop and think deeply sort of question. It demands an answer. And if we can't answer it this very day, then it demands that we chew on it and wrestle with it, until we can . . . at the very very least start moving in a direction where we can answer it.

To do less is to be average (in all the wrong ways) and remain with the 95% who fail to capitalize on all that they could and should become with this one precious life that they have been given.

Sinister shopping

There is something sinister about what marketing believes are the values of 50 year olds. Since my brother will be turning 50 this Friday, I started shopping for a gift for him. I am thrilled that he is hitting this landmark epic birthday. It seems to me that this is a celebration worthy of something significant and something weighty and substantial.

But shopping for a gift for a 50 year old is terrifying. When you go to search "birthday gifts for 50 year old men" the results are so asinine that you use words like "terrifying" and I can think of a few other ones as well. Jewelry??  Really? Golf seems to be another big theme. Beer another BIG theme, along with wine and coffee options. Coolers and music and official "stocks" like for Ford or Harley Davidson were in abundance. The one and only gift out of the 100's of suggestions that I could even consider for my brother was a reprint of the New York Times front page of the day of your birth - that was a historical marker of sorts - it seems to have the appropriate weight for such a epic birthday.

The shallowness of the other suggestions was a very telling story about our culture and values . . . not to mention an assessment of the significance (actually the lack of significance!) that turning 50 has in North America. Now perhaps this is just me, or perhaps it is my twisted and warped perspective after living abroad for the last 20 years. But it seems to me that a person should have more substance to life after 50 years, than gourmet caramel popcorn.

What I do

It is difficult to explain what I do for work. That is rooted in the lack of a single concrete definition of the situations clients face. Essentially I am a curator of applied information. It requires the same processes we all need to solve the problems and challenges in this world. Greg Mckeown describes the process like this: getting to the essence (of whatever) takes a deep understanding of the topic (this sometimes means you have to work long and hard to gain this understanding), and it's context (this often requires your physical presence) and it's fit into the bigger picture and how it relates to bigger fields of study or knowledge. This is different client to client and therein lies the difficulty of explaining it in simple concrete terms.

As you apply these practices to the operational or developmental challenges, you (hopefully) can see the patterns and the obstacles that prevent progress or success. This in a nutshell is what I do for my clients day in and day out. It is immensely satisfying to see someone leap the hurdles preventing them from having powerful success!

If you don't prioritize your life, someone else will - Greg Mckeown

There he was, drunk in the middle of the day, whiskey soaked, brain turned to mush, until security came and removed him from the smoking terrace. Until security got here though, he kept trying to light my cigar, and I was afraid that he was going to set my beard on fire! The two Turkish airline pilots that I was sharing a table with, found him to be hysterical. Believe it or not, speaking Russian to problem-makers like this works wonders. No one seems to want to talk to Russian speaking guys with cigars! Of course the trick is to never let on that you ever understand a single word of English - something we have perfected over the years. 

From a leadership/personal development point of view, it was super sad to see a young affluent person (there are no beggars in an airport) to be completely under the influence of alcohol so early in the day. Of course it is sad at a certain level to ever see anyone in the grip of alcohol like that at any time. 

Over-consumption of alcohol and loss of control are synonyms. In the same way a lack of prioritization in your life and loss of control are synonyms. As Greg Mckeown states in his book "Existentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less" if I don't prioritize my life someone else will, they will fill my life with tasks and responsibilities and work and so much to do that my priorities will never come to fruition.

So the task of everyone of us who aspires to reach our goals, objectives, plans, to experience all of the impact we could possibly make on this world, is to take charge of our lives, determine our paths, pursue those objectives relentlessly, be an adult, be responsible for our actions.

The vital few from the trivial many

This is a quest, worthy of a life. As Peter Drucker said so many times, it is the ability to say "no" that makes a person effective. It is only in the "no" that you are exercising your discernment that, "this" (whatever it may be) is not for you. It is not where you can make a significant contribution, it is not where you can make the biggest impact, it is not where you can be your best, it is not where you can change the world.

The primary marker of the modern world is choice. And the closer you are to the Western Core of that modernity, the more choices you face. My wife and I have live abroad for the last 20 years, and some times that included very remote places around the world. There are few choices in those places. But in the technology heavy West, the rich rich West (regardless how poor those citizens feel and profess to be) they have an overwhelming number of choices. The most powerful among us are those who learn the skills to say "no" and to separate the vital few from the trivial many (this phrase as well as these core ideas, I took from the book 'Essentialism" by Greg Mckeown).

This requires a number of disciplines, not the least of which is self confidence. Self confidence of a nature that allows you to stand in the face of immense social pressure. You will be choosing a far less trodden path than the many will be following. This level of self confidence is the product of mental and emotional discipline, and can include scholastic or experiential or spiritual disciplines as well. It also needs a risky heart, that is determined to maximize this one short life while it is mine. Are you choosing the vital few, or the trivial many? What do you want to change in the world? What or who do you want to liberate from bondage? Where can your highest contribution be made? What inspires you? What need does this world have, that I possess? Can you resist all the noise of the trivial many, and identify the vital few objectives/tasks/goals/abilities/competencies/needs/ that you want your life to impact?

Epic moments

There are epic moments in life where a synergy of events and places and times all come together to provide you with magical memories, spectacular opportunities and/or wonderful unique unrepeatable experiences. Last evening was one of those for me.

I happened to be working in the capital city of one of the two countries vying to be the soccer champions of the entire universe. Germany versus Argentina in the final match of the 2014 World Cup! While this only gets marginal play in the USA, the rest of the world views this as the premiere sporting event that happens ever four years. It is far more than the regional championships, it is far more than the Olympics. It.is.the.World.Cup! Imagine 10 superbowls all happening at the same time, imagine the planets coming into perfect alignment, imagine the starship Enterprise showing up to take you to the next galaxy . . . yes it is on that epic scale.

So I get to watch this amazing event happen in Berlin of all places, at historic Potsdamer Platz, at the Cinemax theater with 500 rabid fans, no empty seats in the entire theater, and the only reason I was there instead of with the one million people (literally) surrounding the Brandenburg Gate, was that it was raining and I hate a cold cold rain (although I might have braved that if the USA had been playing). So I was able to procure one of the cherished tickets and had a wonderful seat in front of a huge screen, surrounded by so many excited raving German fans. It was two and a half hours of tension of the very best kind, and I made a great memory with great friends. Yeah, I am living a dream!

Fines and signs

I knew I was in trouble again, when I saw the police car backing up the highway on the opposite side of the barrier separating the lanes. Sure enough he backed up the whole two kilometers to the exit and jumped on and crossed over to my side. And then as certain as the sunrise, he pulled in behind me and hit the sirens and lights.

Now you need to understand that I am on a bicycle, and the policemen are in a new SUV. I am seriously outmatched here, or I might have tried to make a run for it. Riding a bicycle on the newest, nicest, least used, slice of asphalt in Macedonia is simply not permitted, if you are riding a bicycle. Mind you there is not a single sign anywhere, that prohibits it. There is not a law anywhere that prohibits it, just the police go rabid when they see my bike on the ring road around the city.

So I stop my bike, just to get him to cut the siren if for no other reason because it was damaging my eardrums. I am breathing hard, sweating like an overweight guy out in the desert, and the fat policeman rolls down his window and lets me feel the nice cool air conditioning from his SUV, and asks me why. Really? I am a 52 year old grandfather, riding as hard as I can in interval training on a hot sunny day, and you ask me why I am breathing hard and sweating? He tells me that it is forbidden to ride bicycles on the ring road. I point out there there are no such signs or markers anywhere that state that it is forbidden to ride a bicycle on the ring road. He tells me to go read it on the internet! I try to control my snort of disbelief. 

He begins the typical interrogation of "who are you?"and "what are you doing here?" and "how much money do you make? etc etc. I am well accustomed to such interrogations. He decides that I make enough money to pay the "fine" for having a bicycle on the ring road (which he quoted as $565!). I am incredulous! While this interrogation is taking place, lawbreakers where screaming past us regularly, as well as cars with damaged equipment and illegal passing, etc. etc. 

So I said, "let me get this right, you plan to fine me for a law that is not really a law and is posted no where anywhere, while watching these lawbreakers go whizzing by, clearly breaking all the POSTED signage?" He said "yes" just as a motorcycle tore pass us doing at least double the posted speed limit. I said "why don't you go stop that motorcycle and stop harassing me?" He says, "we can't catch him (haven't they ever heard of radios and roadblocks?) but we can catch you."

How can you argue with that?

Ponidealnichki

That is the word here for Monday in the adjectival form. When someone asks you how you are doing, you can answer Mondayish. Sometimes, Macedonian can be more descriptive than English. Today is one of those days.

A late start, and slow start, and work piling up, delays and decisions, important events happening in other countries and you have responsibilities there too, quick travel plans made to get there, while putting out a fire in another country in the other direction, part not yet here for the car repair, banking issues, money in the wrong account in the wrong country, people in need but limited resources available to apply, world cup in full swing but the game you really want to watch doesn't come on until midnight!, fishy requests for help, children of a church member in the hospital, worship practice has to be in our small apartment, a dinner long planned gets changed, the neighbors are playing music really really loud, the internet won't work properly when you are trying to talk to someone on the other side of the planet, the scales are not smiling today, and then someone else dumps a big problem in your lap, and one of your clients is facing a mutiny in church leadership, and the nationals you work with are shooting one of their own, but a really nice lunch with my wife. Yes its Mondayish.