Ronnie Nurss

I’ve learned an awesome philosophy from one of my mentors recently. If practiced daily, it can allow you to enjoy any activity or situation you come across in life without the burden of fear, or any negative feeling and emotion; embarrassment, regret, etc. It’s especially perfect for those situations that you have always wanted to experience, but in the end, your fear wins you over and you go home.

It’s called Pre-Acceptance of Failure. It’s simple yet extremely effective if used correctly. Before you attempt to do anything, and it could be anything (playing a game or sport, approaching someone), allow yourself to pre-accept failure; acknowledge the fact that you might lose, might get rejected, basically fail. When you realize and accept this, you know you might fail, the fear of outcome is no longer a burden. The fear of outcome will not drive you nuts, make you not concentrate, make you mess up and choke. Instead, you can completely concentrate and simply do the best you can do, be the best you can be.

When you let go the fear of outcome; not knowing what might happen, you are free to just do your best. Result does not matter to you, the destination is pointless to you. What simply matters now is the experience, the journey. You always hear “Its the journey, not the destination” for a reason, and this is why.

So once you have given up your fear of outcome, the next and final step is to remove doubt. Sure you have now eliminated your fear of outcome, but you might find yourself doubting your skills, whatever. You have to remove doubt, and replace it with commitment. Picture fear as a break, and doubt holds you back. You eliminated the break, so whats left is either doubt or commitment. Commitment is complete absence of fear. So after you have eliminated the fear of outcome, all you have to next is go into whatever situation you go into with full commitment. The commitment of “I’ll do the best I can, win or lose(success or fail). Its the journey, not the destination.”

I have personally been practicing this daily. You could use this philosophy for situations basically every minute. You find yourself competing in a sport, wanting to approach a person; stranger, friend or family.

I found myself playing basketball with friends, and the fear of losing really catches up to me, and usually affects my game for the best or the worse. If I lose, I am pissed. But I’ll tell you what. When you forget about the result, pre-accept you might fail; your let loose from any fear of outcome, and you can just fucking have fun and actually enjoy the experience, win or lose. Its an amazing feeling.

Finaly do the thing you have always wanted to do. Let your boss know how you feel, approach a distant friend, any situation that you have stopped yourself from doing because of your fear of the outcome. It’s a blast and ultimate high when you can enjoy an activity with absolutely no fear - we’ve all been there. Imagine doing it everday though. I encourage you to try out the Pre-Acceptance of Failure, and let me know how it goes for you.

Worrying about other people seems to be a common theme I notice, among myself, men and women, young and old, that rules people’s thoughts and essentially their minds. Its everywhere; gossip magazines about the lifestyles of the rich and famous, the constant slandering of those who make mistakes, and the envy of those who triumph. It’s damn irritating and mentally disgusting for me to observe this, and even worse, when I catch myself doing it every day.

In book three of Meditations, Marcus Aurelius states it best.

“Don’t waste the rest of your time here worrying about other people - unless it affects the common good. It will keep you from doing anything useful.”

Marcus Aurelius continues on about how constantly worrying and thinking about how others are living their lives keeps you from actually living your own, essentially “..keep you from focusing on your own mind.”

If you want reach whatever potential, or limit, of productivity and efficiency in anything you want in your life; be it career, relationships, yourself…then ditch the habit of wasting any more mental RAM on things that are random, irrelevant, and negative.

It’s hard as hell to control your thoughts, I know that. It takes effort. Consistent effort. Here are some ways to help you stop worrying about others (this doesnt mean “not caring for others”. Simply stop worrying about others, and focus on yourself), and ultimately focus on you.

• Meditation - Do what suits you, doesn’t have to be meditation. You could pray, anything that allows you Meditative Isolation (check out Ryan Holiday’s post). Meditation is nice, because you try to think about nothing, draining everything out. You stop worrying, and instead you observe your thoughts.
• Control what you can - Remind yourself the only things you have full control over is your thoughts, and what you give (how your react, etc). You can’t control other people and what they do. Even more reason to focus on what you can control in life - You.
• Sweat it out - Go for a run, work out, play some ball with friends. I personal find that doing healthy activites that keep you fit physically will also benefit you just as much mentally.
• Write - I will always promote keeping a journal or notebook handy to express yourself in. Writing does wonders, and allows you to focus on you and really grow as an individual. Do this routinely.

It’s probably the hardest thing to do in life - controlling your thoughts. But “nothing is easy, and who wants nothing?”. Stop worrying about others (unless its for common good) and focus on yourself. Stop worrying about past or future, control what you can - the present. Dont Worry, Be Happy.

For the past three years I have worked part-time at a private gym, or as tennis players call it, a club. At first, being the oblivious teenage kid I was, I only looked at the gym and my job as a paycheck that covered gas, food, and party essentials.

I started reading, writing, and graduated high school. I have grown up, and finally, realized exactly how much I have benefited from working and being involved with a gym. I have made very rewarding friendships, gained experience in interpersonal communication, gained mentors, and for the most part, stayed relatively healthy and fit.

If you could get part-time job at a gym, preferably night shifts, you surround yourself with healthy and motivated people, free membership, and usually ample time for homework, reading, and other projects. I’m not just going to preach why you should work at a gym part-time, but also highlight the huge benefits of utilizing a gym to the max.

• Obviously living a healthy and positive lifestyle: For whatever you want to accomplish in life, it makes sense to first put yourself in the right environment related to you what you want to accomplish. If I want to relax and read a book, I will put myself in the right environment. To become more healthy and exercise, a gym is the environment that will motivate you to work out.
• Social Interaction with positive people: This is huge. Sure you can curl and do push ups at home (or office) by yourself…but there is something unique about working out at a gym. You could call it social interaction. As long as you find the right gym to suit your specific needs, you’ll no doubt meet interesting people. Also, with two people at a gym, you automatically share something in common, which makes it hundreds times easier to start conversation.
• Place of solitude: If your pissed off and have had a shitty day, or if you got into an argument with someone you live with, you just want to get out. A gym is perfect for these instances. Hitting the weights, playing a sport, running or biking, whatever it is, serves as perhaps the most healthy and positive outlet to lose those negative thoughts and escape. Most gyms has jacuzzi’s, saunas, or steam rooms. Whether your wanna work out the stress or relax and forget your troubles, a gym is easily the best destination.
• Learn something new, and learn more about yourself: Depending on what type of gym you have membership with, they can offer classes to learn yoga, aerobics, dancing, tennis, basketball, the list goes on. I have learn to play racquetball (an awesome sport for rainy days) and I plan to take some Tia Chi classes here soon. Besides learning new activities, hobbies, or sports, you overall learn more about yourself. You learn more about your commitment, your body, your relationships, and how do deal with stress. Perhaps not too many people notice, but working out at a gym is also a form of meditative isolation. People have told me they do their best thinking at the gym. You learn something new physically, but also mentally.

My big point is; Generation Y should strongly consider joining a private gym. Some say its too expensive, or can find more affordable alternatives. But I look at it with opportunity cost. The friendships I have made, and seen others made as well, BY FAR, are worth more than they had paid for the membership. You will live a healthier lifestyle. You can gain new hobbies. You will have an awesome outlet to release daily stress. If you take full advantage of what gyms could offer, the last thing you should think about is the monthly membership rates.

Or you can try and work part-time at one, and get that free membership!

The following are a few of the questions asked at the panel I served on a few weeks back. My answers were relatively short due to a limit of about 30 seconds, or a few sentences, for each answer. By all means, these answers are my personal opinion and would love to invite further discussion and your insights via comments or email.

Is Email dead? Honestly, I think email will never die. Most of my friends spend more time checking email than they do sleep. Email is an extremely powerful tool socially and business wise when used efficiently and effectively.

There is a lot of evidence that Gen-Ys are a lot more into collaboration than previous generations. Any thoughts on that? Without a doubt. Gen Y like to feel connected to an organization or company and we place special emphasis on establishing relationships along with personal and career development. Collaboration can satisfy those needs. Also as a generation, we tend to be more open to diversity, not just gender or race, but intellectually too, than previous generations. From group projects in school to youth sports leagues fostering teamwork and team playing….all leads to collaboration. With collaboration, you get infinite amount of intelligence and accumulated experience…which is huge.

PK mentioned that Baby Boomers dislike feedback, but Gen-Ys want it instantaneously. If you have a Baby Boomer boss, do we have a problem? (SIDE NOTE: PK’s presentation showed that Baby Boomers tend to think negatively of feedback, like bad news, and are more accustomed to annual reviews.)

A possible conflict that does not have to be a big problem at all. Smart companies and offices will start now to train managers to give constant feedback. Like I said earlier, Gen Y as a generation tend to focus a lot of energy on personal and career development. We like our work to be meaningful. We also like to be connected to each other, in forms such as collaboration. We are big on improvement, and we see constant feedback and constructive criticism to help us improve. Feedback = consistent improvement. If we feel disconnected and receive small feedback, you can expect us to seek more meaningful work elsewhere.

In your opinion, what are some of the positive qualities of the Baby Boomer generation? Baby Boomers are very dedicated to building a stellar career and to provide a comfortable life for their family. My father was very willing and driven to building his company, and ultimately became successful. Their work ethic and drive I think is their strongest quality.

And some of their negative qualities? I would say lack of balance. For me personally, my parents divorced while I was in high school. My father was very dedicated to his business, their strongest quality, but rarely had time for family and personal. It’s realistic to say that half of my friend’s parents are divorced too. I saw my parents and those of my friends too dedicated to the office, and not to family. You see this in a trend of Gen Y now, in how we rather find work more meaningful to us and a sense of balance of life and work. Lack of balance is a negative quality of Baby Boomers.

If you were to imagine yourself working in a perfect environment, how would you interact with your peers? Your boss? Gen Y is big on communication and staying connected. We also love the idea of flexibility, and taking advantage of tools now available via Web 2.0 to connect and communicate anywhere, not necessarily the office from 9-5. Since we are big on collaboration, I would like to be able to trust and communicate effectively via email, social networks, etc with peers and my boss. No need for useless meetings and the typical 9-5 office hours.

We like to balance work and life, so we would enjoy the freedom to work at home or away from the office as much as possible. I also see a shift of being paid for task, not time, or hourly wages. I can see us more as free agents. ….

The last question led into more of a discussion into the mindset that I would like to be paid per task, not time. Also the idea of instead of employees, people will work as free agents. I further discussed that I personally believe people will be hired to work, collaborate, and complete projects through communication not necessarily taking place in the office. Be paid for task, not time. Be flexible with working arrangements and communication from peer to peer and peer to boss. I will eventually discuss more of this later in future posts.

Overall, it was a blast to participate in the panel. I could have spent hours discussing possible answers to some of the questions above, so it was hard to only jump to one answer in 30 seconds or only a couple minutes. The response and feedback from the audience was extremely positive and enthusiastic, and basically really fun! Please, please, please feel free to discuss your point of views and answers with me. I’m always looking to hear others thought and inputs. Questions or answers, please let me know!

I have been pretty busy, mostly productive though, during my first weeks of summer. I have experienced some new things and met some very influential and interesting people so far. Just recently, I was invited to serve on a Generation Y expert panel by P.K. Agarwal, the Director of DTS for the State of California.

PK also gives speeches and seminars about current trends, and this years trend was understanding the next generation coming into the workforce; Generation Y. He educates people around the country about Generation Y and the tools we use (Web 2.0, social networking, etc), and how it will drastically change the workforce. It was a fun experience and pretty interesting, and plus, free food is always a bonus!

At the presentation, I served on a panel which was asked questions by the audience following PK’s speech and power point. For this specific event, the audience consisted mostly of IT Managers and employees of th State of California. The majority of the audience were Baby Boomers as well as a few Generation X. Most of the questions were directed at the differences between the mindsets and attitudes of Baby Boomers, Gen X, and Gen Y, and the possible conflicts that could arise in the workplace. Glenn at Globalized observes this in his recent post here.

Some specific questions or possible conflicts that the audience seemed to be most interested in were about Collaboration in the workplace and online, Gen Y and flexibility in the workplace, Feedback from Managers, and the how positive and negative qualities of Baby Boomers will collide with positive and negative qualities of Gen Y. Over the course of this week and next, I will present the questions asked and my answers to them.

I just started reading Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihaly and absolutely loving it. One thing that particularly captured my attention was how Mihaly explained the difference between pleasure and enjoyment. According to Flow, we can experience pleasure by without any investment of pyshcic energy, whereas enjoyment happens only as a result of unusual investments of attention.

Mihaly then explains how easy it is for a child to experience enjoyment. Flow states that every child is a little “learning machine”, as children are constantly leaning new movements and words.

This instantly reminded me of how children always look so happy, and how contagious a kid’s smile can be to an adult. It’s also evident today that children obviously smile and laugh way more than adults do on average. One reason children could be happier, or enjoy optimal experience more often, could be due to the fact they are constantly learning.

After these children go to school, the exitement of learning new things tends to wear out. 2 years out of highschool now, I notice a majority of people I went to school with say they are “done with school, and will never have to read a book again”. Adults in general tend to rarely read 1 book a year, and according to this article, 1 in 4 adults read no books at all.

One way adults can enjoy optimal experience and be happier more often is just to learn from children. Constantly push yourself to learn something new and enlightening. Personally, I notice a huge difference between the attitude of friends my age who read and educate themselves and those who don’t.

Point is, dedicate yourself to learning something new, constantly. Whether its through reading a book, attending seminars, or taking classes. Just don’t work a job because it pays money. Work a job that forces you to learn something new. It is amazing how much there is to learn and experience, and it really just starts after highschool. Always seek to learn more, and overall enjoy life more.

Finals are finished and the summer has already snuck up on me. After seriously take deep relaxation and catching up on sleep lost during finals week, its time to evaluate what I want to do this summer. I normally coast through summer with no defined goals and things to accomplish.

Sure everyone has the basics; like saving money, travel and to leave with memorable and fun times, maybe complete summer school. For many college students, the summer can be the perfect launch pad for the near future. With a surplus of free time, summer goals can help position yourself to reach and accomplish your big long term goals for the next couple years . I plan to use this summer to experiment in practicing lifestyle design, along with goals to making a better, newer, stronger version of myself. So here are a few of my goals to accomplish this summer….in no particular order.

• Build solid relationships with new people, and enhance present relationships
• Meditate 15 minutes each morning
• Thoroughly read and study 1 book a week - expand my library
• Find an ideal apartment/condo downtown or in midtown, near Sac State
• Experience Yosemite
• Watch David Beckham and the LA Galaxy play live
• Continue building my website
• Maintain work out regimen, 3 times a week
• Learn to play the acoustic guitar
• Practice and improve my Spanish
• Revamp and restart the Financial Fraternity
• Get published in a newspaper and magazine
• Find more mentors and meet new influential people
• Start savings for my 2010 South Africa trip for the World Cup
• Attend 3 seminars

Definitely take the time, preferably with a good friend or a goal buddy, and map out clearly defined goals to accomplish this summer. Goals do not have to be serious and all business; make goals to have fun and experience enjoyable times with good people. Become a better, faster, stronger version of yourself by making goals to have a kick-ass summer.

I will be posting my progress of certain goals throughout the summer. Chances are, I will be constantly adding more goals to the list as during my summer encounters.

“All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become.” - Buddha

For the past 6 months I have waken up every Friday morning at 6 AM to participate in a meditation club. I was lured to “Mind Your Business Club” by my friend Grant. Basically, we have 30 minutes of meditation, followed by 30 minutes of discussion related to meditation, Buddhism, and everyday life. I never quite understood the point of meditation. The only thought that came to mind of meditation was Yoda, who I thought was a true badass, so I decided to give it a go.

Basically, I have come to love meditation, and try to practice it whenever I can. Meditation is also something I believe Generation Y should atleast learn about and try. In our generation, when we have an abundance in material goods and satisfactions, it is even more imperative to seek self-fullfillment and self-happiness. Meditation can be one avenue to achieve that.

There can be huge benefits to anyone who decides to take meditation seriously.

• Deeper Levels of Relaxation and Reduces Stress: Honestly, I have never met anyone my age, or any age for that matter, that says they have to much relaxation. American Society seems to be a hot zone for stress. This is one benefit any can enjoy.
• Observe and Control Your Own Thoughts: While meditating, you want to focus on your deep breathing. The goal is not to focus on one dominant thought. Hundreds of thoughts will pop up, and you just let them pass. “Think about nothing”. This is extremely difficult, and becomes easier with practice. Its great though, for you can sit back and see what really is on your mind in a contolled and relaxed manner. Not when your pissed off in traffic or vulnerable to make a fool of yourself in the moment. You seriously become your thoughts. Why not learn how to observe and control them?
• Improve Concentration: While you attempt to obserce and control your own thoughts you will build your skill of concentration. In a information-packed world with literally thousands of distractions every minute, concentration is important. Concentrating on your breaths, and not giving into any one particular thought during meditation, will allow you to become better self-controlled and allow you to concentrate better in other aspects of life - work, school, etc. The more concentrated you can become, the more efficient you will be.
• Better Understanding of Yourself and the World Around You: As you meditate, you really see a movie of all your thoughts before your eyes. You will notice which thoughts come up more, which seem to bother you the most, etc. Also, as you meditate, you can observe your thoughts without all the prejudices and other negative factors you might carry with yourself throughout the day. Since your more relaxed and more concentrated, you can better understand the daily issues that arise. This is huge to better understanding your school issues, work, relationships, and overall, your purpose and motivations in life.

Just start out trying to meditate 5 minutes a day in the morning, at lunch, or before you go to bed. Meditation is one way to live a more balanced life. And the more balanced you are, the more stress-free you tend to be. Meditation is one thing I believe all Generation Y should consider and practice.

I realize more and more the gift of Laughter. Laughing is healthy for you and obviously makes things more fun. Besides releasing endorphins and increading your heartrate, its great for relationships socially and in the workplace. According to Robert Provine, from the book A Whole New Mind, laughter has more to do with relationships than jokes. The best times and memories I share with people close to me are all something I could laugh back on. And seriously, some of the best ab workouts I’ve had are due to laughing.

Laughing in particular is also extremely beneficial for the workplace, according to this article from Forbes. People who can laugh tend to be more creative, as laughing comes from the right-side of the brain, and people who can laugh together often can work together. If you do a group project or you meet someone for the first time, and you go for the opportunity to try and share a laugh with your new acquaintance, there is no harsher feeling than being rejected. Being able to laugh with others, and yes, sometimes at yourself, you can develop more meaningful relationships, more pleasant to be around, and hey, live happier and healthier.

With this in mind, I’m going to check out a Laughter Club, as there are a couple here in Sacramento. It combines elements of yoga, meditation, aerobics, and social contact, according to A Whole New Mind. You could probably find one in your area here. Try and notice how much, or how little, you laugh daily.  Laughing can definitely enhance the way people experience relationships, school and work, and life.  Seriously, this no laughing matter.

Metaphor is the understanding of one thing in terms of something else, and is a product of Right-brain thinking.  The book, A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink, stresses the importance of developing and using Right-brain thinking in the businesses world and life. 

Left brain = literal and textual.  Right brain = metaphorical and contextual.  Knowledge workers tend to be dominated by left-brain thinking.  Practicing to balance both sides will be crucial for business and life in the future or globalization and self-fullfillment and happiness. 

 George Lakoff writes that metaphor is central to reason, and believes that human thought processes are largely metaphorical.  Lakoff says that metaphors are central to development of thought, and how we think metaphorically in nature.

Metaphorical thinking helps us understand others, which will be crucial in business as we will come into contact and work with people of diverse backgrounds in the forms of collaboration. 

Besides in the business world, and as Pink notes, that the more material benefits and comforts brought to use by abundance will matter much less than the metaphors by which we live by.  As Lakoff explains, “A large part of self-understanding is the search for the appropiate personal metaphors that make sense of our lives.”

Realizing, understanding and thinking more metaphorically are great tools to consider using while dealing with life and work.  Metaphors are creative, fun, and can connect people together powerfully.  As Pink caps it off, the more we understand methapor, the more we understand ourselves.