Seasonal Paradise

4 Freaky Things I Learned At The American Museum Of Natural History

I spent a half day at AMNH on Saturday and learned:

- Gorillas don't drink. They get all the water they need from vegatation.

- Some snakes can go as long as 2 and a half years without eating, after a feed.

- After mating, some female snakes can store male sperm for several years.

- The lizard central in the photo below can spit blood out of its eyes when annoyed.

You Broke My Bed

Sasha's pretty big for her age at 3 1/2.  Vicki is almost as tall and is 15 months younger.  Consequently, she's kinda outgrown her bed.  But she did not appreciate me breaking her bed down.  I teased her a little in this video, and she gave me a cute coy look at the end of the video. An insight into the future.  

  

Best San Francisco and Silicon Valley Hiking

Bahiker.com is a wonderful resource for hiking in the Bay Area.  

I think this is the best Peninsula hike, at San Bruno.

 

and Hidden Villa is my favorite in Silicon Valley.

 

 

San Jose Bike Party

After the Funders and Founders Life 3.0 event I took to the streets for a 2000 person San Jose Bike Party with Kevin and friends.

 

 

First Movie,

Victorias first ever movie at Disneys Imax 3D.

First Time Refueling

Irena got her driving license three years ago but we've hardly driven since then as we've opted not to own a car.  So this was the first time Irena actually fueled a car up.  

  

Me & Woz

A wonderful fellow and one of my heroes. We chatted about his love for teaching kids.    

We've Been Measuring Success Wrong, And Its Killing Us

Thanks to Bill Sex (yes, that's really his name) of New England Coaching for sending out this link to the Harvard LNV 2012 alumni group.  See the incredible Shawn Achor's TED video describing how he thinks we've all royally screwed up our formula for success. 

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25% of job successes are predicted by IQ.  Optimisim, social support, and the ability to see stress as a challenge instead of a threat account for the remaining 75%.

We need to reverse the formula for happiness and success.  Most companies and schools follow a formula for success: If I work harder I’ll be more successful.  And if I’m more successful, then I’ll be happier.  That undercurrents to parenting styles.  This is the way we motivate behavior and the problem is its scientifically broken and backwards.

Every time your brain has a success, you just change the goalposts of what success looks like. 

 You got good grades, now you have to get better grades. You got into a good school, now you have to get into a better school.  You got a good job, now you have to get a better job.

If happiness is on the other side of success, your brain never gets there. We’ve pushed happiness over the cognitive horizon, as a society.

That’s because we think we have to be successful, then we’ll be happier.   But the real problem is our brains work in the opposite order.

Raise your level of positivity in the present, and your brain will experience what we now call a happiness advantage.  Your brain at positive performs significantly better than at negative-neutral or stressed.  You’re more productive, better at sales, …doctors are faster and more accurate.

Dopamine turns on the learning centers allowing you to adapt to the world in a different way. 

Here's what you can do to adjust...

3 Gratitudes - Write down 3 new things each day that you’re grateful for, for 21 days in a row.  (Your brain then gets into the habit of scanning for positive things in your environment)

Journaling – Write about one positive experience you’ve had over the last 24 hours (Allows your brain to relive it)

Exercise – (Teaches your brain that behavior matters)

Meditation – Allows brain to focus (and get over our cultural ADHD)

Random Acts of Kindness – Thank one person in your social support network (more positive uplift).

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This then begs the question, just how do we measure success?  Bhutan measures Gross National Happiness.  Your personal GNH is a good starting point.

Measuring success wrong is deadly for GNH.  SO what makes you happy, and what 'metrics' should you start considering?  Measure it, and it'll happen.

Harvard Business School Class Photo

HBS: Launching New Ventures greatly exceeded my expectations.  Our professors were Bill Kerr, Ramana Nanda, Noam Wasserman (Founders Dilemma), along with Jim Sharpe, Jeffrey Bussgang (Mastering the VC Game) and the inimitable Shikhar Ghosh (Forbes Master of the Universe).

The lecturers were amazing, the group was more so. Ayman was from Saudi Arabia and was looking to invest $40 million in a startup. Christian was working at Sony, and on a startup for cardless gift cards. Mahesh was rolling out a nanotech coating for wind turbines. Ed builds $200m residential towers in Vancouver. Nimmie is a lawyer in Nigeria who is expanding her high-end kitchen store.

A wonderfully enriching experience that I'll never forget.

Live Harvard Notes - Launching New Ventures

I'm taking a professional advancement course at Harvard this week.  19-24th Feb.  See... http://www.exed.hbs.edu/programs/lnv/Pages/default.aspx

To see what the material is like.  I'm sharing my coursework and notes live, courtesy of Evernote.  See... https://www.evernote.com/pub/markbrooks/HarvardLNV

Firsts: Sasha and Vicki Meet Mickey

Vicki at Disney World

Sasha at Disney World

Firsts: Vicki's First Time Driving

Icecream

There's just something about other people's icecream that makes it more tasty.

Party Girls, iDate Cruise

Our iDate Miami Trade Show Booth

Pitching Is Boring. Story Development With GREAT Writers Is Fun

I realised recently that pitching the press is not much fun.  However, helping top tier press develop stories is thrilling.  I'm enamored with their skill and thoughtfulness.  We need to take a more thoughtful and learned approach to helping press.  

The specific inspiration for the morphing of our approach was my experience with Sharon Jayson for today's front page USA Today article, and with Dan Slater (formerly of WSJ), on his upcoming book on the internet dating business.  They ask great questions, and I just thoroughly enjoy these top flight reporters.  It was fun to help guide their story development.

Also, I invited press who have written on the dating industry in the past to get early copies of our white paper 'What is Social Dating' and an analysis of eHarmony vs POF vs Match and got a great response.  We were helping and informing, not pitching.    

That's the direction Courtland Brooks is taking in the future.  We're most interested in forming tighter relationships with thought-leader bloggers and rock-star members of the press.  Just a small group of reporters and bloggers that have shown interest in industries we cover.  Our team of industry experts will serve their interests on an individual basis by assisting them with their story development. 

Where Did We Park?

I'm glad we're not in Prague right now. This is a picture from the window of one of Irena's friend's apartment.

Whipple On Happiness

Tom Whipple at The Times writes about happiness.  Here’s the summary of his advice…

 

1 Whatever you do, don’t try to be happy

Happiness is a bit like an erection.  You can only get it when you are thinking about something else. Helping others only boosts happiness if you are not in it for yourself. Viktor Frankl, a Holocaust survivor, said: “Happiness cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side-effect of one’s personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one’s surrender to a person other than oneself.”

2 A story or an experience?

A man listened to a symphony in a state of bliss. As it approached the climax, a scratch on the disc produced a horrible sound. “It ruined the whole experience.”  We love stories with happy endings. This has big implications for happiness. Take parenting.

3 Fast cars are overrated

Rich nations are no happier, on average, than poor ones (once basic needs are met. Contentment increases in line with pay until a threshold of £58,700, then levels off.

4 Don’t live under a flight path
Noise pollution is a catastrophe for happiness. In ruins our emotional equilibrium and creates nasty physiological effects, such as elevated cortisone

5 Would you enter the Matrix?
Would you plug yourself in? Most people say “no” prefering a real life, even one that is less happy, provided it was authentic. We should decide on what we really believe before living our lives, not the other way around.

Full article at The Times

Accepted to Harvard

Very happy!  I got accepted onto a Harvard Business School executive course in February.  A one week intensive entitled 'Launching New Ventures.'  I've always wondered what it would be like to study at a top tier Ivy League School, but now I can't possibly justify taking a year or two off, even if I could get in.  So this course fits perfectly, just after iDate Miami.      

I'd love to do this course on Strategic Innovation, and this course on Media Psychology.  Time will tell. Right now business is great, and clients own my time and attention.

Vicki Worm

Sasha Worm

Cyprus Vicki and Irena

Walking To School

Paintball For Bonu's Birthday

Relaxing At Malta's Hilton

Surprise 40th Birthday Party, Risque Tshirt

iDate Moscow

Weekend Date With Irena

Partying With Mum

Cheeky Vicki

Mum in Mdina

Sasha Shades

The Onion: Last American Who Knew What He Was Doing Dies

It's been a rough month.  First, Chris Walker succumbs to spine cancer. Then my friend Sundrea Ryan, and Cupid/Predating super speed-dating host died. Then a sweetheart of a guy, Eric Holze, CEO of Scientific Match passes away at just age 47. wtf! And oh, Steve, my hero, the last american who knew what the f he was doing passes away.