Wise Guy Kawasaki – Swiss army life knife

Featured - Wise Guy by Guy Kawasaki.

Wise Guy is not just another book, it”™s a Swiss army knife for your life. Guy Kawasaki shares his wisdom about life, love, Apple, tech, startups, Jackie Chan, surfing and so much more. Steve Jobs”™ quote about “denting the universe” will forever float through our universe and Wise Guy could be the manual for it ”” the “how-to dent lives with value”.

Yes, one person can make a difference and Guy definitely is one of them. I did not expect to learn so many personal things about him through Wise Guy. We travel with him on a journey from his ancestors changing home from Japan to Hawaii, funny, sad and inspiring stories about his youth, education and the Silicon Valley. Change was ”” and still is ”” a constant element in his life. I mean ”” who starts surfing in his sixties? Respect!

“When you surf Mavericks with a grin, it”™s time to give back” from Wise Guy.

Book cover of Wise Guy by Guy Kawasaki.

While reading Wise Guy, I slowly got the picture, what Guy Kawasaki wants to share with us in his new book. It”™s the love for life and being brave enough to shape Yourself until you surf the tides of life in balance ”” with a smile. You”™ll need a lot of training, be curious, listen to advice, the right tools and invest in your education. But it does not stop there.

Create opportunities for others, help people, be generous and stay humble. Of course we can find out most things on our own but why not use compressed and proven wisdom to shorten our learning curve? Think more data is better than less and embrace people who want to help you. Think Yin and Yang ””  the world isn”™t black and white only ”” giving and getting help is the engine to keep the circle moving.

It”™s hard to believe Guy Kawasaki made it already to his v.6.x ”” his eyes still have this Bruce Lee “laser-like focus”. “Never consider yourself a victim because then you”™ll start acting like a victim.” ”” an insight Guy got from Condoleezza Rice. What do you think if you hear “victim”? What about all those emails, meetings and packing of tasks we must cope with at work these days?

“So what?”

… is one of the numerous tools Guy provides in his Swiss army knife-book Wise Guy. The question creates a gap in your mind to reflect and put the “crisis” into perspective. For the email dilemma, Guy developed a (morbid) pattern which saves him lots of (surfing) time. How? Read chapter #06 ”” Values.

Talking about values ”” one of my favourite wisdom in Wise Guy is

Thank the people who helped you achieve results before they are gone.

Guy Kawasaki

I have seen way too many people pass away too early, family, friends, teachers, advisors, colleagues. Eat when served, thank when due.

Finally ”” do what”™s right ”” and remember: making everyone happy is impossible.

Namaste

Lessons learned in 2016

Lessons learned in 2016 by Chris Remspecher.

Lessons learned in 2016

My personal keyword for 2016 is: health. So essential and yet so overlooked, underestimated and out of focus in our busy lives. We take it for granted, most times we take little responsibility but feel huge anger when our body gives us signals. How did my Ayurveda chief doctor in India say ”žour bodies are wonderful machines“. Again, all starts with the monkeys in our head.

”žYou are what you think.“ Buddha, Ghandi, your brain, any TV, ”¦

What”™s going on inside your head? Are you the BOSS of your neurons? How do you sleep? Some say, we are all connected. If we talk about the internet, nobody would disagree. And then again, is your consciousness connected to your body signals? Do you notice them AND do you take action according to them?

Maybe you like to work a lot to feel needed. Your body is your greatest supporter and delivers more for less over a real long period. A day filled with 8 hours of work, or 9, 10, well, more is possible, too. At one point, you feel out of balance but that’s a relative feeling. There are a lot of tricky things to make you feel ”žback in the game“. They even work for a little while and your body keeps sending you signals. Off course, you can also ignore the red flashing low fuel sign in your car. Finally, your body will tell you when it needs your immediate attention and pulls in the hard brakes. You know it: ”žoh hello sickness“ or if you are on the professional level ”žoh hello hospital“.

Do we learn from it? Hopefully. For a little while in the aftershock we are super sensible, cautious, enlightened and eat super healthy, treat our body first class, pray and what else is needed to get it back on track. And then, laziness strikes back. No signals, no attention, bring on the champagne and potato chips!

In the last few years, I seen too many good people die way too early. Life is short. And just recently I had to disagree with my best friend in London about ”ževerything is under control“. Nothing is under control. Think about it. We don”™t even know if our galaxy is inside a dream of a squirrel and thats the real reason why the world is going nuts these days!

My lessons learned in 2016?

  • Life is short.
  • Your health is your wealth.
  • Life is a journey, only travel with those, who will catch you in case you fall.
  • Your brain is your world: shit in, shit out.
  • You can”™t buy happiness. Yeah, no real news.
  • Ayurveda is kick-ass science!

If I have useless suggestions for 2017?

  • Get your brain in order. Train it, own it. Re-write your code. Meditate. You create your world.
  • Be crazy. Intelligent. Love your-self.
  • Let all energy suckers go. Yes Steph, also you!
  • No need to save the world. Save your own ass and drag some others with you.
  • Travel. Life is a journey. If physical not possible for you, feed your brain with new nuts.
  • SMILE! 😊

Hope this is somehow useful for you. And thank you to all those lovely souls worldwide who kick my ass to write more on my blog. Bizous!

Namaste Chris

Digital Mystique or how to be a Superhero

The Digital Mystique by Sarah Granger

The Digital Mystique, a book by Sarah Granger. Picture by Chris Remspecher in 2015.Living in 2015 can be a real digital mystique.

Keeping all your devices, iPhone, iPad, MacBook, etc. up to date can be a real challenge. On the next level, you worry about the kids getting lost in the World Wide Web, while losing your mind explaining your mom that WiFi really does not need a cable!

You have to be a Superhero today.

Sarah Granger (@sarahgranger) wrote a great manual to tackle the daily challenges in our brave new world. The Digital Mystique is a journey through life, love, hope and fears. Sarah will share many stories from her own life and remind you several times, about the importance of friends and community support.

Friends don’t let friends do stupid things – alone.” Unknown

Since this blog is about stress, yes, the digital mystique can be a real relief. Reading how Sarah started her digital career in 1982 and knowing, how gracefully she challenged her brand new iPhone 6 to compete against gravity, makes her a real Superhero of the Digital Mystique. Thank you for the awesome book and letter, Sarah!

Best friends with your mind

Picture of Lama Kelzang.Lucky me, just yesterday I could attend a teaching by Lama Kelzang. “How to train your mind?” and “How to get a good friendship with the mind?” were his initial questions. According to Lama Kelzang, our mind is funny or even interesting. It”™s like a camera, it takes many pictures. Maybe, it”™s even like a CCTV, always active on a subtle level, even in our sleep.

If our mind takes nice pictures, we are in peace. If our mind is overloaded we get crazy and suffer. Craziness or harmony, peace or bullshit; it”™s the mind which picks between suicide or Buddha.

How can we be more stabilized? How do we become best friends with our mind? First, it”™s about compassion. Second, we need wisdom. When we are more balanced, we transform ourselves in a more relaxed person. So how do we get there?

Through formal and informal meditation, we give a full education to our mind. Yes, there are many methods. Think of a potato. You can cook it, make French fries, salad or chips from it. But at the end, it”™s a potato. When you are more relaxed, you have more compassion with you, your surroundings and even with your sickness. Oh and don”™t smile, when you don”™t feel like it!

Compassion is no theory. Remember: “Anger is really painful!” If you transform your angry mind, which is most probably full of fears, into compassion, something can change. “This anger is really important for me right now!” Sounds strange? Maybe, but this can also be a starting point for your journey of compassion, your very own compassion project.

Imagine yourself like a network hub of compassion. The more you open, the more you can send out. “When you are stronger, your lines get stronger!” When we suffer, everybody else suffers; our partner, our friends and family. How can we recharge our compassion battery?

“How many people work for one potato to get it on your plate?” Everybody is contributing a lot. Think like; everybody wants to support you! Everybody? What do you do with the person who throws bad words at you? Ask yourself: what”™s my weak point?

If you manage to remove the borders around you, the more you become like at home. And you relax, when you are home.

Compassion alone is already a fine thing. If you team it up with wisdom, you rock! With wisdom, you have compassion at the right moment which is very effective. “Wisdom we need. And clarity.” Remember: everybody wants to benefit to you. So how do we apply wisdom?

“No judgment, no expectations, no conception.”

Remember the shouting person? After the loud acoustic waves did hit you, go into your room, sit down, relax and say “wow”. Hint from Lama Kelzang; if you can”™t go into “your room”, e.g. at work, go to the toilet and lock the door. Wisdom is knowing clearly. If you are right into an emotional discussion, it”™s very hard to say, who is right or wrong. Remember: “Only you go with YOUR ideas.” Try to give up anything and just see what is happening (at least for a moment).

Here”™s a tiny summary, how to rest your mind:

  • Compassion: Everybody is a supporter for you.
  • Wisdom: Don”™t take them for too real.
  • Network: nothing is separate from me. It”™s a connected network.

“When it”™s all so easy, why do we do it wrong all the time?” The answer is: Habit. Meditation on the one side and everyday life on the other side have to come together. We fail, that”™s normal. If we start with 1% meditation in our everyday life and slowly increase it to 2, 3, 4, 5% – we experience more peace and more harmony. Nobody can steal it!

Why are there so many meditation techniques?” Having only one meditation technique would make us crazy. Imagine: one doctor would have the same patient for 10 hours a day. Crazy! Finally, become a deeper explorer. If meditation techniques 1, 2, 3, 4 did not work, go out and get some fresh air!

Thanks Lama Kelzang. Namaste!

Body Speech Mind

Body-Speech-Mind balance in Lerab Ling.

Picture for the blog post, body speech mind, by Chris Remspecher.Recently I was lucky to attend a teaching about body speech mind by Khenpo Tsündu Tarching. Here”™s my tiny summary for you:

“Is everybody in good health? Yes? Good. Because no health, not good for anybody.”

We are tired after a five minutes”™ walk. We have become so lazy. We do this and that and waste so much time. Remember, you never get again, again this life. What”™s right or wrong ”“ you decide. Engage with your body speech mind.

Always watch yourself: who am I?

Our true nature of mind is full of wisdom. Disturbing emotions always lead to trouble.

Tsündu Tarching”™s opinion is “the more religions, the more benefits”. On the bright side, it leads to more communication about religion, on the dark side, it creates human suffering. Try to remove bad thoughts; they will poison every action from the start of your bad intention until your final action.

“All mistakes come from misunderstandings.” Khenpo Tsündu Tarching

“So what is Buddhism” somebody asked. His answer: “It”™s a way of life, a message, a description of phenomena.”

And remember: whatever you are looking for, it”™s only for this life!

Namaste