Easy

Is an ‘easy life’ enviable?

“Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks. Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you shall be the miracle.”

flawless financial modelling/contract drafting vs ass-kissing

“won the overall prize for being top research house and I’d bet my last dollar their expense budget took a serious hammering to achieve that. That’s because when the fund managers at places like the Prudential or Fidelity fill in their voting forms the lucky winners tend to be those who took said client out on the razzle to a Michelin starred restaurant and then a high-class strip joint. I know this because, for my sins, that’s how I became the number four ranked analyst in my sector and interestingly it was the ‘status’ resulting from that ranking that resulted in certain banks foolishly deciding to pay me a disgustingly huge amount of money. It wasn’t my ability, knowledge or hard work – it was simply a product of my resilient liver and intestines.

When any client is debating about who to vote for they generally have a simple choice: the diligent boring buffoon who could compose wonderful spreadsheets and write the odd vaguely interesting research note or the bloke who didn’t know that much but sure knew how to order a bottle or seven of Chateauneuf du Pape at Quaglino’s and never had a problem barging his way into Stringfellows at 1.30am. Whilst the conscientious character slaving away every night until 10pm trying to analyze the 2014 cash-flow from some tedious company’s minor sub-division might occasionally win friends and influence people the smart money’s got to be on the vaguely charismatic piss-head who knows where to buy the best foie gras.”

Gotta love Geraint Anderson

You’re boring

You’re boring

Sorry, someone had to say it.

Your products are predictable. Your insights are recycled. You don’t bring surprise with you when you enter a room.

That’s why people are ignoring you.

Which used to be fine, because you could just buy attention for your brand or your company or your sales efforts. But that half-price sale on attention is now over.

The only path left is to lean out of the edge and become interesting, noteworthy and yes, remarkable.

- Seth Godin

Audi Fashion Week

Object

Guerlain Meteorites Compact (coincidentally on a superb promo) + MAC Sheertone Blush in Pinch O’Peach

Got this for 30% (!!!) less than in Sephora here through a friend who went to the US

thinketh

I’m always so happy and excited to come across the thinking fashionista. As they’re few and far between; perhaps also because many of us don’t openly expound on life and the likes simply because its not the easiest conversation to get started in most settings.

I read La Couturier regularly and its one of my regular online fashion doses. Today I came across this post where she’s talking about philosophy and how ‘wisdom begins in wonder.’ I’m always struck to discover the philosophical dimension/depth of the fashionista and I never fail to be awed.

“Wisdom in every aspect, knowledge inclusive, indeed begins in wonder. It is wonder that makes us homo sapien sapiens (to be technical), and not another type of species. Because without a sense of wonder, of curiosity, and of imagination, we would not be where we are. We are creatures of inquiry. We look, touch, see, smell, listen, and then t h i n k about all those things.

And after we think and question, we f e e l . Even the most practical-minded cannot deny that he or she is guided by emotions. It is yet another characteristic that sets us apart from others; humans think with their heart, not with their mind. A downfall, perhaps, to be swayed by how we feel. But nonetheless, human nature. ‘Tis a beautiful thing, feeling.“

Check her out here.

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See also
Words from the Universe:-

‘Today is whatever I want it to mean,
Today is whatever I want it to mean.
It’s like living in the middle of the ocean,
With no future, no past,
And everything that’s good right now,
Well, I don’t wish for it to last.
I’ll step through brilliant shades,
Every color you bring,
Cause this time, this time, this time,
Is fine just as it is.’

- Lyrics from Beth Orton’s ‘Central Reservation’.

Passive-Agressive Behaviour

So I’m listening to this new podcast called Zenisstupid (which I’m finding very interesting and also informative) and there’s an episode (#27 on transformation) where they talked about receiving flaming comments from listeners/readers etc. I think naturally people in such a situation, upon reading the comment, would automatically get hurt, then angry, then defensive. Perhaps all in a split second. So the Gwen half of Zenisstupid says that she immediately catches herself getting almost kinda like agressive angry then she consciously tells herself let it go by bringing the mind away from the emotion and to something else. Which the Partrick-half responds by saying this is much healthier then how some people might react by completely shutting the content out (i.e. quashing the emotion by forcing self to ignoring) and thinking that they’re above it all which leads to passive-aggressive behavior. I totally agree with this and I’ve actually noticed peoples’ reactions to negative external stimulus and really, when there’s a fierce dog barking outside the door, and its just left to bark and one just shuts their ears (not physically possible. As is being above it all), the barking never goes away, it just gets stacked under defence and denial because it’s never taken and released. Hmmm. Once again just something which happens and is known but somehow never put in words.

I WAaaaAaaantt!

images 1 & 2 from MissyPixie

all other images from Cassis Room

Style-Notes To Self

1) Shop in the men’s department for demin and rock em’ jeans like this:-

2) When and if I land a Birkin, wear it ever so casual-chicly:-

Still making rounds on the internet; endearing indeed.

…But there’s something else Susan Boyle awakens in us as we watch her come out of her shell: our own selves. Who among us does not move through life with the hidden sense, maybe even quiet desperation, that we are destined for more? That underneath our ordinary exterior lies an extraordinary soul? That given the right opportunity, the right stage, the right audience, we would shine as the stars we truly are?

That promise underlies most successful advertising campaigns: the desire to transform from caterpillar to butterfly. Maybe if you buy that (fill in the blank), people will see you for the sophisticated, cool, gorgeous, talented, lovable person you know you really are.

It’s easy to admire Susan. But it’s far more interesting to be transformed by her. “There is grace,” a friend recently wrote to me, “in being molded by your own gifts.”

To allow yourself to be molded by your own gifts takes courage. You have to be willing to stand there, exposed and authentic, while the audience rolls their eyes at you and sneers, expecting failure. And then, of course, you have to fail, laugh or cry, and keep going until, one day, they stop laughing and start clapping.

Note to self: C o u r a g e

And she had her mother.

“She was the one who said I should enter ‘Britain’s Got Talent.’ We used to watch it together,” Boyle told the British paper The Times of her mother, who died in 2007, “She thought I would win. … I am doing it as a tribute to my mum, and I think she would be very proud.”"She was the one who said I should enter ‘Britain’s Got Talent.’ We used to watch it together,” Boyle told the British paper The Times of her mother, who died in 2007, “She thought I would win. … I am doing it as a tribute to my mum, and I think she would be very proud.”

If we’re lucky, we have parents who encourage us. Nothing really replaces a mother or father who believes in you. But even if you don’t have parents who believe in you, it’s important to have someone. Someone you trust, enough that when they offer criticism, you know it’s to draw you out more fully, not shut you down even partially.

The above are extracted from an article on Susan Boyle I came across on CNN.com , written by a Peter Bregman. Seemed like a man with interesting thoughts so I clicked on the link to his How We Work column on HarvardBusiness.org and after a quick scan of the page, immediately subscribed by RSS.