Archive for the 'Travel' Category

Boost

Published on 18 October, 2008 in Business, Creativity and genius, High performance, Science and technology and Travel. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Sitting at the Manly Wharf food court, I noticed a Boost beside between the Thai and Sushi outlets. Boost is a great success story – the founder even published a book – and yet it reminds me of an old friend.

Kim created Juice Break many years ago. Before juice bars had really even hit Australia – well before Boost – Juice Break was helping make Brisbanites more healthy by introducing them to the wonders of fresh juices and intensely healthy nutrition. Kim had a great little store and brought together some really cool people.

But Juice Break no longer exists.

It wasn’t that the product wasn’t “right” – as evidenced by the roaring success of Boost and a host of other juice outlets today. And the timing was pretty good too – Juice Break closed as the first of today’s successful juice outlets were opening. They could have been a market leader, ready to reap the turn of the tide and the resultant massive wave.

And Kim was – and is – really cool! A surfer, he’s likeable and fun to hang out with.

There were many reasons that we now know the story of Boost rather than the story of Juice Break. But one of the most important lessons for me is that success often lies just a short twist in the road away. So when you find something that inspires you, something that you feel is worth pursuing, you really gotta go for it.

It can take a long time to make your dreams a reality. Research into genius shows that it takes about a decade before anything really significant can be achieved. So choose something that you love to do… Something that is worth doing even if others don’t know you’re doing it… Something that you enjoy doing for its own sake rather than because you believe it will get you something.

I’m doing my NLP Trainers’ Training at the moment. It’s exciting. It’s interesting. It’s engaging. And with my good friends in Shanghai I’m looking forward to sharing my insights with more people upon my return. Maybe I’ll make some money from it – heck, I’d like that – but even if I don’t, I love being here and doing what I’m doing right now.

I figure that if you’re doing something that you love to do, even if it doesn’t get you where you want to go – even if it’s a total waste of time – if you choose to do something that you love to do for its own sake, you’ll never be really wasting your time.

A friend was telling me about his friend who wants to study law but who fears that she’ll not live long enough to practice. She’s just 20 and doesn’t think she’ll make it to 25. We all have our perculiarities, but to me the reason to study law is to enjoy the process of learning and experiencing the study of law… Not because you’ll become a lawyer.

I’d love to give the appropriate source, but I can just hear Marianne Williamson saying to me: “Do what you love. Do what makes your heart sing. And never do it for the money.”

And now I’m going to enjoy my tempura prawn roll and Berry Crush…

What I’ve been doing

Published on 17 July, 2008 in Lifestyle and Travel. 2 Comments Tags: , , , .

Daniel Smith was MC for AmCham\'s Independence Day celebrationsThe past few months have been busier than usual for me. I have been working with CBC, finally receiving my NLP Master Practitioner certificate, developing The China NLP Society and working on China Advanced Toastmasters. And I got to MC the AmCham Independence Day Event which was a blast!

It’s been fun :-)

Oh – and I moved into a great new apartment…

Shanghai is an exciting place to be living right now. While there aren’t quite so many foreigners around as before, there is still a huge vibe in the final weeks before the Olympics begin…

It’s a damn small world

Published on 23 September, 2007 in Self-awareness, Stories and Travel. 0 Comments

I was in an outlying suburb of Shanghai on Friday afternoon, and of all the people that would walk up to me was my best friend’s brother-in-law! We met once – at his sister’s wedding – back in May, and we headed out last night :)

In London two years ago, I walked into Sarah, one of my dearest friends from law school, as we walked down the street in opposite directions – but a lot more of my friends or associates have ended up in London than here in Shanghai.

There are two things that this really made clear to me:

  1. The world is really really really really small, and
  2. Shanghai is an increasingly cool place to be. 

The wonders of Shanghai

Published on 21 July, 2007 in Lifestyle, Social development, Stories and Travel. 0 Comments

Contrast is a wonderful thing. This is my third time in Shanghai, though my first in summer. Even though many of my friends – like the lovely Ingrid whose piano concert at the Oriental Art Centre last night was sensational – are struggling with the oppressive heat and humidity, for me it’s actually a really nice change to have consistent 30+ degree days.

Looking out from the 38th floor of the Eton this morning, I was struck by the contrasts of this great city. I saw the Oriental Pearl, Jin Mao and the nearly complete World Financial Centre, yet at the same time there were vacant blocks along the northern waterfront of PuDong… and a road that couldn’t be completed because there was still an apartment block in the way!

Shanghai is smelly, messy and chaotic, yet there are still amazing things happening here.
Let me put in a plug for the best cafe in Shanghai: Gallery Mondu at 93 DanShui Rd… right at the northern end of XinTianDi – their coffee is the best I’ve tasted anywhere, the service is truly exceptional and the venue combines sophisticated design with sublime functionality. Get there before 11pm!

I’m looking forward to seeing my friends at the workshop that I’m running tomorrow afternoon – it should be great! It has prompted me to rework GeniusTraining.com in preparation for the new era in my work there.

Watch Bangladesh: www.watchbd.org

Published on 17 April, 2007 in Social development and Travel. 0 Comments

Adnan Shams, a great friend from business school has just setup an NGO in Bangladesh called “Watch Bangladesh“. They are doing some really amazing projects and work – from schools and literacy to health to agriculture and microcredit.

Adnan shows what you can do with an MBA and the determination to make your world a better place. Have a look at his site and see how you might be able to help.

Great work, my friend!

What do you really want?

Published on 31 January, 2007 in Creativity and genius, High performance, Overcoming, Self-awareness, Social development and Travel. 0 Comments

May I a small house, and a large garden have.
And a few Friends, and many Books, both true,
Both wise, and both delightful too.

The Secret is making it to Oprah. It’s an amazing thought that in the next 24 hours, Oprah will be helping to transform this story/ documentary of one woman’s experience with focus and manifestation into an even more powerful international success. But it leaves a very challenge part of the story unsaid: What do you really want?

Although the heart must be made to conceive before the eye will be permitted to discover, I find that one of the greatest challenges that we face is to let go of our self-imposed blindness. “What would you do if anything was possible?” is a question that I have asked at many of my seminars and workshops (as well as in personal coaching and consultation sessions), and the recurring theme in responses is that very few people really know what is possible.

Great spirits certainly do encounter violent opposition from mediocre minds, yet the greatest challenge for a great mind is to make the leap to being a great spirit. For a great spirit to be unleashed, you must believe in yourself. Whether it is a (delusional?) sense of narcissim, an inflated sense of self-importance, or perhaps just the irrational spontaneous adoption of a belief in personal purpose and direction, for someone with talent to apply that talent in the disciplined and focused manner necessary to accomplish anything great or to develop any great skills perhaps demands something of a state of mental or emotional imbalance.
So where do we begin? 

That, to me, is the primary advantage that superior educational institutions afford over ‘ordinary’ ones. Great institutions, employers and places tend to attract those with talent and ability, and in doing so give the individuals the exposure to ideas and people that can expand their minds in otherwise inconceivable ways. While I believe that the truths of ‘genius’ are still somewhat waiting to be discovered by each of us, travel, education and exposure to new ideas is one of the surest ways of expanding your mind…
If you really just want the small house and large garden, are the things that you’re doing along the way really helping?

A month in Shanghai

Published on 20 December, 2006 in Business, High performance, Social development and Travel. 0 Comments

In my past month in Shanghai, I’ve learnt and experienced many things. While there have been far too many to deal with, here are a few highlights…

I decided to create a more permanent link to the page on Shanghai 2006…

Trends or tragedies?

Published on 17 December, 2006 in Business, Creativity and genius, High performance, Lifestyle, Science and technology, Social development and Travel. 0 Comments

Some things really fascinate me. How we can meet cool people in the weirdest of places (Coffee Been, Mario?). Cool ideas that spring from unlikely places (Post-it Notes). And some amazing trends…

I’ve just discovered some interesting ‘trends’ that may or may not come to pass that really challenge me to think while simultaneously shaking my head:

  • Gravanity - Beyond YouTube, from personalised stamps (that Australia Post actually offers) to average people paying to have their names on the seats in a cinema, there are opportunities for ordinary folk to have their 15 minutes of fame. Or how about Troika’s efforts in letting people project their SMS messages onto objects?
  • I wonder whether every house really is for sale… every house is for sale
  • While they didn’t let me in there last month, I’m pretty impressed with WC1’s £1m job of outfitting a bathroom opposite Selfridges
  • Transumers: consumers who are driven by experiences rather than wanting to own things… preferring to live a more transient lifestyle. And if you take what luxury consumers are doing as an indicator of what the rest of us will be doing in the future, consider this: Spending on luxury experiences and home services nearly doubled between 2004 and 2005!
  • Inspiriences: When we want to make our home environments extraordinary… from the home cinema to the home resort. Not being satisfied with a great place and metaphorical castle, people are wanting to make their homes into a ‘real castle!’ While we have home coffee makers, I don’t understand why we can’t get XXXX on tap in our own home bar – they can get Heineken thanks to Krups…
  • Along similar lines are garden offices. While perhaps out of the reach of our friends in Shanghai and London, it could be interesting for many people… especially the increasing number of teleworkers in the ‘burbs.
  • What about buying great glasses online? A friend in Shanghai just paid RMB3000 (AU$500 – they’re nice!) for her latest glasses, but maybe there should be cheaper ways. The same kinda thing is available for contact lenses too. For either, I don’t think Steff would like this idea taking off though…
  • Renting gardens??? I don’t know if Ross came up with the idea or borrowed it from the Dutch version, but it’s a really cool idea!
  • Create vinyl decals for the side of your car? Not just to make the car use a tax deduction, but to personalise the little beast…
  • Vending machines in the ladies’ rooms… but for a straightening iron! They’re only in the UK so far, but are set to spread…
  • Maybe cone-shaped pizza is your thing. Looks more appealing than most of the stuff available in 7-11’s and takeaway stores… actually, it could be a real alternative to Subway even. Maybe it might teach the Chinese that Pizza Hut has a great business system for making mediocre pizza – even after taking Carol to the Nanjing Road store on Wednesday night, I still can’t believe that people queue for overpriced poorly made ‘pizza’ in Shanghai… so much for being culturally sophisticated! But, best of all, this stuff is actually from Italy!
  • How about going to sea to discover the world – and getting academic credit! Thanks to “The Scholar Ship” now you can.
  • Ticketmaster handled tickets for my brother’s graduation ceremony, but what about running your own events? What if you could have a professional ticketing service for your next event? Sounds cool to me, thanks to brownpapertickest.com
  • With China’s newfound wealth, will we see something like Floridasation for Australia? Maybe they’ll stick with Chongming, though somehow I doubt it…
  • It’s not enough to have stuff and do things: Now we want to show off how great we are… and maybe we want to be really good at showing off how wonderful we are by taking advantage of status skills. From making your own wine or coffee, to tying your tie properly or maybe just being more ‘elegant’… combined with the massclusivity and uber premium trends, I’m guessing we’ll be seeing a lot more etiquette and connoisseurship classes for those who want to be seen as “It” rather than getting caught wearing a Nouveau Riche t-shirt!

For me, I’m looking forward to seeing the movement away from consumerism towards experiences combine with the status skills movement, yielding great rewards for those of us who can teach people to be brilliant… the time when ’status’ will go to those who can actually do cool things are are actually cool people to hang around, rather than those who buy expensive stuff (mostly unused garbage?) that destroys our environment through its wastefulness. What about deriving status (and heaven forbid satisfaction!) from your creativity like artistic, academic and indeed most truly high performing communities? Of course, that would be a opportunity for genius training…

London is awesome!

Published on 31 October, 2006 in Travel. 1 Comment

To the ballet we go!This great group of girls begged me to come to the ballet and watch their performance! The lovely girl from the organic cafe on Goswell Street suggested that I head towards The Angel, and before long, I’m stumbling across theatre. Thanks to Francesca for helping me appreciate ballet more than I ever had before…

Bangkok airport

Published on 31 October, 2006 in Business and Travel. 2 Comments

Bangkok airport power points

I flew through Bangkok airport and was ecstatic to be able to sit down with my laptop and surf on the freely available wireless network – best of all, they had power points in the floor that would work with the American plug for my laptop! Bangkok airport ain’t much at 1am… but it’ll do.

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