Mindfulness in Modern Times

Buddhism and the Brain: Mindfulness in Modern Times | Big Think

I’m very concerned with what I would call a decontextualized — or maybe the proper word would be recontextualized — consumerist notion of mindfulness, where mindfulness is about paying attention non-judgmentally in the present moment. That gets framed in terms of paying attention non-judgmentally in your little office cubicle so that you can take a mindfulness pause and get back to work for a corporation that is maybe contributing to global warming. Or the use of mindfulness under the heading of "mental fitness" in the context of the military. That’s really quite problematic. In the Buddhist tradition, even if the notion of mindfulness is not, technically speaking, to some schools "intrinsically wholesome," it’s against the background of the whole Buddhist tradition, where there’s certain basic ethical considerations that are in place. That’s often missing in present uses of mindfulness, and that’s something we should be very concerned about.

10 claves para crear equipos de trabajo excelentes

 por @JALacoste 10 claves para crear equipos de trabajo excelentes

1. Sea apasionado y comparta la visión. 

2. Pregúntele a los candidatos y empleados actuales lo que desean.

3. Deles algo que sus amigos en otras empresas no estén recibiendo.

4. Comuníquese ampliamente con ellos. 

5. Diga GRACIAS. Y cuanto más, mejor. 

6. Sepa los nombres de todo el mundo y lo que ellos hacen.

7. Trabaje CON y no PARA alguien.

8. Tenga reuniones regulares en su empresa donde no solo sea usted el que hable.

9. Recuerde el hecho de que usted necesita liderar. 

10. Enfatice los beneficios, independientemente del resultado. 

- See more at: http://jesuslacoste.soydigital.es/10-claves-para-crear-y-mantener-equipos-de-trabajo-excelentes

The 2015 Global Startup Ecosystem Ranking is live! - Compass

The 2015 Global Startup Ecosystem Ranking is live! - Compass



The rise of the startup ecosystems all around the world should also be seen in the context of the larger socioeconomic structural shift taking place. Information Era businesses have become the dominant source of economic growth, significantly automating or altering much of the industrial and service businesses of the previous economic era.
…

One of our main goals with this report is to help various stakeholders answer the following kinds of questions:

a) For Entrepreneurs: “Where should I start my new company?” “When I’m ready, where should I open up my startup’s second office?”

b) For Investors: “How can I find new startup investment opportunities around the world instead of simply settling for solely investing in my local startup ecosystem due to familiarity?” “Given the dearth of information out there about emerging startup ecosystems, how do I evaluate which ones I should focus on for finding new opportunities?”

c) For Policy Makers: “What initiatives should I prioritize in my startup ecosystem to maximize growth?” “How should I measure the progress of these initiatives?”

d) For All Stakeholders: “What is the best way to strengthen the overall vibrancy and entrepreneurial spirit in my ecosystem?”

…

III. Five Key Findings

1. Ecosystems have become more interconnected and startup teams have become more international

2. Exit Values

3. VC Investment Trends in Startup Ecosystems

4. Ecosystem Ranking Changes since 2012: Winners and Losers

5. Gender Equality amongst Startup Founders

No te sientas (tan) mal si el trabajo domina tu vida

 tampoco dejes de intentar arreglarlo…

We don’t realise to what an extent our feelings are guided by our sense of what is normal and of what we should expect from others. We are highly flexible creatures, but with a generally strong desire to fit in. There are many ways we could be living fine – if we had time to adjust and enough social support.

How Not to Let Work Explode Your Life | The Book of Life

Although so often it seems incredibly personal that one fails to combine work harmoniously with family life or with exercise or with maintaining old friendships, the charge should not really be laid primarily against oneself. The fault lies with something much larger than our own individual failings (real though those are). It lies with where we are in history, with the nature of the economy and in the slow pace of evolution.

claves para el entrenamiento del pensamiento propio

Porque el criterio propio ayuda a conquistar ese territorio perdido por la sociedad de consumo recuperando lo que denomino derecho de sitio.

@vorpalina claves para el entrenamiento del pensamiento propio | iniciativa vorpalina

HABILIDADES PARA EL ENTRENAMIENTO DEL CRITERIO PROPIO. 

ENTRENAR:

• EL SENTIDO

• LA AUTOAFIRMACIÓN

• LA PERSISTENCIA

• LA PRESENCIA

• LA ACEPTACIÓN

• LA RESPONSABILIDAD

• LA AUTOCRÍTICA

• EL APRENDIZAJE

• LA CERTEZA

• LA COMPASIÓN

Más sobre Epicuro :-)

Historia verdadera, de Luciano | Sociedad de Amigos de Epicuro

De su descripción divertida de un paraíso epicúreo, excluye a Platón (quien se había alejado a vivir en su propia República) y a los estoicos (que todavía estaban tratando de escalar la colina de la virtud), así como a los académicos, que eran “incapaces de comprender cómo puede haber una isla tal”, y por lo tanto “volvieron atrás en medio de su camino a la misma”. En otras palabras, un paraíso naturalista no está disponible a aquellos que buscan la virtud o alguna otra meta arbitraria que no sea la establecida por la naturaleza (el placer) o para aquellos que racionalizan las cosas demasiado (los aristotélicos), y los platónicos ni siquiera van a buscar estas dichas.

Cultivating the mind of an epicurus | The Autarkist

We know from Philodemus’ scrolls that philosophy heals the mind through the use of words, through reasonings and arguments. Therefore, the practice of true philosophy for an Epicurean is therapeutic and involves the cultivation–through cognitive therapy–of a certain healthy quality in the mind, which we can train ourselves to mindfully experience as well-being and as existential pleasure. 

According to PD20, the body is not able to discern the limits of pain, of pleasure, of time, and so on: only the mind has this rational capacity, and without having deep insight into these things, it is impossible to experience pure pleasure and ataraxia. The mind also has the power to dismiss fears about the future and to abide in confident expectation that the natural and necessary things are easy to acquire. 

Because only the mind has the power to carry out these rational and computational tasks, it is therefore responsible for procuring “a complete and perfect life”. Epicurus always treats it as a self-evident truth that it is in our nature to want this kind of life. He refuses to rationalize why this is so, and simply observes that we shun pain, and that when we lack happiness, we do whatever is in our power to regain it. 

…
In its fiat to “procure a complete a perfect life”, the mind must grasp the natural limits of pain, of pleasure, of desires, and the limits of time, and it can then abide in contentness and gratitude. Because the things that are natural and necessary are few and limited, the mind can then confidently expect to meet its needs without “any need of things which involve struggle”. 

This mind does not need immortality. It understands that pain and pleasure in the body have their limits in time and intensity, and avoids the trap of endlessly fearing the pains or endlessly catering to vain desires, which lead to addiction and anxiety. It understands that needful things are few and easy to acquire and that therefore we only need a limited amount of effort and struggle to attain them–in this way, the mind “banishes the terrors of the future”. 

…
In Epicurus, the key is cognitive therapy in order to recognize our natural limits and to have deep insight about them and about our nature. This is what empowers the mind to procure “a complete and perfect life”.

How Startup “Joiners” Are (and Aren’t) Like Founders - HBR

Looks like common sense… How Startup “Joiners” Are (and Aren’t) Like Founders - HBR

The researchers caution that not everyone who applies to work for an early stage startup necessarily has the personality of a “joiner,” and they argue that founders ought to consider this when they hire. 

Entrepreneur, startups, founders… cuestión de matiz (y moda)

by @bfeld Do We Need A New Word For Entrepreneur? - Feld Thoughts

A raíz del "agotamiento" por exceso de uso del término emprendedor, Brad Feld plantea una serie de ideas interesante sobre la evolución del lenguaje.

In 2010, the Startup America Partnership finally got the US government to separate the notion of "small businesses" and "high growth businesses" The word "startup" was firmly introduced into our lexicon as shorthand for "high growth business" and now is a comfortable one.

Esta idea me ha recordado mucho a la entrada del cuento sobre 2 emprendedores.

For example, I think we are finally starting to differentiate between local businesses (your local restaurant, coffee shop, bookstore, gas station, movie theater, clothing store, art store, or anything else that sells to your local community) from a startup business (a company that might be small, but is selling to anyone anywhere in the world). … 

And then there are a several words trying to characterize different stages of startups. A scaleup is a startup that is scaling quickly. A gazelle, a word that has been around for a while and is becoming popular again, is a startup that has achieved critical mass and is a rapidly growing company, kind of like a scaleup, but falling comfortably into the animal taxonomy that seems to include unicorns and dragons.

Estas otras ideas me recuerdan el impresionante post de Paul Graham que habla también sobre que no es startup si no puede crecer MUCHO.

How to Manage a Team of B Players (spoiler: being an A Leader)

How to Manage a Team of B Players - HBR

Although effective leaders can have a wide variety of styles, they do tend to share some common personality characteristics. First, they have better judgment than their counterparts, meaning they can make good decisions, learn from experience, and avoid repeating mistakes. Second, they have higher EQ, which enables them to stay calm under pressure, build close and meaningful relationships with their teams, and remain humble even in the face of victory. Third, they are insanely driven and tend to have very high levels of ambition, remaining slightly dissatisfied with their success: this is why they stay hungry and continue to work hard, as opposed to getting complacent. 

In addition, there are four important tactics any leader can use to make their teams more effective:
Vision.
Analytics.
Feedback.
Morale. 

…good leaders can turn B players into an A team, by following the right strategy, gathering precise performance data, giving accurate feedback, and building and maintaining high morale. Since few leaders manage to achieve this even when they have a team of A players, there is much hope for those who do.

Cuando los leones de Cannes eran el acontecimiento del año

(para mi) agradecía mucho los anuncios como estos.






Pasaba días atento esperando a grabar el especial en Canal Plus… y los especiales relacionados (como el de Jasper Carrott) algún día tendría que luchar por digitalizar esos VHS antes de que realmente se estropeen y no sea posible. Pero probablemente todo este ya subido…

Is Remote Working Good For Business?

Is Remote Working Good For Business?

Businesses with remote teams don’t have the luxury of as much face time as others, which is why they have to work harder to create strong cultures. …

Culture is about understanding:

• Your values, vision and aims;
• The values and personal / professional goals of your team;
• How every decision helps or harms the long-term financial value the company;
• How to learn from mistakes and make course corrections when necessary.

35 Crucial Stats Every B2B Sales Professional Should Know - OpenView Labs

35 Crucial Stats Every B2B Sales Professional Should Know - OpenView Labs

Spending on cloud technology is set to greatly expand in the coming years… 

Increased spending and relative ease associated with purchasing cloud-based solutions means key decisions makers often-times aren’t involved in the buying experience until the very last stages… 

Because purchasing is decentralized, buyers are more concerned than ever with getting a purchase wrong, which is why they’re waiting longer to initiate contact with the sales team, are harder to get in touch with and are doing more research on their own up front… 

When sales reps do get in touch, responding quickly is crucial to closing the deal… 

But, if you’re the first to get in touch with a potential buyer, your odds of winning their business of winning their business increase dramatically…  

Even better than being first, though, is a personal connection or direct referral…  

When you do close the deal, buyers are looking for more support and attention from their existing vendors…

Why Steve Jobs was no lone hero

“My model for business is the Beatles”: Why Steve Jobs was no lone hero - Salon.com

The simple answer is that during this period Apple managed to introduce a series of four monumental products and services—the iPod, iTunes, the Apple Store, and the iPhone and iPad—that created not only new industries but also entirely new multibillion-dollar market categories.
To understand how Apple did this, we need to appreciate the real contributions of Apple’s cofounder Steve Jobs, who had been out of the company for twelve years, and who returned at the beginning of this historic era in the company’s history. It was, in fact, a wiser and more confident Steve Jobs who took command of Apple for the second time in 1997. And though he remained the same mercurial, rash, dangerously unpredictable, and impetuous Steve Jobs who had been driven out of Apple in 1985, he had learned two important pieces of wisdom in the interim: (1) Build a company that rewards risk rather than punishes it; and (2) Never forget that all successful enterprises, no matter how big and wealthy, are an aggregation of teams large and small, loyal and renegade, stabilizing and anarchistic, from the lowliest engineers to executive row—all of them working, sometimes in harmony and sometimes at cross-purposes, toward the success of the company.

How to Overcome the Midday Slump - HBR

How to Overcome the Midday Slump - HBR

Do:

• Meditate or perform breathing exercises when you start to feel your energy wane.

• Put down your device an hour before you go to bed, and try to get 7-8 hours of sleep on a regular basis.

• Use music to motivate and energize.

Don’t:

• Tackle important or creative tasks during lulls — save those for peak energy hours.

• Sit at your desk all day ­— take short walks, stretch, or do calisthenics for short-term bursts of energy.

• Depend on coffee to get you through the afternoon.

A un clic (de las nuevas aulas) - Pijamasurf

No se trata de cambiar todo, se trata de cambiar el sentido de todo.

El Inversor: A un clic

Saber es estar en conocimiento, estar enterado de las cosas; ser capaces de reproducirlas. Y como eso a nadie le interesa de verdad, entonces la escuela va tras los mecanismos del control y la obligación que tanto y tan bien la caracterizan. Por eso el maestro habla tanto y persigue tanto el silencio de sus alumnos. Por eso evalúa como evalúa. Por eso no genera actitud ni forja responsabilidad en los alumnos. Por eso en las escuelas se respira con dificultad. Por eso la memoria es la instancia psíquica más jerarquizada. Por eso la consulta se llama copia. Por eso la creación se juzga distorsión. Por eso el respeto se entiende como sumisión. Por eso la atención decrece a cada hora y crecen los departamentos psicopedagógicos. Por eso sacamos tantas fotos en los actos escolares y nos llevamos tan poco de ellos. Por eso el talento no se celebra ni se trabaja. Por eso hay tantos rituales vacíos a diario, apenas para ejercitar la subordinación al orden. Por eso los estereotipos nos gobiernan y las casas son una sola cosa, la familia un tipo de familia, el perro aquel perro y la patria siempre una instancia buena; por eso no hay próceres contemporáneos. Por eso las computadoras están encerradas en una jaula que llaman laboratorio y la señal de Wi-Fi no llega a ninguna parte. Por eso nos prohíben lo que nos prohíben.