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Future generation

One of the last years most popular articles is about the future generation, called iGen, or generation Z. The article compiles data on today’s always connected teens and their screen time.

You can, among other things, read that psychologically speaking, the iGen is more vulnerable than the Millennials were. Rates of teen depression and suicide have skyrocketed since 2011. But the author, Jean M. Twenge, mentions that it’s necessarily not the screen time that causes unhappiness; it’s possible that unhappy teens spend more time online.

Worries for the future generation is nothing new.

We, the older generation, have been worrying for future generations in all years. Thousands of years ago Socrates was worried that the next generation would mess up.

The article is interesting no matter what position you have in the discussion and will make you think, even if you are not a parent.

Read Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?

Team size

Team and communication are not always easy, especially not team size and it’s communication. A bigger team makes the communication more complex. The overhead of communication between developers, designers and managers in a team can be overwhelming.

For each person you add to a team, there will be more communication routes, making it all more difficult for your team.

How many should you be in a team?

My simple answer to that is; not too many. Some people say three, some draw the line at 15 people in a team.

Founder and CEO of Amazon, Jeff Bezos has his own two-pizza team rule. My experience says it’s getting complicated above a size of five.

Lots of people do not solve the problems faster, avoid throwing more people at problems.

Back to blogging?

It’s so hard. I started building a new theme, made a content calendar. I made plans. Three weeks in I still haven’t get started publicly. I became tired of myself and did a rethinking.

Start small, start now. To start small is much better than start big and therefore later (or never). You don’t have to start perfect.

Dreams and execution

My flight was delayed today which gave me time to spend on old notes. Came over some words that makes sense. Guess it’s a quote but can’t find it elsewhere.

Dreams don’t pay the bills. Execution does. Either you’re producing or you’re pretending.

Great words that match with my mentality on how to tackle problems/goals/dreams and move forward.

Go, start do something.

Do what you can't

The days you get a sneaking feeling that you can’t, you’re too old, too young, it’s too late or someone tells you that you can’t.

In those moments you can watch this video. I love it, it’s so inspiring.

It is possible. Start doing things “you can’t”. It is extremely rewarding. You enriches your soul, your life and gain experience that will take you into situations and opportunities you never knew existed.

A video that gives that extra boost.

Who is stopping you

I have always taken big decisions much based on my gut feeling and personal experience. I’m not much to ask others for advice or tips, which is probably both good and bad.

If you get an advice, try to evaluate the advice you are given. Not all advice is equally as good or bad for everyone.

Trust your gut.

You can do more than you think, you just had to have courage. There is no perfect timing for big or drastic decisions. You just have to take the plunge and decide to do it.

You can do more than you think and it’s never too late.

Far too many people go around and think too much about what others will think, or are afraid to be outside the norm of what is normal in their age, in their situation. Says who? Life is too short to do things you don’t enjoy, or do things just because others happens to do the same. You are you. Do what you like doing.

Take the plunge, do things you don’t dare. It’s refreshing! You will feel more alive than ever. You can! You want to, you dare to.

Who’s stopping you?

No to yourself

It’s easy to say yes, isn’t it?

A yes-can-do mentality is something I value highly. You can do more than you think and you can say yes to things and find a solution later. It’s doable.

I have learned a lot thanks to this approach.

But be careful and mindful. When you say yes to others, make sure you are not saying no to yourself.

Running and headphones

Since my first year as a runner, I have never used headphones and I recommend trying to run without your ears plugged in. Here’s why.

You will notice more.

By focusing on the way you feel in your surroundings, you can better see the sights and hear the sounds of life around you.

Hear nature, listen to your body, think freely

You should give it a chance.

Personal R&D

Amazon spends $16.1 billion on research and development.

With the significant amount of money, Amazon beat out the previous leader, Volkswagen, to become the world’s leading research and development company.

In the top five in the world, all are tech companies. Led by Amazon, Alphabet (previously known as Google), Intel, Microsoft and Apple.

This makes me think of personal research and development. To invest in yourself. How important that is.

Invest in your personal skills and dedicate a certain amount of resources to try new things.

Spend five minutes of your day and think about what you can improve. What would you invest in your personal skills to enrich your life and open possibilities.

Idols

I rarely watch TV but I’m watching Idols, the reality show and singing competition. The reason why is the following.

Courage and growth.

It is amazing to see how people progress. They grow from a little habit in the closet to something big among thousands, sometimes millions of viewers.

That if something requires courage to fail. And if you dare to fail, you can win.

Ask Kelly Clarkson.

When you are tired, run

Note to self. Today I have been tired all day, after a long day in town I came home tired, very tired, but had nevertheless decided to go for a run. So I put on my running shoes and went for a run and now, afterward, it feels really good and I am more alert.

So when you are tired, run. Get out and breathe fresh air. Go for a walk, move your body.

Run, walk, breathe, get outside. It’s healthy, it will help you be more creative and will help you be more productive. You will have more energy afterward if you run, walk or in some way move your body outdoors. Just do.

List of lessons

Some of my learnings during my years as an entrepreneur.

List of lessons

  • Full freedom, total responsibility – which means that you solve everything you need to do
  • There will be a time without any assignment/cash
  • Deliver more than you promise
  • Find a getaway, you can’t work around the clock, even if it’s “your hobby”
  • It will always be too much or too little work, the perfect balance doesn’t exist
  • Be humble but proud of what you do
  • Learn to estimate your time
  • The perfect opportunity to start is now, not tomorrow
  • Running a company is not glamorous
  • Be the best at what you are passionate about and do what you are passionate about

Dare, risk, win!

Embrace the action habit

Thinking and planning are important.

Acting is even more crucial.

This is where I embrace the action habit.

Carve out more time to think

This week I have slowed down the work pace which has given me more time to think and reflect. New ideas pop up and I’ve taken a lot of notes.

I have always had a desire to create and produce but it’s nice to look back on the time elapsed. Get perspective on things I’ve done and think about what you could do differently, what has been bad and what has been done well.

I will try to create time to think and reflect every week for a while and see what it brings.

Give myself time to reflect on things every other day, or once a week, and just write down my thoughts.

Carve out more time to think.

I will stop posting every day

As you may have noticed, I’ve had a blog challenge to write 100 blog posts every day for 100 days. The reason I started with the challenge was that I wanted to create a habit of blogging every day. I want to get better at writing and expressing myself in words and wanted to get over the threshold [to hit publish]({{ site.url }}/hit-publish/ “To hit publish”).

I’ve decided to quit the challenge.

The reason that I stop posting every day is that it takes more time and energy than I have. So much is happening right now, a lot of my brain power is spent on RevRise, which is a good thing. There is simply too much at once.

However, I wan’t stop writing every day, in total, I’ve published 48 blog posts on 49 days which 45 posts on this blog. I’m starting to get the writing and blogging as a habit but has some way to go. But it takes right now too much energy to publish a post every day.

There have been some good blog post, the most read are:

There have also been some less good blog post but I’ve promised myself not to be too hard on myself, it’s OK and almost inevitable that there will be some less good post when I publish every day. It was partly the plan, to think, write and publish often.

There has been a learning experience and I will continue to blog as often as I feel I can.

Thanks to all who read and shared!