Change the way you talk to yourself and change your outcomes. Good read with an unexpected conclusions.
Category Archives: Life
Controlled Enthusiasm
In my world I often come across companies that go at a million miles an hour to promote a new concept product without really stopping to think about:
- Whether the product is feasible to produce
- Go to market plans
- Contingencies
Sadly the result is a tonne of enthusiasm + great press at the start, followed by a quiet period from the manufacturer while they sort out the details and if you’re lucky a product pops out in the end. The product itself isn’t always exactly as the manufacturer described initially and the masses get disappointed.
The first device that comes to mind is the Crunchpad which started as a low cost, lightweight tablet computer for the masses to access the internet on the couch. Which sounded awesome (this was pre-iPad announcement). But then after a bit of internet intrigue, lawsuits and pictures of a birthday cake the ensuing device was launched by an entirely different company as the JooJoo a few months too late, a few dollars more expensive and had all its thunder stolen by some device called the iPad.
This got me thinking about how I go about executing my own ideas and concluded that I need to practice what I call ‘controlled enthusiasm’ to give them the greatest chance of success. Ideas are a funny thing, almost everybody has them, we all like to think that we have great ones (we probably do) but what isn’t so apparent is that a great idea is one that is executed and exists. And this execution is a massive labour of love that requires persistence and dedication to see through to the end.
From my perspective I try and use the enthusiasm I have for an idea to go all out in a flurry of directionless doing. The result is normally less than optimum. Why? Two reasons.
- Lack of meticulous planning. As a person who wants to see the results of things now it kills me if I have to slowly draw something out.
- Ignoring the fundamentals. When I am propelled by enthusiasm the fundamentals often get left behind. I tend get caught in the trap of thinking I need this and that before I get started.
So going forwards I am going to give this controlled enthusiasm thing a whirl. It will involve painful meticulous planning and completely go against how I like to work. In fact I am even going to try and apply these techniques to some past ideas that didn’t work out and try them again. This time I hope that by slowing things down there will be a sustained effort and I see my visions through till the end.
I even did it with this post, instead of pushing it out the door right away I will let it stew, re-read and edit before posting.
Beautiful.
Ode to the 92 Honda Civic Hatch
If you are ever unfortunate enough to ask me about what I consider to be the greatest cars ever you’ll find that amongst the Ferraris and other exotic marques there are a couple of pretty regular ones. I’ll go through some of them over the next few weeks, this car popped up last week over drinks with Mankit.
For a car lover the process of choosing one requires a balance between desirability and affordability (if you are in a serious phase of your life then practicality comes into it as well). If you are really pedantic about it all you will also look at economy (though some choose to roll that into affordability).
So given all these parameters, one car stands above the rest. The 92 Honda Civic.
Simply put it is everything that a Civic is supposed to be.
- Relatively easy on the eyes. Unlike the tall boxy hatches of today like a Yaris. There were no unnecessary bits or millions of colour options like a Mini Cooper today.
- Practical. Yes it was a compact car but you could fold the seats down to store more and the boot was hinged at the top and bottom so you could load it in confined spaces.
- Unpretentious. If the top of the line VTi Civic hatch were to be released tomorrow it would probably have VTEC written in red in 10 locations, carbon fibre look trim on the outside and some fake air vents. But despite this..
- You won’t look at someone driving one and think they gave up. Like a Tata Nano, Smart ForTwo or a PT Cruiser.
So there you have it, one of my most favourite cars of all time which is remarkable for being completely unremarkable. Sadly the only 92 Civics you see today are like Lindsay Lohan cheap, garish and with a few too many Ks on the clock (swish).
There is some hope with the new Honda CRZ but until that gets released here we will have to wait an see.
