Working for 10,000

In the book Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, he explains what this term means:

"Outliers is a scientific term to describe things or phenomena that lie outside normal experience"

Then, he applies the same term to people that seem ahead of its time, outstanding in their fields and with huge success. People who you might think are gifted or naturally talented. 

Truth is these outstanding people have (according to the theory in the book) one big advantage compared to everyone else: 10,000 hours of experience. If they are outstanding musicians, writers, entrepreneurs or dancers it's because they have 10,000 hours or more of experience in their fields.

The 10,000 hour number is, of course, an approximate number, but to me it only translates into one thing: hard, constant, persistent work.

If you want to be the best, work for your 10,000 hours.

One last piece of advice: find something that you love and then work in it for 10,000 hours. I'm sure no matter what you do, you're going to be one of the best. 

¡Lo encontre!

¡Finalmente se cómo se siente! Es una sensación que te provoca llorar de manera incontenible y te hace reír a la vez. Parece que tu cabeza no alcanza a procesar lo que está experimentando y todo tu mundo da vueltas y la sensación de euforia es increíblemente intensa.

Finalmente se cómo se siente el encontrar tu verdadera pasión. Y me siento inmensamente orgulloso. Me siento orgulloso de haber encontrado mi momento de epifanía en alguien que es latino como yo. Alguien que en un discurso de 17 minutos me enseño cual es el camino que toda mi vida he buscado. Finalemente se lo que quiero hacer y sé que puedo hacerlo porque por primera vez tengo algo más en la mente que como hacer que un negocio sea exitoso. No quiero volverme un empresario, quiero volverme un agente de cambio y no me importa no obtener un centavo por hacerlo. No me importa el no tener nada con tal de ver este sueño, que es el sueño de alguien más que hoy comparto, realizado.

Y prometo comenzar a trabajar a partir del día de hoy en él.

En este video, el Maestro José Abreu da su discurso en el que recibe el TED Prize 2009. Es el mejor discurso que he oído en mi vida y me ha hecho sentir inmensamente orgulloso de ser latino. La noción de "la música sirviendo a la sociedad" resume lo que el maestro ha buscado fervorosamente toda su vida y que hoy comienza una nueva etapa en el logro de este TED Prize 2009.

La pasión y trabajo de este hombre, de este maestro ha dado frutos increíbles, que hoy se ven plasmados en gente sobresaliente como Gustabo Dudamel que conduce a la Orquesta Juvenil Teresa Carreño en una interpretación que me deja sin habla y con "ojos brillantes" para citar a Benjamin Zander

Gracias Maestro Abreu por mostrarme el camino y hacerme saber como quiero que mi vida sea trascedente y cuál es la historia que de hoy en adelante quiero contar.

Free!!! Twitter Beginner's Manual

Have you heard about Twitter? There is a big hype going on about this social media platform as a way to communicate short pieces of information about you or your brand. This micro blogging tool can seem like a waste of time, but there's more to it than it seems. 

From Duct Tape Marketing comes this free beginners guide to the use of Twitter as a business tool. It's very good help in getting to know the ropes of the platform. As a plus, you can find it in Spanish too!

Maybe you won't find any use in Twitter for your business or as another social media platform, but I think it's worth reading the document to understand what all the hype is about.

The document covers everything from creating your account to ways to find people who have similar interests and how to use it as a tool for your brand. Enjoy!

And they answered...

It was easy to know. Probably 15 years ago it would have been impossible, but today networking probabilities are endless. I love to have this example so near me and to know personally the people who began the movement. This is the first time people in my country put their minds together and thinks positively about doing something together and believing it is an achievable goal.

We still don't know for sure if it's going to happen or not, but as I mentioned before, we were going to have an answer. And here it is. At least I'm happy to know that now they are taking us into account, for before this had happened we weren't even being taken into consideration. 

Congratulations on a very successful effort!

Be serious for a moment!

In fact, you have to always be serious about what you do. In this Serious Play talk, Paula Scher shares with us why being serious at play is far better than being solemn at work.

The one lesson I can draw from this talk is: be as serious as a child with the things that you do. When this turns into a job and becomes solemn look in a different direction.

Quick guide to finding your passion

When you look for Sir Ken Robinson on Wikipedia one of the first pieces of information you find is "He is an internationally recognized leader in the development of creativity, innovation and human resources". To me he is one of the most influential persons in the field of modern education and is redefining what this should be like. 

In his book The Element he states different people have different kinds of intelligence and measuring it cannot be done solely on the grounds of fields such as mathematics or language. Painters, dancers, musicians, storytellers can be just as remarkable and influential as mathematicians, economists and entrepreneurs but standard "intelligence" measures (like an IQ  test) fail when it comes to this other kinds of intelligence.

These people can underperform in their school years and struggle in the process, but once they find their Element they are headed to making a big impact around them.

Sir Ken Robinson defines The Element in one phrase:

"The Element is the place where the things you love to do and the things that you are good at come together". 

Imagine you could find such a place. Imagine you could find your true passion. And I'm sure you can. 

But the only way to do finding this place is by creating. You won't be able to find your passion just by picking into your brain for big ideas and once you find them ponder upon them. You have to put these ideas to work, get them out of your brain and make them come to life. This is probably the hardest part for anyone trying to live of their passion.

Most people will be afraid because doing this can mean challenging status quo, or be disappointed

in the process because the first time they try making their passions come true they fail. The only way of living of your passion is through making, trying, failing and trying again until you can get your big break. Hard work will pay off. But never stop trying.

Below you can find Sir Ken Robinson's talk on TED. One of the best.

Being a teacher, being a leader

Recently, Mike who is the president from a big company in El Salvador told a story during a staff meeting: when he was in fourth grade he had an English teacher (his native language is Spanish) who was constantly tormenting him about his performance in the subject. He just didn't seem to get it. His teacher didn't have the patience to guide him through the course as he needed extra help and the natural skill for learning a second language just wasn't Mike's strength.

So Mike took matter in his own hands and set out to make an extra effort. He would dedicate an extra hour or two daily with the sole purpose of learning the foreign language. But results didn't show. He failed the tests and his improvement was slow.

After months of trying, he came up to his teacher and told him "I've been trying real hard to pass your course and learn but I just don't seem to get it. What can I do? I'm trying very hard!" To which his teacher replied "Too bad but I'm not grading your effort. Your grades are based on results". 

He told this story to his staff to point out that no matter how hard they tried, if they didn't deliver results, they didn't have a future in the company.

I think there are two misconceptions in this story:

First, if your staff doesn't deliver the expected results it's more likely that there's a leadership problem, rather then lack of capacity. In the story the teacher doesn't have the patience to help a student who has difficulty learning a subject. This doesn't mean his not able to learn, this only means he has to learn in a different way or maybe needs more guidance than other students. So this is a clear leadership issue. As a leader you have to identify inside your organization your employees skills and assign them in the right positions. You have to make sure they have proper training as well, but it is your responsibility as a leader to develop people in your staff.

Then we have the effort issue in this story: rewarding effort is a basic element that enhances performance and develops creativity. You have to make sure the efforts are focused and aligned with the company's objectives and goals, but again you as the leader have the task of guiding those efforts and convincing people to go down the right path.

Remember, when you become a good leader your employees will certainly deliver the results you expect.