253 karma · joined February 17, 2012
I would be cautious with Cal Newport's books and take it with a box of salt, however. To be fair, I only read one of his books (So Good They Can't Ignore You). His intentions with framing the book and its details are great. But I found it hard to trust that he actually believes in some of the things he writes - as opposed to just writing books that can sell well
Perhaps there is a bias somewhere, but after nearly 3 years of travel and work there I have serious doubts about this company...
Books that I'd recommend: Anything by Peter Drucker, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni, Made to Stick by the Heath Brothers, Blue Ocean Strategy by Kim and Mauborgne, among others. I'm sure plenty others here will also give you other recommendations that seem more 'start-up' like too.
edit: two years
Its not just Shenzhen though. You will find comparable shopping mall esque ones in other large cities. Parts of Yiwu and other cities in the south also have tons of electronic components. However, like many already stated, language is definitely a barrier for those that don't speak Mandarin.
...if anyone's looking for an agent. let me know ;)
Unfortunate, but true. Everything is suddenly an app. Is there a difference between 'social' startup and 'tech' startup? I think the culture, particularly the media, is making those synonymous for the worst...
God forbid any of my peers start reading Drucker...
Note that 5, 7, and 10 are arbitrary numbers that may change per person. The rate of inhale/exhale should be as constant as possible as well, meaning you don't fill/empty your lungs in the first 3 seconds and start slowing the last 2 seconds.
a) Clearing my mind - I usually do this when something existential consumes me i.e. I get a bad phone call, someone pisses me off, anxious and unfocused, hyper, etc. and I simply can't stop thinking about it during the day. I do very controlled breathing exercises for 20-30 minutes. Inhale for 5 secs, exhale for 5 secs;then 7 secs;then 10. In almost all situations this frees my mind from being consumed. In the most drastic cases I've had to do this for nearly 2 hours. I'm almost always drenched in sweat and feel revived afterwards.
b)Relaxing my mind - I do this when I've had a very long day tired, but unable to fall asleep for various reasons. Again, controlled breathing for the first 15 minutes. The first few weeks were extremely tough. My mind would start racing in all sorts of directions and was unable to be mindful of the breath, especially since I was not consciously counting. After the first 4 weeks, though I was able to 'push' thoughts out of my head and start relaxing certain muscles in my body. I really can't explain this process/feeling without sounding like a crazyman, so I won't. But I'm at a point now where I can almost feel as though my mind is a shell and I can consciously shed layers off with each layer giving me a new sense of calmness. This type of meditation is vastly different that the one before because I'm here I'm not fixated on one certain thought, my mind is just kind of loosey-goose.
Disclaimer: I was taught meditation by a Daoist monk, so if there are any religious undertones, I apologize. Its unintentional.
...On the other hand, I suppose for some ideas you would never know unless you tried to execute it...
In fact it was two of my Chinese friends who told me about the article this morning....