Give me the chills

This is a place to share learnings, from technology to life everything can be interesting.

Tag: life

  • Giving Your 100%

    Giving Your 100%

    Today I saw a recital from my kid. There were children of different ages playing different kinds of music and songs in this mid‑year experiment they did around music.

    What was interesting to me was watching how these kids approached the challenge, because each of them experienced it differently. You could easily spot the kids who were perfectly capable of doing the singing, the clapping, whatever was assigned, but who were bored because it wasn’t challenging enough. You could also see the ones slightly below the required capability, yet so passionate that they lit up the scene. And then there were the kids who didn’t believe in what they were doing and performed with no enthusiasm.

    What fascinated me most was how they looked when you watched them. The task was the same for everyone.
    Some were clearly more capable than others. Yet, from the outside, the kids who truly believed in what they were doing, who were passionate and put 100% of themselves,imperfections included, into the task, really shined.
    They stood out on a completely different level. You could also spot the ones who didn’t believe or trust what they were doing; their output was below average even though their skills were above average.

    While the results of those slightly below average in skill might not have been exceptional, their energy and passion made a difference. They were more entertaining, more interesting, more human than those who didn’t put in the effort.

    As adults, when we grow up, we tend to step back. We hold ourselves back from fully expressing ourselves. We push less, show up less, and sometimes do the bare minimum.
    We may have similar reasons, but one common issue,at least for me, is the fear of being judged as stupid, overly enthusiastic, or out of place. Yet that’s exactly what’s valuable: seeing differences, seeing passion, seeing what each of us brings with our unique capabilities, skills, emotions, feelings, and the knowledge we’ve gained through life.

    It’s perfectly reasonable to say, “This doesn’t interest me; I don’t want to put my 100% into it,” whether at work or in life. That’s fine.

    But if something is valuable to you and you’re still not showing up fully, it’s reasonable to ask yourself why. Is it not motivating, not interesting, not challenging, not fulfilling? Do you not believe in the mission? Whatever the reason, build awareness around what’s valuable and what you need to get to the point where you’re not just on stage doing the bare minimum to pass the test, but showing what you’ve got and believing in it.

    Every time I think about this, a post from Derek Sivers comes to mind about followers. In the post, you see a person dancing with full energy.
    At one point someone joins, and then it becomes a movement. You need both the follower and the leader, but both of them must give 100% to the world, to fully work and build a movement.

    It’s not important who you are in that story.
    What matters is understanding what drives you and what might be holding you back from giving your full 100%.

  • Nature and us

    Nature and us

    It’s hard to put into words how beautiful nature is, even harder to describe what you get by being immersed into nature.

    I think it’s even more amplified when you don’t have any choice but to surrender to it, when the cellular connection is not working, when there’s nobody to talk to, and you don’t have anything else to do.

    In those moments, locked into nature, you’re only left with that old need to just enjoy the moment, to live through those boring and seemingly useless minutes and hear/see/smell life itself through nature.

    Couple of years ago I did a family trip to a place I knew very well, close to home. It’s in the mountains, the cellular connection is unstable and there are some small walkable paths in the forests. Some are easier, some are harder.

    We intentionally chose a time when there would be almost no one walking around.
    The cool thing about traveling to somewhere where you already know everything about the place is that you don’t need a schedule.

    You wake up and figure out the day. You can walk around, do some light trail walking, or just chill.
    There is no need to do something, plus having the smartphone hardly usable made it even more valuable to me as I was enjoying those boring times when I had nothing to do but wait.

    And yet, and still, there’s something that fascinates me from the contrast I feel from how, as humans, we build stuff in nature. Even more so when I’m standing alone in front of them.

    The photo from this post was taken in one of those moments, coming back from a walk with my family, and the 5G towers were standing silently in front of me, at the top of the hill.

    Looking at that photo now, I can’t help but thinking back to the “Electric State” book, from Simon Stålenhag, but with less robots.

  • The space between things

    The space between things

    The waiting in front of the traffic light, looking at the motionless pedestrian stripes that await our steps.

    The void before our turn comes at the post office, between one number and the next. In the silence amidst a thousand different voices, each with its own thoughts and its life that rushes away like a swollen river.

    Today, these waits seem heavier than ever, as if the space between them has become unbearable, as if waiting were a problem. As if the void, which has always existed, is now an uncomfortable housemate, one we neither want to see nor hear.

    Everything must happen immediately. And if it doesn’t happen, we absolutely must have something to do, to act, to get something in return: endorphins, joy, sadness, excitement. That void cannot just be empty, it must have a purpose or satisfy us.
    As if we were in control of a direction, even when the direction of what we see and listen to, of videos of strangers on the other side of the world, depends on others, on algorithms shaped by our hunger, algorithms that mimic the color of our desires.

    What is it about that void that scares us? Of that silence that welcomes us when we are alone where the world moves around us, with people walking, talking, thinking, and acting, each with another world, a broken heart, a fear of being seen and accepted, with a scream hidden under the skin that just wants a hug but in the end it’s easier to scroll past another raw news story, another funny reel, another exciting photo.

    To be elsewhere so the void doesn’t exist, so that the moment where we are entirely alone, with ourselves, forced to be in the world, is annihilated. And everything becomes a continuous flow, a Panta Rei but without awareness of it, without presence, flowing cuddled by a river we did not choose, watching a sky whose colors we do not recognize.

    I don’t know if this applies to everyone. I know that sometimes, in that void and in that silence, I am afraid of feeling everything.
    All the complexity of the world and of my feelings, which overflow and blur together, preventing me from understanding what is happening. Hate, joy, fear, emotion, affection, loneliness, their borders disappear and become a loud, powerful orchestra whose sound speaks to me from the depths, but whose words I do not comprehend.

    And the temptation to scroll again is always strong, the temptation to lower my head and look at another story, read another news item, watch another video. To lose myself, to not feel, to not listen, to not be there, in that moment.

    And yet, I remember.

    I remember myself, waiting on the rough sofa of the house, and the scent of the schiacciata in the oven taking shape and flavour with the oil, and how sweet that wait was.

    I remember waiting for a friend’s visit, and how that void was full of infinite energy and emotion, of trepidation and anxiety.

    I remember watching the streetlights on winter evenings, with my breath fogging the glass, watching the car lights as if I could distinguish those of my mother’s car, and waiting, counting them, and then running to hug her and smelling the fresh scent of winter mixed with the smell of smoke on her long, dark coat.

    Since when did these voids lost the emotions that accompany every wait? The trepidation for what will happen, that potential energy that reminds us that anything can still happen and that the void is just the prelude to another, beautiful, new beginning?

    The space between things is still the same. The void and its molecules have not changed. But we… we did.

    (this is the translated version of my original Italian post)

  • Letting go of perfection: Just write

    Letting go of perfection: Just write

    One of the things I realized while trying to publish more is that things often get in the way, and every time, there is a new obstacle. This is true for many goals we set in life. But why is that?
    In this post, I want to make the case for why you should try to publish more, and why you should pay less attention to your own doubts.

    For example, when I start writing something, I notice that there’s a new design I could use, or there are some theme improvements I could make to my blog. Sometimes, I realize that a specific topic might be outdated in a couple of months, and I keep asking myself: Is it still worth writing?
    Should I write about this? Then, there’s the judgment—wondering if it’s even worth it, or if people already know about it.

    In a world increasingly filled with AI-generated content, I believe it makes more sense than ever to publish and share what only a human can.
    What can we do to express our thoughts and ideas?
    Remember: our perspectives are truly unique. These are the qualities that make humanity so fascinating.

    For example, if you think again about “Should I write this?” you see that there will always—or at least often—be someone who wanted to hear what you had to say but never could, or someone who agreed with your thoughts or could learn from you.
    I’ve seen this happen repeatedly, both in my own experience and with friends. We take our thoughts and ideas for granted, but we should share them more because the world needs ideas, connection, and human voices.

    In an ever-more-connected world, this is what makes us unique and irreplaceable: that connection and shared understanding, those ideas we try to spread, and the way we see the world.
    Those are the reasons that make you, well, you.

    One thing that improved my writing was consistency.
    Lately, I’ve been enjoying the process of using dictation, and some tools with extra features that help me write as I speak.
    You may find you have plenty of ideas but aren’t good on writing.
    Dictation tools like MacWhisper or WisprFlow have come a long way. If you connect them to AI tools, they can clean up the words and further refine your contents, without losing your voice..

    So, whenever you find yourself wondering, “Should I write about this?” I would argue: yes, please do.
    Just focus on the writing; don’t worry about the rest.

    Distracted? Go back to writing or consider dictation as I mentioned.
    Want to change your blog design? Write instead.
    Yes, eventually you might want to improve the design, but writing is the thing you want to eventually do, so do that. Don’t work around it, don’t procrastinate. Just write.

    And in case you feel you have yet to learn how to write well or you are scared about how people will judge your writing then have a separate blog, no comments, where you write daily or very frequently.
    Small phrases, long stories, whatever works for you.
    As with many of our skills, writing takes time, and the only person that can put that time in is you.

  • Why did I start Working Part-Time instead of Full-Time and the Benefits of a 4 Days Workweek

    Why did I start Working Part-Time instead of Full-Time and the Benefits of a 4 Days Workweek

    Around august 2015 I decided that I wanted to step back from my 9-5 job and work part-time for the same company and it was one of the best decisions of my life.
    In this post I want to highlight the story, the tradeoff, the benefits and the downsides of this choice to help everyone that is uncertain about it have a better understanding of what might happen.

    But let me rewind for a second. (more…)