Quickies 2

Welcome to the second edition of Quickies

The idea is still simple. I try to open a tweet or two of mine to a deeper analysis of life.

"Perfection is to weather imperfection."


The biggest problem with a lot of people is that they're always searching and aiming for the 100% solution. What I like to call the unattainable goal. Dont get me wrong I'm all for going for perfection but the truth is that people are imperfect. Also life is imperfect. I'm also not saying that you shouldn't thrive and go for perfection but instead that you should take into account the imperfections surrounding you.

This can be seen best with politics. A lot of time people in politics are searching for the flaws of plans and legistlation instead oftrying to look the positive effects of the law or decisions. You can always see problems or possible side effects with every choise. Even by doing nothing you harm something or someone somewhere.


To get this blog post to a more positive side I would like to return to the tweet itself:


Perfection as I see it is taking the most out of the current situation. If you can do that your quite far ahead of most people who are trying to come up with a perfect plan...

Happy new year to everyone!


My year changes in Tallinn. Hope you get to change yours with many awesome people!


See you in 2013!

Quickies I

Quickies

First lesson learned from blogging: It's bloody hard. Not hard as in way hard to do. More importantly it's hard to start.

So here's my revival for the blog:

I (prodly) present: Quickie I (as in quickie one, not quickie I)

The idea is simple: I pick few different tweets I've tweeted during the week and I try to open more of the ideas and thoughts behind them. This way I'll be writing this on a aweekly basis and habit myself for this new habit.

Here we go! Let's start with an easy one:

"Simple doesn't mean easy. It never did. Greatest things are simple but require a lot of work. #success #leadership"

Simplicity is something what a lot of people see as easy. The more I learn it seems to be the other way around. If you really want to create something truly and amazingly simple it takes a lot of time and most importantly effort. It's simple to train and run a marathon. The big difference is who actually makes it. The more you do in life the more you realize that the simpler the path is the harder it seems.

For something to be simple yet well designed, it needs a lot of chaos and creativity.

At least that's my take. How do you see simpilicity?

ps. big thanks for this post go out to Kaisa. Have fun in the north!

Don't limit yourself

Limits

What are limits and who is responsible for them. Especially during last week due to Red Bull Stratos and the accomplishments of Felix Baumgartner I've been thinking limits even more than normal. Limitlesness is something many people dream of in one from or another. It can be ones freedom from financial limits or from  a medical condition. 

The most important thing about all limits is usually the most simple question: Who is the one who is limiting or creating your limits. It can be someone else, a parent, a co-worker, a boss or even your spouse. Limit is something you are aware of that hinders you. But the one thing you have to take into an account while considering these outside limits is noteworthy. 99% of the time these "limits" are words. And words as a rule of thumb weigh nothing. Don't get me wrong. Words can create or destroy many things. But the words that matter are also always followed by actions.

So in short actions are the things that matter. So the next time someone is telling you that you won't be able to do this or that pay no heed. Nod politely and let their comments either leave freely from your mind or better yet make those words act as fuel for your dreams and goals. Nothing like showing someone who is using only words with your actions.

"I did it!" Holds two great perspectives: I as in me. Most of the time you need others to support you but also you are the driving force. (We did it is also magnificent for the same reasons.) The other one is doing is actually in tense form. The deed is done and no one can take it away from you till the end of time. Savior it.

"What would you be if you could be anyone or anything you could?"

Leader sculpts motivation into a result Part 2

Welcome to part 2

"Leadership at it's core is motivation realized into a tangible result." Part 1

Last week I wrote about the fact that when the going gets tough the leaders who have the will and motivation will be the ones seen victorious. This week is time for more motivational pictures and videos.

It is in human nature to see only the good times and things. It protects us in our everyday life. Who would want to remember every failure we've come across. Still in each of those failures is a thing to learn or a new point of view to be seen.

Arnold has achieved much more than talk funny. If you've never heard him talk this is the time.

Bruce Lee has been introduced earlier in my blog. And there is a big reason for it. If you have the ability to listen this with your eyes and mind open you'll find things that matter. No matter even if you've never even punched a bag. "Become water, my friend." 

For last I've saved the best.

Things said in his speech should be the goals of every leader and human on earth. The grand plan has to be a big and epic. Without epic meaning all motivation is lost. No one wants to be part of anything easy and unrewarding.

Next weeks I'll be sharing my ideas on team building and situational leadeship.

Thanks for reading!

Leader sculpts motivation into a result Part 1

Leadership at it's core is motivation realized into a tangible result.

The fact is that every single time the going gets ruff every last persons eyes will be on the leader. And everything that a leader does from that second on will affect the way things will work. So make sure you feel and look motivated when no one else does. That is a first mark of a great leader.

So here are some videos (have to save some for part 2) which I think work as great motivational guidance. Don't take it too seriously. Every day shouldn't feel like a war. But there is something for everyone in everyone of these videos. If you're in a hurry I've summarized each video as handy reminders which are good to have in mind when making decisions.

Hard work pays off. In the end.

No one is anything without others. Also when you're willing to fail you'll stand victorious. So don't hold back.

When you want to do something else than the thing you want to success in. You won't success. Succeeding is a game of all or nothing.

If you have some really motivational videos please do share them.

See you next week for part 2!

Article I wrote for MIEmagazine

How to build all the processes needed in a startup.

If you want to read general stuff about startups you have a problem.

The problem with general is that it is actually pretty much general. General is easy. General is as the word describes all that is generally known. So why would you spend your time with general? Of course if you are just starting or getting into the “startup” mindset you have to know the basics. 

For many people many thigns look this complex or even more...

You can’t play football right away. First you have to learn how to walk, run and preferably change directions while doing so. Also you will need a certain skill set with the ball and lastly you will have to play by the rules. You don’t have to know the rules but it will help a lot.

So if this article isn’t about general startuppy stuff then what is it about you may ask.

Process is the driving force behind everything and everyone. So we should develop great processes. And here comes the best part. These things apply to every company there is. Although a lot of people make big differences between different company sizes and business models the hard truth is that the differences are pretty slim. Process wise. Bruce Lee talked about the styles and the problems they bring up. If you confine yourself as something you will be trapped in to the descriptions and terms. So if you are a “startup” company you will need to transform yourself when you will become a “real” company. Isn’t it just easier to call yourself a company.

Wise words

So keep this also in mind when founding and working with processes.

Everything is simple. If something isn’t simple you are not good at it and you should improve. The same thing applies to all the processes in a company. If you have to think about the process you’re in trouble. If the used process is wasting any resources it’s not needed. You should just get on by doing things. But as we all know there will always be need for different processes whether for sales or for employee recruitment. So we must have them. So my advice is simple. Whenever you do something and you feel that you succeeded write the one thing that lead you or your team to the result. It can be something big or small or totally unrelated. And then throw the paper you wrote the thing away. This way you will remember the thing if you need to. If your mind lets it slip away it wasn’t that important to start with. Also this way your archives will stay clean and your dropbox folder won’t clog with never-to-be-read documents of “how to do stuff”. Admit it. You never read them anyway.

The way to success is easy: Do, learn and repeat if necessary.

Vili Urpilainen
Innovator
Twitter: vonelone

Startup is a band?

While spending every waking moment pondering on and of everything startuppy, one cannot start to wonder why, how and most importantly with who.

I've come to realize that a start up is actually and pretty much the equivalent of forming a band. Although the reasons for starting up a band might vary to a great extent. I'm pretty sure that everyone joining a band has that fleeting thought even if it's just for a second. How cool it would be to play on a huge arena surrounded by tens of thousands of fans screaming your name. And I don't think that the jet set life of rich and famous wouldn't feel that bad either.

With the startups the goal is quite near that of a start-up band. We are looking for the best talent to complement ours and of course the idea is that everyone in the team will also share the idea, plans and responsibility. When you are creating something new with people on your all sides ready to go the extra mile you feel invincible to many things.

Reality check! The most important thing is actually the people who you work or play (your ideas) with. Although you will feel invincible whilst on that 48h flow trip with the swashbuckling team of yours do make the mental note that you actually aren't invincible, indestructible or even unbreakable. You are actually pretty much the same hardiness as those who you are working with, for and against. So make sure that you're not surrounded by the likes of you. When you're all built differently it will make it so much easier to share and weather the real world.

So find the band of your dreams. And when you find them hold on. In the world of start-ups and bands that's the only thing that will (hopefully) stay with you till the end.

After that all you have to do is work hard. And make the end is as close as the one you were hoping for at the start.