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an ode to boring (and the bored)

10 Aug

Do you like boring?

Boring is safe and guaranteed. Boring is conventional and unchanging. Boring is bureaucratic, ridden with fail safe policies and guidelines chiseled in stone, locked away in a bullet proof glass cage. To be seen and followed, but not touched.

Boring is following protocol and standard procedure. Boring is looking at your friend’s boring car and thinking how nice and good it would be to have one just like that.

Boring is when you’re being evaluated and you know that the passing score is 75% and you aim for 76%, because it’s easier.

Boring is accepting that “that’s just how things are, so it’s aight!” following rules that don’t make sense because, heck! that’s what everyone has always done, and that’s what you’re going to keep doing.

Boring is a steady, dull 9-5 job. Yes, it gets the bills paid, puts food on the table. But it’s boring! Boring is being scared of change, of a destabilization of your status quo, of the sheer panic that grips you when you realise that your salary is going to be a few days late and you’ve queued up bills.

Note: [ Actually, the scared-shitless mindset is predictable and boring, but the panic, my goodness! is not. I like panic. ] (more…)

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no more fiction

18 May

Hello, Reader Dearest.

After doing many funny brain things, I have decided that I will no longer write fiction on this blog. The reasons are many, the deliberations were long and tedious, but I have made a decision.

In summary;

  1. I want this blog to go back to its original theme. Life, Design, Business, Technology.
  2. Much of what I write here is heavily misconstrued as being true, even when clearly labeled as fiction.
  3. I like to keep things separate, helps me focus better.
  4. I want to write better, with more thought and meaning to the process, not a hurried scribble in one sitting.
  5. I can’t really write some of the stuff I want to write, for fear of content dilution, misinterpretation, or very simply, professional image.

So, no more fiction, on this blog at least.

I’m working on another blog, which will be strictly fiction under a different name. And it will be no no-holds barred, no reader-friendly censoring and no politically correct BS. It will be light and funny, dark and gritty, sad and contemplative or whatever I fancy. I will write anything, everything and nothing.

And maybe, just maybe, you may like it.

I’ll probably lose many readers here, but it is necessary.

This blog will not die, so stay tuned, I’ll be posting a link in a few days. Maybe. Because it may be a closed, invited readers only blog, I don’t know.

In any case, I’ll see you on the other side.

With much sincerity.

The Rogue King.

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Alea iacta est

19 Apr

Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus,  a Roman equestrian and historian, is famous for writing a series of biographies on Roman rulers, especially Julius Ceasar.

In his work, Vita Divi Iuli (The Life of the deified Julius), Suetonius tells the story of Julius Ceasar’s famous crossing of the Rubicon River. The Rubicon divided the Roman Gaulish Province of Cisalpine from Italy. A Roman law to protect the republic from internal military rebellion prevented the crossing of this river by a general leading a legion. To do so was to declare war on the Roman Empire.

Which, of course is exactly what Julius Ceasar did in 49 BC. It started what eventually led to transformation of Rome from a republic to the Roman Empire.

Suetonius famously writes that as soon as Julius Ceasar crossed the Rubicon, he uttered the phrase:

“Alea iacta est.”

The die has been cast.

The phrase is now more commonly used to denote a “point of no return”, in which a decision and an action has been taken that cannot be revoked, rescinded or otherwise back-tracked.

In many, many ways, for me,

Alea iacta est.

—

Offtopic: It’s good to be back.

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On Design Kingdom – Leo Burnett, “When to take my name off the door”

10 Sep

If I had to choose the two greatest speeches I’ve been priviledged to read, it would be a tie between Steve Jobs’ Stanford Commencement Speech and Leo Burnett’s “When to take my name off the door” speech.

I have talked about Steve Jobs’ speech before, but had always forgotten to talk about Leo Burnett.

This morning I was going through Facebook and saw a friend’s status message that had another great quote by Leo Burnett, and I remembered that I badly needed to share this speech.

However, since it’s more pertinent to creatives/designers/advertising agencies, I posted it over at Design Kingdom. But I would recommend you read it, even if you’re not in the creative/advertising industry. He may be talking to advertising agencies, but the wisdom applies to all facets of life (in context, of course).

Enjoy.

—

Offtopic:

“I have always taken the attitude that no account is a ‘problem account’ but that all accounts have important problems attached to them – that you can waste more time and burn up more nervous energy by fighting a problem than by taking a positive attitude and solving it.” - Leo Burnett

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mad props to the Node Six and Elemental Edge family!

21 Aug

For more reasons than I can possibly list, about 50% of all businesses fail before their first anniversary and about 30% fail before their third anniversary.

On 1st August 2009, Node Six and Elemental Edge made 3 years and 4 years respectively. Both these companies were started with next to zero, in my two spare bedrooms and lots of Abba’s grace, and guess what? We’ve survived becoming one set of statistics, and entering our fourth year as Node Six and fifth year as Elemental Edge, we’re looking to becoming another set of statistics, the ones that begin with “The Best….”

It’s a mean playing field out here, and survival can be for the strongest, or the fastest, or the most cautious or the bravest or whatever, really. There’s no formula, no “magic trick”, no set of carefully balanced equations. There is only a wicked combination of common-sense, poor sleep habits, tonnes of hard work, gut feeling, luck, faith, idiocy,  management lots of money (if you’re lucky) and lots and lots and lots and lots of mistake.

And if you’re like me and dropped out of University in your first semester, with no credentials to your name other than being Abba’s son and wearing geeky glasses, then you need all the prayers you can get.

But…

Through all these years, I have been blessed and honoured to work with some of the most brilliant, hardworking, self-sacrificing people I know.

This post is dedicated to all of you. Yes, the whole lot.

I will make this personal because, a) it’s my blog and b) this is about the blessings I have had working with y’all. [ The rest of you can go home now, read the stuff below, or skip to where it says "Moving On" ] (more…)

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you. yes you. you’re a wuss.

17 Aug

Yes. You are.

Allow me to explain.

First, the general description of a wuss is; “a person who is physically weak and ineffectual”. It has been used more recently however, to derogatorily  describe a man who is weak, ineffectual, effeminate and wishy-washy, especially when it comes to the ladies.

Some friends and I have a long running joke about wusses, sometimes even dissing ourselves in the process. Don’t sweat it, it’s a guy thing.

So, couple of days back, at the week-long peak of this joke, we’re in an informal meeting discussing a way forward on some project and because someone was being indecisive about a certain action, we jokingly called him a wuss. We laughed it off and eventually forged a way forward.

That night however, those same words came back to torment me during my quiet moment of self-reflection, and the reality hit me hard;

I realised that I was being a (business) wuss in so many ways.

It was a very painful blow to the gut. (more…)

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when to stop reading

20 Jul

I spent the better part of the weekend reading a very fascinating book: The Knack, recommended by Mr. bDawg (thanks dawg). The Knack is authored by two columnists for Inc Magazine, Norm Brodsky and Bo Burlingham.

I very highly recommend it for anyone who wants to step into the murky and very turbulent waters of entrepreneurship, or even simply being self employed. Even seasoned business owners will benefit from the wisdom in its pages. It’s refreshing because the advice is dished out in a very non-assuming way and does not get too technical (well, some parts are inevitable, like finances, but that’s about it.)

While reading it, however, one thought kept crossing my mind: “I know this stuff. I’ve read it and experienced it before.” Now, before you write me off as another charlatan, let me explain. (more…)

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It’s Monday! Thank God!

6 Jul

Can you believe it? It’s already Monday. How cool is that?

A fresh new week.

Seven more days of exploring ways to help our clients harness the internet!

Seven more days of rediscovering passion.

Seven more days of finding ways to change the world.

Seven more days of being me.

And I just read something awesome a few minutes ago:

“Being average is for losers.”

Well, here’s to not being average!

Have yourselves a brilliant week!

—

Rogue FM: The World’s Greatest – R Kelly

—

Offtopic:

The mechanic that would perfect his work must first sharpen his tools.
- Confucius

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on making mistakes

19 May

The year is 2003. Month, June. Day, 6th. Time, 9:01.

I’m sitting at my desk. Staring at the computer.

I log on to True African, and send myself the following SMS. Yes, I sent myself an SMS. No, I wasn’t mad.

No, I wasn’t.

The SMS says:

“Over six months I have called this place home.
And so it ends.
The future beckons.
Shall we proceed?
After all, it is only Destiny“

I still have the SMS to this day.

That day was the last day of formal employment for me. I was stepping out into the brave new world of being self-employed. You know, doing my own thing.

I was 20. I had fulfilled my dream of of owning my own company by 21. And I had beaten it by a solid year. (more…)

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Six (6) sites that give you solid business advice

13 Mar

Hello world.

First, I need to announce this again, Global Voices is in need of a Ugandan correspondent to provide regular wrap-ups of what’s happening in the Ugandan Blogsphere. If any of you bloggers are interested, let me know and I will provide the contacts.

Now.

I promised sometime back that I’d start sharing some of the websites in my bookmarks and RSS feeds. My bookmarks folder has literally thousands of sites, sometimes I completely forget about a website right after bookmarking it.

But there are some websites that I visit on a fairly regular basis, almost daily. They’re like tiny cyber treasures. Like the ones I mentioned that offer free ebooks for download.

So, in keeping with my promise, I figured I’d next share the websites I visit almost daily when I need tips and fresh input on business issues.

(more…)

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