Moses Mehraban

You Just Have To Do Something

Sun, 02 Dec 2012 11:57:42 +0000

Throughout life we are impacted with moments that are rich with meaning and significance. Regardless of the joy or sorrow that these moments create, it is our job to listen and respond. This summer I was given the gift of one of those profound moments.

On a warm August afternoon, my wife and I invited some close friends over for lunch to spend the day swimming in our pool. We were in the water playing with our kids, watching them one-up each other jumping in, and playing all the usual games.

One of the times my daughter climbed out to jump back in, she cried out in pain after stepping on a bee. As soon as I pulled out the stinger left behind in her foot, one by one more bees began to swarm. Thinking that the dead bee was attracting others, I picked it up and went inside to throw it away.

The moment I opened the trash in the kitchen I heard my wife scream outside. It wasn’t an ordinary scream. I look outside right at the moment she was diving into the water. Racing outside I was certain that she was being attacked by the aggressive bees.

I made it to the edge of the water right when she was coming up. My heart sank. In her arms was our little boy, blue and lifeless.

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"Most People are like a falling leaf that drifts and turns in the air, flutters, and falls to the..."

Tue, 05 Jun 2012 19:47:08 +0100

“Most People are like a falling leaf that drifts and turns in the air, flutters, and falls to the ground. But a few others are like stars which travel on one defined path: no wind reaches them, they have within themselves their guide and path”

- Herman Hesse (Siddhartha)

Thank you for all the inspiration. “Here’s to the crazy ones....

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 12:40:00 +0100

Thank you for all the inspiration.

“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify and vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as crazy, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

curiositycounts: THIS. (via via)

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 12:39:03 +0100

curiositycounts:

THIS. (via via)

acidrambling: If you can’t go to the mountain, improvise.

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 17:53:49 +0100

acidrambling:

If you can’t go to the mountain, improvise.

suskyme: Awesome video & a very current song especially with...

Sun, 25 Sep 2011 22:49:27 +0100

suskyme:

Awesome video & a very current song especially with the X Factor fever in UK and US. I’m all up for the pursuit of dreams and happiness (just remember to always enjoy the journey all the way there!).
happpynesss:

pursuit of happiness (cover) - meg & dia

curiositycounts: “Poets, like the blind, can see in the...

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 04:31:00 +0100

curiositycounts:

“Poets, like the blind, can see in the dark.” Beautiful homage to Jorge Luis Borges.

"The difference between those who change the world and those who don’t is that those who do..."

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 11:51:06 +0100

“The difference between those who change the world and those who don’t is that those who do believe they can.”

- Via Daily Notes of Inspiration from @simonsinek

Believe in your dreams as there are no limitations to your mind except the fears you feed.

"Conventional wisdom holds that getting so close to employees can compromise objectivity and the..."

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 07:08:40 +0100

“Conventional wisdom holds that getting so close to employees can compromise objectivity and the ability to make tough management decisions. “I dramatically disagree with that,” Sandberg says. “I believe in bringing your whole self to work. We are who we are. When you try to have this division between your personal self and your professional self, what you really are is stiff…””

- A Woman’s Place – The New Yorker looks at whether Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg upend Silicon Valley’s testosterone (via curiositycounts)

When is it due?

Fri, 01 Jul 2011 13:08:50 +0100

When is it due?:

The goal isn’t to do work and hand it in just before it’s due. The goal is to do the work as beautifully as you can, faster than anyone else, so you can do more work. (Seth Godin)

Could Game Mechanics Turn Work Into Play? [INFOGRAPHIC]

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 22:28:14 +0100

Could Game Mechanics Turn Work Into Play? [INFOGRAPHIC]:

Somewhere between FarmVille and Office Space, there’s a key to improving how we think about work and how we perform on the job. Think about it: Game mechanics have made some really mundane tasks (farming virtual crops, killing virtual pigs, etc.) absolutely addictive to a huge population. …

bijan sabet: A tip for all CEOs: do you have to attend that meeting?

Fri, 20 May 2011 18:37:41 +0100

bijan sabet: A tip for all CEOs: do you have to attend that meeting? :

bijan:

Yesterday we had our first Founder Summit in NYC. We gathered over 50 founders and CEOs together to provide learnings and lessons on a variety of shared topics.

I want to thank all that attended and participated.

We also had a few guest speakers come in. Ray Ozzie gave a talk about his…

Ted Talk by Thomas Heatherwick, perhaps one of the greatest...

Tue, 17 May 2011 18:58:42 +0100

Ted Talk by Thomas Heatherwick, perhaps one of the greatest visionary and architects of our time.

"I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not..."

Tue, 03 May 2011 12:52:32 +0100

“I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy.”

- Martin Luther King Jr. (via david)

"Being upbeat is the key to life…"

Tue, 15 Mar 2011 15:17:17 +0000

“Being upbeat is the key to life…”

- Simple thought of the day.

"For fast acting relief from stress, try slowing down."

Thu, 10 Mar 2011 15:24:10 +0000

“For fast acting relief from stress, try slowing down.”

- Slow is beautiful and something we Londoners always seem to be forgetful of.

Life Lesson: Are you the Lakers or the Heat?

Tue, 08 Mar 2011 20:25:00 +0000

Those close to me, know I’ve been a Lakers fan since I picked up a basketball at age 7.

This year’s regular season has been a roller coaster ride for Lakers fans alike - hot start, then plagued by the inconstancies and lack of excitement that at times affects teams who are chasing a third title in a row.

Photo credit: TimDD

The low point of the season came when the Lakers lost to the Cavaliers just before the all star break in mid-Feb. To put things into perspective, the Cavs are the worst team in the league and at one point had lost 26 straight consecutive games. To add insult to injury, this is the same Cavs team, the Lakers gave a good old fashion whipping by 50+ points a few days before their fall.

As of writing, the Lakers seem to have “turned it on” just as the Playoffs are edging closer.

Winners of 7 straight and a recent convincing win over the Spurs (who boast the leagues best record & winners of 22 straight at home), has myself and Lakers fans super excited.

Now this brings us to the Miami Heat - a team with 3 franchise players in their prime and on paper a team that should win multiple championships for years to come.

Two different teams on opposite ends right now - the Lakers clicking on all cylinders to chase their third consecutive ring in 4 years; the Heat, losers of 4 straight games, not being able to close tight games with 3 top notch players and arguably the best 2 players in the league: Wade and Lebron - and now the recent debacle that after a recent loss, some of the heat players were crying in the locker room.

With all fairness to the Heats, whether pro athleats should cry when things are not going well is another discussion - every team is different and chooses how to deal with their emotions. Which brings us to why there’s a good life lesson to be learned from all this.

The naysayers have continued to bark the Lakers are old and not as strong as previous years - but these same folks seem to be forgetful of what separates a championship caliber team like the Lakers versus just other good teams in the league:

The Lakers feed on adversities and challenges - they capitalize on setbacks and adversity to become even more motivated and even more successful. It’s not falling down, it’s falling up and that’s what this Lakers team is all about.

The Lakers are proving when you hit rock bottom as in the loss to the Cavs, you can’t feel sorry for yourself, you need to pick your fallen butt up and propel yourself right back up.

While the Heat team is in a state of shock (what else would explain the team crying in the locker room) as to how they could be losing with 3 franchise players in their prime.

Miami with their recent outcry, seem to be incognizant of the fact*:

champions and successful people always find a way to turn an adversity into a new opportunity for growth and success and NEVER expect success to be handed to them just because …

Next time you’re faced with an adversity, will you be the Lakers or the Heat?

In other words, will you use the down point as a catalyst to propel right back up or will you continue to feed yourself a negative belief as to why this is happening to me?

* hopefully they’ll “get it” after the Lakers 3-peat this year and not anytime sooner :D

"I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious."

Tue, 08 Mar 2011 07:48:58 +0000

“I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.”

- Albert Einstein

How to Make Books More Social

Mon, 07 Mar 2011 14:06:00 +0000

You would think, reading a book today is as much a social experience than ever with advancements in technology with the likes of iPad & Kindle.

Though as much as technology has evolved and we’ve become even more socially connected digitally, it’s still very difficult to share ideas and highlights from an ebook with your team and others.

Is this a limitation set to protect copy right and ease the fear of publishers?

On the flip side, wouldn’t publishers and authors benefit by giving readers the ability to share ideas from a book with others?

What if both Kindle and iBook give their readers the option to share (through copy and paste) directly from inside the app? (Though kindle saves your highlights on kindle.amazon.com - it’s a start)

Let’s say for a Kindle non-fiction book that costs $10, you would pay $12 and that extra $2 will give you an allowance to copy and paste x pages or x number of words right from inside the app (or ditch the fees & allow it for free on all books).

Perhaps copy & paste direct from inside a book could made a reality via The Domino Project started by Seth Godin and powered by Amazon - who are after all trying to help books spread and eliminate obscurity for authors.

Ideas and books are meant to be shared and spread - copy and paste directly from inside the book, could just help those important ideas to spread even more freely.

"When was the last time you did something for the first time?"

Sat, 05 Mar 2011 14:27:00 +0000

“When was the last time you did something for the first time?”

- When was the last time you did something for the first time?

Four years ago, this simple question stopped me in my tracks and helped change my life for the better.

Up to that point - everything new I did was related to work - my personal life & experiences where all tied to work and it was an ultimate low for me.

If I were to have a drink with myself, I would be one boring company.

However, fortunately for me and those around me, that was the past - after thinking about this simple question, I started to look for new experiences where and when ever possible and I soon found myself picking up hobbies I would have never deemed interesting: from learning to bake bread to drawing on the right side of the brain to running a marathon, all came about asking myself “when was the last time I did something for the first time?”

Lesson learned, don’t just wait for life to happen - go grab life by the horn; there’s so much to see, taste, start, make & experience.

Signing off to go for a game of squash (new hobby) :)