..time is certainly flying

..i just realized one thing, and i know you will shake your head and say "you just noticed that now!", but my God time flies, not only when you are having fun, but also when you are just hanging out, i mean did you notice that today is 13th of Sept. and right around the corner we have christmas / new years waiting .. - not to mention in a short time from now i will add another candle in my birthday cake - how depressive is that.. - well to be honest i dont find it half as depressive as i use to, i mean after all 40 is the new 20 so i still have a couple of years to go, before it hit that. But seriously speaking, age has nothing to do with anything, (almost anything obviously there are a couple of exceptions where age is very important ... - you do the math) but in general it is not about how much time you have, but really what you do with the time you are given. I always get upset when i hear people talking about their time management (keep in mind i use to coach on this topic..) "Martin, i cant see manage my time.." or "i dont have time available.." both statements we all know are totally wrong, and here is why, you dont, never will, never going to, never can manage time - time is given, 24 hrs a day, 60 min in an hour, 60 seconds in a minute - what can you do about that ? you can only choose to manage yourself, decide what to spend time on, versus not spend time on, and then you will see the difference.. - there is no secrete behind getting more done than others, it is about how you organize yourself, successful people tend to be much better organized than others - but there is really no secrete.

So for me it is not all about business or success, i simple want to be organized so i have time to enjoy more around me, may that be weather, nature, friends, conversations or whatever .. i want to ensure that i get the most out of work and time spend at work so i want to smile and have fun, because before you know it, it will all be over ..

So friends, treasure your time, spend it well, and enjoy ever second you have - dont throw it away on silly stuff that doesnt add any value to your life .. - do what you want to do ..

till our next time, time is ticking .. 

..staying connected ..

So we are almost at the end of the week, and the sun is shining, birds are still singing, life is in general very good until you get caught in this digital world of trying to get connected to your friends, colleagues and whoever else that might be following you.. now i am not negative, i am not upset, i am in general in a very good mood, but can someone explain me one thing, "how on earth am i suppose to find the time to stay connected when i have so many different applications to update?".. so this it my evolution of digital, a long time ago i was on xing, then moved to LinkedIn, the on to google+, then twitter, then Klout, then path, then pinterest, on now finally foursquare - not to mention my normal googlemail, hotmail, company mail, sms and phone calls, i sometimes really feel like i am spending more time on "updating" my status or comments and tips than i am really talking or connecting with people .. - is this the new "normal" ? is this what is ahead of us,  i remember in the past when we started talking about social / digital apps making our lives easier, easier to connect, easier to communicate, but is it really making our lives easier ? i mean i am almost stressed out, if i dont get new followers on twitter! or if nobody gives me a +K on klout (which if you have done already would be very nice of you to make a habit out of doing - i mean to give me a bit of Social / digital credit :-)) but the question is really - does it help you, if yes, cool great, you must have a secrete or two on how to make it work, can you share that with me, i am eager to learn... if it doesnt work, lets hope that someone will give us some insight in making it work, as it seems that all of those social apps are here to stay... and if you cant beat them - join them ..

so friends to our next time, look me up on "foursquare" to see what i am really up to :-))

stay connected, stay real .. 

..once again..

..so once again i almost started slipping into the old routine of not updating my blog, BUT this time around i actually stopped myself from doing so, which made me think about one simply thing, how simple is it to procastinate, how simple is it to not do things here and now, and just leave it for tomorrow - and somehow hope that it will go away, have you ever tried that ? okay so this is what i found out, i typically procrastinate the things i dont like doing (big surprise right??!!), but when i finally get my act together to do something about it, i realize that thing i didnt like to do, is no longer alone, uuuhhh it has brought its family and friends, i mean seriously think of it, you procratinate and all of a sudden additional stress is coming on top of doing something you dont like to do, let me just mention a couple of the "family" members, time, frustrations from others, stress from others, and finally the lack of proper execution or delivery .. i must have procratinate things a million times, and it never stops to surprise me, just how painful it is in the end - when i finally have to do the work - uufff ... its kinda like going to bed to late, the morning after you know you should have gone to bed earlier -- will you change this ? most likely not.. but here is one reason why you should stop your procrastination ... - it save you time in the end, yes thats right, you will eventually free up more time, time that you can spend on the fun stuff.. so no more procratination from my side .. never ever again - until the next time of course :-)) because stopping to procrastinating is really a mindset, and with a mindset the biggest problem is you - yes! you!! you need to fundamentally change how you do things, you need to get organized and clean up your act, and that my friends is not easy .. especially not if we are use to do things for a long period of time, its all about breaking your habbits, and thats difficult, and that is coming from an old dog like me..

so i will give you an example, on of my own examples .. i love to write (if you havent noticed), but i love to write when i feel like it, i have writen for newspapers, i have done articles, stuff like that, but what i really deep down always wanted to do was to write a book, yes me, a book... i had the ideas, i had the main charecter, i even had the story - it was all in my mind, never on paper, so it was merely a dream, nothing else.. 4 month back or so - i took a piece of blank paper told myself that today was the day where i would start, and believe it or not, i did start, i think 3 weeks later i clicked save on my notebook - my first ever book was a reality ... my first book, in 3 weeks - i have procratinated this for years, 3 weeks.. i felt so good that i right away started my second book, and then it hit me, i started procrastinating on that one .. so guess what i am doing during the weekend - yes, i am writing again no more procratination..

my point in the end really is simple, procrastination is going to get you anywhere - you wont win anything on it, you wont get a special badge for procrastination, you wont impress anybody with it, and in the end you WILL have to do it anyways, with interests of course .. - so take a deep breath, and get it done ..

.. so my book is done, not yet published - and thats okay, for me the most important thing was to write it, i am sure one day you will be able to find the following in a bookshop..

"The man with only one regret" a book by Martin Nielsen,

so till our next time, look out for that book :-)

..how time is flying ..

did you ever notice how time is just flying, so i was leaving the office just the other day, reliving my way to short weekend (they generally are, aren't they..) and i looked down on my watch only to realize that it was already evening, and that a couple of hours more and i would doze of to sleep. I woke up in the morning, again why to late, and on the way to work, i was thinking about how time is flying, first the day in itself is just gone in a blink of an eye, then its the week, then its the month and before you know it, a new year is here, and congratulation you just got one year older - what a circle, what a life, what a world.. i mean it isnt really that bad, right! i mean you have your ups and downs, you smile, you laugh, you cry, you do all of that, but by the end of the day do you really manage to do the things you want to ? do you do what you love to do ? or do you feel stuck ? i started asking myself similar questions - and the conclusion was that i ended up in india, not bad right, it then made me change jobs, i made me change a couple of things in my life, it made me live slightly healthier, do more sports, control my temper, ask for more help and support, in general i would like to believe that due to the fact that i have understood that time is one of the few factors in life that you cant control, it has made me a more "grateful" person, i try to get more out of life, sure work is part of this as well, trust me without your job (even if you have enough money) you would be missing out on a lot of great stuff, colleagues, stress, pressure, long working hours, aircondition, and of course lack of time to do proper lunch, but most of all you would be missing out on the excitement of weekend coming, holidays coming .. - and this is something i am much more appreciative about now than ever before..

so in the middle of all this consideration of time, lack of it, using it wrong, using it good, i remember one thing i used to teach when i was doing trainings a loooong time ago, which i find ever so true no, time management really isnt about managing time (anyways you cant really, its given and it wont change..) but it is all about managing yourself, and what you do with the time you have available, do you really get the most out of your time everyday or do you waste it away on being bitter and frustrated, if so, trust me it really isnt worth it, i use to be like that ...

so not to sound like the best person in the world (which if you have read some of my previous posting will know i am not trying to be..) but here is what i did and do, i wrote out a simple list, a list that contains all the things i want to do, i want to see, and what to experience.. and i am trying to make the items on the list small, and very tangible, once i have that i start to do those things, see those things and experience those things, then i sit down tick of on my list and start to add new items - and on and on and ... now when i reflect back on my week, month or year, i really feel that i have achieved something..

so you might ask me for an example, here you go..  i wrote down i wanted to change my job role, aaanndd - as of 1st of july this year i started a new role .. tick in the box, on to the next one ..

friends whatever you do, you wont get more time, it is up to you how you use it, but with everything precious in life, it can never be replaced or substituted - so my advice to you is this, use your time wisely, dont waste it, its like wasting the most precious gift .. it would just be wrong..

with those words enough with the romance - friends, have a nice day, and till our next time, stay true.. 

..getting a bit confused ..

so every time i figure out something new, every time i get the understanding of something new, every time i get comfortable with something - something new and different comes along.. now its not that i consider myself out of date already, however i am starting to not being able to keep the pace, and i wonder how anybody can anymore. A long time ago i decided not to go with FB as i didnt find any needs for it, then i started doing a blog, then it was all of the hotmail / yahoo / gmail set up, then it was skype, it was ICQ, then slowly twitter, xing, linkedin, twitter, G+, dropbox, pinterest, klout, instagram, and it just keeps on coming .. i understand the structure of all of them, which is to build a "community", i guess some of them are meant to help you become more productive, but aren't all of those tools, micro-blogs etc starting to demand more of your time than before, are we not looking at investing more and more time on-line versus face to face, (okay that sounds so old fashion..), is this healthy? not that long ago i posted a tweet, which caused me to get a couple of direct messages that was rather unpleasant, my only comment was that with all the focus on internet / online children are now a-days becoming totally ad utterly socially awkward, i mean come on we have a new concept that is the "ipad generation", i was truly and utterly shocked when i heard that the first time .. imagine kids now-a-days dont smile to each other but send a :-) how weird..

so going from me being mentally tired of all the changes to internet / "onlineness" / my social community building / my own connectivity i am starting to look more at a new generation that is building their whole socialness on being online - what will happen when / if there is a outage.. what has the world come to.. i know you can stop development, but cant we make a balance between one and the other ..

As always if you have a comment or reply - feel free to drop me a line, .. till then stay social ..  

Once again it is reflection time..

So i promised i would be a bit more active on my blog, so here is two in a row .. :-) a couple of things are on my mind today..

First is about my blog, twitter, and Google+ page. So i have been asked by several people by now, what is your blog, twitter, etc all about? its actually very simple, its about everything and nothing, it is work related, it is personal, it is in general what is on my mind, sometimes inspirational thinking, problems, issues, friendship, all the things that we all are going through, i just choose to share these things with whoever wants to read, i am not saying i have the answers to everything, nor do i believe that my way is the best way, i simply need to get my thoughts out in the open .. - so if you are like me, great join the club, come with your input, share your thoughts, and lets get is all out in the open .. if you are not like me, well i hope you will find what i write and share at least a bit entertaining, because by the end of it all, isnt that really what we all miss, fun and entertainment .. arent we always asked to be serious, to concentrate, to focus, to be mature etc. why does it all have to be sooooo serious ..

Now the second thing is about making mistakes, and regretting them.. - uff that all of a sudden turned to a more serious topic, how many of us have made mistakes in our life? how many of us have done something bad or wrong to another person? how many of us have done something that we regret? Oh my God i can answer "yes" to all of them .. and multiple times, if mistakes and bad choices would be building blocks in a road, i would be able to build a highway by now. But here is the thing, its not that much about making the mistake, its not about the regret, its about understanding deep down inside of you that you made something wrong.. So i will give you an example so you can see what i mean, in my past i might have been a bit more selfish than i am now, i was young immature, and in general i didnt value what i had or who i had in my life (and i bet i am not the only one ..) so i hurt a lot of people, i upset a lot of friends, and it in general wasnt very nice....

After some strong wake-up calls, friends leaving you, girlfriend breaking up with you, colleagues ignoring you, you kinda end up in a place where you can a) blame everybody else but yourself or b) take a deep and long look at your life.. needless to say that i choose a) in the beginning - only to find myself repeating the same mistakes .. eventually i get forced to take choice b) and it was scary, it was unpleasant, it was ugly .. not so much because of what i had become, but more because of all the people i had cause pain. After spending a lot of time (and i mean years..) with regrets and guilt i actually ended doing the one and only thing i could do, i asked for forgiveness - i asked for forgiveness from my friends, family and ex-girlfriend, it was relieving, but to my surprise the guilt and regrets didnt go away, and that was when i realized the big thing, you can ask for forgiveness from others, from your love ones, and if they really do love you - they will forgive you, because in the end they love you .. - but the one that is the most difficult one to ask for forgiveness from, is actually yourself!

The road for self-recovery is a long and hard one my friends, its tough, it is not nice what you might find, but in the end it is worth it .. and for those people that you have hurt, they might not believe that you changed, they might not want to believe you - and thats okay, thats fine, the most important thing is that you know it!!

When i went and apologized needless to say that not everybody was equally impressed with me, they didnt believe my sincerity, my feelings, my want to change, and i still doubt that till now have found it in their hearts to forgive me, which is ok, because trust me when i say they cant put me through anything that i havent been through with myself already - they cant tell me anything i havent told myself already, they cant do anything to me, i havent done already ... - in the end your own worse enemy is yourself!

So a bit of deep thoughts on a Friday afternoon, but here is the conclusion, as important as it is to ask other people for forgiveness when you make mistakes, it is even more important that you forgive yourself, that you look at yourself and commit to yourself that you wont make that same mistake again..

Friends with this i wish you all a great weekend, remember one thing, Forgive but do forget .. 

It has been tooo long since my last post

so here goes, this will be one of the first and last times you will hear my apologies, so pay attention.. I am sorry for not being around lately, sorry for not posting anything lately, and more important i am sorry for not keeping you up-to-date with what i have been doing lately... (theoretically i can come with a long list of excuses - but i will spare you for that ...) Instead, let me promise you that i will try harder to stay in touch... (oh i did mention that i am on twitter so there you can find out what this little bird is up to ..)

Anyways let me give you a short (ultra-short) update, so life has changed a lot since i came back from India - i guess everything started with India and now the ball is rolling. I have asked myself this question many times by now, "would i have gone to India, knowing just how much i would change?" - the answer is a clear and obvious ..... "yes, but"... i sometimes have the feeling that an innocent "Martin" went to India and a much more mature "Martin" returned, i mean i still joke and laugh, but something inside of me has changed, i am more "aware", more realistic, i see things in a different light, and more over all of the "dots" are now starting to get connected .. I am referring to the "dots" a lot lately, but i really find it important to understand "how" and "why" you end up in the situation as you do .. - so that is what i mean with connecting the dots..

So besides the fact that i have change my life, i have also change job, still working for the same company, (a dead give a way what company that is, if you would look at my twitter profile :-) and you know as well as i do, that with all changes comes dynamics, challenges, stress, mistakes, hard work, and trust me i have and still is going through these things ... - but one thing i can honestly say is, wow what a great set of people i am working with and working for, sure everybody have ups and downs, so do i, so do the people i work with and work for, that natural, but i really do feel that the people i work with are passionately about their job, they give it their maximum and then more, and boy do the make it look simple (i am still struggling with a lot of things - dont tell anybody) ..

Friends this was a short little update from me, more to come (i promise..), remember one thing, "love what you do, and do what you love.."

till our next time, take care,