In London, I knew someone who used to say: „Definitely, it will happen!”
I liked that phrase so much!
What I remember is the pressure put on getting things done.
OK, you might have some personal problems, obstacles will arise, and there are difficulties and excuses.
But you’ll know for sure – „Definitely, it will happen!”
Sigmund Freud is explaining to a colleague the connection between fear and sex in human relationships. The colleague asks: „What comes between fear and sex?” Freud replies: „Fünf.” (source)
Why fear is reasonable when I cross a bridge – it mitigates risk, even though it’s unpleasant.
Looking at what’s beneath the bridge, I fear for my integrity, so I pay attention.
Fear might not be a good feeling, but it saves the day.
I recently read somewhere that it’s a good practice that you always start with the same energy, enthusiasm, and motivation whenever you start something.
I was once asked, „Do you wish to work for us?” (it was an online agency).
I knew some negative implications of these (more effort for less money, high dependence on a single employer, lack of diversity, losing my current clients, the bureaucracy of either closing my freelancing company or juggling a dual status – employee and having a personal company at the same time).
My answer was a hesitant yes. When confronted with the question, „Hmm, are you enthusiastic about this?” I gave some possible reasons for not being enthusiastic. As you might imagine, the talk ended there.
The thing is, I still don’t know what I did wrong. I did have fears, and they were reasonable. Did I like the new job? Yes, but with implications, and considerations, and doubts.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with this, and logically and rationally, I prefer a person who thinks about the consequences of their actions to an always-happy-always-joyful person who might get disappointed.
When I start something new, I think of what might go wrong and take measures against this.
When trying to foresee what could happen, I put the evil first and take action against it.
Am I constantly happy? Generally, no, but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with this.
I prefer success to being happy.
Do I take risks and start things? Yes.
Am I always happy? No, and I think that is fine.
I remember an HR person at a conference in college, something like 22 years ago, who talked about a potential employee. That person said in a shallow, monotone, slow, dull voice: „I’m very enthusiastic!”. I like that person’s solution more and more as time passes.
You might need to hold a 10-minute presentation.
You might be tempted to think like this: „I need exactly 10 minutes, so I’ll use a timer.”
In my opinion, that’s a poor choice – at the end of those 10 minutes, you’ll need to take action on your smartphone to stop the sounds, and you’ll look distracted and out of focus.
You’ll still need to look at the timer occasionally because if you only know that you’re out of time at the end of the 10 minutes, you won’t be able to fit your talk into the allocated time.
A better solution? Use a stopwatch. Of course, you’ll need to manually check the time a few times, but you’ll look more professional.
Let’s say I want to research a topic. What are some ideas for writing a document?
Generally, I would do before ChatGPT is research the topic extensively – looking for an exhaustive list.
The problem is that I’d have to read many documents, and most exhaustive lists tend to have a lot of low-quality content.
With ChatGPT, I only need to write „Give me a list of 100 …” and voilà!.
The list is imperfect, but it’s generally much easier to read than through dozens of tabs.
I still need to intervene and use my best judgment, but ChatGPT’s low points are better than I can generally find online.
The first quarter brought in over 900,000 euros in business, a 5% increase from 2023
Floria.ro, an established online florist delivering anywhere in the country within 2-4 hours of order confirmation, estimates a 15% increase in sales of flowers and arrangements for Palm Sunday and Easter. These two occasions are when the most flowers are given in the second quarter of the year, followed by Saints Constantine and Helen (May 21) and the end of the school year, around June 15. In the first quarter of the year, the online florist’s sales exceeded 900,000 euros, marking a 5% increase from 2023.
“For Palm Sunday and Easter, we are expecting a 15% increase, fuelled by corporate orders as well as Romanians abroad, who send flowers to family and friends in Romania. According to statistics, there are approximately 1.8 million Romanians celebrating their name day on Palm Sunday. Of these, about two-thirds are women, so over 1 million Romanian women celebrate their name day on Palm Sunday. We aim to grow by offering a collection of over 1,000 seasonal flower bouquets and activating the corporate area, where Easter arrangements are complemented by gourmet products or wines”, says Marina Popescu, General Manager of Floria.ro.
The average value of bouquets ordered on Floria.ro this year remains at 300 lei, a national average also recorded in 2023. However, Romanians living abroad place orders with an average value up to 25% higher than orders from Romania.
I read some posts on living frugally on online forums.
Examples include:
There’s nothing wrong with trying to cut costs.
But there are some other rules than legal rules – ethical rules.
Even if you can fool a service provider with no apparent direct consequences, this doesn’t imply everything is moral and acceptable.
There are other laws than State laws.
If I can share my Netflix account, this doesn’t mean I should.
If I threaten to leave a service provider without real intention, I can definitely reduce the bills. But I’ll also decrease the value I place on personal integrity.
There are even platforms like GoSplit – you give them money to pay less than Netflix. You pay a commission for having smaller costs with Netflix. And lower integrity, of course.
Unsubscribe.
There are generally just two types of problems:
When people come to me with various issues, the latter type of problem is more common.
When I went to the market (to buy groceries; there were open markets) in Bucharest, sellers would sometimes try to cheat on me.
When I go to a market in a small place (town, village), the sellers are much more honest.
What’s the difference?
In a big market, there are many sellers and many buyers. If you can’t remember them all, build a connection, and always treat people as being „one in many,” you tend not to care if you cheat or get cheated.
If you have a personal relationship with a seller, it matters whether they are honest.
Thus, if possible, buy from small markets with few sellers who will try to build a relationship with you.
Or buy from a supermarket and have almost zero risk of being cheated.
