Stress and focus

JackAZ Photo - Focused

Once, I played a football game, and one player in the opposite team made a remark – „when trying to score a penalty kick, some players hit the ball hard and try very hard to score. A much better strategy is to be relaxed, to focus on aiming well, not hitting the ball hard, you have a better success rate”.

I think he was right.

Once, I was in a theater play. I had just 3 lines to remember. But prior to entering the stage, I focused on helping some colleagues do some things, and when I entered the stage I wasn’t prepared. While I knew the lines by heart, the sudden change in the scenery (focus on solving an issue vs. focus on the audience) scared me, and I didn’t say the 3 lines correctly.

Sure, you can even be too little stressed. There is a level of stress which is necessary. You can’t say silly things, do irrelevant things, and only focus on laughing and expect success.

Some people prepare a presentation, put a lot of effort into writing things down on the presentation, read it word by word, and although they spent a great amount of time in preparation, the audience isn’t focused.

Other people write just the main ideas on the slides, use huge photos and large photos, and speak most of the presentation about the title of the slides. Sure, some things are rehearsed, but it’s not like they remember the whole presentation by heart. And the audience pays more attention to the presentation, despite being less prepared.

Stress is a good thing. Don’t overdo it, though, and also don’t have too little of it. Find the sweet spot.

You need stress to keep things focused. But you need to find the right amount. Laugh a little, put some pressure. The middle path is the best.

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Praying and God

Tobias Mayr - Praying in Salta, Argentina

Bishop Robert Barron said in a video a thing similar to this (very approximate quotation):

People might fall in various things, but if they don’t fail in prayer (they don’t stop praying), hope is not lost.

I think that praying does one important thing – it makes you admit you have a lower position in the world.

When you pray, you admit that a superior entity can help with prayer, be it for praise, requests, thanks.

That’s the first step to take – you need to admit there’s something bigger than yourself.

Once you have this, you can focus on other things, but you need to start from here.

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Needing people

Alfred Grupstra - Mouth Wide Open

I think we do need people to succeed – Arnold Schwarzenegger is right (There’s no such thing: self-made man, motivational video).

On another hand, I don’t agree when people claim „Look, I made you do X, it’s due to me, you need to thank me for this”. I have some memories with people telling me: „Look, Olivian did this due to me”. I don’t think that’s fair.

So, it goes both ways:

  • You need people in order to succeed.
  • People, when they influence you, only do this to a degree: if you take an action, you do so only to a degree influenced by others, you have some influence yourself.

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Paying for school

Conspiracy of Cartographers - Granite School, Wyoming

There’s a bit of debate in Romania whether people should contribute to the finances of a school.

We have a thing in Romania called  „fondul clasei” (classroom fund), which is funded by parent’s money and helps with minor improvements in education.

There are two big arguments:

  • This money should be permitted, as some people want to help the school.
  • This money should not be allowed, as it forces poor students to contribute, and, when they can’t do so, bad things happen.

My view on this is that the first argument is a false one – you don’t need everyone in a classroom to contribute with money. If you are doing OK with money, and wish that your child has a good education, no one stops you from writing a check which would help.

On another hand, poor students might have issues with paying for school. Do this in the long run with big numbers, and some pupils will leave school due to this reason, or, much more likely, they’ll have a poor experience in school.

In my opinion, if education should be universal, then, in that case, you shouldn’t force people to pay for it.

There are lots of dilemmas like „Is the current school education system the best one?” or „Should school be mandatory and free?”, but they’re for another talk.

For the current talk, I think that people shouldn’t be forced to pay for school education.

I have some memories from my own education with such contributions, and none of them are nice. I would prefer they wouldn’t exist.

The question has a wrong answer – „people want to help the school!”. Well, nobody stops you. On another hand, paying for school makes some people skip education, and I don’t think that’s right.

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Hard lessons

Guido Klumpe - Dark tunnel

I think the biggest growth moments in my life came after realizing a hard, harsh, annoying, tough truth.

It’s not pleasant to see the naked emperor, to face your ugly fears, to fight your inner demons, to pick up the sword.

Yet, this is where growth comes from.

To keep ruminating things, to relive bad moments, to look at you in a mirror which doesn’t hide faults – now, that’s difficult.

But after the darkness, there’s light.

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Piesă de teatru – Cum să pierzi totul într-o zi?

Bilete Cum să pierzi totul într-o zi? - 2 iul, ora 19:30 - Teatrul de Vara Mihai Eminescu - iaBilet.ro

Am văzut Cum să pierzi totul într-o zi.

Câteva idei:

  • Limbaj simplu, ușor de urmărit.
  • Extrem de amuzantă, în top 5 piese pe care le-am văzut vreodată (clasice, non-improvizație).
  • Decor simplu, dar folosit inteligent și eficace.
  • Distribuție importantă.
  • Cam grobian, dar nu m-a deranjat.

Distributia: Silviu Biriș, Magda Catone, Ozana Barabancea, Razvan Oprea/ Pavel Barsan, Ana Odagiu, Natalia Dragomir, Victor Vurtejanu, Radița Roșu
Scenografia: Simona Marcu
Adaptare a regizorului Razvan Oprea

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Persons helping the church and volunteers within NGOs

John - Volunteer Celebration

There are some people helping with administrative and logistic things around the church, people who offer their time to help with daily tasks.

Some people might envy those persons for being, all the time, close to God.

On another hand, if you carefully look at the situation you might notice that while they’re always busy doing something, they rarely if ever have time to properly listen and pray in the church.

So close, no matter how far.

Same with NGOs.

I know people who dedicate their lives to helping others.

While that’s nice and noble, there are other ways in which you can have an even bigger impact – for example, getting resources doing other activities, and helping society with those resources.

I think working in an NGO is one of the noblest things one can do for others.

Still, there are even better solutions.

Note – I start here with the assumption that all things are equal: one has the same motivation working for an NGO as doing other tasks. If this isn’t the thing, one’s mileage might vary. This is not career advice, it’s just a thought on a possible solution for improving things. At times, my solution might fail.

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Despre Doi tineri din Verona de William Shakespeare (Teatrul de Stat Constanța)

Can Pac Swire - Shakespeare & Co. (Original) with Fire and Fury

Am văzut la Teatrul de Stat Constanța piesa „Doi tineri din Verona” de William Shakespeare.

Câteva idei:

  • Vizual, nu țin minte să fi văzut în România un spectacol mai frumos. În orice caz, e sigur undeva în top 5, probabil top 3, foarte posibil pe locul 1 în tot ce am văzut.
  • Ca în multe alte spectacole de Marele Will, am avut dificultăți în a înțelege ce se întâmplă, care sunt replicile, ce se spune.
  • Am problema asta cu teatrul, în general – unele replici vin foarte rapid, nu doar că par nenaturale, dar nu apuci să procesezi ce se spune. Iar dacă e vorba de o replică în versuri, cu rime, cu ordine a cuvintelor în frază atipică, dacă spui toate astea rapid, nu se înțelege mare lucru.
  • M-am cam plictisit. E legat și de faptul că nu am înțeles mare lucru.
  • Aș fi vrut să găsesc online lista melodiilor folosite în piesă. Pe pagina oficială a piesei nu le găsesc.

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