Welcome to my journey!

It has been 48 hours without food. I feel tired but happy. I feel more concentrated and the only thing on my mind is to have one amazing pizza. We feel amazing after we do something extraordinary. Usually even tired. When we organize a conference, complete a marathon or even fast for a long period of time. It is great to challenge ourselves and to see what our limits are. This is the only way to grow and move forward.

All the gurus out there try to convince us to “stay hungry, stay foolish”. But without knowing the context it is hard to overgeneralize. I decided to try 48 hours fasting. I haven’t done it for a few years now, and it is still a struggle for me. Without knowing the feeling of hunger, it is hard to know what being hungry it is. Without being successful it is hard to coach others what this means. When you look for good people to be around, look for people who had walked the walk, talked the talk.

In the highlight of the Turkish election, there is one very important question we need to ask ourselves. What makes us what to support autocratic rulers? Does knowing that someone with an absolute power “protecting us” make us feel safe? Or is there a real democracy and is our choice really worth something? Many leaders want us to believe that voting is important. That vote actually matters. But what if it doesn’t matter? What if all the things we vote for go to the same people but with different faces and names? We have done many things in the name of our fate. We fly into the sky; we went to the moon; we invented unimaginable wonders. So maybe having a fate and believing in the impossible is the only way to go.   Even if that impossible is the democracy itself.

I still struggle with planning the activities for my future plans. Today is a different story. I had caught up with a lot of work this week and now I give myself the permission to work on my future plans!

I rarely sleep until noon, but today it is a different story. And you know what? It was great!

It is another Friday, this time the weather is amazing. I still struggle to prioritise some me time. There are so many things I want to do, but today is different. Today I will but in my calendar the time to complete tasks I had postponed for ages.  

I was late with some articles and I decided to book time on my calendar to complete them. Guess what? I did them for 1 hour time-box activity. It is hard to find the time, but once you decided that this is important, you can really do it!

Companies try to increase the interactions in the office and promote collaboration. But the reality is that work will always take priority. If you want to encourage cross team interaction, organize something extra ordinary, organize event outside of the work environment and provide this opportunity to your employees. I have seen it many times, and it works. Sadly, companies prefer to introduce policies and punishments instead of doing the thing that is a common sense.

As I wrote in  Politics is not for me , I invest an unhealthy amount of time researching about this topic. We all know what we need to stop, but it is not always easy. The first step to change is to realize that something is wrong and the second step is to take accountability in your hands. Accountability could be as reward and punishment or something else. For instance, when you stop reading the news for 1 month, you can do something you really enjoy. But also, you need to plan daily rewards, because one month from now is an extremely long time to check if you are doing the things you said you will or not.

I have a confession to make; I spend unhealthy a lot of time on politics. I read and research a lot. But what we see from the outside, the speeches and media interactions is not even 1% of the real story. When I sum the time spend on researching and the amount of interactions and changes I made, I am in a big minus. Sure, I manage to change and contribute to some things, but the general direction was unchanged. As a citizen, I can sum it up that politics is only profitable for politicians and for the rest is a waste of their time.

In the  Content creation trap , I wrote about the useless activities some people do and how they lead to nowhere. I believe the same is for Instagram. The people who I see are the most active, they really want to sell you something. But I am expecting from this platform to interact with authentic people and not marketers. But once you know the name of the game, then this platform become another trap. The trap of our attention. Growing followers means taking their time and focusing it on what you do. Travel pics are nice, but what is truly for me? If you can’t provide clear value, you might end up having a lot of followers and wasted all your time for nothings. So instead of trying to lure followers with some nonsense things(which by the way everyone is doing), try to be unique and provide a value.  

I have to confess. I am in a content creation trap. I started this blog inspired by Seth Godin. And very soon I found how hard it is to write one blog post per day. It is something that very few people can do. And the benefits of this blog are not so clear initially. Do I want to become famous? Of course I do! Will I become famous by writing one blog post per day? I really doubt that, but the skills to plan and to follow through with the plan are important. And this is one way I can achieve my goals. I have seen many content creators using the wrong strategies and overwhelming themselves just to get a little reward. And this is not my strategy. But If you are a content creator, measure your progress and do things that work, otherwise your effort will be useless and you will end up wasting time. This is the content creation trap.

One of the hardest things to do in your life is to talk to your spouse about things you want them to change. It is normal to look for someone in your life who will complement your skills and provide a value in the relationship. We all have our blind spots or things we expect from others, which are not necessarily common knowledge. I am a firm believer in the concept of being in a relationship because you want to grow with the other person. But many people make the mistake of looking for someone, just because the society expects them to do that. This is unfortunate, but very common. If you ask me for one relationship advice, this will be it. Find someone who complements your skills and you are not afraid to have difficult conversations with them.

Frameworks are amazing. They save tons of money, but provide us with the right tools and limit the repeated operations we regularly do. But rarely people create their own frameworks for their life. And this is something we should all try to build.

In some countries, when you retire, the state gives you a pension. It is considered “free money”. There is nothing free in this world and you had basically paid all your life to receive this money. I know people who recently achieve this milestone and I hope they live long years to cash on this well-deserved achievement. It makes me wonder are they are so lucky? Sure, you work a lot to achieve this milestone, but isn’t it better to enjoy the life to the fullest while young and not wait for this significant milestone?

As written before, consistency is important. But sometimes we need to catch up with work and tasks. Then it is important to prioritise our activities.

Nothing more to add here. Consistency is a truly desirable quality which is hard to have. Life will try to move us in the wrong direction and only when we are consistent we can achieve amazing things!

Funny how in some companies rarely the best person takes the job. This event might be seen from 2 different perspective. Companies want to give a chance to someone to grow or companies just follow politics and are blind about the implications of having someone unqualified.   Not sure which one is more true, but let’s say it is all down to your personal point of view.

I was nominated to become a secretary of an alumni organization. I am happy to support it, and for my position there was a challenge and competition. For the rest, there was only 1 candidate. This made my job to be elected harder, but also brings to me a different perspective on how another candidate sees that position. Competition is good. It brings good ideas when it is healthy. When it is not, it can destroy your organization.

Politics is such a waste of time. I am watching the issue with the Bulgarian politics and you know what? There is a big drama on the surface. They are fighting and dividing people’s opinion. But they don’t solve any problem people are actually interested in. If in the company you work for there is strong office politics, make sure that it is focused on something that actually produces a change. Otherwise it is a huge waste!

People think that programmers are lazy. There are a lot of memes about how programmers go to a job interview and the company just gave them lots of money. The reality is so much different. Technologies change all the time. Programmers need to learn new technologies and specialize in different frameworks. It is becoming more and more complex to be an expert in many diverse technologies and to keep up with all the changes.   To be a software engineer means to learn a lot and constantly to challenge yourself.

It is always hard to go to work on the first day after a vacation. You need to catch up with emails, meetings and so on. The best thing to do is to accept that you will be not so efficient and plan it accordingly.

Asked Microsoft Design to create a design for my blog and you can see it here. For a beta version, I see tons of potential and something I can hardly do with Canva. My main issue with Canva are the categories, they take a lot of time to figure out what kind of design I want. Microsoft approach is more of what I would expect VA to do for me. I am looking forward to the automated future.

This is the last day of our Montenegro experience. Today we are on the seaside, and enjoying the sun. And after that we took the car back to Podgorica. The road is way better than the mountain road we take initially to go to the seaside. The only good and bad thing is that the touristic season didn’t start yet, so we were very limited in places where we can eat. At the same time, we saw a more authentic part of the country.

Today we went to see MMA fighters. It wasn’t something I enjoyed. I found the entire sport too savage for my taste and I am starting to understand why Americans like so much their WWF. There is less blood in WWF and a bigger show for a longer time. The true is that in MMA an opponent might be defeated in a matter of seconds. We were expecting long rounds like in boxing, but my friend and I saw just the brutality of the sport. I still think there is nothing manly in the way those fighters are punching each other, but it might be better to express their aggression inside such a ring and sport, compare to looking for a trouble in some bar.

Another issue I faced in Montenegro was their main roads. We passed through a mountain and it was a disastrous experience. Julius Caesar once made a decision to cross the Rubicon, and this was the decision we made to go with a car from Podgorica to Kotor. My observations about this journey are that many people will try to pressure you to follow their pace, but this is not beneficial to you. Maybe it is a new road, maybe they are reckless and you don’t want to copy their style. This is true in the real life. Once you decided on how to live it, you will face many gurus and “influencers” who will try to tell you what is best for you. But the only one who knows that is you!

Many people hate negotiating. Why? Because it is scary. Because you will need to justify your worth. Because you will need to be rude to another human being. Because there is a big risk of failure and you are not okay with failing. However, in the cultures where negotiation is a norm, people who don’t negotiate are losers. People who don’t negotiate will experience the pain of overpaying for everything. I had to negotiate some prices in Montenegro and I am proud of myself, because I like a good deal. And nothing says job well done, when you finally pay 50% less of what the seller asked from you.

Choosing a vacation stop is crucial. I am a very good planner and whenever is possible I am trying to visit countries I had never been before. This year, my friends and I will visit Montenegro for a vacation. There are few reasons for that, but mostly we have never been there and since it is in the Balkans, the food is amazing and people should be friendly. Also, it covers our budget. There are two ways of looking at a vacation plans: one is to plan one or two per year and those should be very expensive and the other one is to have short vacations throughout the year and they might be mid to low budget. At this point in my life, quantity is better than quality and I prefer to travel more to less expensive places and resorts, but to learn more about how locals live and what is really like living in that country. What about you? How do you plan your vacation?  

  Small vs. Large Companies     User Create a blog post article about the difference between working in small company and huge corporation and the importance of a perspective.   ChatGPT Title: Embracing Perspectives: Unveiling the Difference Between Small Companies and Huge Corporations   Introduction: In today’s professional landscape, individuals have the opportunity to choose between working for small companies or joining the ranks of massive corporations. Each option offers a unique set of advantages and challenges, making it crucial to consider one’s perspective before making a career move. In this article, we will delve into the contrasting aspects of working in small companies and huge corporations, shedding light on the importance of perspective in finding the right fit for your professional aspirations.   Company Culture: Small Companies: A small company often fosters a close-knit environment where employees work closely together. The culture tends to be more informal, with fe

Microsoft just dropped a bomb on millions of Windows 10 users, and it could cost anyone with an older PC. Redmond just said that 22H2 is the last Windows 10 version, which means no more exciting updates or big changes for users. Announcing the news, Microsoft’s Jason Leznek said: “The current version, 22H2, will be the final version of Windows 10.” There is still time until 2025 when it will be the end for the support for Windows 10. If your hardware doesn’t support the requirements for Windows 11 showed below. It might be better to switch to software OS that is actively supported such as Linux. WINDOWS 11 REQUIREMENTS Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster with two or more cores on a compatible 64-bit processor or system on a chip (SoC). RAM: 4 gigabytes (GB) or greater. Storage: 64 GB or greater available storage is required to install Windows 11. Graphics card: Compatible with DirectX 12 or later, with a WDDM 2.0 driver. TPM: Trusted Platform Module (TPM) version 2.0. #microsoft #w

I found an article which states that World Economic Forum issues a report stating which jobs will face growth and which face decline. Here are the top 10 jobs which will face growth in the next 5 years. AI and Machine Learning Specialists Sustainability Specialists Business Intelligence Analysts Information Security Analysts FinTech Engineers Data Analysts and Scientists Robotics Engineers Big Data Specialists Agricultural Equipment Operators Digital Transformation Specialists And the top 10 jobs which will face decline: Bank Tellers and Related Clerks Postal Service Clerks Cashiers and Ticket Clerks Data Entry Clerks Administrative and Executive Secretaries Material-Recording and Stock-Keeping Clerks Accounting, Bookkeeping and Payroll Clerks Legislators and Officials Statistical, Finance and Insurance Clerk Door-To-Door Sales Workers, News and Street…   This shows that AI will really change the world in a big way in the next 5 years and we all need to be ready for it