As I am about to enter my last week of holidays, before I head back to work for the first time this year, I just couldn’t help thinking about a recent piece I read over at the NYTimes by the always witty and rather insightful Pico Iyer under the rather suggestive title of “The Joy of Quiet“, where he muses extensively about that almost forgotten, and sometimes forbidden (in today’s times, specially!), pleasures of treasuring the time to think, reflect, unwind, disconnect, see the world slowing down, charge your batteries, re-energise yourself with what really matters and perhaps come back for more. It’s a beautifully written article where he’s on a mission to help us all re-think the purpose of our online (inter)connectedness and to challenge, in a rather healthy, and very much needed, way, whether we do really need to be connected all the time. Or not. He calls it the “The Joy of Quiet” and I call it “The Joy of Choice“.

Indeed, for a good number of years there have been plenty of us, knowledge Web workers, who have been craving for having such an exciting, exuberant and abundant environment like the Social Web, as we know it nowadays. You know how it goes. We, news-junkies, can’t get enough about being constantly on the know of what’s happening around us and the rest of the world. We, news-junkies, can’t get enough of being exposed to a rampant learning curve that never ceases to stop more and more by the day, and get rather upset when technology falls short and continues to fail on delivering what we know we can get through it time and time again. We, in short, cannot longer live in isolation, it looks like, nor is a state that most of us could probably aspire to in the long run. But is it really so? And, most importantly, can we do anything about it at all? What do you think?

Pico puts it rather nicely, and very provocatively as well at the same time, in this short paragraph, when he states that we may not be able to do it because we haven’t been educated on how to make it through in the first place:

“The central paradox of the machines that have made our lives so much brighter, quicker, longer and healthier is that they cannot teach us how to make the best use of them; the information revolution came without an instruction manual“

I can imagine that it may well be so for a good number of folks out there, but then again I can also see how there may well be plenty of other people who, over the course of time, have learned to tame, and educate themselves, not only on how they live their connectedness, but also how they may live along without it altogether and do just fine. That’s when something that we haven’t had for years on the Web to the extent we have got today, but that nowadays is just too critical to ignore, kicks in nicely to our rescue: Choice. Yes, indeed, now we do have a choice and that just basically means that we need to decide how we best plan for that joy of quiet without sounding like an hermit or some other kind of weirdo who doesn’t want to reach out and feel connected while everyone else is.

That’s why during the course of my holidays, and as I continue to reflect on the last few months, specially, after that frenetic and rather hectic year end with work related activities and whatever else, I self-discovered, through that thinking and reflection time, how something so wise as your own physical body learns to protect itself from everything that may try, or attempt to, harm its wellbeing. Even if that involves the brain itself. Now I know why for some periods of last year my brain was rather keen on being out there on the Social Web, reaching out, communicating, collaborating, sharing and learning from others, and yet, my body decided to switch priorities and dedicate itself to what it knows best: taking care of itself.

Yes, I guess that’s when your body starts sending some of those subtle and gentle signs telling you that you are about to max out and enter a very dangerous road of perhaps not an easy return. That’s probably why, just recently, you heard from plenty of your friends, colleagues, and other networks how they have started to take up sports once again, or to lose those extra few pounds, or to spend numerous, endless hours reading a good book while listening to their favourite music as one of their preferred evening activities, or perhaps to start some yoga and live healthier lives or maybe move out of the city into a rural, quieter place where things seem to have slowed down for a while and where conversations happen more face to face than virtually.

I bet within your own networks you may have bumped into such accidental discoveries and keep wondering why people keep doing it. Well, wonder no more. Their physical bodies have finally taken over and decided to take a stand as to helping the mind figure out how long and for what purpose should they remain interconnected online and when to find that appropriate time to disconnect for a while, think and reflect on things. On the things that matter. On those little things we all know are out there, but that we keep ignoring them for far too long and when we realise about it, it’s already too late.

Now, when looking back into retrospective from last year’s events and activities, I realise that was probably the reason why, back in July, I decided to become healthier again; that’s probably, while I am buzzing around during the course of the work week with plenty of business travelling, my weekends are sacred longing for extensive periods of disconnect where I basically just disappear. That’s maybe as well why I have now successfully built up the daily habit of doing my workout, where I just take with me my favourite music, hit the track for an hour and think about nothing else than just that beautiful Joy of Quiet. That’s probably why I now know how both my brain and my body are starting to be in sync when making the best choices as to when to go and slow down on the communication, collaboration and broadcasting fronts (And instead become more of a thinking force) and when to come back for more within one’s own social networks after those disconnecting periods.

That’s when one comes to realise it’s all about having a choice, but not just having it for the sake of it, because I know that in most cases we would be ignoring it and eventually keep doing what we are busy with on the Social Web front, but also acting upon it, which I guess is the point Pico makes quite nicely throughout the entire article and which I have learned to treasure myself during the second half of last year through starting to listen to those body signals that one knows have a second, or even third meaning, behind them.

Listening to them, knowing when and how to react and, most importantly, learning how to set the right expectations not only for you, but also for those around you, becomes a critical success factor of how we can learn to come to terms with the fact that yes, as wonderful and as brilliant and as energising as the Social Web is, we cannot ignore the choice of looking, and finding!, proper times to disconnect, to unwind, to ponder about things, to question, through critical thinking, what we are doing, where we are heading and what we would want to leave behind. Our legacies. Our purpose. That’s what we are here for. Being In Action. In constant action. Whether it’s out there on the Social Web, creating and consuming top quality content with our favourite social networks, or whether it’s happening in the offline world. Being In Action means what my good friend, and fellow IBMer, Laurie Friedman tweeted just a couple of days back as a beautiful quote from IBM’s recently appointed new CEO, Ginni Rometty:

Advice from IBM’s new CEO, Ginni Rometty, on her first day on the job? “Don’t ever stop reinventing yourself” #leadership

— lauriefriedman (@lauriefriedman) January 4, 2012

Call it Living Life as a Perpetual Beta, if you wish to as well, but I think Pico’s conclusion, although referring to our children, could surely blend in rather nicely with what would be, perhaps, our main challenge for 2012 and beyond:

“The child of tomorrow, I realized, may actually be ahead of us, in terms of sensing not what’s new, but what’s essential“

Indeed, figuring out what’s essential is about having a choice, i.e. when to stay connected, socially networked online, but also when to disconnect, when to look for those quiet times, helping those around you understand that as much as you appreciate the social interactions, there is still a time when you need it to reflect and think further what’s happening around you, so that they, too, can get exposed to the better you. So next time you see some of your networks have gone silent for a period of time, not to worry, they are not gone entirely, they haven’t abandoned you either, they are just taking their very much needed time off to reflect and ponder about things, they are taking their time off to figure out what really matters to them, before they come back in full force, once again. So we better start treasuring those silent periods, because something tells me we are going to have plenty of those coming along in the next few weeks / months and that’s a good thing!

The Social Web needs time as well to slow down a bit sometimes, reflect about both its impact and true legacy and keep moving further along once again… So just hang in there, the choice is ours, finally, after a long last. The important thing to remember though is to act upon it. After all “We create our own distractions and just need to learn to manage them“. And that will always remain our choice. Not theirs. So we better make good use of it and they better get used to it, too. They will need it …

If someone would have told me at the beginning of 2011 that the last three months of the year would have been sheer madness without me no longer of control of things and trying, barely, to keep up with it all, including a massive round of business travelling, I would have told them they would be just plain crazy. No way it was going to happen! No way I would go ahead and tolerate such run-over of one’s work and personal life without trying to do something about it. Ha! Guess life has always been having its own agenda and the only thing we can ever do is probably to try to adjust, be flexible enough, react on time, and take things as they come, hoping the damage would be somewhat limited. Well, that’s probably what I have been doing all of this time lately. And I seem to have survived. Barely. Today it’s my last working day of the year, before I embark on a massive detox, unwinding, relaxing and chilling couple of weeks of a much deserved vacation, if I may add, where I just basically don’t even know where and how to start!! Seriously. Just crazy!

Did you notice the last time I created a blog post over here was on 11/11/11 to treasure the living memory of one of those loving creatures one learns to love, appreciate and live with in unconditional terms over the course of the years? By the way, many thanks to all of those folks who have kindly shared their comments and experiences. Even today it’s still helping a lot! Thanks for that, everyone!

And did you notice the last time I put together another article before that one? Yes, it was another month in between! See what I meant when I talked about losing control of everything around you and put together the automatic pilot just to try to catch up with things hoping it won’t hurt too much?!? Gosh, exactly! I know some folks out there would relate to that feeling as well… Not enjoyable at all, for certain, but what an adrenaline rush, eh?

Anyway, I am back to my usual, regular blogging activities. You may be wondering I may be a bit too insane attempting to pick up my blogging mojo again, while on vacation, but the true thing is that I have missed it. I really have! Yes, you are probably not going to believe it, but not having blogged on a regular basis, like I usually do, over the last couple of months has certainly had an impact on something I never thought I would miss so much till I eventually bumped into it again: writing!

I have gone rusty with my own writing. I hardly recognise my blogging style anymore; putting together these few words in much longer sentences than 140 characters, or a couple of paragraphs here and there, is proving to be a challenge. A good one, for sure, but it just feels weird! That’s why I need to come back to the blog and write and pick up my blogging mojo once again, before I decide to give up on it and move on to other things. I just owe it so much to it that I feel is part of me, an integral part, actually, so you can imagine how tough it’s been in the last couple of months to be exposed to hundreds and hundreds of ideas, thoughts, experiences, very interesting readings and many other wonderful conversations and not being able to prioritise good enough to talk and blog about them.

I need to get started again. It’s probably going to be like a re-birth. A new beginning. A new start where I may also need to work a bit extra hard to recover my Google juice, as well, because it’s almost gone and I guess I just can’t neglect my business card any longer. And while I thought it was going to be a tougher challenge for me to pick up my blogging again, I must confess that it hasn’t been the case. More than anything else, because of a good number of rather inspiring blog posts that I have bumped into as of late, offering plenty of really good advice and additional reflections and helpful insights as to why blogging still is one of the most powerful personal branding tools out there. Check out, for instance, the blog entries put together by Om Malik, Brain Clark, Dan Frommer, Tracy Gold, Arkarthick, Garth O’Brien, Lisa Barone, and, of course, the always inspiring Darren Rowse for some great articles that would surely help you convince anyone that blogging is here to stay as it is thriving nowadays more than ever!

So, I am back! And talking about new beginnings, somewhat new fresh starts, I thought I would get back to blogging today giving folks an opportunity to learn what happened after Fosca’s passing away. There have been many many reasons that have prevented me from blogging in the recent weeks and over the course of time I will be sharing further insights on each and everyone of those, but one that, for sure, has had an impact for yours truly during the course of November and beginning of December was that rather painful experience of seeing a tender, loving and caring pet moving on. Till something else happens…

Allow me to introduce you folks to Boira (“Fog” in catalan); the latest addition to the family! A male belgian shepherd dog (Groenendael) that has quickly captured the hearts and minds of the entire household and to no remedy. He is a bit over a year old now, so you can imagine what that entails. Indeed, lots and lots of physical activity all around! In fact, he’s been one of those other reasons why not just blogging, but also being online has had a bit of a hit in my own social presence out there. And I can imagine you know why. Having such an energetic pet in the house can be quite demanding and rather exhausting, and, even more so, lots of great fun! It’s taking me a bit over a month to eventually manage to take some good, decent pictures that I could share along over here, despite taking him out for long walks day in day out. He’s just as temperamental as Fosca was, but equally charming and amazingly smart. So much so, it’s scary some times what he gets to learn doing by just observing and performing once!

It’s been lots of good fun. You folks should see the state of our roof; I probably should take a picture or two and share it across, but right now it looks, literally, like a war zone. The plants we used to have there, the sprinkler and hose to water them, and a bunch of other things are now history. All destroyed, all bitten to no end, all gone! So imagine what he’s done inside the house!

Like I said, it’s been lots of good fun. And still having a blast with him. A few folks who cared to comment privately on the loss of Fosca mentioning how getting another pet relatively soon to heal the pain gradually were just spot on. She is still very much missed every single day that goes by, but Boira quickly comes up to remind everyone that what matters now is the present, right that moment he wants to live with each and everyone of us. To remind me, as well, in this case, that as wonderful as the Social Web is, it doesn’t help him get out for a walk, of getting fed, of getting lots of attention and playful moments. He just cares about now and if you don’t pay enough attention, he will just move on. So excuse me for a second, while I get the leash, and we go out for a lovely walk to enjoy the beginning of, I am sure, a wonderful holiday!

(Thanks much, everyone, for sticking around throughout all of this time, too, and stay tuned for more blog posts to come along in the next few hours … I am not going anywhere and I surely plan to catch up! But with a twist … or two … You will see shortly. It’s good to be back!)

Summer is over and that, basically, means that I have just kicked off the next round of business trips from now till year end. And, indeed, I just did that, as I came back yesterday from my first one of those, this time around to Brussels, Belgium, where I had a wonderful time participating in a customer workshop talking about The Social Enterprise and its own wider adoption of social software. Fascinating and rather enlightening discussions, on both ends, over the course of 4 hours, no doubt!, but more on that later… For now, this is going to be just that unusual blog entry where I will be talking about something else, completely different, from the regular topics I cover over here. And all of that because of something that happened yesterday, on my way back home, that I guess is going to be difficult to forget any time soon.

I have been doing business travelling over the last 15 years and, as most of you folks out there know already, some years more often than in others, but in most cases rather regular scheduled trips all along. Well, for the first time in those 15 years of being a road (Errr, I mean, air) warrior, yesterday I had the longest layover I have ever experienced at any airport. I was stuck in Madrid (In T2) for 9 hours non-stop. Yes, you are reading it correctly. 9 hours.

Now, I can imagine you may be wondering why didn’t I hit the road, grab a taxi and head downtown to enjoy what promised to be a rather gorgeous autumn day, right? Initially, I thought about doing just that, but then again, coincidences in this world teach you that some times whatever you may have planned doesn’t always work out the way it is supposed to. Like this time. Just as I was on my way to Brussels on Thursday last week I found out that one of my former team colleagues, and rather good friend, who enjoys, just as much as I do!, a lovely glass of red wine over a delightful conversation, was also arriving, around the same time as me, at the same terminal, at the same airport where I was. What are the chances of that? She was flying from Milán, and I was coming from Brussels, so we decided to get together, catch up with each other properly face to face for a good couple of hours, enjoy the one or two glasses of red wine and just let part of the afternoon go by enjoying catching up after not having seen each other for a good while.

And we just did that! We went to one of the bars at the T2 terminal, grabbed something quick to eat, and, of course, got ourselves a good supply of wine. That part of the afternoon was just absolutely brilliant! Believe me, don’t ever let people tell you that social interactions through the Web are just as effective, engaging and nurturing as those face to face, in real life. No way! There is no substitute at all for them! So whenever you have a chance to reach out and cultivate them, by all means, go ahead and do it! We had a wonderful time catching up with each other on what we have been doing the last couple of years and it was rather refreshing to see how that pure chance got us together in the first place while in Madrid’s airport. From there onwards, I shared with her a few tips on what to do in Madrid for the remaining time that she is going to be there, and we both departed to our usual schedules for the day. Hers to hit town and enjoy the lovely weekend before work kicks in next Monday. Mine, wait for a little bit longer and make my flight home after a few days away. And that’s where things went awry.

What was supposed to be just one more hour before departing, it turned around into becoming a 5 hour delay before our plane finally took off! Goodness! I guess technical faults in an airplane about to take off can cause that kind of trouble. Anyway, if you are a frequent traveller you know how things go from there. First they tell you 30 minute delay, then 60 minutes, then we move into two hours, and, finally, on the 4th hour waiting there, things are now ready to head back home! That’s the kind of suspense I am not very keen on experiencing and living through on a Saturday afternoon, don’t you think?

Anyway, a long time ago, after a continuous and rather frustrating experience, as a business traveller, of delayed flights, missing them altogether for whatever the reason or just about whatever other complication, one gets to learn that no matter how angry or upset you get about things, never mind picking up useless arguments with people, the delay is still going to be there, or if the flight is cancelled, there is nothing you can do at all either. So I tried to make the most out of my afternoon at Madrid airport and I think I reached the conclusion I need to pick up another one of my hobbies from all along that, lately, I had it almost abandoned: Read fiction. And a lot of it! Specially, when you are stuck at the airport with a bunch of hours before your next flight takes off.

I love reading. I have always enjoyed it quite a bit, even when I was a whole lot younger and perhaps my mind should have busier with something else. However, as of late, perhaps in the last few years, I have neglected reading fiction for far too long, focusing, almost exclusively, around business reading, specially, around the top of the Social Web and the Social Enterprise. My iPad Kindle is ful with books around these business topics, and while I was listening to Spotify on my iPhone (Something for which I am very very grateful, since it made for a wonderful afternoon listening to some of my favourite #elsuastunes), I realised I didn’t have enough fiction materials. And, funny enough, while I was pondering about that and sharing the odd tweet here and there (Guess that’s what happens when you get stuck and bored at the same time!), a good friend of mine, Rogelio Pérez-Bustamante, gave me a quick phone call where we talked for a little bit.

I tell you, things don’t happen just like that, without any purpose. There is always one. You just have got to go, figure out and find it! And seize the opportunity. For this time around, Rogelio actually told me that a rather good friend of his, Ernesto Uría, was just about to present live, this coming week, at 19:00pm CEDT on Tuesday, at the Ámbito Cultural of El Corte Inglés, a new book of delightful short stories under the suggestive title “Ficciones y Aflicciones” (“Fictions and Woes”). The book is in Spanish, and I have yet to find a copy of it for my iPad Kindle or buy it at the recently launched over here, in Spain, Amazon. But right there, while I was talking to him and he was sharing with me plenty of his notes about the short book, and how much he enjoyed it, I just realised I needed to read more fiction. It would have made for a fantastic and delightful afternoon, right there, if I did have a copy of Ernesto’s book and read through it. Somehow it just hit me.

You know, with all of the stuff that’s happening out there, in our now more complex than ever world, a world in where we all know, and are starting to realise, that things would never be the same anymore, it still pays off to have some brilliant fiction reading sitting right next to you, whispering in your ear, enticing you to leave everything behind, “pick up” the book, and start reading, letting your mind do the rest. Yes, indeed, I do need to read more fiction, I do need to find a way to evade myself from being stuck at the airport for so long and don’t feel much into business reading, really (Hey, it was the weekend, remember?!).

But it gets better, because while I had been pondering and musing further on about it all, and perhaps re-start that fiction reading with a splash and get a copy of Ernesto’s book, Rogelio shared with me the speech he himself is going to deliver on Tuesday’s public presentation of “Ficciones y Aflicciones” (“Fictions and Woes”). And goodness! Right there, it blew my mind away! What a surprising, refreshing and staggeringly good read! It’s just 8 pages long, but I can tell you they will certainly trigger that inner urge to want to know more. To get busy and start reading Ernesto’s book right away! Yes, I know, I know, you would probably be expecting by now to have a disclaimer or something, right? Well, here it is. Rogelio is a good friend who is now just starting to dive into this whole world of the Social Web and social networks; we have been having a bunch of conversations on why social networking is taking everything by storm, and how it is changing us all as a society altogether, and I can tell you his opinions about this financial crisis, as well as what he thinks of Europe, would probably make for one of the most fascinating reads out there on the Spanish blogosphere… Not to worry, I’m working on that! I mean, helping him out get his own blog going

The truth is that I hardly know Ernesto (Here is a short, but rather good interview with him, in Spanish, if you would want to read more about him and his work), but you know how it goes, the friends of my good friends are also my friends, so pick perhaps this unusual blog entry with a pinch of salt or two, or, better, go and get a copy of the book and then let me know whether you like it or not. From what I have been talking to Rogelio about it, he just confirmed it would be one that I would enjoy to dive, back again, into the world of reading fiction. And after reading his opening speech, I would probably have to agree with him on it… Ohhh, and he’s been rather generous to allow me to publish it over here, before the book’s public launch on Tuesday. So go and grab a copy of it, in Spanish, at this link and start reading. You will enjoy it!

See? This is probably what happens when you have far too much idle time in your hands, and brain!, on a Saturday afternoon, while being stuck at an airport for a few hours, wanting to find a way to successfully escape, for a while, from everything that’s happened around you. And somehow, yesterday’s experience has confirmed as well that perhaps every odd weekend I may post another entry on something rather unusual, not very much related to the topics I usually cover over here in my blog. They may make up for some interesting and serendipitous new findings and somehow I am starting to feel I may be enjoying it quite a bit! Hopefully, you, too, folks!

(I will let you know, by the way, what I thought about the book itself myself, once I get my hands on a hard copy, but guess what’s going to be the first thing I’m going to be suggesting Ernesto pretty soon… Indeed, where is the eBook for me iPad Kindle? )

One of the many various different things I really enjoy about participating in the Social Web out there on a regular basis, is the fact you never really know where a conversation will be heading once it’s gotten started, specially, if that dialogue beings with a good bunch of the folks who are part of your social network(s) and who share a common passion for a specific topic, whether business related or not. In the last couple of days, once again, I have been exposed to such kind of conversations and, as I am reflecting today about them in this blog post, I can only be but rather grateful about them, because they have managed not only to inspire me to do better, but they have managed to completely change the way I work and interact with others. Welcome to The Secret Life of Your Bodyclock!

It all started with a couple of Google Plus conversations where I was sharing a personal story of how about two months ago I decided to step back, stop the world for a minute, and reflect on how I needed to make some changes to some of the habits I have gotten so used to over the course of the years and start becoming a bit healthier again. I was going in the direction of a rather perilous road and thought it would be a good time to revert it. So I was sharing some first hand experiences on what that change has meant over the course of those few weeks, as well as share some bits of what that journey has been like all along so far. I couldn’t help, but be rather wowed by the tremendous amount of responses I got from the first thread. Lots of positive reinforcement, as well as a good number of really helpful and rather handy hints and tips on how to make both exercise and a healthier diet work for yours truly.

It may be a bit too early to judge what the results would be like, but so far it’s been very encouraging! Thus I decided to take things into the next level and start another conversation on a topic I wanted to query folks about and see what they would say. During those few weeks where I have started some regular physical exercise (Running in this case), as well as a healthier diet, my morning routine has incorporated a one hour workout where I run about 7 to 8 KM non stop. And the funny thing is that I have discovered how I feel a whole lot less tired if I do that exercise in the afternoon, early evening, than in the morning, where I feel pretty much drained after that workout. So I went to Google Plus and I shared this question:

“Dear runners of the world … need a little bit of help … What do you prefer … running first thing in the morning … or right after work by the end of the day? Just got back from my first run in the evening, after work, and feeling less tired than in the morning!?!? Ha! Go figure! // Thanks for any insights / advice you can provide “

From there onwards an entire conversation developed where there was a mix of responses of people in my social network(s) who commented and shared their tips on why they would run in the morning, at midday or in the early evening. Lots of rather interesting insights! But there was one in particular that caught my attention specially, and which has triggered the creation of this blog post. You will see how this entry doesn’t actually have anything to do with the stuff I regularly blog about over here about KM, Collaboration, Communities or Social Computing. But does it really? Read on …

In that thread, Sam Ramadan shared a rather interesting and intriguing link to a rather enlightening and educational documentary that has completely blown my mind away! Along with the link, Sam suggested that, according to some research, it’s actually much better for your body to run in the afternoon, early evening, versus the morning, where it could potentially become even dangerous at some point. Goodness! Imagine me reading that as I am doing my daily workout in the morning! Shocking!! Of course, I had to read further into that link and find out more …

Goodness! Truly fascinating stuff! Sam, right there, put us all together in the direction of one of those rather wonderfully inspirational documentaries that will surely make people think twice about their daily habits, customs, needs and wants and whatever else and start paying more attention to what our bodies really need / want after all. In The Secret Life of Your Bodyclock you will find some pointers towards a Horizon documentary that tries to explain, based on that research, how our own bodies really operate according to our bodyclock and, most importantly, how we keep ignoring it time and time again at our own peril. Yes, I tell you, some pretty amazing stuff!

The documentary itself is divided in four different parts (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4) and all of them make up for an entire day of what actually happens within our own bodies and our internal bodyclock. It’s rather interesting to see how we have actually been accustomed to following different habits throughout the course of a day and eventually find out how they may not be that beneficial to our bodies in the long run. And how by doing a few little adjustments here and there we may be able to turn things around for the better. Simple things like sleeping enough hours, including micro-sleeps or power naps right in the middle of the day, finding out the best times to eat and rest, or the best time in the end when we are the most apt intellectually speaking (It’s not 09:00 am in the morning, by the way!), or when we would get the best results from some medicines we may be taking, or when it would be the most adequate time of the day to exercise (It’s not early in the morning either!), etc. etc. are certainly going to help us all lead healthier lives, which, in the end, is going to help us become much more effective and efficient knowledge workers and people in general.

And that is what I thought was remarkable from the 49 minute long documentary… That by doing little things, changing a bit our habits and adapting our routines to how our bodyclocks work, we are in a position to become more productive in the long run and live healthier lives, which, I guess is what most of us, including employers!, would want for everyone out there in the end! And I suppose that remote workers, i.e. those folks working away from the traditional office environment , the ones who have got plenty of flexibility when adapting their schedules to the nature of the work that needs to be done, could surely benefit from adapting those habits as mentioned and shared across on that video clip. Even office workers could adapt as well some of their own schedules to be a better fit for their bodies! I know for sure that, after watching it, I’ll surely be making some adjustments myself into how I can get the most of my own bodyclock and how it works for the better for me. Starting with changing that routine for the daily workout from earlier on in the morning, to late in the afternoon, early evening. And I will be more than happy to share the results over the course of time and see how those adjustments are moving along and whether my bodyclock regulates not only the way I live, but also the way I work. It sounds like a fun experiment altogether, don’t you think?

Now, can you imagine having that kind of flexibility, say, 10 or 15 years ago? I guess that’s what empowering your knowledge workforce to take a bit more responsibility of their own health and work environment is all about. Not just about having the right (social) tools to get the job done smarter, not necessarily harder, but also having the right physical and mental health to be able to carry out those jobs in an effective manner … And it all starts by watching Part 1 of “The Secret Life of Your Bodyclock“, which only lasts for 12 minutes …

There you have it. Who hasn’t got 12 minutes to spare to become healthier by knowing a bit more about how our own bodies really work like and how we can start nurturing the right conditions for the perfect working (and living!) environment where we can all shine?:

After watching through each of the video clips, I wonder what it would take businesses out there to start adapting themselves more to the needs of their knowledge workers than vice versa. Somehow I suspect we are going to end up in another win-win situation where flexibility, mutual understanding of each and everyone’s responsibilities and, above all, trust are going to play a key part to help define the perfect environment for the future of the workplace in the 21st century. Something tells me that knowledge workers would be ready for that re-adjustment, but would businesses be ready for it as well? What do you think? Is your business willing to respect, understand and adapt to your bodyclock?

(I am just about to find out shorty myself …)

Over the course of the weekend, the always insightful Isabelle Ayel shared across, over in Google Plus, an amazingly inspiring thread by Ron Jeffries about one of those TED Talks that can surely change the way we all see things in life. TED Talks are usually just like that. A good bunch of them can surely aim at transforming the way we see and experience things in our lives and manage to make it through. The one that both Isabelle and Ron shared across a couple of days back surely is one of those and on one of my favourite topics, too!: The Hidden Power of Smiling by Ron Gutman.

Indeed! If you can spare a little bit over 7 minutes, you are off to an amazing trip by Ron Gutman where he talks about some of the recent research that’s been done around the topic of smiling and the kinds of benefits it can have in all of us, going from increasing our life timespan the more we keep smiling, to improving our overall well-being and that one of those around us. Never before were we probably going to consider how such a simple gesture as smiling, both at people and things, something we can all *do* at any given point in time, would have such a comforting set of rewards.

“The Hidden Power of Smiling” surely deserves this week’s spot for “Inspiring Video of the Week“, not only for the many insights shared across about how beneficial smiling can well be for all of us, but, mostly, because this is certainly one of those TED Talks to save for later, specially for those moments where we may need it the most! Ron does a beautiful job at reminding us all how, way before we are all born, we were already smiling big time, so why put a stop to it, as we grow older? Where have we gone wrong? Most importantly, what can we do to bring it back into our daily lives? I am not sure what you would all think, but after watching it, there is only one single thing that I just can’t get out of my head at the moment: to keep smiling! That’s just how powerful this TED Talk is, and, like I said, if you have got 7 minutes to spare and would want to cheer yourself up or just simply be reminded about why you need to keep on smiling, no matter what, and the more, the better, then this would be the Talk to check out:

I can strongly recommend it to everyone out there who would want to find out plenty more about some of the traits and amazing qualities that have certainly differentiated us from all other species. It’s just one of those rather touching and inspiring Talks difficult to forget. Oh, and if you would want to find out plenty more what passion and creativity are all about and how technology can impact something so relatively traditional like dancing, allow me to suggest as well you watch this other TED Talk (A bit over 17 minutes long) on “The LXD: In the Internet Age, Dance Evolves…“, which I am sure is going to put a couple of lovely smiles on your face, as well experiencing plenty of WOW moments!

Not too bad for inspiring videos of the week, don’t you think? Well, keep on smiling, you know, you will live longer!, and in the meanwhile get on with some of those moves, too! They look like some pretty good fun, too! Although for me, I think I’ll just stick around with the smiling part …

At the beginning of the series of blog posts on Google Plus that I started earlier on this week I mentioned how I would be putting together about four different articles about my first impressions on playing around quite a bit with G+, something that those folks who have been following this blog for a long while now would know it’s not something that I do rather often, so you can imagine how it is starting to grow on me more and more by the day. You could say I am having a blast with it, to the point where most of my other external social networking activities have gone a bit dormant in the last few days! I do realise though how I still need to post that fourth article and all, but I thought I would go ahead talk about something else today: the value I am getting from Google Plus already on my first week of usage. Because I guess that’s what we all care about  at this point in time, right? What (business) value do we want to get from G+? We all remember that social for the sake of social is not going to take us anywhere. So how am I benefiting from making use of it at the moment? Well, let me summarise it with a single sentence: facilitated serendipity on steroids!

Yes, that’s right! Earlier on today I had the great pleasure of experimenting some more and play with some of the various different features from G+. If a couple of days ago I mentioned how important and critical the combination of both real-time and offline interactions would be like (See “Google Plus – Bridging Together Too Irreconcilable Worlds“) today I had the mind-blowing experience of trying out Hangouts with my boss, another one with a fellow IBMer, and another one with Paul Jones, who is going through a truly fascinating experiment I am hoping to talk about very soon, as it relates, quite a bit, with my own mantra of living “A World Without Email“. But more on that later on …

Anyway, like I was saying, the experience of the Hangouts was just utterly surprising and very re-energising. Fantastic, to say the least!! Having an opportunity to do a simple video conference with the highest quality on both video and audio fronts is just priceless, even more when that videoconference can host up to 10 people concurrently without a glitch! Well, I know now that with that blog post I mentioned above I fell short, very short, on what I think is going to be the killer feature from Google Plus at this point. And I keep hearing lots of great things as well about Huddle, the one other feature I still need to play with!

So this whole Hangouts experience surely has got a very clearly defined business value, at least, for me: connect, reach out, share your knowledge and collaborate with those folks who you share a common affinity with! Your social networks. But it gets better, because earlier on today, while most of us are still trying to get the hang out of Google Plus, so plenty of the conversations are still around how do we do what in G+ without going crazy, we are starting to see plenty of golden gems come afloat amongst those conversations that are starting to make it worth while hanging around for a little while longer.

And I thought I would go ahead and share with you folks one of them I bumped into myself earlier on today, that I think you would also enjoy it yourselves. It’s a short video clip, very witty, sharp, straight to the point, hilariously funny, very engaging and fun to watch, put together by my good friend Kevin Jones, which makes for some perfect viewing before the weekend kicks off:

The video clip lasts for a little bit less than three minutes and in a very refreshing and truly entertaining manner Kevin reminds us all why it’s worth while paying attention to Social Technologies, experiment with them, find out our sweet spot and use cases and figure out whether they would be providing us with an additional value add that we can incorporate into our overall productivity, effectiveness and business performance, or not, and his point on the importance to overcome fear and embrace change is just brilliant!

In a way, the whole spirit permeating through the video clip is just proving the point of why a whole bunch of us are exploring Google Plus at the moment, to see whether it’d be another social networking tool we would be adding into the mix, or whether it would replace a few others, or, just simply, whether it would stick around. Keeping that open mentality towards it certainly is one of the strongest points from this video and one of the reasons why, for yours truly, Google Plus is here to stay. At least, for me. Even thoughit will redefine the whole strategy of how I make use of social tools out there on the Social Web. Next I will be sharing that final blog post on the concept of Circles and how I am using them, but first I would encourage you all to have a look into Kevin’s video clip and if you still want to have a play with Google Plus, leave a comment over here, including in the comment form your email address, and I will share along an invite. I have been sending a bunch of them already today… A few more wouldn’t hurt, I am sure! Come and join us! The waters are lovely!

Let’s keep plussing and trying out these social technologies!

After enjoying another gorgeous summer weekend back at home, and while I am starting to prepare things for the next upcoming business trip to Boston, MA, to attend & present at Enterprise 2.0 conference event (#e2conf), as well as sharing a series of posts with highlights from the Social Business Forum event in Milan from last week, I thought I would get things started with another week @ work with that inspiring video entry I have been sharing over the last few weeks. This time around, probably, making it even more special than ever. And you will see what I mean in just a few minutes… Have you watched Amo La Vida? No? Well, if you haven’t, please *do* so today. I can guarantee you it will change your life for good!

Yes, indeed, it’s that inspiring! Once again, my good friend David Gurteen keeps finding golden nuggets that are sure a treat for everyone’s lives. This time around he shared across a short video clip (A bit over 10 minutes long…), over at KarmTube, from filmmaker Nic Askew, which is a black-and-white interview with Julio Olalla. And where Julio comes to talk about a good bunch of things with such natural charm, delight and spontaneity that’s probably going to leave a mark in all of us difficult to erase, nor forget.

It’s one of those video clips that will surely get you to shed a tear or two of pure joy filled with humanity, of what it is being a human being and behaving like one. Julio gets to talk about gratitude and why we need to get it back into our day lives by sharing one of those moving stories that will make you think for a long while. He gets to talk as well about wisdom and how much different it is from knowledge itself, about the lost art of conversation, about what real friendships are all about.

His sense of touching & embracing life is remarkably inspirational and one that permeates wisdom throughout, as well as being far too difficult to describe it in a single sentence or two over here without having my fingers tremble at that failed attempt. I know for certain I wouldn’t do any justice to it, so I better leave it down to you folks to go and listen to it further with just one thought: “Amo La Vida“:

Video from KarmaTube

(I told you… mind-blowing altogether, one of the most touching video interviews ever, that I can remember, to say the least, and what a wonderfully superb way of starting a new week, don’t you think?)

As much as we all love being interconnected with our family and friends, our peers, our customers and business partners, etc. etc. through the Social Web, there are plenty of times when you know you probably should disconnect a bit to look around and treasure those precious little moments that one gets to enjoy in life, specially when living through those tiny things that really matter. Those that bring you a smile or two to your face in content and appreciation for what you have around you. Well, I am having, at this very time, some of those very same moments, as, once again, I hit the road and go for my next business trip to Barcelona, Spain, but taking some time off, this time around, to disconnect from things, connect in the physical world with those around me, re-charge my batteries a bit and get back for more! The end-result? Priceless!

That’s the main premise behind this week’s inspiring video that I bumped into a few hours back and which I thought would be the perfect kick-off for another week at work, where I’ll be travelling for most of the week, but that I’m hoping to keep up with some more blogging as the week develops. The thing I am hoping though, is that, as the video clip tells in a good number of rather compelling stories that I, and you, too!, find some time to disconnect from everything and find that space where you can not only treasure the moment you are experiencing, but also enjoy being the company of those around you who matter, because, at the end of the day, isn’t that what life is all about?

Here is that mind-blowing short video clip that will certainly do a much better job than myself describing what I meant with the original blog post title “Enjoying a disconnected life in an interconnected world” and which I think would make a perfect start for another exciting week:

Then, once our batteries are fully charged and we are ready for more, we just need to move into the next step,  the next challenge, which is when technology would help influence changes in real life in anything we can / do / want… Getting there? Most probably. Only time will tell … the truth is that it’s already started and there is no way back! Now more than ever! #nolesvotes

Yesterday, my good friend Ian Thorpe put together one of the most interesting and relevant blog posts I can remember around the topic of conference events and how to get the most out of them in today’s, now more than ever, social world, by pointing out a good number of suggestions and enhancements, mostly around the area of networking, good and relevant content less concentrated in presentations (The well known Death by PowerPoint), and more into conversations and discussions, as well as having great speakers, amongst several others, for what I would surely consider the next challenge for live events: Conferences 2.0. Pretty much along the lines of the insightful blog entries that another good friend, Rob Swanwick, put together a couple of years back and which still seem to be pretty relevant. Worth while a read, specially, for those conference organisers that are starting to ramp up activities for the next upcoming conference season, which, in my case, it always seems to start in June (Don’t know why…).

Once again, like I have been doing for the last few years, I keep wondering whether events organisers would take into account some of these various different suggestions, helping us all progress further into what (social) conferences should be like. What do you reckon? Will it happen in 2011 this time around?

I guess time will tell… but for now, and while I gather some additional further thoughts on improving face to face conference events with some of the key learnings I have acquired based on my own experience over the course of years, I thought I would share with you folks a very funny, hilarious and rather entertaining video clip that I am sure I am going to be reusing quite a bit over the next few months, mainly, every time that I plan to attend a live conference event and I may get told that I cannot live-blog, live-tweet, take pictures, microblog / microshare, bookmark presentations, share information across, etc. etc. It’s just not going to happen. I am sorry.

It’s just pretty much part of me, and who I am, when I go and attend those events, to go ahead and share a bunch of insights of things that are taking place live while we are all physically participating in that event, and as most of you folks already know, if the conference wi-fi connection holds strong it’s also a great pleasure, and a privilege, to be sharing with the rest of the world some of those live experiences acquired and assimilated during the course of the event, as a powerful method to help amplify what gets shared across and what conversations have gotten started already, just as much as try to keep the conversation going, at the same time, before, during AND after the event. I guess that is the same thing that happened to these folks I mentioned above from this brilliant video that lasts for a little bit over 3 minutes and which certainly will make us all have a giggle or two, perhaps a good laugh, even, but also set the right level of expectations for the next time we all get to attend a live conference event.

What do you think? Shouldn’t ALL conference events strive to provide that seamless, unified, shareable social experience, not just for the “in situ” participants, while attending a live conference, but also for those folks who may be remote, but still rather interested in the topics discussed? I hope so. And that’s why I am hoping that, as the conference season is about to kick off, we will all start witnessing a shift on how conferences get organised and how knowledge workers get to participate seamless both online and offline. Quite a challenge, I know! For sure we would never be capable of substituting the powerful interconnectedness of face to face events, it’s what still makes pretty much worth while attending them in the first place! Yes, indeed, the networking part, as I have mentioned already over here a couple of times, but can you imagine the potential outcome of such perfect blend of both virtual and physical worlds while participating in a conference event?

The opportunity to make it work is just mind-blowing. We just need to seize it and somehow I keep wondering which conference around Social Business, Social Computing and Enterprise 2.0, amongst several other concepts related to social, will be capable to lead by example and share with each and everyone of us some of the potential to turn upside down the way we participate and engage in conference events today. Yes, I know, and I do fully realise that no conference out there is going to be 100% perfect in meeting everyone’s needs, but if you were to single out a component from a recent event that you attended that you could have done with what would have that one been like? And the opposite, what has been the activity you have enjoyed the most from any of the recent conference events that you have attended face to face? Care to share it in the comments, please?

Let’s do it! Let’s all try to build the ultimate conference event experience for the world around Social Business, Enterprise 2.0 and Social Computing. It’s very much needed, in my opinion, as both Ian and Rob already mentioned in the blog posts I referenced above, amongst several others. So, what else, apart from a rather robust, scalable and pervasive wi-fi connection throughout the venue would you like to have available and what would you drop out altogether for good? Any initial thoughts to get the ball rolling?

As usual, and like I have been doing already for a few weeks now, it’s time to get started with another week at work and share that inspiring video clip that would help set the stage on what promises to be another exciting week. Once again, I am on the road for my next business trip, this time around to Madrid, to participate on a customer event, later on in the week, talking about “The Social Enterprise” and where I am going to be sharing the stage with one of my favourite people over here in Spain in the space of the Social Web: Dolors Reig. But more on that later, as I am sure I would have an opportunity to live tweet it eventually. Back into getting the work week off to a good start sharing that inspirational video… Do you still remember the amazing one I shared a few weeks back on “The Mountain“? Well, I have got another one for you: El Cielo de Canarias / Canary Sky (Tenerife).

Indeed, if The Mountain, by Terje Sorgjerd, was one of the most stunning video clips I have watched over the course of time, Canary Sky is not lagging much behind either! Created, produced and put together by Daniel López, once again, here we have got that wonderful time lapse scene of Father Mount Teide sharing with the rest of the world one of those breath-taking precious little moments worth while experiencing and living through to the fullest: watching both the skies and nature in full force and with all their splendour, as time passes by inexorably, in what would be considered a great reminder of why we are all here: to enjoy, rejoice to the fullest, and admire the beauty and uniqueness of our green planet.

There are lots of other things that I could say about this particular video clip, I am sure, but this time around I think it is perhaps much better if I’ll just leave it down to you to go and have a look, hit Play, and start watching it, while I am on my way to Madrid to spend the next couple of days over there. This time around I’m making sure that the blog will continue to have some fresh content, as there are plenty of really interesting things I would want to share along with you folks, so stay tuned and come back for more! Hope you all have a wonderful week ahead of you! Mine has just gotten off to a great start by just watching this marvellous piece of inspiration:

El Cielo de Canarias / Canary sky – Tenerife from Daniel López on Vimeo.

(Special thanks to fellow colleague Paul Richards who forwarded the link to the video last week. Thanks much, Paul! That was wonderful!)