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I do believe in secrets

You have probably heard about this quote. It originated around year 1900:

Everything that can be invented has been invented.

Some sources say it was Charles Holland Duel, U.S. Patent Comissioner, proposing to close the patent office as there is nothing more to claim for. It is not sure that this was actually said. Still, it is hard to imagine that someone actually believed this 116 years ago.

What about now. Is everything that can be invented already invented? Probably not. What are the things that are not yet invented? Peter Thiel call these things „secrets“ in his great book Zero to One. A secret is a new thing to be discovered. A way how to make the world better. In a big way, or a small way.

The best entrepreneurs know this: every great business is built around a secret that’s hidden from the outside. A great company is a conspiracy to change the world; when you share your secret, the recipient becomes a fellow conspirator.”

Peter Thiel, Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future

I do belive in secrets. I do believe that they are closer to us than we think. I believe that changing the world is easier than it looks. Looking for ideas that are yet hidden from everyone else is exciting things. I love that my work is discovering these.

 

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Pokemon Go will not change the world. This is why.

I went out to a park yesterday to try out Pokemon Go. It is the biggest global hit of computer gaming of last few days. At first I thought that this game changed everything. Does it really?

We caught few Pokemons using augmented reality. It felt so real, like the Pokemons were really there, hiding in parks, squares and streets. To play the game, you have to walk around the real streets of your city. You find Pokemons and then bring them to gyms and train them for fighting.  It was such a new experience o of connecting virtual reality and the „real reality“.

Pokemon Go

It gets big. Nintendo market cap rose by 11 billion USD in a week after releasing this game. There are more Nintendo Go players than Tinder users. Twitter might be the next network to surpass. But what will happen next? Adults in western world will probably drop the game after few days, but the children will keep playing:

Pokemon GO: Kids will stay kids

A century ago, adults discouraged kids from reading fiction. It was considered a waste of time that keeps children from healthy activities, like playing outside.

Now, reading fiction books is considered a noble hobby for both kids and adults.

Doesn’t it sound familiar? The children are all the same, living in a fantasy world. Their eyes are not glued to books anymore, but to tablets. I do not see this harmful any more than a book. Yet, I would still prefer that my children would read books.

One day, there will be a new generation of entertainment, detested by the old generation. Running around looking for Pokemons may be considered as a traditional, noble hobby.

 

Pokemon Go is not the first augmented reality, but it shows one more thing: Successfull innovations use something that people know and like and connect it in novel ways.

What do you think? When are we going to get augmented reality Minecraft?

 

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Offline is the new luxury: Act now

The summer is coming! Now is the time to take the real vacation. Do it before it is too late.

I recently wrote an article called Offline is the new luxury: Three ways how to claim yours. It was the most successful article on my blog so far. I really like that you guys like it.

I will not get the luxury of being offline this summer. I work at eHotel.cz, we are changing the way how Czech people travel within their country. So right now, it is the peak time of our business. Daily bookings are increasing 5 times compared to spring. I am leaving for couple of days now, but I will have to be constantly online.  I am far from my dream of running this company without a laptop 😉

Our team is working hard to make your summer great. I have just one wish. Spend some time offline. Ditch the damm‘ smartphone. Do it for me 😉

If you can’t go for vacation now, just read this, hopefully it will make you smile.

Enjoy the summer!

(Btw I’ll keep posting every Tuesday even during the summer, so come back for more 😉

 

Jiri

 

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A peaceful story for the overwhelmed

Some time ago, I was feeling down every day. Not everything at work went well. You have probably been there too. I felt anxious all the time. Not a happy time. Until one day…

Life feels easier written down

One day, I tried one thing that changed it a lot. I sat down, closed all the browser tabs, e-mails, turned off the phone and I simply started writing. I carefully described the work related problem I felt the anxiety about. It felt so great and relieving. But the key point was that when I read what I wrote, the problem did not seem so crushing, impossible and devastating like in my thoughts. I learned that when I write things down, it helps me understand that the problem is not so bad and there is a way how to tackle it.

Try writing a todo list like a story

Because of that, I started looking for other areas where writing can help me and I found it.  I am always overwhelmed with todo lists with hundreds of items. I even have lists of todo lists. Every morning, it is hard to find out where to start, what is important to do. So sometimes I write what I want to do the next day, but not as a bullet list, but as a story in plain text. It works great! I wake up easily and I’m productive, because I already visualized my day the night before. I recommend trying it.

Write down the good things

Finally, I discovered one more thing. I felt more organized and in control, but after many busy days, I was not even sure why I am doing all this. So I started writing down three things that made me happy each day. It feels great as well.

Writing down just makes my life better. It relieves stress and anxiety. It gives me back control when I am overwhelmed. It helps me remember what makes my days great. If you haven’t tried, do it today.

 

 

 

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It spreads like Ebola

I hated it. I believed that instant messaging at work is just for nerds that dislike face-to-face contact. We started using Slack last week. The result surprised me.

This is a list of my findings, some exciting, some terrifying:

#1 Slack makes us productive

Slack is the new rising star of business apps, helping teams work smarter. The team that brought robots to Mars uses it. It spreads like Ebola. Every cool startup team uses it. I was hesitant. But I found out it is great. We use it within the team as a quick way to ask questions and share information. It feels awesome.

#2 It is a great servant, but an evil lord

Instant messaging at work is great when under control. If you keep it on all the time and people keep misusing it for lengthy conversation, it can eat up the whole day. Luckily, everyone in our team has got the right understanding how to use it so not to waste everyone’s time.

#3 Discussing anything is a waste of time

Question. Answer. Clarifying question. Answer. This is what  Slack (or any texting/messaging app) is made for. Efficient, quick and fast communication between team members. If it goes any longer that, you pick up the phone. It took me some time to understand it, but since then, I can stay productive and instant message at the same time.

#4 Arguing is great if you want to harm people without solving anything

I failed this several times, but I swear that I will never ever do it again. Arguing over instant messaging or texts is harmful both in life and at work. The problem you argue about will not get solved. The pain threshold for saying nasty things to other people is low. You will:

  1. Waste a lot of time
  2. Solve nothing
  3. Hurt the person on the other side

Therefore, good old offline 1 to 1 meetings and phone calls will never get obsolete.

The result

I am a long time instant messaging user, I started in 1998 when ICQ came out. I did waste a lot of time using it, I admit. But it does not have to be that way at work.

If you use Whatsapp, Messenger or Slack, it does not matter. If used right by every member of the team, it can help the team survive in the fast paced word.

I love the way how our team adopted Slack. We are changing how people travel in Czech Republic, one instant message at a time. Please, let me know your experience with instant messaging at work in comments bellow.