Friday, May 15, 2009

Thoughts & ideas

If I wrote this already, let me know.
But i think it's gonna be original content.

The trouble is: my mind never sleeps, and keeps coming up with ideas of things to do, companies to create, opportunities to explore...

I'd like to list down a few here, so that I least there is a written track and I dont forget them all.

Business ideas:
1. create an software, or online application, for writing, sharing, and advertising comments/notes on e-books. it would work on any platform that can read e-book files, but would be designed for devices like the Kindle (Amazon's ebook reader)
2 website on restaurants in Paris mentionning prices of most of the dishes, price of the set lunch, and dinner, happy hours, etc etc. it already exists, but I feel there is still a market.
3 a service of Q&A by sms. something like Yahoo! Answers. but people would send their questions by sms. then volunteers receive the question, answer it directly or if they dont know the answer,direct it to a previously selected expert. volunteers are mostly students willing to give some of their time and make some pocket money.
sounds crazy to you? well at least two companies like that are working in the US,and booming so far!!
4 insurance, or travel agency, for Aiesec in France, then maybe internationally! because sometimes, when going on conferences, Aiesecers are not properly insured. or they need to pay in advance based on the number of attendees, and there is no flexibility it someone needs to cancel at the last minute.

Educational ideas:
1 start a conference cycle at my former university.
First, prepare presentations from a few books that I have read (eg:'The world is flat')
Then present it to students, and get feedback.
After that, it can either become a training session for companies, focusing on the organisational and business issues, or a learning circle at the university by getting the students to discuss whichever topic is most relevant to them. For example, waht jobs will exist in 10, 15 years, and how do we prepare for them?
2 set up a Global Village in front of Hotel de Ville, in 2010.

Personal stuff that I need to dig more
1. I like delivering trainings, facilitating sessions, helping people to develop themselves. Where can I test my interest more on that topic?
2  world tour of all existing Aiesec local chapters, and take a picture with an aiesec banner in front of each, with the whole team standing in the picture as well.

what's more, what's more?... more ideas coming almost every day!

Stoned

This is not about drugs. It's just the title of the song by Dido I'm listening to at the moment.

There is a good deal of surprising, unexpected things falling into my life from nowhere at the moment. Both good and bad. Either on personal, professional, or relationships aspects. It's hard to keep track and remember where I'm headed in the middle of the storm.

What has not changed is that I keep reflecting a lot on value-driven leadership and personal direction.
10 days ago I attended an Aiesec conference in Clermont (thanks Martine for having your LC organize it all!!). Peak experience.A close friend and source of personal inspiration, David Pires, facilitated a session for the students who were finishing their term, being discharged of the responsibility of running their local chapter.
As a delegate in this session, I realized (or rather, remembered what I had forgotten) that this step is just as important as the introduction to responsibility.
Letting go of a role you had and knowing what to do with yourself after that... well, I think we don't think about that too much, usually.
And I found one point which is currently hindering me: Aiesec was a "peak experience". It is so hard to leave Aiesec, we always feel drawn back to it, because of the intensity of the experience.
As a "retired", an alumnus, what you need to do in order to move on, is to find your next peak experience. As long as you don't, you feel bored. You don't know what to do with your life. You feel "stoned", maybe.

So, I'm trying to do that at work. Mostly by taking on a loooot of things to do, at the same time.
Also personnally, I'm trying. Trying to connect more, to have more meaningful moments with my friends, my flatmates. Incidentally, I got "Rock Band" on Wii last week, that game is awesome, and it feels great to be creating a hit music with your friends, even on plastic instruments in front of a tiny TV set :D
I'll try to upload some pictures...
Last Wednesday was a parisian concert of La Grande Sophie: perfect evening with the perfect person
Tonight I managed to pick up going to the gym again.
overall it's not so bad, i'm just lacking the general bearing, the direction....