I walked out of the office having made too many sarcastic jokes again. I sat down in the train, in time as usual to find a spot. Trains fill up quite easily around six o’clock. I was thinking it had been a while since a conductor had come to check my ticket. The man entering the train 20 minutes later must have thought the same thing. When the conductor arrived, he just tried to explain as best as possible that he had been in a hurry and forgot to date his ticket, one of the deadly sins in train riding. The conductor caught him quite easily asking him if the same had happened on his way here as the man was on his return. Of course, he did not have a proper reply and the conductor gave him an extra highly priced ticket.

More or less, he knew he was wrong and the conductor right. However, he chose to play the game like an Italian soccer player meeting the Netherlands at the European Championships. First, he did his best to get around it, second he demanded empathy and thirdly he issued cold threats.

He let fate take care of him. Eventhough, he had much control of the situation.

Why he couldn’t admit being wrong still baffles me. “Suck it up!” I heard someone say in my head. “Die in the harness.” It is better to admit defeat in honor and dignity than to run away from truth while pointing at others. I think they call the first “a gentleman” and the latter… Not sure.

“Persistence isn’t using the same tactics over and over. That’s just annoying.

Persistence is having the same goal over and over.”

Well said.

Also, I started a new assignment and on the train rides getting there, I’ve been reading my new favorite magazine, Monocle. In their latest issue they interview Arianna Huffington who says the following:

“I believe in reincarnation. Even if you don’t believe in reincarnation – it’s hard for me to look at life and not believe that it didn’t have any purpose, that it didn’t have any continuity. I can’t believe that all things have a short time and then it’s all over.

I’m amazed that people who think it all ends with death can accept that. Socrates, my compatriot, used to say, ‘practice death daily.’ He didn’t mean it in a morbid way, he meant that if you practice death daily, then you put everything that happens to your life in perspective.”

I like how train rides can give you this. Introspection. Step out from the traffic jam and give hands out of control for 30 minutes or so.

Ever since I visited a workshop on mindmaps I have been using them. If you by any chance do not know what mindmaps are, glance over the above picture. Mindmaps range from a simple collection of words to rich combinations of images and text. I usually stick to the basics, but many applaud the combination of text and drawings, because it activates your left and right brain which instigates creativity and remembrance.

Why I use mindmaps?
- 1st of all because they are creativity agents. By doing word associations, new ideas can be born and because mindmaps are not linear, creativity is easier elicited in my opinion. This type of brainstorming can also easily be done with a group of people. Just make sure you don’t pass judgements on others associations as this kills creativity.
- 2nd of all they help me structure my thought processes. For instance, when I have an idea for a blogpost I go into mindmeister and think of points that support or illustrate my idea. This usually ends in a better written and directed post.

What I use?
- for online mindmaps, I use Mindmeister which also easily exports to .pdfs and allows online collaboration. I currently use the free version, which limits the number of mindmaps you can store
- for offline purposes, I use a Moleskine notebook.