Jason Womack

Hiltl - A great restaurant in Zurich

So, I won't even pre-tend I can understand this language (click on the link below); however, after eating dinner at Hiltl and talking to some customers as well as the people who worked there, this restaurant has some serious history to go along with an eating adventure! (Just take a look at these pictures! Click here...)

Hiltl Restaurant...

Above, a picture of just one of the 6 rows of offerings last week...when I return to Zurich (this year?!), I'm definitely making Hiltl one of my stops!

I went there on a recommendation (thanks John!) and enjoyed it so much I returned the next night to meet another client after work. The book (in many different languages) offers the most amazing recipes (and some GREAT pictures!).

Quotes...what do they make you think about?

Sitting, enjoying a late dinner on the patio of "a voce," New York City, leafing through my magazine (www.traderdaily.com) and saw this quote.

The same quote was a prominent "character" in a book I'm reading this week (Callings) about reconciling an authentic life with a day-to-day existence of experience.

Feel free to leave a comment below with a quote that gets you thinking!

How efficient would "Airborne Internet" access be?

I recently contacted a journalist for the Los Angeles Times regarding some research he was doing for an article on "Internet in the sky."

I'll be honest, for years I have had day-dreams of what it would be like if I could send e-mail, visit a website, Instant Message a colleague, or even call a client and run a conference (or video conference!). However, the secondary thought to that has been something along the lines of the following statements...

- My air time is some of the only "have to not do e-mail" time I have
- My air time is the time I get to read my novels, or write thank you cards, or leaf through magazines...
- ...of course, given a window of time, with certain tools (such as access to the Internet), different options are available.

I stand by my two quotes in this article (see the end of the article here), and I'm sure to experiment with this as soon as it's available. Stay tuned!

What do you need to add...to your library?

I was working on a project for a client group in New York recently, and after I'd completed my research and submitted my results and recommendations, I included a "book list" for review. (See below...)

I consider myself a perpetual student of "mind and body" - that's why a whole aspect of my work is called "fit and effective" - and am always looking to learn where possible. (Have you subscribed to Scientific American Mind magazine yet? Give a "4-issue trial," I think you'll be surprised at how great it is!)

I've been an avid reader for quite some time now, in fact I've been recommending books for as long as I've been speaking in public (starting in 1992!). Now, it's not that I'd suggest anyone read every one of these, in this order...but, if you're thinking of enhancing your overall "productivity and performance" I'd highly recommend you start reading - maybe even with one off this list! (Click on the picture below for a clearer view...)

Oh, my "research project of the month" (yes, I pick a different topic, once a month, and learn as much as I can...) for June is: Creativity. So, if anyone can recommend a book, magazine, website, research paper or person I can talk to, please e-mail me or even better, leave a comment below.

How do you use the Internet to stay in the know?

Some time ago, I received an e-mail from someone asking how I "use the Internet" effectively. (Thanks Lance!) Here's the prompt, and what follows are just some of the things I do/use...

Jason,

You might have posted this on the blog before but what about a blog posting on how you use the Internet to stay in the know.  My perception is that you always are finding cool stuff out there and so the posting would be on how you do it.

iTunes: I subscribe to PodCasts regularly. Oh, the secret to my success...I change the subscriptions often. That way, I don't go "numb" to them...

NetVibes: People say, "You really don't read 40 blog/websites a day, do you?" Here's the deal, get an RSS feed reader (I use NetVibes, see the picture below) and I only read the ones where something is NEW! It's a great way to stay in the know.

GoogleAlerts: Ok, this is by far one of my favorites. I have a GAlert for every client, every friend, every city I race triathlons in, and more...Easy enough to set up, and great to use...try them out!

and...good friends!

Find someone who makes it look easy

I have a new favorite picture from triathlon, here it is...

Now, there are many things going on here, and I will explain why this is my favorite...first, a little background:

 

In the year 2000, I was drastically overweight, had terrible nutrition habits, worked up to 14 hours every day, and had experienced something over the 5 years before (and yes, I tracked these things): I got sick on the first day of every vacation I took throughout my teaching career.

So, in May of 2000, when I weighed in at just over 170 pounds (I'm only 5' 4"), my friend Quanah asked if I'd ever thought about training for a triathlon, I figured he was just mocking me. Little did I know the course of my life would change with that one question.

If you look at the picture above, you'll see two bikes: One yellow, one titanium. And, notice no other bikes. This means that Quanah and I were the first ones on that line to finish the bike leg and start the run portion of the triathlon.

Why is this significant? What does it have to do with the title of this post?

What do you think will always be "right there?"

June...It's already June 13th...I kinda can't believe it. Almost half the year...gone!

The prompt for this post came to my mind at 1:45am (Yes, in the morning.) I woke up with the thought:

Are the little things, really the biggest things?

So, then the thought tracking kept on going, then the light switch, then my journal, then the pen flying across the page for another hour or so...

It's Friday, I wish anyone reading this a great "last-day-of-the-week;" my real hope, however, is that you'll pause for a moment and look around...

If you think something will always be "right there," especially if it's something that has always been right there, or something you've taken for granted...look at it one more time; carefully; completely; fully; intentionally. You just may find something that makes it "bigger."

Where does your time go?

I put together this short presentation as a way to quantify the importance of creating your own "organization habits." I think it's possible for people to gain back 30-45 minutes a day just by implementing an idea or two from this short presentation. Enjoy...

Take someone to dinner...

Many of you who know me have heard me talk about Pop!Tech. Ever since learning about this conference from my friend Buzz, and meeting another friend, Tom, I've been a huge fan.

I won't go into all the details of this story, there's a point I want to make at the end of this post...but, to set it up here we go:

Buzz introduced me via e-mail to Tom. Tom's parents live a half mile from my house in Ojai. Tom came to visit them, so we met for breakfast, went for a hike, and visited the farmer's market. (Here we are out in front...)

Not even a year went by that we knew each other (I did visit him once in Camden, where he and his family opened their hearts and their home to me for a night) before the unthinkable happened. We lost a friend, a mentor, a father and an all around great guy...

So, while I was at dinner in Zurich last Wednesday, I decided to write some notes and have a glass of wine with my friend and mentor, Tom LeVine. (You can see him there in the picture...)

What I realized is that our circles of influence can extend out beyond the "here-and-now-and-me." In fact, I put friends out on the outer circle NOT because they are the furthest away...no, I put them out there because for ME they are incredibly significant.

When I "lump them all together," my friends, acquaintances, mentors, neighbors, and other associates all create a pretty big pool of influence.

A lot more landed in my journal as the night went on, and I owe a lot of it to the inspiration of having dinner that night with my old friend, Tom.

Mentorship...there I go talking about it again!

Well, it happened yesterday afternoon...about 2pm, toward the end of our seminar here in New York City, I brought up the topic: "Who have you asked to be your mentor lately?" (Click on the picture below...)

Then, at dinner with a friend, I asked, "Who are you mentoring?"

Both questions seemed to get people thinking!

My colleague Christopher Scott wrote a great post on "being mentored." I hope you subscribe to his blog!