Comments on: Community

By: Jarkko Laine

Jarkko Laine — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 10:46:34 +0000

@Antti: Great comment.

I’m still dreaming of getting myself a Mac so I still have a lot of learning to do… But I’ll keep trying.

By: Antti Kurenniemi

Antti Kurenniemi — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 10:34:11 +0000

Enough is always just a little more. The sad part of it is that our whole economic system seems to be based on that: constant growth. If everything doesn’t grow fast enough (it’s not just growth, but *more* growth than last year), then it’s considered a failure. I’ve been fighting against this for years now: why does our company have to grow when we’re already profitable? Why do we have to increase our sales when we a making a good living as is?

It’s not possible to have growth forever. There are limits to how much people can consume. In my mind, the closer we get to that limit, the more miserable we get, because it takes more and more effort to be able to grow – more effort to find a “need” to consume more, and more effort to fill that need, and it offers less gratification because somewhere deep inside we know it’s superficial.

That iPod for example? We all know we don’t need it, deep inside. That’s why getting it will not bring as much gratification as we would like it to bring. We’ve just been programmed by the society (which btw is us, ourselves, so blaming society is blaming ourselves) to want more things at all costs.

Me, I don’t have an iPod, or iPhone, and my laptop is 3,5 years old and I’m planning on running for at least another year. I have a cheap, old phone. My company would buy these for me if I wanted, but I’m “stickin’ it out” for as long as they last. Not that I don’t want new things, but I try to actively de-program myself.

I’m trying to learn that by wanting what I have, I will get everything I want.

By: Jarkko Laine

Jarkko Laine — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 11:35:31 +0000

@donna: Well said!

By: donna

donna — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 19:21:34 +0000

He who knows enough is enough will always have enough — Lao Tzu ;^)

By: Jarkko Laine

Jarkko Laine — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 06:31:58 +0000

@J: You know what, I think I’m seeing that happen too. It’s almost magical to go to Twitter and see people dream of change, build projects that will make the world a better place, and think about more than just themselves.

There is still a long way to go (and a lot of work for us to do) before this movement will touch the lives of most of the people. But I think we can get there (just wait for my next post for more of my thoughts on the topic ;))

Let’s keep striving for that two hours instead of the new truck — and changing the world so that in a while everyone will see it that way!

By: 2009 Is Going to Be YOUR Year! — Mark Hayward

2009 Is Going to Be YOUR Year! — Mark Hayward — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 16:07:02 +0000

[...] When we were trying to purchase our business the word “NO” really had no meaning for my wife and I. Although it was said to us often in Spanish and English that we should pursue other alternatives, or perhaps give up, we were having none of it. Someone would knock us down and we would always go back for more. [...]

By: J

Sun, 04 Jan 2009 08:01:56 +0000

Great post Jarkko, and despite my greedy, capitalist to the bone soul, I do think that 2009 is going to be one the the first years when people start really looking at making other people’s lives better, instead of just cluttering up their own with possessions. We are (I hope) going to see some amazing advances in social networking taken offline and given real-life practical uses in a global way. And as a father myself, I’m seeing how working 14 hour days every day and buying a new truck isn’t going to replace an extra 2 hours with my kids at night. I’m resolving to focus on improving my process and working half as hard for twice the results in 2009!

By: Jarkko Laine

Jarkko Laine — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 12:21:01 +0000

@David: Great video, thanks!

Lately I’ve been hearing the idea that you need ten years of experience everywhere I go. It’s humbling, as it means that indeed, you need to focus if you want to get to the state of flow, and enjoy life to its fullest.

And you’re right, that bigger TV or all the material things we want, won’t get us there. At least, Csikszentmihalyi is saying that it will just lead us to apathy :)

By: Jarkko Laine

Jarkko Laine — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 11:35:15 +0000

@mark_hayward: Thanks, and happy new year to you as well!

It’s going to be hard, but I’ve decided to try to make that my mission for the year as well. It’s funny how although we have all the keys for solving a big part of our problems, we are still so hesitant to get started…

But I guess it’s the same in all areas in life :)

Now, my battery is running out, talk to you later!

By: David Hutchison

David Hutchison — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 07:06:43 +0000

Isn’t it amazing that money has little correlation with happiness?

Check out this great TED talk:

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/mihaly_csikszentmihalyi_on_flow.html

Even if you could get what you’d want – you would still want more.

We would all be happier if we could feel we had enough. In fact if we focus on the special things we do have – like our kids – then maybe we’d realize those material things are so much less important.