Although I’m really happy you’re here, this email is firstly for myself. The way I see it, the newsletter has three purposes.
In this very email I share about my resolutions, my bike trip to the Ebro delta, the Valencian language, Dare to Care and what's necessary to bring people together, what's planned for February, my thoughts on podcasting and an update from the garden!
2022 started ambivalent: On one hand, I was excited about the new year and on the other hand, I didn’t feel rested enough.
I usually commit to resolutions, stick with them and achieve them. But since we lost our son in 2020, persistence and commitment have been difficult. For 2022, I wanted to have resolutions but in a way that works for the “new me”. I changed a lot since our loss.
I defined 3 categories:
For each, I came up with 3-4 resolutions and now I share something about my personal ones.
They include completing two personal development programmes and 12 bike trips. I’ve done one bike trip already; to the Ebro delta ✔️.
What I like most about bike trips is that there are so many impressions in such little time:
On the trip to the Ebro delta, I cycled 🚴 65 km (40 mi) on dirt tracks, abandoned streets full of potholes, a rocky beach, and national streets 🛣️.
I went from typical dry coastal Mediterranean surroundings to lush and muddy fields while listening to waves 🌊 crashing on the rocky beaches, flamingos 🦩 talking to each other, and my tyres meeting the dirt.
It’s not just a good way to exercise, but also to connect with nature and get to know the surroundings!
…which is a good segue to the next section.
We moved from Cascais 🇵🇹 to a small Mediterranean town on the other side of the Iberian Peninsula: Vinaròs 🇪🇸.
When it comes to settling in, the twice-a-week Valencià A1 (Valencian) course I’m taking is what I focus on. While the locals here also speak Spanish (more precisely “Castilian” or castellano) they have their own language: Valencian.
Valencian (also called Catalan) is an interesting mix of Spanish and French which has quite some resemblance with Portuguese as well.
For example, Portuguese bom dia (good morning) translates to Valencian as bon dia. Also, the "g" and "x" have the same sounds in Portuguese and Catalan and the written "o" is often pronounced as "u". Lastly, the pronunciation of vowels is very similar.
It’s also the smallest language I’ve ever learnt with about 9 million speakers.
It's my second time living in Spain. I lived in Madrid for 8 months in 2011/12; my first time living abroad! Back then, I certainly wouldn’t have thought that I’d spend the next decade abroad, too!
Being surrounded by other languages and cultures can be a key component in personal development – for me it was for sure.
Talking about personal development, lately I’ve been contemplating about the idea that nothing is “good” or “bad” in itself but rather it becomes what we call “good” or “bad” depending on its relationships to others.
Take mould: if it’s on the food I want to eat, it’s “bad” because it means I cannot eat the food. In the compost, it’s “good” because it’s part of what decomposes organic matter.
Every time something breaks down, it makes space for something else… even in the business context!
A business shutting down is not all bad. The people 🧍 that were involved in it, their tools 🔧, the buildings 🏢 etc. will now be available for other endeavours.
Let’s actually dive into the next section with this…
January 2022 has started well. I’ve had many days with deep-focus work (still using my 17 minutes work, 3 minutes rest tabata*).
Something that I’ve learnt from sports is that it’s usually more effective to alternate between deep focus and rest rather than not-so-deep focus for a long time.
Productivity needs rest 🏖️. I’ve noticed that even more in the last 1.5 years because my baseline overwhelm is higher and baseline energy is lower.
Apart from doing-nothing rest, I also incorporate active recovery. That’s another thing from sports. Instead of not using your legs at all after a long run, actively recover by going for a relaxed walk 🚶.
The most exciting project of January was Dare to Care. Let me tell you what it is and how I came up with it…
Impelled by learning more about nature and business over the past years, I saw that:
Because I know that most of our behaviour stems from our thinking and our thinking stems from how we interpret ourselves and the world, I thought that would be a good entry point for change:
If we understand ourselves as an intricate part of all life and all nature, we’ll behave differently. Differently in a way that is more respectful of the rest of nature!
There are spiritual perceptions of nature but more and more we also have the science to confirm many of the spiritual beliefs (for example, that plants have feelings).
In winter 2020/21, I joined a Semco Style training with LIVEsciences and Semco Style Nederland. One of my most important insights came with the question
“What do we need for democracy to work?”
Apart from the ability to influence decisions, there’s also the need for relevant information 📋. Without good information, no good decision.
Those understanding the leading principles in nature, will be better equipped to take decisions that increase and improve life on Earth rather than damage it.
That’s why understanding planetary health and what happens if it’s disturbed is the first part of Dare to Care.
Unfortunately (or fortunately), our destructive ways of being have stressed planetary health to turn it around, we have to work together to be able to ensure our existence in the future.
In Regenerative Leadership, Giles Hutchins and Laura Storm write about divergent parts that converge around meaning. I first didn’t understand what that meant. But recently I got it: it means that with all our differences (in perspectives, cultures, needs, desires…) we can come together if we have a shared purpose 🗺️.
Sharing a purpose may well be the strongest glue to bring people together and creatively look at everyone’s way to contribute! ✨
The key point is, that the purpose needs to be bigger than a single person or organisation. Most organisations don’t have that. They have goals and objectives that are ego-focused (meaning that rely on the organisation itself).
An organisation may have the goal to provide a service to 200 people in need. If someone else helps the selected 200 people before they do, the organisation loses because they didn’t complete their goal. That doesn’t make sense! The people were helped, right?
If instead the organisation’s focus was bigger than themselves, someone else helping 200 people in their community would be a shared win...
Coaching. I continue coaching private clients and also, since last summer, work with Torch.io to provide leadership coaching. Perhaps next month, I will tell you more about this.
For now, my head is still busy with Dare to Care. I’ve put a lot of time and energy into developing it and my goal is to offer it to more people.
In February, one of my focus areas will be exactly that.
I’m also collaborating on another project with the aim of increasing employee retention in an organisation. It’s currently in development for the pilot – more on that in another newsletter.
I continue mentoring startups through Bridge for Billions. It’s a great collaborative platform accelerating 🚀 diverse projects all around the world. What’s best about it is how the matching is done. I only mentor startups that either have to do with regeneration/sustainability 🌱 or health ⚕️.
That’s one of the questions on my mind already for more than a year. Actually, that’s probably an indication!
Last summer, I prepared to launch a podcast, even recorded 🎙️ one interview session that I really liked but then stopped.
One of the challenges I face is that I’m interested in so many things that I feel I limit myself if I chose just one of them (but by not choosing I also limit myself – yes, I know!).
Apart from that, something I read in Regenerative Life by Carol Sanford keeps me thinking: how can I create a podcast in which the guests take away more than just exposure to a new audience and (hopefully) a great conversation with me?
In other words, how can the podcast be regenerative for all people involved?
Do you have any ideas? Let's talk!
Last Wednesday I went to the farmer’s market in Benicarló. I told the lady selling me veggies to keep a couple of cents of change and she offered me some parsley in return.
I accepted and mentioned that the parsley in our garden was being devoured by caterpillars. She wanted to know whether I sprayed them and was surprised by my no.
Do you like butterflies? Well, I do. And I bet you already knew it: without caterpillars no butterflies. And, zooming out more, caterpillars are pollinators and pollination is necessary for about 90% of all plants to produce fruits and seeds. That’s one of the reasons I don’t spray with chemicals.
I’m still not 100% comfortable having a wild and diverse garden. I like order and am trying to reconcile the two: Borders of the garden beds and rectangular bamboo structures contain mixed plants. Let’s see how this will develop over the months…
It’s finally February, meaning I can start sowing more of the veggies I’m looking forward to looking at and eating – including beans, courgette, bell pepper, and even melon (we’re in Mediterranean climate with no frost and average peak temperature 🌡️ of 15° C (59° F) and of 6.3 hours of daily sunshine ☀️ in February).
The tomatoes I sowed in January and keep in my office are actually doing well. I’m a bit nervous though because I got 5-10 seeds per variety only – if the seedlings fail, there’s no backup! 😱
Since a couple of weeks, the composter is doing its job in reducing waste. Probably about 70% of our residual household waste is compostable and the garden will appreciate the extra input of nutrients!
And that's my reflection for January!
There are two things I'd like you to consider:
Until next month,
Jorim
* = Japanese sports scientist Dr Izumi Tabata and his team researched exercise effectiveness. They found that 4-min, high-intensity workouts were much more effective for both developing endurance and strength than 1-hour, medium-level workouts. Their workout regimen is now known as Tabata (and is similar to the better known high-intensity interval training HIIT). From personal experience I can confirm it also works for brain workouts 😊.
Every couple of months, I take some time to reflect and write a newsletter. I reflect on life, leadership, and health. That could include topics like travelling, cultural differences in communication, emotional intelligence, and spending time offline. I write from a personal perspective and about personal experiences. The newsletter is a way for me to reflect and write but also to connect with people – I invite you to respond to the newsletter with your thoughts ☺️
Welcome back to my reflections 🎉 This newsletter has three purposes: A dedicated time for me to reflect ✏️. An entry for conversation – if anything of what I write awakens something in you, I encourage you to send me back a message🙋♂️. An insight into my thoughts regarding the topics I write about 💭. If a person you know would benefit from what I write about, forward this newsletter to them! At the bottom, they'll find a link in case they want to subscribe, too. Kalawitan Sky Marathon On...
Welcome back to my reflections 🎉 This newsletter has three purposes: A dedicated time for me to reflect ✏️. An entry for conversation – if anything of what I write awakens something in you, I encourage you to reply 🙋♂️. An insight into my thoughts regarding the topics I write about 💭. If a person you know would benefit from what I write about, forward this newsletter to them! At the bottom, they'll find a link in case they want to subscribe, too. In this very email, I write about living in a...
Welcome back to my monthly reflections 🎉 This newsletter has three purposes: A dedicated time for me to reflect on and draw meaning out of the last month ✏️. An entry for conversation – if anything of what I write awakens something in you, I encourage you to reply 🙋♂️. An insight into my thoughts regarding the topics I write about 💭. If a person you know would benefit from what I write about, forward this newsletter to them! At the bottom, they'll find a link in case they want to subscribe,...