What an afternoon

I had a Friday afternoon with a friend and it was really fun

The best way to show it is with pics:

Nuno Barros - One of the most innovative Portuguese Chefs

Chocolate Mousse Cake

Fear of failure

A friend asked me if she should talk more about her successes or her failures in her blog. That's why today I am writing this post.

It is given too much importance to the fear of failure.

In fact, fear of failure serves as an excuse too often. For example, if we work for someone, most of the times, the cost of failure is absorbed by the company and not by us.

In my opinion, people are not afraid to fail. It's blame. Criticism.

We prefer not to be bright because we are afraid of criticism. We hesitate to create innovative movies, launch new initiatives in human resources, design a menu with dishes that give the views, or make bold statements because, deep down, we hate and fear that someone might call us to account.
"This is the biggest stupidity I have ever heard!", "What a waste of money" "Who is responsible for this?"

Sometimes the criticism don't need to be so obvious. The fear of hearing something like "I find it strange that they released until they have done further research" is enough to kill an idea that might even be good.

Or even just listening to someone being criticized for fear to settle.

I admit. When I receive a bad review, it bothers me. It would be good to always hear good things. But it doesn't happen.


But this is not bad at all. Like this people notice what I did or what I said. Some people like it. Others hate it.

A bad review does not spoil my day because I realized what an honor it is to receive a critique, whatever it is. It means I've frustrated the expectations of someone. This means, in reality, I did something that was worth comment.

The lesson is simple: the attitudes, products and ideas that are spoken are the ones that are worth being discussed.

More food please

Why do people eat too much?

Today I bring you some psychological reasons people eat too much.

Food is no longer just food. We mix food with security and love and sometimes we say we eat with our eyes.

People have some trouble to find when it's the best time to stop eating and when their no longer hungry.

I have the same problem. We usually don't rely on my stomach but on all sorts of external cues, from the size of our plate or the habits of others around us (many kids that are obese come from overweight families). If the size of the plate is two times bigger from our usual plate we don't care and eat everything plus the dessert.

In behavioural economics I have been studying many psychologist' papers and many of them have papers about our necessity to eat so much. (I'm not writing the references but if you need I can share them with you) . The main conclusion of these papers: people depend on how much others give them and larger sizes causes them to eat more.

But what drives people to order bigger portions when they know it isn't healthy for them?

Many psychologists have found people are guided by social status. Bigger portions a desire to signal status.

Think of all the cultural norms that associate larger products with increased status, from the screen size of televisions to the size of our houses. And plus it's more prestigious to have one TV for each room even though we don't watch TV at all at home.

Interesting to note that in experiments where people were said they had less power they would eat more than other people with more power but when told they were in a prestigious event they would eat less than those with power.

"The larger point is that we don’t just eat to fill the void in our belly. Instead, we eat excessively to fill all sorts of empty spots, one of which is a chronic lack of status." by Jonah Lehrer

Curiosity: the number of people worldwide who are dangerously overweight has now exceeded the number who are undernourished.

One day on Earth

So many different cultures, lifestyles, countries, people, all filmed in one day gives this video:

Always...

...take your time to Try.

You shouldn't do this way:

But think this way:

“Fear of failure must never be a reason not to try something."

What If...

I saw this on a magazine the other day and wanted to share it with you:

What if you dream big every day
What if you make a choice to create new rules for yourself
What if you generate power from passion
What if you inspire through attitude
What if going big means expecting more of yourself every day
What if you allow yourself to fly
What if you erase doubt, embrace pain and smile from your heart
What if your determination becomes bigger than your fears
What if trusting your body and mind means breaking barriers?

Believe in yourself!

Keep goals in mind but

Yesterday I got slapped on my face. Metaphorically.

I had a dinner with some friends. They booked the dinner to 9.30 pm and almost everytime I'm with them I come home around 4/5 am. So I said I couldn't go because I was training today morning early. Normally I need to sleep at least 6 hours to train properly or otherwise my head isn't there.

A friend of mine when heard my answer said this: "the excuses are falling down the drain and the invitations too. Your choice man! Good luck with your stuff".

That really touched me way too deep. I couldn't sleep well last night...

But I smiled. This made me think what I'm doing here and what are my goals.

I don't want to lose my friendship or my social life.
So if people don't change their habits this must be a 1-1 deal: I need to miss some hours of sleep from time to time to be with them and they need to understand that this is important to me and accept that I can't lose hours of sleep as much as they can.

I have learned.

Shopping online in real life

The Internet really changed the way people go shopping. This Christmas, millions of transactions will take place in people’s living rooms and home offices instead of at the shopping center.

 But there are still many parts of online shopping that can make you want to pull your hair out.

 Google Analytics shows us the problems with online shopping by explaining it in real life terms.

 

Solution for Procrastination

This is a complex word. But many of you suffer from this bad thing and so do I when I begin to have lots of things to do or I'm tired. This explains my lack of posting.

So what is procrastination?

It is the act of putting off important tasks to a later time.

So imagine you have to buy a book or study or write on a blog and you say "I just want to watch a bit more TV or play a bit more on Facebook and I do it in 2 hours". 2 hours were gone, then tomorrow, the week after, the month after...

And when you look back we've just wasted your time doing small, unnecessary things and you now have lots of important things to do in a small amount of time.

This happened to me last week. I was tired from training and I said "I have to write on my blog tomorrow".
No! I should have said "I have to write on my blog now" and I should have done it immediately.

There is no way to cure procrastination completely but there are methods that help to minimize the effect of it and I'm learning slowly the process.

Do you want to know how to overcome procrastination?

Simple. Reward yourself. 


For example you have to study for an exam that it is in 1 month. You know you have to study everyday in order to cover every topic of the subject. But you think "I have a lot of time, it is in 1 month". You fail!

Now think like this: if I study everyday afterwards I can eat a chocolate (or do something you like but do it immediately after studying, just don't eat the chocolate before studying!).

I'm slowly getting into this rhythm. And you can do it as well. 


If you overcome procrastination your going to be a better person and high priority tasks will be done without thinking.

Worried

I don't mind to work or live in another country as I already did this a couple of times.

I'm most worried about beginning to feel like I have some comfort and build great friendships and someone says I must work in a different country...

Training with a group

Since finishing my masters degree I have been occupied. I had one week of holiday but soon started to do other things.

I have started taking lessons to have a driving license and I'm sending cv's for job opportunities. I have also new projects in mind.

But today I want to talk about one thing that changed my way of training. I was losing my motivation to train as I was training alone most of the time. My decision was not easy and I had to think carefully because I was really close to my former coach. 

After having one week of experience with the group and talking with my former coach this is my decision: I have a new coach and I train with a really friendly group that has people with all abilities - from national champions to Ironman athletes and people that take their family/work time to train.

Next year I'm only going to focus in sprint and olympic distance triathlons so I can be faster. This time of the year I'm running road races (mainly 10ks).

However I will never forget everything my former coach taught me because I have learned so much with him and those 2 years were awesome. He will continue to be a great friend.

See ya soon

Brave Athletes

2 days without talking about sports is too much.

This video says it all: athletes in every sport are courageous and determined to suffer, fear, dream, fight.

All for the win!


 (I don't have any kind of relation with Eurosport)

Tomorrow I come to talk about Politics and the crisis in Europe.

News Shows

Related to the last post I come today to talk about the news on the Portuguese TV.

I have lived in countries (Belgium and UK) where the news shows or programs (just the shows on prime-time not on the news channels with news every hour) had 30 minutes. These had an order where first the news of the country were shown, then the international news and the sports news and lastly the so-called odd news or some curiosities.

Problem:
In Portugal, people spend too much time watching the TV news shows. These programs last about 1h and some even 1h and 30 minutes.
And for me what's most funny is the order of the news: start with the most important news about Portugal, then sports(just football) followed by international news or odd news (some TV channels put the odd news before international ones).
There is no news introduction: journalists don't say "now we are going to talk about football". They usually pass from one report to the other just by beginning that message.

Solution:
1) People only watch what TV channels say them to watch. Thus a 30 or even a 20 minute news show would be more than sufficient to make a summary of the everyday news.
2) Prioritize the news where international news appear after the country news and sports come after in a separated introduction talking about different sports and not only football.
3) Cut the odd news to one or two more important and not show news about common and less important situations like cats trapped on trees and burglary.

Differences

People always ask me how it was in the UK compared to Portugal. 

Most of the people in Portugal tend to be little confident about our country and most of the time think outside the country everything is above and much better.

Everything was way better, no? That's the common question people ask me. My answer is: "you have to live outside the country to see" and not just visit a city. That's the way I've learnt that everything outside Portugal isn't roses.

It's a trend: people visit a country's capital and think they've seen the whole thing. They go to London, Paris, NY and everything is magical. They don't walk on the pathways in Portugal and even sometimes park their cars on them but can walk miles and respect everyone when they are outside the country. Others only see what movies or TV show them how other countries are.

So today I bring some differences (just a summary of some things I've seen) from my life in the UK and my life in Portugal.

First, there is no doubt we have an amazing weather. I guess other countries would like to have summer time from June to almost October and even go to the beach early April. I was getting depressed with the grey time in the UK. 

Second, the food. We have an amazing variety of delicious dishes from starters to desserts.
In the UK I've always asked myself why there are 3 cooking shows on the British TV prime-time. And although I could find a bigger variety of products in the supermarkets (quinoa or buckwheat in the smaller supermarkets) and some nice food in restaurants the British continue to eat badly. Take-away restaurants are like mushrooms and those don't have good quality.

Third, the crisis. It's not only in Portugal that we suffer from the consequences of the subprime crisis in 2008.   Even though the British have other problems like the money they have spent on wars they are in (including Lybia) people are also concerned about cuts and government debt. I know our way of living and the impact of our austerity measures it's affecting us way more. However, it's not easier to find a job in the UK than in Portugal. It's true people have a bigger salary in the UK than in Portugal but the prices are also more expensive and they have to pay more taxes (even a tax for a TV license: no one can have a TV without paying it even if they watch TV via a computer they have to pay it and it costs about 200Euros)

Fourth, the media. That's something I want to talk in a next post but just to say that there are also controversial TV shows and tabloids in the UK. One thing that I like is that in the UK the newspapers are identified by their political view (the conservative and the labour papers) and not ambiguous news and opinions we see in the Portuguese newspapers. Other thing is they talk about other sports other than Football (soccer). They talk about cricket, athletics, rugby, golf, triathlon...

Fifth, I don't see any difference in the education between Portugal and the UK. I can only talk about the Universities but in both places teachers are demanding and in the UK universities are way more expensive. There are no canteens like in Portugal and everything in the universities from bars to shops are ran by private owners so the prices are expensive.


Two big problems that surprised me a lot in the UK and we don't see in Portugal: the amount of young ladies with children and the people with alcoholic problems.
Girls with 16 to 20 carrying their children to school and most of them are unemployed or work in the supermarkets. Alcohol is everywhere and it's something that affect not only younger but also older people. On my way to the University I used to see boxes of empty bottles (not only beer) outside the houses.

It's true there is more respect for cycling than in Portugal. People horn way less in the UK and wait behind the riders but there are also some drivers who shout and are not careful with riders.

Some things were better some don't. "If I lived outside Portugal things were different" and "go live outside the country, things are really bad here" are also common phrases I hear a lot.

We should be more confident on our country and our values. We must be original and don't copy the bad habits from other countries.


Why with all the conditions to succeed the Portuguese keep waiting for something big to happen (like the discovery of oil or gold in our country) and with the use of little everyday actions don't make the country better to live?

Life is Life

I should have posted something awhile ago. But since the last time I've posted I've been Really busy. And today I'm going to talk about what happened since then.

I had one month in Portugal from June to July but I had to go back to the UK because of meetings with my dissertation supervisor.

However, the month of August was the worst month to be in Norwich. I was writing my dissertation but no one was there (people I knew) and I felt a bit lonely. My training levels went way down because I had to read and write a lot in order to finish my dissertation on the deadline.

On the last week of August, I had my flight booked to Portugal. So 2 days earlier I had to put my whole room in three bags and sent these via an express parcel. I also had to pack my bike and the last little things (cables, some last clothes, etc.) in my bike bag.
This was my flight back to Lisbon. But I am definitely going to miss Norwich, the lifestyle I had there, the people I met and the places to ride and run.

Then since the time I arrived here until last Friday, apart from being with family and friends and one or two days at the beach, I could not think of anything else than finishing my dissertation.

Now finally it's done. I've handed it in last Friday and since then I'm on holiday! I'm back training and in shape. I'll also enjoy the good weather and the next days I'm going to the beach.


And from today on I'm officially looking for a job.

(I have many topics to write about and these are coming in the next days.)

Just don't worry

Sometimes we think too much.

They are not afraid

I was in their place.

He strikes again

Novak Djockovic is known for imitating other tennis players: their sounds and movements on the tennis court.

This time he does it with the ad for a racket company. Can you find the differences?

Team Spirit

In a individual sport like triathlon racing with a team isn't easy. But this Sunday different countries will form their teams of 3 athletes to compete in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The aim is for Team Triathlon to be added to Olympic Schedule alongside the currently 1.5/40/10 individual to expand the sport.

This makes me cry

Not cry for sadness. Cry for joy!

Meet Cody McCasland: He dreams of winning a gold medal in the Paralympics for running or swimming, was born without any tibia or knee bones, and had to have the bottom half of his legs amputated as a toddler. He is one of the fastest nine-year-olds around!

http://youtu.be/ladcCd9PRLc (I could not embed the video but you should watch it)

He's a true inspiration! And with him many kids have the dream of enjoying sports.

Please support them: Challenged Athletes Foundation

Circus

With the work on my dissertation going on I've not been able to watch that much TV. But yesterday I was feeling a bit tired and turned the TV on.

Then I saw this ad:

I didn't move. And then I thought "I really have to watch this!"

I can say it was time well spent. This was produced for Channel 4 and it's called Concrete Circus. It is a series of episodes that show some of the British urban art which includes not only BMX and Parkour but also street dance, street art or hip hop all throughout the month of August.

I like this not only because of the footage but also because I couldn't do what they do, not even a 1/4.

This was the final part of the episode yesterday:

My QOTD

But the thing is I really want to get to the next level, I want to train hard every single day.

Great things happen...

...when you switch your TV.

At the moment news are either full of bad events or gossips.

Food and Culture

Jeff, an ironworker, avoids fastfood and brings a cooler with him with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, smoked salmon, yogurt, crackers and diet sodas. Estimated calories: 6,600 

Noolkisaruni Tarakuai,  Kenya. Her diet for the day includes cornmeal porridge, bananas and black tea with whole milk and sugar. Estimated calories pictured: 800.

Ahmed Ahmed Swaid, 50, Yemen, pictured here with dishes of fava beans, minced meat, lamb and saltah (a stew with beef and eggplant). Estimated calories pictured: 3,300.

These are just three pictures from a photographer and a writer's project, Peter Menzel and Faith D’Alusio, who traveled the world collecting photos and stories about what people eat in a day. They gathered 80 people and took pictures of their planned diet for that day. See more pictures here: Food Pictures

Not only it is interesting to see the difference choice of food in each culture but also in each job and for each age group. Many people eat according to their traditions and others lost their culture to eat in a more globalized way. Many eat too many or too little for their daily activities. Some of them that are seated all day choose a high-carbohydrate diet while others who have to walk and stay up all day choose a more high-protein/high-fat diet.

It is also important to note that many people that were going to eat fast-food on the day they were photographed already knew their food choices and I thought you only eat fast-food when you don't have time not something already planned.

Let's make a game: imagine your food for the day. Could you say you are making the right choices? 

Another of those experiences

On Sunday I woke up really early to catch the train. I went to London and precisely to Hyde Park. While some other guys next to me were drinking beer at 8am because they were heading to Wembley for a football match, I was going to watch one of the sports where the pro-athletes are the most friendly - triathlon.

The World Championship Series (triathlon races in different cities around the World) came to London and all the best athletes were racing here because they wanted their place for the Olympics (this race is the exact same course as the Triathlon event in the Olympics in 2012 and it qualified automatically some athletes that came on top3/8/12 depending on each Country's way of qualifying).

Many more people went to the Hyde Park compared to Saturday (the women's race was earlier) and I felt the incredible atmosphere with spectators from all over the World cheering for their favorite athletes (the British were the majority). As for me I had the opportunity to talk with some of the female athletes including the Olympic champion Emma Snowsill, the wonder girl Paula Findlay and also talked with Gwen Jorgensen the rising American star. For the men I had time to speak with the Portuguese athletes, Alistair Brownlee who won the race and with Olympic champion Jan Frodeno.

The weather didn't help much. I didn't have an umbrella so I had to place myself below a tree (didn't make any difference I was all wet in the end). Funny part was people saying this is the British weather but it isn't. I've talked with some people and they say it's not common at this time of year to rain like yesterday.

As for pictures me and batteries are close friends. I took some photos with my mobile phone and after charging it the whole night before I didn't have any battery in the afternoon (really need to buy a new battery) and my camera only had battery for 12 photos! These are the Possible Pictures but hope you like it.

Back to work!

QOTD

"Be patient, head down, get the work done and execute brilliantly when it all counts" by Joel Filliol

Fear?

Is nothing.

Today I received a message from a friend that made my day and this will keep my motivation high. I thought it's also good for you:

"Never give up on your dreams, always believe in yourself!"

Courage

what this guys can do is just incredible! Can't for wait for the movie!

Call me old

But I'm always trying to find the meaning of some abbreviations on the internet.

Lifestyle

Sometime ago I have posted the story of a Portuguese Pro rider that was working in a cycling magazine and was hired by a professional cycling team: João Correia. But because of the changes in his professional team he is no longer a professional rider.

However I continue to enjoy his lifestyle. He rides bikes and still works for a cycling magazine but he knows what cycling is all about: discovering new places, people and food.

That is why he launched a new cycling Tour in Chianti - Tuscany, Italy (one of my favorite regions in Italy): Chianti Eating Drinkin Riding and the Facebook page: FatManTours.

Only hear if you want

Sometimes people ask me for advice. I'm always available for any help.

It's strange but many times I feel like they will not do what I'm telling. I know - I can be wrong but I think people come to me with a fixed idea in mind and just want to hear something to prove they are right. If I'm wrong people would just need to tell me at that moment.

I will continue to be available to help. Like Agatha Christie said: "Good advice is always certain to be ignored, but that's no reason not to give it".

Captain of...

Motivation

When a stadium speaks:

A trip to remember

Yesterday I've posted some pics about my trip to Paris - Memories

Today I write the review of my 4 day stay there.

This was not my first time in Paris.  I don't like that much cities (I prefer the villages' peaceful life) but because of one thing or another I had to go there.

This time I knew it was going to be different. First because it was going to be the final stage of the Tour and second because I was going without a car (and I prefer to discover a city by walking).

And it was different. All I can say is that I had a really nice experience.

On Sunday I woke up really early and went to Creteil (14 kms from Paris but with tube connection) to see the start of the final stage. I had time to meet some staff from the Garmin-Cervelo Cycling Team, to take pictures of the Team Buses, the bikes and some riders. The start was crowded but many people were local.

Then just after the start of the race I just had time to grab a baguette and went to Paris. Wow it was crowded! The streets were full of people but I felt all that joy and enthusiasm atmosphere. I had to find a good spot to watch the laps on the Champs-Elysee and the final sprint and I did.

After the finish I went to the Team Buses where I waited for the riders to come. I had the opportunity to see famous riders so close to me like Cancellara and the Shlecks (now I know how many bubbles Andy has got in his face). I even waited for the last one and saw him in front of me - Cadel Evans - the winner of this year's Tour. More or less like this: Stage End

On Saturday and Monday I had time to take pics of the monuments like the Louvre, Eiffel tower, etc. to eat the croissants, the cheese, the baguettes (I'm a bit bored of eating white bread).

This time I felt a bit disappointed of Paris like a city. Because I had time to take the tube and walk in many parts of the city I felt like it continues to have an enormous disparity between the luxurious and the poor life. I see more and more Africans (not a bad thing but just saying it's growing the migration from the former French colonies) and more Chinese tourists.

Most of all it was a well spent mini-holiday. It will certainly be a trip to remember - mainly from Sunday.

Now time to get back to my dissertation work!

Memories

Arrived yesterday night from what I would say a dream. Watching all the atmosphere, the teams and the riders that I watch on TV and meeting some nice people was just incredible!

Today I only have time to upload some pics but tomorrow I come and write the review of the experience. 

This is the link to the album: Tour

The most part of the photos are from the start in Creteil. I couldn't take any pics from Paris although I had the opportunity to see some riders like 1 meter close.

They did it again

Summer?

I'm back to the british summer: cloudy, rainy and 12ºC!

Tomorrow I'm heading to the place of Baguettes, Croissant, Cheese and Wine. I'm going to spend 4 days in...Paris! 

Of Course to watch the Tour! I'm going to post some pics here on tuesday.

Continue to follow the Tour in http://tdftech.tumblr.com with pics, videos, websites and previews.

À biêntot!

Time flies...

and I didnt really see that happen.

When I was 11 years old a nurse wrote on my vaccine book that 10 years later - 2011 - I needed to take a vaccine. I laughed and said that's ages away.

Now 10 years have gone. Today came to the same place 10 years older. I feel different, more experinced but so much still to learn and to live.

Today I didnt laugh. But the nurse wrote in my vaccine book July 2021 - ages away.

Uff...

First draft of my dissertation handed in. Now I can relax a bit.

Next wednesday I'm back to the rainy weather. But can't wait for this Friday!

Friday trip

Keep you updated!

Enjoy Nature

He's now working in a new project: Project Himalaya is dedicated to documenting and telling the story of one man's mission to take alpine speed climbing to new heights. Literally.


http://www.himalayaspeed.com/

Observation

I only see the status quo around me. This means people want to keep the things the way they presently are.

To make this simple for example people eat things that harm them or do things that are bad for themselves and don't want it other way.

They fear change.  

So I bring you 29 ways to be creative: