blog – Page 9 – SKETCHMAN BORIS

Reflecting on Simon Sinek’s philosophy

If you need an introduction to Simon Sinek I recommend you go watch one of his many videos, he does a better job at introducing himself than I will ever do.

He came up with the golden circle, put simply he argues that:

Companies usually know WHAT they do,
Most companies know HOW they do it,
Only a few know WHY they do what they do.

I used to work for the automotive industry, I have nothing against cars but the high paying job didn’t give the fulfillment I needed.

You might say: “Oh you are an artist, artists don’t like to work in a corporate organization.”

That’s not true, we don’t care as long as we know our work has an impact. And to be aware of our impact we need to know why we are doing what we are doing.

Fast forward nearly two years later, I am still working in the same country but now for a language center. I am not going to lie I get paid just enough to pay my rent, my bills and have some for food and the occasional get together with friends. I feel so happy that I feel guilty enough to question my happiness (later on this topic).

So what’s the difference? Was I meant to be a teacher? Maybe but I can’t prove that. I believe nobody can prove for what job they were destined to, otherwise everybody would be taking that magic test to do what they love or at least to find out what they love to do.

After listening to Simon Sinek’s philosophy, I believe the reason why I love going to work even on a Saturday when most people complain 5 days a week and are shaking like addicts to get to Friday, is because I know WHY I am doing what I do.

I help people communicate so that they can achieve what they want and I can see that in my students’ faces.

Bonne journée.

Cartoon blog day 44: 0% fat yogurt

This is the second yogurt brand I tried. You might be wondering:

“Why don’t you read the content before you buy the yogurt?”

It’s because it’s in Thai.

“Wait, you have been living in Thailand for 4 years and you don’t know how to read Thai?

Guilty.

Whatever excuse I might give you it will not answer the question whether the minority has to learn the language of the majority, or learn English which through no fault of our own has become the international language.

I live in Thailand and many people do learn Thai, but since I don’t know how long i will stay here i guess i didn’t see the utility for learning it.

I learned the basic sentences to order food at local restaurants, ask for directions and give directions to taxi drivers. I won’t lie I do feel like missing on a lot of things going on in Thailand.

This made me question about the languages that one should know.

I firmly believe people should have the choice to learn the languages they need to adapt to their environment.

But I think you need to know your mother tongue to communicate to the group of people you identify with and at least one more language to communicate to the people you consider “others” thus becoming the bridge.

You know if you still believe like most of us do on US vs THEM.

Bonne journée.

Cartoon blog day 43: Interracial relationships

Before you think about it, the title is totally click-baity. The word “race” is still a question to me. I once heard one of my idols, the author Alan Moore say that in the human genome there are no traces of race, it is a human construct, essentially Race is an illusion. (Note to self: Find out for once and for all if race is still a valid word to be used).

To put it in context, before what I tell you what happened, several days earlier I was in a meetup to network people because I was looking for a job, and I met this Indian guy to whom I said something within the lines of: I understand my Boris can be strange for people to hear, because I am probably the only Indian Boris in the world. But it shouldn’t be a surprise to see people from different cultures sitting around a table hanging out.

For a short time I used to live with my friends because I didn’t have a job so I couldn’t afford to pay for an condo. Back then I used to have habit: take the laptop in my backpack, walk around the mall with air conditioning because it was too hot outside and have the usual conversations with myself, sit down somewhere and let the words pour on the computer with the aim of organizing them later in form of a blog post (or hopefully several blog posts).

As I got on the escalator going up, I noticed something which took me off guard. Something that made me think about my comment mentioned above that people from different culture spending time together, living together should be completely normal.

What I saw was new but beautiful, I saw on my right an interracial couple on the escalator going down, so far so good right? But wait it was an Asian man and an Indian woman. Now why was that surprising to me? Have you been surprised like this before? Have you thought why?

As humans I believe we are programmed to see patterns everywhere, that’s how we went from hunters (figuring out at what time it was good to hunt) to farmers (planning the harvest) to corporate executives who use forecasts to build strategies. But if you have to understand this is the first time I see this configuration and I have lived in India, in France, in UK, in Germany and now in Thailand.

I just realized that, all ethnicities mix but some ethnicities mix more than others.

Bonne journée..

CARTOON BLOG DAY 41: Is self love overrated?

Dramatic lighting : Me interrogating people who like their own posts on social media.

I have a theory that hatred towards others is the result of a projection we make of ourselves onto others, when these projections represent what we consider positive sides of ourselves we like that person and if these projections represent what we consider negative sides of ourselves we hate that person.

So people who actually hate other people hate a part of who they are inside.

I have heard of self love a lot of times. When someone says that they are not attractive their best friend (to console him/her) tells that person, “you need to like yourself otherwise how would others like you?”

But love doesn’t make you a better person. self awareness does. So try to understand yourself and try to improve yourself on a day to day basis. You can admire other people, you can even have mentors, but don’t compare yourself to others (which we naturally do). Just try to be the best version of yourself you can be and don’t be afraid to talk about it. Talk with your friends but also talk with strangers because they will be honest and won’t be afraid to offend you.

Don’t just love yourself, find a good reason to love yourself.

Bonne journée.

cartoon blog day 40: SPLIT

I believe there is an unexpressed frustration or suffering people in minority groups go through. Let’s take the example of European expats in Asia. I know this is true in India, I have discovered it’s similar in Thailand too when it comes to the way Caucasian people are perceived. To put it simply almost everybody thinks Caucasian people are rich.

Food panda is a delivery service in Thailand. When I was talking to someone in a meetup event from Japan. He expressed his surprise to see a Caucasian person riding a food panda scooter.

Of course, there are reasons for this, we see images of privilege, the higher quality lifestyle from Europe, the United States and so on, not to mention the exchange rate of currencies.

No matter where you are from, travelling to a country which is not even aware of your mother tongue can throw you off, however, it’s an experience I recommend to everyone.

No matter how different the experiences are just remember to not be afraid, by putting yourself out of your comfort zone you have taken to road to wisdom and humility.

If you can’t afford to travel, how do you travel without travelling? READ BOOKS.

Bonne journée.