Swiss Exchange Student Comes and Goes

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A couple months ago I started a sister-blog to chronicle my experiences and post pictures from an exchange program I am involved in in which a junior in high school from Switzerland stays with my family for three weeks and then I go to Zurich for three weeks.

Patrice, the student from Zurich, arrived three weeks ago and left this evening after celebrating Thanksgiving with my family. Img_0340More details and pictures are at my Zurich Exchange blog, but I learned some interesting things during his stay.

1. Switzerland is not very different from America. Other than the four official languages, much involving politics, culture, and adolescence is the same. This is not to say there are no differences or to try to homogenize two distinct peoples, but I never expected my mindset, opinions, or questions about life to be so similar.

2. Their approach to education is much different. They have longer school days and virtually no homework. This is compared to the US private high school education of shorter school days and hours and hours of homework.

3. The Swiss kids knew more about American culture than I did. They knew more movie stars, more music bands, and the like.

4. Europeans close the door to bathrooms even when no one is in there!?

5. I will generalize and say most European teens like heavy metal, punk music. Yuck.

In the New Year I will start thinking about my trip to Zurich in the beginning of June. I’ll be taking classes in English at their school but I’d like to travel a bit to the surrounding countries of Italy, Germany, or France. If you have any ideas or experiences please share.

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Belt Out Those Christmas Carols

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The day has arrived. My family’s tradition is that you can only listen to Christmas carols from the day after Thanksgiving till New Year’s. I have a wonderful collection of Christmas MP3s and I’ll be adding some more soon. Some sleeper picks: “So This Is Christmas” by John Lennon, “Wonderful Christmas Time” by Paul McCartney and the Wings, “Christmas Shoes” the soundtrack from the movie, “What Christmas Means to Me” by Stevie Wonder, “Little Drummer Boy” by The Nylons, and of course anything from the Charlie Brown soundtrack.

Some SF radio stations have been playing x-mas songs for a couple weeks which really annoyed me. No more. The holidays are coming!

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A Book a Day This Long Weekend

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If Brad thinks he’s the only one reading a book a day this Thanksgiving weekend, he’s dead wrong.

Well, let’s say I’m finishing at least a book a day and starting several more.

Yesterday I finished The Business of Software which is a comprehensive review of various software company business models. Despite a positive review from someone (can’t remember now) this book let me down. Same old, same old.

I then finished Disgrace, a novel from my English class “Big Payback: Literature of Revenge”. It was pretty good, but I can see why it’s assigned for school reading. A college professor in South Africa has affairs with his students (“not quite rape, but undesired to the core”) and then the tables turn. It’s deep stuff but wonderful prose. If you’re interested in South Africa, their apartheid, race relations, and sexual scandals, you may enjoy this.

I’m in the process of reading Millenials Rising, a relentless upbeat portrait of my generation which they coin “Millenials” and not “Generation Y.” It juxtaposes the negative press and stereotypes of today’s young people with contrasting research which shows we will all be incredible leaders and are the brightest hope this country has had. Gotta have pride in your generation!

Finally, I’m almost done with The MouseDriver Chronicles. It’s fantastic, fun, and has taught me a few things as well. Any entrepreneur should read this book. The MouseDriver guys were getting their first press right when my first company was getting off the ground. There was one TV segment which profiled them – these bright, charismatic, Wharton MBAs with a super-clever product, and then me, a 12-year-old kid who was trying to track and resolve government complaints for free for citizens. Ouch.

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Re-Defining the Entrepreneurial Lifestyle

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The current stereotypes of entrepreneurs usually are 70-80 hour weeks, cold pizza and Coke every day for meals, caffeine, no sleep, and the sacrifice of family, friends, and personal time in the name of business. I am disheartened when I speak with young people who are either a) scared to start a business because they think that’s what it takes, or b) are super pumped to start a business because that kind of lifestyle fires them up.

It is our responsibility, entrepreneurs or people interested in/work with entrepreneurs, to re-define what a successful and sustainable entrepreneurial lifestyle is. Both these aspects are important. You can be successful for 4 or 5 years but be burnt out afterwards.

The Power of Full Engagement has been a good resource for me in this area, with its emphasis on managing energy, not time. Here’s my partial list of components to a successful, sustainable lifestyle. (By the way, I often size people up based on their attention to these areas.)

1. Sleep – At least 7-8 hours a day. The most amazing thing I see on a regular basis is people who routinely ignore study after study which report that anything less than this and your decision making ability goes way down. Your alertness goes way down. Your retention of key information goes way down. If getting 4-5 of sleep a day is the norm for you, then you may say “I do fine on these hours.” My challenge to you: go three weeks with 7-8 hours a sleep a day and let me know if you feel a difference. You won’t know unless you try.

2. Nutrition – There’s nothing worse than running to a meeting feeling hungry, or worse yet, trying to catch a flight when you are starving and no time for dinner. Any entrepreneur who doesn’t travel with a healthy supply of Cliff Bars is nuts. Also, eating breakfast has been proven time after time to be essential to be able to give 100% all day long.

3. Exercise – I work out two hours a day, six days a week. I immediately feel the difference when I go a few days with no treadmill, basketball court, or weights. Many decently successful, moderately interesting entrepreneurs work long hours and swear they have no time to get to a gym. But the very best people in the business world I see always find time to get their one hour in. If they can find time for it, so can you.

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I Believe In Tomorrow

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In 8th grade I gave the graduation speech for my class and I read the following poem which has been really inspirational for me but that I did not write and in fact do not know the original source. Even if you’re not young in age, you can always be young in heart. Perhaps people who were speechless after Nov 2 (Andy Sack, for one) can find solace in this.
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I believe in tomorrow. I believe in it because it has not yet come. And I am young, and youth always believes that tomorrow will be better than today. I believe that I will do tomorrow what I failed to do today, and be then what I have not yet been.

I trust the future. Youth is always glorious because it trusts the future. Youth will attempt the impossible, scale the mountain that is supposed to be inaccessible, and dare the thing that age will fear.

I believe in tomorrow because it is unspoiled. I have, nor has anyone, yet written on it with grimy finger or insanity or selfishness or sin. No wars have been fought in tomorrow. No lie has been told, or dishonest deed done in tomorrow. No man has treacherously failed a friend in tomorrow.

Tomorrow is one clean, beautiful day, the day on which dreams come true, on which the impossible things will yet be done, on which I shall have the nerve and the will to be and to do that which was too much for me in the grim battle of today.

I believe in tomorrow.

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