When you're almost loosing sight!

How crazy the moments...
you are really starting out alright. Everybody's cheering! You feel like this is going to be GREAT! Your mind is right - you got the vibe - the crowds are standing on their seats... they are convinced you can do it!
Like the Dutch soccer team in the world cup finals! WHOAOAOAHHHHHHHHHH!

Than it happens - your getting a blow - oh yeah - you knew these where coming - and an other one... and an other one! Oh my goodness! What's going on - the're not aware that you're not feeling that victorious anymore...

Than you catch yourself in a daze - what is it again i'm doing? How is it possible that something that made so much sense now seems to be sooo far! What about 'values'? What about 'personal drive'? You feel they just kicked the living daylight out of your system!

But don't worry - that living daylight is just kicked around the corner. Common - just crawl there... you can make it! And when you do! OH MY! You realize you just got stronger! You realize you have experienced what it means to fight for something! You have entered a realm of the true heroic. Because, unlike many that would stay down, defeated, you got up! And you give it an other try!

Now that's fun!

Learning to stand!

I'm learning some hardcore lessons as we're developing Tjeko. Some are so GREAT, they make you float on air. Some are so RAW, they make you feel you're never gonna be able to shine again.
When I look at Tjeko, and the idea that it will be a complete new way of investing in the development world, I feel like i'm just now learning to walk!

Emeth (our 1 year old) just learned how to walk himself. We're fully aware that he's an early learner. He was cruising the house when he was 10 months old, holding on to the wall, the vacuum cleaner, or whatever he could get his hands on. Countless times he fell - but just as many times he got up again. His failure didn't stop him to keep going :) I guess it's because Ta and I try not to freak out when he falls, he thinks it's just part of learning. (you know those people that just start screaming, and grabbing their heads when their kids fall - so annoying!)
Funny, because I'm NOT like that at all developing Tjeko. I want to do it all perfect the first time, freaking-out when I think I might actually fall as I am trying...

I wish I had a bit more of that Emeth mentality. I will fall, but I will get back up again. I can't constantly fear to fall, because it will delay (or even cancel) my chances for success. Emeth might not realize it, but his determination to succeed in walking has put him ahead of his fellow '1 year olds' by a mile! As he's been so comfortable walking and falling, he's now already taking on climbing! Yesterday he climbed in the WINDOW, and as he turned to see if we were watching, he fell backwards, on the floor, ON HIS HEAD! And do you think it discouraged him from doing it again? No way - just this morning he tried again!  This kid is a future rugby player.

In order to succeed, you need to get over your freaking fear to fall. WHO CARES IF YOU DO - at least you learn from your falling. And you can be assured it will put you WAY AHEAD of the rest of the pack.

Who gets the credit... Who cares?

It amazing what you can accomplish if you don't care who gets the credit.

H.S. Truman

I've always embraced this saying.

Ok - I've always tried to embrace this.

Not always easy right?

Haha - makes me laugh to think about it. I remember going with a HUGE AMAZING GREAT idea to my leadership at that time. They shot it down! At least, that's the impression they gave me. WILL YOU BELIEVE that they took that idea JUST A WEEK later, and broad casted it, as if it was theirs!?!?

Yep - had to suck that one up. But hey - made me stronger, and humbler.

You just can't be bothered by people stealing your great ideas :) As long as you can see that 'the greater cause' is being served! At least - that's how I feel now (until some looser steals my next idea of course).

People we met....

It's been well over 18 months now since we came back from Uganda with an insane plan...building a  fun park for all children of Uganda...

If you've ever been on a trip to a developmental part of the world (this could be even a poor neighborhood in your own city)...
If you've ever had personal contact with the people that lived in these parts of the world...
If you've ever been invited to share a meal at their table...
If you've ever looked around in somebodies 'house' and realized you have WAY too much stuff...
If you've ever... you know what i'm about to say is true...

These things move you...even to tears sometimes.
These things engrave themselves on your heart.
They make you promise yourself that you will be more considered...less consumer-ing...

Of course the 'normal life' takes its toll - but you know you need to do something for these people. The kids you have seen now for yourself. The ones you might even know by name.

This morning I was reminded in a fresh way about the vision we have. It was a video clip on the web that wasn't even related to Uganda. But as soon as I saw people repsond to the need in that video, my heart jumped up. "Children in Uganda!" I thought, and my desire to really keep going with our Fun Park was right back! I know we will open doors to Tjeko Fun Village one day.

If you've ever been on such a trip to a development part of the world, you might have been reminded yourself about the people you saw there... What can you do for the people you met back than...?

In this picture you see some of the boys and girls that lived next door from us in Jinja. I think we should invite them to ride bikes during our opening ceremony of Tjeko Fun Village one day. They would like that!

Sensebold

Have you ever heard yourself or an other person say a word, only to realize that's not even a real word... I'm talking about using the word in a perfect sentence, not realizing you just said it?
But when you think about this 'un-existing' word, you actually start wondering WHY it is not a real word! Because it made perfect sense to use it!
The teenagers in Brooklyn I used to work with were the absolute best in this. Not that they were trying, it just seems to come natural to inner-city kids. My all-time favorite is Chillax! "Yo son, don't get all t'ght, just Chillax baby!"  For the ebonic readers, you already saw that this word is made out of 'chilling' and 'relaxing'. You see, it makes perfect sense!

This morning it happened to my wife. Could have been the 8 years of living in the inner-city. She looked at me and said: "We just really need to be sensebold when we something something..."
Sensebold?!? I love it. It's a great addition to Wikipedia and Dictionary.com.
It should say something like: sensebold - being sensitive and bold at the same time.
I have found that most people are only one of the two, most of the time. Those that are bold, don't seem to be very sensitive. Those that are sensitive frustrate me at times, because they are often not bold! It frustrates me even more, because I recognize it in myself. When I try to be sensitive, I loose some of my boldness. Trying to make everybody feel good in the project is one of those moments...One person says something, and I can see where they are coming from. The next person says something completely different, and I still can see where they are coming from... But if one opinion is better for the project at large - I just need to be sensebold. You'll have to take a stand once in a while where your boldness is stronger than your sensitivity.
Recognize it for yourself? Than the task is simple. Be more sensebold!
(if somebody wants to add it to wikipedia - go right ahead)

Energy

I get REALLY inspired every time I'm around people that have a dream - an idea - a passion!
Last week I was in Summer Seminary, and to hear people talk about the (sometimes insane) exciting dreams they are having - ENERGIZES me! What is better than people that go for their dreams, even when they sound completely insane! Guess it makes me feel better that we are not the only ones!

But here follows my warning! There is a group of people that can really spoil this energy!
I found out in my TJEKO walk, that there are 2 other kinds of people. There are the  people that have NO DREAMS AT ALL! This group is not necessary bad, because they just simply might not have a dream YET. They might just be waiting to hear about your dream, and are more than willing to embrace YOURS.

But then there is this other kind... This is the kind I am really warning you about! I hate meeting these people, especially because I don't always realize the damage they are doing right away!
This are the people that have NO DREAM and will SQUEEZE any kind of dream that others around them might have!
They will look at you, and say: " Oh, that's nice what you are trying... It's just that ..." and then they'll give you their bull-crap, energy draining, vision diminishing, excitement terrorizing reasons why YOUR dream will never become a reality.

You know - to keep our Tjeko dream ALIVE - I am just banishing those kind of people out of our lives. Please - if you're going to talk smack about the fact that we are building a social-profit fun park in Uganda - DON'T TALK! At least not to me! You say 'Well, this has never been done before - it will never work!' Don;t waist your energy talking to me - because I'm not listening!

No - I surround myself with people that believe in this dream! That's what gives me ENERGY!

Top down? Bottom Up!

As I am writing BusinessPlan Tjeko 2.0, I realized I am approaching  the market from a traditional-point-of-view: what percentage of the market do we want in Tjeko Fun Village after 1-3 and 5 years...
This Top-Down strategy is a nice strategy on paper, i agree...

But in reality - in a market that's hard to define (Ugandan children age 6-14 in a 60km radius from Jinja- SO WHAT?!) - why not flip it around?! Let's say: we will build a park that we can finance, with a team of staff that we can manage, for a group of kids that we can TOTALLY adore for a day - every day!?!?
Now what is your calculation?! And what do you feel you can handle in 3 and 5 years? That's called a bottom-up approach. And when you can reason such an approach clearly, you'll actually look smarter!

Sure - traditionally you do a 'top-down' approach. But if your project is not traditional, don't use a traditional approach! Go for the Bottom-up approach. You'll look much more secure and firm in your presentation.

Dream

One of the biggest things i've enjoyed living in America, was the culture of 'the big dream'! The ability and the courage of people to stand up and cast their dream is inspiering to me! To believe in your own dream so much that whenever you talk about it, people are listening and fascinated! That's fascinating!

So I've started analyzing 'BIG DREAMING' and I have come to one conclusion: 

To dream big, you simply shouldn't fear to fail. 

Not that you don't calculate the risks, and make educated choices, but you simply don't fear the fact your dream to fail! Because fearing failure actualy paralizes you. If you constantly wonder what will happen if it won't work, you'll never actualy start doing it! Coming from a Dutch culture I have to admid that this fear of failure is engraved in my DNA, and I fight it every day. I constantly realize that once I start thinking about what can fail in our Tjeko project, I imedialty stop dreaming - and my strenght flows out of my system. But when I tell myself: This dream will work - and any failure I will take as part of the process to acheive our dream - I AM SO SUPER CHARGED! I love it!

Yesterday I was at the Business Development Network competition for Entrepreneurs who have a business dream for a development country, and who want to pitch their business plan to investors. In the competition itself you can 'win' an investment of 100000euro! That's a nice cookie on the shelve to be extra motivated to write the best Business plan (should I say 'Dream') you can ever produce! One of the guests was Pim Betist, the founder of Sell-A-Band, and now www.africaunsigned.com 

He was telling us how he had this dream in 2001 to allow 'up-coming' band raise support in the social networks to get a record deal. Long story short, it really became a success, and then it really crashed. However! He believed in his dream, and restarted! And he's ok with it! 

So - my own word of encouragement to my own self and to you: Don't let your fear of failure paralyze your ability to DREAM BIG. 

it's already happening

Just hang-up the phone with my older brother. "you know the thing is... everything costs time" i told him.
we were talking about the developments of Tjeko - and how in one hand we can see MAJOR growth, but on the other hand we see SO MANY jobs yet to be done! Can be a real struggle at time - - - what to focus on.
As I've been working on creating a business-pitch for possible investors I came accross this inspiring quote:
it's not about starting good, it's about finishing good!
We might not have everything figured out yet concerning Tjeko - but fact is that we've started. On this blog i'll share the honest truth behind the 'TJEKO' story. Not to be on our official website - but just for those that care.
I need something to 'share with' because there is so much stuff that's not official - yet very exciting/painful/difficult/me.
Because after all... it's already happening.