You can't stop the journey

Posted on September 28, 2023 by Max Herrera

The Winners’ Mind

What is your relation with your money? Money is a necessary thing, and to have and to win money is not a sin (rhyme intended 🙂 ). On the other hand, to live for money is not only a sin but a stupidity. We, as integral human beings, are of much more value than any material concept. This is something I insist a lot in my business seminars: look for money, but never lend your heart to money. In other words, win money, but don’t let money to win you.

Who are the Winners?

Winners are fortunate people, indeed. But except for rare cases, most of their fortune stems from hard work, and more importantly, from a sound and clear mindset. Winners have no time (nor wish) to be moaning about the “harshness of life.” Winners don’t complain about such things, because they understand that life, like a river, exhibits turbulent episodes in some parts, but caress and nourish the surrounding nature, all the way.

Positive Attitude in The Winners’ Mind

Nevertheless, all these years I’ve known a lot of people who are frequently bitching about their lack of money or general misfortune, but what they are indeed lacking is a positive attitude toward their money. Now, what does this “positive attitude” notion mean? Let’s start by answering a few questions:

What really are the kind of thoughts that flood our minds when we think of our money?
Which are the words we utter when speaking about our money and related things (such as mortgage, bank, expenses, etc.)?
In the past, how much success have we attained by spending and investing our money?

Posted on March 30, 2023 by Max Herrera

What can I say in a motivational speech for a small group of people?

Here are some ideas for a motivational speech for a small group of people:

Start with an inspirational story: Begin your speech with a personal or someone else’s story that inspires and motivates your audience. The story should be relevant to the topic you are addressing.

Be authentic: Speak from the heart and be authentic in your speech. Convey your enthusiasm and passion for your topic.

Set goals: Help your audience set achievable and realistic goals. Encourage them to take concrete steps to achieve their goals and not give up in the face of difficulties.

Encourage collaboration: Encourage your audience to work together and support each other. Emphasize the importance of collaboration and building positive relationships.

End on a positive note: End your speech on a positive note, focusing on the accomplishments they can achieve if they work together and stay motivated.

Remember that your speech should be personalized and tailored to the group you are addressing. Talk about your specific challenges and goals, and provide concrete examples to help your audience visualize your success.

You may also want to take a look at my post The 7 Attributes of Leadership, to delve into the characteristics of a true leader, and get a powerful insight about leadership and some cool ideas for a motivational speech.

Posted on March 30, 2023March 30, 2023 by Max Herrera

More tips to cope with stress

More tips to cope with stress, a topic we previously addressed in this post.

Manage your time: Feeling overwhelmed by tasks and responsibilities can contribute to stress. Make a to-do list and prioritize tasks based on importance and urgency. Break large tasks into smaller, more manageable ones.

Avoid unhealthy coping mechanisms: While it may be tempting to turn to alcohol, drugs, or junk food to cope with stress, these habits can actually make the situation worse. Instead, try healthier coping mechanisms such as exercise or talking to a friend.

Practice mindfulness: Mindfulness is the practice of being present in the moment and focusing on your thoughts and feelings without judgment. This can help reduce stress and promote relaxation.

Take breaks: It’s important to take breaks throughout the day, even if it’s just for a few minutes. Take a walk, stretch, or do something enjoyable to help reduce stress.

Address underlying issues: Sometimes, stress can be a symptom of an underlying issue such as anxiety or depression. If you find that you are struggling to cope with stress, it may be helpful to seek professional help to address these underlying issues.

Remember that coping with stress is a process, and it may take time to find what works best for you. Be patient with yourself and don’t be afraid to seek help if you need it.

Posted on March 30, 2023 by Max Herrera

How to cope with stress?

Stress is a common experience for many people, and it can have negative effects on your physical and mental health if it is not managed effectively. Here are some ways to cope with stress:

Identify the source of your stress: Try to identify the source of your stress and think about how you can address it. Sometimes, simply acknowledging the source of your stress can help you feel more in control.

Practice relaxation techniques: Relaxation techniques such as deep breathing, meditation, yoga, or progressive muscle relaxation can help reduce stress and promote relaxation.

Exercise regularly: Physical activity and exercise can help reduce stress by releasing endorphins, which are natural mood boosters.

Stay connected with others: Social support can help reduce stress, so try to stay connected with family and friends.

Get enough sleep: Lack of sleep can make stress worse, so try to get enough sleep each night.

Prioritize self-care: Make time for activities that you enjoy and that help you relax, such as reading, taking a bath, or listening to music.

Seek professional help: If you are still struggling to cope with stress, consider seeking professional help from a therapist or counselor.

Remember that everyone experiences stress at some point in their lives, and it is important to seek help if you need it.

Posted on January 21, 2021October 30, 2023 by Max Herrera

The 7 Attributes of Leadership

When I have to hire someone for any position in my company, I always pay close attention to the below discussed 7 attributes of leadership, because I always strive to hire people with leadership traits (even when the job is not a key managerial position.) I always want the best people, no matter the size, complexity or responsibility of the job. I know that, as time goes by, groups of workers with leadership traits perform and coordinate a lot better than simple people. And the today new assistant may hopefully become a very important director in a few years.

Furthermore, I prefer the democratic (also referred to as participative) leadership style: in this case, the leader offers guidance to the group, but also participates in the group, and promotes feedback from other members. Note that this style is not inconsistent with the view of everyone in a group acting as a leader! The democratic style is also suitable for the modern dynamic environments because it allows dealing with fast-changing circumstances. Other styles, such as authoritarian or delegative leaderships, are very harmful and obsolete.

Posted on January 17, 2021January 17, 2021 by Max Herrera

A few notes on Ecclesiastes

These are a few notes on Ecclesiastes, specifically touching upon the first chapters. After providing suggestions for improving your study skills and how to become a better student, I started to think about books, really good books. Good books are those about which you have different perceptions with each reading. As time goes by and new ideas are acquired, additional relationships and mental perceptions are developed, and thereby the ideas that remained crouched in previous readings are suddenly revealed, and the old ideas might acquire a different radiance under the light of a new reading. The best, or I do not know if the worst, is that one life is not enough to exhaust the meanings and ideas of good books.

Posted on January 15, 2021January 15, 2021 by Max Herrera

Acquiring the Habits of Highly Successful Students

Acquiring the habits of highly successful students… that’s a truly important topic! We humans are innate learners, as learning is the cornerstone for survival. We must remember, abstract and apply knowledge in diverse (and often harsh) environments in order to develop into and behave as truly intelligent beings. In short, the adaptability and resilience we exhibit stems from learning. Now, a key issue to learning is the driving force behind it, i.e., the motivation or stimuli to learn. We can learn because of fear (we want to learn how to protect ourselves from danger.) We can learn just out of curiosity (our natural inquisitive behavior.) We can learn because we want to reach some social status (approval of others is a potent stimuli to learn.) We can learn simply because we love to learn new things everyday. There are plenty of reasons to learn and yours may easily be a mixture of these. Health and money are important things in life, but learning is the base for using them wisely 🙂 If we are to succeed in life, we must hone our learning skills.

Posted on January 14, 2021 by Max Herrera

Diet Tips for Preventing High Cholesterol Levels

Current stressed lifestyles and rushed, unhealthy diets are important promoters of high cholesterol levels in the body, and that’s why I’m presenting some diet tips for preventing high cholesterol levels. We should always remember that the first step toward recovering our health and treating any medical problem should be an evaluation by a qualified specialist (I do recommend consulting a good cardiologist for treatment of cholesterol problems.)

This week I had my annual cardiological checkup. These tips expand on the recommendations of my cardiologist, and they could prove useful for keeping low cholesterol levels and, in general, a healthy lifestyle. Basically, we should start out by adopting better nutritional habits, including the following:

Eat more fiber and fruits, vegetables and whole cereals (maize, rice, wheat, sorghum, etc) because they promote lowering of bad LDL cholesterol levels, without affecting good HDL cholesterol. Prefer vegetables to fruits, though, because the latter usually contain higher concentrations of sugar. On its side, whole grains may be nutritionally superior to refined grains, and richer in fiber, some proteins, antioxidants, minerals and vitamins. By the way, did you know that “cereal” derives from “Ceres”, the name of the pre-Roman goddess of harvest and agriculture?

Prefer foods rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), such as Omega 3 (ω−3). The healthiest foods rich in ω−3 fatty acids are flaxseeds, walnuts and cold water oily fishes such as salmon, herring, mackerel, anchovies and sardines. Eggs are also a source of ω−3. By the way, did you know that eggs from chickens fed corn have one-tenth the ω−3 in them as eggs from free-range chickens that eat greens and bugs? On June 19, 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave qualified health claim status to eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) ω−3 fatty acids, stating that “supportive but not conclusive research shows that consumption of EPA and DHA ω−3 fatty acids may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease.”

Posted on March 11, 2020March 11, 2020 by Max Herrera

Pristine Home with Feng Shui

This weekend I attended a talk by a friend of mine, entitled Pristine Home with Feng Shui. She’s a 15 years local expert in what she calls energetic organization of homes and business environments (you know who you are 🙂 ). I must admit, though, that I’m not too convinced of the modern hype of the word energetic, unless it refers to people’s internal, mental energy. I think that people, not things, are the true source of energy. A sane mind and healthy body should always be our prime priorities. Nevertheless, according to the crowd of people who attended her conference, this seems a very popular topic nowadays. And surprisingly, a few themes resulted to be interesting for me.

Particularly, I think that a stellar moment of our meeting was her inspiring presentation of 5 directions for a pristine home (or business) via the Chinese practice of Feng Shui. By pristine she meant recovering your place’s proper flow and balance of energy, which ultimately promotes development and health of its guests. I know some of my readers like Feng Shui, therefore I would like to share these “golden” rules with you. Basically, these rules are related to perception and location of some relatively common elements, which follow:

Posted on February 29, 2020 by Max Herrera

10 Exercises for Keeping a Young Mind

Simply put, your mind needs some exercise in order to stay young and healthy. The basis for brain’s life is processing of new data and stimuli. Our minds should be regularly exposed to updated information and new experiences, in order to reach higher levels of creativity, openness, speed, and adaptation. Looking for new ways of thinking is an excellent exercise for being smarter and more sociable. Nevertheless, in the following I detail a neat list of simple exercises for keeping a young mind and improving our minds’ state: