David Nyeste

The Sun Always Shines Complaining about age is like complaining about the weather. You can't change it, therefore you just have to accept it. That being said, there are a whole lot of things you can change and you don't have to accept. You should focus on things you can change instead of lamenting about the things you have to accept. That is exactly why I don't like to discuss the weather, age, talent and so on. Your level of fitness is a thing you can always change. Hard work beats talent any day if talent doesn't work hard. I am in my forties, but if I had only received one Euro in the past decades for every time someone said to me they were too old/not talented/too late to start or do any regular workout, I would have a nice amount of savings. Charged with the task to look for excuses not to do something the mind is very creative. On the other hand if you really want something -and by 'really want' I mean that relentless desire to accept no excuses- then your...

Why I Cook - And You Should Too The difference between cooking and cooking is best demonstrated by an analogy. My wife does not like to cook. She just doesn't enjoy the activity, hence the only reason for her to prepare food is in order to serve a biological need. To her great credit, most of the time it is not her own hunger that makes her prepare food - we have two kids and two cats therefore the majority of our family are non-autotrophic. I enjoy cooking as a form of relaxation, sometimes even as a form of meditation. But don't get a false impression: in terms of purpose I totally share my wife's purpose to cook for the effect. I just happen to enjoy the activity, hence the reason I prepare food does not serve the sole purpose of getting anyone fed. The second reason is for my own well being - for me cooking is a type of lone time. Therefore in 9 out of 10 times I don my noise cancelling headphones, turn on some awesome music thereby shutting out the world when I cook. I...

Learn from the Best  Over the years I have been able to contribute to numerous projects in various roles. Some of them were large ones with international teams and dozens of consultants working around the globe. Some were small in scope, short in timeline, or regionally focused. Some I have overseen and delivered with client staff only. A few were gigantic, long running transformations of entire corporate structures and cultures. Regardless of the set up of any project there are a few crucial ingredients that need to be incorporated into the project set up and execution to enable success. Projects lacking these vital ingredients will lag behind deadlines, miss budget targets and in the worst of cases fail to achieve their desired results. I don't necessarily consider myself one of 'the best'. However I certainly had the opportunity to gather rich experience by witnessing leadership excellence at its best over many years in different environments and situations. Here's m...

The Vehicle This simple model may help you to lay out your strategy for the development of your skills, your personality and ultimately a large part of your identity, that will be influenced and defined by your work. Over many years I have developed a model for work that generally resembles a generic type of vehicle that will take you from A to B. Anybody is free to pick their own type of vehicle according to their personal preferences and thus embark on their individual journey. Basic Idea The basic idea behind the model: Different types of vehicles with different kinds of implications make up the unique work experience of the individual. Whether you would rather focus on the journey itself or rather on achieving certain goals, you can make your choice accordingly. For instance there is the hot air balloon,  which could represent the work within a large corporation. With minimal attendance it moves slowly and comfortably -pretty much on autopilot all the time- and is only mildly s...

 #HWBTWTDWH Action and execution are the only means that will move you towards your goals. They will always have a larger stake in the value rendered than any groundbreaking idea, any bulletproof plan, or talent and genius. Don't get me wrong: great ideas, plans and talent are all viable multipliers. However, without execution they will not make any difference. Thus t here's one law to career making and success in business or life in general: Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard . And for the work part, there’s good news: smooth and steady effort is more effective than sporadic strong effort. 'Hard work' thus should not be understood as excessive, over ambitious but sporadic work, but as a steady and sustainable flow of effort over a long period of time. The compound effect will make the difference. It is like throwing dice: It's not about trying to throw the maximum sum with one or a few handfuls. It's about accumulating the desired results over...

Imagine what if I think most of us can picture ourselves lying at a cloudless beach with a pina colada, interrupting our sunbath only for the occasional coolings in the blue ocean and sporadically checking in on the regular returns of our passive incomes (plural of course) provided by our ridiculously vast assets. But can you actually? True capability of imagining a dream or creating a vision also means to come up with a -more or less- specific plan or some kind of a roadmap towards that dream. A plan that you trust will -upon execution- pave the way to your vision. So make sure you have a vision and you have a -specific- plan. Which brings us to the hard part:  Relentless Faith  The catch of course is the ‘believe’ part. There’s a famous quip in the US Marines Corp: ’Everybody wants to go to heaven, nobody wants to die.’ To truly believe in something will imply that you are willing to make the necessary sacrifice in your pursuit of the goal...in fact, to make any sacrifice n...

 Why Long Term Motivation Matters Motivation is doing things when you're feeling good. Long term motivation is doing things regardless of how you feel. Jan Frodeno applied a specific motivation method during his preparation for his first Olympic Games 2008 in Beijing, where he won the gold medal in the olympic triathlon. Eventually he went on and won the Ironman World Championship in 2015, 2016 and 2019 in Hawaii applying the very same method to stay highly energized and motivated over a long period of time - over more than a decade to say the least. Here you will find the method he used analyzed. I will show you how I use it and how you can also apply it for your own purposes. Since I am always susceptible to advice on motivation and I have been interested in the topic of self improvement, inspiration and motivation for quite a while. The other day I stumbled upon this interesting method, how to get and stay motivated and instantly felt energized. So I decided to share this piece ...