Last week I spoke (In Dutch) at the ‘Werken in Overvloed‘ seminar about work, my career and how there are ‘more currencies than money‘. I even juggled a few apples.
Erno Hannink made a short video and posted it to Youtube. Here it is:
Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten
Internet Entrepreneur, Public Speaker, Blogger
Featured Posts
How do you paint a white rabbit?
This post was written for the Fleck.com blog where I posted it on April 16, 2006. I'm posting it here so it is more easily accesible. The original post can still be found here, including some comments and pingbacks. On Sunday I was visiting my parents house to celebrate Easter Day. As we drove there we noticed a perfect white rabbit sitting by the side of the road. I stopped to show it to our children and told them it must have been the Easter bunny. My parents hid painted real eggs and chocolate ones in the garden, which the kids had to...
Domino Model of Success Causation
Success and failure are quite similar. Just as there is only a fine line between genius and madness there are a few striking similarities between failure and success. In general people think that success is a matter of having a good idea and working hard. In reality there are 5 components of any success and failure story. Heinrich’s Domino Model of Accident Causation is a theory that is being used in Risk Management. It explains that any accident can be broken down in 5 components that follow each other as falling dominos that lead...
Burning Cat Strategy
[Warning: If you like cats and/or have strong feelings about animal cruelty you might be shocked by part of this story.] The first time I started a company I spend a lot of time writing a press-release. On the day we launched I faxed the press release to a few newspapers, relevant magazines and websites. I hoped the press-release would get picked up and make us famous. I was hoping for a spark to start my media engine. And it did. These days things are different. Sure, I would still write a press-release but just a spark isn’t...
Technology Development: Trains & Hitchhiking
Most people think software development is like traveling to a certain destination by train: You set a goal, pack your bags, board the train, and the only variable between you and your goal is the speed of the train. Unless the whole thing derails, you end up where you were planning on going. Unfortunately software development is more like hitchhiking: You set some general goals (somewhere sunny), pack your bags and after that where you end up depends on a whole lot of variables: who will pick you up and where will they be heading to?...
'That will do' never does.
Do you ever find yourself thinking 'That will do'? I do and have learned to accept it as a warning sign. 'That will do' means you are about to deliver something below par. If you find yourself about to walk away from a job that seems just good enough you should stop yourself and think about what you could add to turn your job from 'That will do' into 'This is it!'. The 'quick fix' is seldon a real fix, the 'Good enough' solution is never good enough and 'that will do' never...
Personal
Watch me juggle at the “Werken in Overvloed” seminar
Posted on Friday, 27 November 2009 by Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten
Personal
Video “Bij ons in de BV”
Posted on Friday, 27 November 2009 by Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten
Yesterday (November 26, 2009) I was a guest in Jort Kelder’s new show titled “Bij ons in de BV“.
I was invited to talk about ‘The Perfect Idea’ and how to find it.
The show is in Dutch and my segment starts at the 28:50 marker:
Personal
“There are more currencies than money”
Posted on Wednesday, 4 November 2009 by Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten
A few years ago Patrick and me were invited to greek Blogger Camp. It was a very inspiring trip and we met a lot of great people. We felt, and were treated, like VIPs and stayed in beautiful hotels, enjoyed great food and partied all night.
At that same trip we also met Timothy Ferriss.
Yeah, 4 hour workweek Ferriss. He gave a presentation right after me in which he explained his idea about “more currencies than money”. What it comes down to is that if you want to do big mountain skiing in the Andes then you shouldn’t spend your life in a cubicle saving money to go big mountain skiing in the Andes one day.
You should just go.
Don’t take the detour to achieving your dreams. I was sitting there, in my swimming trunks, looking out over the warm blue Greek ocean and I ‘got’ it. I wasn’t doing boring work to go be able to afford a vacation to Greece; I was working in Greece, and it felt like a vacation!
Fast forward to 2009 and Huub van Zwieten. Huub wrote a book on how to quit your job. He isn’t saying that you shouldn’t work. He is saying that there are some people who are so passionate about the work they do that they don’t even consider it a job. I’m in that book too and one quote that he highlighted is “There are more currencies than money”.
Yeah, the quote I stole learned from Timothy. The reason I’m in the book, according to Huub: “Boris inspires in combining personal and professional life, with extraordinary results and a lot of fun”.
Now Huub is organizing an event, in the Netherlands, which I’m going to attend. On Novemeber 20 where you can experience the same adventure that Marijn (who the book is about) experiences. Would be cool to see you all there:
Personal
The little white marble boat
Posted on Friday, 23 October 2009 by Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten
Fabio Viale makes white marble objects that don’t look like white marble objects at all.
See all his work or just this movie about his little white marble boat:
Personal
Talking Heads
Posted on Saturday, 10 October 2009 by Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten
via youtube.com
Their first (or one of the first) public appearances.
Personal
Atomized Passenger Aircraft Engine
Posted on Saturday, 10 October 2009 by Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten
Personal
The Piano Has Been Drinking
Posted on Sunday, 4 October 2009 by Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten
via youtube.com
When I was 15 I found an audio tape with a bunch of weird songs. One of them was this song by Tom Waits. It was unlike any other song I had ever heard. I was so impressed by his imagination to come up with the idea of the concept of a drunk piano.
Personal
The Average Person Is Always Right
Posted on Wednesday, 30 September 2009 by Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten
“the average person (and, thereby, common sense) is right almost all the time. it correctly predicts that most new products will be failures, because most new products ARE failures. What it can never predict, in fact is 100% wrong about every time, is a GOOD new idea. It will always miss those.”
via ilounge.com
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About Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten
The Internet Entrepreneur
You are visiting the blog of Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten. I am a Serial Internet Entrepreneur and I write about my projects, my theories about innovation and entrepreneurship and sometimes about my life in general.
I frequently speak at conferences and events about innovation and entrepreneurship.
You can hire me as a speaker or read more about me on the About page or subscribe to my frequent updates on Twitter.
You can also contact me if you have any questions.
You are visiting the blog of Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten. I am a Serial Internet Entrepreneur and I write about my projects, my theories about innovation and entrepreneurship and sometimes about my life in general.
I frequently speak at conferences and events about innovation and entrepreneurship.
You can hire me as a speaker or read more about me on the About page or subscribe to my frequent updates on Twitter.
You can also contact me if you have any questions.
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