Verne Ho / Blog

How I feel when I’m wearing the right pair of winter...

Sun, 10 Feb 2013 20:58:21 -0500

How I feel when I’m wearing the right pair of winter boots.

Newness

Sat, 19 Jan 2013 15:46:33 -0500

There’s a reason why singing and playing the guitar are such consistent creative outlets for me. Relatively speaking, they’re still very new to me. And new things inherently require a higher degree of creativity to navigate. Whether it’s a new song I’m learning, a chord I’m perfecting, or a note I can’t hit, that discovery and learning process doubles as a therapeutic exercise of creativity.

Following that same logic, the things you do day-in-day-out - stuff you would normally make simply synonymous with life - have a tendency to become void of creativity over time. It’s incredibly easy to fall into the trap of doing what’s comfortable and losing touch with the feeling of newness all together. That’s where life gets dull. Repetitive. Creatively unchallenging.

As such, it seems to me that the mission to constantly re-invent and bring newness to the things that matter most to you - be they relationships, work, or yourself - is probably one of life’s most important and rewarding exercises.

If we take man as he is, we make him worse. If we take man as...

Thu, 22 Nov 2012 22:43:49 -0500

If we take man as he is, we make him worse. If we take man as he should be, we make him capable of becoming what he can be.

New Purchases Worth Sharing

Sat, 17 Nov 2012 14:27:00 -0500

I wanted to share a few purchases that I’ve made recently that I think have been transformative in the way I move around this city.

The New Laptop

Ever since I moved downtown and my commute became a 10 minute walk from my home to the studio, I’ve been dreading the shoulder-crushing weight (totally not being over dramatic) of my 15” MacBook Pro. Wanting something lighter to roam around with, I had my eye on the 11” MacBook Air. I was a tad concerned about the screen size at first, wondering whether it was a killer feature or a limitation, but then this post tipped the scale.

Today, this has become my main machine. I use it to browse the web, check emails, manage projects, review work, and write. I even use it to design every now and again. Basically, this covers 95% of everything I do to run Jet Cooper. For everything else that needs a bit more muscle, I turn to my 15” MacBook Pro, which now sits steadily at my desk.

Screen size hasn’t been an issue, but the weight and form factor have been the greatest blessings. It’s big enough to help me get things done, and just small enough to make it feel like I don’t have a second laptop (the 13” blurs that line for me).

If you’re thinking about adding to your arsenal of devices, I encourage you to think about your use cases and figure out your system. For me, the MacBook Air fits snugly between the iPhone 5 that I use on the go and the MacBook Pro that I use at my desk.

The New Backpack

The Elliott Backpack in Charcoal from Frank & Oak, to be specific. Well, this isn’t so much about the backpack itself (which is decent), but more so about the concept of switching to a backpack. Previously, my aforementioned 15” MacBook Pro travelled with me in a over-one-shoulder messenger bag, likely contributing to that shoulder wear and tear over time. Recently, having switched to a significantly smaller and lighter laptop, I decided to double down on mobility and pick up something that would not only distribute the weight more evenly across both shoulders, but that would make it a whole lot more convenient to move through the city’s busy streets.

One small front pocket and one larger compartment complete with a dedicated laptop sleevey thing. More pockets breeds more garbage being lugged around, so I like the simplicity of this bag.

And yes, it doesn’t help that it makes me look like a student again. But at least I’ll look and feel more agile when I’m seemingly running between classes.

The New Jacket

Okay, this isn’t that transformative but I’m pretty pleased with this new Winter-ish jacket from Zara (or the “Three Quarter Length Coat with 4 Pockets”, as it’s formally named on the site). It’s not the warmest thing in the world, so layering is still a requirement, but it’s pretty versatile without being overly complicated.

I had an issue with having pockets only on the outside at first, thinking that I preferred inside pockets for security. But having worn the jacket actively for the last few weeks, I now understand the beauty of having my phone and wallet accessible to me without having to unzip my jacket on a cold day.

Have you made any purchases recently that have changed the way you work, travel, or behave?

Invest in people. Based on my original post.

Sat, 10 Nov 2012 23:26:00 -0500

Invest in people. Based on my original post.

Photo

Tue, 06 Nov 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Managers

Tue, 30 Oct 2012 10:58:04 -0400

Being a manager isn’t about evaluating when people succeed or fail. It’s about understanding why people succeed or fail.

"Obsess over the problem, not the solution."

Sun, 14 Oct 2012 18:17:43 -0400

“Obsess over the problem, not the solution.”

Invest in People

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500

If you’re going to invest in something, invest in people. People are the single most worthy asset in your life to put your faith (and time, and money, and…) into.

This isn’t about blind faith. You need to surround yourself with the right people first.

Then, just be accessible. Just as you should have faith in people to do what they’re supposed to do, you should have faith that they’ll engage you when they need your support. Adding natural mechanisms for conversations in your day or week helps, too.

Offer the benefit of the doubt by default. Never become jaded. Believe that everyone can hit a homerun. That’s what they’re there for.

If you’re an entrepreneur, you can’t afford not to place your faith in people. It’s the only way you can get anything done. So if you need to see it in that light to be convinced, then yes, it’s a productivity tool.