Dream big. Don't stop!

Videoblogas Lietuvai #3 - Erdvinis pasaulio suvokimas

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 16:15:54 +0300

Videoblogas Lietuvai #3 - Erdvinis pasaulio suvokimas

Videoblogas Lietuvai #2 - Ar verta pradėti savo verslą...

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 14:24:43 +0300

Videoblogas Lietuvai #2 - Ar verta pradėti savo verslą Lietuvoje?

Videoblogas Lietuvai #1

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 14:23:38 +0300

Videoblogas Lietuvai #1

Last days for Tumblr blog

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 16:02:16 +0300

Hi there. This Tumblr blog is counting its days and will be replaced with my new home in a few weeks. Why? Because I’ve got a new awesome blogging platform that fits my needs perfectly.

See you soon.

Living my passion or not?

Mon, 05 Sep 2011 11:32:11 +0300

I was not active on this personal blog for quite a long time. Those 6 months passed so quickly working on many things, including Metricious, LiveOpenly, and entire business ecosystem at Idiles. I love what I do, but at the same time daily activities are full of extra work that has nothing in common with pleasure and my true path. Maybe this is natural. Maybe everyone who lives his or her true life comes with many lessons and loses his or her path time to time. Sometimes I feel this. Sometimes not.

But it’s time for me to do even better things in my life. It’s time to go and play to the public, and this fall is the best time. I cannot wait anymore. And I know that Metricious app is part of my dream, so the only way to go is to make it a huge thing worldwide.

This blog is going to change a little. I am going to migrate from Tumblr to Wordpress and gain more power in writing. I have a list of articles to publish, and I want to write even more than before.

Check out my SoundCloud profile at http://soundcloud.com/martynasjocius, I’m uploading my songs (drafts) here. The day is coming when I will be able to record music in real studios.

See you soon friends. :)

This is brilliant. A must see! In this talk from RSA Animate,...

Wed, 22 Dec 2010 08:16:34 +0200

This is brilliant. A must see!

In this talk from RSA Animate, Sir Ken Robinson lays out the link between 3 troubling trends: rising drop-out rates, schools’ dwindling stake in the arts, and ADHD. An important, timely talk for parents and teachers.

33% is about to change your life

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 21:03:32 +0200

Let’s simplify the reality of our society, so that we can see the main, structural truths. There exist two types of people: those who work only because they want to earn money, and those who work because they want to do something important to them. The majority of us belong to the first group. The second type comprises a much smaller group.

So what? It might be not important, if work did not take up 33% of our lifetime, and if it did not influence the quality of the other 67%. But it takes that 33% and influences the rest, leaving work important for 100% of your life.

What happens to people who don’t like their job very much?

Things that people don’t like create negative emotions.
33% of their lifetime these people don’t feel very good— frustrated, unfulfilled, annoyed, stressed, or any other combination of negative feelings.
These negative emotions can be fought the easiest by not thinking about certain things, ignoring the problems. People get used to not-thinking. Not-thinking becomes their habit.
So, people don’t think much for the other 67% of their lives, because they usually rest or sleep. Even when awake, they force themselves not to be mindful.
Because of this huge influence of our work hours, other parts of our life become very dependent on the job we have or the work we do every day. Actually, work hours form our habits, our nature, our personalities, and life quality. And for people who dislike their jobs, this life quality may drop significantly. Money should not determine our personalities, and if we do something that makes us unhappy simply to earn money, is it truly worthwhile?

So, what happens to people who enjoy their daily work?

They get up easily in the morning, because they are free of the negative emotions that many people have about their upcoming work hours. This creates a huge influence on all-day energy— they don’t need to rest sporadically from exhaustion.
These people do not go to bed late, because their day fully satisfied them and there is almost nothing more to add to be happy. Could it be that those who go to bed very late are not happy people?
When these people work on something, they do it passionately, or at the very least, they put all their energy to the task. Why? Because it is important to them personally.
When they want something, they try harder to get it. They optimize the process, and they do the best they can to achieve results in less time. They really care about the quality of their work.
When 33% of our lifetime is spent happily perfecting our minds and spirits, the remaining 67% of it absorbs that spirit and quality.

Do you really like what you do? Is the work you do really important to you personally, or do you do it because of your never-perfect salary?

Maybe deep inside you dream about doing something else? If so, please don’t wait for magic things to happen, stop what you are doing right now, and start living your new lifestyle where true magic happens. Only then you will be able to grow as a person and achieve what you really need. If you stay on your old not-so-passionate path, you will develop some really bad habits that will build your entire life. These habits will dominate everything in your mind and everything in your environment. These bad habits will even negatively influence the people you love. Make the immediate choice to change your life for the better— you can make this choice.

This is very important.

What does our society and environment look like when 99% of our people spend their days not thinking about anything, just doing something? It’s not DNA that makes people unhappy, it’s the habits we develop each day, it’s the path that we have chosen. Choose a better path.

Recovering from the factory workers school

Sun, 05 Dec 2010 19:19:00 +0200

Have you ever heard that our education system is out-dated? I’m sure you have. This is something that bothers me.

Our standard education system is not just out-dated. It’s harmful. Before going to school, children are creative, alive– they want to explore the world, they want to try things, they are free inside. How do they act and feel after graduating secondary and high schools?

We all know the answer.

Children are smart and creative. Adults usually aren’t.

We look for rules to follow, because it’s easier. We are full of fears, and we only talk about creativity. We were taught to follow the rules, by other adults who were also full of fear, trained by the same system. And after graduating, the majority of us became factory workers, whatever that factory looks like: bank, web agency, non-profit organization, whatever.

What do we remember from the school times?

I can tell a little what I remember:

School was so boring! You had to learn things that you knew you would never use in the future, because everything would be completely forgotten in 10 years (only the broken spirit will remain for the whole lifetime).
School was something in conflict with our nature: we wanted to think, we wanted to create, we wanted to be free, we wanted to build things, and we wanted to explore the world, that’s for sure. But all we got was limited/standardized information and lots of rules to follow!
At school you were forced to follow the rules, again. When you refused to follow the rules, you got a bad mark or you had lots of other problems.
At school you were forced to work alone. If during the lesson or exam you wanted to solve a problem in group or you wanted to help others, or ask others for help, you were punished. Everyone involved was punished.

For more than 100 years, the education system was built to make factory workers out of us. And we are not factory workers, that’s for sure. For the last hundreds of thousands of years, humans were free and smart creatures, exploring the world, creating some joy and magic.

Now our economy has changed again, and if you want to achieve something great, you have to unlearn everything you have learned at school. Everything!

Here are a few ways of reinventing ourselves:

When you do something, do it for society and for yourself.
Stop following the rules. Filter, change or eliminate them, so that you and society gain the most value and joy from the daily life.
Become a child again. Explore the world, touch everything, try new things, follow your intuition, and smile a lot.
Work in groups! We must learn to work in groups again and unlearn being alone. Group work is the best way to achieve results in less time, and also the best way to have joy, and grow inside.
Learn being creative again, because we were taught to be mediocre. Mediocre people are easy to manage by giving rules to follow, but at the same time they are like zombies, and our society is dying because of our mediocrity. Let’s become creative and invent new things, new lifestyle, and a new, better world.

Can we change the education system itself? Yes, we can. But at first we must eliminate that damage in ourselves. Only then will we be smart and powerful enough to make real change in the best possible ways we can.

Can we help those children who are in danger now? Yes, I hope so. Each of us should start by talking to the children around us, giving them the best books to read, telling them great stories, building things with them, playing the best games we know, teaching them, and learning from them.

Because we were all smart and creative in our childhood. It’s time now to reinvent ourselves. Because it matters what’s going to happen to our world in the next few decades, and we are the ones who can influence that.

I didn't pull the trigger

Fri, 03 Dec 2010 12:10:00 +0200

I like these words from the Depeche Mode song called “Perfect”:

I didn’t choose, I didn’t pull the trigger
It wasn’t me, I’m just a plain and simple singer

They remind me that I’m here because I’ve chosen to be here, even if it was not made consciously. Yes, it was me. There is no point to regret anything, because I can choose again and again. This day is full of choices and decisions. I can correct things done by mistake in the past. And things that cannot be changed can be improved next time.

I think this is how human freedom works.

My further plans on communication

Thu, 02 Dec 2010 20:55:37 +0200

Dear friends,

It’s a short message about my further plans regarding Facebook page, Twitter updates, and my renewed blog.

From now I’m going to write my thoughts in English as a kind of universal language, because I dream to share ideas and talk to people from other Baltic states, entire Europe, and the globe, and often we need unity to break the rules, to break the walls. I hope that English language will fit this need best.

All this is going to be done not for fun, and it’s not a dull marketing technique for doing some self-advertising. And it’s not going to be easy. No. I have some important things to do, and I’m on my way now.

Thank you for responding to posts that you like on my Facebook page at http://bit.ly/mjmusic or on Twitter at http://twitter.com/martynasjocius, and on my blog at http://martynasjocius.com.

By working on my existing and future start-up companies, writing music, playing gigs, and communicating with people I hope to help others find some great knowledge, techniques and resources that I found and/or tested on myself, and shorten their way to realizing what is important to them. It’s a gift that I really dream giving. As I go through my life and continuously learn new things and unlearn old ones, I believe it’s good to share everything that might help others.

Thank you!

Watch this before you raise money

Wed, 01 Dec 2010 19:09:16 +0200

Watch this before you raise money:

Naval from Venture Hacks talks about things you have to do before raising money.

A month in London

Wed, 01 Dec 2010 17:57:05 +0200

I have learned to think of failure as natural, as part of the process. I understand, now, that the more we search and the more we enter into the unknown, the more we can find— and proportionally, the more failures we have, too. But that’s okay. I believe in active living, and I believe that we have to risk to achieve great things. Woody Allen said: “If you’re not failing every now and again, it’s a sign you’re not doing anything very innovative.” This way we make failures work for us.

I decided to go to London for a month or so, to relax a little, and change the environment that surrounds me. Travel always has a good impact on me— it somehow opens the mind. I came to London with a friend, so I was not alone, and it was great.

With the intention of developing a prototype for a web application I had in my mind for almost a year— always postponing the work or having no time for it— I felt that it was finally a good time to start working. One day, I decided that it would be fun to go to London and code the app, so I did.

A month passed like a week. A little exploration of a big city, a little work on my client’s project, a little work on the Idiles app, and the time passed away so quickly. I like London very much, and I know that I will come back here again and again. But now I feel that it’s time to go home, back to Lithuania. My friends are there: I miss them, and I feel that we are going to do much together.

For me, a hometown feels like the best place in the world to develop web applications or online businesses (although I can’t say anything about other types of businesses). It is better emotionally. It is effective and fun. You don’t have to leave your family and friends to build a great online business. You can do that wherever you are— all you need is a passion for it. One especially great example is Balsamiq.

Nowadays people can work remotely, living thousands of miles away from each other. We truly live in great times. You can live in a homestead by the lake and work with clients from all over the world. You can join a team of friends and build a business even if you live in a very small town. All you need to do is be active. Knowledge will follow. Experience will do the same. And the most important thing: when you become an active person, circumstances will automatically become favorable, despite any moments of defeat you may have. I believe that this is how the world works. Don’t wait for the “appropriate circumstances”. Never. Pursue your goals boldly. If you really want something, the right moment is now.

Desire for success and belief in success lead to achieving goals. If you believe in something, you believe that it will happen, and it probably will, thanks to your motivation.

I am going back home in a few days. It was well worth it to come here. In London I found a street where all the shops were musical instrument shops. Thousands of guitars, pianos and other great stuff. A wonderful feeling for me. I found a bansuri flute here— an original Indian flute made from bamboo, that I had been looking for, for years. I believed that I would find it in London— and it happened.

Two more days left. Or as many as we want.

(This post was originally written for my old blog last summer)

Why

Wed, 01 Dec 2010 17:50:00 +0200

Success does not happen with a first, immediate thought. At least not for me. Several years have to pass until various events clarify our thoughts. Life itself answers some questions, and raises even more new ones.

Why do I do all this?

I do this because it is important to me. Because it happens naturally. I wake up in the morning, and I don’t have to force myself to get up, because I’m going somewhere I want to go. There is no need to artificially motivate myself— my job is my hobby.

This blog is my story of experiments with business, life, and myself. I am not a business expert, nor startup guru, but I really like this way of life. This is my passion. And I believe that after years pass, it is possible to master these skills. By then, however, it may already be too late to talk about all the adventures that happen along the way— with success may come forgetfulness for the ups and downs that lead to accomplishment. Too many important details and mistakes will be forgotten then, and that’s why I decided to start writing from the start. This story is alive, and I believe it is valuable.

In 2007, I founded a small software company, Idiles Systems, which provided software development services to several companies from Europe and the USA. I began this company because I dreamed of a smooth, agile development process, and wanted to organize my company’s work around using the best, cutting-edge practices. (I really only managed to make a lot of experiments.) However, I also did it because I wanted to prove to myself that I could run a company.

Freedom is a difficult thing to cope with. It may not be easy to take control of things that start to happen when you are free to choose. Freedom reveals all our shortcomings. Often, it distracts and hurts. And when you live sincerely, even more limitations roll out. But freedom is also a very good teacher.

After a few years, I realized that I wanted more than I could get from a software development business. I realized that Idiles was not on its true path, and that the company was not living to its full potential. Nor was I living life to its fullest. I wanted to create something that thousands of people could benefit from. I wanted to write stories. I wanted to perform music. I wanted to develop great products. And then I realized that I wanted to change the way people work with their dreams and how they implement them, and that I wanted to do all I could to help great ideas turn into viable startups that could last. Why? Because we need more truth in this world. We need to realize ourselves. We need to live to our fullest.

This year I made a decision to change, and separate myself from the software development business, by starting work on a new startup. Experience gained during those three software development years might help me do what is truly important to me.

(This post was originally written for my old blog last summer)

I am back

Wed, 01 Dec 2010 17:22:39 +0200

Howdy friends!

I am almost back to blogging. Still need to do some things, but I have a huge plan, and blogging is a part of it.

I have just pointed my personal internet domain martynasjocius.com to Tumblr, that means I’m going to use Tumblr heavily from now.

See you soon!

11+ bird species seen yesterday

Mon, 12 Apr 2010 14:14:12 +0300

I had an amazing day yesterday and saw these birds:

Common Crane (Grus grus)
White tailed Sea Eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla)
Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago)
Mute Swan (Cygnus olor)
Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristatus)
Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula)
Crested Tit (Parus cristatus)
European Robin (Erithacus rubecula)
Eurasian Jay (Garrulus glandarius)
Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo)
Common Raven (Corvus corax)

Plus a few common species like great tit, etc. I walked about 10 kilometers on foot, the weather was great. Location: Southern Lithuania.

Pulsatilla patens — pure beauty of the forest in spring.

Sun, 11 Apr 2010 17:31:21 +0300

Pulsatilla patens — pure beauty of the forest in spring.

Rocket science, hand made. This stuff works really good and...

Sun, 11 Apr 2010 11:51:50 +0300

Rocket science, hand made. This stuff works really good and flies high. We are here to take photos from the sky.

Material to create something for home.

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 07:28:50 +0200

Material to create something for home.

Web applications born here.

Sat, 06 Feb 2010 11:43:49 +0200

Web applications born here.

"Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did...."

Sat, 30 Jan 2010 17:53:49 +0200

“Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.”

- Steve Jobs