bigfoot

Stopping Time in Crucial & Special Moments

Recently on Facebook I had a great reminder of the importance of time in our lives  (SEE BELOW).
I thought it was worth sharing here a few more thoughts I have had about “time slowing”, why do it, and how to do it (with examples).
You see, there is a great movie (Star Trek Insurrection) which really illustrates two excellent uses for “time slowing”.  In the film, Captain Picard’s girlfriend can ‘slow time’ to experience certain “perfect moments” and extend them for greater enjoyment.   Later, Picard himself “slows time” to save that girlfriend’s life.  Interestingly, in this second case, time actually passed more quickly from Picard, but it seemed like less time had passed…. this is the key to the trick, and let me explain now how this can ACTUALLY BE DONE!

Why Slow Time?

  1. To extend the good time you are currently having (extend that perfect moment)
  2. To get past a bad time more quickly (really this is speeding up time).

How to Slow Time  (or speed it up).

  1. First realize that time is ‘relative’.  Relativity is the well-known idea that time passes for people differently based on how fast they are moving!
  2. Now, realize that when we say “slow time” what we mean is either Speeding it up or Slowing it down relative to you..
  3. SO…. to “Speed Up Time” relative to you, and make time pass by faster on the outside, and make it seem like less time to you…. based on the theory of relativity, you must simply SLOW your own mind.   E.g. Think thoughts much more slowly, move more slowly, and generally take longer to think something… and suddenly, when you wake from this trance-like state, time will have passed by ‘outside your awareness’ and it will be later than you think!  (e.g. time sped up outside your zone of awareness)
  4. NOW… the hard part, how to “Slow Time Down” relative to you…. this is way harder, because you must INCREASE YOUR MINDS SPEED!  you must think thoughts much much more rapidly… I find it helps to take pictures, really fast mental snapshots of all that is happening around you.  If you have a camera, take real pictures.  Try to SPEED UP your minds analysis of all it sees.  Speed up any thoughts you are having, have them faster….   Now, look up, and see almost NO TIME has passed.  For you, relativity-wise, you’ve had a lot of time pass, but in the real world, almost no time has passed.  that’s the trick and it really works.
So, which do you do when?
I think Speeding up Time, you should do when you are bored, or in pain.  Actively try to SLOW your mind and your thoughts and next thing you know it will have passed.
Conversely, and counter-intuitively, to “preserve a moment” you must SPEED UP your awareness of it, and try to capture more of it into your brain… more snapshots of the scene into your head.   Rapid Eye scanning of all you see and the scene around you and real picture if you can.  This will let you experience MORE OF the moment.
I remember in High School I hated Study Hall…  it was SO BORING.  But instead of watching the clock, i tried to ‘not think’ and entered a meditative state.. next thing I knew, the bell rung!  
Here’s a moment I preserved.  10-minutes before pitching for an $8Million fundraising for my company (Bigfoot Networks), I found myself sitting in a waiting room, waiting to pitch a final pitch to a room full of VCs.  I grabbed my camera and started snapping photos, I walked and paced around the room, looking everywhere, highly excited and full of wonder…. I sped my thoughts actively trying to capture all of the moment and all that was happening and all that was on the line.  I went through the whole pitch and what might happen, and all this in 10-minutes….  I looked up and only 5-minutes had passed!  WOW!  time slowed! 

Here’s one of my favorite moments, hanging out with my girlfriend (now wife) and we even got a picture!  I really extended that moment, you can see the alertness in both our eyes…
<<<_from Facebook__>>>
January 3 at 1:08pm ·

True awesomeness can be found in Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Star Trek
“I rather believe that time is a companion who goes with us on the journey and reminds us to cherish every moment because they’ll never come again.” – Jean-Luc Picard
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The Importance of Ethics: Engineering Ethics vs. Business Ethics

When I was CEO of Bigfoot Networks, I rarely encountered ethical ‘problems’ of any kind; I thought business ethics were a fairly useless thing to learn.  Now after being involved in many different start-ups and companies, I find that ethical issues can and do actually come up quite often… and I realize that I was addressing ethical issues at Bigfoot, even though I didn’t realize it.

As a student of engineering and business, I’ve been exposed to two very different interpretations of ethics.  In Engineering, we talk about the ethics of “bad calculations”, “building a bridge with errors”, “cutting corners”, or other things that can actually get people KILLED.  This kind of ethics always seemed like “real ethics” to me.  Business ethics seemed like a silly thing in compared to people dying.

I guess I’m starting to finally understand the importance of Business ethics.  I realize now, that I’ve always had good business ethics, and that’s why I never had to deal with ethical problems.

At Bigfoot Networks, I was using very ethical business practices without realizing it:

  1. I never even considered buying stuff without some form of purchasing/payment contract or pre-paid:
    1. thus avoiding the ethical issue of “no contract”
  2. I always treated partners and customers as valuable customers and nothing else.
    1. thus avoiding potential conflicts of interest and complex issues like “customers as investors” or “partners determining our product direction”.
  3. I avoided making promises I couldn’t keep, or would not put in writing.
    1. Thus avoiding confusion and frustration.
  4. I always treated people with respect and courtesy.
    1. Thus avoiding employee issues and problems.
While I can’t say specifically all the ethical issues I am facing today… I am glad that:
  • The issues are not “Engineering Ethical issues”!!!  e.g. they are not life or death issues, thank goodness.
  • I do know how to avoid business ethical issues, even though dealing with the problems themselves are a challenge.
  • My 7-Habits training and my years of running companies has prepared me to handle these issues, so I am confident I will do my very best to resolve them.
My advice for everyone: JUST AVOID THESE KINDS OF ISSUES!  It’s way easier than dealing with them.