Life & Trials of the Long Lost Viking in Africa

Farming in my own backyard

2010-01-27T01:54:00.000-08:00

One of the more rewarding activities I have been up to in the last year, was to start a veggie garden in my backyard. Last year I started with spinach and carrots and it was a huge success. This year I have expanded.

Growing your own vegetables, and then harvesting and eating them, is a huge satisfaction to me. I just love it, and I have been blessed because my veggies come out huge, my carrots last year was what my daughter called huge mutant carrots. This year my pumpkins are growing at a huge pace and I will start harvesting this weekend.

Doing a veggie garden isn’t that much work, but the rewards are amazing. Not only do you get to harvest your own crop, but you get the satisfaction of working in the garden for more than just adding beauty. On top of that it is also a family project, so I get to spend some more time with my kids doing fun things.

In these recession times, with money being tight, with stress all around, it is great being able to fetch your own veggies from your own garden. It has got me pondering about how the economy would look like if more and more people started growing veggies and even trading veggies with neighbors. An idea I love and would like to see come to live in our world today.
Just as a note I am neither a competent gardener nor farmer, but I do try the best I can to keep my patch nice and clean and now productive….

Night owls on the Prowl

2010-01-25T15:21:00.000-08:00

Again it is midnight and I am sitting supporting one of my client’s systems, something broke and Mr. Fix-It is on place in front of the computer screen and sorting the issue out. Over the years I have done more support than development, funny how it goes, we end up doing more of what we don’t like compared to what we love and desire.

I have spent some time these last couple of months looking at how I do business, what my model is and what can be improved. The main issue is that I am a one-man show, and that is in general never a great idea in the IT industry. You end up doing everything from highly motivating and complex tasks, to writing procedures on how to use a software tool.

We all have this issue one time or another, we try to do everything, we say yes to all requests coming our way, we know we can do it best and trust no one else, and the list goes on and on and on. And by the way so does your hours and your stress and your backlog of tasks. Personally I have come to the end of the road, I have decided that I will hire an assistant, train this person in my field, and reduce my annoying tasks.

Since I am a contractor/consultant/one man show I am paid by the hour I work, so I don’t mind working through the night, over weekends, and in holidays. Well I used to not mind, now I am starting to want a social life, spending time with the kids and grandkids. Taking up fishing again…

But selling the idea of having an assistant isn’t always easy; many customers are worried about the quality of work from the new resource. But in the end it boils down to more work done, reduced costs, and for me the most important thing starting to get a life again……………watch this space it is for a recovering work-o-holic….

And so the story goes…….

2010-01-25T07:32:00.000-08:00

How many times have we not all set goals and then just lost track of them, or just the traction we had in them. It has happened to me so many times; sometimes I think I am the master of planning and the joker of completing......

But anyways, this blog came up and was supposed to be a good channel for me to give my ideas and my inspiration to those that needed. I had clear goals on creating weekly content; make sure it was up-to-date and relevant. Most is also based on my own experiences, which should make it easier to write about.

So it has been some months since I wrote, but I am back again. Now my notes will be shorter, more concise and might be more general about the life in South Africa and on this earth. Life is what you make it to be; sometimes we will make it more complicated, more difficult, and more dangerous than what it is. But that is entirely up to you.

Anyways, this Viking will try not to be that lost anymore and have more regular updates, and one of the updates is that I have cut my hair….making me less VIKING?

Daily Actions Towards Your Goals

2009-06-07T05:09:00.000-07:00

We all have dreams and goals for our lives, we have ideas on how to reach them, we know there is always a lot of work involved…and it seems we wait until the last possible moment and then try to do one million things in a short period of time…and we fail…well most of the time. And we think ‘We can’t reach these goals we have’ or ‘we are not good enough’ or ‘we are not smart enough’… or something in that general direction.

It has always amazed me how I in school, high school, college, and university kept waiting with assignments until the night before they were due. Lots of time I was thinking ‘it is insane with this huge workload’. But instead of spreading the work over the semester, I did crunch work, over and over again. I most likely lost some of my GPA on that, though I had fairly high GPA, I guess I could have been even closer to 4.00 in University as well as 1.00 in college had I done what I told myself every semester I would: Take action on a daily basis to finish of the big tasks.

And so is it in your life as well, you can reach your goals, you can live your dreams, maybe not today or tomorrow, but in time with actions taken on a daily basis you will. It is a simple task, or rather so it seems, taking daily actions towards your dreams and goals, but so few do it. Many try it for a week or two and then fall off and go back to crunch time once or twice a year again. I have many times tried keeping up with this daily action towards your goals, but so often stopped after some months.

Now I am back on track, and have been for a while. I wake up in the morning and have a list of things I need to get done that day, written the night before. I have a review of my goals and targets each week, I plan my months ahead of time, I measure my progress to my goals, and most importantly I take daily actions to reach them.

It is easy, my friends and readers, so darn unbelievable easy. But action is the main word of this article; you need to take action on a daily basis. And in order to remember the things I need to do, I use everything from calendars, to software, to notebooks. Yes I write a lot, I have my MS Outlook calendar for important milestones and appointments (now I am looking at maybe using iCalendar from Google instead), I use my desktop calendar, I have a year calendar on the wall which I write on, use my personal organizer, and use my calendar on my iPhone. I use them for different things, iPhone calendar is used for daily tasks and reminders, MS Outlook for major milestones, meetings, and tasks, wall calendar for overview of the year, notebook for daily tasks as well as one for ideas and one as a diary.

It can sound like a lot of work but it really is not and the great thing about it you keep looking at your goals from different time perspectives and angles, the daily tasks that link up with your monthly tasks, your monthly tasks that link up with your yearly tasks etc.

But this system works for me as I can remind myself the whole time, my late wife called me the clumsy professor, and for good reason. So I keep myself in the game by making sure I know where I am going and how I am getting there. The road can sometimes take an unexpected turn, but I still know where my destination is going to be, or rather where I hope it will be.

So do me one favor take an action today towards your goals, and another one tomorrow, these do not have to be huge life changing actions, but small ones that take 10 minutes or an hour. But they will get you one step closer to your dreams, one step closer to your life goals.

Don’t forget to breathe….breathe in….breathe out

2009-06-01T15:58:00.000-07:00

I have been sitting for about 45 minutes starting writing this post over and over again, every time wiping out what I was thinking I should have written. I am not sure why, just every post seemed not to be the right one. Then it struck me, breath boy breath. So I decided to write a short post, just some lines.

And yes this is about the importance to take a time out every now and again. I surely do. There are times when all seems to fall apart, when nothing seems to work, when everyone seems to be counter active of what you do and want to achieve. You might feel that adding some more hours, adding even more resources, postponing other tasks, will allow you to get it all done, will allow a perfect result. You might think so, but sometimes we need to just scream STOP!!!!

These times, these timeouts that we take, these are the times we can reflect on what is going on around us. We can sit back and understand why things are not falling in place, what we need to do to prepare us for when things are falling in place. It is so important to take these timeouts and get a clear overview, but yet we so rarely do it. It happens mostly when we are forced to do it, for some reason or another.

I urge you; take some timeout every now and again. Get a clear overview of your situation; know where you are going, then start moving towards your goals. Make sure you take one step every day, even if it is a small step.

And don’t forget to breathe in …… breathe out

Keep moving forward…Keep your eyes on the prize

2009-05-20T14:13:00.001-07:00

We all have a dream, at least I assume you have a dream, and we all want to attain that dream, but in this world it is so easy to get side tracked. Small things that are bumps in your lives will take your focus away from keep moving forward distract you from keeping your eyes on the prize at the end of the journey.

If you know what you want in life, I have a philosophy to take daily strides towards that goal. Every day you should at least do something, however small, to get one step closer to achieving your dream. But in order to know what steps leads to your dream you need to know exactly what your dream is, you need to know it in detail, you need to feel how it is to live that dream, the smells, the sounds, the light, the whole KAABANG….

Many people do not even write down their life goals, they keep it inside their mind, not exposing to the outside world, allowing themselves to fail without anyone knowing. Most of them are setting themselves up for failure. Personally I write down my goals, my life goals, my goals for a business venture, and my goals for today. I know what steps are required to move towards my goals. But remember goals can change as the circumstances changes and you need to adapt to them.

If you are young your goal might be to get a certain education, ride a certain car, and these may at the time seem like your life goals, but as you grow, as you reach your goals you will add to them. Even if you have your goal of a house by the beach, as you get closer you might even add to the goal or change it, maybe being too close to the beach is not really what you want. Feel free to change your goals, but don’t cheat yourself. Like changing a goal from being financially independent to just making sure you make it month to month. You might need to increase the time horizon, but don’t short sell yourself with the goals you are choosing and aiming for.

When you know what you want then I divide the end goal into milestones I need to reach along the way. These milestones I divide into step by step goals and I work myself towards where I am today. Then I know more or less what I need to achieve every month in order to get closer to my end goal.

And it becomes easier to take small steps towards your goals on a daily basis, knowing that following those steps you will get closer to the goal tomorrow compared where you where yesterday. But action and taking continuous action is the key to moving closer to your goals.

How to get ahead in life?

2009-05-19T12:30:00.001-07:00

You want the secret of how to get ahead in life? How to get back on your feet from where you are currently struggling? It is an answer most people do not want to hear so in fear of upsetting too many of you here I give my little 2 cents on how to get ahead in life.

Work hard, focus on what you do, and be determined. There is no thing as a free lunch in life, but there is always possible to get a huge discount on the same lunch. Many people say you must work hard and long and you will get ahead in life, but that is not the truth. The truth is that you must work focused, determined, never be afraid of working hard, and never give up.

Many times people are just focused on the situation around them, on the problems in their lives, their short comings, their failures in the past, etc etc. But it is important to have a clear focus on what you really want out of life, by knowing what you really want in life, knowing it in detail, knowing how it feels, knowing what you would do if you where there, you are half way there.

Many people have vague desires or dreams in life, like “I want to be rich”, “I want to live well off”, this just aint good enough my friends. You need to be specific, you need to get the feel of how it would be to have it, imagine yourself in it, and then focus on getting it.

I know I know, there is a lot more than just this to get there, but this is the start, and this is how you start getting out of the hole you are in, or start getting where you want to be faster. I have been on a rollercoaster in my life, from ups to downs to ups again. Most of the time the things hit you out of nowhere, but there is always a blessing in any situation. Ask me I know.

But the most important thing in life I have learned is to keep those you love and who love you close, tell them as often as you can how you feel, share a smile, laugh a lot, live life happily, enjoy the joys of life. Focus on start doing that and you will not only improve your life but also those that live around you.

I will go into other elements I have learned over the past years later, but know this, you have a destiny that is unique and great, don’t forfeit it by choosing not to reach for your full potential.
Just note I am not an expert in this field, I am rather a battle hardened soldier sharing his stories of the fighting in the trenches.

Work or Fun?

2009-05-18T13:56:00.000-07:00

In today’s world most of us are getting an education so that we can get a job, which will allow us to retire after 40 odd years of service. Most of the time we are not doing what we love, what we have a passion for, but rather something that will generate a good or partially good income.

So you are trading 8 – 12 hours a day for a salary that can support you and your family, and most of the time it can only barely support you. You then look for an extra job, doing something you are most likely not passionate about, to add to your salary so that you can live better. But you are trading even more hours of your life away for cash, time that should be spent with your spouse, with your kids, with growing yourself, with doing what you love and have a passion for.

Breaking this cycle, I think, is difficult for many people; it is taking a journey out to the unknown, going on an adventure where you do not know that will face you around the next corner. It is a lot easier just staying where you are now and then reading about others living a better, a more complete, a more fulfilling life. Then telling yourself, it just isn’t possible for you.

I was lucky in this sense, I was working as a manager for 14 software developers, we were a new team, and we had a three year target we met within 10 months. Most of the guys and gals working for me were straight out of college, but we managed to create an environment in where we could achieve. Then it happened, business wanted to cut the team’s size because we were doing so good, why did we need everyone when we were breaking all targets and records?

I felt that all I had worked for, all the 14 hour days I had put in to make it a success, was wasted. In addition I wasn’t given the monetary recognition for my achievements with my team, that I felt I was entitled to. I got fed up and knew this is how it was always going to be.

I decided I didn’t want to stick around any longer. I needed to get somewhere I could get the recognition I deserved and where I could make some of the rules. My wife and I chatted about it and I got an opportunity as a contractor in Johannesburg, and my life changed around. I was doing what I was passionate about; I was working longer hours, 15 – 17 hours a day the first year, with commuting. But it was my passion and I loved it, I was no longer working my friends, I was flying, I was having fun working 36 hours straight.

And now I am again starting to work 15 – 18 hours a day, not just as a contractor, but as an entrepreneur that is starting off companies, loving the challenges, loving the endless hours of planning, loving the execution of plans, and loving to see the results.

I will tell you more about these businesses as the time progresses and also how I got the idea to start some of them. But you will see most of the time I took a long long long long long time before starting them and that is something I am busy changing in my life. Action is the operative word these days, ACTION.

Cheers,
The Action taking Viking

2009-05-18T13:00:00.000-07:00

This is just a quick hi there….

Time passes so fast these days and even if I was of plan to update the blog every week, or even three times a week, it didn’t happen that way. I have several posts that are drafted and I wanted to post, but never got around to doing it.

I think instead of writing long posts I will try to stay to a shorter posts. I think that will be quite interesting and allow me to get more of the things that are happening in my life and with my ideas out there to all of you.

The last couple of months have been hectic and the months ahead seem to be even more hectic, but a good hectic. A lot of my plans are coming to action, and even plans I thought I had buried are springing to life as demand are there for them. I love this, money is being generated, deals are being struck and plans that I wrote down years ago are blooming.

This is surely a wonderful time to be alive, it is a blessing from the Almighty Lord that I have been given and now I have found my calling. What I love and what I am passionate about is building businesses, all kinds of them and then running them, tuning them, optimizing them, and allowing others to benefit from the profits that are made as well.

Thanks for sticking around this Viking…

Who is the Long Lost Viking in Africa?

2009-03-26T13:51:00.000-07:00

We are living in very exciting times, some will call it very scary, very dangerous, very uncertain times, but I chose to see them as exciting. Please do understand I feel for those that are experiencing foreclosures and losing their jobs, it is never good and does shake the foundations of many families, even breaks some. But as I mentioned I see exciting times, interesting times, times for learning and growing not just as a person but also as families and communities.

I will confess I also have stretched finances at this point, struggling to make all the payments and obligations that I have to all my creditors. I could most likely blame this on the sudden death of my wife or the economy or the South African interest rates (which was at 15%), but that wouldn’t solve anything, would it now. But instead of placing blame, which I did, I am focused taking actions to resolve my financial ‘issues’ through taking daily actions, and it is showing even though it all seems overwhelming at times. I believe that if I daily take steps I will move from where I am now to where I want to be, because with every step I will be one step closer than what I would have been had I not taken one.

Enough about that, most likely a post in the future will go into detail about how I went from denial to focus on solutions and not problems. Now back to what this post is about, who is this Long Lost Viking is.

I currently live in South Africa in a small town called Middelburg, but I was born and raised in Norway in the town called Kongsberg. Funny thing though is that Kongsberg was a silver mining town, while Middelburg is a mining town. Anyways I went to University in the USA at Washington State University Pullman and also spent 6 months at James Cook University in Townsville, Australia. So I have travelled and lived all over the world, and had many amazing experiences and tales to tell, but all in due time.

I am a software consultant by profession, focusing on fixing broken systems. I love spending hours, days, and even weeks identifying and rectifying a problem in the software. Most programmers hate this part of the work, it is tedious, it is complex, it is insane driving coding, but I love it. I am a geek and nerd, or whatever you would call it and I am darn proud of it too.

I am a family father by passion; my two daughters are living with me at home, while my son has left the nest and started his own family, with my second grandchild on the way. Nothing makes a father more proud or a grandfather more proud than to see the steps his children and grandchildren are taking daily in our world. I am truly a blessed man.

Well I guess that was the short version of who the Long Lost Viking is; I hope to see you around here often, as more news, more ideas, more thoughts will be coming out of Africa from the Long Lost Viking.