Good, Fast, Cheap. When You Always Go For The Cheapest Option, Your Options Become Limited

Photo by Michael Competielle

“I’m an engineer. I see myself as a toolmaker and the musicians are my customers… They use my tools.”-Robert Moog

Starting in 1964 Robert Moog began building handmade analog synthesizers that helped revolutionize electronic music. Operating for almost 30 years until the company was sold in 1993 Moog synthesizers were synonymous with warm analog tone. The company closed and the assets were warehoused and eventually auctioned off. 

Bob purchased back the rights to the Moog name and again began hand-building analog synthesizers in 2002. After 55 years the legacy of Bob Moog continues.

Musicians from Wendy Carlos to Keith Emerson to Trent Reznor have composed brilliant music thanks to the unique sound Moog synthesizers generate. 

While the hand-built quality of a Moog is second to none they are also known to be very expensive. Due to the manufacturing process and time it takes to build each model, they are generally stock items often in limited quantities. 

The Project Management Iron Triangle

Each side of the project management triangle is labeled cost, scope and time or alternatively cheap, fast and good. Dating back to the 1950s the theory has been utilized in project and product management as a metrics tool. Reduce the cost of a product and the quality or speed will be affected. Increase the budget and the quality or speed will increase. 

A simple formula that works in most scenarios. 

Why Going Cheap First Limits Your Options

When you make purchasing decisions primarily on price alone you will affect the quality or time it takes to make your product. When we always base our decisions based purely on cost or cost savings we are limiting one of the two remaining options. Fast and cheap will yield a product of decreased quality. 

With an overabundance of cheap goods on our store’s shelves, it doesn’t take much expertise to determine the quality of the products are generally of lesser quality. 

Where The Gap Is Closing 

With manufacturing firmly planted overseas cheaper goods are being produced with an increase in quality and quantities that argue that the theory of the Iron Triangle is a fallacy. The fact of the matter is that is untrue when you look at the product in its entirety. 

Are the employees manufacturing the goods being paid a fair living wage? Probably not. What about the acquisition of the product’s raw materials? Certainly a place to cut a few corners. And what about the environmental impact of the decreased wages, sourced materials, wastes and environmental impact of transportation. 

Most of these reductions are hidden from the consumer and are only highlighted when you do some research. 

Buying cheap is certainly not the correct answer to obtaining the best products. Quality products that last longer and built with care and consideration of the product’s societal and environmental impact are clearly the better choice regardless of price. 

Buying products that can be resold, traded or gifted away when we no longer need them will help to reduce wasting resources. Quality products require a qualified workforce to manufacture, service and repair. By reducing the number of products we consume we can afford to pay more of higher quality products. 

Shopping for products off the buy it for life list is a great start. On the list are products that may not be the cheapest but certainly are of the highest quality and availability. 

Buy better, buy less. Sell, trade or gift unneeded products to reduce consumer demand. With a reduced need for quantities and a willingness to pay a bit more, manufacturing will adjust to the demand which will be quality. The primary reason we should be purchasing any products at all. 

Practicing Mindfulness While Exercising Long-Term Thinking

Photo by Michael Competielle

Changing the world for the better begins with individuals creating inner peace within themselves.

Dalai Lama

Circadian Rhythms and Regenerative Thoughts

Every day as I writing I’m researching to find meaning and purpose in my thoughts and philosophies. When words or topics reemerge I’ll gravitate towards the concept and close the loop in my mind. My world has become connected by following the great minds that spent their time contemplating the problems of the present to share in the future.

Last year I was reading an enlightening article by Zachary Crockett The organization building a 10,000-year clock funded by Jeff Bezos. The article explains how a group of brilliant long term thinkers is working to create The Manual for Civilization Begins with a 10,000-year clock and library. The group called The Long Now Foundation established itself to develop long term thinking to solve what appears to be unsolvable problems by thinking long term and planting the seeds for balancing our modern societies’ shortsightedness.

“When I was a child, people used to talk about what would happen by the year 02000. For the next thirty years they kept talking about what would happen by the year 02000, and now no one mentions a future date at all. The future has been shrinking by one year per year for my entire life. I think it is time for us to start a long-term project that gets people thinking past the mental barrier of an ever-shortening future. I would like to propose a large (think Stonehenge) mechanical clock, powered by seasonal temperature changes. It ticks once a year, bongs once a century, and the cuckoo comes out every millennium.”

Daniel Hillis

The Long Now Foundation was developed in 01996 (the five-digit date added the extra zero to solve the deca-millennium bug that will appear in 8,000 years). An assemblage of some of the world’s greatest minds is paving the pathway to thinking and creating for 10,000 years into our future.

Imagine if society had to reset itself within this moment back to the beginning. The Long Now is preparing a library of essential books that will help bring a new civilization up to speed. With donations from many scholars, writers, and artists, it was the donation from Brian Eno, a Long Now board member and my beloved pseudo mentor, that helped me make the connection to the concept of Long Term thought.

With Eno’s philosophies of Generative Music and Art such as 77 Million Paintings we look within the mind of one of our most brilliant thinkers. Brian’s thoughts are often on works that will regenerate themselves or use mathematical analytics to develop nearly infinite possibilities of creations. More so than any artist could ever produce in a lifetime.

As I look at my most treasured inspirations I’m beginning to see the connection to the universe based on their recognition of long term thinking. From Nikola Tesla with Polyphase Electric and Regenerative Power Generation to Steve Jobs‘ Infinite Loop to Ray Kurzweil’s Law of Accelerating Returns and aforementioned Eno’s Generative Art.

An analysis of the history of technology shows that technological change is exponential, contrary to the common-sense “intuitive linear” view. So we won’t experience 100 years of progress in the 21st century — it will be more like 20,000 years of progress (at today’s rate). The “returns,” such as chip speed and cost-effectiveness, also increase exponentially. 

Ray Kurzweil

Long Term Thinking Within This Moment

Writing about the present with my focus on being mindful does not mean I’m avoiding the future. Staying present in a moment allows us to maximize the experience and not waste the resource of this moment. By being present we become connected and absorptive to what powers life can present us. Being present in the moment does not mean we are thinking in the short term and can clearly have the opposite effect.

Modern-day life has most of us thinking about life and situations for the short term. As we engage with each other, watch films, or view art we want to feel good at this moment as we are constantly rushing to the next great thing. The future of our experience and decisions is often overshadowed by rush we get within a moment.

It’s moments like this where the practicing of mindfulness comes into effect. How do you feel as you engage in conversation or connect with a film or works of art? As we learn to become emotionally present we often feel as though we are active in short term thinking however that is untrue.

Mindfulness For Our Future

Most decisions I make I feel are for the long term while I keep my mind in the present. The foods I eat and products I’ll consume are each given a conscience review prior to the purchase as I hold sustainability and necessity paramount in the decision process.

My thoughts and philosophy has become fine-tuned as I’m focusing far out into the distance of my goals. I’m continuously pushing the bar farther away as I continue to learn and develop. As literary and artworks are preserved and curated we need to cherish the generous thoughts of those who felt it necessary to preserve our past to learn in the present about our futures.

The Long Now Member 10800

Today is the Perfect Day to Regain Control of Your Future

Photo by Michael Competielle

“Broken vows are like broken mirrors. They leave those who held to them bleeding and staring at fractured images of themselves.”

― Richard Paul Evans, Promise Me

We all make promises we don’t keep. Sometimes those promises have the best intentions that never pan out but many promises are little white lies we never plan to keep. 

If we look at vows like really big and well-articulated promises such as never smoking cigarettes again or refusing to buy certain products, we can see the importance of our statements. When we are honest with ourselves and take a vow we really should enforce our promises. 

Learn From Wrestling 

My son as he was growing up loved to try out playing new sports. He played baseball, football, basketball, and lacrosse. When he was younger and just learning a sport he would over analyze the game. More like a referee or a commentator than a player he always knew what everyone else was doing wrong. He lacked the ability of introspection and therefore was advancing in his sports at a slower pace. 

After a tough football session where he spent a lot of time on the bench, we talked about him trying a new winter sport. I suggested wrestling as a friend of mine who happened to be one of his football coaches was the head coach of the wrestling team was familiar to my son. 

I explained to my son that we play football and play soccer and play lacrosse but we never play wrestling. We just wrestle. One on one, mono e mono. 

As my son began to learn the sport and began to develop he recognized it was him against his opponent. No one else to blame. His success and failures were something he would have to take full responsibility and action for. 

What we learned

The life lessons he learned from wrestling was the power of introspection and self-assessment. As he learned how to read an opponent and size up a situation he knew how he had to tackle the situation. His confidence improved as he experienced successes in winning and knowledge from his losses. 

He ended his wrestling season not only with metals and accolades but with new knowledge of how to perform self-reflection. He was becoming a brilliant athlete as he understood his abilities, his strengths, and his weaknesses. Hitting the lacrosse field that flowing spring was an entirely new kid. His confidence and lack of fear were clear and evident. 

One afternoon I was talking to his coach who was extremely impressed with his development. He asked had we sent him to a lacrosse trainer in which I responded “Nope. He just learned to wrestle.”

Shocked the coach and I discussed how my son was the second-fastest kid on the team and had become the teams go to when the needed someone to climb into the pack and just simply get the ball. My son could, not once but every time. 

After the game, I told my son about the conversation with his coach and how proud I was at him. The second fastest on the team is a decent statistic. My son’s reply has changed my life forever when he stated “I may be the second fastest in a one-off race but I’m the fastest when you look at how I’m consistent the entire game. I can maintain my speed the entire game. When I feel like I’m slowing down I know it’s only me that can push myself harder”.

Brilliance. He had learned his strong point and was harnessing the power. When he recognized he was losing speed he knew when to push himself into overdrive. 

Mirror mirror on the wall

So our mirrors are our gateway into minds. Standing in front of your mirror who do you see? Is this the best version of yourself? Have you made promises to yourself that you failed to keep? What happened to that diet? How about that run you were going to take? 

Don’t worry they were just empty promises you made just like you promised you’d call the old classmate from high school and would get together again. 

Forget promises. Stand tall in front of a mirror and take a vow. A promise to yourself that under any circumstance you will keep. Don’t shatter that mirror standing in the shards of broken promises. Take a vow to regain control of your future. Small vows that we continue to keep our big accomplishments. The more trophies we win for ourselves the further we will develop. 

We must design our futures. Taking steps by vowing to make our dreams a reality is the first step. Small steps will yield large rewards. Take a vow and stick with it. 

This weekend will be 15 months of being on a plant-based diet. It was a vow I took that is a daily decision and become a part of my lifestyle. April 1st will be 11 years since I quit smoking cigarettes. Every day I look in the mirror and I see that new me I created, one morning by just taking a vow. 

Write Your Own Eulogy And Live That Life

Photo by Michael Competielle

We only have one chance at life. Our time is often wasted with unfulfilling mundane tasks and toxic people. Freeing yourself to live your life to the fullest should be your single most concern.

Over the years I have written a few eulogies. One was incredibly detailed and vibrant as I was able to emphasize the amazing life my friend had lived, however, another eulogy that I wrote was sad and incomplete as I struggled to find where this person’s life goals had been fulfilled.

“He was a great father, son and a harder worker.”

Utter horseshit and if anyway says anything like that at my funeral you have my permission to stab them in the eyeball with your car keys (assuming they still have car keys when I croak, or even cars, or even people for that matter).

My Eulogy

Every day I awaken with the thought “If today is my last, will I have regrets?” The answer is “hell yes” as I’m certain most people would agree. However, it isn’t because I regret the past. The past already happened so I give it the great “bon voyage and fuck off.” We can’t change that shit. What we do control are our present and our future.

I’ve been a son, grandson, father, brother, teacher, student and blah blah fucking blah. Just to be clear nobody cares not even me. What we do care about is the quality of those situations and how we interacted with each person.

An amazing friend once told me of an old proverb “the best day to plant a tree is 20 years ago, or today.” And therefore I daily plant the trees which will grow and nurture my future for as many years as I have left.

My eulogy will list my accomplishments as I work daily to reach them. Writer, philosopher, artist, filmmaker, craftsman, yogi, guru, photographer, pornstar. (I always squeeze that one in as a guy can dream). None of which I’m not working on in some capacity to enrich my life and enlighten everyone I come into contact with.

So my mental eulogy mentions all of these qualities and my backlog of works will be the proof. I will have written books, made more films, written more poetry and become a yogi. How did I get there? I started 20 years ago…or today.

You are reading article number 78 of 100. You are looking at one of over 50k pictures I have guesstimated I’ve taken. Is it my best article or best photo? If I die today it most certainly will be. Is there room for improvement? 100 percent and that’s what I work on daily.

You Are Writing Your Eulogy Everyday

I make it an important part of my day to randomly stop and ask colleagues, friends, coworkers, and family the most important question of them all. The only thing that actually matters. “How do you feel?” It floors most people and the first time or two you often get lame answers. “Fine”. How about fine isn’t fucking good enough. Ask me how I’m doing. Anyone that knows me knows that “I’m living the dream”. Am I? You bet your ass I am. Why you ask.

Because I work daily on my own personal development and goals. I’m going to get to where I need to be because I’ve designed my destiny. Do I have specific plans? Nope. I don’t generally do the same things twice. If I do I modify the sequence and mix it up. I don’t make concrete plans, I don’t follow rules and I read directions backward. Why? Because I like to see what direction the path takes me.

My eye is on the prize as I’m working diligently to learn, develop, create and just breathe. Life is what we make it. Shit is going to happen however if you are on a specific course, you can modify and adjust as your goals have already been set.

If it all ends today, so be it. It’s out of my control, however, when you hear my eulogy there won’t be a question that I was everything I had hoped to be. Possibly just a little sapling in the shadows of the future me that never will have the chance to materialize, but I’ll be damned if I don’t daily fertilizer myself with the beliefs I’ll get there. Some how..some day.

If it all ends today I’ll see the rest of you rebels in hell. Man will I have some stories to tell you. And if we live on realize we are still headed to the same place but my backlog of stories will continue to be mounting.

Today is the best day of my life and today I’m Living the Dream.

Michael Competielle

Building A New Brand Must Consider It’s Environmental Impact

Photo by Michael Competielle

Walking into a Starbucks one afternoon I ordered a Dragon drink. Paying with the cashless and paperless app I awaited the calling of my name. When my order was up I walked up to the counter and grabbed my drink and thanked the barista. 

Heading out the door I stopped to grab a straw and noticed the only offering was a plastic straw. Immediately I was disappointed and a bit pissed off. How could a large coffee shop like Starbucks get it so wrong?

I did a quick Google search and realized they indeed did have a global initiative to replace plastic straws with recyclable lids by 2020. Why a year to stop ordering plastic straws and start using recyclable lids is beyond me but it’s a start.

I began to think about my local favored coffee shop who replaced paper straws with the plastic lids. I just happened one day and they moved on. They only two locations versus 30,000 and it made me think of a McDonald’s documentary I once watched in which it takes years for them to roll out a new product line.  Their mass got in the way.

New Brands Must Start Right

Working with a new startup as Brand Designer I’ve placed myself into a strategic position for the future of the Brand and therefore the companies lifespan. 

I’ve spent far less time researching or designing the perfect logo or tagline in favor of determining the brand’s identity. With the average life expectancy of a company diminished to only a dozen or so years, priorities must be set properly during the formative years of a brand. 

Trends come and go and successful company brands ride the wave of trends while learning how to maintain market share and positive growth. As a new startup, we have the luxury to fill a void in our market and make a large impact by trendsetting and not following the existing market. 

Forecasting out with a 5-year projection on product and brand decisions we can recognize the decisions made today are representative of where the company will stand in 5 years. Short term goals while ignoring there impact on the companies future are carving a path to failure. 

As I research brands and products I love and use, I’ve recognized these are lifestyle brands. Products that make up the fabric of my personal identity and align with my vision of the perfect life. 

Environment and sustainability top my list as does a brands status of how the treat their employees. With corporate giants swallowing up large mark shares of companies whose original mission was quality and convert them into profit centers at the expense of the environment and staff we have created a downward spiral, racing to the bottom.

100 Percent Sustainable 

The core of our new brand is to be 100 percent sustainable. In our design meetings, we will hit many roadblocks as we see voids in our market which lacks environmentally conscious products. As we have been developing our corporate initiatives and drawn lines in the sand we are now seeing an open field ripe for growth. The products that currently doesn’t exist allows us an opportunity to make them. 

The narrative of our story of how we began and how far we have come is inspiring. We have great distances to strive for however seeing our ecosystem of a brand in our 5-year projection has become clear. 

Why We Will Prosper

Sales and trends aren’t guaranteed. They come and go based on the latest Instagram tag. We won’t be a copy that will survive but a company that thrives based on one simple belief. We believe in our people

Sitting on an hourlong train ride into NYC I was deeply immersed in a conversation with a colleague. He felt everyone on the train looked like cattle headed for slaughter. I gave him the answer that is the qualification for success. 

These people didn’t wake up and say I’m going to do a horrible job today. They didn’t get dressed up and say I’m going to be angry and depressed all day. Those things happened due to environment. Corporate culture that has extinguished their spark. Believe in your people and empower them to build with you the lifestyle you want to live…. And they will. 

Curing Myself To Make The World A Better Place

Photo by Michael Competielle

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

Courage to change the things I can,

And wisdom to know the difference 

Reinhold Niebuhr

A photo of the above saying hung in our home when I was growing up. I remember reading it back then and thinking I understood it as I would force my will and opinions upon others. The World didn’t change and honestly neither did I. 

I’ve been blessed with the life I have been gifted and with every passing day, that fact is reconfirmed. The past year I’ve moved towards enlightenment by redesigning my life. I’ve accepted who everyone else is and how they fit into my world. 

Nothing Is Impossible 

Mind over matter as I daily make minor adjustments to myself and my lifestyle. For the most part I don’t do anything I don’t want to and make sure the things I do actually partake in I’m present and mindful. 

The challenges I had yesterday are in the past and how I deal with situations is in the present, where I’m focused and engaged. I seek the answers to problems first within myself before I attempt to modify my surroundings. 

Everyday obstacles are deemed insignificant as I refuse to become embroiled in the static of the problems I can not solve. My objective is to carve myself a path and follow my inspiration. 

Why?

I remember as a child when my parents asked me to do something I’d always respond with “why?” And the answer was always “don’t ask questions just do it” or “because I said so”. Not really great advice and certainly not very enlightening. 

I ask myself why? in most everything I do. And the answers, when honest are life-changing. No longer do I waste time watching the news or reading about things that I can not change. My concentration is finely tuned to the things that affect me and my effect on others. 

I’m a work in progress and it’s an uphill battle to redesign my thoughts and interactions with the world. I’ve made lifestyle changes to my diet by going Whole Food Plant Based, and I’m mindful of my impact on the environment. 

I don’t any longer take nature for granted and I cherish the beauty of each passing day. Every hour is maximized in a very selfish way as I make sure I’m doing the things I need to do for me. My world revolves around me and when I arrive and interact with others it’s with purity I can interact becomes I feel complete. 

The stresses of life still exist and I still will lose my cool with others when I see they’ve given up or are defeated, often before they’ve ever started or tried. 

Every day I work on my redesign and self-development, looking deeper into myself and further out onto the horizons. With all certainty I know I can get there and so my quest to fulfillment has become easy. 

With each passing day, I do a reflection and determine my status. I’m pleased with my results yet recognize I have a long way to go. The journey to curing myself has been my greatest achievement. I keep moving the goal line as I travel deeper and deeper into my own potential and reap the rewards. 

Taking Steps Forward And Leaving Your Fears Behind

Photo by Michael Competielle

How do we determine if something is alive? “Is it moving?” “Is it breathing” in that fearful curiosity voice we all had as a kid. If we are moving are we dying or dead?

One of my many vocations is I’m a Sound Designer and Editor. I edit, clean and create sounds to extend the suspension of disbelief in a motion picture. The irony is if it’s not moving, it doesn’t make a sound. It feels odd and unsettling to add sound to objects that aren’t moving on the screen. Add some movement and we open the possibility to add an effect, no matter how slight to accentuate the movement.

As we age many of us slow down, our movement reduced as we tire or lack desire. There is a sense of safety not leaving our warm beds and cozy couches. The evil and fearful world outside our safety zone. What lurks in the dark? 

In a horror film, it’s an evil monster or a possessed spirit. Both amazing possibilities for sound design yet horrible excuses to not step outside. That evil monster is our fears. Fear of being judged. A fear of taking risks. 

Some mornings I awaken in fear, possibly from a bad dream or an unsettled issue I need to resolve. My heart rate will rise and anxieties will slowly creep in like the dark damp fog in a supernatural film. 

But what do I know that others may not? I’m comfortable here, in my fears. Why? Because I’ve been here before. In the dark alone and scared. When I stay frozen in the fear, it lurks towards me, it’s coldness surrounding me like a plague. If I breath easy and control my breath my chances of survival increase. You can’t die if your breathing right?

With each controlled breath I feel a calming overcome my body and mind and my fears, they may still be there but I slowly step away. The sound of my footsteps i hardly heard. 

Once I reach my point of safety many steps away, I can breathe easier, as my confidence returns. I’ve chosen to live and not have my fears strangle my movement.


So now let’s just image your struggling with life. Breathing in and addressing your fears have you petrified within your own existence. What happens? Fears lead to anxieties and anxieties can lead to depression. And there you are, motionless and probably not even recognizing you are actually breathing. 

Generally breathing is an autonomous bodily function however once fear and stress enter the equation we can have difficulty breathing. We then must manually control our breath to work ourselves out of the situation and return to normalcy. 

By recognizing our breath and rhythm we can control our emotions and regain control allowing our body to take back over.


So let’s imagine we have an interest in mountain climbing. The thoughts of the amazing mountain summit fuel our desires and we encourage ourself to the experience. But then that voice steps in, the voice of reason? Hardly, it’s that voice of fear. Everything that can go wrong will. What if I lose my footing and fall? What if the oxygen isn’t enough? What if I get tired?

Excuses we make to not have to face our fears. The fear of failure or falling or whatever can happen walking from your warm bed to the toilet. These are all excuses we make to not face the fear.

In our fear movie, our protagonist is afraid of heights, afraid of leaving the house, afraid of falling. Yet we are all rooting for this character, an audience of hundreds watching, hold their breath as our character takes steps to overcome the fear.

We suit-up in our hiking boots and shorts, pack our sack and head outside. Slowly at first, we may walk the neighborhood to feel comfortable with our pack, evaluating our energy levels, water consumption, and feelings in our body.

The first day we may feel tired or unsteady. If we stop at the first signs of struggle, we are right back where we started. Nowhere. Yet if we embrace our pains and laugh out our fears, every step and every breath will increase in strength in selfconfidence.

So our protagonist trains daily for her upcoming trek. Fears still exist as they never actually go away, we only leave them behind as we move forward. With each confident step forward our fears are left behind watching us take each confident step.

In our fear movie, if we wanted to show the confidence of our protagonist the camera would follow the character. The scene on the screen would be a shot requiring camera movement. This movement is the same movement of our character as we are as one.

However, if we care to show that our character is triumphant, we will leave the camera stationary as our protagonist moves away and leaves her fears behind. 

Getting up and facing our fears and with confidence walking away is the strongest lesson I’ve learned in self-improvement. Controlling my breath and emotion is still a challenge yet what I seek is the comfort in knowing that I’m confident enough to take on risks, try new things and make movement my goal.

Venture Capitalists Aren’t Building Companies They Are Building Return On Investments

Photo by Michael Competielle

A few years ago I was reading an article comparing Patagonia and North Face. Both companies manufacture similar outdoor winter wear products with a similar price point and customer base. Both companies are turning profits however North Face’s annual sales far exceed Patagonia’s.

North Face is a subsidiary of VF Corporation which is a publicly traded company that owns 30 odd apparel and footwear brands. 

North Face’s Fiscal Year 2019 Annual Report noted 9 percent growth, over 22 percent return on capital and $3 billion dollars of returned to shareholders from dividends and share repurchases. 

Patagonia is a private benefit corporation otherwise known as a B Corporation meaning a company thatincludes positive impact on society, workers, the community and the environment in addition to profit.

Patagonia’s 2018 Annual Benefit Corporation Report notes “Each year, we commit one percent (1%) of our annual net revenues to support nonprofit charitable organizations that promote environmental conservation and sustainability”.

Patagonia is a 46-year-old company and known as an activist company. Back in 2011 on Black Friday, Patagonia’s marketing campaign placed labels in their coats “Don’t Buy This Jacket” suggesting to customers they don’t buy the companies products unless you absolutely needed a new coat. Patagonia recognized a 30% percent increase in sales with a belief the increase was the winning over the competitor’s customer base.

Patagonia also created a buy back program called Worn Wear. The concept is to wear, repair and share in items you already own instead of buying new.

As an educated consumer, my purchases are generally researched and calculated. My decisions are based on many variables as I search for brands of companies with philosophies that I can align with. 

The environment is a top priority for me as I’m recognizing the effect we are having on our planet from companies and people that aren’t concerned with our future. Businesses are built to profit, that I can align with however certainly not at the expense of the world environment, workforce or excessive taxation. Corporate welfare privatizes profits and socializes losses at the expense of the taxpayer who also is the consumer.

Large corporations lobby politicians for tax breaks, leniency on rules and laws governing wages, benefits and environmental impact for only one purpose, artificial growth and maximizing profits. 


Working as a Brand Designer with a new startup company we are designing the core values of our brand. Listing the individual threads of what will ultimately become the fabric of the companies mission and philosophy we are researching companies that align with our own personal beliefs and recognizing their struggles to close the gap on sustainability. 

As we recognized the current status of the global business environments challenge to remain competitive and profitable we also see a pattern of the abusers. Cutting corners, removing quantity and quality from goods and services while devouring up the competition and creating conglomerates that are too large to fail all hiding behind a welfare system designed to absorb the risk. 

Daily I challenge myself to evaluate my personal impact on the environment and things I can do to change. My distance traveled to work has grossly diminished based on 8 years ago and I’m evaluating the products I buy, upcycle, recycle and repurpose. I’ve stopped shopping in stores fully of kitsch and buying memorable trinkets. Instead, I try to purchase Buy It For Life products that may not last an actual lifetime but certainly can be repaired, handed down or resold.

I’ll remember places visited and experienced by taking photographs and writing about the experience. The sharing of the experience through communication far exceeds the memory of a plastic souvenir thrown into a drawer.

For products that I can not buy it for life, I try to extend the life expectancy of those products by no longer discarding clothing or shoes due to imperfections, I’ll instead try to stretch out a bit more use out of the products until they are fully expended.

I revitalize old buildings to give them a new life while minimizing the waste of discarding the structure. I’ll repair items to extend their life and donate or gift away items with limited resale value.

Items such as clothing, books, and household goods have low to no resale value due to the artificial capitalist economy we have created. Cheap products and services are being sold while risks and losses are bring absorbed through creative accounting and taxation loopholes.

More billionaires are being created annually as employee benefits, wages, retirement funds, and job security have diminished to record lows. Our product choices have also been grossly decreased as we find out about large conglomerates who own the majority of the products that are on our shelves. Startups and market innovators are bought up and absorbed into just another product line in these already obese corporations.

These companies work on tight margins and maximize sales by increasing their market shares. Many corporations product lines or acquired companies are designed specifically to lose money to drive down the price of goods and services forcing competitors to cut corners for survivalism.

Our single line of defense is to research the companies we purchase from. Learn from actual consumers about their personal experiences on purchased goods and services and we must create our own standards of what we as the customer are willing to pay and receive in return. We must flock to companies that align with those beliefs and place a stakeholder in their future.

The future of our planet relies purely on our active participation in revitalizing our planet by minimizing waste and buying sustainable and renewable resources. Collectively we must look to where we can take a firm stance on global warming, pollution, reduction in quality of life and natural resources.

“We can revitalize the Earth by making gradual changes based on products we use and how we treat the waste. Our biggest voice is in the boycotting of products that do not align with our core beliefs and in turn either doing without or buying from companies that take a truthful stab at saving our planet”.

Pinpoint A Moment By The Separation Of Space and Time

Photo by Michael Competielle

Our world is a connected place, every individual person is a blip on the World radar moving about in a common cosmic universe. Experiences are influenced by our emotions based on the present time and space.

Rereading a book or listening to a favorite song can often invoke feelings and emotions from past experiences as we can transcend backward in time. Based on your present mood and level of focus the revisit can unearth new discoveries and connections often unheard or unread. We will frequently find new meaning and understanding as we have expanded our knowledge through experiences and personal growth.

What variable in time discrepancy offsets the fabric of connection?Where exactly is the wrinkle in time that creates the missed connection? Decisions we make writes not only our history but the history of others. Inclusion in situations influence the course of others lives and more often than not purely by happenstance. 

Fragments of data I’ll file into my mental memory banks stored like a scientists notes. Compartmentalizing content I’ll keep the metadata available for future exploration and hope the content will expand in concrete understanding. 

As I mature and maintain positive forward motion looking back only to see progress and a refusal to dwell on the past, I comfort new discovery. New experiences map a new and unique future guiding me to another space and time. 

My interests in music, film, sound and design are now almost a circadian rhythm of connections as I’m close to closing the infinite loop. What’s new is frequently old, a fusion of old concepts rediscovered and reborn into a new being.

As I walk around expanding my connection to nature I’ll often recognize I’m on hallowed ground. Prior to the creation of a sub development in a suburban town, the land was a tree farm, prior to that forest and a Battleground of the Revolutionary War and prior to that home to the Lenape Indians. We are only separated by time as space or place is remains consistent.

Photo by Michael Competielle

Only through conversation and discovery do we unearth the individual fibers used to weave the pattern of our existence. Only with an open mind and exploratory mindset can we expand our horizons to absorb new discoveries. We shall never stop learning nor discovering. Reading, writing and photographing fragments of time are only missed connections unless we defragment our data-dumps into buckets of commonality and make connections.

Patterns will emerge as we better understand our minds content. As we cleanse our minds of junk files, the reactions of others or our superfluous content allowing room to fill the void of self discovery and conscious understanding.

Freedom to create, design and experience. To use our own connections to expand our minds and our lives and share with others to change their experiences in the fragment of time. 

The Freedom of Creating and Putting Yourself Out There

Photo by Michael Competielle

“Fear is only as deep as the mind allows.”

— Japanese Proverb

There is nothing that I fear. Not judgement, failure or vulnerability. Everyday I’ll rise to the occasion to take charge of my life and take risks. I’m a decision maker in which 95% of my decisions are good and 5% are brutally horrendous however I stand behind every decision 100% always.

Years of experience doing things wrong, failing and being judged has toughened my skin to create a resilience to critique. My inner self questions my thoughts and path as my gut tells me “just do it”.

Recently I was mentoring a colleague where a work situation went wrong, I let the problem fester a bit and when the moment was right I corrected the situation. My colleague was perturbed at how I’d left them vulnerable in this scenario and my reaction was “ remember how you felt in that moment. Your heart racing and chest sunken. When you feel that way again you now know how to react and direct yourself out of this situation”.

“If you give a man a fish, he will be hungry tomorrow. If you teach a man to fish, he will be richer forever.” Indian Proverb

It works, when I get that gut feeling or emotional moment I recognize I’ve been there before, make a fine adjustment to counteract the situation and move on.

When I was a kid my uncle and father taught me to play pool. I didn’t have great strength nor dexterity to effectively break the tightly racked balls. When it was my turn to shoot, I’d miss three or four times until I’d realize I was about to lose. I’d focus on what I was doing and patiently plan my next shot. Knowing I was about to be beaten I’d concentrate on the speed, angle and trajectory of the shot while planning the next.

With a firm crack I’d hit in one ball after another in a 2–3 ball run and usually catch up. I wouldn’t always win but my abilities and confidence increased with the pressures of possibly loosing.

With focus and determination I’d put my mind into a state of flow.

Throughout my life when I find myself in a creative state and need to push thru and finish, I’ll focus on my vision of the completed project and get there. Hitting the send button at the completion of any project once I feel I’m complete I do so with the confidence I’m at my best.

I’m never questioning if I’ve done wrong or missed the point, I’ll hit send based on my ability to take risks and ward off criticism. My objective is to keep creating more and more content. Occasionally I’ll miss the mark however my next attempt will be better than every and an improvement on the previous iteration.

https://medium.com/@mcompetielle/the-freedom-of-creating-and-putting-yourself-out-there-9294e8e04e3d?source=friends_link&sk=b3997b08c4bfc8b2f6f6b7b029e9633e