Tag Archives: thoughts

Would I do it again? Absolutely!

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A member of TuDiabetes wrote to me asking about my thoughts on starting a nonprofit. I thought I’d share the non-private elements of the conversation on my blog…

1) Starting a nonprofit is not for everyone, but it is one of the most rewarding things you may find yourself doing in your life. Setting a 501(c)(3) (or an equivalent tax exempt organization in the case of other countries) takes up a significant effort. It’s not only about offering your services: it includes staying compliant in a number of fronts once you file for tax exempt status and once you are approved as a 501(c)(3) (sometimes also referred to as, once you receive your “determination letter”). This is something many people are not as fully aware of going into this world. Being able to keep your doors open involves making sure you do things right (compliance) and you get the necessary funding in the door to be a sustainable (fundraising).

2) Would I do this again? I have no doubt about it… but I would also consider avenues such as Fiscal Sponsorships to help alleviate some of the initial burden. Some groups doing amazing social work have remained as a fiscally sponsored project for their entire lives. Some outgrow this stage and spin off into their own 501(c)(3). I have written about fiscal sponsorship before in this post.

3) Partnering and working with others as a way to help: before embarking on doing your own thing, I highly recommend looking at what others are doing. There is an excellent chance that someone out there is already offering such a service or working on doing so. As commendable as it is to take matters in your own hands, it may help even more people if you consider supporting the work someone else is doing… you would be surprised how much help others need and how much you can multiply your impact by partnering. It’s FAR more than the power of 2!

And… while you are reading this, I guess it doesn’t hurt for me to ask you to support our work at the Diabetes Hands Foundation, as we celebrate five years of TuDiabetes.

Before November Starts, Mapping My Projects

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Reading this great post by Chris Brogan on the importance of Mapping Your Projects, I realized this would be a useful exercise as November is literally around the corner.

Speaking… speaking… speaking…
The past few weeks I had three speaking engagements. ePatient Connections 2010 (in Philadelphia) and Health 2.0 (in San Francisco), where I spoke about HealthSeeker; and more recently, BlogWorld Expo’s Social Health track, where I spoke about How People Are Using Social Media to Improve their Health.

In November, I will be part of a panel at AIMA Symposium 2010, talking about “Building Online Social Networks for Crowdsourcing Knowledge about Chronic Disease” in Washington D.C.

These are all great opportunities to get the word out about our work (and a good way to put on frequent flyer miles too). At the same time, every time I came back home from a conference, I am way behind on getting other things done and also very tired.

November: Diabetes Awareness Month and World Diabetes Day
November is diabetes month (write it down!) and November 14 is World Diabetes Day. So naturally a lot of diabetes organizations have their hands full. This is what we have done in recent weeks and will be doing in the coming weeks:

  • HealthSeeker en Español: back in June, we launched HealthSeeker, a Facebook game to help players develop and rediscover healthy choices with the support of their FB Friends. In November, we’re launching a Spanish version, that will become HealthSeeker to anyone who has their Facebook Language set to Spanish.
  • TuAnalyze: in May, we launched the TuAnalyze app on TuDiabetes, to help members track, share and compare their A1c numbers. In September, expanded mapping capabilities in TuAnalyze to include Canada. In October, we launched a survey module on TuAnalyze and in late November, we will make TuAnalyze available in Spanish on EsTuDiabetes and start mapping A1c aggregate values from Mexico!
  • The Big Blue Test (La Gran Prueba Azul):This year, we will be repeating the Big Blue Test (La Gran Prueba Azul) once more, but we’ve added two important elements:
    1) Blood glucose entries before and after doing 14 minutes of exercise at 2 pm, Nov. 14, will be entered on a dedicated page (to be announced in a few days), available in both languages, which will show “real-time” stats about the # of participants and median of the values entered and changes in blood sugar levels due to physical activity in between readings.
    2) Between Nov. 1 and Nov. 14 the views of the video we’re working on to promote the Big Blue Test will count towards a max. $75,000 donation from Roche Diagnostics to benefit Insulin for Life and Life For a Child, two life-saving humanitarian assistance programs for people with diabetes around the world. If we pass 100,000 views, they will make a donation of $75,000. Up to 100K views, they will donate an amount proportional to the views.

Other side projects
As if all this wasn’t enough to stay busy, busy, I have taken on a few other projects on the side, mostly to help with additional income.

  • I wrote a chapter for an upcoming Salud 2.0 (Health 2.0) book in Spanish, which I have still to review one last time.
  • I have taken on a consulting project with my friends at Madera Group, to help drive the amazing Make YOURS a Million $ Business program of the non-profit Count Me In for Women’s Economic Independence.
  • Currently, I am into my second chapter of helping Joe Waters and Joanna MacDonald with their upcoming Cause Marketing for Dummies, which will be published mid-2011.

Life
Why did I leave life for last? Because as a result of all the projects I have gotten myself into I barely have enough time left for myself… or family life. This is something I intend on reassessing after November, because time passes and I don’t want to wake up one day and realize that my son is a teenager (he is now seven) and I missed what could be some great times with him!

Slow Dance by David L. Weatherford

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Reminds me of a friend of mine, in my first job (back in 1998 or so), when he asked me “When was the last time you sat still long enough to see the clouds go by?”

Enjoy this poem, “Slow Dance” by child Psychologist, David L. Weatherford:

Have you ever watched kids on a merry-go-round,
or listened to rain slapping the ground?

Ever followed a butterfly’s erratic flight,
or gazed at the sun fading into the night?

You better slow down, don’t dance so fast,
time is short, the music won’t last.

Do you run through each day on the fly,
when you ask “How are you?”, do you hear the reply?

When the day is done, do you lie in your bed,
with the next hundred chores running through your head?

You better slow down, don’t dance so fast,
time is short, the music won’t last.

Ever told your child, we’ll do it tomorrow,
and in your haste, not see his sorrow?

Ever lost touch, let a friendship die,
’cause you never had time to call and say hi?

You better slow down, don’t dance so fast,
time is short, the music won’t last.

When you run so fast to get somewhere,
you miss half the fun of getting there.

When you worry and hurry through your day,
it’s like an unopened gift thrown away.

Life isn’t a race, so take it slower,
hear the music before your song is over.

Breathe: my new desktop image

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I’ve known for some time the importance of breathing… I don’t mean, breathing to stay alive. I mean deep breathing mindfully. Yet, time and again, I find myself breathing in a shallow way and even occasionally holding my breath as I am stressing over something (an email, a situation, a phone call, etc.)

This morning, as I was following Tweets from the Craigslist Foundation Bootcamp, I read some live comments about the many wise things spoken by Chip Conley at the event. I then stumbled upon this particular tweet by Conley, that totally caught my attention:

So I proceeded to read the post Do You Know How to Breathe? How to Think Clearly and Feel Relaxed in Two Minutes. The author shared what he did (thanks to his wife) to remember BREATHING throughout the day:

… my wife gave me a framed print with the word breathe written in beautiful calligraphy. It sits on top of a bookshelf in my office, replacing the Post-it note reminder I used to have on my computer screen.

So I went about creating a desktop image to put ON my screen (which I am staring at most of the day), with the word BREATHE on it. I hope you find it useful to remind yourself the importance of REALLY breathing to help you stay focused and in the now. You can download the desktop image by clicking on the image below.

Inception: What It Has Done To Us

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Inception is one of those movies that leaves you thinking. But that is a description that falls in many ways…

When we went to see inception, two of the other three people that joined us were seeing it for the second time. Reading forum topics about Inception, this is not a uncommon situation (people watching it 2-3-4 times to try to make sense of it…)

Truth is Christopher Nolan got us all talking. Even film music fans (I count myself among them) are talking about how the score plays subliminally with slowed-down versions of Edith Piaf songs!

The movie’s “true” meaning (something that Nolan may never give up… even something he may not even know himself) may never reveal itself to us. But that doesn’t matter too much, I think.

What stuck with me was the power of inception… beyond it, think what we as parents can do to our children by making them believe something as they are children: that they can realize their true potential, that they can make reach their goals… we are in a way planting those same seeds of an idea that were mentioned in the movie.

What did you think about Inception?

Howard Zinn: "You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train"

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Sunday afternoon is always a good time for a good documentary. Today, it was time to sit down and watch Howard Zinn: You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train. Until not too long ago, I admit my ignorance: I had no clue who Howard Zinn was… until I walked into a local Berkeley coffee shop with one of our new advisors at the Diabetes Hands Foundation and saw her pointing at his image on the wall, saying: “Howard Zinn! He’s one of my heroes…” I knew I had to find out more about him.

It turns out Howard Zinn wrote a seminal book titled A People’s History of the United States, a book where he sought:

“…to present American history through the eyes of working people, rather than political and economic elites.”

I learned there was a 2004 documentary about his life (good that he was alive at the time -he passed away in early 2010) so I decided to watch it today. As I watched the documentary, I live tweeted it:

Here’s a POWERFUL thought from Zinn, not unlike what Ghandi said in the day:

“To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.”

He inspired me to write this:

Forget about trying to please everyone and focus on doing the right thing.

I would love to hear your thoughts on Howard Zinn. Have you read about him/his work?

(Almost) 8 years blogging…

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What does it mean? Don’t know. Nearly 2,000 posts later and 3,000 days later, blogging just feels so normal… kinda like brushing my (slowing fading hair) or having a cup of coffee.

I’ve had my ups and downs: been through periods of posting 3-4 times a day (back in 2006) and times of posting 3-4 times a month (mid-2009) when I was deeper into Twitter… well THAT much hasn’t changed!

If you read this, do you have any favorite posts from the past 8 years?

What if Pharma learned from Energy companies?

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Remember a few years ago when Oil Companies started reinventing themselves as Energy Companies? We started seeing a shift in their focus away from solely oil exploration, extraction, refining and distribution to finding ways to continue to be relevant in a world that eventually will run out of oil. Recently I was dreaming of a similar scenario for pharmaceutical companies.

Let’s be clear: the business model of Pharma is based on developing and commercializing drugs to treat diseases. But imagine what would happen if an important portion of expenses by Pharma started to be dedicated to researching cures for the diseases that most affect the world today.

Why would Pharma do this?
Why would they stop focusing on producing drugs that depend on having patients living with the conditions that the drugs are meant to treat? Why would they help develop cures for people who currently need those drugs? Well… what if it were in the best interest to do so?

I truly believe it’s a matter of time (not IF but WHEN): we will find a cure for conditions such as diabetes. When the day comes that a cure is found, if Pharma has been a part of the effort by dedicating funds and resources to finding cures, they can continue to be viable as businesses commercializing cures (nothing wrong with running a business producing vaccines for diseases, if you think of it). If they don’t, they will be like the dinosaur Oil company that refused to think of anything but oil… they will become extinct eventually.

Even with a cure available, people will continue to be born with genetic markers that make them more prone to develop conditions such as type 1 or type 2 diabetes. So this could still be an important revenue stream for Pharma as the revenue from treatments starts to die off.

Of course, people who cannot afford the cure would need help to have access to it, much like they currently need patient assistance programs to be able to afford their drugs. Let’s not forget about the ones who cannot afford care: they need to be able to get access to the cures.

So… do you guys think such a world would be possible? As John Lennon would say, “You may say I am a dreamer…” but I certainly hope I am not the only one! ;)

Meme: I've come to realize…

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Inspired by Kerri, who stole from George, who lifted it from LeeAnn.

After what others have written, I feel a bit clown-ish writing what I’ve come to realize, but I needed a mental break over lunch…

1. I’ve come to realize that my chest-size… is not really all that impressive!

2. I’ve come to realize that my job… is not really a job. I am blessed to be able to do what I do every day.

3. I’ve come to realize that when I’m driving… I am beginning to act like a senior citizen.

4. I’ve come to realize that I need… to get more sleep!!

5. I’ve come to realize that I have lost… quite a lot of hair.

6. I’ve come to realize that I hate it when… people can’t see past themselves.

7. I’ve come to realize that if I’m drunk … I’m fun. And sometimes I dance on bars.

8. I’ve come to realize that money… moves too many things and it shouldn’t be so.

9. I’ve come to realize that certain people… make a lot of noise upstairs. :)

10. I’ve come to realize that I’ll always… love music.

11. I’ve come to realize that my siblings… are non-existent! :P

12. I’ve come to realize that my mom… will never get over the fact that I am 37 years old.

13. I’ve come to realize that my cell phone… is too faithful to me, considering what I subject it to.

14. I’ve come to realize that when I woke up this morning… my wife brought me a cup of coffee. The precious moments in life!

15. I’ve come to realize that last night before I went to sleep… I read Harry Potter 1 with my son. The precious moments in life!

16. I’ve come to realize that right now I am thinking… I am, really! I am thinking! :)

17. I’ve come to realize that my dad… is the person I admired most in the world. I miss him so much.

18. I’ve come to realize that when I get on Facebook… I first read any comments others may have left for me and then check my home page. Does that make me anal?

19. I’ve come to realize that today… is #bgwed!! :)

20. I’ve come to realize that tonight… I will probably fall asleep early.

21. I’ve come to realize that tomorrow… the weekend is one day closer.

22. I’ve come to realize that I really want to… read more.

23. I’ve come to realize that the person who is most likely to repost this is… you!

24. I’ve come to realize that life… is like a box of chocolates. I prefer dark chocolate.

25. I’ve come to realize that this weekend… I have no plans.

26. I’ve come to realize that marriage… is the best thing in life (along with children) when you are with the right person.

27. I’ve come to realize that my friends… are part of my family.

28. I’ve come to realize that this year… is full of challenges, but with challenges come great opportunities to open new doors and explore new things.

29. I’ve come to realize that my ex is… a good person.

30. I’ve come to realize that maybe I should… get new shoes. My left foot is killing me.

31. I’ve come to realize that I love… to see people help each other out.

32. I’ve come to realize that I don’t understand… war.

33. I’ve come to realize my past… will not get in the way of my future.

34. I’ve come to realize that parties… are fun, but it can be just as much fun (or more) to hang out with 2-3 people that you love.

35. I’ve come to realize that I’m totally terrified… of guns and people who swear by them.