Image by Glenn E. Malone via Flickr

Drive. The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. Dan Pink. 2011. 978-1594488849.  A fitting successor to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi`s Flow and Good Business , this is a useful book for those of us trying to optimize our efforts and productivity.   Lots of challenges to popular myths on motivation in this book.  I appreciated his differentiation between motivating for the very simple repetitive tasks and the more complex.  (I agree with him that no one can motivate anyone – people only motivate themselves.  He brings up the de-motivating effect off paying for tasks, vs separating the cash from the intrinsic performance high.  We certainly see how some people get trapped by the cash and the toys – losing sight of the satisfaction of basic achievement.  This is an easy compelling read, yet it does not treat the subject lightly.  There are some deep implications here for sales force compensation schemes.  (This is the first non fiction book I have only read on a Kindle – it takes me a whole lot longer to do and is not as pleasant an experience for me).

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• “Meaning” is the New Money (abhishekmittal.com)
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All the waves are not created equally safe!!!

But the fun is worth it!

Early on one day we decided to give boogie boarding a go . The waves seemed reasonable and the weather was very warm.  However the undertow was quite strong and I had not figured out that as the five foot wave swept over you it also carved about two feet of sand away at the same time. This makes it hard to “jump” up onto the wave, since I am net about one foot under water by this time!  We did quite well, but the undertow was a tough as I have ever had- no wonder about a dozen Mexicans drown here each  year. You can swim beyond where the big waves break, but getting back in is a challange.

And then to relax with a little lite refreshment.    Life does not get much tougher than this.  I am sometimes too lazy to read. (Well I have read a Pierre Berton book , Why We Act like Canadians and a few others)  However we did get to the Manzanillo market.   Some very attractive and heavy pottery and of course the essential Vancouver Canuck`s serape ( Or Edmonton Eskimos)   Something tells you that there are a lot of snowbirds down here.

Mostly recycled items that Value Village did not want and pirated DVDS.

Relaxing poolside after the wave workout

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Cover of Prisoner of Tehran

Prisoner of Tehran. Marina Nemat. 2008. ISBN 9780143052173.   One womans true story about being falsely accused and imprisoned at 16 by the Ayatollah‘s revolutionary guards.  Through a series of flashbacks she describes life under the Shah and what led up to being put into prison. Despite being falsely accused she was beaten, tortured,  almost executed and sentenced to life in prison.  She was eventually “rescued” by renouncing Christianity, marrying a Muslim and living in fear for two years, in order to protect her loved ones at home.  Her “husband” was assassinated and her in-laws eventually had her released. When she went home to her family, they could not acknowledge all she had been through.   Eventually she remarries and finds her way to Canada.  A well written story,  I could not put it down.  Great insights into life in Iran then and possibly still.

View from the living room to pool and the Pacific Ocean beyond

So we are basking in 95 degree weather, 12 hours of sun, pollution-free salty air.  Swim in the pool, have breakfast,  go boogie boarding in the endless waves, walk on the beach, read a bit of  fresh seafood, terrific fresh fruits and veggies, ( 10 bananas f0r $1, limes, tomatoes, mangoes, avocadoes, papaya, pineapple, coconut and so on – all grown locally.  We are 50 km S of Manzanillo.   Very rural, simple place, no  tourists, just really neat Mexicans and some gringos who have discovered this little piece of heaven.  And tons of fresh fish to be had. We had marlin yesterday, terrific with salsa and quinoa.  Once again one asks why work?  All this only  7 hrs flight from YVR on Alaska Air..