Category Archives: Work

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Cover of the book Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

#67 Burning desire, clear plans, and persistence: lessons for the New Year

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I always wanted to subscribe to Blinkist, but I found it too expensive. Unexpectedly, Blinkist came my way, as my partner accidentally bought a yearly subscription and I decided to split it with her. One thing that’s amazing about Blinkist—and that I didn’t know—is that you can have a joint subscription.

I dove into it and I’ve already read/listened to multiple Blinks, which, for those who are not familiar with the app, are summaries of great books you can consume either by listening or reading.

Among these, I found one filled with amazing reminders: Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill.

Since it’s the end of the year, and I think this book could help anybody who wants to have a successful and great next year, I wanted to share my main takeaways in an even more concise way, with a personal perspective where applicable.

1. Burning desire

A burning desire—for me, it’s completing my novel. Even though I will still reflect on it during my Year Compass reflections, which I will do this week, I already feel this desire clearly guiding me.

👉 If you want to know more about the Year Compass, you can read my post on this topic here:
#18 A compass for the year ahead that works

2. Detailed goal and plan

Goal and detailed plan: read them out loud twice a day.

As I was reading this, I realized I want to follow this approach to finish my book—having a detailed plan of my weekly goals, but also a clearly laid-out book structure. This instead of relying on spontaneous moments of inspiration, which, despite being fun and amazing, come with the downside of being sporadic.

With the blog, this is much easier. Its format—periodic posts related to topics I’m interested in, reflections, and personal insights—already provides a solid framework. The openness of a blog and its frequency are a really good structure to achieve this.

3. Unwavering faith

Have unwavering faith in yourself. It can help us move mountains.

I think, for example, of my desire to leave Italy and explore the outside world. I held this dream for almost the 17 years I lived there—and I eventually achieved it. I think about my university achievements despite the obstacles and gaps I had. I think about finding a job again after more than a year of unemployment.

👉 I wrote more about this difficult period and what it taught me here:
#33 Do we remember with honesty? | #28 Le sfide del processo d’integrazione tra ammirazione e invidia

4. Autosuggestions

Autosuggestions— influencing yourself with specific, purposeful thoughts. Persuading yourself.

This is a kind of self-hypnosis, but as long as it’s done consciously, without losing your compass of what’s realistically achievable with your current knowledge and experience, this is definitely a powerful tool.

5. Knowledge is power

Repeating Mr. Bacon’s evergreen Scientia potentia est, translated from Latin as “knowledge is power.”

But stacking facts on top of each other is not what this really means. Knowledge is experience—and yes, knowledge itself—not a mere accumulation of concepts. It’s the willingness to continue learning throughout our lives.

We also need to know where we can find knowledge, and for that, it’s always better to be surrounded by people who know more than we do.

6. Dreams into ideas, ideas into reality

In a nutshell, we need to be able to imagine with no boundaries, then shape those ideas into something concrete and within our reach—and then go for it in the world we live in.

7. Know your own strengths and weaknesses

Being self-aware in an honest, conscious way allows us to take action against our weaknesses.

To do that, Hill suggests asking ourselves the following three questions:

  • Have I achieved my aim for this year?
  • Was I a good communicator?
  • Did I make all the right decisions along the way?

Then, ask what could have been improved. Finally, evaluate this with somebody who knows us well and is honest enough to point out our weaknesses. We also need to be open to hearing it.

8. Positive emotions

Here, I feel I have a lot of room for improvement.

In recent years, overconsumption of news and listening to my own—and others’—overcritical voices has made me quite pessimistic about many aspects of life. Without mentioning the component of negative thinking that comes from my own family.

👉 This theme also runs deeply through my novel-in-progress:
#60 “Il giovane che voleva andarsene”, un romanzo – Parte I, 1

Positive emotions are key to a successful life and must be nurtured. Feed the positivity within you. Avoid negative people and information. Don’t waste your life on pessimistic headlines. Fill it with love and enthusiasm.

9. Determination is key

Make decisions and stand behind them, no matter what. Stick to what you believe in. Don’t let negative, unsubstantiated influences and criticism get to you.

At the same time, stay open to constructive feedback. Smart people know how to point you in the right direction while empowering you. Surround yourself with that kind of people.

10. Only the persistent will succeed

Persistence and endurance are key. Remember these lessons:

  • Identify your burning desire
  • Have a concrete goal
  • Have a very specific plan
  • Don’t let negative, unsubstantiated opinions affect your resolve
  • Have a trustworthy and knowledgeable network of people around you—people who are better than you and can provide support and assistance

11. The bigger the goal, the more people you will need

This closing thought really resonated with me.

The bigger the goal, the more of the right people you’ll need to support you and your dream—a selected group of like-minded souls. If these people put all their knowledge and burning desire together, the sky is the limit.

Use this in your Year Compass, and I’m sure you’ll achieve great things next year.

Bottom line

Big goals don’t live in isolation. They need clarity, belief, emotional balance, and the right people around them. What Think and Grow Rich reminded me—through Blinkist and through my own reflections—is that success is less about sudden breakthroughs and more about steady alignment between desire, action, and persistence. If you take even one of these ideas into the new year, you’re already moving forward.

#36 The comfort of a daily loop

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After forcing myself out of bed, performing my morning exercises consisting of some twenty minutes of light weightlifting, brushing my teeth, getting dressed, and running out to catch the tram, I finally enjoy my favourite moment of the workday: reading a book.

When I’m lucky, I find a seat near the window. I squeeze myself into a sort of one-handed self-hug, holding the book with my free hand, zoning out from everything around me as I get absorbed in whatever I’m reading. Sometimes, I glance at the screen displaying the remaining stops to calculate how many pages I can approximately read before the end of the ride—whether I can finish the chapter or not.

Before getting off to jump on the train that will take me to my final destination, I mark the line I have reached with my fingernail and put the bookmark in place. I walk as quickly as possible to beat other people waiting on the platform and secure a good spot to read undisturbed once again.

During this whole time, my biggest worries are a crying baby, a pair of talkative kids speaking a language I understand, people listening to loud music, or someone playing the guitar, singing, or begging for money. In those moments, I admit to entertaining some rather unsympathetic thoughts—not worth detailing, but let’s just say my imagination turns catastrophically sinister when the peace of my reading is disrupted.

I have breakfast at the supermarket. There’s a healthy buffet there. Very few people eat breakfast there, which gives me a few more minutes to read or listen to an audiobook before starting my shift.

During my lunch break, I return to the same supermarket buffet. I prepare my bowl and run to a park close by to find a bench where I can eat in peace, disconnecting from everything. After a few minutes of peace, I tend to speed up my eating to carve out some extra reading time before returning to work.

In the evening, I do the same routine in reverse on my way home. But once I’m home, I’m done—my body and brain just want a shower, some food, and silence before stretching into a few more pages of reading, a spontaneous blog post draft, a few scenes from a movie I’ll end up watching in episodes like a TV series, some time with my girlfriend when our schedules align, or simply a good, long night of sleep.

This repetitively pleasant routine, though, is a phase of rest. A pause that feels purposeful. I don’t yet know what it precedes, but I do know it’s necessary—an interval of stillness before the next thing begins, whatever that may be. And for now, that’s enough.

#29 Uma breve distinção: ambição construtiva e ambição destrutiva

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Eu tento sempre pensar em qual será o próximo passo importante que darei na minha vida. E com “passo importante”, quero dizer algo que me fará avançar como indivíduo. No entanto, às vezes me questiono se essa mentalidade não pode acabar complicando nossa vida, em vez de melhorá-la.

Ouso fazer uma distinção entre ambição construtiva e ambição destrutiva. E, ao usar “destrutiva”, não o faço de maneira leviana. Pelo contrário, acredito que uma ambição mal direcionada pode nos levar à perda da saúde, tanto física quanto mental. E não apenas a nossa própria saúde, mas também a das pessoas ao nosso redor. Um exemplo claro disso é a figura de Gordon Gekko, do filme Wall Street dos anos 80, cuja filosofia “ganância é boa” (“greed is good”) reflete perfeitamente os perigos da ambição destrutiva.

O drama dessa questão é que quem é um vetor da ambição destrutiva, na maioria das vezes (e digo isso com base apenas na minha observação pessoal, sem qualquer fundamento em pesquisa científica), não tem consciência disso. Ou, então, foi tão corrompido por essa ambição que já não há mais volta.

Por outro lado, quem manifesta ambição construtiva tem um poder incrível: sua energia parece fluir sem esforço e iluminar muito além de si mesmo. Acredito que essa ambição surja da aceitação de que a vida é feita de ciclos, mais ou menos semelhantes, mas sempre desconhecidos. Podemos imaginar o amanhã, mas nunca saberemos exatamente como ele se desenvolverá. E não saber o que nos espera, não ter controle absoluto, não é algo ruim. Pelo contrário, aprender a se entregar ao desconhecido nos ensina a aceitar o fluxo natural da vida.

Já a ambição destrutiva parece estar enraizada no desejo de controle. E esse desejo, por sua vez, nasce do medo de perdê-lo. Por isso, essa forma de ambição tem um poder corrompedor: tudo aquilo que não sabemos deixar ir tem o poder de corromper nossa alma.

#27 Talk with each other, not about each other: a leadership lesson

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A couple of months after starting my current job, the CEO gave a speech at the company’s ten-year anniversary event.

I’ve never been a fan of corporate speeches. I often find them repetitive, inauthentic, and lacking the kind of substance that resonates with me. As far as I remember, my peers in previous companies felt the same way—we would roll our eyes in sync at nearly every sentence. At times, these speeches felt like emotional manipulation, borderline blackmail, yet another attempt to motivate a tired and bored workforce to go the extra mile, again and again, for the sake of the product, the company’s vision, and ultimately, the leadership’s agenda.

However, at this end-of-year event, I was pleasantly surprised by the CEO’s words. His speech wasn’t about numbers, nor did it attempt to persuade everyone to rally behind a mission full of empty promises. It wasn’t an ego-driven monologue designed to make us grovel at his feet. Yes, there were glasses raised to celebrate the company’s achievements, but the focus was on gratitude. He thanked almost everyone in the room, individually and as a team, highlighting something specific that each person contributed, recognizing qualities worth appreciating.

It was a long evening of speeches—maybe too long for my taste. I left earlier than most because, honestly, I never linger at these events. I already spend countless hours at the office, giving my all to my work with the highest level of dedication. Once I’m out, I want to live my life.

Even so, I walked away from that event with one key takeaway: a sentence the CEO shared at the end of his speech. He reminded us that we are a team and, to collaborate sustainably, we need to uphold certain core values. He summed it up perfectly by saying, “Talk with each other, not about each other.”

I can’t even begin to describe how much those words meant to me. They deeply resonated because, too often, workplace dynamics evolve into what people call “company politics.” In my experience, this term doesn’t have a positive connotation. It often means talking the loudest, speaking behind others’ backs, and adopting an overachieving, opportunistic mindset.

By saying, “Talk with each other, not about each other,” he championed values of collaboration, honesty, and a focus on the craft itself, instead of wasting energy on counterproductive behaviors. Those words inspired me to channel my efforts into genuine teamwork and meaningful contributions.

#26 Il peso di gennaio: timori, speranze e resilienza

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Sono alla fine dell’ultimo lunedì di gennaio e mi sento stanco, non per la giornata lavorativa appena conclusa, ma per la quantità di eventi che si sono susseguiti in queste poche settimane del nuovo anno. Eventi che vanno da quelli che riempiono il cuore di speranza, come la liberazione di Cecilia Sala dalla prigione in Iran, a quelli che lasciano sospesi tra sollievo e diffidenza, come il cessate il fuoco a Gaza, fino a quelli che fanno venire i brividi, come il braccio teso di Elon Musk a ringraziare la folla per la fiducia riposta in loro, MAGA boys.

A più riprese mi sono detto: “Certe notizie sono veramente delle supercazzole,” oppure, ispirate ad una scena del film Idiocracy, in cui la società è talmente decadente che persino il senso comune più basico sembra perdere ogni significato.

A febbraio ci attendono le elezioni qui in Germania; a maggio, quelle in Romania. Rabbrividisco pensando alla piega ancora più Orwelliana che potrebbe delinearsi di fronte a noi.

In questi momenti, vengo assorbito da una spirale di pensieri e riflessioni nel tentativo di decifrare l’indecifrabile destino dell’umanità. Cerco di ritrovare quei concetti che ormai sembrano dissolversi in particelle sempre più minuscole e inafferrabili: pace, democrazia, tolleranza. Eppure, è in questi momenti che mi dico: ci siamo già passati e ce l’abbiamo fatta. L’umanità ha vissuto orrori indescrivibili. Impareremo dai nostri errori ed evolveremo.

Mi soffermo sulla semplice constatazione della nostra capacità, come esseri umani, di commettere errori che vanno al di là di ogni concezione. Eppure, riusciamo a imparare da essi, anche quando il nostro destino sembra irreversibilmente compromesso da azioni che non hanno nulla di umano.

E allora, prendo un lungo sospiro. Non è un sospiro di sollievo, perché il sollievo oggi è difficile trovarlo. È semplicemente un sospiro che, tuttavia, mi permette di riconnettermi con il mio corpo e tornare a percepire ciò che mi sta intorno, un po’ più presente.

Mi sforzo poi di pensare alla cosa più bella che mi sia capitata oggi, questa settimana e questo mese, e tre immagini mi vengono in mente: il volto della donna che amo, le piante di cui mi prendo cura e il mio corpo che ancora funziona.

#23 A cross-cultural journey leading to authenticity

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I recently had a conversation with a German friend that brought up an interesting topic highlighting cultural differences and perspectives.
We started talking about ethics in customer service and sales, then expanded the conversation to the importance of being authentic and honest. From his point of view and upbringing, being one’s true self and saying what one thinks is essential and non-negotiable. Today, I agree with him 100% on this viewpoint, but back then, I was caught up in the mechanisms of the main cultures I was exposed to as a child and adolescent. I probably wouldn’t have even been able to acknowledge its importance.

We were drinking tea, and he picked up a mug to make a point:
“In Germany, I would sell this (the mug) to you by saying, ‘You can drink from it.’ Maybe I would additionally mention the quality of the material, but that’s it.”

Yes, I thought, that aligns with my experience with Germans—a very essential, functional, and honest approach. That’s one of the main reasons I like living here: I don’t lose sleep trying to interpret the hidden meanings of something someone told me the day before. They say what they think and think what they say, most of the time.

“In Italy and Brazil, that wouldn’t work,” I replied. “Marketing is a powerful component in selling any product, and you need to deliver a story that touches the heart to catch someone’s attention.”

That’s not exactly what I said; I’m paraphrasing a little. We were speaking in German, so I probably said something even more basic, but that’s what I was trying to communicate. However, as I wrote this paraphrased version, I noticed the issue again in the words “to catch someone’s attention.”

From my experience, in Latin America and Mediterranean countries, emotions and feelings are deeply embedded in communication. Some might perceive this as dramatic, while others might call it passionate. The challenge, however, is that one can easily get carried away by emotions and stories. Trying to convince an audience—or simply “to catch their attention”—by leveraging emotions is a tricky endeavor. It can often blur into manipulation, where pleasing others, telling white lies, or navigating situations through embellished stories (whether true or not) becomes a common practice.

This approach often shifts the focus toward meeting the expectations of others rather than adhering to the values that are meaningful to oneself. As a result, it sometimes feels like everyone is playing a role rather than being their authentic selves. And yet, I recognize that these are cultural traits of the societies and communities I’ve been exposed to. Of course, there are ways to develop ethical practices within these cultural frameworks, but I’d argue that it’s challenging to stay authentic—or, to put it less abstractly, to remain connected to one’s core and true self.

The greater danger is that, in constantly trying to meet others’ expectations, we risk losing touch with our own needs. Personally, I feel I’ve grown closer to understanding my own needs in the five years I’ve lived in Germany than in the thirty-three years I lived elsewhere. Perhaps this is simply part of my natural maturation process, unrelated to the cultural environment—one can never be entirely certain. Still, I believe living here has significantly influenced this journey.

I say all this without resentment or regret about my past or roots—or at least, I hope that’s true.

To close, I hope I haven’t hurt anyone’s feelings with this anecdotal and spontaneous reflection. I realize cultural differences are a slippery slope and are often prone to stereotyping. If I’ve fallen into that trap, I apologize in advance.