Home Away From Home

Bye grandma. Our goodbye was done a long time ago, even before you were ill. Our goodbye was unexplainable and to an extent unacceptable. You chose not to be with me, you chose not to ever meet B or C. Only 3 months ago did you find out C was even born. And we tried, we gave you outs. Even if we didn't, you never even wanted.  And I am so sorry. I have so much trouble understanding how little love you were willing to give mum. As a morher, I understand even less, as the overwhelming feeling of having kids surpasses anything I could imagine.  And I am so frustrated. Frustrated you had to end in sadness rather than surrounded with family, with grand children and great- grandchildren. Frustrated about how people chose to be apart when life is so short and so temporary. No matter what we believe about after life, life on this earth as we know it is indeed limited. So making the most of what God or the universe gives you only makes sense.  And I am so sad. Sad for me,...

In his last HBR article "Digital Ubiquity",  Professor Karim says we should just think about everything we do in our respective companies and how it can be fundamentally changed.  As a banker, that idea makes sense. Even though a lot of the tools I had in my analyst life were already pretty 'cutting edge' vs. some other banks, with everything easy formatted and standardized, truth is I still spent a lot of time doing repetitive little value added tasks.  Don't get me wrong, I love doing slides, but what I love is the idea of conceptualizing them, develop the message, do the data drill that will highlight the key bits in my analysis.  There should be a way my brain (or my drawings) get replicated on a pc easier (without using creative services) And that is why LegalFlow (www.legalflow.pro) makes sense. It is addressing this same issue, but in another industry. Ines, my partner and driver of the business, has the experience of working both in consulting and with law...

Silvestre is 30 years old. He does not have a father since he is 13 and he does not have a mother since he is 24.  When ALG met him, at the age of 25, he did not have a very bright future ahead. At the time, he was working at the SLM School, helping Sister Lidia with the Sponsorships. He would collect information on the children, visit their homes, chase the ones missing school, report back to us. He made the Sponsorship program look so simple. One day, Sister Lidia told us what he really wanted was to go into University and he had very good grades to get in. The Uni was close by, so he could continue his work with the children while studying. The amount was high (>£1000 per year) and this was a new field for us. We had not supported higher education before. However, we knew that was the next step for the students that would last in school and wanted to continued studying. More than a burden, it was a sign of opportunity.  ALG took up the challenge (with another 2 Students)...

I miss you blog. I have not had much time lately to come here and spill it out. Focusing on my core has forced me to think about every choice, but mostly my ha d tendinitis is back and my early wake ups really limit what I am able to produce on my tube rides these days.  Then, there is so much happening that I don't even know where to start - 10 years celebration of the charity and my first big speech in Portugal since the charity is more than just me; royal parks half marathon runners saga and convincing people to fundraise; legal flow business model and the need to start crowdfunding immediately, my new job picking up in activity, family worries, all the good stuff.  Moreover, I had to do a sort of ted talk about careers in banking at the Portuguese university I am from which took a great deal of writing abilities, at the same time as I was asked to write 300 words about why I should be nominates to tne Extra Mile 40. Writing in the third person? That was not my best piece. ...

It is astonishing the impression 3 little words can cause. "I love it". Especially when they refer to something you have done as part of your new job... By day 7! Talk about a kick start. It was an easy win, truth be said, but the appreciation came in a moment of thought and will be remembered. On top of the 'it's really nice to have you' the day before, my feedback from my first 7 days on the job can't be but positive. On top of the questions and doubts of the last few months, a nice breeze shows a promising future.  It is harder to write about nice things I find, as they can be expressed in such easy ways. But I still thought I would make a record out of it. 

So it is Friday and it feels less TGIF than the last Fridays, even though I just returned from holiday and the first week tends to be a pain. Today, my TGIF is different, no doubt I still have parts od it, especially in what relates to getting up at 6am and spendint time wit C. But my TGIF is a happy one because of what I accomplished in one week, despite a certain feeling of overwhelmness with all that I could do. I could even say that this migh be a less depressimg Sunday evening, I will always want the weekend to be longer, but this time I may just be ok with the prospect of another week. Points to note - I even followed a wise man's advice and ubered in one day by a neglectable cost. I am really enjoying the disruptive effect this company has in the market and ita potential to improve my quality of life!

I pulled through my first day, I want to say quite positively. I lacked the enthusiasm of a proper first day as it was also my first day back from a short one week holiday and a 2 am bedtime after a delayed flight.  But all in all I feel ok. Sitting on the trading floor is quite an experience, one that I had forgotten about.  Having someone just glued to you that almost feels has their eyes on you all day but does not really care. I guess it takes a few days getting used to.  But I have taken few baby steps - I introduced myself to the eyes next to me (tomorrow I need to go 2 eyes down the row), I brought things from my still existing old desk, I found the kitchen, the ladies and the closest printers.  Most importantly I added value. I am so obsessed about adding value that I fear jumping ahead or sounding foolish. In a way i feel I have so much to bring, in another way I wonder about those who will see me as useless or worse... A fraud! It is the inner critic again....