It’s rare when lightening strikes twice. My partners Jason Kiesel, Kyle Brinkman, and I presented CitySourced in front of a live audience of 13,000+ July 12 in San Diego at the 30th Annual User Conference. This was a great bookend for our product launch post TechCrunch50 in Sept 2009.

We were pleased when Myles Sutherland & Chris Thomas from Esri called us in April because Esri was on our short list of top partners that we wanted to work with.  We first met Jack Dangermond at the Gov2.0 Expo in Washington DC. From there, Jack personally opened the door and invited us in.  From the get go we could all tell that this was special.

Here’s the result of the sprint. Check us out presenting live in front of 11,000+ live GIS pros http://www.esri.com/events/user-conference/index.html First video, about 27 mins in.

It’s time to wake up the neighborhood!

My TEDxSB talk on Inspired Environments.

After watching this video I got inspired to get a tan, hit the gym, and cut down my sugar intake by 80%. What a positive difference this has made in my energy levels and well being.

Dale Okuno is one of our investors at CitySourced. He’s also one of my mentors and close friends. To give some context, Dale is very level headed and recently sold his company to Ebix, a Nasdaq traded company. He built it from scratch up to nearly 400 employees.

Dale and I recently took a road trip up to Mammoth a few weeks ago and in the car on the ride up he started telling me about this book called “The Power of Now” by Eckart Tolle and how it was one the most profound books he’s ever read, which was meaningful to me because Dale has referred some of the most important books that I’ve ever read, including “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoloeon Hill, as well as “Pschyo-Cybernetics” by Dr. Maxwell Maltz.

The premise of the “Power of Now” as Dale described it, is to obtain consciousness, true consciousness, by ‘watching’ the thinker. In other words, begin to watch and observe the thoughts that your mind thinks and realize that this is your ego, how it works (most of the time to our severe disadvantage), and how to break the vicious cycle. Dale described the mechanism of the ego as if your mind is a movie projector beaming images (thoughts) onto the screen. Dale asked me to consider what would happen if I simply removed the screen, where would these images project? Dale also relayed a story about an experience he had in college while studying philosophy that transformed his life relating to a moment in time when he first internalized these concepts, and the tangible and positive effects this transformation has had on him.

Being the go getter I am, I went and bought the book as soon as we returned and read it in two days. A few days later we reconnected and I shared with him some of the breakthroughs that I was experiencing as a result of reading “The Power of Now.” For example, I’ve been having anxiety around time and wanting to find ways to slow time down. The book delivered some brilliant insights around time (clock time & psychological time) that gave me an understanding, and thus access, to the ‘eternal now’. This one shift alone has given me a deep seated peace that I can feel in my core. Also what I’ve noticed is that I started waking up very early in the morning (6am), and feeling vital and refreshed.

My new waking up early phenomena also has something to do with embracing the ‘fear’ or as the book describes it as ‘pain’ and this counter intuitive act of  becoming ‘conscious’ of the emotion, watching it, and then that simple exercise  vaporizes it.

I’ve also noticed that I’m not in such a rush anymore. I’m enjoying the moment. For example, I’m enjoying mundane things like brushing my teeth, and I’ve slowed the breakneck speed that I raced for so long. I’m relishing the sound of the water flowing out the faucet and the sensation of the bristles on my teeth. I know this sounds so lame and cheesy, but it’s really like that for me right now, and this is giving me that sense of wonderment back like when I was a kid. I just want to wake up early and go outside and play.  It’s just now the playground is the world and I have these amazing contacts and projects to work with. And the ironic things is that I’m getting more done because I’m more present and peaceful, which seems to make me more creative and efficient.

Becoming present and having peace is much more than just reading these books though. It’s also breathing properly (yes I’ve recently learned how to do this), eating healthy, meditating, intense and regular exercise, sleeping well, being organized, spending time with friends and family, and so on. Basically, there are no short cuts, and I’ve had to learn the hard way. There is no doubt in my mind that focusing on the fundamentals is the foundation that the good life can be build from.

Here’s the deal though, even though I was practicing the fundamentals, the concerted effort was out of tune until I discovered the melody of the ‘moment’. As I allow this melody to lead, it gives me assess to the present, and the peace that comes with this makes everything else just harmonize and flow.

To illustrate this in practice,  I woke up early and ran 4 miles on the beach in Santa Monica this morning. Whenever I wanted to to quit running, I was would just focus on the present, breathe slow and deep, and allow my senses to be mesmerized by the beauty of nature that was all around, and this kept me energized and out of my head and I completed.

So I encourage you to take the time to exposure yourself to whoever and whatever it is that will deliver deeper access to the presence and peace inside of you that has yet to be untapped. One place to start would be to ask yourself, “What does the world need most that I’m most qualified to deliver?” Use this as a place to focus your energy and get some inspiration around getting after it. I’m be happy to talk with you about this and have lots of resources that have been helpful for me that I’m more than happy to share.

Godspeed!

Honored to be included in this list!

10-entrepreneurs-changing-the-way-government-works

I’ve found i have more energy and creativity when the moon is bright. Sounds a little bit crazy I realize, but it makes sense when you think that 60%+ of our body is made of water.

So, I’m starting to plan to let some of my creativity run loose around full moons. Things like recording with my band, playing music with my friends, live stand up comedy sets, midnight surf sessions at Leo Carrillo in Malibu…you get the picture.

I’ve been having good success “time blocking” and batching activities into buckets, so I just marked my calendar for the rest of the year with “Full Moon” from about 8p – 12a a few days before and after the Full Moon. This gives me about a week out of the month to bucket some of these sorts of activities. I’m anticipating some good results from this life hack.

Here is Full Moon Calendar that I used http://fullmooncalendar.net/

Would love to learn about any life hacks that you practice, and also if you get any benefit from this Full Moon Fever strategy.

Kurt Daradics speaking at Ignite LA March 2010

Amazing how video can tell stories in such a powerful way.

The medium truly is the message.

Feels like my public speaking career is starting to catch a fire.

Yours truly just got invited to speak at TEDxSB–> http://www.tedxsb.com/speakers

Austin calls again. Last year was all time. This year should be even better.

• I’ll be there from March 11-19th, will you?
  
• I’m on a panel too talking about the “RoadTwip” we took across America last year.

• Here’s the event info–> http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=300891299233&ref=ts

CitySourced has been nominated as a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer.

It doesn’t get any bigger than this. Davos is most well known for organizing the Annual Meetings in Davos, Switzerland in January and in the People’s Republic of China in September every year where top decision-makers from all sectors of global society are brought together to discuss current and pressing issues in the most representative way.

The Technology Pioneers Community is one of the most widely recognized initiatives of the World Economic Forum. To be selected as a Technology Pioneer, a company must be involved in the development of technology innovation and have the potential for long-term impact on business and society. In addition, it must demonstrate visionary leadership, show the signs of being a long-standing market leader, and its technology must be proven.

Past recipients of this recognition include Google, Business Objects, Mozilla and Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, among others. When selected, Technology Pioneers attract worldwide media attention.