Back in Copenhagen

I am back in Copenhagen again. Looking out the window at the usual unstable Danish march weather. 10 minutes ago the rain was pounding on the windows. Now the sky is almost clear. The spring has not arrived here to the same degree that it has in Lausanne, but it is on the way.

I was supposed to meet some of my friends in a bar in a couple of hours, but I have had to ask them to come here instead. The reason being that I have some issues with my back that have immobilized me somewhat. Nothing big, it happens every 2-3 years, lasts a couple of days and then I am fine again. However, I cannot help asking: Why now? Why should it start acting up now that the pressure finally is off? But then again, how often don't you hear about people who get sick during the weekends or on their vacations after a stressful period. It is like the body says: 'Now I have the opportunity to be sick, so I will take it!'. I wonder whether there is a psychosomatic theory on this. Anyway, coincidence or not, it is better that it happens now than when the heat is on.

My girlfriend left early this morning to go to work, so I have had most of the day to myself. This is the first time I really have had proper time to think back at what it was that hit me the past three months. The first thing that strikes me is: Has it been three months already? If it keeps going at this pace then I will be out of here before I feel I have properly arrived!

The second thing that you are reminded of are the intense days, weeks and months. The worst thing about the pressure is actually its consistency. It is not like you can just work hard for a while and the relax at other times. You will need to develop new ways of optimizing your resources to the extent that you eventually catch yourself calculating the Return on Investment on an extra hour of sleep or an hour of physical exercise.

I have primarily been doing Operations during my professional career and there is no doubt that the many hours in class discussing Entrpreneurship, Marketing, Economics, Finance and Accounting have given me a new and much broader view of business in general. If I have to pick my biggest piece of learning, though, it comes from the study room. The model, which you probably have heard described several times, is fairly simple: You take 8 people and tell them that they are a group. You then teach them the basics of human behavior and group dynamics. Last, you lock them up in a small room, turn on the heat and let nature take care of the rest. As simple as the model may be, the learnings are equally complex. Complex to an extent, that you often only are left with a FEELING of what the right or wrong answer is, but the difference is that now you DO have the answer.