milanoff.com

WordPress is lagging behind. The new media are personal blogs. And Youtube channels, and IG channels. Real people behind the camera / keyboard. And they still ain’t got the Fb-style post box. Come on, guys. It’s 2020. J.

This is my blog… I can say anything I want, right? I think the Slavic tribe has to unite. – 🇧🇬🇲🇰🇸🇮🇷🇸🇭🇷🇸🇰🇲🇪 Maybe 🇨🇿, if they stop drinking’ Even 🇵🇱, should they stop actin’ macho – Certainly not 🇷🇺 –we’ll all sink in the sea. And not 🇺🇦 & 🇧🇾… 🇷🇺 will sink us. 😋 –…

One day I’ll be gone and I won’t be able to help the people I love. My family, my friends, the people I follow. So I’m writing now. J.

Still listening to Ye & Syleena. Thinking about Zuck. Dude hasn’t been free for a while. Ye always was. Now, I’m tired of being a slave, too. ‘Nuff said.

I would love to make the text on this website royal blue. And add a little crown on the menu icon. Same as Basquiat’s J.

Hey, ‘member 2004? Syleena made Ye’s song. And we been wondrin’ who our next Aretha should be. 🇧🇬🇺🇸

This blog was just another boxed imagination. Until today. No mo.  

I did a brave thing today. I called a company much bigger than mine with the intention to give them branding advice. It was scary, so I’m proud of myself I did it anyway. Interestingly, they were busy, so I have even more time to prepare until next week. But an idea came to my…

We’re always switching between two states: focus and flow What I’ve found out over the years is both work best when you’re all in. There’s drugs that induce them but you can’t be stoned all day. But emotions are powerful drugs, too. Anger makes me hyper-focused, playfulness makes me hyper-creative. I will try to seek…

We’re so focused on the outside world that we rarely notice what’s going on inside. At least that’s how I’ve felt lately. I’m always on the lookout but rarely look in. That’s not to say that I should be a hermit. Just that there’s plenty going on within me and that I’d love be in…

I rarely do strength exercises because they feel really uncomfortable. But this week I did 5 series of push-ups and it was enough to get me really tired. More tired than after a regular 1-hour workout at the gym. What was different is that I pushed myself to the limit in each series. It took…

I tried to connect to strangers again yesterday. I love doing it but most times I fail. I realize the fault is mostly mine. I am weirdly open-minded… But the unpleasant feeling of being rejected or ignored helped me come to an important realization: I don’t need any new people in my life to get…

We have a saying in Bulgarian: “На краставичар, краставици да продаваш.” It reminds us, locals, not to be too cocky around people with more experience than you have. Yet, I’ve been thinking recently that I can teach anyone to speak better English. Even natives. I have a profound love and a deep curiosity for the…

It struck me today that there is no learning the Truth. It is infinite and we’ll probably never live long enough to learn it all. Nor can we hold all of it at the same time, we’ll run out of RAM in a blink. It frustrated me at first. But then I felt relieved. If…

I’ve been in love with an old game called Civilization 2 since I can recall. I’ve spent countless days building make-pretend worlds, only to hate myself later for being such a loser 🙂 I was somewhat relieved my Mac couldn’t run it when I switched to MacOs. Then I found out a way to play…

I’ve always thought of meditation as something solemn. As this ancient buddhist practice of observing yourself in total silence. That’s probably the reason I don’t meditate a lot. But today I meditated in a totally different way. I sat down on the floor, opened my Mac on the coffee table in front and put a…

I found my father’s journal recently. I don’t understand his handwriting at times but I noticed that we have a very familiar style of writing – short sentences, mostly meditations and abstract musings on life. We’re like the same person across two different eras. I could have written the very same things, had I formed…

I realized recently how many everyday things I haven’t tried in my life. I had forgotten what it feels like to drink a whole beer by myself at home just to see how it affects me. Did it tonight. Not my thing. I had never talked to a model. I did yesterday. Not as incredible…

I spent a whole night talking to people this week. I love doing talking to strangers but this time I overdosed. As a result, I don’t feel like talking to anybody today. Not even to interesting people. I feel like just saying things. Talking to myself. And like making things. But not discussing them. I’ve…

I’ve always been hardworking but self-control has just never been my thing. All my life thus far, I’ve been easily distracted by things big and small. Until I found out what really working out can do for my self-control, that is. Now I want more. And taking this simple idea one step further, in what…

Most people are interesting to me. I know I’d learn a great deal, if I just stopped and had a short chat with them. But some people I found irresistible. I want to know everything about them and the way they see the world. I want to ask them so many questions, that I leave…

I got up at 6:20 today with a new question on my mind. One of the biggest I’ve asked myself, I think… Can I really have anything I want?! Can I really learn Spanish, German & Japanese while I’m running in the talking to my closest friends?! Can I really talk to every stranger I…

I was thinking today… Most people are afraid to promise big things. If they promise big things, they don’t know how to make them happen. Or even if they do, they often fail because they try to do it alone. And if they somehow keep their promise, they forget who they did it for and…

I hate measuring things in money. We met two great friends yesterday and just to visit them, we spent a lot. And even though I hate measuring intangible things, at the end of the day I still asked myself “Was it worth it?”. It totally was. It was worth a lot more than 40 lv,…

I’ve always thought of this saying in the negative sense. When you divide something, you make it weaker. But lately, I’ve been doing just that. Only, in a good way. I met this gorgeous new person for coffee, one on one. It’s so much easier to bond with someone face-to-face . Then I forgot about…

Now that’s a new thought. I’m not gonna work on Fridays anymore. Instead, I’ll spend the day thinking. But I don’t think well when I sit down to think. I think well when I do mechanical tasks – running, washing dishes, cleaning, buying groceries. Anything that helps me zone off helps me think. Let me…

I’ve done so little today of what I should have been working on. Yet, I made GIANT steps on thoughts that have been important to me forever. I don’t know how it happened. I just remember specifically praying a few months ago I could someday make such giants steps. I guess I should pray more…

Today. Such a great day, with two of the best conversations of the year, comfortably. Wonder what I did differently? I prayed about someone else rather than myself in the morning. I really opened up to friend about my business, instead of holding back some details out of fear that he might use it against…

To me, Barcelona is color and light. Just being there fills you with joy and gratitude. Who knew you could sum up a city in two words… But perhaps, two are not enough. Because Barcelona is also freedom. Your spirit can fly there, as long as you don’t bring your boxes. Color and light, unfiltered….

I met two wonderful new people this week. They reminded me giving feels better than getting stuff. Which in turn reminded me that I haven’t gotten much stuff lately. Just a few books here and there. I found my father’s journal even. I wouldn’t trade it for a million dollars. And I found it by…

Today, I connected deeply with 3 separate people. I’ve had worse years. As one of them said, I seem to be on the right track. But what surprised me more is that those conversations didn’t feel like a means to an end. They were so meaningful on their own that they were enough. Now that…

I had two dear friends over this week. We talked about so much that I went to bed at 4:00 am. But what I remember most vividly is one of their simple observations about life: “A-players play with A-players”. I took it to heart without realizing why. Now I realize, however… It’s a rule of…

Yesterday, I talked to my students about Jim Loehr’s idea that every type of growth happens by alternating between stress and recovery. It’s a simple idea I already believed in. Yet, I ran into another dimension of its yesterday. Into a question I hadn’t asked myself… If recovery happens in your comfort zone, then stress…

Am I an original thinker? And do I need to be? Not quite sure how to answer both. All of my ideas are built upon the ideas of wiser men and women. Yet, I feel I have my strikes of lightning sometimes ⚡️ Like the thought that Flow is actually thinking (and feeling) in light…

When I grab the guitar, it’s all chaos and improvisation. Nothing like drawing. I’m actually better at playing guitar than at drawing but my playing has no structure. I don’t seem to get music on a structural level. Meanwhile, it’s pretty obvious when I draw. Every time I draw, I make a series of quick…

I watched “Tenet” by Christopher Nolan recently. It’s just a movie, most people would say. It’s got like a 7.9 at IMDB. Not the best movie ever, most people would say. And yet, I’ve been thinking about it for a week. I woke up at 3:00 am last night, thinking about the principle. The tenet….

There are few people that bring the insecurities out of me. So few that I sometimes forget I have them. But of course, I do. Everyone does. And each of those insecurities has a trigger that puts you into reaction mode before you know what’s happening. I reacted this week. Then I got upset I…

My writing made 2 big breakthroughs in a single day yesterday. First, some lyrics I wrote really struck a chord with a dear friend. It was such a rewarding feeling. For the first time in a while, I didn’t want any credit for it. I just wanted the song to come to life. Then, one…

Those last few months I got used to a new idea – starting my own family. But when I think about it, I have a big one already. Family extends beyond one’s bloodline. That is, if you treat people like such. My girl’s family is my family too. And she’s got a bunch. Also, my…

Kevin Kelly says friends are better than money. That a friend with a boat beats owning a boat in so many ways, for example. Same goes for traveling, I guess.  Yesterday I called a dear friend in Athens and he said “Come to Kalamata, I’ll give you the keys to the house”. Beats having the…

I didn’t stop working at 4:00 today. In fact, I worked for 13 hours straight. But this time, it was a conscious decision. I wanted to finish that video and I felt in the zone while I was doing it. From the outside it looks like a failure. But it feels quite like a victory….

I remember Dale Carnegie saying “To make friends and influence people, never criticize them”. Sure enough, I’ve been doing in anyway. Especially with the person I love most. I did it in very subtle ways but the fact remains that I did. The last few months have been amazing between us. We became better friends….

Today, I am taking a brave step I choose to be read and forgotten I may not be there to remember But I hope my hopes will live longer

A good limitation and some persistence is all you need to progress. Even when you don’t know where to begin, picking a little bet will show you the way. I had forgotten this but life reminded me. I heard a big producer mention how he made 25 beats per week. It was genius. The number…

I never finished reading Antifragile by Nassim Taleb. I probably should. But I vividly remember one idea – that measuring your progress on a daily basis is self-sabotage. A single day can be both a complete failure or a an amazing step forward. You need to allow for the natural swings in your luck, mood,…

They say it’s hard to break a habit. Well, it really ain’t. Not a good habit, at least. I had been working out for over a year. Then the apocalypse happened, gyms closed I needed two weeks to go back to not exercising. I used to wake up at 5:30 in the morning, so I…

I consider myself very open-minded. Yet, I have to be in a certain, higher state of mind, to be really open to new people and unknown experiences. I often regret not being able to stay in that headspace. But I did yesterday and it backfired. I had a great time but it was complete chaos….

Kevin Kelly turned 68 this week and he used the occasion to share 68 pieces of advice. I love most of them but one stood out: “Don’t be better. Be first.” I’ve been reminded many times recently that, for better or for worse, I think differently from other people. I might as well use it…