365 things

That the polar bears soon don’t have a place to stay is only one reason to change the world and your lifestyle.

The concept of 365 things you can do emerged in Navid Modiri’s head as he sat in an airport hyper-ventilating over how he’d become a miserable human being. But as he looked up between his not-breathing he saw John Tells book "100 ways to save the world". That’s how 365 things started. This is a way to praise Johan Tell, and the planet. Here are: Seven things you can do to save the world.

It is not just grumpy children in Cambodia that need someone who cares about them. To extend a strong hand over the species barrier is also important. Imagine all the koalas that jump around between the trees and don’t have anyone to play Texas Hold 'Em with. All the endangered tigers in need of a friend to send them money once a month. Nature has no budget with which to make commercials. Figure out if you're a panda or a koala person. Adopt an animal. Now.

There’s constant talk about how youth unemployment is high, higher, highest. Politicians, agencies and economists are horrified over the numbers. We are not horrified at 365. We have different figures. We have: “Seven things you can do if you are unemployed”.

I have spent almost a year of my life drinking coffee with different people. I spent large parts of 2009 in cafes, restaurants, going walking, sitting in conference rooms or libraries and talking to people. I drank soy lattes, ate lunch and sipped mineral water during the talks. My girlfriend questioned me, my friends have joked about how much coffee I drank and I have on several occasions bit my lip when yet another person asks if I do anything other than drink coffee.

Forget everything you have learned but remember this: A large network of people with different skills and from different areas can be the most important foundation of a great career.

Then there are other reasons for having meetings over a meal. The people you meet will be happier when they eat; holding a cup of hot liquid between one’s hands makes one look at the world with more sympathetic eyes, sittin down and talking to someone live, which is far better than having a conversation over the phone.

1. Call people that could be interesting to meet. It’s also possible to mail them. Determine a time and place. Think about you where you should meet. Personalize the meeting based on who you’re meeting. Take a latte walk with someone with a stroller, invite a health nut to a nutritious salad buffet and let cosmopolitans have a taste of authentic Persian food.

2. Think about what you want to talk to the person about. Consider the questions and memorize a summary of what you want to say. Go through it in your head beforehand. Prepare yourself.

3. Be on time and think about what you’re going to wear. You don’t have to wear a tie or a suit. But remember that first impressions last. What you wear does matter. A piercing means different things in different contexts. My dad associates ties with snares and beards with the mullahs. Personally I think that both ties and beards are among the nicest things there are.

There are of course other ways to network than to have coffee or eat together. Go to inspirational forums, clubs, hang out places where people are inspiring and make sure to be seen now and then. And of course, go up and talk to people instead of standing like a lamp in a corner. But I guess you already knew that part.

Text: Navid Modiri

There’s constant talk about how youth unemployment is high, higher, highest. Politicians, agencies and economists are horrified over the numbers. We are not horrified at 365. We have different figures. We have: “Seven things you can do if you are unemployed”.

One of my friends has a good CV. He has written scripts for a television soap, was a rabbit at Liseberg, has been paid to talk about TV series in radio, reviewed music in a men's magazine, worked in the psychiatric emergency room and made music videos for some of Sweden's best pop bands. I would like to write his CV. I’d like that on my CV. That I typed the resumé of the man with the world's most colorful resumé.

But now I know what you think:

“How do I write a great CV, if I haven’t done great things?”

But dude! You do amazing things all the time. You just don’t know it. Babysitting your siblings shows responsibility, mowing your grandfather's lawn indicates a large botanical interest and a sense of design and all the times you’ve hacked into various servers is a big show of creativity and ingenuity.

When employers read applications for a job the person in question will go through thousands of gray and dull papers. It is about being able to formulate and color things that really might be gray. I might go so far as to say that it is about daring to be poetic, bombastic and not giving a crap about minimalism. You can have a minimalist coffin when you die if you want but so long as you’re alive it’s about taking all the colors you've got on your palette and painting with giant brush strokes. Nobody likes a showoff, but everyone loves a positive spirit with great faith in themself and a positive outlook on life. Write that you’re a cheerful fellow. Write what you like and dislike. Let your commitment and passion shine through the paper.

Bonus: Simple advice found here. http://cvhandboken.se/

Text: Navid Modiri

Do you know what everyone in your family looked like?

We all live somewhere, be it on a park bench or in a stately home. We probably spend too much of our lives in the home. In the middle of autumn, it may take some effort to leave the bed at all. Since your life shouldn’t be boring just because you’re at home, we proudly present: Seven things you can do at home.

There is this old black and white photograph. I don’t know if it’s of my dad or me. I've looked at the photo thousands of times. There are no dates, no details or objects in the picture that may reveal what year it is. The facial features could belong to either my father or myself.

The photograph sits in a photo album with mixed pictures of members of my family. There are pictures of me until I'm about nineteen. That was when I left home. Then it gets sparse. I haven’t put in my own photographs in albums yet. They’re in shoe boxes in the basement.

A few years ago I lived in a weird neighborhood where drug addicts and the homeless often used my staircase for various shady purposes. One morning I awoke to a knocking on the door. It was my neighbor who wanted me to come down to the basement. My photographs were all over the basement floor smelling of urine. In one corner, I saw myself as a five year old. In another corner, I was two days old. My face tensed up with anger and I began to pick up my photos.

A few years later I’m sitting in front of my computer looking at all my digital photos. I know who most of the people in my pictures are. But in that black and white one, I am still not sure.

Text: Navid Modiri