coffee

Photo: Olof Grind.

Today’s guest blogger is Marit Fahlander who recently held World Championships in dominoes.

Yahtzee is like life - 90 percent luck and ten percent skill. The equation can of course be debated - some believe that it’s half-half and some insist it’s all luck…

Anyway, sure you have an advantage by thinking strategically, but no major intellectual effort is required in yahtzee.

All you need is five dice, and at least one opponent. You throw the dice three times and try to save up for a combination which you then write down on your scorecard. Perhaps a pair, a small straight or a full house. (Information on what the combinations are can usually be found on the accompanying scorecard.) If you throw a Yahtzee you’ve managed to get five identical dice sides up! It is a bit like getting an orgasm.

Speaking of sex, I actually know a girl who usually plays Yahtzee by herself ... But if you’d like to take the Yahtzee to a whole new level, I recommend that you arrange a Yahtzee tournament. The world championship in Yahtzee was held recently in Malmö. The 16 contestants represented perhaps not the whole world - but it was still a World Cup because everyone in the whole world was welcome to attend. EVERYONE can play Yahtzee.

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

It could be the person who does a completely different job to yours that has the most interesting stories during the coffee brea

We work eight hours a day, five days a week. It is important that our job feels okay and not just something you do to get cash. To get you psyched no matter what job you’re doing, 365 presents "Seven things you can do at your workplace".

Most workplaces are like schools. Nerds sit with nerds, the cool kids with the cool kids and the sports fans play football outside. You stick to your group, or department.

Make the decision as soon as you leave the house:

- Today I'm having a coffee with someone I don’t know.

One of the most interesting people from my former workplace was one of the cleaners. A tall man with dark hair and twisted teeth. The world's biggest smile and a wave that greeted me every time I passed him in the corridor. The first time I got a coffee with him was on the patio and he told anecdote after anecdote of old television and radio heroes. I sat with him for so long that my colleagues started calling after me. I put my phone on silent, I filled my cup and continued to listen to his stories. How he talked about his children. About a party where he was dressed as a cross dresser. About everything under the sun.

It’s not that we humans are stupid, evil or lazy. We are creatures of habit and fascists of convenience. A coffee with someone we do not know or whose behavior or humor we can’t predict is like jumping from a cliff without a parachute. But once you're sitting there with a coffee in your hand, laughing, you think of your fears and remember them as unwarranted and silly.

Text: Navid Modiri