It seems that a large number of people make a lot of noise about what they’re going to do, but when it comes right down to it, are you a Doer? Do you make things happen? Or do you wait for orders?
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July 15, 2010
How Will You Measure Your Life?
Harvard Business School professor and author Clayton Christensen recently wrote an article discussing the subject of “How Will You Measure Your Life?”, with a target audience of the HBS class of 2010, but I think it applies resoundingly to anyone in their early to late 20s, and certainly any person could glean some wisdom from it. In particular I found the discussion of family to be very insightful.. One excerpt:
“When people who have a high need for achievement—and that includes all Harvard Business School graduates—have an extra half hour of time or an extra ounce of energy, they’ll unconsciously allocate it to activities that yield the most tangible accomplishments. And our careers provide the most concrete evidence that we’re moving forward. You ship a product, finish a design, complete a presentation, close a sale, teach a class, publish a paper, get paid, get promoted. In contrast, investing time and energy in your relationship with your spouse and children typically doesn’t offer that same immediate sense of achievement. Kids misbehave every day. It’s really not until 20 years down the road that you can put your hands on your hips and say, “I raised a good son or a good daughter.” You can neglect your relationship with your spouse, and on a day-to-day basis, it doesn’t seem as if things are deteriorating. People who are driven to excel have this unconscious propensity to underinvest in their families and overinvest in their careers—even though intimate and loving relationships with their families are the most powerful and enduring source of happiness.”
I am guilty as charged of unconsciously allocating every last ounce of energy and every last half hour of time to activities that yield tangible accomplishments.. At the very least I have the tendency to do so, but I have found that curbing this tendency leads to greater overall happiness and fulfillment.
I will leave you with a quote from Steve Jobs, giving a commencement address at Stanford University:
“‘If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.’ It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something…. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose…. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”
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July 3, 2010
Insanity
Insanity can be defined as “doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results.” The trick to this definition is what you define as “doing the same thing.” Its easy to convince ourselves that what we’re doing this time is actually different than the last 25 times, and this time it will really work.
Damn you consciousness, for giving us humans such an exquisite ability to fool ourselves.
July 2, 2010
“I love you”
The word “love” is a funny thing. In theory, you use it to talk about an intimate bond shared with another person. But we also use love in the context of our possessions:
I love my car
I love my computer
I love my phone
I think our language is a symptom (or a cause?) of our consumerist attitude towards relationships. People and objects aren’t really that different to us in terms of our attachment. “I love my car, but I need the new one that just came out this year.” or “I love my wife, but I need the younger secretary.” And so on.
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July 1, 2010
Stupid Lucky
I’m always amazed at how backwards a lot of things in life are. For example, “knowledge workers” often times get paid tons of money to sit inside all day, work with paper or computers, or do complex math and that sort of thing. They put in a few hard years at college, but for the most part their jobs are pretty easy for them (unless they’re making it more difficult than they have to).. Basically they happen to be good at something that the majority of the human population isn’t good at. If everyone was great at calculus then being an engineer wouldn’t be such a prestigious title.
And then you have everyone else, who is struggling severely to make a living.. They perform manual labor, they sweat and bust their backs all day.. They have work that is actually hard, in that its hard on them.
If you were fortunate enough to be born with intelligence, and were fortunate enough to have an upbringing that allowed/encouraged you to pursue knowledge-based work that allows you to live comfortably, do you feel entitled to it? Do you think you deserve it more than anyone else? Or do you realize how stupid lucky you are.
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June 30, 2010
You’re Not Really Thinking
Even if you think that you think for yourself, it is possible that you actually aren’t. Falling into unthinking is incredibly easy for anyone and everyone, including you. This is why you constantly need to ask yourself whether you’re thinking? This goes back to the “Question Everything” mantra.. Do I really want what I think I want? Do I really believe these things? Do I really care about x, y and z? Is Jane actually being truthful with me? Are my parents? Is my government? What about the media?
Every day make sure that you’re thinking for yourself. Otherwise what the hell is the point of having a “consciousness”?
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June 29, 2010
What I’m Doing
I started writing a follow up to my “Too Much Ambition” post, that was going to be a “What Am I Doing In Life” update, but it became far too lengthy of a post. Instead, here’s a quick version:
- Finishing my undergrad in Computer Science
- Contracting part time as a software developer
- Building my locost
- Running every weekday morning at 5am
- Spending real time with my family and close friends
- Reading books
- Cooking more
What I’m not doing (which is just as important)
- I’m not watching TV (literally I have no cable)
- I’m not playing video games
- I’m not working on a startup company in earnest until after I am done with school (this was a difficult decision for me, but ultimately a necessary one in order to be focused and successful)
- I’m not eating crappy/greasy food
- I’m not spreading myself too thin socially.. i.e. I try to spend as much time as possible with people who really matter to me, and give myself to them as much as possible
What about you? Where is your energy going, what are you focusing on? Look where you’re heading, is it a place you’d like to be?
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June 28, 2010
Focus is a Rare Quality
In today’s world of tweets, iPhones and Facebook, we are constantly bombarded more than ever with a never-ending stream of inputs. People indulge an enormous number of distractions in their daily lives, from television, to the internet, to all of the things we let ourselves get hung up on.
Think about two things. One, imagine what it would have been like to live before electricity was invented. Imagine having to read, or spend time outside, or have conversations, to enjoy life. Imagine not having people constantly texting, instant messaging, calling you.
Two (a much less simple/quick exercise), ask yourself what do you really need in order to be happy. You may think you want more money, or more things, or more tv shows, but think about it long and hard and I bet you’ll conclude its none of those things.. Remove as many non-important things from your life; simplicity will set you free.
If you can be truly focused for even a subset of your time on this earth, you’ll still be way ahead of most people.
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October 30, 2009
Too Much Ambition
Is Too Much Ambition a Bad Thing?
Well of course it is, right? Surely too much of anything can be bad, and it certainly seems obvious that too much ambition can lead to being a workaholic, having no social life, not making time for one’s family, and other such unpleasant things. However, if you look at successful entrepreneurs, it would seem that many of them have had their ambition and their work negatively affect aspects of their lives such as the ones I’ve mentioned.
Its not that simple, unfortunately. You can’t simply say “oh, well clearly I just need to have less ambition.” Insane amounts of drive and ambition is half of what makes a lot of successful entrepreneurs able to accomplish the things they do, besides having to have a number of other qualities. The trick is, of course, to find a balance. This may seem obvious but it is far easier said than done.. I know from personal experience. I have never had any lack of ambition. I blame (or thank, depending on the day) my dad for this fact. Indeed, my bursting desire to ‘do great things always’ has been quite the double edged sword at times. I want to do everything, and I want to be expert at everything I do. This isn’t really a conscious decision, its just the way I’ve always been.. I manage to do a pretty decent job at this goal, but it also causes me to bite off more than I can chew all too often. I’ve become aware of this tendency in myself all the more as I’ve gotten the chance to interact with other high-achieving individuals, and I notice in them a set of common traits which I believe are symptomatic of letting your ambition get the best of you:
Making Ideas Happen – Follow Up!
I recently read Scott Belsky’s “Making Ideas Happen”, and I have to highly recommend it to anyone who’s ever felt like they have a surplus of great ideas but very few of them come to fruition. This seems to be a common problem amongst creatives, and Scott aims to address this. He breaks “Making Ideas Happen” down into three main components:
I thought the entire book had a lot of good insight and useful anecdotes throughout, but one idea that has made an immediate impact on my personal productivity is the notion of religiously following up. Scott talks about this and gives some stories related to it, but I’ve begun using Things to keep track of every time I send an email and am waiting to hear back, or am expecting a call back, or anything of that nature. When I send the email or whatever it is, I simply create a new todo with the tag “followup”, describe who and what it is I’m following up about, and select a date that I want to be reminded about the followup. At this point I simply hide it and its out of sight/out of mind. Its brilliant! For the last two weeks I’ve not had to worry a single time about “who was it that I needed to email?” or think while shopping for groceries (or some other activity where I can’t do anything about it) “oh yeah I need to call so and so back!”. Things just takes care of it for me. So simple and yet so powerful.
There were many other ideas in Scott’s book that I’m still simmering over and will probably influence me at some point, but I just wanted to share this particular one which has been so simple and so powerful for me personally.