Wednesday, July 30, 2014
Nice (Wo)Men do Finish Last
If someone is genuinely funny, witty, or just a blast to be around, they will end up being known as the funny guy, the witty girl, or by a slew of other adjectives(none of which are nice). Funny how that works.
Work is another context where nice is a death sentence. Roughly translated, it means, "This person isn't very talented or hard-working, but at least they aren't an asshole."
Nice isn't nice. Strive for better.
Thursday, July 24, 2014
Balance of Imbalance
We all would like a little more balance in our lives, however, we grow when we are most imbalanced.
When on a serious diet, partying, drinking and even dinner dates will have to be put on the back-burner.
When approaching a looming work or school deadline, all of the above, plus sleep, may be at serious risk.
However, on vacation, those imbalances are skewed in the other direction; mental and physical recovery trump everything.
In order to grow, we need imbalance on the minute, day, and week scale; in order to achieve sanity, we need balance on the month and year scale.
Friday, July 18, 2014
Simple Works
Subaru Outbacks seemingly last for centuries, dragsters tend to blow up while going down the track.
Bubble sort lacks edge cases, almost all merge sorts are broken more than 60 years after the original algorithm was proposed.
Don't discount a product just because it is simple. When the complicated, fancy things are broken down, the simple ones will still be chugging along.
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
Today's Problem, Today
Monday, July 14, 2014
Scale
Friday, July 11, 2014
Why I Will Run a Food Truck
Wednesday, July 9, 2014
Sharing Joy
Then my new friends came back from the water refill station with camelbaks and water bottles galore.
I have never seen so much joy experienced from water, not just from those of us that were receiving the water, but from those that came back with the water. It felt like the modern-day, edm version of Thanksgiving.
Another take home lesson from EDC: joy, like water, is best when shared.
Monday, July 7, 2014
Readings of 2014, June Edition
The Ten Faces of Innovation by Tom Kelley:
The most common role played during meetings in large companies: Devil's Advocate.
In this book, Tom Kelley points out how the Devil's Advocate is a dangerous role to be played, as well as introduces us to 10 roles that are much more beneficial to organizations. Not going to go over all 10 of the roles, but will go over the ones that I found particularly interesting.
First up is the Experimenter. I find the Experimenter role particularly interesting primarily because it is the role that I feel closest aligned to. The Experimenter has to be willing to take risks, and be able to fuck stuff up over and over without taking it personally when things don't turn out how they expected(if there is even an expectation of the experiment). The quintessential Experimenter, Thomas Edison, is credited with what can most accurately sum up the Experimenter's role, "I have not failed 700 times. I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work."
Friday, July 4, 2014
Happy Birthday Ma
I will unfortunately not be back home for her birthday, but it will just make us cherish the time (and Eggslusive meals) that much more when I am home next.
Wednesday, July 2, 2014
Possessions, Un-learned
When I was a kid, I was always wanting the next shiny toy, the next video game, or the next pack of Pokemon cards(sorry for spending so much of your money mom, but they're going to worth something someday, promise). Almost as soon as the wrapping was off of the first one, the newness would wear off.
When I moved off to college, I was struck with the realization that I couldn't possibly bring everything with, some of my oh-so-important possessions would have to stay(the Pokemon card didn't make the cut); the most important stuff that could fit in a U-haul and truck came, the rest stayed. When I moved to Boulder, that amount shrunk from what could fit in a truck and U-haul to what could fit in a Jetta and suitcase. In my latest move, San Francisco, that Jetta(rest in peace :'() and suitcase shrunk to a backpack and suitcase. If I keep it up, I think I may be moving with just the clothes on my back, if that.
On the flip side, I am replacing those possessions with experiences, and so are a lot of other 20-somethings. Crossed a couple off my list this year, EDC and Spring Break, but still have many left to go: lifting at a national-level powerlifting meet, Burning Man, Coachella, Oktoberfest in Munich, and some serious overseas backpacking to name a few.
Granted we do still want things as we get older, and they do tend to be more expensive, like cars(I will eventually blow a stupid amount of money on my dream Toyota Supra), cell phones, laptops and homes, but at least those have some utility outside of just being a shiny toy.
Shiny toys only stay shiny for so long, but experiences will last as long as your memory.
Friday, June 27, 2014
Dancing, Re-learned
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Dance, If You Want to Dance
A few weeks ago, I went over to one of my old neighborhood buddie's, Steve(not to be confused with my uncle of the same name), house. Inevitably, his mom whipped out old an old VHS tape of the 8 year old versions of the two of us dancing our hearts out in the basement, not giving a care about who was watching.
We didn't care if we weren't the world's best dancers.
We didn't care what anybody else in the room thought of our awesome moves.
We just wanted to dance, so we danced.
Monday, June 23, 2014
Here, Uncle Steve, Open Your Shirt
Kids have a knack for such amazing honesty.
If they love you, they will tell you so.
If you're not being very nice, they will also tell you(could have also named this post, Mommy, you're not being very nice, which I may-or-may-not have been prone to saying when she didn't get me a toy that I just had to have).
Somewhere along the way, though, we lose that amazing quality.
We stop building quirky cards that say I love you in macaroni and glue. We gossip to others about someone not being very nice, instead of letting them know to their face. We get a little better about keeping christmas presents secret.
Start tapping into your inner kid... let people know when you love them and when you're not so fond of them. Maybe even ruin a surprise every now and then.
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Dragsters
You don't need a Mac Pro to check Facebook.
You don't need the fanciest parallel algorithm to process a relatively small amount of data. Learned that one today.
Many problems get hard at scale, but many times things simply don't get there. Don't bother building(and maintaining) a dragster, when a simple one-speed bicycle will do.
Monday, June 16, 2014
Wander
I moved out to San Francisco 2 weeks ago, and it has renewed my love with a good wandering session, I actually spend my Sundays doing exactly that.
Wandering is the perfect solution to the problem posed by Seth Godin, in the Problem with Top 40 Radio, where the masses end up making your decisions for you; when you only listen to radio stations that play the top 40 hits, you effectively defer your decision making to others. Yelp has actually done similar things to dining out(eating is probably my favorite thing to do in the world), and it is very easy to fall into the trap of only eating at the highest rated places, taking your decision away from you.
Wander. You might to find the highest rated, but you will find what you enjoy.
Friday, June 13, 2014
My Beef with Rice Cookers
But when I do, I inevitably forget to flip the switch from warm to cook, and end up with uncooked rice when I am expecting to eat.
Maybe, I am just getting spoiled; so many things are doing "do as I mean, not as I say" incredibly well.
Maybe, fancier cookers do have the rice-cooking, mind-reading ability that I so desire.
Either way, I don't think it is too much to ask for my cheap, Wal-Mart brand rice cooker to know when I want to cook my rice, and when I want to keep it warm.
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Closed Sign
Closed signs are great at letting people know that an establishment is, indeed, not open. However, closed signs aren't very good at letting people know when a place re-opens, which is the information we really care about.
Monday, June 9, 2014
Readings of 2014, May Edition, Part 2
Another epic adventure through a day in Robert Langdon's life. This time Robert Langdon wakes up with amnesia in an italian hospital, only to shortly flee from the gunshots and troupes of armed men chasing him.
As the name suggests, this journey necessitates Robert and crew deciphering clues related to Dante's The Inferno(which I have unfortunately not yet read), to save the world from yet another (arguably not) mad genius.
Would you flip a switch to kill half of the world?
Obviously not.
But what if the whole world would die in 100 years if you didn't flip the switch?
Read it to see how it ends if that switch gets flipped.
The House of Hades by Rick Riordan:
Yup, I read children's books. Get over it.
And in my defense, it is a really good children's book, full of enlightenment of greek and roman mythology.
In this iteration, Percy and Annabeth try to escape from Tartarus(pretty much certain death), which they fell into during the cliffhanger of the previous book, The Mark of Athena, and seal the Doors of Death to keep the monsters from regenerating.
</end nerdout session>
Friday, June 6, 2014
Best Commercial I Have Ever Seen
Some commercials have jingles that get stuck in my head, but leave me not having any idea what brand the jingle is for.
Some commercials are all about showing off the brand.
Some commercials are all about people, but their is no connection from the people back to the brand.
However, Canon stated that they make epic cameras... but didn't leave it at that, they were able to perfectly capture how their epic cameras enable us to make epic stuff. Essentially, they show how they make us more badass. I am not really into photography and videography, but the below commercial might have just changed that.(Can't actually find the commercial online.... but when I do, there will actually be a commercial below)
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
Enough (or Enuf)
Monday, June 2, 2014
Readings of 2014, May Edition, Part 1
The perfect mantra for any twenty-something with a potent mixture of skills, debt, self-confidence and "WTF is going on with my life". So basically me... and almost all other millennials.
You are a Badass candidly tackles the issues in life that most millennials are facing daily... money, relationships, faith and fitness, just to name a few. These issues are tackled via bite-sized, quirkily titled("Your Brain is Your Bitch") chapters, that suck you in.
I couldn't really do it much justice, so I won't even attempt. Go buy it, or check it out from the library(those places are godsends, by the way), as long as you read it is fine by me.
Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh:
Welp, it looks like you can add Tony Hsieh to my growing list of badass dudes that I may have a man crush on. Seriously, it was rather eye opening how much awesome stuff he has done.
Delivering Happiness is one part documentary of Tony Hsieh, one part Zappos corporate culture, and one part science of happiness.
In the documentary section, Tony goes over some of his unsuccessful(earthworm farm and magic tricks), mildly successful(button printing and pizza selling) and uber successful(LinkExchange and Zappos). Interestingly enough, Tony thought his earthworm farm would make him insanely rich, while LinkExchange started as just a side project.
It is easy to assume that a company, like Zappos, had a smooth ride en route to being acquired by Amazon for a billion dollars. However, Tony candidly points out that that is not the case... he actually sold his penthouse apartment in San Francisco to keep the company afloat for just a few more months.
Alas, another book that my attempts at capturing its epic-ness would be futile, so go read it!
Friday, May 30, 2014
Templates
If you're following your template, but not getting the results that you want, it's time to either change the template or your expectations. No template will add 100 pounds of muscle in a week, but if your expectations are realistic then it is clearly the template that needs to change.
If you're not following your template, it's time to change yourself(assuming you picked the right template).
Thursday, May 29, 2014
Make Your Bed
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
V for Vulnerable
If you want to go on a date with the girl of your dreams, you risk getting rejected.
If you want to start a company, you risk falling flat on your face.
You are at your most vulnerable when you are in the hole, or asking a girl on a date, or fully committed to your getting your business up and running; that vulnerability is the precursor to success.
Squat high, stick to harmless flirting, and leave your business as a side project and you won't fall flat on your face... but you won't get what you want either.
Edit: This title is actually a play on the movie V for Vendetta, not the Seth Godin book V is for Vulnerable, which I have actually not read(or even knew existed) prior to writing this post.
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Readings of 2014, April Edition, Part 4
Friday, May 23, 2014
Don't Write on Stalls
Thursday, May 22, 2014
Gaming Metrics
I woke up, set down my scale and stepped on. It spit out a whopping 80.1.
That is pounds, not kilos.
In my sleepy stupor, I inadvertently placed the scale on carpet, making the scale think I weigh less than half of what I actually weigh. There is a big difference between actually losing weight and making the scale display a lower number.
Don't mistake gaming metrics for improving what they are attempting to measure.
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Do As I Say
Usually, when people are labeled as living by the mentality of "Do as I say, not as I do", that label does not come in a positive light.
However, when asking for directions, great advice in that form may come along very often.
Maybe your coach sees that your techique is a weakpoint, so they recommend that you should squat 7 days a week, while they only squat once a week.
Maybe your business mentor recommends pulling 80 hour weeks at this stage in your business, while they are currently working comfortable 40 hour weeks.
The best coaches are usually in a different place in their careers than you, so don't just copy their actions, ask for their advice.
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
The Perfect Diet
The most important quality: can it actually be followed?
Monday, May 19, 2014
Readings of 2014, April Edition, Part 3
Friday, May 16, 2014
The Move
Don't get me wrong, San Francisco seems about a billion times larger than any city I have ever lived in, I am scared shitless and will miss Boulder and all of the truly awesome friends I made while I was here! However, I know I have to surround myself with the largest startup and technology culture in the world if I want tot truly push myself.
So it is time to put the best advice I have ever received to the test, and get a little uncomfortable.
Thursday, May 15, 2014
Correct-Amount-Of Information Diet
Or how about when you're about to quit your job, everybody seems to turn into a career coach?
Unfortunately, most of the time the advice is pretty horrible. Usually, it is for innocent reasons; they want to feel like they are helping, but they simply lack the expertise to provide quality information.
However, sometimes it is for not-so-innocent reasons. Maybe they hate their job, but are too afraid to leave it, so they project those insecurities on to you. Or maybe they are insecure about their bodies, so they try to consciously(or subconsciously) attempt to undermine your attempts at obtaining the physique that you desire.
Not everybody needs to know the whole story about why you're quitting your job, for most people it can simply be "it wasn't a great fit" and leave it at that; the less that they have to go off of, the less inclined they will be to "help". For people who can genuinely help(manager, actual career coach), the story should be much more detailed.
Give people the correct amount of information; not too much, and not too little.
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
IPhone Chargers
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
The Best Coach
Would you hire the hall of fame athlete?
Chances are you would.
But you'd probably be wrong.
How about we rephrase it. Who do you think knows more about losing weight: the guy who came out of the womb with chiseled abs and bulging biceps, or the former pudgy guy who is now pretty lean?
Not to bash the work ethic of hall of fame athletes, chances are the worked their asses of to obtain that title. Chances are also pretty good that they also happened to always just be a little bigger, stronger, faster, and their sport just generally came easier to them; they can't really pass that knowledge on to others, because they never had to learn it themselves.
If you want to find the best coach(or professor or manager or...), look for the loser who made themselves pretty damn good.
Monday, May 12, 2014
Readings of 2014, April Edition, Part 2
Jason challenged the successful business status quo in his last book, Rework. In Remote, he does it once again.
In Rework, he mentions in passing that it is possible to have a majority, if not all, of your work force working remotely; in Remote, he expands upon the benefits and pitfalls of doing so, and offers suggestions for companies or employees looking to transition towards remote work.
It is a rather quick read, so I would definitely recommend it for anybody even remotely interested in working remotely.
The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg:
Why do you grab that 3 o'clock cookie?
Why do you go on a morning jog, rain or shine?
How can people with amnesia, walk around their neighborhood without getting lost?
We all have habits, beneficial and detrimental alike, that guide us through our day-to-day lives. In the Power of Habit, Charles guides us through the how-to of habit formation, distilling research and anatomy into easily relatable text.
Before reading this book, I was a firm believer in the driving force of habit, which has only been reinforced since reading it. Above I alluded to the biggest testament to habit's power presented in this book: an old man with amnesia could walk around his neighborhood, without getting lost, yet he had no idea where he was going or where his house was.
Another book that I would definitely recommend for anybody looking to make positive change in their life, and understand why that change is taking place.
Friday, May 9, 2014
The Long(and the Really Long) Journey
The road trip from Illinois to Colorado that I am about to take with my mom is a long trip.
On the other hand, really long journeys have no destination, maybe some landmarks along the way though. In a sense, the journey is the destination.
Each training session, powerlifters are trying to make themselves stronger, more technically efficient or healthier. They may be working towards a personal record, world record, or some other benchmark, but those are just landmarks; as soon as they reach it, another will be placed just off in the horizon.
Long journey's shouldn't necessarily be enjoyable(of course my upcoming road trip will be, though), think about about that college class that you despised; grinding through was manageable as long as you got your degree. On the other hand, if you're not enjoying your really long journey, you better take the next off ramp.
Thursday, May 8, 2014
Customers and Marriage
Buy this new truck, and we will pay off the remainder of your previous car loan.
Get cable/satellite service and save 50% for your first 12 months.
Get married to me, and I will give you this huge ring, an amazing wedding and a loveless marriage.
Wait, that last one sounds horrible, yet it is oddly similar to the messages sent in many of the advertisements I see on TV.
Instead of worrying about what sort of trick we will use to get out our next customer, or, if polygamy floats your boat, next spouse, how about we start taking care of those we already have.
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
Better than Perfect
Perfect form and technique are preached while lifting, yet while performing maximum effort attempts form usually deteriorates slightly.
Perfectly seared scallops and julienned vegetables prepared by a master chef just won't cut it, if your stomach truly desires a greasy cheeseburger, thick chocolate shake and salty fries.
Cindy Crawford's mole and the gap in Michael Strahan's teeth are both imperfections, but those imperfections have allowed them to be more relatable to regular people, making them more perfect in a sense.
Sometimes you need to be less perfect in order to be more perfect.
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
Asking for Directions
If you were to ask most people in America, they would probably tell you 2 things:
- Head to the South-West.
- You need to head there by plane or boat.
Monday, May 5, 2014
Readings of 2014, April Edition, Part 1
What happens when social media becomes so deeply ingrained with our day-to-day life that we begin paying our bills, voting, and even (literally) display every moment of every day for the world to see?
The Circle documents a new Circler's(that's what the employees call themselves), Mae, rise through the company the most influential and controversial company on the planet.
The Circle's intentions begin innocently enough; they begin as essentially a mixture of PayPal and Facebook, which requires a verified social security number to fight online fraud. Mae begins at the company a few years into it's life, and The Circle is now even more deeply ingrained into everyone's life, which Mae is slightly torn about.
As the story goes on, this only increases, as The Circle takes the Silicon-Valley buzzword, transparency to another level; Mae actually begins wearing a video camera, which documents every second of her day for the world to see.
I am not going to give any more spoilers out for the book, because I believe that you should go read it. It is an amazing insight into some of today's fictional technological and moral problems that could very well be the facts of tomorrow.
Dot Complicated by Randi Zuckerberg:
Yes, that Zuckerberg.
Where The Circle focuses on future fictional implications of the growth social media and technology, Randi Zuckerberg focuses on the present: beneficial, as well as negative.
Like I alluded to earlier, Randi Zuckerberg is Mark Zuckerberg's sister, as well as one of Facebook's first employees, where she led the marketing efforts.
Throughout the book, it is apparent that Randi is torn between all of the benefits that social media has to offer(connecting people, sharing of information, etc) and all of its obvious and subtle drawbacks(never being truly present, feeling the need to document all aspects of our life for the world to see, trying to maintain multiple online personalities, and the need to learn a constantly evolving online etiquette).
Again, I won't ruin the whole book for you. I would definitely recommend reading both... there are some very interesting connections to be made between the two.
Friday, May 2, 2014
Finding What You're Looking for
Thursday, May 1, 2014
Mission Statements
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Jump In
Hopefully, you answered jumping in.
However, I can understand if you answered watching others. Sometimes, it is easy to feel the need to know everything before even beginning. Unfortunately, for anything more complicated than brewing a pot of coffee, knowing everything before getting started is utterly impossible, leaving you perpetually on the side of the pool.
Most of the things you pick up while trying not to drown.
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
The Best Piece of Advice I Ever Received
One chat really stuck out in my mind. That chat was with my team lead, Tim. Tim was a Senior-Staff manager who had been around as long as, if not longer, than the Directors at the Boulder office.
During our chat, he seemed particularly animated about one decision that could have put him at a much higher level. Midway through his career at Qualcomm, he got approached to switch teams from his current team(the first team he led) to a brand new, promising yet experimental team.
He was comfortable with his current team, so he decided to stay there.
That new team now makes up the majority of the current business.
His piece of advice: "If given the choice, the comfortable choice is usually the wrong one."
Monday, April 28, 2014
Building Sh*t
The second hardest part about building shit: finishing.
Friday, April 25, 2014
Perfect Practice
Practice is easy.
Mindlessly going over the pentatonic scales, or copying examples from a programming book is practice.
Learning your favorite bands' songs or looking through open source projects is a little better, but, alas, still just practice.
Taking what you know and applying it to writing your own music or programming projects is getting really close. But its still just practice.
Now, take the result of the previous step, and show it to a mentor or a group of knowledgable people and have them critique it. Have a meaningful conversation with them as to why the various pieces don't fit, truly internalizing why it doesn't work(this will probably involve digging deeper into theory or programming language, or drawing from examples of other musicians or open source code), and hammer the jenky pieces until they are flawless.
Perfect practice is a bitch.
When I was younger, I never made it past playing mindless pentatonic scales and learning easy parts of songs.
I still have plenty of jenky pieces left in powerlifting, bodybuilding, and software development but at least I am hammering in the right pieces.
Thursday, April 24, 2014
Choices
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Labels
When can you label yourself a powerlifter?
When can you label yourself a surgeon?
Is it when you first start caring about what food you put in your mouth? How about when you really start caring, when you stress over every little detail?
Is it when you pick up your first weight? How about about when your lifts start reaching some arbitrarily large number?
Is it when you pick up your first biology book? How about your first day in med school?
No, in my opinion, none of those things will qualify you as a bodybuilder, powerlifter or surgeon. You don't earn those labels until you put yourself out on a limb, completely vulnerable.
You're not a bodybuilder until you step on stage, rocking the banana hammock for the whole world to see. No more hiding those last 5 pounds or touch-ups with instagram filters.
You're not a powerlifter until you suit up in the singlet, putting your lifts at the discretion of the 3 judges and lights. No more hiding that "parallel" squat, touch-and-go bench press and hitched deadlift.
And you're certainly not a surgeon until you operate on your first patient, accepting full responsibility that this is a real person's life on the line. No more hiding behind textbooks and cadavers.
As Ronnie Coleman is famous for saying, "Everybody wanna be a bodybuilda, but don't nobody wanna put on the banana hammock." Or something like that.
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
The Badass Economy
I dub it: The Badass Economy.
As a millennial, my main criteria when looking for a job is the degree of impact I will be able to make on the world, the amount of training available, and amount of challenge the job presents. Essentially, I am looking for a job where I will be more badass each day.
Obviously, employers are looking for only the most badass employers. The whole purpose of the interview process is to answer the question: is this person badass?
Companies even have formal badass ratings given to them by investment banks: their valuation.
Finally, consumers buy products for the sole purpose of becoming more badass. Those new clothes put a pep in our step, that new gaming machine renders pixels just a little faster, and obviously we all want to lose 10 pounds of fat and gain 10 pounds of muscle without breaking a sweat.
Even beating a level in Candy Crush leaves us feeling just a tad more badass, it even compels us to tell our friends on Facebook exactly how badass we are. Speaking of Facebook, social networks even have more metrics to determine your badass rating: number of friends, followers, and they even allow the "influencers" to have their own fan pages and verified pages(obviously, they are so badass that people would want to pretend to be them).
Okay, maybe some of that was a stretch, but there are definitely worse goals than making ourselves and the world around us just a little more badass.
Monday, April 21, 2014
Readings of 2014, March Edition, Part 2
I received this book from my aunt about a dozen years ago, and just now finally got around to reading it.
The namesake of the book comes from Robert's childhood, where he had his biological dad(poor dad) and his best friend's dad(rich dad) who both acted as mentors as he was growing up. Poor dad came from the conventional mindset of getting a college education and then making a career out of working for a company; on the other hand, rich dad(a high school dropout) held the mindset that one must acquire assets and then have those assets work for you.
The only thing that I found mind-blowing was Robert's advice to always pay yourself and further nourish your investments first, before paying off things like bills. His reasoning: bill collectors will always scream louder at you then you would scream at yourself, hence he is forced to come up with creative solutions to make extra money on months that he is running a little short.
The 9-to-5 Cure by Kristin Cardinale:
Have you read The 4-hour Workweek? Well this is pretty much the same thing, albeit Kristin Cardinale didn't seem to draw me in quite as much as Tim Ferriss(man crush).
Abstract: do work you are truly passionate about, and take periodic "mini-retirements" throughout the year.
Design of Everyday Things by Donald Norman:
Have you ever pushed on a door, only to realize it needed to be pulled?
How about attempted to turn on a light, only to chew up the silverware that was sitting in the garbage disposal?
Well, then this book is for you. Norman spends the entire book looking at everyday things, and providing examples of how they are done poorly as well as how they are done well.
Abstract: design != aesthetic, it is perfectly possible(and frequently done) to make a pretty thing that is completely unusable. Additionally, if you want to provide the user with the most usable design, put the knowledge into the world and not the user's head, for example: push pads on doors, and natural mappings between dials on stoves and their respective burners.
What Does the Fox Say? by Ylvis:
Yes, a children's book adaptation of the youtube sensation. Literally, a 2 minute read.
Friday, April 18, 2014
Dots: When to Connect and When to Collect?
I don't disagree that connecting the dots is becoming more important, but I would like to argue that knowing when to stop collecting and beginning to connect the dots is by far the most important.
Case in point, just now, I randomly typed in 2 symptoms(fever and bloating) into WebMd and 75 possible conditions, all relatively equally likely, were listed as the cause: everything ranging from the flu to Hepatitis to Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Chances are you'd be wrong, if you were to give a diagnosis based on those 2 symptoms alone.
It would be like trying to have someone replicate a circle by providing them only 2 dots on that circle; reproducing the circle is possible, but the most likely result is that the other person will simply draw a line. They connected the dots as any perfectly logical person would, yet came up with the completely wrong answer, simply based on lack of enough information.
On the other extreme side, there are many people who are in very long relationships before deciding that the other person is, or is not, the one they would like to marry. Granted, sometimes that is due to other reasons, but after a time of about two years, there isn't really anything significant left to learn about the other person. As my mom would say, "It's time to shit or get off the toilet."
I don't think the true magic is in either collecting or connecting dots, but in the ability to know when which is appropriate.
Thursday, April 17, 2014
Thank the Batmen
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
The Best
We probably don't have the best genetics.
We probably aren't smart enough.
We probably aren't pretty/handsome enough.
We probably didn't get started young enough.
We probably can't train all day every day.
And a few lucky SOB's do/are/did/can. Get over it.
Even though we probably won't be the best in the world, that shouldn't stop us from being the best version of us.
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
It's Okay to be the Big Fish, too
Well we really only have 3 choices:
1) Eat all the other fish in the pond. This is analogous to the rockstar/stud/ninja/<insert other buzzword> who expects everyone around them to kiss their ass and worship the ground they walk on. Hopefully, I don't need to let you know that this is the wrong choice.
2) Find a new pond. Just because your surroundings initially provided a challenge and facilitated growth, doesn't mean that it always will. That is why many of the successful companies in Silicon Valley make it easy to switch teams and projects; they know the great employees are constantly seeking to learn and face new challenges, so it is much better to keep them within the company on a different team, than to have them go to a different team outside of the company.
3) Help out the small fish and give back to the pond. When you are the small fish, your only job is to learn and not mess stuff up too bad, but after a point you must begin paying it forward. More experienced powerlifters bring the newer guys under their wings through coaching, angel investors sit on boards and help to groom the next generation of entrepreneurs, and software engineers contribute to open source projects . And let's be honest, being the big fish feels amazing, so pushing the smaller fish will in turn push you, if you want to keep that title.
Switching ponds isn't always an option, but bringing others under your wings(or should I say fins?) is.
Monday, April 14, 2014
Be the Small Fish, for a Bit
If you want to be best country singer you can be, move to Nashville.
If you want to be the best actor/actress you can be, move to Los Angeles.
If you want to be the best software engineer you can be, move to Silicon Valley.
If you want to be the best powerlifter you can be, move to Columbus.
Contrary to the belief held in Malcolm Gladwell's book, David and Goliath, which states that college students you have a greater chance of success by going to a less competitive school, powerlifters have the mentality that is a horrible thing to be the strongest guy in the gym for a substantial period of time.
In order to grow, you need to be pushed, you need to be a little afraid of getting eaten alive, you need to learn from mentors that are better than you in every way. It feels nice being the big fish, but if you want it bad enough, put yourself in a position where you are the little fish, and then make yourself grow, even if just a bit, everyday.
Sunday, April 13, 2014
The Important 20%
But let's say you want to broaden your horizons, and insist on putting Pareto's Principle to the test. On which 20% should you focus?
The 20% that scares the shit out of you.
The 20% that you are putting off.
The 20% that requires being fully present.
If you want to get stronger, a heavy squat is going to do more that the half-assed leg curls. If you want to get the promotion, turn off the email client and get to work on solving the difficult problems.
Saturday, April 12, 2014
Knowing Versus Doing, the Follow-up
Now what?
You have been working at a company for years, rapidly rising through the junior and mid level positions, through a combination of talent and tenacity, but have been stuck at staff level for an eternity.
Now what?
I have been in preparation for a bodybuilding competition since November 11th of last year, losing about 12 pounds in the first 10 weeks, but in the 12 weeks since then my weight loss has been negligible. Maybe it has even been a swap of muscle for fat. Judge for yourself: January 3rd and April 8th.
I finally reached a point where I couldn't cut any more calories or add anymore cardio, even though the scale still wasn't moving.
Now what?
We threw a monkey-wrench into the mix by adding calories and decreasing cardio.
Do we know it will work? No, but we knew what we were doing wasn't working.
We all know how to get from point A to point B, but doing more of that may not get us from point B to point C. In the beginning, what we do is driven by what we know. When we reach an advanced stage, what we know is driven by what we do.
Friday, April 11, 2014
Knowing Versus Doing
We all know how to better our general fitness.
We all know how to advance our careers.
Unfortunately, knowing is never enough. That is why so many are stuck at our current weight, fitness level or job.
Doing is scary, we have to put ourselves out on a limb, with the possibility that we will fail. But if we don't do, we are guaranteed to fail.
Thursday, April 10, 2014
Not-So-Urgent Care Clinic
Why do we put up with this?
Why do we put up with Comcast?
Why do we put up with jobs we are generally dispassionate about, or, worse, genuinely loathe?
Because, at the time, no viable alternatives exist, or at least appear to exist.
Finding a new job is always a possibility, but the fear of jumping into the unknown causes many to rule it out as an option.
Comcast, on the other hand is definitely giving the appearance that they are fighting claw-and-teeth to remain the only viable option for cable and internet(but what happens when someone rises up to contest them?).
Fortunately, services like MDLive are beginning to pop up, that will allow doctors to swiftly provide elementary diagnoses over the phone, as opposed to the hours and hours of waiting room time spent in Urgent Care Clinics around the world.
Now that I no longer have to wait to talk to a physician, I can return to waiting for my Comcast repairman.
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
Frat Houses and Companies
Fraternities have presidents, heads of marketing, recruiting and even philanthropy.
Companies have monthly or quarterly all-hands meetings, where the entire company gets together, praises their collective victories and points out areas of improvement.
Fraternities have weekly chapter, where the entire local chapter gets together, praises their collective victories and points out areas of improvement.
Fraternities and companies both share the same central problem, the majority of the people that are responsible for the future success(or failure) do not feel that they individually make a substantial contribution.
If you have ever seen a kitchen in a Fraternity house, it would be instantly apparent that the mess was the collective work of many individuals over time, yet the blame for the entire mess can be placed on nobody. Additionally, many Fraternities suffer from recruitment problems; pledge classes slowly dwindle in size from lack of involvement and deteriorating reputation, and next thing you know the chapter needs to bring in nationals to prevent them from closing.
Similarly, the fall from grace of Fortune 500 companies rarely results from a particular, catastrophic event, and is instead a gradual deterioration in relative quality.
As Seth Godin would put it, the deterioration of both organizations happens gradually and then suddenly.
The simple(but not easy) solution is to make sure your members or employees are actively involved and feel a sense of personal responsibility. Otherwise, you may end up with a messy, or empty, kitchen.
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
Contextual Lessons
Monday, April 7, 2014
Readings of 2014, March Edition, Part 1
The book revolves around Paul Farmer, a Ph.D in Anthropology and M.D from Harvard, who splits his time between Boston and Haiti, as well as a bevy of other third world countries and shitholes(like Russian prisons), trying to fight HIV and Tuberculosis. In his free time, while he is not seeing to patients in clinics, he is taking multi-day long treks into the remotest of remote regions of Haiti to make house visits to patients who are too weak to make the treacherous visit themselves, and to assess his patients living conditions.
Oh, and he hardly ever sleeps.
Yeah, you could say he works really, really, fucking hard.
Friday, April 4, 2014
The Nickleback Effect
Just like hardly anybody truly loves McDonalds.
Yet, Nickleback is consistently selling out shows, McDonalds is always packed, and both are making more money than I could fathom.
There is nothing wrong with money being the end goal, but in order to do so, consistency and accessibility usually win out over quality and creativity. Every time I buy a burger from McDonalds, I can be fairly certain of how it will taste: not bad and not great, just burger-y. Every time I hear a Nickleback song, I can be fairly certain of how it is going to sound: not bad and not great, just sing song-y.
In order to make something truly great, you will risk losing some of that accessibility. Not everyone will understand a truly magnificent piece of art, and truly talented, risk-taking artists are bound to have a few pieces that don't turn out well. Not everyone will enjoy the menus of world-class chefs, and they typically change daily or seasonly, so chances are a few of those may be busts.
However, with that lack of universal accessibility comes an increased risk of failure. That is why we have so many restaurants closing daily and starving artists; relatively few McDonalds close and Nickleback is at no risk of starving.
There is nothing wrong with choosing to be Nickleback, just like there is nothing wrong with choosing to be the (potentially-starving) talented artist. However, there is something wrong with the chef trying to lead the McDonald's kitchen.
Thursday, April 3, 2014
Praise for Microsoft
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
April Fool's Day
The exact same song is playing on your alarm clock radio. Certainly, you wouldn't believe yesterday hadn't repeated itself, but, lo and behold, it is not just the radio show that is repeating itself, but everyone's fake pregnancy stories on Facebook are also repeating themselves.
So you go to bed hoping it is all a bad dream.... and in the morning it is April Fool's Day again.
Now what do you do?
Do you steal money and live it up, or do you hone your skills?
Do you brush all people off because they won't remember you when you wake up, or do you take the time to truly get to know people?
Do you try and off yourself, or do you try and live life to the fullest?
The same thing happened to Bill F*cking Murray(Chive On) on Groundhog's Day. Spoiler alert... the first choice is the wrong one.
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
The Interesting Behavior of Spring Break
I have never been before, and definitely had a blast... and also witnessed activities that I couldn't believe(for reference, I lived in a Fraternity house, so I have seen some pretty outrageous events).
I heard guys call girls sluts almost by the minute, saw girls live out that name almost as frequently, saw a beautiful beach begin to resemble a landfill, and even saw a guy try to go from the 9th to 10th floor of a condo.... by climbing it on the outside.
Why do I think Spring Break is the perfect breeding ground for this? One of the guys I was staying with ever-so-eloquently said it to a girl, "The best part about this is, I will never have to see you again."
The second face of anonymity is a powerful motivator for bad(albeit, fun) behavior.
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
"Failed" Powerlifting Meet
But what I didn't win on the platform, I won in experience.
For the many people who are likely unfamiliar with powerlifting, it consists of 3 attempts at the squat, 3 attempts at the bench and then followed by 3 attempts at the deadlift, with the total being the sum of the best of each 3 lifts. It is also broken up by weight classes, with the classes being closer together in weight, and spaced further apart as they go heavier.
My last meet I totaled 1100 pounds weighing 181 pounds, this meet I totaled 972 at 165 pounds.
I obviously did much worse, but what did I learn from it, and how can I apply that to other aspects of life?
- I decided to do this meet at a lower weight class, while in preparation for a bodybuilding contest. Even though they are both fitness related, the end goals are not the same in each. This reinforced my notion that I can't split my focus if I want to get to the top.
- Not hitting depth on my second squat attempt. I absolutely smoked this weight and I thought I was deep enough, but it turned out I was at parallel instead of below parallel. If you're going to put in the effort to do something, make sure you know exactly what it is you're doing, so you don't waste time and energy.
- Only going 4 for 9/making too large of jumps between my 2nd and 3rd attempts. I definitely left plenty of weight on the platform, because I made bad selection attempts. You have to know when it's best to take on something a little easier and knock it out of the ballpark, as opposed to reaching too far and come up empty handed(you also have to know when you need to reach).
- I underestimated the impact that dropping weight and recovering from the stomach flu would have on my lifts. Similar to above, I knew I had a few outside factors which would affect my strength, so I probably should have backed off a bit. In life, the default seems to be to say yes to everything coming your way, but sometimes you are overloaded and have to say no or back off a bit.
Monday, March 17, 2014
Readings of 2014, February Edition, Part 3
The Black Swan by Nassim Nicolas Taleb:
Unfathomable events happen year after year on a macro scale, and day after day on a micro scale : dawn of the internet, popping of the dot com bubble, September 11th, and children being diagnosed with cancer. These are all instances of Black Swans.
Nassim Nicolas Taleb is very familiar with Black Swans, he cut his teeth as a young New York trader and made his(and seen many others lose their), as he calls it, "F*ck you" money from the large scale Black Swans that occur on Wall Street. Unfortunately, he is also familiar with the smaller scale Black Swans: he was diagnosed with throat cancer as a young man... and didn't smoke.
Most of the book is spent on showing distinctions between "Mediocristan", where Black Swans are non-factors(height, weight), and "Extremistan", where the Black Swans exist(income). Additionally, he reinforces the need to guard against the negative Black Swans and to put yourself into a position where you are will be in the best position to come across the positive ones.
I would definitely recommend this book, it is far from an easy read, but I definitely feel like it was worth the effort.
Start Something That Matters by Blake Mycoskie:
The (former) serial entrepreneur, Blake Mycoskie, finally started something that matters when he started TOMS. He realized that there are many, many kids walking around without shoes, and that was a major cause of spreading of disease in that population. Instead of starting a non-profit to tackle that problem, he decided to go with his area of expertise, for-profit companies. However this for-profit had a twist: you buy a pair of shoes, we give away a pair to a child in need.
In stark contrast to The Black Swan, this book was a very easy read, and, while not very mentally taxing, definitely had a call-to-action to, as could be guessed, start something that matters. It is a pseudo-biography of the Blake and the company, documenting his process of going from knowing nothing about shoes to being the "Chief Shoe Giver" of one of the highest-impact shoe companies in the world. Along the way, Blake interjects with some of his take home lessons from various stages of the life of TOMS.
As I said, it is definitely an easy read, so if you are intrigued, you could probably finish it over a cup of coffee at the local bookstore. However, in the TOMS spirit, this book does have a one-for-one policy; for each copy sold, a book will be sent to a child in need.
Crush It by Gary Vaynerchuk:
Disclaimer, this is the first biz-dev book that I have ever read, so my virgin mind has no frame of reference with which to compare it. However, with that being said, I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
Gary's family immigrated to New York when he was a really young boy and, in typical immigrant lifestyle, his parents engrained an intense desire to win by out-hustling. His father started a liquor store when they came to the states, and Gary began hauling around ice there as a young boy(after being forced to step away from his very respectable baseball card-selling business). He despised his initial position, but eventually came to love it when he noticed that he could easily sell people wine(by becoming knowledgable through reading, he still couldn't drink the stuff), but the same thing couldn't be said about beer and liquor drinkers.
That is the take home message, find your niche, which was wine in Gary's case.
The meat of the book centers around Gary eventually taking over the family business, and growing it from respectable to gargantuan through a wicked concoction of hustling and effective use of social-networking.
Even though social networking came out when I was in early high school, I still feel relatively naive with respect to how to most effectively use them to build personal branding. After reading this, I feel less naive; if you are in a similar position, I would definitely recommend taking a few hours out of your life and reading it.
Friday, March 14, 2014
Lessons From Jurassic Park
Well, almost no expense.
For those unfamiliar with Jurassic Park, I feel sorry for you, but I will still fill you in.
John Hammond was the millionaire,(maybe billionaire) serial theme park builder. Jurassic Park was his most extravagant one: a theme park filled with real, live dinosaurs. However, he only had one programmer in charge of the computer systems on the entire island... and this programmer felt like he was grossly underpaid, so he shut down the entire island to steal dinosaur eggs for someone paying him better.
He got eaten.
So did many others... those damn raptors.
So what have we learned?
- Don't get cheap on your people.
- Don't have have any person operating without checks and balances.
- Don't surround yourself with shiesty folks.
- Most importantly, if you do manage to recreate dinosaurs, let the raptors stay extinct.
Thursday, March 13, 2014
10,000 Hours: The Forgotten Part
- I have spent close to 10,000 hours behind the wheel of a car, yet I am no Michael Andretti.
- I have spent close to 10,000 hours singing, yet I still sound like a squealing pig.
- I have been walking my entire life, yet I would be hard pressed to finish a 10k.
- Insert many many many more.
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Don't Ship on Fridays
Monday, March 10, 2014
Readings of 2014, February Edition, Part 2
If you have feel any love at all towards pork or ramen, I would definitely pick up a copy of this book; if you don't feel any love towards pork or ramen, I would definitely go see a doctor(contemplated going with jump off a bridge, but that would be rather mean of me).
Thursday, March 6, 2014
Detail-Oriented
It usually means they lose the forest for the trees.
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
The Red Zone
The Red Zone also manifests itself in every day life... just think about how many people you see at the gym with pretty decent physiques, yet how few you see that look truly exceptional, or how about how many projects you have laying around that are "done" minus a few of the truly difficult tasks?
Getting stuck in The Red Zone has been a problem of mine in the past, but consistently punching through it is the skill that I am currently most working on, and let's face it, punching through is a bitch.
I believe the way our education is structured is one of the reasons why so many get stuck in The Red Zone. Getting 100% in a class is rewarded equally to getting a 90%, yet getting a 100% requires substantially more work. Combine that with the fact the students are typically taking 5 or 6 classes at a time, and focusing on getting 100% in one class will likely leave only enough time and mental currency for a 70% in the other classes, yet it is perfectly feasible to get 90% in every class(pretty much sums me up as a straight-A student). We become very good at figuring out what 90% looks like and shooting for that.
What is my biggest solution for punching through? Treat it just like the best offense in the NFL would; visualize nothing besides the end zone, drop the trick plays and buckle down and play tough football. That means that I am only focused on one project at a time, I only read one book at a time, and I (am still attempting to) focus on only one fitness related aspect at a time. You wouldn't see the Broncos(this past seasons best offense, minus the Super Bowl) attempting to score on two fields at a time, would you?
So stop settling for field goals, or worse yet, turnovers, and start punching through The Red Zone.