A few weeks ago, I was exercising while listening to the Wall Street Journal This Morning about what the government is doing to save the economy. I have also been paying attention to how governments are giving grants to startups who can prove that they are very innovative.
Having wrote a blogpost on this topic earlier, I formulated what I think is a doable plan for the government to save the economy.
For validation, I took this plan to two of my friends, one who is an ex-VC and Boston Consulting Group Consultant, and the other a Stanford Researcher. They haven’t been able to poke holes in this theory *yet*, so I thought I would share it on my blog and hopefully I will find out the flaws in my thinking or it will get discovered by policy makers to really execute it through.
Foundations of my theory: nodes and 3 coefficients
When the government throws money into the economy, it passes through many “nodes” (person or organization), and each node has three coefficients along with it: spend/save, innovation, and upside.
Living the life of an entrepreneur is tough. You work your butt off and get paid almost nothing for years, and the chances are you will fail at the end. Living the entrepreneurial life is definitely not the “easy” life. However, in my opinion, it is the most fulfilling one. I believe that being an entrepreneur is the best way to make sure you live a life of passion and adventure - a life that leaves you a legacy and stories to tell your grand kids.
The corporate life story
Lets look at a regular corporate life person. This person graduates from college, finds a job, gets married, possibly gets an advanced degree, has kids, advances in her job, gets old, and then there’s goodbye. That just sounds very unfulfilling to me, especially when you are working at a job you hate like most people are. Sure, some people love their jobs, and I’m all for that, but most people settle for a job that they don’t like just because they are afraid of change and and slowly wait for their midlife crisis. That’s when they buy their fast car.
Even for those of you who say you love your jobs, if you suddenly had $10M in your bank account, how many of you will choose to quit your job this week? Yes, you might say that I can discredit anything with that question. However, I can tell you as a sure fact that lots of successful entrepreneurs who HAVE over $10 Million in their bank accounts keep going back to the torturous startup life because it is just too exciting and addicting to stay away from!
The FD Lifestyle is simply treating your life as if it were a game, and you are a hardcore player who is trying to be the best at the game.
Hardcore players spend hours everyday trying to improve their abilities and beat the game. When they are not playing, they are reading strategy guides, going to online forums, and constantly thinking about how to make their game stronger.
Most people agree that the FD Lifestyle philosophy sounds appealing, but they have no idea where to start. This post will explain to you how to begin your quest of greatness and fulfillment.
Each step isn’t very easy (especially when it deals with understanding yourself better), but nor is playing a game the first time eh?)
Step 1: Determine the Game you are playing
First and foremost, in anything, you need to figure out what kind of game you are playing.
What are your life goals, what are you passionate about, and what do you want to achieve? Are you playing a game where you try to make an impact in this world by utilizing your skills and resources around you to solve world problems? Are you playing a game on reaching the top of your organization in the shortest amount of time, trying to accumulate as much money(points) as possible, or picking up as many girls as you can?
You have to think very carefully about what you care about and what accomplishments would make your life meaningful. Choose a game that you feel is worth it when at the end of the day (or your life), you feel good because you had accomplished meaningful things and had beaten the game with a high score. (more…)
Everyone wants to be successful. Unless you are sick and perverted, you do not like failure. However, in order to grow and learn, you must not only be tolerant of failure, you must welcome it.
And when you do fail, you must learn to pick yourself up as fast as possible and carry on. The world only cares about what you have accomplished, not how hard you tried or how mopey you are. Every successful person in this world has one thing in common: none of them gave up.
Imagine if you gave up the first time you tried to walk as a baby. Where would you be today? Even though you fell again and again, and even though it hurts when everything else in the world is all about cushions, food, comfort, and care, you chose to stand up and walk again.
In most people’s minds, the hardest part about being an entrepreneur is starting. That’s actually not true. Starting is the easiest part and it just requires you to get off your butt and start doing things. You only think it’s the hardest part because that’s the part YOU are stuck on.
For that reason, here’s a little guide to help you get over that “but I don’t know how to start!” hurdle, so you will have no excuse not knowing how to start your company.
Days 1-5: Decide to be an Entrepreneur and learn as much as you can about it
This is the day that you finally decide to take that leap of faith and begin a real life. Some people start this day by being laid off, but hopefully you came to this conclusion on your own terms.
Throughout my career, I have been leading people who are older than me. In some occasions, these people can be more than a decade older. It wasn’t always like that. When I was a younger, I was the kid who everyone makes fun of while I worked my butt off to try to become accepted by people.
The process had to start all over again whenever I moved, as South Africa, Taiwan, Kansas, and California all had very different cultures. The turning point was when I started a chess club in high school, and during my sophomore year, was elected President. With a new sense of responsibility, I realized that the whole organizations success depended on my shoulders.
Twitter takes time to adapt to. Most people who first go on Twitter have no idea why anyone would use it, and that Twitter is something for those who have too much time and nothing to do. Not for me.
Then they would hear about Twitter again from a friend or some media source, and decide to try it out again. They create 2 more tweets, and still feel that life is wasting away. Finally, they hear that a good friend or Obama is using Twitter too, and finally gives it another try. That’s when they become glued.
The fact is that Twitter is actually a very useful and fun (we call this very FD) tool. Its not necessarily for people who have too much time, but it actually is for busy people who need a better way of communicating with people.
Just like the In’N'Out menu, where they keep everything as simple as possible with hidden menu items, Twitter keeps everything as simple as possible. Even Twitter Search is hidden at an non-obvious location. Finally, there are over 400 Twitter Apps out there that make Twitter better that could help with your Twitter experience. You should know a few good ones.
For this reason, here’s a guide for the beginner to “get” Twitter and become a Tweeter.
1. Create a Twitter Account with your real name
Registration is simple. If you don’t know how to create a account once you go to twitter.com, you probably shouldn’t be on Twitter. However, I want to remind you that almost in all instances, you should put in your real name. Twitter is about building relationships with real people for who they are, instead of meeting Surferdude24s.
Also, keep your Twitter username short and easy to remember. This is so that people can Retweet you easier without hitting the limit, and people can type in your name without other references.
My CMO Jun recently has been making quite a few video projects for Future Delivery to let people check out our fun and productive company culture, and get all of you to live life like a hardcore gamer.
With these videos, I had a good chance to check out what I look like and how I talk.
You know how the first time you ever heard yourself on tape, you really disliked your own voice? It’s a bit different from what you expected and its a totally new person who you innately are inclined to evaluate and judge. It’s the same for me when I was watching these videos.
It’s pretty interesting in the sense that, everyone who sees me in these videos feel that I am normal. I’m still the usual Yu-kai, being all weird but having some method to the madness.
Obviously I did some especially corky things for humorous effects, and thanks to Jun and brilliant editor Chris Lew, all the little stupid/funny things I do are all condensed together into a collection of Yu-kaitis, which sounds pretty painful if you think about it.
I don’t mind that too much. It’s good for the videos. Afterall, people don’t watch these videos to find someone they can respect or derive inspiration from (I think). They watch these videos to be entertained and look at unique characters, which I am unashamed to admit being one.
However, outside of these videos, I have time to self-reflect and really move towards the person I want to be.
These are some of the observations I have on myself:
1. I have a nasally voice that could sound like a digital effect. Along with my fast talking speed, it could really resemble the sound of a bee. Quite annoying, and definitely not an impactful way of speaking.
2. My posture is somewhat slouched and awkward. I resemble an old man.
The world is moving very fast, and so are the people in it. In this fast moving environment, only the most adaptable will survive
Not looking at the recession that will eventually diminish, I believe that companies’ talent acquisition and retention strategies will change completely due to the new career values of the Gen-Y.
In the past, companies’ often hire individuals that fit their culture, who are smart, and have lots of potentials. They invest time and money to train these individuals into future managers and eventually leaders of the firm.
Many of my readers have been asking me to elaborate on what I meant as the 6 Core Values of networking, so I decided to elaborate more upon it.
Networking starts with the Self
In order to network, you must be worth networking with. Networking goes both ways. You’re not only trying to enrich your life through your friends and contacts, you are trying to do the same for these people too. Knowing a million people who think lowly of you is useless. These are the six Core Values that must be acquired to truly network well. Without these core values, networking will just be an empty action that means very little, just like playing only the notes on an instrument without any rhythm, dynamics, tone and feelings.
While some people might think, “these are things people are born with! I know I lack that, but I can’t do anything about it!” The truth is that we have more control over ourselves than most would think. All it takes is attitude and a constant will to be better. You can’t change yourself immediately, but you can’t become a great musician overnight either. It takes good attitude to change your attitude.
Integrity
Integrity is different from acting ethical and making people think that you are a good person. That’s one of the byproducts of this core value. Instead of having people think you are a great person, BE A GREAT PERSON. Integrity is about your decisions if you didn’t have to worry about consequences. The idea is to simply have pride in your life for who you are. Be liable not only to others but also to yourself. In the long run, people will know your true values, and if they regard you as a person of high integrity, you have achieved a high level in networking. Even if people never find out, which is unlikely if you do things correctly, you know you can walk this world with your head lifted high. There’s nothing shady in you.
Sincerity
In terms of actual Networking, this could be the most important core characteristic. The basic principle about networking is to stop just thinking about your own benefits. Care about others! Try to help them as much as possible. Don’t be phony. Try to find the part of yourself that derives joy when you see others achieve success, especially when you know it’s because of your help. Don’t think about returns. Think about win-win and relationships.
Optimism
No one likes to see others sad and grumpy all the time (unless they are sick-minded themselves). Being optimistic means you can be a source of motivation that people draw hope from. It is a vital force that keeps yourself productive too. How can you accomplish much if most of your time you are
coping with your sadness? Finally, optimism is necessary considering the cold turndowns you will experience while learning the craft of Networking.
Confidence
When you are optimistic, it is easy to be confident. When I say confident, I don’t mean thinking yourself superior than everyone else. That’s arrogance. Confidence is to know that you are valuable because of who you are, instead of what you CAN do. A confident person not only sees all the good things in him/herself, but also sees all the good things in others. He/she knows clearly that everyone does at least one thing that he/she completely sucks at, if not dozens more. Confidence is important because when people don’t know you, they can only rely on what you portray to them. How you view yourself is often projected to others. If you think you are insignificant, you will act that way, and others will view you as insignificant. Remember the principle that “No other human being is too good for you” and everyone has a reason to think you are important if you give him/her one. You must lead others in believing in yourself. I often tell people I give advice to: confidence is everything minus one. Like n-1, it is not everything, but it is almost everything in this world.
Initiative
Nothing will happen if nothing starts. Unless you are truly successful already, people won’t come to you. You have to go to people. Successful professionals are great people to know (assuming a sincere attitude towards them), and if you are the only person trying to know them, you are ahead of the game already. Taking initiative means you have to overcome your comfort zone. You must be adventurous and be willing to explore out of your bubble. At the end of the day, nothing bad will happen. If you express your respect for someone and admiration (if truthful) of what she has done, even if she does not reply, at worse you made someone feel good about herself. Without seeking, you won’t find.
Persistence
This is probably the most difficult out of all the disciplines.Persistency means never giving up. If someone ignores your email, send another one (after some time so you don’t seem desperate). What happens in life is that good things that seem unavailable will open up for the guy who goes the extra mile, and who still seeks after being turned down. Now the hard part is to find the clear line between being persistence and being an egocentric bastard. If people say no and you keep pushing until they feel they must say yes, that is obviously horrendous behavior. You won’t go far with that, as people will start to hide from your sight when they see you. However, the chances are, if someone didn’t reply to your email, it’s because even though
they felt positive about it, they didn’t have the time to reply. Think about how long it takes for you to reply to some of your friends. Good things come to you if you show enough determination.
I hope these comments are helpful to people, and feel free to discuss/challenge anything I said!
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