Marita’s Blog

That feeling you get in your belly when you really want to do something, and nothing’s going to stop you.

“When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you achieve it.” - Paulo Coelho

Steve Jobs left Reed College after 1 semester because he didn’t want to waste any more of his parents’ hard-earned money. Larry Ellison attended two universities, but graduated from neither. Richard Branson dropped out of high school at 15 to concentrate on his ‘Student‘ magazine.

Their acts are enough to make any Asian parent recoil in horror.

However, not only are these men considered successful entrepreneurs, but amongst the best minds in the world in their fields. They may not be good at everything, but they are exceptionally good at what they do for a living.

For people their age at the time, the conventional paths to success would have been for Jobs to finish college, Ellison to have gotten at least one degree from one of his universities, and Branson to have finished high school.

However, the pathway to being successful isn’t ever the conventional path, but the road less travelled. It takes incredible strength of character and endless self-confidence in very strong dozes to forge your own path of success, because you’re going to meet every road block along the way. People who don’t believe in you, people who don’t like you, people who mock you for dreaming, bureaucracy, lack of money, and personal sacrifices. And the only way you’re going to get through it all is if you have the strength of character to grow as a person constantly; and the self-confidence in yourself that you will succeed.

We’ve all heard stories of people in 9-to-5 jobs they hate and who don’t leave fearing lack of security. Months turn into years, and pretty soon, they’ve been in the same job they hate for a decade.

There are also the top kids in the country who take prestigious places in law and medicine courses because they could, their parents expected it of them, or because they wanted the security of a comfortable life.

I could have gone into medicine. I sat the required exams, flew down to the university for my interview, and I had the grades. My parents would have been over the moon, and I would have had a good life. But I didn’t want that for myself. The thought of taking the ’safe’ option rather than the option that made my heart flutter, depressed me. I didn’t want the well-trodden path, I wanted the road less travelled.

I realised back then, that I could walk in front of a bus any day and get killed. I could have a genetic disease that will cause me to die at any moment. I could perish in an electrical house fire. Life is short. So I chose the road less travelled.

While you still can, don’t do something just because people expect it of you. Don’t live into other people’s opinions about you. Listen to your heart, and choose your own life for yourself.

You choose by enjoying the 10,000 hours it takes you to make a feature film; the 10,000 hours it takes to write the novel; the 10,000 hours it takes to build a billion-dollar company. Choose because you will enjoy that journey, because that is where you will be spending all your time.

And that is the crux of it, really. Being truly successful is when you are proud of the work you produce when you are proud of your contribution to society, when you are proud of how you are spending your short-time on earth, and when you are happy about the path to your goals, (and not blinded by your goal’s allures).

Steve, Larry and Richard all confess to loving their jobs, and Bill Gates once remarked (when he was CEO of Microsoft) that he would still do his job even if he wasn’t paid.

So, define your own success and jump in 10,000% of the way. You will be happy, and you will be successful.

Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield from the great icecream company Ben and Jerry’s spoke at the University of Melbourne on Wednesday 25 November 2009.

Despite no longer having any responsibilities at the company, they only do about 20 or so speaking agreements a year, and as this was their only university seminar in Australia, I feel very fortunate to have been able to see and hear them speak.

This is a very inspiring talk about their company’s history and the part their company plays in making sure Ben and Jerry’s is doing good while making money.

Being a huge Ben and Jerry’s fan (below: my Ben and Jerry’s collection earlier this year - I knew this photo would be useful one day), I couldn’t wait to meet them and hear them speak.

My glorious collection in London last year.

I filmed them speaking on my iPhone (it gets a bit shaky at the end, but I’d been holding my iPhone up for nearly an hour by then).

Ben and Jerry’s launched in Australia 3 weeks ago and currently has a store in Sydney’s Manly with 16-18 flavours, as well as 180 other retail outlets.

Their strategy in Australia is to start small and let their company grow naturally.

And you’ll be pleased to know I wasn’t shy to follow them around until they agreed to a photo with me. (I’m holding free icecream they gave away at the seminar).

Marita meets Ben and Jerry!

When I was 17, I came 3rd in an international Japanese speaking contest. However, I don’t do anything about my Japanese studies now. The year prior, I got the highest marks in the state in my grade 7 piano exams. Now, I don’t play piano. During high school, I did 30-40 hours of maths during my school holidays. I finished the KUMON mathematics programme and got the highest mark possible for maths upon graduation (VHA 10. In my two maths subjects, I dropped just half a mark the entire year). I now hardly do any maths.

So, I had it that I was a failure. I had it that I was a quitter. I had it that I was a free-spirit who couldn’t stick through with anything. I had it that I only did stuff so that I could achieve in that area, and that once I had reached a certain level, I would get bored and quit.

If I’d stuck with my Japanese, maybe I could have been a young international diplomat for the government by now? If I’d stuck through with my piano, maybe I could have been a concert pianist by now. In maths? I could have been one of those crazily-young maths geniuses at universities who become tenured by the time they are 25 and spend their life devoted to the art, becoming a historical figure in that field, like Einstein or Newton.

However, while muling over my complete lack of commitment to sticking through with my hobbies, and while thinking about spending my life as Stephen Hawking has, I came to a realisation.

I never wanted to be a young international diplomat for the government. There was so much more I wanted to offer the world than just my language skills. Being a concert pianist didn’t excite me. I wasn’t passionate enough about music to practice for 15 hours a day. And I don’t want to become a professor and spend the rest of my life at university. I want to explore the world. I want to learn as much as I can and give the world as much of me as I can. I want to live life to the fullest.

This conversation came up for me because of programming.

I’m in my third year of a mechatronics engineering/ computer science degree, and passing countless exams and assignments later, I still don’t think I’m very good at programming.

So, over Summer, I plan to do lots and lots and lots and lots and lots (you get the picture) of programming. When I do something, I like to go all the way. I want to be masterful. If I put my mind to something, I can and do achieve it. So, I know that after Summer, I’m going to be awesome at programming.

However, I was scared. I was scared that if I did programming, then I would stop after I thought I had achieved enough to justify that I was good at it. And, as I want to be the CEO of a robotics company, it wouldn’t bode well with me to stop programming when I’d achieved ‘enough’ to prove to others that I was good at something.

But then I realised the difference between programming and all my other activities. Whereas my mum wanted me to be good at Japanese, piano and maths; I really, really, really, really want to learn and be masterful at programming because it fits with my life goals of being a tech entrepreneur. And while I think my mother is amazing for working so hard to provide me with the opportunities to explore and excel in those areas, I know it will make a lot more of a difference if I am empowered to learn for me.

So now, I’m not scared that I’ll get bored of programming once I get good. I’m not scared that I’ll give it up when I’ve achieved ‘enough’. I’m just really looking forward to it, and I cannot wait until my exams end so that I can start programming the things that I want to program.

I’m not a failure or any of those things. I just hadn’t found my passion yet.

So don’t get disheartened if you keep giving up on things. Just keep searching until you find something that truly ignites you, and that you think is worthy of you committing your time to.

When I was growing up, my mother used to always say to me in Cantonese, “people don’t respect you because we’re poor.” Mum worked full-time as a room attendant, is a single mother of two, and I grew up living in housing commission. We were very poor.

This past July, I attended TEDGlobal 2009. It is an invite-only event for people who are up to great stuff around the world. Other attendees at the conference included Gordon Brown, Stephen Fry, Jeff Bezos, Cameron Diaz, Meg Ryan, and millionaires and billionaires from around the world.

At the event however, I mostly spoke to people I’d never heard of, people who didn’t look arrogant, or people who approached me. I didn’t have the courage to approach any of the above mentioned, most of the headlining speakers, or the well-known organisers of the event. I had it that because they were famous and well-known, and I wasn’t, then I wasn’t good enough to talk to them.

Luckily, most of the people there didn’t look arrogant and weren’t famous and well-known to me, so I was able to speak with many people. When I spoke to these people, I could converse freely, joke around, tell them about my projects and ideas and get really engaged with their projects and ideas.

When I spoke to people who I thought were better than me, I just froze up and couldn’t think of anything to say. I wanted to impress them with knowledge about their industry, and I didn’t think that they would be interested in any of the stuff that I was doing, or that any of my opinions about the world were good enough for them to hear. I thought that they were too important to hear from me. So the conversations would start awkwardly (with me praising them) and be awkward (because I couldn’t think of anything else to say), before I shuffled away awkwardly (and relieved!). I had it that my projects weren’t good enough, that I hadn’t proved myself yet (because I wasn’t mega-wealthy), and that hence, I wasn’t good enough. I was comparing myself to them and all their well-publicised successes, and I was failing miserably.

Last night, while I was walking home from a date with my boyfriend, I told him that I had to make lots of money so that the next time I went to TED, I would have the confidence to speak to the rich and famous. He told me I was being ridiculous.

What I became really present to, is that “everyone looks silly sitting on the toilet”, and that even though the rich and famous are indeed rich and famous, they are still human. If people are too arrogant or too important for me, then that’s their problem. Most successful people however, become successful by treating people well. Also, just because someone is rich, doesn’t mean that they are respected; and some of the world’s most respected people, like Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama, and the late Mother Theresa, aren’t/weren’t necessarily amazingly wealthy. Lastly, having lots of money isn’t a prerequisite to doing great things in the world. I have the will and ambition to do great things in the world, and so I will find the money to do them.

This is a great victory over the past, as I now know that I won’t be shy to tell anyone - whether the poorest beggar on the street, or the wealthiest men in the world - about myself and my projects. If they can’t respect me for who I am and what I stand for in this world, then it is their problem. I declare that all men and women are equal!

iPitch was created to connect investors with start-ups in Australia.

iPitch has written an article about me and Melbourne Female Entrepreneurs Breakfast (FEB).

All female entrepreneurs are welcome to come along. Sign up to the Facebook group to receive updates about our next event and speakers.

I said I would update my blog on my TED experiences every night, but I didn’t do that. Instead, I did what I was encouraged to do by TED, and let myself be swept away by the conversations, the ideas and the experiences. I attended all the sessions, went to all the social events and spoke to as many people as possible. Every morning, I would wake up and get ready for the 8:30am start, to return home at about 1:30am that night. “Go to sleep at 2am, set the alarm for 8am, and wake up excited at 6am” is how I’ve heard TED being described as in the past. Was it mentally stimulating, diverse and challenging? You betcha! Did it take all my energies to stay awake and generate myself, to engage in countless conversations with amazing people from around the world, and to survive on 4 hours of sleep for 4 nights? You betcha! Would I have had it be any other way? Hell no!

Despite the amazing food (crab claws, freshly-opened oysters, prawns, cheese platters, BBQ - a variety of all-you-can-eat buffets and free lunches), stimulating talks (just go to www.ted.com to see for yourself!) and fun activities (I went to Bletchley Park on Monday, and everyone went punting on Friday) the best thing about TED is the people who go, and the conversations you have with them.

TEDizens are a diverse, switched-on, and remarkable group of people who are brought together by their common goal of sharing “ideas worth spreading”. When TEDizens get together, these ideas get ignited, developed and introduced to the world, for the betterment of all people. Before I went, I heard that the TED conferences are a life changing experience for all attendees. I cannot agree more.

My last ten months saw me go to Imperial College London with the intention of getting my act together and regaining my “perfect student crown” while travelling around Europe. Unfortunately, student-on-weekdays/ backpacker-on-weekends didn’t quite work out for me. I got distracted by important things during the week such as Cheese Society (eating cheese with people), going to West End, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as my urge to organise, namely mew (a robot-building team), Robogals (a non-profit that actively works to promote science, engineering and technology to girls 11 ~ 14) and Nudge. My studies didn’t exactly take top priority. Fortunately, I maintained my commitment to travelling around Europe, and managed to get many good ol’ life experiences under my belt.

A short list of my last 10 months abroad includes:
- travelling to
1. Thailand
: Bangkok (stopover, both ways)
2. United Kingdom
: Oxford (4 times - sightseeing, visiting friends, VentureFest, TED)
: Cambridge (windsurfing)
: Bath (sightseeing)
: Windsor (sightseeing)
: Stonehenge (sightseeing… what else?)
: Brighton (relaxing… missed my bus to Stratford-upon-Avon)
: Cheddar Gorge (tour with the Cheese Society)
: Southern coast of Wales (sightseeing)
: Scotland (sightseeing and the Introduction Leaders Program)
: Belfast, Northern Ireland (sightseeing)
3. Ireland
: Hill of Tara (my first night in Europe ever. Spent sleeping out under the stars to catch the sunrise… in December. Brrr!!!!)
: Dublin (intention of sightseeing… but was too exhausted)
: Cork (sightseeing - really recovering from the Hill of Tara experience)
France
: Paris (sightseeing, visiting friends)
Germany
: Frankfurt (New Years, sightseeing)
: Bonn (Beethoven’s House)
: Cologne (chocolate factory)
: Berlin (Heart of Gold, freezing!)
: Bremen (slept in the Airport)
: Hannover (stopover)
: Braunschweig (German Workshop on Robotics)
4. Czech Republic
: Prague (sightseeing)
5. Denmark
: Copenhagen (sightseeing)
6. the Netherlands
: Amsterdam (sightseeing, the Introduction Leaders Program)
7. Sweden
: Stockholm (aerial sightseeing)
: Helsingborg (Mini Seedcamp pitching to VCs, investors and mentors)
8. Egypt
: Dahab (windsurfing)
9. Greece
: Vass (windsurfing)
10. Spain
: Madrid (sightseeing)
11. Portugal
: Porto (sightseeing)
12. Belgium
: Brussels (visiting friends, sightseeing)
- seeing the following musicals at West End
1. Wicked
2. Phantom Of The Opera
3. Dirty Dancing
4. Hairspray
5. Avenue Q
6. Chicago
7. Billy Elliott
8. Lion King
9. The Sound Of Music
10. Les Miserables
11. Mamma Mia
12. We Will Rock You
13. Priscilla Queen of the Desert
- joining the following societies at Imperial College
1. Cheese Society (explained above)
2. Art Society (cheap tickets to West End productions)
3. Website and Software Development Society (programming lectures)
4. Windsurfing Society
5. Innovation Society
6. Imperial Entrepreneurs (officially, the VP of Marketing)
7. Krishna Society (philosophical discussions and free food)
8. Freetrade Society (to get discounted chocolate!)
- setting up:
1. mew: meeting and making awesome and talented friends, building a robot
2. Robogals: finding great people to work with, running amok in London with setting up the Robo Gala
3. Nudge: finding great mentors, Imperial Entrepreneurs’ Ideas Empowered Finals, Mini Seedcamp London (invitation), Mini Seedcamp Helsingborg, Winner Hooples Ideas Competition
- getting into the semi-finals for the Imagine Cup Photography Competition
- completing the Introduction Leaders Program
- participating in ignite: having a ball and improving my public speaking skills
- staying up all night roaming London and Hampstead Heath
- setting up my blog
- getting into and attending TED
- seeing countless musical concerts at the Royal Festive Hall, Royal Albert Hall, Royal College of Music and many other locations!
- staying together with my amazing Australian boyfriend

Fortunately, I love learning. So whilst I did lots of stuff, I also learnt lots of stuff…

From feeding my curiosity by watching hours and hours of TED talks, while reading and devouring every tidbit about entrepreneurship I could find, sometime between the Imperial Entrepreneurs Ideas Empowered Finals and Mini Seedcamp Helsingborg (i.e., in the 4 days between those two events), my thoughts broke through the chasm and I got “how to be an entrepreneur”. The whole process of setting up an organisation suddenly just seemed so clear to me, and I subsequently mapped out about 4 new projects in quick succession. Yes, TED talks and entrepreneurially planning is how I procrastinate.

I learnt that I could relocate anywhere and still be successful. For me, being successful is being happy, setting stuff up and learning. The first time I did this was when I left Cairns to Melbourne, knowing no one. The second time I did this was when I left Melbourne to London, knowing no one. Maybe I should test this one out by moving to Antarctica next? I don’t know anyone there…

I learnt independence to a whole new level. A whole new level of being self-reliant, self-confident, selflessness, self-empowerment, self-generation and self-integrity. When you’re by yourself in a foreign country where you do not speak the official language, it’s dark and you’re broke, you learn to rely on yourself. :)

But perhaps the most pertinent lesson I learnt to a whole new level is that of love and friendship. The friends I made in the past year were all amazing and marvellously fun people. The biggest shout-out goes to Hok. Hok, you never fail to remind me of the importance of friends and friendship. Thank you. To everyone I met over the past year - thank you so much. You made my past ten months rich with experiences, love and happiness.

Live life to the fullest, people!

Marita

I have been invited to TEDGlobal 2009, from 20 July 2009 - 24 July 2009 in Oxford, and I intend to keep a record of my experiences here, every night.

I am very excited about losing my TED virginity, and the line-up of speakers.

I’m sure it will be an unforgettable experience, and I look forward to sharing it with you all!

My profile on EngineerGirl was uploaded today. Check it out here!

Everyone is busy. Everyone I know has plans about what to do and when, be it, “I have to be at home and play video games then”, “I’m spending time with my kids on Saturday”, or “I’m meeting with potential clients Monday night”.

If you really want to do and help cause something though, you will find a way. You will juggle your time, get things done quicker, and show up.

If Bill Gates offered $1 million to everyone who shows up at your local town hall, you won’t be too busy for that, will you?

What matters is commitment. If you’re committed to having a project succeed, if you’re committed to causing the objectives, and if you’re committed to providing your services, you will find a way.

When you’re feeling down and you don’t feel like doing anything, yet you want to feel great and feel like diong something - dress up!

Really dress up! Take a shower and tidy yourself up. Girls, wear a nice dress and do your hair; guys wear a nice shirt and do your hair.

Dress up! It’ll make you feel pretty; it’ll make you feel better.

If you are a stand for people to participate in a project, yet despite your best efforts, no one is participating, don’t be disappointed at them. They did what they did, and you can’t do anything about it.

Instead, use your energy to look at how you were being in the matter:
How were you being such that your desired outcomes were not met?
How were you being such that everyone wasn’t in partnership with your goals?
How were you being such that people didn’t show up?
Did you really set them up to win?
Did you really empower them to complete the tasks?

If you’re pointing a finger at someone, you’re pointing three back at yourself.

is unique.
has contributed to the world in some way.
is perfect.
has changed someone else’s life.
is complete.
has made a difference, just by being there.
has loved.
has laughed.
has been wrong.
has been right.

We are all human.

If a tooth has a cavity, putting plastic on top of the cavity won’t fix the problem. The tooth will continue to ache and rot, and eventually the tooth will die.

To fix a cavity, you have to drill the hole until you’ve broken through all the decay, clean the hole thoroughly and only then fill it with plastic.

If you’re avoiding someone, or making someone wrong, consider that’s a cavity. To repair the relationship, don’t just plaster something nice on top of what’s already there. Get through all the decay and sort through all the guck- how you’ve been being a jerk, how you’ve been making them wrong, the stupid reason you’ve been harbouring about why you did what you did, etc. Be really straight with them, and create the space for a new friendship or the next stage in a friendship, with solid foundations.

… if you want it badly enough.

If you want to be a professor at a university, then you’ll do research there for 10 years until you get your professorship. If you want to buy a new computer with all the latest features, you’ll earn your own money, forgo nights out to save every penny, and get your computer. If you want to build a company, you’ll set up a company. If you fail, you’ll set up another one.

When you choose what you want, and you want it so badly, all of your actions become consistent with what you’re out to achieve.

However, you can’t change the past, you can’t change the minds of Google’s recruitment team and you can’t make a bus coming towards you stop just by wanting it to stop.

Unless you can time-travel, you can’t change the past. So what happened, happened. Get over it and move on. With recruitment, make yourself and your application so compelling that you give yourself the best chance for the job. Want to be a software engineer at Google? Code like crazy! Learn the tricks and immerse yourself in what you’re interested in, contribute to open source projects, do stuff for recognition, don’t do stuff for recognition, do stuff. Learn! Work on yourself to have what they want so they want to have you. Want to make a bus stop? Stick our your arm.

If you want something badly enough, you’ll get into action. Just don’t forget to have fun along the way!

To someone who cannot see, the sky isn’t blue. To someone who hasn’t opened the box, Schrödinger’s cat is still alive (maybe). To the men who called Galileo a fool, the earth was the centre of the universe, and the Sun revolved around the Earth.

Too often, we pigeon hole our thoughts by subjecting objects and people to ‘is’ sentences.

About mathematics:
Person #1: Mathematics is hard.
Person #2: Mathematics is easy.

According to wikipedia,

Mathematics is the study of quantity, structure, space, change, and related topics of pattern and form. Mathematicians seek out patterns whether found in numbers, space, natural science, computers, imaginary abstractions, or elsewhere.

Mathematics is not hard, and it is not easy. But saying it is, makes it so for you.

So essentially, you can create how anything in the world occurs for you. You can create whether it is a lovely day. Or not. Whether a person is smart. Or not. Whether that person is making me angry. Or not.

What you say to yourself creates your world.

- The red pill or the blue pill?
- What should we call our team?
- What should I wear today?
- What should we call our robot?
- How many pizzas should we order?
- What type of game should we design?
- Is he Mr. Perfect? Is there someone better out there?
- Should I study what I’m studying?

Often, we think that the more options and more flexibility we have, the better. And so we spend a lot of our time diverging from our course in order to ensure none of our options diminish completely.

We spend so much time running to keep all these doors open that we don’t actually get the chance to take the hinges off a door and toss that door aside. Rather than run around confused outside; choose a door, unscrew the hinges, and step inside.

Before Steve Jobs took the helm at Apple again in 1997, Apple was selling over 300 products, each only slightly different to the next. Steve came in and said something to the degree of, if I get confused by why version 5.017B is better for me than version 5.017A, then what hope does the average consumer have? He then listened to Apple employees explain each product and their benefits, and then scrapped 300 to 4. Now look at Apple.

Researchers have found that people who stop at market stalls with only a few varieties of a product spend less time, and are more likely to make a purchase than at stalls which have over 20 varieties of the same product.

Sony doesn’t need to release 7 versions each time it releases a product, and the simple layout of Facebook means a newcomers’ profile looks just as clean and professional as a veteran’s.

KISS. Keep it simple. There is enough clutter in the world.

Are you acknowledging your team for all the hard work they’ve put in?
For all their efforts?
For all their long hours?
For what they’ve produced?

I want to acknowledge you for the respect you’ve created for yourself in your team, and the freedom and space you’ve given everyone to be empowered to do a good job and create a great project.

Team leaders, everything that happens in your team occurs in the space you’ve created for them. If you’re a stand for the project, they will be. If you’re passionate, they will be. If you appreciate their efforts, they will appreciate yours.

I admire Seth Godin and his marketing insights, so my website looks kind of like his.

I admire Richard Branson and his go-getter attitude, so I wrote him a letter and handed it in to his office personally.

I admire Steve Jobs and his attention to aesthetics, so I always keep the simplicity and beauty of Apple products in mind whenever I design anything, and I always think of his zen presentations when I’m preparing my own.

I admire my mum and all the effort she put in to bringing my brother and I up, so I put effort into the things I do.

When we admire someone or something, we aspire to be like them or have something like it; and so it shapes the course of action we decide to take. Who are your role models? Why do you want to be like them?

JPL, NASA and Boeing do not hire R&D problem solvers who have not played with their hands before, not even people from MIT or Caltech.
Fewer than one of three executives who reach upper- echelon positions hold an MBA. Business Week
Ross Perot, former presidential candidate and billionaire, never attended college.
Joan Withers, CEO of Fairfax Media New Zealand, didn’t finish high school.
Going to uni to get a computer science degree doesn’t make you a great programmer.

The best way to learn is through practise. To learn how to program, program; to learn maths, do maths; to learn a language, practise the language; to learn how to start-up a company, start up a company; to learn how to be a salesperson, sell stuff to people. You probably won’t get it right the first time, and you probably won’t get it right the second time. But the more times you do it, the more likely you’ll eventually get it right.

JPL, NASA and Boeing believe that if you haven’t played around with a car’s internals, or fiddled around with electronics, then you can’t problem solve. What matters is what you can do, not what a piece of paper says you can do.

If you don’t have an answer that inspires you, fills you with passion, makes you proud or livens you up, then think of one.

Otherwise, why are you doing what you are doing?

I had the amazing opportunity to write an article in Imperial College’s Felix newspaper about entrepreneurship and why university students should start start-ups. Felix is currently 2008’s Guardian Student Newspaper of the Year. Niccolo Corsini, the man who works tirelessly behind Imperial Entrepreneurs, edited it to promote our events more.

I called the article, “What are you going to do with your life?” Last year, in my second year at the University of Melbourne, our tutor went around our Engineering Analysis (maths) class and asked what we wanted to do with our lives. I replied, “entrepreneur”, another guy said, “business person”, and the other 23 people didn’t know. So I thought, “What are you going to do with your life?” would be enough to tempt confused students to read.

Niccolo didn’t like my title though, and thought up two very entertaining names instead. One involved two monkeys. The other, Uncle Sam. With accompanying pictures. They were lewd! They were controversial!

Unfortunately, the editors didn’t like Niccolo’s titles, and censored it for, “Climbing the ladder by saving the world?” with their own accompanying picture.

A title catches the eye. A picture tells a thousand words. I don’t think either work with the article. But oh well, I got into Felix! :)

The article was printed on Friday 13 March 2009.

You got into university – check. You’re either studying something you’re completely head-over-heels passionate about, something you did very well at high school (before the novelty died), you have no idea why you’re here, but the folks back home have great expectations, or you’re somewhere in between - check.

However far along in your studies you are, be it Bachelors, Masters or PhD, the big questions always looms: what am I going to do with my life?

- Post graduate studies/ post-doctorate studies/ post-post studies… Fairly self-explanatory. Gets you closer to a life of research, allows you to research something at the apex of your field; potentially world-changing in itself, the holy grail of which is to be awarded a Nobel Prize… sometime down the line.

- Finish up whatever study you’re doing and go into industry. Bad times now, so only the best and brightest will get the coveted ball-breaking finance jobs. The rest will have to look within their respective degree-related industries to find a job that inspires, or go into teaching (a steady job educating the young minds of the future – very respectable).

- Start up your own company, be your own boss, not work under anyone else’s orders – just you and the endless stretch of horizon that screams POTENTIAL. Apply the best of everything that you’ll ever know about yourself and create something in its reflection.

Starting your own company might sound scary to you. But the short of it is, there’s always no better time to start-up than now, and there’s especially no better time to start-up than while you’re at university. Why?

1. Competitions – you can earn money just by having an idea. Imperial Entrepreneurs has just launched Ideas Empowered, a business idea competition. The competition has two rounds, with a 1500 word executive summary submission on 5 April; the top teams go to the finals on 1 May and pitch their ideas to a panel of judges/investors. Winners will receive a £3000 cash-prize as well as in-kind services and benefits such as 6 months of mentoring by Connect London, profiles/ads on Cmypitch.com and introductions to investors. Teams also get the chance to be mentored by professional entrepreneurs throughout the competition and learn essential business skills at our workshops.

2. A haven of co-founders. Look around you. You go to uni with some of the brightest technical people in the country. Somewhere you’ll find someone who’s into creating stuff, up for a challenge, or willing to give it all a go.

3. Access to tools and facilities. Campus resources such as university lecturers, Imperial Innovations, research databases, the library and free legal services can add value to your entrepreneurial endeavours from the beginning.

4. Few major obligations. Most of us are living off scholarships, sponsorships, parent hand-outs, student-loans and part-time jobs. We’re expected to feed ourselves, learn and grow. What better way to learn then to start your own company?

5. An unbelievable learning experience. Entrepreneurs average 3.8 failures before final success. Even though you may not succeed the first time, as long as you give it your all and do your best, you’ll learn a hell of a lot out of the experience.

6. There’s still time. If you start up now, and you fail. There’s still time for you to go into post-grad studies, go into industry, or give it another round…

So if you’re still unsure about what you want to do with your life, and you’re willing to give entrepreneurship a shot, come to the next Imperial Entrepreneurs event to find out more.

Published in Felix, Imperial College London, Friday 13 March 2009. (Slightly modified)

Seeing that I had comments to my posts gave me a thrill every time.

However, my whole attitude towards my blog has changed since it began two months ago. I used to think about it all the time. Brainstorming was like breathing. Updating nightly was a religion.

And then that died. Blogging became this treadmill: churn out more posts, keep going, etc.

I prefer the former.

So I consulted a friend, and am taking on his advice of turning off comments to see if that makes a difference.

If something’s not working; remember your commitment, but try something different.

Shower and dress (30 minutes)
Breakfast (30 minutes)
Travel (30 minutes)
MAGIC
Lunch (1 hour)
MAGIC
Travel (30 minutes)
Dinner (1 hour)
MAGIC
Sleep (7 hours)

We all have the same 24 hours in a day. It’s what you do with them that matters. Do you spend your time creating magic?

People who know their subject well make even complex ideas seem simple. They don’t need to hide behind special terminology, or elaborate looped explanations.

The more you understand and break through the complexity, the simpler things become.

You then begin at the starting point for the next mountain of complexity.

Roller coaster rides:
1. Have absolutely no logical pace to them. One minute they’re on cruise control, the next, centrifugal force is pulling your breakfast around.
2. Start off slowly.
3. Break away quickly.
4. Drop suddenly.
5. Take their time on the climb.
6. Accelerate abruptly.
7. Oscillate. One minute you’re up, the next minute you’re down.
8. Follow a path.
9. Seem to follow no path.
10. Reach high highs.
11. Are on the ground.
12. Make you feel like you’re flying.
13. Have you feeling like you’re safer than when driven by your younger brother.
14. Are so scary you scream your lungs out.
15. Aren’t that scary, but it’s fun to scream your lungs out anyway.
16. Splash you into the river.
17. Take you through a galaxy of darkness.
18. Allow you to sightsee.
19. Have you closing your eyes so tightly you cannot see a thing.
20. Take you on a loop-de-loop.

I liken my favourite projects to being on a roller coaster ride.

One minute I’m down:
I really don’t feel like getting out of bed.
I can’t believe they just pulled out! It’s going to bring the entire project crashing down!
Why did I send that email? How can Fred respect me now?
Why didn’t I prepare this business plan earlier? Now I’m not ready, and I’m not going to do very well in this pitch.
… That’s the acceleration down the coaster trail.

The next minute, I’m ecstatic:
I can’t believe how amazing that meeting was! I don’t even know what to do to celebrate I’m so excited! I want to scream! Jump! Yell! But I’ll keep my cool…
I’m so inspired by my mentor! There’s so many things that I can see are possible now!
Did he mean - could he possibly mean that he wants to work with me?
Wow! I just negotiated a deal that saves us $5000! I’m good!
… That’s the car speeding up the coaster trails with the momentum from the downward acceleration.

Then there’s moments of coasting, where you think you’ve got it all handled. You breathe and relax a bit, because you’re assured that the project is going okay and moving forwards. These are the zen moments.

Whatever project you take on, there’s going to be ups, there’s going to be downs, and there’s going to be moments of coasting. While projects that coast are easy; the more ups, and the more downs, the more you’ll learn.

To really experience life fully, appreciate beauty and to have a wholesome education, look to the edges.

1) Go to the club that’s a bit out there.
2) Listen to music in languages you don’t speak.
3) Look out for india films at the cinema.
4) Read the classic novels you’ve always wanted to read.
5) Look up words you don’t know in the dictionary.
6) Find out how to do cryptic crosswords.
7) Research a subject you’ve just heard about.
8) Volunteer at the local old people’s home and seek friendships there.
9) Make your own skin-care products.
10) Find out what scientology is about.
11) Read the Bhagavad Gita, the Bible and the Koran.
12) Study the history of your country.
13) Learn another language.
14) Listen to music from your grandparents’ era.
15) Learn Java.
16) Write a book about your favourite hobby.
17) Perform on an instrument in front of a crowd.
18) Go to the avant-garde’s exhibition at the gallery.

Use your peripheral vision wherever you go. When something catches your eye, zone in and find out more. At the edges, things are either vividly sharper or very fluffy. Experience them both and you’ll experience a richer world.

No one’s going to introduce you to the important and influential people they know if you don’t keep your promises.
If you don’t study, you won’t get summa cum laude.
You can’t grow an international organisation without structures in place.

Your small games in life support your big games in life. If you want to play big games in life, you have to first make sure you win your small games. If you’re not winning your small games, then you’re not on track to winning your big games, either. Look at how you can improve things in your small games - from the bottom up, and it will improve your big games.

Find the tiny solutions with huge impacts.

Those with the luxury (money and an unconditional offer), pick their university based on:
- What they’ll be studying.
- What they hope to do when they’re not studying.
- What they hope to do after their studies.

They want value for their time.

Similarly, when you’re choosing between different brands at the supermarket, you are thinking:
- Should I save more by buying the generic brand?
- Why is the branded kind worth more anyway?
- Why will I benefit more from the branded kind?
- Which branded kind should I buy?

You want value from your purchase.

People are always asking:
- What’s in it for me?
- Will is help my family/friends?
- Will it increase my career options?
- Will it improve my life?

If you want people to be involved, if you want people to engage, if you want people’s time- make it worth their time; give value to them. Or to their family. Their friends. Improve their career options. Improve their life.

Seth Godin blogs everyday. I know that within a 24-hour period, there will be a new blog post from him.

But it wasn’t always like that. If you go through his archives, you’ll see that he only blogged 50 times in his first year, twice with only one post a month! It wasn’t only until a few years later that he began religiously blogging everyday.

Every Grammy award-winning artist had to sing their first note or touch an instrument for the first time, Richard Branson ran a free student magazine for 5 years before selling records to customers, and Bill Gates wrote computer games before creating himself bigger projects to tackle.

Sure, some Grammy award-winning artists began their careers at two, Branson left school at 15 for his venture, and at 13, Bill Gates had only started being a teenager before giving coding a shot. But, Susan Boyle is only receiving worldwide recognition now at 48, Ray Kroc was 59 when he purchased the McDonald’s franchise, and here are another 8 entrepreneurs over the age of 80.

One of the most challenging parts of a project is the start* - taking the leap of faith in yourself to tackle a new project. Once you commit your word, time and energy towards a venture though, momentum grows and you are fueled by that momentum to continue.

So start somewhere! Be the one who asks all the questions. Find out what you need to get your project going. Write out your goal and how you’re going to get there. Work out what you need to get the plan to work. Learn the instrument. Begin your venture. Start coding.

(*The most challenging part of course, is to keep going - but that’s another story.)

The great thing about friends is that they’re compassionately straight with you: they tell you what’s on their mind, while still looking out for you.

The greatest friendships are those where you can be bleeding obvious with each other, even if it stings and even if one person doesn’t want to hear it, out of the other person’s commitment to having their friend’s life work how they know they want it to.

The bleeding obvious is like:
- Spinach between your teeth.
- Tomato sauce on your blouse.
- Sleep in your eyes.
- Chocolate on your cheek.
- Snot on the side of your nose.
The things everyone notices but isn’t game enough to say.

- Prolonged silences.
- White lies.
- Someone saying, “oh yeah. That’s cool.” When they have no idea what you’re talking about.
- Someone saying, “oh, ok.” When they’re not listening to what you’re saying.
- Unanswered questions.
Nuances in speech that can make people feel awkward or uncomfortable.

The best communicators acknowledge what’s going on.

When you have a problem, the best way to solve it is by talking to a friend. They already know you, and so they can hold up a mirror and say, “look what’s really going on. You know what you have to do, so do it.” They help you see the bleeding obvious for yourself.

Look at Green Day perform. They exude confidence. They own the stage, and everything they do earns the approval of the audience.

Compare them to some of the entrants in the early stages of an Idol competition. They shuffle around the stage in the hopes of earning brownie points from the judges - hoping that they’ll make it through that round and get a shot at stardom.

The difference?

Green Day have made it. They’ve sold over 65 million records, they’ve been around for over two decades (an indicator of success in itself of a band) and they have an enormous fan base. The Idols don’t have any of that.

But still, the early Idol competitors don’t have to be feet shufflers. They don’t have to awkwardly seek our approval - they don’t have to get anywhere.

They just have to strip away their self-inhibitions, because they too have nothing to prove. The performers who win our hearts aren’t out to prove that they can; they’re out to do great performances.

If sails are lined up on the shore next to each other, when one falls down, it hits the next sail, causing that to fall; that sail hits the next sail, causing it to fall; that falling sail causes the next one to fall … and they all end up falling.

The lesson? Remove yourself from the line, so that when others fall, you don’t.

You can have the best computer, but not know how to turn it on.
Own the oldest violin and not know how to saw a simple tune.
Buy the fastest car and not feel confident spinning it to its potential.
Or harbour the grandest piano but not know how to play.

While having the best equipment is important for professionals taking their performance to the highest level, it’s not necessary for the beginner.

In “Hey Arthur!” Muffy boasts of her beautiful violin, but cannot make it sound good for the life of her, while Binky manages to make a headed-for-the-dumps violin’s notes soar.

The best equipment can only help you so far. What matters more is your skill in execution.

Bette Midler sang about “the wind beneath her wings”.
Jesse “Lionheart” Martin cleared the world by the power of the wind.
And the Japanese wouldn’t be able to launch their giant kites without the help of a good gust.

You don’t need much to go windsurfing – just a board, boom and sail. But you’re not going to get very far.

Sitting beachside in Egypt, no one’s windsurfing because there’s no wind.

In order to do stuff, you need wind. Whether that be money from VCs, donations from the community, a second mortgage from your parents, or just someone to hold your hand when times get tough.

You can get by life with just food, water and shelter; but the wind is what gets you moving.

In thermodynamics, you can define the state of any simple compressible system by two independent intensive properties. A simple compressible system is one where the effects of gravity and motion can be neglected; independent properties are ones that aren’t related to each other; and intensive properties are characteristics of the state whose magnitudes are not dependent on mass.

What doesn’t define a state though, is the process by which it arrived - the length of time, order the components were added, or the method used for heating and cooling. It doesn’t make a difference whether 4 days or 4 seconds was taken, whether something was frozen in the freezer or given a douse of dry ice. What matters is that the required properties are reached to make it the correct state.

Similarly, you can write a computer program in C++ which does something in 200 lines that Python could do in 40 lines; you can spend 5 minutes working out the square root of a number to 3 decimels on paper that you could spend 5 calculator keystrokes on; or you can either take 6 detours by public transport and get lost, or drive straight from your house via the shortest route in 15 minutes and in both cases, still make the 11am meeting. To the end user, the result of the equation and the other attendees at the meeting, it shouldn’t make a difference.

If you’re accountable for getting work done, it doesn’t matter how long the work takes, what the temperature was while you were doing it (or not doing it), or what method you chose for getting it done, what matters is that you get it done.

“Have you thought about this?”
“What about that?”
“Instead of that, why don’t you try this?”
“I think this method works better than that.”

The conversation of impossible occurs when you can’t see the route from where you are now, to where you want to be. Rather than dwell in all the conversations that detract from your path, (”you can’t do that”, “I don’t really see how that’s possible”, “I don’t think you’re qualified”, “you’re insane”, “I don’t think that’s going to work”,) surround yourself with people who have conversations about what is impossible - and the routes that may be taken to get there.

Like attracts like.

Be the kind of person who has these conversations. Give without expecting in return, contribute without asking “what’s in it for me?”, encourage others to open their minds, cheer people on, stand for people doing things that they never thought possible. Then you will be surrounded by people en route to impossible.

It’s quite simple, network to give, and not to get.

You’ll be seen as someone who is selfless, gets things done, and is of service to others. Who wouldn’t want to know you?

If you do things in order to get things in return or to leverage control. Would you want to know you?