• A Goal is a Dream With a Deadline

    A Goal is a Dream With a Deadline

    When dreaming about your future and the life you want, it’s easy to lose touch with reality. To make your dreams come true, you need to make a plan. Without a plan, your dreams will forever elude you. Start with the big vision for what you want, then work backwards. Set goals, develop a plan with milestones along the way, and then create deadlines to hold yourself accountable. This will put you on the path to realizing the dream.

    Also, any dream worth chasing won’t happen overnight. This is all the more reason you need a plan with deadlines and milestones along the way that will ensure you eventually get there.

  • Strong Views, Weakly Held

    Strong Views, Weakly Held

    Have conviction in your beliefs. Stand up for yourself and your values.

    But also have an open mind. Realize that situations are often way more complex than they might seem. You don’t always have all of the data, the right perspective, or the necessary background/experience. All of this adds up to the fact that you should be open to hearing the other side, learning, and change. Ultimately, it’s the bigger person who can acknowledge s/he was wrong and fix it.

    This is VERY important in both your personal and your professional life. For your social life, it makes you a more accepting person and more fun to be around. If you are an executive in a company, this willingness to change and update based on new information is critical to long-term success.

  • Maybe, who knows?

    Maybe, who knows?

    Once upon a time there was a farmer whose horse ran away. That evening, all of his neighbors came around to commiserate. They said, “We are so sorry to hear your horse has run away. This is most unfortunate.” The farmer said, “Maybe, who knows?” The next day the horse came back bringing seven wild horses with it, and in the evening everybody came back and said, “Oh, isn’t that lucky. What a great turn of events. You now have eight horses!” The farmer again said, “Maybe, who knows?” The following day his son tried to break one of the horses, and while riding it, he was thrown and broke his leg. The neighbors then said, “Oh dear, that’s too bad,” and the farmer responded, “Maybe, who knows?” The next day the military officers came around to conscript people into the army, and they rejected his son because he had a broken leg. Again all the neighbors came around and said, “Isn’t that great!” Again, he said, “Maybe, who knows?”

    Most of the time, it’s next to impossible to know whether something that happens to you is actually a good or a bad thing. “Disasters” might actually become blessings in disguise and winning the lottery might actually be the worst thing to happen to you. It’s hard to know in real time whether something is truly good or bad. As a result, it’s best to keep an open mind and an even keel.

    When I was applying to colleges, I had my heart set on attending one of the military academies. Being a great combination of academics, athletics, and leadership, I could not imagine a better fit for me. It’s not trivial to get into a military academy. In addition to the written application, you have to get a congressional nomination from a U.S. senator or representative. You also have to complete a physical fitness test and medical examination. I got everything in order and was fortunate to receive two congressional nominations. My dad was in the Air Force so it was only natural that I looked there first. They reviewed my application and rejected me. Go figure. The Navy wouldn’t even look at the application due to my color blindness. But then I got accepted by Westpoint. I had my heart set on it, and I thought it was my destiny. You can imagine my level of excitement. I was finishing high school and getting geared up for an early start at summer boot camp, which started in June. Then, out of the blue, just over a month before I was supposed to move to Westpoint, I got a call from admissions. They reviewed my medical report and somehow overlooked the fact that I am red-green color blind. They concluded that I could not join the Army after all and pulled my offer letter. At this point, I had already declined all other college offers. I called up Tulane and asked if it was still possible to attend even though I had declined. Fortunately they would still have me and the rest is history.

    Put yourself in my shoes in that moment and imagine how devastating that news was to me. You may be surprised to hear that this was one of the luckiest things that ever happened to me. I don’t think anything about my life would be what it is today if it hadn’t been for this medical disqualification. For me, it was a great lesson that much of the time what seems bad at the time might actually turn out to be the best thing to ever happen to you.

  • What is Success?

    What is Success?

    “I coined my own definition of success, which is peace of mind attained only through self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to do the best of which you’re capable… You never heard me mention winning… My idea is that you can lose when you outscore somebody in a game, and you can win when you’re outscored.” -John Wooden

    If you put in 110% and give it everything you have, you can’t lose.

    Another idea: Success=do what you can with what you have where you are

    Success is a combination of experience and when/how to make decisions. Your decisions, based on your experience, will determine your success.

    happiness often comes from shooting for high goals but detracting yourself from the outcome. Set goals, work hard, and be happy with giving it your best.

    Conflicted on this because also need to win. Sometimes giving it “your best” doesn’t cut it. If failure is not an option, you can’t take no for an answer.

    Recommended reading:

    • Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections on and Off the Court
  • Are you getting better or worse?

    Are you getting better or worse?

    You are never stagnant or the same. You are ALWAYS either getting better or worse. Your blade edge is either getting sharper or duller. Commit yourself to getting a little better every day. Even just 0.1% better. Over time, all those little improvements add up to a lot.

    Virtue: Continuous improvement, Kaizen

  • You Get Out What You Put In

    You Get Out What You Put In

    This is so cliché but SO true. Any time I’ve skated through something in life, it hasn’t been worth the time and I regret wasting my life. In fact, when I think about regrets from the past, the root cause is usually not putting in 100% effort. Conversely, anything I look back and I’m super proud of, I’m proud because I put in the effort and gave it my all. If you want to get the most you can out of life, put in the effort, dedication, and time.

    Some of the things I didn’t put 100% into and regret: High school academics – we covered so much material and had I made an effort I could know a lot more today, and yet I did only the minimum to get by and ended up regretting. Some of my startup projects didn’t get my full effort and struggled as a result.

    Leave it all on the field (or court).

    “Peace of mind attained only through self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to do the best of which you’re capable.” – John Wooden

  • Smart Enough

    Smart Enough

    Over the years, I have noticed a curious thing. The smartest people are rarely the most successful people. The most successful people I’ve encountered are generally smart and conversational, but not brilliant. You only have to be smart “enough.” Once you pass a certain threshold, success is no longer defined by intelligence. Instead, it’s a confluence of other skills and abilities, such as emotional intelligence, coachability, continuous improvement/learning, and luck among other things.

    Rest assured that you don’t have to be the most brilliant person in the room. And you are certainly smart enough to do anything you put your mind to. So don’t limit your ambition and build the future you want to see in the world.

  • Who do you think you’re talking to!?

    Who do you think you’re talking to!?

    Monitor your internal dialogue. Careful how you talk to yourself. It’s so easy to get negative and judgmental, and spiral downward. Stay positive, optimistic, and upbeat.

  • Never Stop Learning

    Never Stop Learning

    Keep learning, especially as you get older. I have noticed that a lot of people stop learning (new skills, general knowledge, etc.). Learning should not stop with school, it’s a lifelong endeavor.

    I’ve thought about why people stop learning. I believe people are afraid to fail, and learning and doing new things by definition are hard and will likely result in failure. As you get older you forget that even when you were little you struggled and failed A LOT. But the reason you ultimately succeeded is you didn’t give up. Learn to enjoy the failure as an opportunity to debug what went wrong and get better. Learn to look forward to the struggle. Once you master something, it’s a lot less fun. You’ll be dangerous if you can genuinely embrace this mindset.

  • We Stand on the Shoulders of Giants

    We Stand on the Shoulders of Giants

    “If I have seen further,” Isaac Newton wrote in a 1675 letter to fellow scientist Robert Hooke, “it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”

    Look at society around you. Look at the technology, innovation, quality of life, fairness, etc. Yes, there’s more to do but we live in such an extraordinary time and place.

    As a society, we have gotten here thanks to people throughout history just like you. They have put in the hard work and endured the struggles to build what we have today. You can carry this forward in your own way and contribute to building society even further. You will undoubtedly have your own struggles and challenges. When you are pushing boundries and stretching it will usually be very difficult. But realize the exciting future you are building for yourself and future generations.