The Self-Improver

Self Improvement

Thanksgiving 2012 in DC

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Stunning Scenery - One reason why I'm thankful for living in DC

Yesterday was the first time I spent Thanksgiving in DC, and only the third time in my life that I haven’t spent the holiday with family. Looking back, there’s a lot to be thankful for this year.

My career break. Leaving a job voluntarily, especially in this economy, is always a tough decision. I’m so thankful that I had the opportunity to study abroad in Taipei, and travel (if only briefly) around Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. I experienced and saw so many things, challenged myself in countless ways, and met so many great people.

My career. Coming back to the States with no firm offer in-country was stressful. There were moments while abroad that I feared the impending uncertainty I’d have to face once I returned to LA. Where would I live? What would I do? Thankfully, it only took me a couple weeks to receive offers. I’m now working at a career company. Note that I didn’t use the word job. After being back in the workforce for six months, it’s an amazing feeling to work at a place where I can honestly see myself for a while. It’s an amazing feeling. I’m constantly being pushed at just the right speed, the work environment is incredibly relaxed, and the benefits are just fantastic!

My friends. I once heard this interesting quote that people make the place. After moving to Philly, then DC, then Taipei, then back to DC, I wholeheartedly believe in the quote. After meeting so many people (and saying so many goodbyes) throughout Taiwan and Southeast Asia, I came back with a greater appreciation for all the friendships I’ve been fortunate to have over the past six years. And it’s not just close friends that I’m thankful for. Other friends, colleagues, activity partners, acquaintances, and even just folks that I’ve met once but have since forgotten, each individual has shaped my life in each city.

My health. Earlier this year my grandma passed away. And it was by far the most unexpected event that happened in my life this year. Her death was the first I’ve experienced among my immediately family, and was a powerful reminder that life is fleeting. As a twenty-something, I think I sometimes take for granted my health and youthfulness. I’m thankful that aside from poor eyesight and a deaf ear, I’m in good health.

While these are the top points that came to mind, about a year and a half ago I started keeping a log of three good things that happened for me that day. As this article argues, cultivating gratitude raises overall life satisfaction and helps foster a positive outlook. Although from time to time I’ve lapsed entries, the point of the exercise is to be more mindful of the positive things in our life. Try out the exercise for a week and see how you feel afterwards. Hope it makes you more aware of how great of a life you have!

Taking the Plunge: A Year Later

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It’s hard to believe that it’s been exactly one year to the day that I took the plunge into uncertainty. I had recently quit my job, had moved back to LA, and was gearing up for a nine-month sojourn in Taiwan before returning to grad school. I had no idea what I was doing. Some supported my decision and called it brave, while  others called it selfish and reckless. Regardless, the decision to leave had passed. I had made my bed, and it was now time to lie in it.

A year later, and I’m amazed at how much my plans changed. I never stayed in Taiwan for nine months. I studied for a semester, then briefly traveled around Southeast Asia before returning back to the States. I deferred (then declined) my offer for grad school; instead, I found a career with a great company working on some really cool projects.

If there’s one thing that I’ve learned from this past year of uncertainty, it’s this: JUST DO IT!

Quit thinking so much. Just do it.

Obviously, easier said than done. As a researcher, I tend to think a lot – in some cases, way too much. Moreover, as someone who has a low tolerance for risk, thinking through possible consequences is just a logical part of the process of decision making. To the point that thinking about something feels more important than doing something about it. The issue, however, is of course that we get into analysis paralysis. You know, that feeling where you’ve spent weeks (or months, or even years) thinking about doing something, without ever having done anything at all. This has got to stop. I’m serious!

The Just Do It Test

Over the course of the year, I’ve developed implicitly a quick test to help me in all my decision making. It’s really simple actually. I just ask these three questions:

  1. What do I want to do? (i.e., specific objective)
  2. Why do I want to do it? (i.e., commitment assessment)
  3. What will it take to do it? (i.e., resource allocation)

It’s my own way of thinking whether something is worthwhile to pursue. While there’s nothing earth shattering about each question, the difference I think is that I always impose a time limit to consider these questions. For me, that time limit is one season.

Especially for really drastic changes, such as quitting one’s job, embarking on a new venture, or other endeavor, I think a full 90 days provides more than enough time to really assess the pros and cons of any major decision. If after three months the answers to these questions change, I either drop the plan and cut losses, or head back to the drawing board to consider alternatives. Some might find a full season too much or too little time, but that duration is reflective of my own personal tolerance for risk.

So there you go. Those questions are what helped me to really get through this year of uncertainty. It helped me decide not to stay in Taiwan, to travel around Southeast Asia, to move back to DC, to not go to grad school, to find a career, etc.

I’d love to learn about what are the critical pieces you consider whenever you need to make a critical juncture!

 

Goal Reviews: Q3 ’12

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Can’t believe it’s already autumn! A new season means it’s time for another update on how I’m progressing along my goals for the year. This whole experiment in publicly sharing my goals has taught me several things: focus on a tackling a few rather than many goals, consistency is better than extended periods of non-action, and goals should be clearly defined. I’ll likely expand on my learnings in a year-end wrap up. For now, it’s back to another quarter of getting things done.

In Progress

Learn to code

When I made this commitment, my goals were pretty vague. Now that I’ve worked on (sporadically) learning to code, I’ve realized one thing: learning to code (like learning anything else) is an ongoing process. It will never end. With coding, the more I learn, the more I realize how much I don’t know, and the more daunting the task of creating something seems to be. Regardless, here is where I stack up on my coding goals:

  1. Finish up LPTHW – done. Currently working through the exercises on Google’s Python Course.
  2. Create a PRD – working on it.
  3. Submit an entry on Kaggle & Complete each Machine Learning assignment – on back burner. Shortly after working on the intro competition on Kaggle and the first assignment for the ML course, I realized my Python skills were nowhere near functional to do these.

Run a half-marathon

In July I made a bet with myself: if I trained for a whole month, I’d pay the ~$100 for the Philly Half. Three weeks after starting, I stopped. By Labor Day, it had been over a month since I last ran. Considering that running a half was a goal I’ve had since 2011, I found this behavior unacceptable. Time to stop procrastinating. After logging on to register, to my luck, the race had just sold out earlier that day! Since a couple of my friends were planning to run the race this year, I was a bit bummed that I couldn’t join them. Despite this, I’ve finally registered for a race. I’ll be running the Gar Williams Half Marathon. Now that I’m registered, there’s no turning back!

Past the TOCFL Master or HSK Level 5 

I haven’t opened my Chinese books in several months. However, I’ve just registered for the HSK 4 Test in November. Hope I can squeeze some time in to refresh my memory and actually start studying for this!

Blog at least once a week

I averaged about two per month this summer. Check.

Go to mass once a month

So far so good. Haven’t gone this month, but plan to next week!

Completed

  • Get into grad school
  • Get a policy or IR-related job, preferably in DC.

No Longer a Goal

  • Get published in an academic journal

Project Tech Update #1

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It’s been six weeks since I introduced Project Tech, and it’s time for an update! I had three goals last time:

  1. Complete the HTML, CSS, and JS lessons on Code Academy
  2. Complete Zed Shaw’s “Learn Python the Hard Way” Course
  3. Get started on building something

Here’s how I stacked up:

  1. Complete! I finished all the HTML, CSS, and JS lessons on Code Academy, two weeks before my self-imposed goal deadline by the end of July.
  2. Incomplete. LPTHW is a self-paced course comprised of 52-lessons. I’ve completed 18/52.
  3. Incomplete. I’ve considered some ideas, but ideas are meaningless until they’ve been executed on.

Remarks:

  • The more specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, and timely (SMART) your goals are, the more likely they’ll be completed. Completing CA was certainly doable within the time allotted, but not for LPTHW. It’s far easier to slack off if the goals are less specific.
  • It’s better to try than to not try at all. I began this summer cultivating a habit of waking up an hour earlier than usual to work on Project Tech. After about six weeks, my habits lapsed. An additional hour of sleep won the battle. Rather than giving up though, I’ve continued plugging away whenever I can – usually on the weekends.
  • It’s easier to publicize ambitions than on what was actually accomplished. I’ve never really liked publicizing my endeavors, mostly because I disliked the pressure that comes from public accountability. Succeeding publicly is great, but failing publicly isn’t. However, through StartingBloc, I’m slowly warming up to the power of public accountability.

Goals for Next Month:

  • Finish up LPTHW by 9/30.
  • Submit an entry on Kaggle by 9/15.
  • Create a one-page brief of my idea by 8/31.
  • Complete each Machine Learning course assignment before the weekly Monday deadline.

Closing Thoughts:

The problem with having so many interests is that, at least for me, it’s difficult to prioritize. I recently signed up for Stanford’s 10-week Machine Learning course, and am trying to get started on submitting an entry for some competitions on Kaggle. Both of these activities are related to my interests in technology, but they’re taking away time from completing my Project Tech goals. I’ve always believed it’s a bad idea to bite off more than you can chew, but isn’t this how we learn what our limits are? I’d like to get your thoughts. How do you prioritize what you do, when there are so many interesting things to work on?