TEDx: 12 Lessons About Life Before 30 (Part 3, Pursuits)
This is the third part of the series: 12 Lessons About Life Before 30, if you would like to read from the previous episodes, click here for the first episode, and here for the second.
About the Pursuits
#2 - Always Question Why
When we were young, 5 to 10 years old young, we questioned about everything. Why is the sky blue? Why do people need to sleep? Why should I go to school? We know the answers because we asked, we learnt about new things because we saw the logic behind them.
As we grow up, we ask less and less questions, perhaps because answers became much more complicated, perhaps we cared less about things, or perhaps in some culture (for instance in Asian culture), we were told asking questions is a form of challenge to the authority, or we were afraid of slowing the progress in a class by interrupting the teacher, or we even were afraid of asking stupid questions.
But are there actually stupid questions? Ain’t progress in humanity made all because of one person decided to challenge what was right, challenge the status quo to the authority? It is all because of that simple stupid question, we made assumptions and pursue with a series a trial and error, and eventually breakthrough at some point, to get to where we are today, from the philosophical debates, to all the scientific discoveries that impact our life every day.
It is also one of my core believe, to always question why. And this is the main reason why I started Snapask, to empower learners with the right tool and environment to learn by asking questions; ask anytime, and you will get an 1-on-1 instant help from people who have experience in that topic before. It might not be the best solution to solve all problems, or to guarantee some ingenious response that enlightens you on the next big invention, but it’s at least a start, a start of changing the way people learn, the way how we are all supposed to learn.
Always question why, everything begins with a question.
#3 - 20 Seconds of Insane Courage
“You know, sometimes all you need is 20 seconds of insane courage. Just literally 20 seconds of just embarrassing bravery. And I promise you, something great will come of it.” — We bought a zoo (2011)
We often times give ourselves excuses to defer on starting something. Some people blame it on laziness, but no, laziness is more on not being able to consistently follow-through, or maintaining a regular discipline on doing something. But I consider laziness less of a problem in most cases, with the right planning from the get-go to incentivise follow-through and completion, being lazy can sometimes even maximise efficiency. (but not necessarily quality of output, think about your college projects and dissertations)
Most people had failed before they even started, and the real reason is simple, you never start!
If there is something you believe is right for you and you always have felt the urge of doing it, do not wait until all the circumstances to be in place to start. Accept the unknowns and start to fill them in along the way.
Count to 20 and do it. You might not have a better chance later than now.
#4 - Do, or Do Not, There is No Try
Once you have chosen to start, write these 3 things down to constantly remind yourself:
- These are the reasons why I started
- These are my expected outcomes
- This is the amount of time I commit to invest in getting there
It is always important to define the reasons and expected outcome of doing something at the start, they are like the mission and reward in video games that drives your planning and every action in it. The more concrete the reasons are, and more quantifiable the outcomes are, the easier for oneself to be incentivised to continue and complete.
It is equally important to set a timeframe to your commitment, bigger missions require years, smaller ones may be weeks. Reason of having a time frame is not to force yourself to give up if the expected outcome does not come to fruition when time is up; having a time frame is for you to constantly review the feasibility of your action plan, by measuring your progress against time, and decide if you shall make changes to it. The longer you have been doing this, the better you are in planning and achieving your goals.
A good rule of thumb is to divide your timeframe to 25 percent each for short-period commitment, e.g. finish writing a book, learn how to play drums; and to 5-10 percent between reviews for longer term goals, e.g. start a career in software engineering, build a company.
The most important factor is, once you have committed, put your 200% effort to make it happen. No complaints, no retracts, no procrastinations.
“No, Try Not. Do, or Do Not, There is No Try” — Master Yoda, Empire Strikes Back (1980)
The next chapter will be about the successes and failures to the pursuits, and how one should due with them — Go to Part 4
