October 2012
2 posts
Design Literacy
Wow, where have I been? It’s been quite a while.
I’d like to talk to you about something not enough people talk about in education.
That something is called “Design Literacy”.
Now I don’t define this term as detecting trends in fashion or what’s hot in tech industry. Design Literacy is very different.
Finding a problem and finding ways to solutions through...
January 2012
2 posts
Staying motivated
Sometimes, getting motivated is easy, STAYING motivated is another thing. If you keep doing the same thing over and over, you get the same results right? Not, exactly. Your passions are like growing plants, if you put attention to them daily, just even a little bit. They grow day by day for the world to see.
December 2011
5 posts
Learning
There’s always more to learn. When you think you’ve mastered something, you haven’t. Life is the in the journey, not the destination.
Logic can't always win
Sometimes, logic can’t necessarily win. I’ll tell you why: Socrates always believed that it is not the majority who is right, but the one who able to articulate logically why he or she is right. On a business perspective, this doesn’t always work. A reporter once asked Steve Jobs what was his market research for developing the iPad. His reply? “None” The iPad is...
Artists and scientists
We’re all artists and scientists of some nature. we create and then we find out how it’s done the best way.
November 2011
21 posts
Solving problems
I read an interesting article (I can’t remember where I found it) but it said that engineers can solve problems but they don’t know which problems to solve. I found that quite interesting. However I’m sure that there are some engineers that come across problems that they end up solving.
Smell the Roses
On our side of the planet, people are so rushed to do things. They’re not focused on the present. They are in a zombie mode state. More people just need to wake up and “smell the roses”
Waking Up Early
If you’re not a morning person, I’m sure can be if you want to. I used to be a night owl but now I enjoy the morning. I’ve been waking up around 6:30 recently but for me it’s nice to feel the calmness in the morning. I feel more alert and more in control and helps me get stuff I need to do done. So I totally recommend waking up early.
WatchPretty much sums it up. Share it.
Time and Money
You will have situations that people are going to need you. That’s when you got to learn to say no. The most valuable currency isn’t money, its time. Money will come and go, and you can always make more but with time once you spend it, it is gone forever. Choose wisely.
Creativity
It’s human nature for us to be creative. Everyone has it. From the clothes we wear, to how we think, to how we write and even how we talk with the words we choose. The real boldness of creativity is merging it with discipline. Once discipline is implemented. Nothing can stop you. One can’t live without the other.
What am I going to do with my life?
As for many college students, there come a time after we graduate and some of us say “Hey! What am I going to do with my life?”. I’m talking about us liberal-arts majors in specific. In order to get skills, you have to be open to new experiences. 1) Blogging is one good reason. It helps with writing and analytical skills and markets you as a person. (I just blog for the enjoyment...
Enough
There comes a point that you’ve had enough listening. Enough lectures, enough talks, enough interviews, to learn from. It’s time to and speed up that process. What you put in will make you learn so much about yourself and the experiences you have that no external advice can measure up to.
Design
I use to think that design didn’t matter when I was younger but now I realize that design does matter in terms of business, solving problems and for the joy of creativity and beauty for its own sake. Like the iCup for example, its solves the problem for people having cold travel mugs for the day. The solution is a design itself!
Perfection vs. Speed
I used to think speed is better than perfection because you can always make up for you mistakes later on, but I think getting things done right the first time is way better than speed. Look at Microsoft and Apple. Microsoft does things with speed. Every year they always come out with new software products with new features added on. Apple does release new products every year as well except they...
Why I blog
I blog because it’s like an online diary where I can share my thoughts. It doesn’t really matter to me if no one is reading my blog or a million people are reading my blog. It’s gives me a way to organize my thoughts and put them into words. It helps me with my writing skills and my communication skills. I suggest more people should do the same.
Giving up
Nothing worth having ever comes easy. There are times where you’re going to give up and talk yourself out of it. In the end if you don’t do what you really love, you already know what the alternative is. Basically, someone else is going to decide your future so don’t give up and do what you love.
Rigged
Sometimes I feel that our futures are rigged. We all want to do meaningful stuff but everyone doesn’t get too. Why is that? We go to school, then college and most people lead some pretty boring lives. Like the word work. Work sounds boring! By boring lives I mean just working in a cubicle or something similar to that where people just get told what to do by their bosses. The thing that most...
Book Review: Fixing The Game by Roger Martin
I have to say this was an amazing read. I honestly think every sports commissioner should read this book. It’s pretty recent, published in May 2011. Martin argues that the NFL has it right, and capitalism should be more like the NFL. The NFL focuses on the experience of the fans, Martin says that we should focus the same way to customers and not shareholders in today’s business world....
The Power of One
As I was handing in an assignment for school in one of my courses, I noticed that no one had put their assignment in front of my instructor’s desk yet. I wasn’t even the first one there who arrived in class. So I decided to try something. What would happen if I was the first to hand in my assignment by putting it on my instructors desk? Would anyone do anything? It turns out after the...
Doing
There hasn’t been a better time to do what you want. Now is your best shot. The resources you need are here. You can find ways to do them. There’s actually a small quote on the great Leo Bascaglia in a video that I once saw. He said God is going up to ask you at the gates when you die, not “Why didn’t you live a moral life” but he’ll ask you “Why...
Instructions
You can never have enough time. At some point you’ll just have to decide. The age is over where one can go to college and expect to be successful by just graduating. One must do something on their own, even if no one tells them too. This is where education in schools fail to teach. They’re great at giving instructions but not great at letting students to create or do things on their...
Facebook Design →
I just loved this design that Peter Knoll did. Too bad FB didn’t take his approach.
October 2011
11 posts
Fail
90% of what you is going to fail. Not some, not all but most. When you accept the fact, you can focus on making the best product you can. If that doesn’t work out, at least you have gained the wisdom of your experiences to work on the next project. Your wisdom builds through the next project, to the next project and so forth. You even notice that your projects will come about much faster...
I found this old clip of Steve Jobs receiving an...
Obsticles
Sometimes there are going to be things that are going to be in your way to do things. That’s ok. It happens. You just have to roll with the punches. Otherwise, if it that weren’t the case. Everyone would do it. It just wouldn’t be valuable then since everyone would do it.
Quality beats Efficiency
It’s better to put all of your attention to one thing at a time than a multiple of things. Even though people get think it’s efficient to multi-task, the quality of work drowns tremendously. It’s like saying you drive worse when you’re on your cell phone, which is true by the way. Quality beats efficiency all the time. If you do something once, you want to do it right the...
Finding the Right Cofounder.
People sometimes asks themselves “How do I know if I have the right cofounder?” Simple. Would you let that person stay with you for 5 years at your own home? If not, then you need to find someone else.
It’s based on intuition. If you don’t feel right with that person in the beginning. You’re not going to feel right with that person working together at all.
Excite
You can excite someone with any idea. As long as your demonstrate passion about it. That person will feel the change within you that you want to create. So do it up and see what happens. If you’re an A, then you want to hire someone who’s an A+. Design.Build.Watch.
People
If you don’t understand people, you can’t understand business. Life is all people. They are your best marketers and customers. All you have to do is create great products. It’s simple but not easy.
Roads
Ever since we start school we start by taking instructions and follow them. First from our parents, then by our teachers, then by our professors then by our bosses. If you follow your life like this, the game is obviously rigged. You can’t win. “The road less traveled is less traveled for a reason”. Because it’s hard! You can’t see where you’re going. You...
First Post
So I’ve decided to move my personal blog postings to this blog. I decided to leave Songcake for music related things and just in case Songcake doesn’t work out. I’ll still have this blog. I think why people should start a blog is because: -It’s like a journal for people to read, other people want to hear your thoughts too. You just have to find them and they have to find...
