The Art of Ass-Kicking

Why You Shouldn’t Worship Your Heros

by Jason on January 27, 2012 in Essays with No comments

(One of my favorite gymnasts to watch, David Durante (2007 US National Champion & World Championship Team member) on the high bar)

I want to talk today about hero worship and why you shouldn’t do it.

Back when I was training gymnastics seriously, before college even, I was invited several times to the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, CO as part of a week-long training camp.

There I was, along side a bunch of other impressionable teenagers, training with some of the best gymnasts in the country (and the world). I’d seen these guys on TV, when NBC would broadcast the US Championships (where I would later make my brief one-time cameo on national television) and the Olympics. I was ready to be blown away.

But after training with these guys for a week, I realized something:

My heroes weren’t really that special

They still struggled to learn new moves. Messed up and got mad at themselves. Nursed injuries. Argued with their coach. Even slacked off and fooled around sometimes.

Just like I did.

The biggest difference between us was the intensity of their training and their all encompassing dedication to the sport (living and breathing the sport at this training facility in the middle of nowhere for years and years). Of course there were some components of natural ability (a sense of air awareness or an ease with developing great strength) but other than that, my heros were pretty much like me and every other gymnast I knew.

I’ve taken that lesson to other areas in my life.

We got to meet some amazing people in going through Y Combinator but I don’t get too hung up about it. I learn what I can from them and move on. There’s no need to assign them some mythical wisdom or god-like abilities that you can never reach.

My perspective now is that with focused dedication, deliberate practice and good advice/strategy/coaching, you can, over time, get really really good at anything. Maybe even into the 90th percentile. The last 10% is out of your hands – good genes, an early start, an exceptional mentor.

So don’t sweat it. And stop worshipping your heros.

Skier? Snowboard? Excited about the potential snow coming down to Tahoe? Why not share a ride to the slopes on Ridejoy!

How to be Relentlessly Resourceful [a practical guide]

by Jason on January 19, 2012 in Essays with 7 Comments

Relentlessly resourceful.

This is the essential quality of a good startup founder according to Paul Graham, cofounder of Y Combinator. When asked by Forbes what he looks for in founders, four out of the five elements relate to resourcefulness. He’s written two essays (Relentlessly Resourceful & A Word to the Resourceful) dedicated to the concept.

And yet people don’t seem to really understand what being resourceful means. The top comment on HN from his most recent post posed this question:

Yes, there are certain skills that make it easier to find information on your own. But this is also a function of the problem domain and how well you know it. If you give me a credit card and a problem statement, chances are that I can come up with a working webapp that solves the problem.

But if you give me the name of a VC and tell me to go raise money – where do I start? How do I approach him? What will burn bridges and what won’t? (emphasis added)

Some great HNers jumped in to answer that question, but I thought I’d take a crack a laying out, in full, what I believe being resourceful looks like and how someone can act with more relentless resourcefulness.

A note on credentials: you might be asking who the hell do I think I am to write such a post. Fair question. I’m just a guy with something to say.

All I know is that relentless resourcefulness is what’s helped me co-found a startup & get into YC, land on the front page of the SF Chronicle, build a blog that was read by nearly 100,000 people in 2011 and win an NCAA national championship. Take all this advice with a grain of salt.

Let’s start by talking about the two types of resourcefulness: internal and external.

Internal resourcefulness is really just creativity. It’s figuring out how to fit a cube into a cylinder on Apollo 13 or resolving that nasty bug in your code. You might benefit from the advice or perspective of others, but the resources you need to solve the problem are generally within your grasp (or inside your brain).

External resourcefulness is when you need resources that are outside your control. Things like seed capital for your startup, a liquor license for your bar, a distribution channel for your new product. You will likely need to interact with other people / entities to GET the resources you need to address your problem.

This post focuses more on that external resourcefulness because I think in someways it’s more open ended and confusing and academically/technically intelligent people often struggle to be externally resourceful.

Prerequisites

Before we begin, I think there are fundamental underlying conditions needed before someone can really be relentlessly resourceful.

Willingness to Endure Discomfort

I originally wanted to call this guts or courage but it’s much more than this. It’s being willing to talk to people you feel you have no business saying, ask for more than you feel wise and do work you might not like or feel competent in. If you can’t or are unwilling to endure rejection, embarrassment, uncertainty, fear or failure, just close the window now because it’s not happening.

Communication Skills

You don’t need to be a world-class public speaker or best-selling author to be resourceful, but you need to have some threshold ability to communicate ideas clearly and persuasively to relevant audiences. This is definitely a skill you can develop – start a blog, join toastmasters, study copywriting, learn how to sell. If people struggle to understand you or are never convinced to do something you suggest, it’s going to be really rough going.

Grit/Not Quitting

Researchers at UPenn have found that grit (perseverance and passion for long-term goals) is a better predictor for success over IQ or conscientiousness. What you should draw from this is that you should have long term goals you are really really determined to achieve. Because you will face a lot of setbacks during the journey – so don’t start unless you have the bullheaded tenacity to finish.

The Formula

Alright, now that we’ve gotten that out of the way… here are the 3 things you do to be relentlessly resourceful. Continue reading →

Skier? Snowboard? Excited about the potential snow coming down to Tahoe? Why not share a ride to the slopes on Ridejoy!

How to Build a Viral Microsite

by Jason on January 18, 2012 in Essays with 1 Comment

I’ve been thinking about viral microsites (aka Single Serving Sites) for a little while and in doing research for this post, stumbled across the very thorough and well written paper by Ryan Greenberg: http://isthisyourpaperonsingleservingsites.com/

Quick definition from Ryan: a viral microsite typically has 1) a dedicated URL 2) a narrowly defined message/purpose and 3) that purpose/message is expressed through a single webpage.

Rather than give an academic treatment (which Ryan’s thesis does superbly) I want to discuss some of the characteristics of popular microsites that I’ve come across over the years (and see if I can maybe apply them!)

Clean, Focused Layout

I think the primary element of great microsites are their focus. You need to immediately grasp the purpose of the site when it loads or else you’re gone. Great sites that do this:

isthemanburningyet.com
A basic status site that answers the question posed in the URL. Very similar to isitichristmasyet.com and shouldiusetablesforlayout.com)

nooooooooooooooo.com
When you hit the button, the anguished scream of Darth Vader comes forth from the screen. If that wasn’t obvious.

pleasemaketheiphoneweatherapplicationlocationaware.com
I’m not sure if this site actually played a role in the new iOS feature, but the site creator did provide a helpful mockup back in the day.

CAPS, Gigantic Font and Profanity

You’ll notice that a lot of the more popular sites a mix of large font, caps lock and profanity to state their messages. It sort of feels like the site is shouting at you. Yet somehow, this makes the site more appealing. There’s a feeling of naughtiness as you share the site on your social networks. Certain sites that do this:

barackobamaisyournewbicycle.com
One of the biggest memes to hit the internet in 2008 – it’s got a humongous typeface, spawned numerous copy cat sites and its cutesy lines that proved so popular they made a book with them.

Continue reading →

Skier? Snowboard? Excited about the potential snow coming down to Tahoe? Why not share a ride to the slopes on Ridejoy!

The Real Reason Why New Years Resolutions Matter

by Jason on January 10, 2012 in Essays with 2 Comments

This is a post about why new years resolutions matter. But it begins on a seemingly unrelated topic: death.

Death is not an easy subject for discussion. Given how much violence we encounter in movies, television, video games and other mass media, you’d think our society would be open to more frank conversations on death. And yet try to begin a serious conversation with someone about the fact that all of us will one day no longer be alive and you’ll quickly encounter resistance:

“Let’s discuss something a little more light hearted,” or maybe, “Geez, do you have to be so morbid?”

Perhaps the only times when discussing death is not frowned upon is at funerals and intensive care units, where its presence is so strong and near that it becomes impossible to ignore.

Why should this be so? After all, if you going were on a trip, wouldn’t you talk about the final stop with the other passengers? Our lives’ ultimate destination is death – it is the inevitability we all share.

Everyone you know – your friends, family, coworkers, customers will eventually die. Like candles, they will burn through their wick and their flames will be extinguished. Some will die by accidents, others by illness, most simply by old age. But eventually, all will be taken.

[This is going somewhere, I promise.]

The practice of pledging to change behavior during a new year is an old one. Historians believe civilizations as ancient as the Babylonians in 2000 BC began reforming their lives by returning borrowed goods and paying back debts. In Roman times, citizens would make promises of good conduct to the God of Janus (where January gets its namesake). Today, somewhere between 40%-50% of Americans say they will be making a new years resolution.

Continue reading →

Skier? Snowboard? Excited about the potential snow coming down to Tahoe? Why not share a ride to the slopes on Ridejoy!

The most difficult is the easiest [quote]

by Jason on January 10, 2012 in quote with 6 Comments

“In this age, which believes that there is a short cut to everything, the greatest lesson to be learned is that the most difficult way is, in the long run, the easiest.”

Henry Miller, The Books in My Life

Skier? Snowboard? Excited about the potential snow coming down to Tahoe? Why not share a ride to the slopes on Ridejoy!

Why You Shouldn’t Worship Your Heros

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