A letter to the future

Dear Future Sam….

I hope this letter finds you well. My name is Sam, and I’m a student who is extremely interested in entrepreneurship, unmanned aerial vehicles and making a difference in the lives of everyday people. The year is 2016 which means I will be graduating soon, but I am still unsure of what I want to do in the long term. I am currently working on a startup which aims to improve the lives of everyday people by helping them stay connected. I am writing to you today to make sure that the lessons I’ve learned today stick with me into the future.

Technology and Art go hand in hand

I’m not sure if you are still pursuing a path of just technology because I know you were in the past. But consider including art in your pursuits.

John Lasseter’s debut was Toy Story, perhaps the most iconic film of your childhood. Learn to incorporate different elements of art in your work, even if no practical purpose is fulfilled. Technology and Art currently seem like two ends of a spectrum, but I think that being able to take elements from both sides can really lead to improvement in both.

Learn fast, execute faster

Never stop learning, Sam! There is so much more to explore and new ways to do what you’ve already been doing. Don’t be afraid to upgrade to newer forms of technology. The greatest danger is being too stubborn to adopt a newer and better technology. And certainly take learning seriously. Learning without practicing what you’ve learned is useless. Take what you learned, and use it in areas that matter. Do this fast, and you’ll be ahead of the curve. If you are unsure that what you have is reliable enough, remember General George Patton’s words:

“A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week.”

Try on some different shoes

Become someone else for a day. Adopt different perspectives and meet people who you don’t normally interact with. People matter more than anything else. The best way to understand life and its problems and pains is to understand people and their cultures. There are millions of different shoes to try on, so make sure you visit lots of stores! Try pretending to be someone living on the frontlines of a multi-nation war for a day. The next day, pretend to be Elon Musk.

I would really appreciate being able to grab a coffee with you sometime to catch up. Its been a while. If you finally completed building your time machine, feel free to come meet me at the Starbucks near MIT this Saturday at 2pm.

Take care.

Sam is a student at MIT studying Aerospace Engineering. He’s a co-founder of Fireflies and he’s excited about the future of AI in applications like messaging platforms and unmanned aerial vehicles.