How I became a Google Expert and a Google Launchpad Mentor: I’m Just Paying My Rent
People keep asking me how I became a Google Expert in UX/UI and a Google Launchpad Mentor, and the quote from Muhammad Ali summed up all of my journey to become one:
Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth. -Muhammad Ali
Right now, I’m at Sheraton — Sunnyvale, CA. Starting on Monday, I’ll be mentoring 24 startups from around the world, for the second time, under Google Launchpad Accelerator program. You might be surprised, like most of the people that found out about this, that it’s a pro bono work. “You didn’t get any pay?” they asked. That’s the thing. Some of us ended up doing nothing useful to others because we always think “What’s in it for me?”
You are what you are now, because some strangers were willing to share their knowledge/experience with you, either directly or indirectly. Those articles, blog posts, tutorials, books, were made and written by people who spent extra time to do so. Maybe they got some money out of it, but I’m sure some of them didn’t, they only do it because they realize that life is about servicing others, helping others to become a better person.
“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future,” said Steve Jobs. If you make some of the dots a service to others, I’m sure great things will come to you in the future.
