What I learnt from my 2016 on Medium
It’s almost one year I’ve been on Medium. I have to admit it, I’m in love with it. Medium became indeed one of my main sources to keep up with the tech scene, learn new things and discover great bloggers.
So. Here’s what I learnt so far.
About the startup world:
Startups are overdosing on ambition. These days, even a billion doesn’t seem to be enough:
I’ve probably sat in on eight unicorn presentations [recently], and five of them use the world ‘trillion.’ Now I don’t think I had heard the word trillion in an investor presentation before that day.”
This is something I feel myself. This year in particular, everything has been over-hyped. More and more companies are shutting down after gazillions of investments, products turn out to be fake (ask Theranos) and we hear about funding rounds of billions (ask Uber). Basically, the line between reality and bullshit is getting blurred.
Fuck reading a book a week. No one can read that fast. Let me repeat that -NO ONE CAN FUCKING READ THAT FAST.
I found this article hilarious. It made me realize that most of the things/habits/behaviors we are chasing and imitating are impossible to be achieved for the average human being. We’re not all Fortune-500 Ceos. We all have models and idols, but Social Media gave the opportunity to masses to act à la Gary Vee and build a personal brand that most of the time is just the glorification of an average reality.
We, the so-called millennials, witnessed in our relatively short life huge critical moments from the rise of the internet, the 2008 crisis, the websites, the apps and now the artificial intelligence.
This is why I love Zuck’s hacker motto: “Move fast and break things. if you’re not breaking things, you’re not moving fast enough”. (This is from an article I wrote. I’m not quoting myself because I think I’m Plato but because this article is something that came out of my beliefs.)
About starting a business:
Be Specific about the Value You Provide.
“When was the last time you woke up and said “Today I’m going to buy some software/consulting/services/apps/etc.? Seriously, when was it?
Say it out loud. Crystal clear explanations and valuable information. People don’t want to know how many lines of codes you wrote or listen to startup jargon. They only care about having their problems solved.
I can only compare starting a company to falling in love. You are totally and utterly consumed by your startup, you put everything into it, it’s your life and everything moves extremely quickly. You can invest so heavily into it that you inadvertently block out the other things in your life too. This could be your friends, family, relationships, social life, health or wellbeing. Your company means that much to you.
This taught me that succeeding always takes more time, more effort and more sacrifice than you can expect. No matter what, reality and expectations rarely match and you always feel that there’s something that can be improved.
About Design and Tech:
“The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones“.
Lately, I understood that if you’re doing something new, something ambitious, something that you feel only you got in that precise way, it will take a long time before everybody starts seeing what you see. To reduce this gap, be extremely open to feedback and listen to what people say about you and your product without any bias. Only then fruitful conversations will start.
Again, people, people, people. Listen, learn and ask the right questions. Focus on behaviors, dreams and feelings because this is what people are made of and what drives us all.
Good ol’ Steve.
About myself:
If you’re not getting shit done, it’s because on some level, you don’t want to. You just plain, simple don’t fucking want to.
This is something I experience when it’s 11 pm and I’m playing NBA on my mobile instead of getting pending work done. Yep, I have always many things pending, but hey, imma get the second ring with the Lakers bro 😎 😎
Be mean with yourself, pretend a lot and work your ass off, IF you feel it’s what you want. BUT be straight and honest as well, don’t lie to yourself and don’t pretend to live someone else’s life.
My envy grows large, my blood pressure goes up. I feel like I’m waking up in a heavy cloud; an agitated haze. Already on edge, and I haven’t even made toast yet.
Every single morning. This is a must read, quick article that taught me to “quit worrying about what everyone else is doing. Focus on how you’re helping people”. I think is crucial to support each other and to help the folks around you. Not volunteering or stuff you do just to feel better with yourself or show off. If you can do something for a friend or a pal you know, do it. If you’re surrounded by the right people, the ones you want around you in your life, everything will pay off.
Life isn’t about what you’ve accomplished, it’s about what you’ve overcome
Move your ass and do what you’re afraid of. Punch above your weight, they say. Right? And let me add this one from Twain: Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
Sic transit gloria mundi
Thus passes the glory of the world
A Latin phrase I’ve always loved, that I heard or read once again somewhere a few weeks back. It got stuck in my mind since then. These simple four words keep me grounded, make me think about what truly matters. So when I start thinking about goals and self-realization, how fast we’re going, how busy we are, how we stress ourselves for futile reasons, I feel that maybe sometimes we should just chill for a day and enjoy more the people, the places and the things around us.
