How do I make my mark?
8 comments
Self-plug:
I gave a Toastmasters speech on this topic titled "I Don't Want to Change the World" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jkct9OcTKRI
Changing the world is overrated. It puts an incredible amount of pressure on you and may take you in a direction you don't want to go. Do what interests you.
(There may be irony in this advice)
I gave a Toastmasters speech on this topic titled "I Don't Want to Change the World" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jkct9OcTKRI
Changing the world is overrated. It puts an incredible amount of pressure on you and may take you in a direction you don't want to go. Do what interests you.
(There may be irony in this advice)
"Does anyone else ever feel like this?"
Yes, lots of people to varying degrees. Start by scratching an itch and have laser focus on this singular issue. The market rewards value.
Have a story to tell and work towards positioning yourself as a leader in a field.
Yes, lots of people to varying degrees. Start by scratching an itch and have laser focus on this singular issue. The market rewards value.
Have a story to tell and work towards positioning yourself as a leader in a field.
In my teens, I had a boatload of academic awards. There was a lot of social expectation (pressure) in terms of me Being Somebody Someday. I passed on a status-y scholarship, dropped out of college, and did the wife and homemaker thing for a couple of decades.
As a teen, I fixed my dad's back. He had been bedridden for short periods about every other year due to his back problems. When I was 17, he was so bad, for the first time ever he was unable to make it to the bathroom a few feet from his bed. They got him a bedpan. I spent 2 weeks using intensive gymnastics stretching techniques to get him back in normal range of motion, modified the doctor prescribed exercise sheet, and spent 6 months doing daily massage. He threw out the "corrective shoes" they had prescribed. His back problems never came back.
With that experience, I seriously considered going in to medicine. At 17, while filling out my college applications, I had two majors I was considering: Physical Therapy or Geology. I interviewed an actual physical therapist and discovered it wasn't what I was envisioning. So I put down Geology for my desired major.
Years later, I enrolled in an environmental studies program. In many colleges, such programs grew out of the Geology department or something closely related. And then I had a major health crisis and spent a year at death's door. Doctor's told me "People like you don't get well". I've been getting well for some time now -- which I don't think would be possible had I gotten some kind of medical degree because I would have the same training and thinking of the people who claim I can't get well.
So, I've done something pretty amazing. And it mostly isn't welcome news in online communities for folks with my condition. I get accused of being a liar, a charlatan and a snake-oil salesman.
I don't know if I want to Make My Mark. I don't feel I have anything to prove to anyone. I didn't get well to impress anyone. There is apparently no money in trying to help others who are suffering horribly and dying. There is not only no money but I get routinely kicked in the teeth and very few people are at all interested, so all this crap isn't even accomplishing anything. So I spend a lot of time wondering if I should bother to keep trying to find a way to more effectively share information about how I got well or if I should just leave these hostile people to their dire fate while I go off to make money rather than my mark.
I don't have any answers. I wish you well in your journey.
As a teen, I fixed my dad's back. He had been bedridden for short periods about every other year due to his back problems. When I was 17, he was so bad, for the first time ever he was unable to make it to the bathroom a few feet from his bed. They got him a bedpan. I spent 2 weeks using intensive gymnastics stretching techniques to get him back in normal range of motion, modified the doctor prescribed exercise sheet, and spent 6 months doing daily massage. He threw out the "corrective shoes" they had prescribed. His back problems never came back.
With that experience, I seriously considered going in to medicine. At 17, while filling out my college applications, I had two majors I was considering: Physical Therapy or Geology. I interviewed an actual physical therapist and discovered it wasn't what I was envisioning. So I put down Geology for my desired major.
Years later, I enrolled in an environmental studies program. In many colleges, such programs grew out of the Geology department or something closely related. And then I had a major health crisis and spent a year at death's door. Doctor's told me "People like you don't get well". I've been getting well for some time now -- which I don't think would be possible had I gotten some kind of medical degree because I would have the same training and thinking of the people who claim I can't get well.
So, I've done something pretty amazing. And it mostly isn't welcome news in online communities for folks with my condition. I get accused of being a liar, a charlatan and a snake-oil salesman.
I don't know if I want to Make My Mark. I don't feel I have anything to prove to anyone. I didn't get well to impress anyone. There is apparently no money in trying to help others who are suffering horribly and dying. There is not only no money but I get routinely kicked in the teeth and very few people are at all interested, so all this crap isn't even accomplishing anything. So I spend a lot of time wondering if I should bother to keep trying to find a way to more effectively share information about how I got well or if I should just leave these hostile people to their dire fate while I go off to make money rather than my mark.
I don't have any answers. I wish you well in your journey.
I'd ask the question: do you want to do something important/big, or do you want to be famous? There's a difference.
I think we all feel this way sometimes. After a good event or conference, I can be all pumped up. Call it an event high fructose corn syrup high. The key is having a purpose - working towards it - on and off, all your life - you all know what you are good at. Some of you are excellent communicators, hackers, designers. Some of you don't know yet. That is fine.
All of us change the world. Some of us have a bigger platform to do so. All of us can make a bigger platform for ourselves. Fame, wealth, personal power are all ways to increase our platform. But the best way to increase our platform is to encourage and inspire others, to bring together people, to build a community.
For example, do you want to speak at Ted? It's simple but not easy. Become one of the best in the world in your particular field. You can have a much more direct impact by simply taking time to volunteer with those who don't have the skills you take for granted. That's a cliche. But a lot of people don't have your skills and you might be able to work in symbiotic fashion. Similarly, you can ask other people who have the experience, connections, skills for help. People love to help. In fact, it is a psychological conflict that asking someone 'higher' than you for help makes you look better than if you were try to do something for the person higher (asking a favor vs doing something for them).
As software developers, as another HN commenter said, we have unprecedented access to power to affect the world, to grab a bit of its attention. Most of us can or know someone who can create a website/app that can be scaled up to be used by thousands of people, within hours of its genesis.
Aim for being the local maximum. Be the guy or girl who co-organizes events, throws parties, brings people together. It is very hard to be the global maximum (that is like POTUS - President of the United States). It is definitely attainable to be one of the local maximums (leader, board member, advisor).
It is very hard statistically and numerically speaking to be a Mark Zuckerberg or a Jay-Z. They are literally one in hundreds of millions or one of a billion. But you can affect the world around you, in a positive feedback cycle. Stop fearing what you fear and do it. Keep the motivation going (take it with a grain of salt, particularly the self-help blogs/podcasts - realize that not everything is sunny-side up all the time), listen to Ted videos, Charlie Rose (rocks).
For more inspiration of the entrepreneurial kind, check out Stanford's mother lode of entrepreneur lectures and interviews:
http://ecorner.stanford.edu
All of us change the world. Some of us have a bigger platform to do so. All of us can make a bigger platform for ourselves. Fame, wealth, personal power are all ways to increase our platform. But the best way to increase our platform is to encourage and inspire others, to bring together people, to build a community.
For example, do you want to speak at Ted? It's simple but not easy. Become one of the best in the world in your particular field. You can have a much more direct impact by simply taking time to volunteer with those who don't have the skills you take for granted. That's a cliche. But a lot of people don't have your skills and you might be able to work in symbiotic fashion. Similarly, you can ask other people who have the experience, connections, skills for help. People love to help. In fact, it is a psychological conflict that asking someone 'higher' than you for help makes you look better than if you were try to do something for the person higher (asking a favor vs doing something for them).
As software developers, as another HN commenter said, we have unprecedented access to power to affect the world, to grab a bit of its attention. Most of us can or know someone who can create a website/app that can be scaled up to be used by thousands of people, within hours of its genesis.
Aim for being the local maximum. Be the guy or girl who co-organizes events, throws parties, brings people together. It is very hard to be the global maximum (that is like POTUS - President of the United States). It is definitely attainable to be one of the local maximums (leader, board member, advisor).
It is very hard statistically and numerically speaking to be a Mark Zuckerberg or a Jay-Z. They are literally one in hundreds of millions or one of a billion. But you can affect the world around you, in a positive feedback cycle. Stop fearing what you fear and do it. Keep the motivation going (take it with a grain of salt, particularly the self-help blogs/podcasts - realize that not everything is sunny-side up all the time), listen to Ted videos, Charlie Rose (rocks).
For more inspiration of the entrepreneurial kind, check out Stanford's mother lode of entrepreneur lectures and interviews:
http://ecorner.stanford.edu
Yes, that's part of why I just posted about how I need a cofounder to start a company, lol. I didn't watch the Jay-Z interview, but I'm going to check it out, thanks for the post.
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I want to state something to the HN community who I think shares the same interest in people who inspire and break ground in almost anything they do.
I watched the Charlie Rose interview with Jay-Z yesterday (http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/1211). If you like rap or not you've got to hand it this guy. He started selling crack then became one of the most successful rap artist/entrepreneurs in history. I just can't get enough of these life stories. Game Changers (http://www.bloomberg.com/tv/shows/game-changers/) is another show on Bloomberg which has had episodes about Steve Jobs, Larry Ellison, the Google founders, and Mark Zuckerberg.
Now each time I see these inspirational stories I feel amazing! I feel great for them and I think its a reflection on all of us, of who we are as a species. Humanity is capable of amazing things and its successes are a celebration of life. We should all share in these inspirational stories as if they were our own.
On the flip side, I also yearn to be an inspirational story to others. I often ask myself, 'How can I change the world?' How can I make my mark? The feelings to do so are so strong in me that it makes me sad that life might pass me by without ever doing so.
Does anyone else ever feel like this?