Independent thinking

Leaders are able to think independently. In particular, they are experts in taking others' words with a grain of salt. As human beings, we have a tendency to be influenced and guided by others' opinions, especially when the person making the opinion appears to be one who knows what he's talking about.

The conflict lies in the fact that as social beings, we want to be able to not only to listen to others, but value their words. However, if you value the words too much, you may just start acting on them. The right approach is to maintain a balance - appreciate the opinion, but still be selfish in judging and critiquing the opinion, regardless of how sensical or good-intentioned it may be.

Thinking under pressure

Challenging math problems are solved using a great deal of working memory, or "short-term" memory. Studies show that those who perform regularly with a higher degree of working memory are more susceptible to pressure because they rely on a working memory that has been crowded out by anxiety.

The solution to this is to either reduce reliance on working memory (higher reliance on automation or memorization) or become oblivious to pressure. Pressure seeps in through self-doubt and pessimism. Practice and familiarity can reduce the amount of self-doubt and reduce pressure, thus increasing thinking capacity in a high stress environment.

What smart people do: hold lots of information in short-term memory

Smart people have very active brains. That is, they're able to hold much more information in their short-term memory than non-smart people (however, that's not to say they have very good long-term memory... shockingly I've noticed that a lot of them don't).

I.e. today I started with the number 3 and kept taking the exponent (kept multiplying by 3), all in my head, until I just couldn't keep track anymore. A smart person would be able to go a lot higher, perhaps even going into 7 digits, which is my short-term goal.

Commitment Reminders and FWYDWYD syndrome

I've learned that whenever you commit to something difficult that involves a great deal of sacrifice, like quitting your job to found an internet startup, you need to constantly remind yourself why you chose your path. This is because, almost always, distractions come by and you lose track of your original motives, and these motives were what drove you to do what you did in the first place, and these motives will always be the strongest.

What I've learned is that the syndrome of forgetting why you're doing what you're doing (FWYDWYD) is all too common, and almost always it creeps up on you without you knowing. You don't just wake up one day and say to yourself "wow, I've forgotten why I'm doing this," FWYDWYD is a lot more dangerous than this. The symptoms are always indirect. You start losing energy, you start doubting more consistently, it becomes harder to pull yourself up in the morning, you feel stressed some days and you can't even explain it. These are symptoms of FWYDWYD and the only way to prevent and squelch them is to constantly remind yourself why you do what you do. As an entrepreneur, I've found the following useful ways to do this:

1) Reliving those days when I started my commitment. Includes reading emails I sent back then, reading articles I had read back then when I was first inspired, getting back in touch with people I was in touch with back then.

2) Writing and communicating the original motives to people. I've learned that whenever I put something into words for me to hear and see, the ideas behind those words liven up and take on new meaning internally.

3) Interact with others who currently have the same motive as you did back then. When I was in China for the Spring Festival, I had the chance to talk with a product developer at a Chinese internet startup. The energy he had and the forcefulness with which he articulated his vision reminded me of how I was like back then, and brought back a lot of fire.

I think that for anyone committing to something great, the fire is always greatest when just starting. And to go back to those days is essential fuel to ensure that the fire doesn't burn out.

What smart people do: thinking over new information

Smart people think a lot, or at least a great deal more than average people, about what's communicated to them, including what they read, what they see, and what the hear. When reading, hearing, and watching, they're constantly thinking if what they're witnessing is valid. They think about how the information can be used practically. They themselves are able to have a logically valid reaction to the information, or find holes and flaws in that information.

P.S. I'm not trying to make the claim that I'm actually smart (in fact, I think I'm very mediocre at best, or maybe a smart wannabe), or even define what being smart really is. This is just a casual series of observations I've made of people whom I personally believe are highly intelligent, including successful entrepeneurs and highly motivated field experts/researchers. Basically people who set high goals for themselves and have managed to achieve them with their brains.

Overachieving

Some thoughts of mine on Alexandra Robbin's recent article Confessions of a (Recovering) Overachiever featured in Forbes...

It may sound obvious, but it's very easy to denounce the over-achieving life when you yourself have gone through it. But to further explain... Robbins talks about the pressure to succeed. Most would agree that this pressure comes mainly from external factors like peer pressure. You want to succeed so you can look good to others, have something to feel good about. But it's cheap to cry out against the negatives of overachievement when you already have those trophies up to show people. It's so easy to live the easy, non-over-achieving life when you already have those safeguards in the arsenal that you can quickly pull out at anytime to show people that you've had great success in life, and thus make yourself feel better.

I also believe that it's easy to appreciate the easy life when you've gone through the pressured life. It's the old argument against "ignorance is bliss." Enlightened people are the only ones who know how to appreciate the so-called bliss that the ignorant ones are living. So I think one can make the alternative argument that if you've been living the easy way all your life, then you should give stress a try and push yourself to the limits, see how far you can go. I don't think you can fully enjoy doing what you love until you've experienced what it's like to do what you hate.

I know what Robbins is trying to do, and I appreciate her current life mission. I just feel that the other side to her argument should not be overlooked.

Relentless

Every year around nov/dec, millions of red crabs migrate to the beach where they hook up, breed, release their eggs into the ocean. Their migration can last up to 18 days. It's long, perilous, and spectacular. What impresses me the most, however, about their journey is the relentlessness. Along the way they get gobbled up by birds, squashed by cars, but they stay consistent on their path; i.e. after running across a road frogger-ing its way across, one of them will rest for a bit, collect its breath, and move on. Sure you can downplay all this by pointing at their frontal-loblessness, but even in the wild you'll see animals place their own survival above all; mothers will ditch their young (or even eat them) just to live on. But these guys will risk their own life & limb to extend their race, stopping at nothing.

burnout, persistence, character, and failure

by no means do i call myself an entrepeneur... and no chance of me making that call until success. but here's what i think about successful entrepreneurs... (disclaimer: take my words with a quarter-grain of salt)

if comedians are professional jokesters and
court lawyers are professional blabbermouths and
our president is a professional idiot then

an entrepreneur is a professional persister. why?
because all an entrepreneur has is a vision and time creates friction for visions. in other words... a vision fades over time. visions can be re-strengthened through reasoning and inspiration, while at the same time its demise can be sped up by failures, embarassments, and empty-handedness (otherwise known as burnout). but persistence is the fuel for reasoning & inspiration. persistence extends a vision, visions don't create persistence. when persistence doesn't keep up with burnout, the vision dies.

i think a lot of people make the mistake thinking that... well, as long as you really want it that badly, you won't give up. this might work in a short timeframe... but in the long haul there will always be a time when you don't want something as badly anymore. some distraction will pop up... you meet a girl (or guy) and boom your previous dreams go to dust and you run off into your world of romance only to find out a month later she turns lesbian and there you sit on your ass feeling like an ass wishing for your old vision back, but you've dashed it. okay maybe too extreme of an example... but hey shit happens, and what do you do during those times when you don't want something as bad anymore. what keeps bringing back the hunger? persistence.

where does persistence come from? character... and character is built from responses to experiences. sooo... what type of response to what kind of experiences. here's my shortlist of what i got so far...
- picking yourself up from deep, utter failures
- confronting & overcoming fears
- fight or flight situations where you fight

a lot of times i've noticed, ppl who are tough were forced into these situations in childhood. i always think of a friend of mine whose father was sent to five years in prison when we were kids. in that kind of situation, you either fight or flight. he fought through it, spent those five years comforting and taking care of his distraught mother, and i saw instantly in that period of time the transformation of a boy, my age, to a man. the guy is tough as nails now. people like that persist. and if he had only but a vision, he'd make a great entrepreneur.