Filed under: Lifestyle
Although Andrew Carnegie is long dead, his words still apply. I heed:
Everybody wants to preach to the young, and tell them to be good and they will be happy. I shall not enter far upon that field, but confine myself to presenting from a business man’s standpoint of view, a few rules, which, I believe, lie at the root of business success.
First–Never enter a bar-room. Do not drink liquor as a beverage. I will not paint the evil of drunkenness, or the moral crime; but I suggest to you that it is low and common to enter a bar-room, unworthy of any self-respecting man, and sure to fasten upon you a taint which will operate to your disadvantage in life, whether you ever become a drunkard or not.
Second–I wish young men would not use tobacco–not that it is morally wrong, except in so far as it is used in excess and injures health, which the medical faculty declares it does. But the use of tobacco requires young men to withdraw themselves from the society of women to indulge the habit. I think the absence of women from any assembly tends to lower the tone of that assembly. The habit of smoking tends to carry young men into the society of men whom it is not desirable that they should choose as their intimate associates. The practice of chewing tobacco was once common. Now it is considered offensive. I believe the race is soon to take another step forward, and that the coming man is to consider smoking as offensive as chewing was formally considered. As it is practically abandoned now, so I believe smoking will be.
Third–Having entered upon work, continue in that line of work. Fight it out on that line (except in extreme cases), for it matters little what avenue a young man finds first. Success can be attained in any branch of human labor. There is always room at the top in every pursuit. Concentrate all your thought and energy upon the performance of your duties. Put all your eggs into one basket and then watch that basket, do not scatter your shot. The man who is director in a half dozen railroads and three or four manufacturing companies, or who tries at one and the same time to work a farm, a factory, a line of street cars, a political party and a store, rarely amounts to much. He may be concerned in the management of more than one business enterprise, but they should all be of the one kind, which he understands. The great successes of life are made by concentration.
Fourth–Do not think a man has done his full duty when he has performed the work assigned him. A man will never rise if he does only this. Promotion comes from exceptional work. A man must discover where his employer’s interests can be served beyond the range of the special work allotted to him; and whenever he sees his employer’s interests suffer, or wherever the latter’s interests can be promoted, tell him so. Differ from your employers upon what you think his mistakes. You will never make much of a success if you do not learn the needs and opportunities of your own branch much better than your employer can possibly do. You have been told to “obey orders if you break owners.” Do no such foolish thing. If your employer starts upon a course which you think will prove injurious, tell him so, protest, give your reasons, and stand to them unless convinced you are wrong. It is the young man who does this, that capital wants for a partner or for a son-in-law.
Fifth–Whatever your wages are, save a little. Live within your means. The heads of stores, farms, banks, lawyers’ offices, physicians’ offices, insurance companies, mills and factories are not seeking capital; they are seeking brains and business habits. The man who saves a little from his income has given the surest indication of the qualities which every employer is seeking for.
Sixth–Never speculate. Never buy or sell grain or stocks upon a margin. If you have savings, invest them in solid securities, lands or property. The man who gambles upon the exchanges is in the condition of the man who gambles at the gaming table. He rarely, if ever, makes a permanent success. His judgment goes; his faculties are snapped; and his end, as a rule, is nervous prostration after an unworthy and useless life.
Seventh–If you ever enter business for yourself, never indorse for others. It is dishonest. All your resources and all your credit are the sacred property of the men who have trusted you; and until you have surplus cash and owe no man, it is dishonest to give your name as an indorser to others. Give the cash you can spare, if you wish, to help a friend. Your name is too sacred to give.
Do not make riches, but usefulness, your first aim; and let your chief pride be that your daily occupation is in the line of progress and development; that your work, in whatever capacity it may be, is useful work, honestly conducted, and as such ennobling to your life.
To sum up, do not drink, do not smoke, do not indorse, do not speculate. Concentrate, perform more than your prescribed duties; be strictly honest in word and deed. And may all who read these words be just as happy and prosperous and long lived as I wish them all to be. And let this great fact always cheer them: It is impossible for any one to be cheated out of an honorable career unless he cheats himself.
I chew on these words again: To sum up, do not drink, do not smoke, do not indorse, do not speculate. Concentrate, perform more than your prescribed duties; be strictly honest in word and deed. And may all who read these words be just as happy and prosperous and long lived as I wish them all to be. And let this great fact always cheer them: It is impossible for any one to be cheated out of an honorable career unless he cheats himself.
When my mind reemerges from the clouds, a string of phrases, images, and sound rapidly come to my head:
1. As my student enthusiastically said “Hi!” to me, and then a seagull flew above me. I thought: “It is the seagull that flew above my head, not a crow.”
2. I remember as I was in the sidelines of the football field, standing with the Marching Band in my high school, and cheering “GO! FIGHT! WIN!” as the football players began the game.
3. I remember that we are all here to work toward the same thing.
4. I like the Regenstein — the library fiercely hated by many of my classmates due to memories of the stressful nights from our 1st years — because in it, I am constantly reminded that I should work hard like the other University of Chicago students.
Filed under: Musings
I like this commentary about time (from Daisy Wong’s blog):
Jane Austen寫下的Pride and Prejudice、Sense and Sensibility，在文壇屹立了整整二百年，如無意外還會永恒地屹立下去。這一切的成就，Jane Austen都在四十二年的人生裏完成；莫扎特只活了三十五年，就創造出千秋萬世的音樂；耶穌三十歲開始傳道，三十三歲被釘十字架。三年，要做的話，三年就夠。說到底，世上又有多少個畢加索？九十一年的人生，大部分時間身體健康，跟很多女人生下很多孩子，有心有力。畢加索的長壽，讓他創作了大量作品，向世人展現了不同時期的風格。據說，他死的時候正在和朋友們嘻嘻哈哈吃晚飯，告別塵世前留下一句：「Drink to me, drink to my health, you know I can’t drink any more.」相比許多英年早逝的天才，狄娜六十五年的壽命也不算短了。有人說，假如她能多活幾年，一定能做得更多。我相信，世上沒有人不想擁有健康的身體，但要是你把時間拉長一點來看，在宇宙長河裏，六十年與一百年的壽命，還不是同樣一閃即逝？以叔本華的話來說，就是：「我們的生存，不過是在兩個永恆之間所佔據的無限短的一瞬。」而人們依然讓許多極其無聊的蠢事，去佔據這「無限短的一瞬」。真要命。（撰文：王迪詩／逢星期六刊於《信報》 http://world-of-daisy.blogspot.com/）
A couple days ago, I had a very interesting conversation with Maple; a conversation during which both of us were laughing so hard that at least I almost rolled down to the floor. What were we talking about? We were comparing our own version of a fairy tale, whose hero is ourselves. As all fairy tales do, our stories contain a moral. The moral is the proper attitude to have to walk the journey of life most fruitfully.
My story approximately goes like this:
Once upon a time, there lives a girl by the name of 王詠怡, who lives 1000 miles from the capital of the country. She read about a girl named Cinderella and wished that she could marry a prince as well. One day, the prince who lives in the capital (1000 miles from 王詠怡) issues an invitation to all eligible single girls in the kingdom to the Royal Ball. Now, 王詠怡 is not that hot. But we know that there are no ugly girls in this world, only lazy ones. But 王詠怡 doesn’t have $$$ to fancy up herself either. So her parents told her, “王詠怡, you have an uncle and aunt who live in the capital, you can go to the capital to find them; perhaps they can help you.”
Now, know that the capital is 1000 miles from where 王詠怡 lives. In this fairytale, there’s no high-speed railroad and the only viable transportation option is by foot. Walking 1000 miles to the capital would take a long time. 王詠怡 reasons that although one can never be sure what the future holds, if you don’t even take the first step, you will know for sure what future holds— nothing. So she took her first step on this 1000 miles journey.
王詠怡 continues to walk on this road, toward the general direction of the castle. She has been walking for days, and her shoes are beginning to wear out. Her feet are swollen and red. In this particular fairytale, water supply is also rare, so 王詠怡 has not been taken a bath for days and smells quite bad.
One day on the road, she sees a badly beaten up guy being left for dead on the side of the road. He was dressed in rags, and was so badly beaten — on the face especially — that he looks like a pig. He can barely see people as his face was so badly beaten. 王詠怡, being the kind girl that she is, helped this badly beaten guy bandage his wounds. Meanwhile, other passerby who are also heading to the Royal Ball ignore this guy for fear of being sullied by his dirt.
As this is an ADULT FAIRY TALE, which by definition means that SEX and BLOODSHED are essential elements in the story — 王詠怡 and this badly beaten up guy had a one-night stand after she finished bandaging his wounds. After that, 王詠怡 continues her journey to toward the capital.
Finally, 王詠怡 reached the capital. She found her uncle and auntie. But they refused to help her! The reason is that they also have a daughter who wants to marry the prince, so they have no extra money to spare to help 王詠怡!
Dejected and helpless, 王詠怡 thought, since I am here already, I have to at least see the prince! She knows that the chance of being picked among all the dressed-up and pretty girls is not high, but, she had already walked 1000 miles — now the issue is no longer about marrying the prince, but about doing the best she could do. The least she can do now, is to have thick skin and attend the ball — even in her current state, which is: hair is disheveled, shoes are worn out, feet is red and swollen, strong body odor since has not taken a bath for days.
On the night of the Royal Ball, thousands of pretty and well-dressed and well-made up girls gathered in the Royal Ballroom. It was so crowded that it’s hard to find a person amidst the crowd. This problem is especially serious for the PRINCE. The reason is that the Prince has swollen eyes and could not see very well. When he entered the ballroom, all the girls screamed and rushed toward him. But all the PRINCE could discern are shadows of people. He could not tell one from another. That is, UNTIL, he saw this ONE girl who is standing apart from everybody else.
This girl, is of course 王詠怡. Because 王詠怡 is so smelly, everybody stayed away from her. The PRINCE could distinguish 王詠怡 immediately from the rest of the girls because (1) 王詠怡 is all by herself in her own island. (2) a strong and strange odor emits from 王詠怡’s presence.
But to the PRINCE, the strong and strange odor feels like COMING HOME. It evokes familiarity. It reminds him of his grandmother’s chocolate chip cookies. He remembers this smell. He remembers that wonderful one-night stand in the middle of the road. 王詠怡 was the girl who saved him!
(backstory: it turned out that the PRINCE had a wicked stepmother, who conspired with a prince in another kingdom to murder this PRINCE. She contracted some hunters to beat him up and leave him on the road for dead. She didn’t expect that 王詠怡 would rescue him)
So the PRINCE immediately proposed to 王詠怡.
But that’s not the end of the story: The prince from the other kingdom who conspired with the wicked stepmother of the PRINCE happened to be in this ball also.
Now we know that, guys are competitive animals — when a girl is fought over, that girl would appear more attractive to other guys. Guys just like to fight with other guys for girls.
So this prince from another kingdom saw that 王詠怡 was being proposed by the PRINCE, so he too suddenly fell in love with 王詠怡. And he also proposed to 王詠怡.
This news was much touted in the tabloid US Weekly: 王詠怡 being proposed by 2 princes!
Suddenly, 王詠怡 seems all the more attractive to all the eligible princes in the world! And all of them travel far and wide to take a look at this “attractive” girl.
In the end, 王詠怡 married all the princes who proposed to her, and became the queen of the world.
The moral of this story? Life is like a box of chocolate, you never know what you will get. That’s why you should take the first step toward that direction, keep walking and find out.
Filed under: Musings
The thinly disguised main point in the previous post is motivation: specifically, where does it come from?
Now that I am in my 4th year of PhD studies, when asked by friends considering a PhD route, I would emphasize self discipline and concentration, in addition to the usual characteristics of passion for the subject and interest in research. Otherwise, get ready for a hazardous journey.
I used to be a pretty productive person. Friends in college remarked that I could complete many tasks at the same time. An example: senior year in college, I was finishing my thesis in 2 months in additional to finishing a newly added major (in Statistics) within 1 year. Another example: as I work in DC I was taking some difficulty math class and having a full time job at the same time and according to my bosses I work efficiently. But now I no longer can say that I can complete multiple tasks. That sense of accomplishment has long departed and rarely returned.
The main reason? Tasks are getting harder and harder than before. If you put me in a regular job, I believe I will be as productive and efficient as before. But being a grad student……ek…..that’s a different business.
Being a PhD student during the dissertation writing process is like owning your own business. (At least for economics, this is the case…..in science and engineer programs, for example, you work in a “team” so I believe in those fields the problem you work on is more clearly carved out for you…more like a job with a boss; that alone is hard enough) It’s easy to turn that into a in-home business too. You have to pitch your ideas to potential investors (professors on your committee). You will receive harsh questioning. Then you have to make the sale pitch.
But this is not just any business. Research takes a long time and many projects go down in flames on your even after you put in hard hours. Perhaps that’s similar to starting your own business too.
The worst part is that nobody will tell you what to do, and nobody gives you a deadline. You are truly on your own. Sometimes having a boss who assign you projects is actually comforting. You only need to specialize in the task of solving your boss’s task.
So where do you get the energy to wake up in the morning to do it, and not procrastinate, and when the project goes down in flames, to wake up in the next morning and do it all again (I am bad a this part)?
That energy, that fuel is your motivation.
Before I talk about WHERE, let me ask, WHAT is the motivation? A standard robotic answer is: “Because I want to get out of here.” or “Because I want to be a professor at a top 5 school” or “Because I want to receive accolades for my discovery”…….
But what I found, from my own process, is that those external motivations are very weak indeed. They do not withstand trials. I AM CLAIMING THAT CARROTS ARE MISGUIDED.
Outcomes are not GUARANTEED if you work everyday and work more than everybody else. But what you bought with your hard hours is an increase in probability of an outcome. And my claim is that that increase in probability of an outcome is of magnitude epsilon. Trivial even.
Motivations — the kind of motivations that gives you extra energy, the kind that drives you out of bed every morning to work harder than anybody else — come from within.
I still haven’t figured out how those true, come-from-within motivations come about. Does it come from a whim? Does it come from your own values? Does it come from cosmic intervention?
But all I know is this — that feeling of come-from-within motivation feels great!
I could choose to lounge on the boat and enjoy the sun and let the hours pass without making an effort; I could also choose to fish harder than anybody yet still likely not catch as many fish as other better fisherman.
That is the bifurcation in my choice of the life I want to lead. And while on that fishing boat, I chose the later, I am not certain of my choice in real life, because I still haven’t figured out where that come-from-within motivation come from.
At this time the suitable soundtrack to this post is Beatle’s “Long and Winding Road”
Filed under: Musings
As the boat engine slowed and the boat boy released the anchor, I grabbed a piece of the squid and secured it on the hook of my fishing rod as quickly as I could manage, and immediately rushed to my fishing spot on the boat and let down my fishing line. All these actions I completed with some urgency. I wanted to be one of the first on the boat to let down my bait.
So this happened on my fishing trip last Sunday. We left Long Beach harbor at 6am in the morning. This is the first time I went deep sea fishing without my father, who always take care of my fishing needs whenever we go fishing together. This time, I was the most “experienced” fisherwomen among the friends and aunt who went with me and I got to take care of myself, as well as others in some instances.
The captain announced at the beginning of the trip that the plan was to catch rock fish. In the first hour, people left and right of me were reeling in rock fish by the minute. I heard the boat boy calling out “ROCK FISH!” all the time. Even two of my friends, who had no fishing experience, each caught a rockfish. Yet for me, no bite, no fish.
Now, I understand the feeling of not catching any fish while others catch them. In my previous fishing trips with my Dad, I had experienced being the one person who didn’t catch any fish. I know what it’s like to go home empty-handed after 8 hours of fishing.
So on this fishing trip, I was prepared to go home empty-handed. I was keenly aware that even as my friends may have caught fish despite their lack of experience, I could be the one who go home empty-handed. With this mindset, I stared out to the horizon and enjoyed the sun. My mindset was: it’s okay that I don’t catch anything….what matters is that I get to soak up the sun and enjoy floating on the ocean. I was in a relaxed mode and was in no rush to be competitive.
There was a couple times when I felt the tremble of my fishing line possibly due to a fish taking my bait. But as I reeled the line in, yet again, no fish. I was doing something wrong. But I was relaxed and in no diligent mode.
Then I overheard a conversation between two men on the boat. One man said to another (who kept throwing his fishing line very far and reeling it in rapidly):
“You gotta keep your bait in the bottom to get ’em! They ain’t gonna fly onto the boat!”
I couldn’t help but mutter in response, “He’s right!” The logic appears simple: you got to keep your bait in the water to get any fish! Yes, but how many people are constantly reeling up the line to check if the bait is eaten? How many people are constantly walking back and forth to check out other people’s fish and exchange bait? To get any fish, you got to keep your bait down!
Suddenly, out of nowhere, I decided I must catch a fish.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, I wanted to catch a fish badly.
My father is a well known fisherman among all our acquaintances, how could his daughter be so useless? My grandmother had been a fisherwomen, how could her granddaughter catch nothing on a boat where almost everybody else was catching something (even a rock!) ?
I haven’t experienced this rush of determination to do something for awhile.
This determination channeled into due diligence — after some 2 hours on the boat, even as people are resting after fishing for so long, I labored on. In fact, I made sure I took swift actions in response to the captain’s instructions. When the captain said, it’s time to catch WHITEFISH, I immediately went to change my fishing hooks from the rockfish hooks to small hooks. When the boat was just about to anchor, I made sure I was one of the first to let down my bait. I eavesdropped on the fishermen next to me to see if I could learn anything about catching the fish. I mimicked the actions of the fishermen around me.
At that time, my thinking was: I don’t know if being hard-working helps in catching a fish at all, but I am going to be hardworking.
Gratifying enough, the hardwork appeared to be paying off. Soon enough I felt that a fish had taken the bait, and in those crucial seconds, I stopped myself from reeling in immediately, and instead waited a couple seconds before making a big movement that mimicked that of another fisherman. Then I reeled it in. I felt the weight on the line. I excitedly thought, this one’s gonna be big!!!!!
And when the fish was in sight at the surface, my heart sank.
It was not as big as I thought at all.
Furthermore, it wasn’t a Rockfish.
It was a White fish.
Still, the boat boy came toward where I stood, and yelled “WHITE FISH!” (he yelled whenever somebody catch something).
I caught this Whitefish before most people had let their lines down.
How did I feel? I thought, wow, the hard/heart work paid off. Although the size of the fish does not generate much excitement in my heart ( I had caught bigger ones), I actually felt a sense of fulfillment — and a slight surprise that hardwork actually pays off. I caught this fish with my heart and perspiration. It was not an accident. (Although it really was not big)
When did I allow the belief in the payoff of hardwork to elapse?
When I was on the plane flying back from Los Angeles to Chicago, I kept remembering that moment during the fishing trip when I turned from a layback non-caring fisherwoman to a motivated fisherwoman. I thought: what was it that suddenly made me so hardworking on that boat?
I know I am hardworking when I felt that drive to be the first to let my bait into the sea and to continue fishing when other people are resting. I was hardworking even knowing fully well that hardwork does not translate into a successful outcome. What was it?
This question is important to answer for me, because the last time I experienced that feeling of drive was back in college. It was an old feeling. Like an old friend, we are reacquainted again. Hello, old friend.
Whatever it was, and although the fish is not big, know this:
Out of the total 120 fish caught by the people on the boat that day, 70 were Rockfish, 40 were Red Snappers, 10 were Whitefish.
I caught one of those 10 Whitefish.
The next fish I have to catch — my dissertation.
Ps. The picture shown below is NOT the Whitefish I caught. This little one, my fishing hook automatically caught him without any effort on my part. And oh, he is a rockfish.
COFFEE & BISCUITS 