Readings
2021-04 April Readings
12, The Manager’s Path: A Guide for Tech Leaders Navigating Growth and Change, by Camille Fournier
2021-03 March Readings
2021-02 February Readings
10, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, by Carol S. Dweck
I like this book because I find so much of myself in the book’s description about the fixed mindset. The fixed mindset means you believe intelligence is static and therefore leads to a desire to look smart. With this mindset, you tend to avoid challenges, get defensive or give up easily, see effort as fruitless or worse, ignore useful negative feedback and feel threatened by the success of others. You work hard to have achievements that would validate yourself worth and adopted identity. As a result, you may plateau early and achieve less than your full potential. On the contrary, the growth mindset means you believe intelligence can be developed and therefore leads to a desire to learn. You embrace challenges, persist in the face of setbacks, see effort as the path to mastery, learn from criticism, and find lessons and inspiration in the success of others. As a result, you reach ever-higher levels of achievement. I recall many years in middle school panicing before the mid-term or final exam, being afraid to lose the NO.1 rank so that people will laugh at me and call me a loser. In the end, I spent all my time studying for higher grades in class, missing many opportunities to learn outside of class. Even nowadays at work, I often find myself trapped in the fixed mindset. Facing engineering challenges, I focus too much on finding the solution without understanding it. In the short term, it saves me time; but in the long run, my personal growth is harmed. The author also introduced such concepts into how we praise kids correctly. If we praise them for their born intelligence, we are encouraging the fixed mindset. Instead, we should praise them for how much efforts they have put in, how they dealt with challenges, and other things that they can learn over time. That way, we are fostering the growth mindset in our youth.
The author also summarized a couple of questions to help develop a growth mindset: 1) What are the opportunities for learning and growth today? For myself? For the people around me? 2) As I think of opportunities and form a plan, I need to ask: When, where, and how will I embark on my plan? 3) As I encounter difficulties, I need to ask: When, where, and how will I act on my new plan? 4) And when you succeed, ask yourself: What do I have to do to maintain and continue the growth?
2021-01-25 January Readings
9, Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future, by Peter Thiel, Blake Masters
Some viewpoints that resonate me most include: 1) Avoid competition by innovation. Competition means many people or companies have similar skills or products and they have to fight for a small piece of a cake, while innovation can help you build something from zero to one where you have no competitors. 2) 80-20 rule. Focus on the 20% of the investments that can give you 80% return. Trying to diversify your portfolio too much is no better than gambling. 3)Your startup should always start from winning over a small market, because it’s easy to build differentiated products for a small market and you will also not face as much competition as in a big market. 4) Your product needs to be 10 times better than the exisiting solution in order to be successful. 5) Marketing marketing marketing, regardless how good your products are. Knowing how to sale your products to the right people using the right method is critical.
2020-12-29 December Readings
A good story about how to excel at the ordinary world: read and know your environment, think differently, and step out of your comfort zone.
Many years ago, my parents were living in a poor village and struggling financially at every single moment of their life. When I went to college and see how other people make a fortune by hands, I started to question my parents’ struggle — have they worked hard enough to bring us out of poverty? Now I found answers in this book: it is simply too challenging to climb out of poverty in their shoes. It requires lots of luck and wisdom, while my parents are just ordinary people without those. By the same token, it is hard to climb out of any social or financial cycles without luck and wisdom.
4, The Moon and Sixpence, by W. Somerset Maugham
Living in an ordinary world, a majority of people will choose the sixpence on the ground, while few will choose the bright moon high above. It is understandable that most of us need paychecks to pay bills, making it impractical to choose the moon over the sixpence. However, we can always think big, and think long, whenever we have a choice.
2020-11-27 November Readings
3, A Promised Land, by Barack Obama
Obama is extraordinarily good at making friends and gathering allies at work.
2, How Not to Be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking, by Jordan Ellenberg
1, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, by Susan Cain
Being an introvert myself, this book has reassured me that it’s totally fine to be who you are. About two thirds of the world population are introverts and introverts are having superior advantages in fields such as science, engineering and medicine where deep thinking is demanded. The main difference between introverts and extroverts are how they regain energy. Introverts rejuvenate themselves by spending time alone while extroverts achieve so by spending time with other people. In particular, introverts can be socially welcomed by listening to others in a world where everyone wants to speak but not to listen, or by thoroughly considering all aspects of an issue before offering comments and suggestions.
Readings
2021-04 April Readings
12, The Manager’s Path: A Guide for Tech Leaders Navigating Growth and Change, by Camille Fournier
2021-03 March Readings
2021-02 February Readings
10, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, by Carol S. Dweck
I like this book because I find so much of myself in the book’s description about the fixed mindset. The fixed mindset means you believe intelligence is static and therefore leads to a desire to look smart. With this mindset, you tend to avoid challenges, get defensive or give up easily, see effort as fruitless or worse, ignore useful negative feedback and feel threatened by the success of others. You work hard to have achievements that would validate yourself worth and adopted identity. As a result, you may plateau early and achieve less than your full potential. On the contrary, the growth mindset means you believe intelligence can be developed and therefore leads to a desire to learn. You embrace challenges, persist in the face of setbacks, see effort as the path to mastery, learn from criticism, and find lessons and inspiration in the success of others. As a result, you reach ever-higher levels of achievement. I recall many years in middle school panicing before the mid-term or final exam, being afraid to lose the NO.1 rank so that people will laugh at me and call me a loser. In the end, I spent all my time studying for higher grades in class, missing many opportunities to learn outside of class. Even nowadays at work, I often find myself trapped in the fixed mindset. Facing engineering challenges, I focus too much on finding the solution without understanding it. In the short term, it saves me time; but in the long run, my personal growth is harmed. The author also introduced such concepts into how we praise kids correctly. If we praise them for their born intelligence, we are encouraging the fixed mindset. Instead, we should praise them for how much efforts they have put in, how they dealt with challenges, and other things that they can learn over time. That way, we are fostering the growth mindset in our youth. The author also summarized a couple of questions to help develop a growth mindset: 1) What are the opportunities for learning and growth today? For myself? For the people around me? 2) As I think of opportunities and form a plan, I need to ask: When, where, and how will I embark on my plan? 3) As I encounter difficulties, I need to ask: When, where, and how will I act on my new plan? 4) And when you succeed, ask yourself: What do I have to do to maintain and continue the growth?
2021-01-25 January Readings
9, Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future, by Peter Thiel, Blake Masters
Some viewpoints that resonate me most include: 1) Avoid competition by innovation. Competition means many people or companies have similar skills or products and they have to fight for a small piece of a cake, while innovation can help you build something from zero to one where you have no competitors. 2) 80-20 rule. Focus on the 20% of the investments that can give you 80% return. Trying to diversify your portfolio too much is no better than gambling. 3)Your startup should always start from winning over a small market, because it’s easy to build differentiated products for a small market and you will also not face as much competition as in a big market. 4) Your product needs to be 10 times better than the exisiting solution in order to be successful. 5) Marketing marketing marketing, regardless how good your products are. Knowing how to sale your products to the right people using the right method is critical.
2020-12-29 December Readings
A good story about how to excel at the ordinary world: read and know your environment, think differently, and step out of your comfort zone.
Many years ago, my parents were living in a poor village and struggling financially at every single moment of their life. When I went to college and see how other people make a fortune by hands, I started to question my parents’ struggle — have they worked hard enough to bring us out of poverty? Now I found answers in this book: it is simply too challenging to climb out of poverty in their shoes. It requires lots of luck and wisdom, while my parents are just ordinary people without those. By the same token, it is hard to climb out of any social or financial cycles without luck and wisdom.
4, The Moon and Sixpence, by W. Somerset Maugham
Living in an ordinary world, a majority of people will choose the sixpence on the ground, while few will choose the bright moon high above. It is understandable that most of us need paychecks to pay bills, making it impractical to choose the moon over the sixpence. However, we can always think big, and think long, whenever we have a choice.
2020-11-27 November Readings
3, A Promised Land, by Barack Obama
Obama is extraordinarily good at making friends and gathering allies at work.
2, How Not to Be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking, by Jordan Ellenberg
1, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, by Susan Cain
Being an introvert myself, this book has reassured me that it’s totally fine to be who you are. About two thirds of the world population are introverts and introverts are having superior advantages in fields such as science, engineering and medicine where deep thinking is demanded. The main difference between introverts and extroverts are how they regain energy. Introverts rejuvenate themselves by spending time alone while extroverts achieve so by spending time with other people. In particular, introverts can be socially welcomed by listening to others in a world where everyone wants to speak but not to listen, or by thoroughly considering all aspects of an issue before offering comments and suggestions.