Dulcet Tones

Personal Philosophy - "Beyond mountains are mountains"

Wed, 22 May 2013 01:33:39 -0400

I have a quote that means a lot to me - it’s a Haitian proverb that goes like this: “Beyond mountains are mountains.” I learned this in the summer of my senior year. At first, I wasn’t quite sure what it meant but after several years, it makes perfect sense now. Below are some of the lessons I’ve learned from taking the quote and expanding it further.

1) Perfection is Asymptotic & Unreachable. No matter how high you climb, there will be someone else who has climbed farther. No matter how good you are, there will be better. So stop comparing yourself to others - focus on YOU.

2) Challenge Yourself - Always. If you ever feel complacent, “look up and across” to see what great challenges the world has for you to vanquish. Vertically, you can always improve on something. Singing, coding, meeting strangers - there is always room for improvement. Horizontally, you can always venture to new challenges. You’ve already put in >10,000 hours into a craft? Try something new!

3) Trust Your Struggle & Remember Your Accomplishments. “Futuristic” people like me tend to have upward-facing tunnel vision and often forget all our accomplishments. If you are ever needing motivation, “look down” to see all the mountains you’ve already climbed. Don’t forget that you are where you are today because of the blood, sweat, and tears you’ve put in. No one can take that away.

4) The Apex is Lonely - Help Others Reach It. If you reach the top, there are countless others below who could only wish to be that high as you are. Swallow your pride, come back down, and help others. A wise man once said “You have not lived until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.” You’re the President of your organization? What are you doing to help your team develop new skills so that 1+1=5?

Hope these lessons may serve you well. Maybe I should explore this “extended metaphor” a little further and give a TedTalk one day.

Why look back right?

Wed, 22 May 2013 01:09:10 -0400

In love

Wed, 22 May 2013 00:59:39 -0400

In love

Marry me…

Wed, 22 May 2013 00:59:27 -0400

Marry me…

My internalized homophobia terrifies me.

Wed, 22 May 2013 00:22:43 -0400

Photo

Tue, 21 May 2013 22:41:43 -0400

the-absolute-funniest-posts: amoying: when will my reflection...

Tue, 21 May 2013 22:33:53 -0400

the-absolute-funniest-posts:

amoying:

when will my reflection show who i am inside?

Best post of 2013

Tue, 21 May 2013 18:00:37 -0400

Best post of 2013

10knotes: This post has been featured on a 1000notes.com blog.

Tue, 21 May 2013 17:52:22 -0400

10knotes:

This post has been featured on a 1000notes.com blog.

Photo

Tue, 21 May 2013 17:14:57 -0400

Oh my fuck

Tue, 21 May 2013 17:14:48 -0400

Oh my fuck

the-absolute-funniest-posts: majortvjunkie: remember when...

Tue, 21 May 2013 17:02:52 -0400

the-absolute-funniest-posts:

majortvjunkie:

remember when pitbull posted this on his facebook and said “I love my fans”

theboykingofhell: omg though Hope this never happens to...

Tue, 21 May 2013 17:02:15 -0400

theboykingofhell:

omg though

Hope this never happens to me trololololol

"I hope I can be the autumn leaf, who looked at the sky and lived. And when it was time to..."

Mon, 20 May 2013 23:08:53 -0400

“I hope I can be the autumn leaf,
who looked at the sky and lived.
And when it was time to leave,
gracefully it knew life is a gift.”

- Dodinsky (via thelittlephilosopher)

Cusp of the Real World

Mon, 20 May 2013 23:04:27 -0400

Having Futuristic as a strength according to Gallup’s widely recognized StrengthsFinder 2.0 is really making me question “What am I doing with my life?”

Reading stories about Tumblr’s growth since infancy, underdogs trying to carve out market share in a new space, and just BEING in that startup environment where I developed an app in 6 months - it’s making me extremely impatient to get into the “real world.”

For most of my life, up until perhaps this year (now that I’m 21), I feel my mind has remained… dormant. In other words, I feel like I had this tiny spark in me that was just waiting to be set ablaze and now that it’s burning, I feel like I’m going insane. It’s like having an “ADD” that gets more intense every day because you just want to learn EVERYTHING.

After I had a disastrous internship experience last summer of 2012, I realized that I needed some serious self-reflection to understand what I truly valued in a work environment, what skills did I have to offer, and where I should invest my time to find the perfect starting point (at the very least) in my career.

The problem is, I don’t know exactly what skills I have to offer besides having a hyper “cross-pollinating” mind (the term was used by IDEO general manager David Kelley to describe people who can quickly synthesize ideas and apply them creatively to a wide range of other domains). I absolutely love learning so research comes naturally - I already scour the internet for all sorts of resources to fit my needs. When I was interested in strategy consulting, I downloaded over 1 gig of files just for preparation. When I needed to create the business case for my app development team, I found the deleted business plan of a startup that is seeing exploding growth, which helped our team win 2nd place. Another thing I guess I’m good at is design - I have a sharp eye for aesthetics and details but I really don’t want to make pretty stuff for the rest of my life.

According to Dennis Yu, the founder of UCI’s Beta Alpha Psi (which I’m proudly part of), there are 3 kinds of leaders: thought leaders, tribal leaders, and servant leaders. Thought leaders are the visionaries who always challenge the status quo with new ideas. Tribal leaders are persuasive and influential, able to inspire action and tap into their large network. Servant leaders devote their blood, sweat, and tears towards causes they’re passionate about. I know I’m a “thought leader” because I love learning new ideas and finding novel ways of applying them. What surprised me most though was that my friends thought I was all 3. I don’t consider myself the most “sociable” although I have no trouble meeting new people when I choose to “turn on” my game mode. I don’t know if I’m the most motivational person either but I do back my ideas with strong conviction and reasons for why they are beneficial. But I guess when I’m passionate enough about something, some magic spark empowers me to do things I’m usually not comfortable doing.

I feel like I don’t have a lot of technical skills, which worries me because I feel like someone like me doesn’t really have a place in startups - or at least not that I know of. Perhaps I am just not giving myself enough credit but I think I have a lot to learn from entrepreneurs. The only thing is that I don’t know too many directly within my network who are well along their way in accomplishing their goals. The “Law of Averages” states you become the 5 people you surround yourself with so choose wisely. I don’t want to surround myself with entrepreneur wanna-be’s. I want to talk to and learn from the people who are actually doing great things, and learn from them.

Where exactly does someone like me fit in within the startup world?

Photo

Fri, 03 May 2013 14:56:57 -0400

becomingmasonrussel: thejennaslope: chat-with-quill: ms-doodle...

Fri, 03 May 2013 14:55:46 -0400

becomingmasonrussel:

thejennaslope:

chat-with-quill:

ms-doodle-pants:

big-poppa-snorlax:

bearded-snorlax:

Holy shit

The One.

She is fighting invisible agents.

I’m really disappointed that this is so over sexualized because pole dancing is really cool

It should be a fucking olympic sport like with unitards and shit

You actually can’t wear leotards when pole dancing because you need the friction of your skin on your stomach against the pole to execute some of the moves. But I agree. Olympics.

Dude, the muscles

urmyfriedchipsahoy: lumos5000: The girl wrote this on...

Fri, 03 May 2013 14:54:12 -0400

urmyfriedchipsahoy:

lumos5000:

The girl wrote this on Facebook: ”I went to the beach the other day, for the first time since I was a child, I didn’t wear shorts or anything to cover up, this is a massive deal for me, I hate my body even without the scars, I believe I am fat and disgusting but, I pushed through the major anxiety, shaking and almost crying and made it to the water. Its a big deal, I did it.

This took a whole fucking lot of courage to post..”

And now this dickhead comments this. I can’t, i really can’t Facebook.

See this is what is wrong with humanity. This girl is mentally injured, But she takes a step towards better times. She tries to get back. She even go to the beach, only wearing a minimalistic piece of clothe. She convinces her biggest fear, the fear of people laughing at her. And she’s even more brave. Afterwords she posts this remarkable photo on Facebook. It maybe took her minutes to post this. Sitting there by her computer, with her finger on the mouse. Should she press ”Upload” or not?”

And she did it. She was brave enough to do it.

And then this is what she gets. A hate comment. And there was of course more comments than that. And if that isn’t enough, that comment up there, got 5 likes. 5 LIKES. People agree with that terrible person?

My faith in humanity is almost gone now. I want to show this girl, that i’m with her. I’m a supporter.

#peace

why doesn’t this have more notes?

Guys, I just found the profile of the hate comment guy. UGH.

the-absolute-funniest-posts: twerkab1e: alicia keys voice...

Fri, 03 May 2013 14:51:05 -0400

the-absolute-funniest-posts:

twerkab1e:

*alicia keys voice* THIS SWING IS ON FIREEEEEEEE

This post has been featured on a 1000notes.com blog.

inkmefillme: aww :) Some day :)

Fri, 03 May 2013 14:50:43 -0400

inkmefillme:

aww :)

Some day :)

Dulcet Tones

Personal Philosophy - "Beyond mountains are mountains"

Why look back right?

In love

Marry me…

My internalized homophobia terrifies me.

Photo

the-absolute-funniest-posts: amoying: when will my reflection...

Best post of 2013

10knotes: This post has been featured on a 1000notes.com blog.

Photo

Oh my fuck

the-absolute-funniest-posts: majortvjunkie: remember when...

theboykingofhell: omg though Hope this never happens to...

"I hope I can be the autumn leaf, who looked at the sky and lived. And when it was time to..."

Cusp of the Real World

Photo

becomingmasonrussel: thejennaslope: chat-with-quill: ms-doodle...

urmyfriedchipsahoy: lumos5000: The girl wrote this on...

the-absolute-funniest-posts: twerkab1e: *alicia keys voice*...

inkmefillme: aww :) Some day :)

the-absolute-funniest-posts: twerkab1e: alicia keys voice...