What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20

“What can I do to be helpful to you?” The generosity of this gesture made a huge impression on me. In most cases there was nothing she could do to be helpful, but just knowing she was willing to help if needed was comforting.

It’s better to get to no sooner rather than later, so you can put your energy into opportunities with a higher likelihood of success.

If you get out there and try lots of things, you’re much more likely to find success than someone who waits around for the phone to ring.

consider finding a way to keep your career on a low simmer. If you haven’t stepped all the way out for too long, it’s much easier to get back in. You can do this in an infinite variety of ways, from working part-time in traditional jobs to volunteering. Not only does it keep your skills sharpened, but it provides you with the confidence that you can gear up again when you’re ready.

Planning a career should be like traveling in a foreign country. Even if you prepare carefully, have an itinerary and a place to stay at night, the most interesting experiences usually aren’t planned.

learning from others can significantly reduce your failure rate. You don’t have to figure everything out yourself. Like Stanley, you should gather all the data you can from your environment, and then tap into

For most successful people, the bottom is lined with rubber as opposed to concrete. When they hit bottom, they sink in for a bit and then bounce back, tapping into the energy of the impact to propel them into another opportunity.

If you throw gasoline on a log, all you get is a wet log. But if you throw gasoline on a small flame, you get an inferno.”7 That is, it’s important to know whether you’re putting energy into something that has the potential to pay off. This is one of life’s biggest challenges.

“It is easier to resist at the beginning than at the end.”

Instead of waiting to be asked and tiptoeing around an opportunity, seize it. It takes hard work, energy, and drive—but these are the assets that set leaders apart from those who wait for others to anoint them.

The more you experiment, the more you see that the spectrum of options is much broader than imagined. The sole rule is that you are limited only by your energy and imagination.

Once you get the hang of it, this is an easy, back-of-the-envelope exercise you can use to reevaluate all aspects of your life and career. The key is to take the time to clearly identify every assumption

The first step to solving big problems is to identify them. In the world of product design, this is called “need finding.” This is a skill that can be learned.

when you challenge assumptions

embrace that uncertainty

having a healthy disregard for the impossible

seizing every opportunity to be fabulous

extracting yourself from your comfort zone

being willing to fail

uncertainty is the fire that sparks innovation and the engine that drives us forward.