Daily Ramblings – Funny Friday

Tags

Albert Einstein, failing, Falling, goofs, Improving, Learning, Mistakes, Programming

“Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy.” ­Albert Einstein

Only Albert could give us something to ponder while being funny. This brought up a point about the importance of giving yourself a break. You are human. You will make mistakes. You will goof up. You will fall.

Will your mistake end the world? Will your goof destroy your progress? No. You can fix mistakes and goofs. Just realize that making mistakes and goofs are all part of the learning process. Learn from your mistakes. Learn what didn’t work. Learn why it didn’t work.

After re-wiring my brain toward coding again, I realized how silly some mistakes are. Software development languages are quite unforgiving when you screw up syntax. They are also maddening when you think they should do something, and they do something else. Between syntax and logic errors, logic errors are the worst. But, like every other developer before me, there are little hacks to learn, little “tricks of the trade” that allow you to avoid plenty of errors or have a process for finding logic and syntax errors.

The same thing that a software engineer uses can be used in real life when looking at your other projects. Look at the big task, break it down into little tasks, and execute each little task. This is what a computer programmer does because a computer can only work through little tasks to accomplish bigger ones. You must build the code, so your computer knows the variables it will have access to, the functions it will execute, and told when to execute a function or line of code. All these little tasks build up to an end goal, like allowing a person to play a game, do a calculation, or learn if they had enough sleep last week.

We do the same thing when we are looking to accomplish something. We look at the goal. We visualize what the end-state of that goal’s accomplishment looks like. Then we begin breaking the goal down into actionable steps.

I’ve really enjoyed getting back into programming. I haven’t done it seriously since 2005, but it is all beginning to come back quickly. I like the way software engineering requires us to think about what we want to accomplish. Only then can we build code to help us fulfill our desired end.

When you make a mistake and get down on yourself, take some time to contemplate the bigger picture. Each mistake you make helps you move forward—you find out what NOT to do. Learn from these mistakes. They’ll make you stronger—better. I hope all of my readers in the US had a terrific Thanksgiving!

Until next time…

Dave

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Daily Ramblings – Ted Talk Tuesday

Tags

Achievement, Astro Teller, failing, failure, Google X

Find out how the Google X laboratory thrives on killing its own projects. Astro Teller provides the narrative. Google has found that failing is complementary to achieving our dreams.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Wisdom Wednesday

Tags

Achievement, Character, Dreams, failing, Goals, Your "why"

“Our character is what we do when we think no one is looking.” – H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Read more at https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/h_jackson_brown_jr_101336?src=t_wisdom

This is such a great quote. I think we can all admit we have done things that we might not be too proud of when we think no one is looking. Aren’t all the great quotes the ones that demand a little more from us?

Character, like our minds and bodies, is a product of our experiences, decisions, and actions. What you are today is the resulting combination of these things. If you want to look at where people have the most difficulty in character development, look no further than online marketing ads.

Ads with the new magic weight-loss pill, the pill that will help you perform sexually, the pill that will add 20 pounds to your biceps and all the rest. Applications that will help you invest better, live longer, be happier.

Why do you think New Year’s Eve resolutions fail? The things we want are hard to achieve. They require us to be disciplined. They require us to stretch beyond our current capabilities. More importantly, they require us to commit, even when no one else is looking.

A buddy of mine approached me about exercise and losing weight a while back. Like most, he jumped right in with both feet. Then, after a week, he admitted he stopped exercising. He also admitted that he had 4 pizzas, two boxes of Cheese-Its, two bags of potato chips, and a family-sized bag of Fritos—in one weekend!

This is why you can only provide advice to people when they ask and let them do with the advice what they will. This is why you can’t compel anyone to do what they should want to do themselves. This is also why, YOU NEED TO UNDERSTAND THE “WHY” behind your motivation to do something, whether it is to lose weight, exercise, eat right, meditate, write, or whatever.

I don’t care what goal you set for yourself. You will have a real challenge getting to the finish line if you do not know you’re own personal “why”. The “why” cannot come from outside of you. The goal must be yours and yours alone and you have to know why you want it.

I worked out with my brother for a few months a few years ago. The same result. He wanted to feel better, get into better shape, but he did not want to pay the price as badly as I did. He is eating better and avoiding foods his body knows aren’t good for him, but his exercise routine is drastically different than mine. That’s ok. He found the sweet spot for his personal exercise plan. The key is this exercise plan works for him and satisfies his “why”. His “why” was to just feel better and it is working.

If you really understand your “why” and you’re not lying to yourself, you will achieve anything you want. You’ll be willing to pay the price. Your “why” will be stronger than any price you have to pay. You will succeed. You won’t cheat on your diet, you won’t eat foods that are unhealthy or off your diet plan, you’ll do the exercise deliberately, and you won’t miss exercise days. You will be true to yourself because you have a compelling reason to do the work.

If you don’t have a “why” for a goal you are pursuing, put it aside for a while. Don’t torture yourself. Admit that you are not willing to pay the price it requires and feel good about that decision. You can always pursue it later. It is better to do this than attempt to do something you are not truly motivated to do. You’ll feel bad when you fail, you’ll beat yourself up, and you will still fail to accomplish what you set out to do. Leave it alone. If it’s important to you, you’ll discover your “why” and execute. If you don’t, that’s ok. Pursue another goal—a goal you really have a drive and the ability to complete. You’ll feel great and may be in a position to return to a previous “dream” and make it a reality.

I wish all of you the very best in achieving your dreams, whatever they may be.

Until next time…

Dave