Values
Curiosity
Curiosity is one of the main differentiating traits between humans and other animals. Because of this unique instinct, humans have been able to learn about seemingly unrelated wonders of the universe which we would otherwise not care about. Such curiosities lead to groundbreaking discoveries that change the world. Learning something and feeding this intrinsic curiosity we have is one of the best feelings out there.
Work = Results
I firmly believe that work put in and results have a direct cause-and effect relationship. If I put in 5 hours of work, I shouldn’t expect more than 5 hours worth of results. Nobody deserves anything more than the quantity and quality of the work they put in. Hard work is the instigator of smart work, talent and discipline.
0 Failure = 0 Success
Failure is the #1 opportunity for learning, and if you aren’t failing, then you aren’t pushing yourself to an enough extent to learn something new. Success and failure are viewed as binary opposites, but I believe that success always requires an amount of failure and re-iteration as nothing good comes easy. Failure is the basis of both success and learning.
Figure it out
Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates… they all figured it out. Every big idea was once impossible before it was made, since there is no textbook answer at the back of the book. You have to fight through the unknowns, discover, and invent new things to achieve things that only the top 0.01% can. There will be many times where the whole project seems impossible, but you just have to solve the problem and move forward one step at a time - there is no such thing as a problem that is impossible to solve, it is simply up to you to think hard enough.
Ownership
I have full control over what I do, and every misstep can be fixed with my actions. If I am disappointed, or I don’t achieve a goal I have been aiming for, it isn’t because life sucks, or because the world is unfair. Everyone has the ability to optimize the actions that they can take to meet their ambitions, it is up to you whether you want to focus on learning from your mistakes and moving forward. Blaming mistakes on other people or things is a common scapegoat that gets in the way of self-improvement.
Unconventionality
New revolutionary solutions require new methods to get there, and are different than the tradition, or status quo. If you take the average route in life, you will get the average results. If you want to get results of the top 1%, you have to do things which the other 99% aren’t doing.