Software Secrets --- 1 : Let's be humble

We love Disney. So, last week when we watched Looney Tunes ... for the first 1 or 2 episodes, I felt really sorry for Disney.Whatever Disney team can do, Warner Bros Team can do too. Then their episodes started falling apart.

A movie, even a short episode, is more than cameras, sounds, lighting. images, effects and animation. There are higher level structures and systems too.





So, software is more than iOS, javascript, and Hadoop and Radis. It is even more than data structures and algorithms. Let's be humble.

Powers of Limited Systems : Shakespeare vs James Joyce

Shakespeare didn't invent a new language, James Joyce did.

Shakespeare got rich in his life time , James Joyce didn't.

Shakespeare got fame in his life time , James Joyce didn't.

Shakespeare was happy in his life time , James Joyce wasn't.

Now you see working too hard is not that good.

Don't Mind Being Not That Clever

Being too clever is not the answer to our problems. Being virtuous is.

'Three are ye, three are we, have mercy upon us!'
...
As long as we kept repeating it we remembered, but when we stopped saying it for a time, a word dropped out, and now it has all gone to pieces. We can remember nothing of it. Teach us again.'
...
Leo Tolsloy writes well. A nice story : http://www.online-literature.com/tolstoy/2896/

Power of Limited Systems : World Cup 2014 Germany 7 Brazil 1

World Cup 2014's semi-final  ended with Germany beating Brazil 7 : 1. Germany won in spite of and because of its limited systems. Limited systems are that powerful and devastating.

Main Reasons for Brazil's Loss

1. Brazil coach's big picture does not seem to include "flanks" and "midfield." 
2. Germany's limited systems are powerful and devastating.
3. Brazil failed to come up with better or newer systems e.g. Germany already know how to cope "total football," "tiki taka," etc. Brazil should at least borrow from Stephen Chow and his Shaolin Soccer Have you noticed that Muay Thai's kicks are useful in getting the balls back in crowded situations? 

Limited Systems

 They are limited because

1. they apply to only certain specific situations.
2. they lack creativity, inspiration, flair, sparks.
3. they can miss certain opportunities.
4. they can break down totally in certain scenarios.

 Still they are extremely powerful because

1. they are simple to carry and execute
2. they are simple to change for certain opportunities and system breakdowns.
3. Even when you have to discard them all, they are too simple to cost you a lot.  

One Proven Way to Build Confidence

True confidence comes from accepting your total and ever-present failure to be like anybody else, and from building your life from there.

1. Specialize. But don't specialize out of fear of competition. The competition will find its way into your home turf anyway.
   
2. Feel free to compare. It is both natural and good for learning.
   
3. Accept that you have already failed and that you will never do things the way the stars in your chosen field have done or are doing.

You don't play football like Maradona?

No problem.

Do you make that 10-meter pass today better than you did yesterday?

Will you make it better tomorrow?

You may not be a second Maradona, but you may make bigger contributions to football than the first and only Maradona!

Good luck!

One More Way Not to Build Confidence

Another common advice to build confidence goes, 'Stop comparing with others. Just work hard.' This advice is both impossible to follow and also harmful to do so.

Impossible

How can we stop comparing?

1. We do not live alone, in total isolation, in the universe.
2. We do not live in sensory deprivation chambers, with eyes seeing nothing, with ears hearing nothing, and so on.

Harmful

Why should we stop comparing? In matters of learning, comparison comes even before imitation and copycatting!

Say, I am a young swimmer. How much arrogance or blindness would it take for me not to know and learn from Thorpe , Phelps and other greats.

Say, I am a young golfer. How much arrogance or blindness would it take for me not to know and learn from Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Gary Player and other greats.

Say, I am a young footballer. How much arrogance or blindness would it take for me not to know and learn from Ronaldo (Brazil), Romario, Maradona and other greats.

There must be a better way. Let's see.

One Way Not to Build Confidence

Looking for your core competence, sticking to your strengths, staying true to your essence are commendable life strategies. But they will never build you true confidence. They encourage you to live inside a cocoon, to avoid real threats and real opportunities.

 Orcas cannot climb trees. Monkeys cannot fly. Eagles cannot swim.

So orcas should keep themselves to seas, monkeys to trees, and eagles to the sky?

1. So a budding poet should not study math because he will never be able to do math as well as his classmates? 
2. So a budding mathematician should not touch literature and arts because he will never do them as well as his classmates? 
3. So a promising engineer should never dabble in enterprise because he will never do business as well as her classmates?

All sound and sensible and sham and fake and lame!


If you avoid competition and comparison, the universe is never wide enough for you.


If you choose math out of your fear to compete in other fields, you shall find lots and lots of competition in your own field. What about famous mathematicians in history?

If you choose poetry out of your fear to compete in other fields, you shall find lots and lots of competition in your own field. What about famous poets in history?

If you choose business and enterprise out of your fear to compete in other fields, you shall find lots and lots of competition in your own field. What about famous entrepreneurs in history?

There is a better way. See the next post.