having an impact

Having an Impact

http://paulbohm.com/

Saturday, July 14, 12

In the book

A magical book

the first of its kind

was made

to educate a duke’s daughter.

But through a series of events

was lost

and found

by Nell(a peasant girl)

This book

explains the world in stories

and when Nell’s life becomes too bad

it urges her to leave on her own

And as Nell grows up...

...the book...

keeps teaching her...

about the human body, ...

... turing machines ...

and other wondrous things.

And so she became pretty badass.

And even changed the course of history.

What made Nell special?

Was it the book?

Many rich girls got the same book.

It turns out

But they didn’t change the world

(not even a little bit)

So was Nell a genius to begin with?

Maybe. But statistically, she likely wouldn’t have had an impact without the book.

Opportunity Need for Approval Need for Impact

Rich Kids

The difference between Nell and the entitled rich girls

Rich Kids

Bad News

You’re entitled and everyone tells you

you are smartSaturday, July 14, 12

You have more resources

and a better network

than most people who’ve had an impact in the past

Tell someone they are smart &they perform worse.

Praise and Approval are addictive

(like candy)

You already know

Grades Impactdon’t measure

And Approval...

...even from those that you respect

Approval Impactdoesn’t measure

In fact

counterintuitively

being persistent

is often easier

when faced with adversity

and solitude.

In fact, many successful writers

chose not to talk about their work in progress

Praise for unfinished

work =candy

Because

Which makes them less likely to do a good job

ImpactPersistence doesn’t measureeither

You still need opportunity

Rich Kids

Nell had an impact, because she could and needed to.

Rich Kids

Many ? ?

Many don’t have an impact because they can’t

Rich Kids

Many ? ?

You ? ? ?

What about you?

Being here

Have the Network

And Resources

To Have An Impact

Rich Kids

Many ? ?

You ? ? ?

What about you?

Rich Kids

Many ? ?

You ? ?

You have the opportunity

Rich Kids

Many ? ?

You ? ?

Your choice

{Saturday, July 14, 12

Your biggest risk

is measuring candy

instead of impact

Turns you into...

A dancing monkey

The problem with being a dancing monkey is...

Even when the audience claps, you’re still a dancing monkey.

Rich Kids

Many ? ?

You ? ? {I realize that

knowing...Saturday, July 14, 12

...that you have opportunity

creates a lot of pressure

and expectations

Measuring yourself by other people’s expectations is

measuring candySaturday, July 14, 12

Your only chance:

Measure Impact

What do I mean with that?

Let me try to explainwith a story

This is my Go board

I’ve taught a lot of people to play Go

And as I saw a lot of people learn Go...

I started to notice patterns

Some learned faster...

than others.

And after a while...

A pattern emerged

Those who learned faster...

Focused more on playing...many many games

And less on thinking...

(what are you thinking about?you just started learning! play more games!)

They didn’t care about being original and were willing to

imitate better players(imitation is a very effective way to learn!)

And they played many more games, because losing was ok

for them

That’s a huge deal!

OTOH I’ve played with people

who no doubt were smart

That thought about their FIRST MOVE in their FIRST

GAME for TWO MINUTES

That’s like a lot of the people I talk to, who want to figure out what to do with

their life, without doing anything. Iteration is key!

Their hands were wet

and shaking

That’s what happens when expectations...

trick you into measuring candy

True: Without opportunity no success

And part of the reason you have opportunity is because people THINK you are smart

Sure, play their game.

Have them call you names like “prodigy” “genius” or “visionary”

if it helps you succeed.

Use socially constructed reality as a tool

But don’t start believing it yourself

even for a second

The moment you stop learning or doing things because they

don’t LOOK smart...

You’re just a dancing monkey

In fact, I can tell you for sure:

Somewhere out there...

is Nell

And she wasn’t invited here

And no one thinks she’s smart

And she doesn’t care if she LOOKS

like a rhinoceros to you

...or that you’re best pals with Peter Thiel

She’ll work her ass off

And she WILL have an impact

Will you?

How you know?do

How you know?can

Measure your impact

Look at progress

Not as a Dot

. . . .

As A Line

. . . .

Never trust other people’s opinions

Stop assuming that anyone else knows what they are

doing!

That’s why measuring the candy doesn’t work!

Learn about your own biases and

study rationality in forms like

Probability Theory

Game TheorySaturday, July 14, 12

And why people cooperate at all

Then realize that alldecisions that matter are

undecidableSaturday, July 14, 12

And train your intuition for solving such unsolvable

problems

Maybe With Go

Or Texas Hold’em

And then

Pick an ambitious goal

(you can always change it later)

When your goal is to colonize mars...

Or building the nervous system to awaken the slumbering giant and turn

humanity into the first superintelligence.

Learning to build rocket engines

studying graph theory

Or building a company

seem merely like minor distractions required to

accomplish a larger plan.

That plan is for you - not for sharing with others.

If you told others, and they didn’t think you are crazy, it’s

probably not ambitious enough!

What it is important for, is that you move towards something, and don’t

just frantically jump between all interesting fields.

Having and impact might even require years of studying or working

on someone else's project to learn.

But that’s just what I think

You can take an entirely different approach too

I don’t know what I’m doing myself.

We all look towards others to reassure us that what we’re

doing is right.

But since everyone else does the same, there are no real

answers.

I’m not trying to put you down or build you up - I just want to share my belief that I think impact matters more than

impressions.

Unlike most of you I probably would have never made it into the 20-under-20 or even here

When I was fourteen, my parents talked me out of going to a technical

school because they didn’t think I had what it takes

I didn’t win any awards, nor scholarships. I dropped out of school

before it was cool. And I haven’t had a huge impact yet.

I have had days where people thought I’m brilliant, and days where people thought I’m an idiot. And it’s all the

same. That’s just the candy.

What matters to me is: Just like Nell, I work my ass off every day, I try to measure my progress, I try not to worry what people think about me too much, and one day I WILL have an impact.

In Summary

Measure yourself against your own standards

Ignore Candy

And you’ll have an impact!

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