19 7 / 2010
#learn #change #start - Day 1.
Here it is- my first work day without a job & 100% dependent on this transformation.
I am still in SF the next two weeks to get the house ready for a new roommate we having moving in, and my friend Marco who is subletting my room. But the next two weeks need to be jammed with learning as much as I possibly can- so I can get to Florida with a niche to focus on.
My goal is to come out of the 11 weeks with a mobile browser app.I already have a few ideas in mind, but that is the finish line. In case you’ve slept under a rock the last 10 years, the mobile web is the future. The smartphone is the new laptop. I am not a fan of creating a pure iPhone app because I don’t know Objective C, and why limit myself to one platform when every smartphone can access the web?
For the first two weeks, my short-term goals are:
1. A better general understanding of the engineering world.
Truth be told, I know only what is on the surface- names of languages, general principles behind a website structure (DBs, hosting, front end, server side languages, etc). So I need to learn more about exactly what is out there before I just dump myself into Python or Javascript.
I found this article on Mozilla - “A Reintroduction to Javascript.” For me, it was an introduction. Everything looked fairly similar to Python, except the syntax, so I googled Python vs Javascript. So Javascript is only client-side? Interesting. I also was sent a PDF on jQuery - “Falling in Love with jQuery”. Am I slowly being pushed by outside forces to do Front-end work? Not sure, but a trend I am watching.
2. Work through the books & PDFs I already have.
The Redbeacon guys were gracious enough to ship me off with Founders at Work: Stories of Startups’ Early Days
3. Marketing and growing the site
Online marketing isn’t my niche. I’m not Scoble or Calacanis who just have this desire to sing from the rooftops what they think. Learning how to naturally grow an audience online will be tricky, interesting, and very difficult.
The few things I have done so far:
- Cross link Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, and my Google Profile to point to proud n00b (proud noob for some of you).
- That got proudn00b.com to #1 for a Google search of “proud n00b”
What I need to do:
- Get traction on Hacker News, Digg, Twitter, etc.
- Email other bloggers to learn how they grew. It wasn’t an overnight event!
This will be a crucial skill for the mobile app to take off. I need access to an audience- not necessarily an audience right now. Just enough people to listen. Or maybe this assumption is wrong? We’ll see…
4. Get into a Rhythm
For this to work, I must control myself- enforce a certain amount of discipline so that I do not get distracted and waste time. 11 weeks isn’t a lot of time in the long run. But when you are living off your savings, it’s long enough!
5:30 AM - Wakeup
5:30 AM - 7:30AM - Read blogs, articles, mail, write blog post
7:30 AM - 12 PM - Code without distractions (turn on SelfControl)
12 PM - 1:30 PM - Run, workout, make some quick food
1:30 PM - 6PM - Ignore desire for a nap, Code & Coffee
6PM - Get out of the house and meet people!
5. At the end of the day, a sense of Empowerment
If I am not empowered by what I have learned & done, something is wrong. Because I have no one directing me on this journey, discipline & measured self reflection will be essential. I’m not saying use a stopwatch to track exact times. Who wants to live in that type of world!? This blog will be the judge and jury. I am ultimately responsible to you- the reader- and to try not to make that big of a fool of myself!
Quote from Jon Rohan
when trying to accomplish a goal, you have to ask yourself if what you’re doing day to day helps you achieve that goal in any way, if not, it’s just wasting your time
As a side note
I will leave each post with an inspirational quote or link I found from that day. The one above was sent from an engineer friend. It hits at the one thing I believe in very deeply, and its something that has only intensified since I moved to San Francisco.
You are the captain of your ship. You make the decisions on where your life will go. Either passively or actively. But you still are the one who calls the shots.
If you are unhappy, change that something. It has taken me years to get back to programming but I am doing it. In the few weeks I have known about this change, I have woken up each morning with more excitement and energy than ever before. This hits at a few stories/ pieces of advice I know of.
Warren Buffet said, “Invest in yourself.”
“The most important investment you can make is in yourself. Very few people get anything like their potential horsepower translated into the actual horsepower of their output in life. Potential exceeds realisation for many people…… Just imagine you’re 16 and I was going to give you a car of your choice today, any car you wanted to pick. But there was one catch. It was the only car you were able to have for the rest of your life. You had to make it last. So how would you treat it?
Well, of course you’d read the owners’ manual about five times before you turn the key in the ignition. You would keep it garaged; any little rust would get taken care of immediately; you’d change the oil twice as often as you were supposed to – because you would know it had to last a lifetime….
Then I tell the students you get one body and one mind. And it’s going to have to last you a lifetime so you’d better treat it the same way. You’d better start doing it right now because it doesn’t do any good if you start working on it when you are 50 or 60 and the little speck of rust has turned into something big… The best asset is your own self. You can become to an enormous degree the person you want to be.”
Marc Cuban said, “I realized I had to get off my ass and make something happen.”
“I remember being 24 years old, living in Dallas in a 3-bedroom apartment with 5 other friends. This wasn’t a really nice place we all kicked in to move up for. This place has since been torn down. Probably condemned. I didn’t have my own bedroom. I slept on the couch or floor depending on what time I got home. I had no closet. Instead I had a pile that everyone knew was mine. My car had the usual hole in the floorboard, a ‘77 FIAT X19 that burned a quart of oil that I couldn’t afford every week.”
You’ll never have today again -so don’t waste it. Stop complaining, take charge, and make the change!
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