It can be a new hobby, school work, or a side project. I am curious to learn what is my audience is working on, I might be helpful in some ways If I can.

All the best practices, book suggestions, and feedback from the right people help you to understand “You are not the only one struggling with this” or “Yes, a lot of people are searching for an answer to that question.”

That is why there is no one size fits all questions. What I believe your formula will be a unique mix that is blended by a zillion sources.

Yes, learn from others who are already figured out but do not apply the same principles without your own twist.

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“Making your family proud” is a hard job.

A) They are already proud of you, but they don’t share or show enough

B) If you rely on somebody’s (even if your family is somebody) approval, you are never going to satisfy them. They always ask more.

Every family, I suppose they want their kids successful, happy, and healthy. Of course, some of them might be so demanding you still need to answer for yourself, “Am I proud of myself? “

“The greatest burden a child must bear is the unlived life of the parents.” Carl Jung

You can not make others happy unless they want to.

So many little things are good enough to make us/them happy.

For example, my wife got easily super happy whenever she feels hot water in her hands. That’s it. She cracked her happiness code with hot water:) She didn’t even grow up lack of hot water but she is grateful and appreciates every time interacts with hot water.

Tony Hsieh ( Founder & CEO of Zappos) passed away yesterday. He has so much influence on me. I listened to him in person in late 2015 at the Summit Conference. After that, I bought his book Delivering Happiness, and pretty much changed my mindset. I was very customer-centric before his book later, I turned customer-obsessed.

Here are my couple highlights from his book:

“There’s actually not much that I wish we would have done differently. We’ve made a lot of mistakes along the way, but learning from those mistakes has made us that much stronger. But I do wish that we could have done things faster.”

“I didn’t realize it at the time, but it was a turning point for me in my life. I had decided to stop chasing the money, and start chasing the passion.”

We like doing this pretty much what our social circle approves (likes)

They say: “Tell me your friend, I tell you who you are.” This is not anymore that innocent and easy. It used to be influenced by only people in your family, school, or neighborhood because there was no social circle outside of the offline world.

Now, anybody you follow also follows you (because of their comments or likes on social media); it shapes what you eat, where you shop or who you should date, etc.

If we don’t give up our social circle, at least we can modify the audience (stop following people who have no benefit on you) and try to find the related people who motivate you to do better. Such as someone is losing weight like you, or sharing their company building experience, etc.

It is hard to motivate someone else just by saying things. The best motivation is just doing. That momentum drives you and your inner circle.

Your life is pretty much what you are doing (job). Your food is knowledge and experience; Your ambition is your motive power.

Keystone a central stone at the summit of an arch, locking the whole together. It completes the structure. They are a small component, but everything else depends on it.

We should look at our organization, family, or relationships :

• What is our keystone product?

• Who is our keystone family members?

Keystone and other stones all together make the structure is strong, beautiful, and stable.

Social proof means we trust what others already trusted.

Humans are social animals. We mimic our peers. (Monkey See, Monkey Do) If you see a huge crowd is standing in front of any coffee shop or restaurant, we most likely think that must be a good one. People care what others think about them. That is why the following other’s steps are the best way to be accepted.

If you are trying to convince anybody, you need to make all social proofs more visible. Ex: List the companies who are using your solution, embed all customer reviews, testimonials right before the decision flows.

How simple is it? We should ask this question ourselves whenever we are building, writing or creating things.

How simple can I explain to others?

How simple can I write it?

How simple can I onboard my users?

How simple can I reach my audience?

This list goes on. We sometimes mixed up simplicity with quality. And, ending up drowning in complexity. Simple things can definitely be beautiful too.

“Anyone can make the simple complicated. Creativity is making the complicated simple.” Charles Mingus

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