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Important Lessons I learned at MIT

Although my MIT education was full of a very diverse set of experiences, I wouldn’t say that everything I did was amazing or fantastic, or that I couldn’t have been successful without having learned certain things.  However, there are a few particular things I learned at MIT, inside and outside of the classroom, that have served me well and will hopefully continue to do so after graduation.  At least, I think that they will.  Here are a few of them:

1) There’s usually a lot more to a problem that can be initially appreciated. This is a lesson I learned inside and out of the classroom.  The thought that I understood all there was to a problem was one of the easiest way for me to fail.  Always keeping my mind open to other possibilities was one of the most important things I learned in college.

2) One of the biggest mistakes we make is to not make the most out of the resources we have. This was something difficult for me to learn.  I used to believe that there was some sort of value in being able to say “I did all this by myself,” but really, no one cares.  At the end of the day what matters is what has been achieved.  If you learned how to use Maxwell equations by yourself and someone else did it in half the time by going to office hours, there’s really nothing for you to be proud of, you should have made better use of the teaching assistants yourself.  Don’t get me wrong, I still think there is great value in doing things yourself, but only if that will allow you to acquire skills that you wouldn’t obtain otherwise.

3) Overcommitting is the easiest way to do a mediocre job at many things, and not feel good about your work, VERY often. After a good semester in college, I had this overcommitting syndrome, or however you may want to call it, and I tended to want to take on the world all by myself. I would want to do sports for 10+ hours a week, and work for another 10+ hours, while simultaneously undertaking a courseload that was expected to consume 60+ hours of my week.  I would then end up doing a mediocre job at everything, and up until today I feel bad about some of the decisions I made.  The only thing that I’m glad about is that I learned from those experiences.  I learned to do as much as I can do and feel proud of, but no more than that. If I can take on 5 things and be proud of none of them, I would rather do 1 to 3 and feel proud of everything I do.

4) There’s MUCH more to life than our surroundings. This is probably one of the most important lessons I learned.  Most of us tend to live in a bubble, in which we only think in terms of what is immediately around us.  It only takes a shift in our mindset to realize that those tormenting problems we have, the ones that consume our life and energy, are silly tiny details we have chosen to focus on and don’t compare to the blessings we have received in this life.  A simple trip somewhere else, or conversations with people outside the environment we are surrounded by, are usually enough to make me realize this truth. 99% of the time we take ourselves too seriously, and think that our problems are bigger than they truly are.  We need to relax, chill.

5) Balance can be tricky, and I’m not just talking about work-life balance. Many problems I encountered with regards to bringing balance to my life were not related to work.  I actually had more issues making time for myself, rather than committing all of my time for extracurriculars, academics, and friends.  I realized that having some time to unwind, clear up my thoughts, and simply reflect about life, was one of the most important things I learned to do during the past 4 years.

6) Most, if not all, of our limitations are self-imposed. Over and over I found myself making excuses as to why I didn’t achieve something, or performed at a certain level, just to find out later on that my excuses were vague, empty and meaningless.  There was someone out there facing worst circumstances and still pulling off the results I didn’t.  This taught me to re-evaluate myself, my actions, and thoughts.  Once I started removing obstacles from my head, just like magic they disappeared from my life.

Although there are many other things I have learned, this is the first installment of things that came to my mind as the most salient lessons I have learned.  I hope you enjoyed them.  If you happen to have any reaction, comment, idea, thought, etc.  please leave a comment.

Thank you, Omar

View Comments by Omar Eduardo Fernandez Lebron on May 27, 2010
filed in My Personal Journey

Embracing Transitions and Working Towards Our Dreams

“We change, whether we like it or not”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

When was the last time you resisted change?  We are naturally inclined to want to stay safe, stay with what we know, however, this is not sustainable.  Everything around us, and within us, is in constant motion, no one would know that time is going by if things were not changing, and as little things around us change, so do we and those around us.  Our whole life is meant to change, piece by piece, as we keep living, and all we can do is to accept that and make sure that we are doing the most with our lives so that, at the end of the day, we can be happy with how our life has changed.

Resisting change is futile, but that doesn’t mean that you should let things just happen to you. We are still the protagonists of our lives, and it is up to us to achieve our goals and the success we want.  What is the problem with most of us, lack of orientation, lack of a precise goal.  So define your goal, and pursue it.

Yesterday I came home after finishing my last undergraduate exam ever.  I was finally done with all the requirements to graduate from college, assuming I pass, and was free to do as I wish until I start working.  Or so I was thinking.  Then I kept thinking about what awaits me in the near future.  I’m flying to Japan for two weeks after getting my MIT degree, I’m then coming back and starting to work at a great company, and then what?  I realized that, although this all sounds fantastic, I still need to think about how I want my life to be and go after it.  These are all fantastic transitions in my life, but why just accept this changes and not make even greater changes that will allow me to fulfill all my dreams?

I went on to YouTube and watched two videos in a row, both from people whose YouTube videos I have been watching probably since sophomore year in college, almost three years now, and they both stroke me because of their content.  The first one was from a girl whom I’ve seen go from an excited teenager that learned Japanese on her own and wanted to go to Japan, to a woman who has been living in Japan for a while now and has launched her music career there by releasing her first music album.  Although you may get caught up thinking about what are the odds of that happening to anyone else, and start thinking that just a few lucky people who can achieve it, I think that the message is clear.  She had a goal, she went ahead and flew herself to Japan, and worked her way up to releasing an album that is now sold in major Japanese record stores.  I’m impressed.

The second YouTube video was from another guy who would also make videos about Japanese language and teaching Japanese.  He got recruited to work for a few companies as consultant/marketing guy/etc. and he always kept the dream of working for himself, starting his own thing.  The video I watched yesterday was his announcement that a website he had started that is basically a Japanese textbook for self-learners was now generating a decent enough income for it to become his full-time job.  Another great story of someone who had started just like me, a teenager pursuing a dream, and is now able to work for himself.

What did I get from all this?  We must ignore the odds, and simply work hard!  If you think about it, a big majority of the people that we hear about, the ones that fail at achieving their goals, were simply not determined enough. They were doubting themselves as they went through the days.  The people who work hard, and keep trying and keep trying, will sooner or later succeed.  And the most important thing is that, when we finally succeed we can look back and see that all along we were working on what we were passionate about, and could therefore enjoy every day of our lives.

Now I invite you to find that passion of yours, that something that you have always been wanting to pursue but haven’t because of self-doubting, and start DOING something to make it concrete, make it happen.  Work on it after hours, work on it before you go to work, work on it during the weekends, but never stop working on it, because one day you may just be able to drop all the things you do now because ‘you have to’ and you will be able to dedicate your life to achieving that passion of yours.

Cheers to us.  May we achieve all we are truly passionate about.

View Comments by Omar Eduardo Fernandez Lebron on May 19, 2010
filed in Success Mindset

Spreading Goodness – The Happiness Network?

We live in a society that is obsessed with tragic, upsetting or dramatic news.  Gossip, drama of all sorts, these are the things that drive most of the TV networks and sell the most newspapers and magazines.  But, when do we get our drop of happiness and goodness?  When do we nourish our soul?  If we were to focus only on what our current media shows, and what most people decide to spend their days talking about, we would think that the world is a very, very messed up place.  That there is little or no happiness in this world, and that those who ARE happy are a very selected few part of some sort of secret society that hands out to them a secret happiness drink every now and then.

Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/swamibu/1352354517/

But are the news representative of our world? Why is it that we are bombarded with news of all the things going wrong, and we hear very little of the good things?  Why is it that when we hear of something good, it’s portrayed as if it’s the only good thing that happened in the world?  What drives us to spend so much time learning why we should, and how we should, be unhappy?

I suggest we shift our attention into something more productive.  I propose that we stop talking about the things that make us unhappy, and start being grateful for what we have.  We should, as a society, encourage people to think about the things they are happy about, and about solutions for the things that are not perfect.

This is not something you should do for your own good, you should do this for the sake of everyone’s happiness.  Any basic research in social networks will tell you that, quite literally, happiness is contagious.  Similarly, lack of happiness is also quickly spread.  The more we see people around us complain and be unhappy with life, and the more we pay attention to that, the more we end up doing the same ourselves.

The good news in all this is, we all have an option, and we all have a HUGE opportunity to influence others.  When you choose to smile and be grateful for what you have, someone near you will be learning a lesson, a much needed one in our world.

Spread goodness throughout the world by offering a smile, by being grateful for the blessings you have.  Close your eyes and think about the experiences you have had in your life, and realize that, no matter what happens, you will always hold the key to your own happiness.  ”Happiness is an inside job,”  I have often heard.   This couldn’t be said any better.  Once you find comfort in this, and allow yourself to be happy, you will be able to go around and spread this happiness to others.  Just by doing this, you will be doing society a good that is worthy of praise.

The impact a single person has in the rest of society is often ignored, but it is quite important.  If you choose to be excellent at one thing in life, choose to be excellent in spreading happiness by being happy and expressing this feeling.  You will do you, your family, and the rest of us in society happier.  You will be contributing your dose of goodness to the world.

I wonder how much much happier we would be as a society if our main TV networks and magazines would be filled with happy news, those of the people who are helping others incessantly and making the world better.  News about the things that are going right in this world.  Let’s start this, let’s have a happy news network.  What do you think?

View Comments by Omar Eduardo Fernandez Lebron on May 13, 2010
filed in Healthy Living

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