A month at RiverSilica: 10 things i have learned
Its been a month since i joined RiverSilica Technologies, a start-up in Bangalore working on Video transcoding technology. Listening to Mr. Balaji give insights into the video industry has been fun.
Starting up is an entirely different game and so are the rules. Its been more than a year since i left college and around 2 weeks after saying my final goodbye to the beautiful Goa Campus(Yes! i got my degree), i take some time to reflect on some of the things i have learned in the past month and a half. I list 10 things, the order is arbitrary except for the first one which is bang on target.
1. Time is limited 'How you spend your time, where you spend it and who you spend it with are all important life decisions' as Edmond Lau puts it in his article on Quora. Spend time on things you value and with people you care for. Value your time and that of others.
2. Keep it simple. This is something which applies to your work, your schedule, your relationships and much more. Decide three laws you want to follow and adhere to them. Much like Asimov's laws of robotics. a) A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. b) A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. c) A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.
3. Just do it. If you have do something to do just do it. Sounds easy eh ? Prioritizing is probably the best skill you could learn and procrastination the best habit you could get rid of. Wanted to read Lolitha by Vladimir Nabakov or meaning to understand what the Higgs boson means ? Go ahead and do it now. Tomorrow never comes. I managed to complete Lolitha in a week's time and was amazed by the lyrical writing.
4. Listen and read as much as you can. Surround yourself with intelligent people and listen to the things they say. Read new books and listen to different music. Exploring is fun.
5. There's always a better way to do things.
6. Learn communication Communicating your ideas is difficult. Though the problem is perfectly clear to you it may not be so for others. So work on it. Like i said there's always a better way to explain it.
7. Read Paperbacks. I liked e-books a lot. Portability, size all went in its favor. But only when you spend so much time staring at the computer screen, do you value the worth of the Paperback. Screw the money, go buy yourself a good paperback.
8. Doing > Talking. This one's borrowed from Ralino's tweet.
9. Life is short. Enjoy when you can. Don't sweat the small stuff.
10. Chacha is God. Well i didn't learn this here. But no list is complete without this point.
I know some of the points look very obvious. But that is what is difficult in life: keeping it simple.