motivation

A Definitive Guide On Making Tough Career Decisions

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Dear Recent Grad,

Congratulations! We’ve made it.

After patiently toiling through The Gauntlet of job applications and endlessly replaying our tell-me-about-yourself speech, we can finally kiss that reheated McDonald chicken nuggets diet goodbye and afford something nicer (like groceries).

Our first full time job. Sure feels nice huh?

It’s both exciting yet nerve racking when we come to the realization that we’ll be spending over 90,000 hours of our life into this thing we call our Career.

90,000 hours. (Imagine the number of Pokemon you could catch with all that time!).

While the consistent paychecks are nice and the hunger to succeed burns strong, a handful of us, in fact 20% of us according to this Gallup poll will be making a job switch in this next year.

And if you’re not actually ready to leave, 60% of us are in fact exploring and open to hearing more about that next exciting opportunity.

In my past 3+ years as a recent grad I’ve made a few career decisions that has now led me to an unbelievable opportunity at Otto, a startup in San Francisco that’s re-imagining the future of transportation starting with self driving trucks.

In this short gap before I start later this week I took some time to reflect and examine a bit closer at the things I learned and the decisions I made that I hope can help you, dear recent graduate as you start your career.

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Little Known Ways To Become A Harder Worker

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Hard Work, What Exactly Is It?

We experience it all the time- from motivational posters, sports crushes, and cliché movie lines, “Work Hard!” (Along with its partners, “Stay Positive!” and “Don’t Give Up!”) has gradually become one of the default phrases of advice for anyone pursuing after a dream or goal.

But if we were to peel away the surface level understanding of what hard work means, what would we find?

For some time now, I thought I fell into that category of a hard worker. I always nodded diligently when I was prescribed the “Work Hard!” advice and preceded to do my best to not be a failure in the expectations that I had set for myself.

However, during this past year and a half of mingling with entrepreneurial, techie nerds I couldn’t help but think that I was doing anything but the opposite of working hard. Standard 40-45 work weeks was a mere shadow of what these Silicon Valley Savants were juicing out of their 24 hour daily lives.

Which then raises the question -“Does hard work always equate out to x number of hours put in?” What if there’s more to that equation?

Questions needed to be asked. Perspectives needed to be introduced.

So, over the last week I sent out an email to a diverse group of individuals about what hard work meant to them. CEOs, teachers, therapists, and parents all responded with answers that would help mold and break down what I thought hard work meant.

And it turned out to be pretty simple equation:

(not my best Shepard Fairey creation, I know)

Let’s break down each component of this equation.

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Why I Can’t Stop Thinking About Death & Time

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Every now and then, I get a few fresh epiphanies about this journey we call, life. Some that end up embedding itself more dramatically within my moral compass,motivation, and foundation of daily thoughts, and some…that just drift away like a mountain of tumbleweed in the desert. Recently, I’ve found that writing them out not only creates greater capacity in my brain to think, but to also help me understand these epiphanies on a more tangible, actionable level.

Here are 2 epiphanies that have taken residence in my mind every day and why it’s been so pivotal in my life.

(Sidenote: Albert Of The Future – As you’re reading this, I hope you are doing so without regret, hopefully. (:D) )

1. I’m Going To Die Someday

Everything I want to say about this point can be succinctly summarized in Steve Job’s commencement speech that he gave back in 2005. It goes:

“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life.

Almost everything–all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure–these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.

Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet, death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it, and that is how it should be, because death is very likely the single best invention of life. It’s life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new.”

For most of my life, the concept of Death frightened me. There was something so intangible and unknown about Death that numbed me in my place- unable to think, move, and act in any way.

Death also has a close relative named Fear. Fear does the dirty work that Death initially creates in the hearts and minds of people. It takes the unknown element that Death represents and nullifies any thoughts for hope and optimism, leaving only trails of pessimism, inaction, and confusion.

But recently, I’ve tried adopting a different dogma.

I’ve chosen to embrace Death and to mentally accept the inevitable truth that yes, I will die someday. While I may never truly overcome the Fear that is closely associated with Death, I choose to allow it to steer me towards a new motivation. That my time here on Earth is indeed limited, and that I need to do a better job in making the most of it.

My Amazing Stick Figure Drawing On Death & Fear

A pledge to myself – Be more urgent, be more fearless, and be more every day. 

2. The Most Irreplaceable Thing In Life: Time

I had a few questions that I couldn’t stop thinking about these past couple months about Time.

What would I do if I had more time?

How can I impact this world if I had more time?

How much happier would I, my family, and friends be if I had more time?

How different would my life be if I had more time…and how much am I willing to sacrifice in return for it?

Time, the only thing in this world that you can’t ever have more of. Once it passes, it’s gone, forever.

When I started to really think about the answers to these questions, I couldn’t help but feel frustrated. Frustrated that it took me this long to realize just how important time is…frustrated that I probably could’ve utilized each 24 hours of my life a little better in the past (esp. in college, yikes)…and frustrated just thinking about how much time we spend our lives at work.

I mean, have you ever just calculated how much time we spend in our lifetime at work? It’s crazy!

Take this calculation into consideration:

A man expected to live till age 78 will have lived a total of 683,760 hours. If he starts work at age 22 after college, works 37.5 hours per week until age 65 with three weeks vacation per year (that’s being generous with America’s standard), he will work a total of 106,575 hours during his lifetime, or roughly 15.5 percent of his life.

**Quick! Be mindful of how you are feeling right now. Analyze…analyze, ok onwards.**

When I came to this realization, it freaked me out. 40+ hours for 42 more years until I retire…there’s something wrong with that.

That’s a lot of time that could have been used to explore this beautiful world, becoming a masterful Salsa dancer, authoring multiple books, speaking at conferences, starting nonprofit organizations…the list is endless!

And sure, I know there’s a bunch of counterarguments that could be said on this, (do what you love at work!) but the truth is, I’m just impatient and there’s just too much that I want to do and see before I turn 30.

So now what?

Solution: Build a profitable, automated business and work my BUTT off to make it happen. No. Matter. What.

Sounds simple enough, but boy – has it been a struggle these past couple months and will be a struggle for the next x plus years. But it’s a different and refreshing kind of struggle this time. It’s a struggle towards something I truly want and it’s a struggle that I can’t wait to see how it reshapes me as a businessman, leader, and individual.

A quote to leave myself and whoever else is reading this post with that I think encompasses what I’m trying to say on time:

““Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won’t so you can spend the rest of your life like most people cant.”
– Warren G. Tracy’s student”

Conclusion

Steve Jobs had the right idea when he came to these realizations of Death & Time. And although we are on very different trajectories towards our ideas of success, I can only hope that I can contribute back to this world as much as he had.

One step at a time.

Cheers,

Albert

6 Reasons Why I Love To Travel

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Start With The Why.

Those four words have been a reoccurring question thats sporadicly flashed in my subconsciousness throughout these past several days.

Start With The Why.

It’s been interesting meticulously examining the answers that I’ve applied that mindset to in various sectors of my life:

Why I’m working at Google…Why I chose to move to Nor Cal….Why I enjoy talking with people….

But most recently, as I once again found myself at the checkout window of American Airlines, I couldn’t help but take a step back and ask…

Why I Love To Travel (so damn much) ?

And why is it important to truly understand, why I do?

The latter posed question is a bit easier to define. It’s start with purpose. By answering the Why’s to life’s’ more inquisitive questions, unfocused lenses become sharpened with direction and renewed motivation. It’s the steady compass that you fall back on when you are feeling lost, full of unanswered questions. Similarly, the inability to answer this notion of Why, can lead to frustration and confusion. Without a defined purpose of why, we become like statues, numb in our motivation and ambition in reaching our potential. So by defining and understanding Why I enjoy traveling so much, I hope that I will only fall deeper in love with this hobby and lifestyle of traveling.

Moving on.

When I posed this elementary, you-should-already-know this question of Why I Love To Travel so much, I was surprised (and slightly disappointed) at myself for not being able to immediately come up with a list of answers.

How was I not able to come up with just a few well thought out reasons on something I enjoyed and loved so much?

Have I been some fake dude who only traveled because it was the “thing” to do as a Twenty-something?

Thankfully, no. The truth is, I just never took the time and mental effort to take a step back and reflect. To just click PAUSE on life and examine deeply and genuinely on the WHY behind traveling.

In the past, I was just traveling cause I needed to. I spontaneously bought tickets and just DID IT. I was on the go, adrenaline flowing nonstop from departure to arrival gates. And it wasn’t until just recently, where I took a hot moment to just step back.

So after a few hours of thought, I was able to churn out from the factories of my heart and mind,

6 Reasons Why I Love To Travel

1. Because That’s Where My Favorite Stories To Share Are From 

Everyone loves a great story. It’s an instant attention-grabber that organically draws an audience. When little Albert pops out in the future (just a reference, I probably won’t name my son/daughter Albert…) I sincerely hope I have some fantastic tales from my travels to share with him/her. (Dumbed down of course for G -rated audience)

2. It’s A Fantastic Way To Connect With People

Not only do you meet some unbelievably fascinating people whilst on your trip, the ability to relate and connect with people back at home is also an added bonus. One of the easiest way to increase your own likeability is by sharing an experience, interest, or belief with another person. By traveling, I’ve been lucky to increase this pool of potentially relatable experiences, interests, or beliefs.

“Oh you’ve been to Nicaragua?!” Cool! Boom, friends.

“What are your thoughts about the tradition of haggis in Scotland?” It’s disgustingly awesome! Boom, friends.

3. To Gain A New Perspective 

…on the culture, the traditions, the values and to find the applicable themes back into our own lives in the US, and vice versa. In this Internet driven world, we’re lucky to learn about virtually ANY ethnicity/race/country/etc. we want with just a few keystrokes. But what we miss out on is that face-to-face, HUMAN interaction. That is irreplaceable.

By being present, you, along with the person you are interacting with, shed a few layers of vulnerability in faith that understanding and curiosity is exchanged in return.

4. It’s Makes Me A Better Person

What do I mean by better? Simply, an improvement of my self before I leave on an adventure. I’ve become more curious, more confident, and more appreciative each and every time I come back. And I know for a fact, that I will only continue to grow by stepping out of my comfort zone when I travel.

5. There’s No Better Hiding Place

I remember the first time I went to Disneyland when I was little dude. Disneyland’s magic got to my imagination and dreams and for a day, I felt like I was just, in a different place. This my friends, is how I feel when I travel. To just turn a blind eye towards reality and to let myself loose in a playground of the unknown.

This unexplored world is just a bigger Disneyland.

6. It’s The Ultimate Canvas To Showcase My Creativity

Photography, videos, writing. There’s no better outlet than embarking on an adventure to fresh and exciting new places to spark creativity. There’s a sweet naturalness to finding inspiration when one is thrown in an unfamiliar place, and I’m truly lucky to be equipped with the tools to capture those moments.

Start With The Why

I thought I’d end the blog with the same header as the beginning to really drive in this point. Whether it’s traveling, your career, your religion, your relationship, your hobbies, take a few moments to just ask the “why’s” behind the things you care and treasure the most. It’s might be scary and uncomfortable. But it’ll also be relieving, uplifting, and motivating, and absolutely rewarding.

I for one,  also have a ton I need to still figure out. But thankfully, with this post done, I have at least one department of my life figured out. (at least for now…)

Let me know what your thoughts are!

Always happy to chat.

Learning with you always,

AL