Useful stuff

• Get people to contribute to an idea and they will be more likely to accept it. Studies show that it doesn’t take that much involvement in the creative process to get people to take possession of a proposed plan.
• Easy way to get people to like you Them: Tell me about yourself? You: I did blah blah blah…, what about you? Them: Blah Blah Blah You: Wow, that’s so hard!
• Why not faster? Why can’t we build this startup/finish this homework/learn this skill faster?
• If you really want to connect with someone, take them for a long, scenic walk. Not being face to face takes some of the pressure off, and the scenery puts you in the right mood to open up.
• If you haven’t used your voice in a while (sleeping, lonely, etc) and suddenly need to take a phone call, hum for a few seconds prior. Your vocal cords won’t let you down.
• If you want to offer a deep and memorable compliment, ask someone how they did something. It gives them the opportunity to tell their story, and shows your genuine interest.
• When complementing people, always compliment them on something they have earned, not something they have.
• When you’re leading a conversation, it’s very good to invite other people who might be more quiet by asking them what they think or joking with them.
• Fully commit to friendly gestures, such as high fives, back pats, shoulder touches. Fully committing matters as it shows more confidence but also helps with being more trustworthy.

Not Useful stuff

• Several times in life I’ve cold called a company to confirm my interview time. I didn’t have one prior to my call, but in their confusion and inability to even find my resume I’ve managed to secure an interview about four out of five times. Twice I’ve gotten the job.
• When smoking meats in a barbecue, instead of using wood smoke, use a juul for extra flavor.
• For group interviews, have the candidate play a level of overcooked to see how well they work as a team and respond to stress
• Things that are complete are completed, things that are incomplete are incomplete
• Denero’s first lecture(Intro to Computer Science) was very impressive because he did some playing around with numbers while teaching us how to use + - * and /. He kept making small examples ie 4+3 is 7 to show what the operators where, something that we naturally know how to use. However, he later created another expression 1+2*3+4/5… which ended up evaluating to 2019

Longer stuff

• Time Management:

  • My advice might be different than what you are expecting but try to think of your problem from a different angle. Let me explain: you’re currently seeing your problem as how to optimize your internship search but you’ve implicitly assumed that you’re going to dedicate your time primarily to school and secondarily to finding an internship.
  • I would suggest freeing up 100% of your time as a thought experiment and then only take actions that contribute to your goal. If your goal is grad school, you might need to keep your GPA up a bit higher, and that means you can’t do as many interesting projects and look for internships. However, if your goal is a job after graduation then think of your resume as your primary goal, and if your classes align with that, spend more time engaging with those classes. If they don’t, then miss an assignment or just do the main parts and sacrifice the points.
  • For me, once I saw school as secondary and my projects and portfolio as primary, I found I was more interested in my coursework because I saw it as something that would help me solve my real problems, and I absolutely blew away the projects I was assigned because I didn’t just care to fulfill the requirements, but also to present the projects as impressive and relevant to industry on my website and github.
  • Furthermore, I found that this method keeps me much more interested, which is a more correlated with success and retention, and so I became much more productive, and was able to still keep up my other extra curricular commitments. YMMV.

• On meaning: One always finds one’s burden again.

  • Camus uses Sisyphus as a metaphor to describe our absurd existence. Like Sisyphus, we are in a constant cycle of striving for purpose and discovering that it is all devoid of meaning. In Sisyphus’ case, the gods condemned him to this task with the idea that all his efforts will be futile, the punishment being that he puts forward a monumental effort for nothing. However, it is not up to the gods to determine what gives Sisyphus purpose. Sisyphus can find meaning in this task if he so chooses, and by finding meaning in this task, he revolts against the gods who want him to suffer. Likewise, we are faced with the Absurd; a universe seemingly without objective meaning. By responding to this with our own subjective meaning, we revolt against the Absurd.
  • “The struggle towards the heights is enough to fill a man’s heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.”
  • I don’t know if I necessarily believe that Sisyphus has to be HAPPY to defy the gods and find purpose, but I think the idea Camus is trying to convey is that nothing/nobody gets to decide what your purpose is. And even though the universe is without meaning, that doesn’t mean that we have to live meaningless lives.
  • The way I interpret the quote in the picture is: at the beginning of every day, we are all too aware of the burdens we will face, and the struggle we are about to undergo. No matter what, we will always strive for something bigger than ourselves. As we accomplish one thing, another goal replaces it, and we are constantly struggling to be complete. By recognizing how difficult life is, and how we are always incomplete in some sense, we can live in rebellion to the negative feelings that keep us from moving forward. We voluntarily take on the burden of life, knowing that burden will never fully be lifted. Why? Camus sees that struggle as purpose. And whatever reason you subjectively have
  • “I leave Sisyphus at the foot of the mountain. One always finds one’s burden again.”