What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20

“What can I do to be helpful to you?” The generosity of this gesture made a huge impression on me. In most cases there was nothing she could do to be helpful, but just knowing she was willing to help if needed was comforting.

Once you get the hang of it, this is an easy, back-of-the-envelope exercise you can use to reevaluate all aspects of your life and career. The key is to take the time to clearly identify every assumption

The first step to solving big problems is to identify them. In the world of product design, this is called “need finding.” This is a skill that can be learned.

The more we take on problems, the more confident and proficient we become at solving them. And the better able we are to see them as opportunities.

We can challenge ourselves every single day.

We draw imaginary lines around what we think we can do—lines that often limit us much more than the rules imposed by society at large.

We always make our own prisons, with rules that we each create for ourselves, locking us into specific roles and out of an endless array of possibilities.

if others think your ideas are crazy, then you must be on the right track.

life is full of false starts and inevitable stumbling. The key to success is the ability to extract the lessons out of each of these experiences and to move on with that new knowledge.

we so often frame problems too tightly. When given a simple challenge, such as earning money in two hours, most people quickly jump to standard responses. They don’t step back and look at the problem more broadly. Taking off the blinders opens up a world of possibilities.