I desire to do great work.

• I want to do great work one day, even if this means constant failure, back-tracking and sacrifices.
• I am motivated by curiosity, delight, and the desire to do something impressive.
• I believe the secret to effortless discipline is to have a profound passion/curiosity.
• I work to impress myself, but when I want to impress people, I only aim to impress the people whose opinion I care about, those that I respect.
• If I dive into a field, I aim to become the best, because it simplifies things.
• My success is defined by excellent work in areas that are important to me. I define myself by my strengths instead of weaknesses.

Time and Energy Management

• Life is too short for bullshit, I shall relentlessly prune bullshit.
• I believe anything worth doing is worth doing well, so I invest time and energy in better writing, presenting, communicating, clear thinking, learning, finding the right tool etc.
• To get through the initial energy threshold of per-day work, I trick myself and prioritize tasks in a way that generates momentum.
• I try to avoid thoughts about money and disputes because they are engaging in the wrong way.

Thinking, Planning and Agency

• In college, I treat the education I receive as my own project, that my professors are working for my work and my goal.
• Planning only works for achievements you can describe in advance. 
• I understand that I can bend the world with the sheer power of will with a surprising percentage of time.
• It doesn’t matter how fast I move if it’s in a worthless direction.
• The right goal is to allocate my year optimally, not my day.
• My next twenty years are unknowable because they depends on my next five years. My next five years are unknowable because they depends on my next year. My next year is unknowable because it depends on my next two months. I have the next two months under control, make the best of it.
• I start with first principles, iterate with data, and lean on conviction when data falls short.

Risk, Luck, Success, Failures and Growth.

• My biggest advantage is time and higher tolerance for failure. Therefore I invest my resources for high expected return instead of certainty.
• I understand that every time I make the hard, correct decision, I become more courageous and hard things become easier.
• I ask people I respect for feedback to learn from failure.
• Competition ≠ validation. Individual success is a positive-sum game. Help people at similar stages.
• A decision that I can afford to lose 1x but to win 100x is worth-making. A decision that could end me but win 10,000x is not worth making.
• I compound myself by moving towards options that allow maximize growth and work hard. I understand that exponential curve starts flat at first.
• I have confidence in taking risks. I justify self-belief with self-aware by working hard to learn about my capabilities.

People

• Given that work stamina seems to be one of the biggest predictors of long-term success. I work with people I like and problems I am very interested in to avoid burn-out.
• I try to take care of the people that work with me, and be overly generous with sharing the upside.
• I understand that task conflicts are distinct from interpersonal conflict.
• Be a force of nature.

Law of Attraction / Online Presence

• To attract the right people in the long term, I will post sincerely with substance, assuming my audience are intelligent.

風險

• 基本原則：只嘗試承擔那些你能承受失敗後果的風險
• 為了平衡你的自信與自我認知，你在職涯早期應該積極努力地工作，以了解自己的能力邊界。
• 你應該藉由不斷累積從「我可以做到」轉化為「我已經做到」的實際經驗，來儘早建立自信。
• 選擇風險——你只需要成功一次（就足以解決現階段的問題，踏入下一個階段）。
• 尋找一些小賭注，失敗時損失為 1 倍，但成功時回報為 100 倍。然後再朝成功的方向押下更大的賭注。
• 「反脆弱 (Anti-fragile)」形容的是一種能從波動 (volatility) 中獲益的系統或策略。對反脆弱系統而言，衝擊強度越大，其帶來的益處（或減少的損害）就越多，直到某個臨界點為止。例如，舉一次 100 磅重的啞鈴，比舉 100 次 1 磅的啞鈴更有益。
• 聰明、積極、有韌性的人是反脆弱的。
• 我願意花上足夠多的時間去尋找下一件值得投入的事。但我希望每個專案若成功，都能使我的職涯中其他成就看起來只是註腳。
• 要有信心做有風險的事。成功意味著做一系列有風險、經過評估的事情。
• 面對有風險的事，人不可能總是做出正確的選擇——你必須嘗試足夠多的事情，並隨著你所獲得的新資訊迅速調整。
• 感受與理解風險：從風險小的事情開始嘗試，逐步去做擁有更大風險的事情。你很快就會發現有風險的事的負面影響遠比你想像的小，而正面效益則遠比你想像的大。
• 缺乏經驗會讓你害怕有風險的事情，但實際上，你越年輕時越有能力去承受更多風險（「更多」＝想要多少有多少）。
• 「大部分人對風險的看法是錯誤的——例如，繼續待在大學看似是一條零風險的道路。然而，在你最具生產力的四年什麼事都沒做，其實是非常危險的。」— Sam Altman
• 關於未來，沒有絕對正確的道路，但你應該去做那些最可能讓你走上卓越道路的事情。
• 大多數情況下，「零風險」的道路已經被定價，預期回報也因此受限（比方說，你的薪水就是一種定價）。走這條路註定無法獲得高於其道路平均的回報 (linear vs superlinear)。
• 記住你終將一死，因此沒有理由不去冒大的風險，試著在宇宙中留下自己的痕跡。
• 「提醒自己即將死去，是我遇過最能幫助我做出人生重大決定的工具。因為幾乎所有事情——外界的期待、驕傲、對尷尬或失敗的恐懼——這些在死亡面前全都不重要了，只留下真正重要的事。記住你終將一死，是我所知道避免陷入『以為自己有所失』陷阱的最好方法。你已經一無所有了，沒理由不去追隨你的內心。」— Steve Jobs，2005年6月12日史丹佛畢業典禮演講

心理上如何面對不確定性

• 當你試圖跳出一個局部極大值（例如零風險的道路）時，你的第一步肯定會是下降。
• 學會與不確定性共處。一個訓練容忍的小技巧是每天早晨沖冷水澡，你會經歷三個階段：「幹幹幹」，然後你就會適應，並繼續想其他的想法。
• 恐懼驅動的決策幾乎總是糟糕的。你應該試著辨識自己的情緒並且處理它們（把情緒化的想法和 ChatGPT 闡述，對發掘潛在的焦慮原因非常有幫助）。
• 除了自我認知和合理的自信之外，來自宏觀層面的樂觀和信念在面對不確定性時非常有用。
• 小心「努力迷思」：「事情沒有效果是因為我還不夠努力」→ 這是「瘋狂」的定義

Risks

• Ground rule: Only risks that you can afford to fail are worth taking
• To balance your self-belief with self-awareness, you should work hard in your early career to educate yourself on your own capabilities in order to Cultivate self-belief early, by getting more "i can do it"→ "i did it" data points.
• Thinking about risk the right way, you only have to be right once (to make it to the next level of whatever you are progressing).
• Look for small bets you can make where you lose 1x if you're wrong but make 100x if it works. Then make a bigger bet in that direction.
• Anti-fragile describes systems or strategies that will benefit from volatility. For the anti-fragile, shocks bring more benefits (or less harm) as their intensity increases, up to a point. e.g. lifting a 100 lb weight once is more beneficial than lifting a 1 lb weight 100 times.
• Smart, driven, resilient people are the anti-fragile.
• I am willing to take as much time as needed between projects to find my next thing. But I always want it to be a project that, if successful, will make the rest of my career look like a footnote.
• Have confidence in taking risks. Success means a series of well-calculated risks that one took to go from nowhere to somewhere.
• It's impossible to be right all the time—you have to try many things and adapt quickly as you learn more.
• Start with small risks, then you should take bigger risks. You will soon learn that the downside of risk is much smaller than you think, and the upside is much bigger.
• Inexperience makes you fear risk, but it's when you are young that you can afford the most (most = as much as you want).
• "Most people think about risk the wrong way—for example, staying in college seems like a non-risky path. However, getting nothing done for four of your most productive years is actually pretty risky." — Sam Altman
• Regarding future, there is no right path, but you want to do the things that is most likely to get you on a path to do something great.
• Most of the time the no-risk path is priced-out. The expected return is limited (e.g. priced as your salary), you can never get above average return following this path.
• Remember that you are going to die, there is no reason why you shouldn't take big bets to try leaving dents in the universe.
• "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. Because 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." — Steve Jobs, June 12th 2005 Stanford commencement speech

Dealing with uncertainty mentally

• When you are popping out of a local maxima (the no-risk path), your first step is definitely a drop.
• Be comfortable about living with uncertainty. One trick to build tolerance is to cold shower in the morning, where you will go through three stages: fuck, fuck, fuck and then you will be comfortable enough to think clearly.
• Decisions you made when you are in panic is almost always bad. You should always try to recognize your feelings and deal with it (verbalizing every thought with ChatGPT could be very helpful at pinpointing hidden worries).
• Besides self-awareness justified self-belief, optimism and faith from the macro could be very helpful when you are living with uncertainty.
• Beware of the effort myth so you don't get stuck: "It's not working because it's I'm not working hard enough" → definition of maniac 

好的點子是人們願意付錢的點子；好的行動是能採集或驗證用戶真實想法、畫像與行為的行動

如果有用戶為某問題所困，迫切需要解決方案時，那他們會願意付錢嘗試你的解決方案，也會為你提供最多有用的洞見，以便你優化解決方案。這些用戶是你需要透過「訪談」發現的用戶，而這些點子就是好的點子。

為了了解市場對產品的真實反應，我需要採取行動，比如發佈產品、向用戶展示使用方式、追蹤與分析行為數據、與用戶溝通等。如果我發佈了一個產品，但沒有辦法追蹤用戶行為並聯繫到用戶，那我就無法了解市場是否真的想要這個產品，那這次發佈就等於是在浪費時間。

在開始打造解決方案前，一定要分析問題的強度、頻率以及既有解決方案

應用層面產品的點子很多，但真實存在的痛點問題比較少。在開始打造解決方案前，一定要分析問題的強度、頻率以及既有解決方案，進而思考自己的產品能提供目標客群多少價值。如果沒有想清楚，不要貿然行動，否則便是在浪費時間。

一個浪費時間的例子：我有一次因為一時想不到足夠好的點子，便說服自己開始打造某個工具，美其名「這個工具可以解決自己的問題」，而實際上這是在躲避對專案沒有進度的 panic move。此時應該靜下心，捫心自問想做這個點子是因為它真的能解決問題，還是因為自己受到情緒作用而決定推進。

用產品調研市場的瓶頸是獲得用戶反饋，因此要專注在優化獲得高品質反饋的過程

問一個朋友並獲得答案最短只要 3 秒；線上預約一個朋友訪談最短需要 3 分鐘；透過郵件來協調用戶訪談最短要 1 天；打造一個能給用戶測試的產品最短只要 17 分鐘（包含數據追蹤系統、登入系統、付費系統可能要額外一天，但這是因為我還不是非常熟悉操作方式）；找用戶從測試開始到下階段性結論大約最短要 3 天；

一個解決方案是手動 onboard 所有用戶：讓對產品感興趣的用戶加入 waitlist，直到你聯繫並手動 onboard 他們。這個過程可以篩選掉那些看到覺得很酷想玩玩的非目標用戶。中間可以加 paywall 進一步篩選那些「並不是迫切需要」的用戶。

重新思考「拖延」

拖延是人類畏難的自動保護機制，但現在即使是我們沒有做過的事情、想來覺得很困難的事情，在 AI 的輔助之下「其實可以很簡單」。比方說，半個月前，我想在其中一個產品加入登入驗證系統，但因為我覺得它很複雜很難，所以我拖到了隔天，結果隔天發現用 AI 工具 15 秒就能解決。

那有什麼事情是值得拖延的呢？大量資源運用的決策，比方說「接下來 3 天要打造什麼產品，為什麼？」

提供流量之神眷顧的機會，同時可以感受有多少人可以與你所解決的問題共鳴

找用戶測試的目的是獲得關於用戶的真實資訊；而獲得用戶真實資訊效率最高的方法是用戶訪談（視訊 > 電話 > 社交軟體 >> Reddit chat >> 郵箱）。但也不妨直接在公開的社群媒體上發表產品，原因是因為發佈一篇貼文的時間成本很低，也可以在零碎的時間運營留言區，好處是可以透過貼文轉發次數很直觀的感受有多少人與這個問題共鳴。此外，如果你有在使用前收集郵箱，那麼高流量也可以增加早期產品的觸及目標用戶的數量。

只要所花時間不那麼多的話，社交媒體是一個可以利用的黑天鵝。

相信自己，穩步前進

Nov 1, 2024

這篇文章是我為回答 17 歲時自己的疑問所寫，當時我在思考要讀哪一所大學。不過，我認為如果把「大學」換成其他你會待上幾年的組織或地方，其中的一些思考或問題依然適用。

要考慮什麼？

與你朝夕相處、對你體驗影響最大的是你所遇到的人。因此首先你需要了解在這裡是否能遇到理想的同儕。「你是你最常接觸的五個人的平均」，這些同儕的特性很可能會決定你的上限，包含你能成為什麼樣的人，或你能達成什麼樣的成就等。因此，當你在探索時，最好能得出更具體一點的結論，而不只是空泛的「這裡的人是全國最聰明的」。一個好的回答會像是「這裡的人大多聰明、積極且勤奮，且可以從很多人的個人網站上推測得知這裡的同儕熱衷於工程和創新。」

你也要考慮這個環境向你傳達的信息是什麼。因為當你還沒找到屬於自己的目標，在大環境以低風險的方式，走一步看一步時，環境大概率就會決定你最終走向何處。Paul Graham 在他的文章《城市與志向》(Cities and Ambitions) 中說道，每座城市都有一個核心志向，而當你身處其中時，這個志向會向你傳遞訊息影響你。比如紐約的訊息是「你應該更有錢」，而舊金山的則是「你應該更有影響力」。我認為這樣的現象在小範圍內也存在，比如「大學與志向」、「公司與志向」等等。換言之就是「環境會決定你所沾染上的氛圍。(location affects the vibe you are infected with) 」具體而言，你的環境可能會告訴你「你要獲得好的學習成績，並且發表盡可能多的學術文章」、「你要努力學習有用的東西去解決世界上真實存在的問題」之類。環境的力量難以言喻的強大，想了解的話我覺得可以從心理學的啟動效應 (priming effect) 開始。

你還應該瞭解這個系統所允許探索的想法空間 (idea space) 的邊界。因為如果你想探討自由和人權，那麼就不應該選擇一個想法無法被表達與聆聽的地方。試圖與體制抗衡通常只是浪費寶貴的時間與精力。

另外，你也需要去了解環境的瑣碎規定，比如說中國某高校會要求你在選體育課的學期必須在操場上跑滿 85 公里，熱水供應僅限於每天的 3PM-11PM 之類。這類的瑣事很容易打碎你的時間區塊，所以最好提前了解以便提前想辦法規避。

你也會希望了解你在這裡的主要任務有多耗費精力。如果你不能百分百確認自己會願意在現在這個領域耕耘十年，那麼你就應該保持開放心態，週期性在其他你感興趣的領域上投入時間。

綜合以上兩個建議與你的時間表，你可以得出你每週能有多少段長時間、不間斷、允許你專注的時間。 Paul Graham 稱一個這樣的時間表為「創作者時間表」(maker’s schedule)。

要了解你的「創作者時間表」，你可以拿出每週行事曆，劃掉必須去上課簽到的時間（否則會掛科）、考試時間和最低畢業要求（如寫學士論文）所佔的時段，剩下的就是你的創作者時間。

我認為大家都應該要有流出創作者時間的意識，因為大部分真正的個人成長、實際的程序產出、寫作、興趣探索、書籍閱讀、技能學習等，幾乎都是在這些屬於自己的連續時段裡完成的。

雖然你剛進入大學的時候可能對自己的科系充滿熱情，但當你的興趣與科系所學不再完全一致時（90% 以上的人畢業後所從事領域與大學科系完全無關），唯一能讓你專注於自我成長的時間就剩下你的創作者時間。我認為你應盡你所能延長並保護你的創作者時間。

如何獲取有效的信息

我覺得這些問題可以幫助大家去反思現在處境或探索所擁有的選項。如果你有想到其它更好的問題，歡迎留言！

• 我擁有最好的同儕嗎？

  • 「你能描述一下你在這裡認識的前 1%、前10%的人嗎？你是如何認識他們的？他們都在做什麼？」

  • 「這個地方有讓你十分敬佩的人嗎？」

• 這裡的環境會對我有什麼影響？這個環境給予了我什麼樣的期許？

  • 「你認識的那些人最常討論什麼話題？」

  • 「你的朋友們在不忙於必要工作時通常在做什麼？」

  • 「在這裡一般的成長路徑如何？（例如社團活動、研究機會、實習）畢業後的幾個典型路徑是什麼？」

• 我實際上擁有多少自由？這裡有哪些禁忌？

  • 「是否有某種主題是被禁止討論的？你能分享一個很誇張的例子嗎？」

  • 「有沒有什麼話題是你會小心處理的？」

  • 「這裡有什麼政治正確的說法嗎？有什麼具體的例子嗎？」

• 這裡有什麼雜事要應對？

  • 「在這裡有什麼你不喜歡或不想做的事情？」

  • 「你最常向朋友抱怨什麼？」

  • 「你有很親密的朋友嗎？你最近都跟他/她抱怨了什麼？」

• 我可以自己支配的時間有多少？

  • 「你可以和我描述一下在這裡，你一般是如何度過一天和一週的嗎？」

  • 「除了必須做的事情，你平常還有在做別的事情嗎？會不會感到難以平衡？」

找誰問比較合適？

我認為最適合詢問的是那些在某方面很出色的人，因為他們對於同儕的水準會有更準確的認識，且他們一般對時間支配有更高的追求，可以透過他們獲得更好的資訊。此外，他們還要有足夠多的年資、足夠真誠，不會在沒有好答案時隨便瞎掰。

Nov 1, 2024

I wrote this to answer a question I had when I was 17—how to choose a college? But I think if you substitute college with another organization or place that you will stay for a few years, some questions still work.

Considerations

What directly impacts your experience most is who you spend time with. So you want to know whether you can have the best sort of peers. Since you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with, the quality of your peer is likely to set the upper limit of who you are and what you can do. Therefore when you are learning about the options, your answer better be a bit more concrete than “These are the smartest people in the country”. A good answer might be “The folks here are generally smart, ambitious, and hardworking. Judging by those personal websites I found online, a lot of them enjoy engineering and innovating.”

You also have to figure out what the environment speaks to you. Because by and large, this will determine where you end up when you don’t see a beacon (yet) and go with the flow. Paul Graham discussed this extensively in his essay Cities and Ambitions, that each city is a center of an ambition, and it speaks to you when you live in that city, for example, in New York the message is “You should be richer”, in San Francisco it’s “You should be more powerful”. I think there are something like this on smaller scales, Colleges and Ambitions, Companies and Ambitions, or more generally, any collective people of similar properties have some ambition. Another way to put this is, “location affects the vibe you are infected with.” To be more concise, your environment might tell you “You should get better grades at school, and publish as much academic papers as possible.”, it could also tell you “You should strive to solve real world problems by acquiring useful skills.” The influence of environment is so profound I won’t dare to explain in a few words, but I think if you want to learn more you can start with the psychology concept “priming effect”.

You will also want to learn about the perimeters of the idea space you can explore [1] according to the system. This might be important because if you want to think about freedom and human rights, it’s unwise to be in a place where voices can’t be heard. And fighting the system is in general a waste of time and attention.

You also have to figure out what miscellaneous you have to deal with, such as some random Chinese colleges might ask you to run 85KM on the campus running track if you opted for a PE class that semester, or there’s only hot water supply between 3 PM-11 PM, etc. These are the kinds of pettiness that could break your time into pieces if you are not careful (or technical enough [2]), so you might want to know them in advance to avoid being caught off-guard and feeling frustrated.

You might want to know how intense your primary job there will be. If you are not 100% sure that is something you will commit to in the next 10 years, then you should be open-minded and allocate some energy to be spent regularly in another idea space that piques your interest.

Together with the previous advice, this yields the amount of long, uninterrupted time blocks you can have each week. Paul Graham calls schedule which consists of arrangements like this a maker’s schedule.

To get your maker’s schedule, pull out your weekly calendar, cross out the blocks where you have to go check in (otherwise you fail the class), take tests, and the minimum amount of time you need to work so you can graduate (such as writing a bachelor thesis), you get your maker’s schedule.

I think having a maker’s schedule is highly underrated, because these consecutive time blocks are de facto when most personal growth happens, most codes and essays written, most interests explored, most books read, most skills acquired, etc.

You might be very passionate about your major when you first start, but when your interest misaligns with your major somehow (more than 90% of college graduates have careers that are completely unrelated to their majors), the only times you can work on yourself are the times from the resulting maker’s schedule. I think you should try to extend and protect your maker’s schedule as much as possible.

Questions to Ask

To reflect on your current environment or options, I think here are some good questions you can use to interview people.

• Do I have the best peers?

  • Can you tell me about the top 1%, 10% people you know in this place? How did you meet them? What are they doing now?

  • Is there anyone from the place who you admire a lot?

• What does the environment speak to me? What expectations are imposed on me?

  • What do people you know there talk about most?

  • What are most of the people you know doing when they aren’t doing assigned work (or necessary work)?

  • What is a typical growing path in terms of SoC, research, and internship? What are the typical trajectories after this?

• How much freedom do I actually have? What are the taboos?

  • Is there any kind of discussion that isn’t allowed? Can you tell me a (most extreme) story about it?

  • What kind of discussion will you approach with a lot of caution? Is there a category?

  • What are the issues of political correctness that are most prominent here?

• What miscellaneous do I have to deal with?

  • What are the things you don’t like to or want to do at ___?

  • What do you complain to your friends about most?

  • Do you have a close friend in mind? What are your most recent complaints with him/her?

• How much free time will I have?

  • What does an average day of ___ look like? What about an average week?

  • Do you work on anything other than necessary work? Do you have difficulties balancing them?

Who should you talk to?

I think the best people to interview in terms of collecting these information are those you know are very good at something, so they have a good idea about how good their peers are. They are also experienced, candid, and sincere, so they have a good grasp of the environment and don’t make things up when they don’t have a good answer [3].

Notes

[1] By explore, I mean to “actively engage in discussions with different people online and offline without worrying that you’d be canceled even if you are careful.” An example of doing something you “shouldn’t” be touching is having online discussions around a dictator’s fears.

[2] You can use virtual GPS to hack the system sometimes, but you have to be technical enough.

[3] I had the experience of being introduced to a major at a college major fair (open day) by a freshman who didn’t know what he was talking about. He makes things up when he doesn’t know.

專注是持續、有意識地在一個明確的方向耕耘。

過往，我幾乎只會在課堂小組討論的時候使用 focus 這個詞。而在 Heptabase 的工作語境下，「專注」和「聚焦」這兩個概念是不斷出現在各種地方的，讓我感到熟悉卻陌生。對我而言，這可能也是那種要見到貫徹這個概念的同儕，切身體會到專注的力量後才能學會的事情。

在每週的工作都需要妥善聚焦的環境下，很容易感受到專注對做好一件事的重要性。比方説有一次我認為我的一個目標是「改進XX的生成機制」，這個問題我想不出一個非常優的解法，因此當我在網路上看到一些講交互的文章後，就突然「恍然大悟」，想說原來這個東西做不好是因為缺乏「好的交互」。於是我就設計了一套交互系統，覺得自己的想法非常棒，殊不覺這裡「XX的生成內容」才是這個產品的關鍵。這是我數次失焦經驗中的一次。

如果沒想清楚什麼是重要的，就很容易找到理由去逃避面對重要的任務，通常這個時候我們會下意識地去找一些簡單的、自己會做的事情去做，從而喪失實質產出。

Peter Thiel 基於這個觀察，在擔任 PayPal CEO 的時候，推行了一套非常不尋常的管理政策： One Thing，即每個人只負責一個事情。他不會和人們討論他們 One Thing 之外的工作。他認為如果讓一個人同時負責一件困難但有價值的 A+ 級任務和多件不困難但也沒什麼價值的 B+ 級別任務，那人們就會因為害怕困難而拖延解決 A+ 級任務，而去處理 B+ 任務。當一間公司所有人都在執行 B+ 任務時，那這間公司就只會是一間平庸的公司。他需要所有人——即使是因為困難而痛苦地——專注在解決需要他們解決的困難 A+ 任務，如此才能造就優秀的公司。

在 Heptabase 的社群裡，可以很清晰的感受到 CEO Alan 是如何把公司有限的資源聚焦在重要的事情上。比如在今年八月份對公司的公開問答中，Alan 對 「Heptabase 對軟體共通性的態度」的回答「我們不釋出產品 API 是因為產品還在快速迭代中，過早的釋出 API 會大幅增加維護成本，降低團隊對核心功能的研發速度，還容易暴露一些缺口給不懷好意的人。這些不是我們現階段想擔心的問題。」；「對團隊擴張的計劃」的回答「我們不會因為競爭對手開發速度快、團隊規模很大就擴張團隊。只有當我們需要更多的人力去設計和開發，且公司有足夠的經常性收入可支付員工薪水的時候，我們才會擴張團隊規模。」在 AI 能力爆炸增長的時代，幾乎所有產品都想在產品裡面加上一些 AI 功能。對於這個時代課題，Heptabase 的答案我覺得把「專注」的意思展現地淋漓盡致 [1]，「Heptabase 的一個專注點是打造能更好幫助用戶理解複雜課題的能力 (capability)，因此我們首先會專注在那些可能能幫用戶達成上述目標的、更困難的功能，其餘簡單但對用戶有幫助的功能我們會慢慢落實。」

總結一下，專注是持續、有意識地在一個明確的方向耕耘。專注的具體表現就是不斷問自己，這個會耗費有限時間和精力的行為能如何幫助我們實現我們想實現的目標與價值。

在 AI 時代做技術工作，比起技術細節，更重要的是能用軟體工程的概念解決問題。

對於做技術工作而言，我認為比起技術，更重要的是能用軟體工程的概念解決問題，並理解如何更好的與他人協作。

剛加入 Heptabase 的時候，我是一個只會用 Python 寫算法、邏輯，用終端 (terminal) 做用戶界面的物理系大學生，沒寫過 API，沒寫過 JavaScript。

今年六月初的時候，第一個產品原型的 Python 後端雛型寫的差不多了，但要檢視輸出結果實在很麻煩，要製作一堆文字檔，然後貼到另一個軟體裡面才能查看。因此 Alan 表示我接下來需要學會做前端的網頁 App，於是我就花了一個多禮拜速成了 JavaScript 和 ReactJS 的概念。儘管我有三年多的 Python 基礎，但由於缺乏 JavaScript 的肌肉記憶，自己整合程序還是非常慢。在 ChatGPT 和 Claude.ai 的加持下又拼了快一週才把一個非常粗糙的原型搭好。

此時 ChatGPT 和 Claude.ai 的魔法已經顯得特別好用了：如果我能把一個大的功能拆成很多小的組件，那每個組件就可以讓他們高效編寫。我需要做的，就是做功能拆解，然後讓 AI 幫我 debug 直到可以成功運行。

這個階段，儘管有兩家 AI 公司加持，從沒搭過 API 的我搭建一隻能在前後端溝通的 API 還是需要 2 小時以上。因為我需要了解 RESTful API 的概念、了解如何在後端寫 GET/POST method、了解在前端要怎麼發送請求、測試、解決 CORS error 等。

接下來 Cursor 的出現改變了一切。Cursor 是一個號稱能當「你的 AI 搭檔程序員」的集成開發環境 (IDE)，或說一個 AI 加持的 VSCode。它除了基礎的生成程序、文字功能之外，還可以預測你接下來的游標位置、在了解 A, B 程序內容的情況下改寫 C 程式，甚至一次編輯數個程序。這個階段，我寫一隻能用的 API 最短的時間是 2 分鐘，我給它前端文件、後端文件和我希望這個 API 能做什麼，它就能立刻編輯那兩個文件。我接下來要做的就是打開前後端伺服器做測試（一次通過）。

十月中下旬的時候，在 Cursor 加持下，我做了另外一個比較簡單的產品原型，而這次前端加後端我只做了兩天。後端我還是用 Python 編寫，大概有 450 行（包含註解），基本全部都是 Cursor 用 Claude 3.5 Sonnet 幫我寫的。我需要做的全部剩下 (1) 想出後端邏輯 (2) 拆解成小的組件讓 AI 幫我寫 (3) 讓 AI debug 直到通過測試 (4) 寫 LLM 產品裡面的核心提示詞 (prompt)。

在知道自己最終要搭建什麼的情況下，為什麼十月的時候我只需要兩天就能做出一個還不錯的原型，而在六月的時候我需要花一個禮拜呢？我認為關鍵區別在於我對概念的熟悉度。透過對概念的學習與經驗的積累，我現在非常清楚 API 的功能、什麼是 RESTful API、什麼是數據庫的 CRUD 操作、為什麼會有 CORS error，因此我可以快速在內心建構後端的邏輯，並拆成小組件讓 AI 執行。有清晰的概念，才能利用好的工具快速搭建問題的解決方案。

至少就現在而言，我認為對軟體工程中概念了解的水平會直接影響你利用 AI 工具的產出。如果你本身的產出就是一般工程師的 10 倍，那 AI 工具會讓你的產出比一般工程師多 100 倍；如果你本身是一般工程師，那 AI 工具會讓你的產出比原本多 10 倍；但如果你本來什麼都不知道，那你還是什麼有用的產出都不會有，畢竟 0 乘任何數還是 0。

其它感想

1. 寫好 prompt 最困難的部分在於成為執行這個工作的專家，並把腦中對執行問題的一切理解清晰地描述出來。
2. Agent 的能力來源於模仿人類專家的工作模式，因此 Agent 的最終價值是允許所有工作被以最高效的方式完成。
3. AI 讓技術的成本降低了，因此創意與發現問題的能力會顯得更有價值（一直都很有價值）；與人打交道的工作也許也會變得更有價值。
4. 在公司看見好多 Y Combinator 創業哲學的具體表現，從環境中學習的感覺好讚！
5. 看到新的東西被從沒被滿足的用戶需求裡創新出來的感覺真是太酷了！
6. 有時候想不出好的解決方案時真的很難受，這時候會做很多 fake work ><

[1] 這個部分是我作為一個實習生對 “Heptabase's position in the PKM market and its attitude toward AI.” 和 “Heptabase's plans for upcoming feature direction.”，結合 Paul Graham 的創新公司應該要 “run upstairs” 的理解，不代表 Alan 或 Heptabase 的想法。

自我成長的規律：當我希望去了解某方面的啟示的時候，我就容易獲得該方面的啟示。

截止今天，人生中有三次出國對我的影響比較深，三者的共同點是：出發前我內心抱有一些關切的問題，然後一個人或和三兩好友前往新的地方，在那裡接觸到一小群我欣賞但和我不同的人，和他們持續深入交流數日，受到該環境及我所欣賞的人影響。當我把他們的想法整合到自己原有的系統中後，我的問題就會獲得一定程度的解答，我接下來的選擇也會發生改變。簡而言之，每次出去回來我都會找到一定程度的答案，儘管出發時我未必意識到我自己的困惑。

和很多事情一樣，我可以挑出我所在的系統裡面，哪裡的設計不好以及這樣的設計會有什麼潛在負面後果，但我無法單純透過思考去了解什麼樣的作法更好更合適。賦予我新模式的，往往是閱讀和與他人深入交流。

閱讀和與真人交流的差異在於：閱讀能告訴我某種東西存在；而與我所遇到的人們則能向我證明這些東西真的存在且是可能的。用一個不恰當的誇張譬喻，這是成長的過程中，被傳教與遇見神的區別。有時候百聞真的不如一見。

p.s. 我覺得到一個新的地方不是必要的，但到一個新地方後人會更容易聆聽、接受新的想法與觀念，跳出大腦的自動駕駛狀態，或說慣性的思考和行為模式。在熟悉的環境裡，他人的啟發很容易被沖淡在日復一日的循環中。而在旅途中，慣性會被打破，時間與精力被釋出以消化新的想法。

2018 美國（波士頓、紐約）

高一的時候和 Dear Calorie 團隊打進了期許高中生實際嘗試解決社會問題的 ChinaThinksBig 在美國的 Global Final

• 出發前的思考：為什麼同學主要關注考試、追星、遊戲，為什麼大家不能關注一些更有用的東西？
• 在國外的見聞與啟示：一個在那邊認識的九年級小女孩竟然一個人參賽還獲得了金獎。學生可以關注和思考的東西不只是考試、追星、遊戲，學生可以關注和思考身邊、世上真實發生事情和問題。
• 回來的行動：和當時的一個隊友在學校創建 BIN 社團，希望建立一個「真正有用、能教會人思考、做判斷、溝通的通識育人平台」

2023 東南亞（新加坡、馬來西亞）

和一位新加坡朋友及一位馬來西亞朋友一起去東南亞旅行

• 出發前的狀態：非常困惑迷茫；研究所要讀哪裡？研究所要讀什麼系？未來想做什麼工作？
• 出發前後的閱讀：That Will Never Work, Celestine Prophecy, Educated, Book: Secrets of the Millionaire Mind
• 在國外的見聞與啟示：「人生的格局可以很大」、「像你們這種有能力又聰明的人，以後每個月至少賺10萬新幣」、「世界上充滿機會」、「人是可以有夢想的」、「人是可以選擇努力實現夢想的」
• 回來的行動：開始思考人生各個階段的目標；開始醞釀休學的想法。

2024 歐洲諸國

一個人去歐洲背包客窮遊，途中拜訪了很多在那裡工作、上學的朋友

• 出發前的狀態：依舊迷茫；接下來這一年我要做什麼？我想完成什麼樣的事情？
• 出發前後的閱讀：”You should always spend your time lavishly in areas that interest you.”, “To be happy I think you have to be doing something you not only enjoy, but admire. You have to be able to say, at the end, wow, that's pretty cool.”, YC Startup School, Paul Graham essays, Sam Altman blogs, Alan Chan blogs, Ben Horowitz blogs, Zero to One, etc.
• 在國外的見聞與啟示：「持續做自己喜欢、享受的事情才得以卓越」
• 回來後的行動：Focus, less is more.

對過程的觀察

1. 始於對自己或環境的反思或疑慮
2. 受到一些思想的衝擊或閱讀到影響我的思想
3. 能看到身邊真實案例在印證這個思想
4. 在一個階段只能探索下一個階段的問題，搜索下一個階段的啟發
5. 人只會看到自己所想關注的問題。這也算是吸引力法則的表徵吧。
6. 和什麼樣的人交流比去哪裡更重要，出國或許只是增加一些記憶點（如前所述，會把這個記憶從平淡的生活區裡面單獨拉出來）

讀萬卷書，行萬里路的意思原來是這些。

每一次出遠門都很值得。

Jun 11, 2024

不有趣不好玩，且以消耗 (consume) 而非生產 (produce) 為主的事情，是浪費時間的事情。

我觀察到自己時常會進入一些令我癱瘓的、可持續維持若干小時的，屬浪費時間的心理慣性狀態。在這個狀態下，開始做一件事情很困難，按時完成自己制定的計劃更困難。重要的事情我總是拖延到最後一刻才開始做，儘管最後時刻受焦慮驅動可以十分高效地以一定質量完成它，但往往自己對結果都不是很滿意。自己像是陷入了一個經典的拖延兩難：要是強迫自己做事情，整個身心會一齊抗議，然後我就會直接放棄；要是留到最後一刻才開始，那最後一刻我就會厭惡自己。

我可以用很多之乎者也來分析為什麼自己會這樣，但今天我更想寫一下我目前覺得還蠻適合我的解決方案——「放慢動作，和自己說說話」。

The goal is to either make me focus more on the processes instead of results, and to trick myself into start working on them.

當你很急很想完成什麼的時候

Hey Ian, 我知道很長一段時間以來，你都很想做出點成果，很想和玩遊戲一樣在短短的時間裡面快速成長。但如同你的好朋友和你說的那樣「每個人都有不同的步伐和足跡。你不必急於加快自己的步伐，不必為現在才懂得別人早就知道的道理而感到焦慮和不安，更不必為還沒思考出什麼而迷茫和無措。」

成長的過程是緩慢的，它 by definition 是累積性的。任何有價值的東西 by nature 是需要 hard work, commitment 和 determination 的。

你看到很多現在做出很多成果的人，他們不是一開始就如此 amazing。”Every master was once a disaster.”

“You shouldn’t compare yourself to the most successful founders now, they became much more impressive in the course of doing their startup, and so can you” — Sam Altman

我知道你懂得這個道理，所以 please be patient to grind, trust the process of growth, and by the end of this year, you will be amazed by how much you got done over the three months and how much you’ve changed.

當你進入滑手機慣性的時候

Hey, are you feeling alright? What happened today? Is this how you want to be spending your time?

Hey, life is short, youth is short, you want to actively seek out things that matter and avoid bullshits like this. Things that matter are the things you’ll care about in the future. Relentlessly prune bullshit.

Get up, I'm going to set a 7 minutes timer [1], and you will pick an interesting book and start reading. If you still feel fatigue after 7 minutes, then go and take a walk. Remember, action precedes motivation.

當你不想起床躺著滑手機的時候

Yo man，早安。好了，停，別想那麼多，先去刷個牙，要是刷完牙還想躺回去滑的話，再躺回去滑。

當你坐在電腦無法專心的時候

Yo easy bro, I’m going to set a 7 minute timer [2], you’ll start working on what you’re supposed to be working on. If you feel restless after the timer goes off, then stop working now and go clear all those inboxes, you’re more suited for that.

How do you talk to yourself?

Feel free to leave a comment :)

Notes:

[1][2] Couple this will Apple Shortcut, copy mine here.

All the inspiration

• “Woah, I just realized that raising a kid is basically 18 years of prompt engineering 🤯” - Elon Musk
• Startup, Role Models, Risk, and Y Combinator - Sam Altman
• How To Do Great Work - Paul Graham
• The Anatomy of Determination - Paul Graham
• Life is Short - Paul Graham
• What “Follow Your Dreams” Misses | Harvey Mudd Commencement Speech 2024 - 3Blue1Brown

Disclaimer: I am empowering people with the knowledge of theft so they can help themselves and other people. I believe that knowledge per se is neither good or bad, that the impact of knowledge is 100% determined by the person who wields it. Knowledge is like wealth, it will only make people more of who they already are. So Dear Reader, be wise.

Growing up in East Asia [1] means I enjoyed one of the best securities in the world - I get to roam around with my phone and wallet in my pocket and never worry about them being stolen [2].

Now that I’m about to do some solo-traveling in Europe, I decided that for a broke student like me, I shall not lose a thing.

To understand how to prevent myself from being pickpocketed, I decided to learn the way of pickpocketing, so I can reverse engineer the process of pickpocketing and apply some measures to leave the thieves no chance. I surveyed some YouTube videos and came to these findings.

Most pickpockets are conducted through these two methods, stealing via shade and stealing via attention manipulation, combined with the numbers of present criminals, there are four types of pickpocketing: (Shade, Attention Manipulation) x (Solo, Group Crime).

Stealing with Shade

The “Shade” is something that can cover up your stealing actions, such as a huge jacket hanging on your arm, a bag, or a piece of paper (be creative).

Stealing with Shade is the easiest one to execute, because it requires no technical skill but some distractions. It can be easily done by a single thief. This often happens at relatively static places such as on the trains/buses, stations, museums, and some tourist attractions.

As a thief, you want every stealing action as swift as possible in order not to get caught. Quit and disappear at the first obstacle.

If you need emotional support while conducting the crime, try teaming with others. Then you guys can just swarm to the victim, to

1. create the illusion of a crowded place (decoy)
2. look out for each other
3. overwhelm the victim
4. cover up the visions of by-standers and surveillance cameras