Why are some people successful, and others not. Professor Carol Dweck explains the growth mindset.

The US is a very low context culture. Expectations on how a individual should behave and how information is conveyed is spelled out in words (ex. an airport). Contrast this to a high context culture, found predominately in eastern societies, where similar experiences and cultural norms allow for many things to be left unsaid. Information is communicated by the context a person is currently in, and the culture of the society communicates what is necessary (ex. an expensive gourmet restaurants).

This is typically due to a uniformity of culture over generations. However, the US is a melting pot of cultures, and this diversity is why a unified cultural contexts could not exist.

The result of the US being a high context society is the need for “excess” communication to get meaning across. This comes across as Americans being “loud” to low context cultures where these excess words are superfluous. And is much of the reason why these culture do not understand each other.

This idea is also seen in personal relationships. After couples spend time w/ each other, they start knowing what each other is thinking just by the context they are in. This ability of knowing what the context conveys to the other person is created through sharing of similar experiences. As a couple moves through life, they move into a higher context relationship and while they still communicate as much as they used to, they use words less and less.

While Thailand is normally a very peaceful place, they had a bombing over New Years. I had actually flown into the country earlier that afternoon. We went to dinner that night, and then a group of us was planning on going to Central World for the ball dropping since it was only two buildings down from our hotel. Luckily we went back to the hotel first, and our taxi got searched for bombs. We asked them what was going on, and they told us that there was some bombings earlier in the day, and that all New Years celebrations were cancelled. So, we ended up going someplace else instead. When midnight struck, two bombs went off in Central World. Thankfully we were not there.

Too much excitment for me.

I’ve always struggled with giving to charity. I wanted my money to have a large impact on people. The problem with charity is that it’s terribly inefficient, and rarely fixed the root problem (though The Gates Foundation may change my mind on this). If the goal is to help some 3rd world society, I feel like it was a waste of money.

Then I ran across Kiva.org and the idea of micro-loans. This is where entrepreneurs from 3rd world countries w/o credit systems need a small amount of money to get their business started. One example is a Kenyan woman who need $80 for an irrigation pump, and can now increase her income between $120 to $1200 a year. However, this woman could not get a loan without going to the village loan shark getting charged 100% interest.

Now on Kiva, you can loan money to this woman, change her life, and get your money back to help the next person.

Most investors worry about the risk of default. However, an interesting thing occurs. The other people in the village realize that if someone defaults on their loan, that no one else will loan the rest of them money. So there is a peer monitoring system and assistance within the community. This keeps the repayment rate over 95%, which is better than credit card portfolios in the US.

Typically it’s lack of credit which holds 3rd world countries back from bettering their standard of living. It’s not charity, but ideas like mico-loans is what will pave the way to a better world.

I was considering today what drives people to the point of almost breaking. Working long hours when they don’t feel like it, or past the point they need to be comfortable in life. Some people are driven because they have a chip on their shoulder, while others are driven for their ego, and even more are driven to support their families.

So, I thought, “What drives me?”. I don’t have a chip on my shoulder, as I’ve had every opportunity in the world. Nor do I think it’s for my ego, as I would say I’m a secure person in life. Lastly, I don’t have a family to support.

I would say the reason is because of expectations. It is expected that I be successful and _that_ is what wakes me up early every morning even when I would rather be sleeping. It’s not my parents expectations either, as they already believe I am very successful. Rather, it is the expectations of myself. I believe I have the potential to do great things, and I think I would be letting myself down if I didn’t achieve them.

Ultimately, you are the only person who can drive yourself to be successful in life.

This article appeared in an Australian magazine

Inside the self-tuning “Genetic” Linux

In genetic-library updates: I/O Workload fingerprinting should be released to LKML soon. Brandon Philips has a running version of the 0(1) plugin, w/ a small positive improvement. That should be following shortly.

I’ve been doing some soul searching as of late, and much of it has stemmed from my latest class, “Innovations in Business Marketing”. The class really should be called “Intro to a Startup”. The prof. (he’s a VC) tells stories about the lifestyle of these startup entrepreneurs. How they do not even know their children.

So that makes me think…what do I really want out of life?

I used to believe it was owning the next Microsoft. I’m realizing that I’m not willing to sacrifice my future family (whenever that may be).

My soul searching has led me to believe, that I want to see my children grow up, financial independence, and business creation.

So, what does that mean?

I think a more intelligent/balanced way of going about my goals is multiple small-medium businesses (SMBs). Start a SMB, one that might make only 150k profit a year. Hand if off to someone else to run, and now income from that is only 70k. Only a small percentage of time is needed to oversee it. Now with all that free time, start a new SMB and hand it off. Do this over and over again, and wealth will start to accrue.

Eventually a point is reached when the 8 hour day is spent just overseeing the businesses…Hopefully income is substantial at that point and what I want out of life is achieved.

There are no great men, only great challenges that ordinary men are forced by circumstances to meet. — Admiral William Halsey

So, I’ve been pretty busy lately with MBA school, book writing, full work plate, businesses to run, personal issues, and attempting a life on top of that. And thus the genetic library has suffered due with a lack of updates. But enough of my excuses…what are the future plans to revive this patchset.

I have some good news. IBM has generously given me 1 PY of help to work on the genetic library which I will be overseeing. Unfortunately, I will still have my normal work responsibilities to attend to, so only my “free work time” will be available. This PY will attempt to create a plugin for the O(1) scheduler in order to increase the likelihood that the genetic lib will ever make it into the kernel. Resumes are being accepted as we speak. :)

In other good news, I have a “I/O Workload Fingerprinting” feature coming out on the genetic library, which will enable faster convergence. This feature is the main topic of my 2006 OLS paper, and thus I will actually have to do it.

Stay tuned for updates.

What is the same theme in every book like: The Magic of Thinking Big, The Power of Positive Thinking, Psychology of Achievement, and the ever famous, Think and Grow Rich? It is the use of the subconscious.

Have you ever had a problem at work, and you would just wake up in the middle of the night knowing the answer. That was the subconscious.

The subconscious is always running in the background acting on what it is given. If a person wants to know how they can make something work, the subconscious will give them all the answer. However, if someone wants to know why they screwed up, the subconscious will give them that answers as well. It can be your greatest friend, or your greatest enemy.

That is why it is essential to think positive. If you believe that you will succeed, your subconscious will figure out a way to make it happen. It can create any reality it believes exists. If you can wrap your head around making 6 figures, and truly believe it, the subconscious will make it happen.