What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20 Read Online Free PDF Page B

our professions, our income, where we live, the car we drive, our education, and even by our horoscope. Each definition locks us into specific assumptions about who we are and what we can do. I’m reminded of a famous line from the movie My Dinner with Andre, that states that New Yorkers “are both guards and prisoners and as a result they no longer have…the capacity to leave the prison they have made, or even see it as a prison.” 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. What if you challenge the underlying assumptions? What are the consequences—good and bad—of getting off the prescribed path? What happens to those who break the rules?
    Larry Page, co-founder of Google, gave a lecture in which he encouraged the audience to break free from established guidelines by having a healthy disregard for the impossible. 2 That is, to think as big as possible. He noted that it is often easier to have big goals than to have small goals. With small goals, there are very specific ways to reach them and more ways they can go wrong. With big goals, you are usually allocated more resources and there are more ways to achieve them. This is an interesting insight. Imagine that you are trying to get from San Francisco to Kabul. There are lots of different routes, you will likely give yourself the time and resources to get there, and you will be flexible if things don’t unfold as planned. But if your goal is to go across town, then the path is pretty clear and you expect it to be a quick trip. If the road is blocked for some reason, you are stuck and frustrated. One of the reasons Google has been so successful is their willingness to tackle hard problems with an undefined path to completion.
    Linda Rottenberg is a prime example of a person who sees no problem as too big to tackle and readily breaks free of expectations in order to get where she wants to go. She believes that if others think your ideas are crazy, then you must be on the right track. Eleven years ago Linda started a remarkable organization called Endeavor. 3 Their goal is to foster entrepreneurship in the developing world. She launched Endeavor just after graduating from Yale Law School, with little more than a passion to stimulate economic development in disadvantaged regions. She stopped at nothing to reach her goals, including “stalking” influential business leaders whose support she needed.
    Endeavor began its efforts in Latin America and has since expanded to other regions of the world, including Turkey and South Africa. They go through a rigorous process to identify high-potential entrepreneurs and, after selecting those with great ideas and the drive to execute their plan, give them the resources they need to be successful. The entrepreneurs are not handed money, but instead are introduced to those in their environment who can guide them. They are also provided with intense educational programs, and get an opportunity to meet with other entrepreneurs in their region who have navigated the circuitous path before. Once successful, they serve as positive role models, create jobs in their local communities, and, eventually, give back to Endeavor, helping future generations of entrepreneurs.
    An inspiring example of an Endeavor entrepreneur is Leila Velez in Brazil. Leila lived in the slums in the hills overlooking Rio de Janiero, known as favelas. Cleaning houses, she survived on a subsistence income. However, she had an idea: there are many women in Brazil who want desperately to have softer, less kinky hair. Leila, along with her sister-in-law Heloisa Assis, invented a product that transforms knotty hair into curly hair. It took years of trial-and-error experimentation, resulting in many extreme failures along the way, but once she found a solution, she opened a salon in Rio. Her business was brisk and Leila had the fantasy of creating a franchise.