• Marcus’ evening lecture ‘How to Succeed’ was inspiring. A few important points:
  • Distinguished between being in the “top 1% in a good cohort” (say, smart peers at university) and in the “bottom 1% in a brilliant cohort” (think Einstein-level genius)
    • The former scenario feels psychologically better, but the latter is objectively more favorable for individual growth. In the latter scenario, the key is that the individual must avoid the negativity that comes with being “less talented” than his peers; that is, the individual must avoid comparison and instead, cooperate and learn. The growth that will result from this environment will be greater than that growth from the lesser cohort.
    • Takeaway: Put yourself in the best environment to succeed; once there, accept who and what you are.
  • Everyone is going to be better, stronger, faster than you at something. Celebrate it!
  • Elaborated on a list of traits that define a successful Hack Reactor student – some of my favorites were: positivity, likeability, work ethic, passion.
    • Reminded me to be positive everyday and greet each challenge with a smile – as it is only through challenging yourself that you can grow!
  • Students need a growth mindset – not a fixed one. We are dynamic individuals with the incredible opportunity to grow our intellectual and emotional capacities. This growth can only come through trying new things and failing. Said another way, failure does not reflect a problem of the self; rather it is the avenue for growth.
• Figuring out how _.some in Underscore.js works with Allen
• Getting enough sleep!

• Quite frustrating to not understand _.some for an hour during pair programming – but finally understood it after speaking with one of the instructors, Allen, during a break before lunch (so this was a high and a low!)
• Leaving Marcus’ lecture when it ended, rather than staying late to chat with the small group of 10 students. When inspired, I will definitely stick around (my gut feeling) rather than going straight back to code.

• Realizing that I was not behind on recursion and having a good pair programming session rewriting getElementsbyClassName and JSON.stringify

• Not getting enough sleep – was pretty tired most of the day

The yoga studio is my sanctuary. The other yogi, fellow parish-goer. I sit silent, in reverence for the simple act of taking time for myself, for honoring myself with my presence on the floor. In cat/cow breath, in the ringing of five om sounds, in every movement in every breath. I am nobody and everyone, I am no better or worse than those around me. We have all come to find that bit of grace tucked in the flow, the music, every sighing downward dog. And for that reason I feel an equal to those around me.

Around me I see my own struggles for balance and peace. I see women and men fight to stay upright during poses, or allow themselves child’s pose on the mat when tired. Every person is caught in their own little battle, and because of that we are one. This is why I make a conscious effort to practice yoga at a studio no matter what city I am in. It is a place where others are so honest about themselves. Where you can’t hide from who you are.

When I was studying abroad in London I found my solace in Catholic Churches grandly beckoning across western Europe. I liked the idea of people coming together to honor god. Now I have found my own way of honoring god, or the universe, whatever that force is that connects us all. It’s yoga. And in the studio I feel it most strongly.

That is why I want to share yoga with those I love.

• That each person shall have freedom of creativity (in art, speech, writing, expression);
• That each person shall have access to education and learning;
• That I shall strive for self awareness through meditation and being present;
• And that I shall give back and in that giving, find belonging in communities.

I wanted to hack together a piece for you to read. A piece that is honest, that manages to capture this startup journey in a few paragraphs. A piece that skids and sings and wanders to an eventual conclusion. I don’t have those perfect words, so these will have to suffice.

Today is January 2, 2013. It’s the start of another year of growing Travelstrings in Los Angeles, and I have to admit that I’m exhausted. It’s been a rocky thirteen months since Tri and I first conceptualized a “personalized travel journal” back in November 2011. I’ve experienced the extremes of emotion – the highs of building something novel and beautiful tangled with the lows of insecurity and anger. Starting a company is not all it’s cracked up to be. It’s challenging and scary and reward is constantly delayed.

There are days when I flat-out hate myself and the only reprieve is sleep. There are days when I am so lost that I resort to losing myself in Dexter or How I Met Your Mother rather than continue thinking. There are days when I don’t want to get out of bed because doing so precipitates opening an inevitable string of emails. (The worst is when there are no emails and it feels like nobody cares.)

I struggle with patience. I’m not sure when it’s impossible to finish a task by a certain time and when I should push because our capability is there. Despite being twenty-two years old, I compare myself to older, wiser CEOs, and it has required every bit of discipline I have to quiet the steady steam of criticism in my head. I am still fighting the idea that I cannot know everything.

And yet this year was pretty amazing. This year, we incorporated Travelstrings before we graduated from college. We applied for Startup UCLA with a bare bones MVP and somehow got in. We were featured in four articles and magazines, and launched two awesome products. And I found cofounders that believe in the same things that I do, and two that continue with me on this journey.

I don’t expect the future to follow any sort of traditional path, because I don’t anticipate making conventional choices. My team and I have declined salaried jobs to chase this dream of Travelstrings, moved in together, and haven’t killed each other yet. Through hard work and perseverance, we’ve learned more of the skills we’ll need to survive. We’ve surrounded ourselves with talent and support, from our home at Cross Campus to our families at home.

And though we’re faced daily with the existential question of whether we will exist tomorrow, I’m never been more excited for what tomorrow brings.

“She sat hunched over, her back curving inwards slightly. It was her sixth straight hour staring at her computer, and she was tired. She looked to the water bottle on her right, filled with fruit punch. Taking a few swigs, she leaned back, trying to straighten her back and ease the pain. Thinking about her task list, she sighed. It would be a long night, and she knew that she would stumble into her cold apartment past midnight again. If she was lucky, she would fall asleep immediately. If not, she would resort to meditation and melatonin pills to ease her racing mind. The next day, she had meetings until the afternoon, and then would do it all over again.”

Such is the life I lead. It’s not quite as dry as this makes it sound, but it’s not as glamorous as it seems in The Social Network either. Entrepreneurship is tackling one hurdle at a time, unsure when the next will come. It’s hoping and planning and having a big vision, but being prepared to take detours to get there. It’s being criticized, doing more research, figuring out a response, standing up and doing it all over again.

Sitting next to my mother at our oval kitchen table, reading love stories on Storylane. My dad’s in the room next to us, the Clippers are on television, and my youngest brother is opening a video game from his Christmas stash.

I’m thinking about our lives today, and how the average American lives 75 years. I’m 22 right now, and assuming I live to 75, I have 53 years left.

I have so much time, and yet so little. I’ll write more about this later tonight, but for now, I wanted to give thanks for how I’ve spent these formative 22 years. My parents have taught me to think independently, to expect the best of myself, to pursue that which makes me happy over all. Now, looking forward, I have all the tools necessary to live my life in its happiest state.

I feel so blessed to be surrounded by love.

It’s almost a month later, and I almost completely forgot about my pledge to start writing every day at 10pm. So easy to get swept into work and friends and other obligations. I’m sort of frustrated with myself, I admit. 

Travelstrings has been crazy lately. New office, lots of progress with business model thoughts, meetings scheduled, company good. But I must make time for the things that I love.

I’ve always loved to write. Short stories, poetry, haikus, essays even. There is something about the rhythm of words that captivates me, makes my heart skid, helps me concentrate. In the past few months, I’ve let work and excuses of being tired deter me from writing…but enough is enough. And today I vow to start anew one of my favorite things.

To get myself into the spirit, I’ve decided to make a project of it. I shall try to write at least one sentence every day at 10:00pm, after the workday is pretty much done. Let’s see how many days I can keep it up, with the Internet as my witness. Here goes:

Today I went to a inspiring speech given by Bobby Shriver, a local politician and founder of the ONE campaign. Mr. Shriver spoke of the power of organization, money, and national support: “Before, we had Bono running around Washington D.C., driving us around in a rented car.” He continued, pointing at a young man just 17-years-old, that had gotten his entire high school (of 350 students) to sign a petition to declare Santa Monica a “ONE” city. “Now, imagine it, we have 10,000 Camerons running around…We are now changing culture.”

To think that two men (Mr. Shriver and Bono), using the resources around them, have successfully lobbied for increased foreign aid, medical supplies sent to Africa, education for 40 million more African children – we as individuals in the United States have so much power to affect change.

I am twenty-two years old today and I’m currently squashed into a tiny airline seat next to a cuddling couple beside me. While they’re whispering sweet nothings, I’m gracefully chomping down on a salami ciabatta, quality eats I purchased for $10 at the only airport café open at 6am.

I spent the first two hours of my birthday working on our Travelstrings marketing campaign and the third hour debating (as only girls can do) which of the thirty outfits I brought home I actually wanted to stuff into my suitcase for New York. Hours four and five were my mostly successful attempts to get some semblance of nighttime sleep. At hour six, I woke up, showered, and headed to the airport. Now it’s hour twelve, and I have a new theory.

Never fly on your birthday. And if you do, make use of the time differences to extend those few hours of birthday bash-ity. I technically made the wrong decision – I’m off to New York, where simply by stepping off of the plane, I will have lost 3 precious hours of birthday fun. Oops.

Well, let’s add some exceptions. Never fly on your birthday unless it’s the only option you have to see your parents and your best friend on the same day. Never fly on your birthday unless your fledgling startup is poised to launch and you wanted to stay in-office for as long as possible. Never fly on your birthday unless – heck, this rule has so many exceptions it’s practically disproven. So what’s the point?

There are points in every entrepreneur’s life where he or she must choose. Beach adventure or marketing strategy? Bar-hopping with friends or product team meetings? Work or sleep? For each person and situation the answer is different, and no matter what anyone says there isn’t one right choice.

Right now, I’m headed to watch my best friend Ellen graduate from NYU. Specifically, my choice this past week was: should I fly to New York on Saturday as scheduled to spend two more awesome days with Ellen? Conversely, should I cough up extra dough to Jetblue, delay my flight until Tuesday, and get more work done at home with my team? For better or worse, I chose the latter option, and thus my bank account is sporting an additional withdrawal and I’m typing this crammed into a window seat.

But while I am a self-identified workaholic, I am lucky to recognize those rare moments in life that I would not miss for anything. Ellen graduating from college is one of those moments. I admire and love this girl more than anything. It’s the type of love that persists even when we storm away from each other at the Chicago Institute of Art, even when we disagree about who pursued consulting first, or when she criticizes my great sense of style. I treasure the friendship we have built over the last seven years of life, and nothing (not even a venture capitalist calling right now for a meeting) would stop me from attending this important moment in her life.

Sure, I had to delay my flight for two days, fly on my birthday, work on the plane, and so forth – but none of that matters in the larger scheme of life. I just feel so fortunate to be flying towards love, the type of love that persists through starting companies or joining international consulting firms.

—

It’s been over twelve hours since I started this post, and my 22nd birthday has come to an end. On the other side of the coast, as I was on my way to Manhattan and eating delicious Marea, my Travelstrings team worked tirelessly to launch our first Facebook campaign. We’ll pulled in over 140 new likes in the span of one day, thanks in large part to friends from all over offering their support. Over seventy people commented on the campaign I’ve worked on for the past week. Absolutely incredible, the best birthday present ever.

More than that, I feel so blessed to have a great team behind me, one that understands the intricacies of best friendship and can’t miss events. I feel so grateful to have a best friend that declared she would run to Pret a Manger for take-out breakfast while I finished up a few tasks. I am so frickin’ lucky and grateful and I can’t say it enough.

Thank you everyone for providing me with this simple joy.

Best, Melanie