March 27: milestone reached

Today I reached another milestone. This time the milestone is that I started a test period (1-2 months) working with Laura Deming 😀 I am really exited about this and I am learning a lot…

Mar. 25-31

This week was holly week. I did a ton of stuff, started a test period for a job, visited Peten and also had some time to think and choices to make. Here are some things that I learned during this week:

March 25: I learned that there are a lot of awesome species in the world which you do not notice unless you are paying attention and also that having some time to think can be really helpful.

March 26: I learned about nanopore sequencing and what diligence is.

March 27: I learned how to get information from companies

March 28: I learned how hard it is to really understand something and make an informed choice.

March 29: I learned that doing a bit more than what is expected is much better.

March 30: I learned how hard it is to find revenue data from some companies and also that Disney’s annual reports aren’t as cool as some biotech companies’ even though Disney is supposed to be a creative business

March 31: I learned that Easter Hunts aren’t just about speed but also about strategy.

March 18-24

This week I did many things. I did the things I normally do plus since this week was the week right before Holly Week there were a couple of projects we finished and also other activities. Here are some lessons I learned this week:

March 18: I learned that there are a lot of connections throughout history and past events really determine future events even if they do not seem related at all.

March 19: I learned how to extract DNA from check cells.

March 20: I learned that the best business pitches make a ton of connections to make them more interesting. Like for example, what would happen if Walt Disney, Ray Croc and Steve Jobs sat down to watch a world cup match?

March 21: I learned that when people don’t like something, the best way to approach that topic is to show it to them using something they like. For example, DNA by making a candy model.

March 22: I learned how hard it is to make the food for 3 coffee breaks and 22 people.

March 23: I learned that a better way to convince people to try something new is to show them that you are still using some ‘good’ things about the normal things.

March 24: I learned how big (and hard to climb) mayan temples are.

Mar. 11-17

This week was awesome. From Tuesday to Friday I spent time with Laura Deming!!! I learned a lot of things from this experience but I will only write a few for this week:

Mar. 11: I learned that when you are doing a test you really need to focus or else you’ll take forever

Mar. 12: I learned that a lot of people don’t want to live longer because they think they’ll get bored and also I learned that there is a lot of value on sharing personal experiences.

Mar. 13: I learned how hard it is to speak in front of 700 people without planning what you are going to say and also potential treatments to cure aging.

Mar. 14: I learned that the way in which you handle a situation can have a lot of impact in the outcome and that a bad start doesn’t mean the whole day will be bad. Also the value of a one-on-one conversation and trying to add value to people

Mar. 15: I learned that fast goodbyes hurt less… And also how much a person’s attitude can change from one day to the next

Mar. 16: I learned that you can write a lot in a short time if you put your mind to it. Also that when there is something in your mind it is better to say it or act upon it instead of staying quiet.

Mar. 17: I learned that there are a lot of opportunities out there, you just need to be strategic about them .

Unsolicited Advice to My Teenage Self

We are doing a writing workshop at Acton Academy titled ‘Unsolicited Advice to My Teenage Self’. I thought the workshop was really interesting and after writing my first draft I decided to document it here.

Here it is:

Dear teenage me,

A couple of  years have gone by since I was your age and I wanted to give you a piece of advice I think you would have appreciated when you were just kid. Apart from that I will also tell you a secret about you but you’ll have to wait ’till the end to find out what it is 😉

Explore

I know that by now you already know what you want to do with your life and you already have a passion but it is good to explore new things, there might be other things you are also passionate about but that you haven’t discovered yet. You know it has happened to you in the past…

Learn how to walk before you try to fly

You always tend to go after the big challenges, we both know that. The problem is that some times you get into the hard stuff before understanding the more basic things and that leads you to problems later on – you end up with a lot of holes on your knowledge.

Have long term goals and work to get closer to those goals

I know you have a lot of long term goals but some times your actions don’t seem to be getting you closer to that goal. That said, you should try to find a way to get closer to your goal and everything you do has to get you closer to that goal.

Don’t freak out if things don’t go as planned

There are a lot of times when you plan something and things do not go as you planned them. When that happens you start to freak out. Don’t forget that a lot of times things have gone much more better than you expected them to go when that happened and when they don’t you also learn a lot…

Say ‘I am sorry’ 

A lot of times you mess up and that is normal, the problem is that you tend to avoid saying I am sorry. I know it is hard but you’ll regret if you do not do it.

Forgive yourself

For you it is easy to forgive other people but when you mess up it is really hard for you to forgive yourself. Most of the times it was entirely your fault, some times it wasn’t but you keep torturing yourself over things that aren’t as important as you think and that makes you much less productive. Instead, take some time to think and forgive yourself (and of course apologize).

Talk to people

You’ll need people in order to make your ideas a reality and there is a lot of things you can learn and opportunities you can get from talking to people. I know you don’t like it but just try it out and maybe you’ll eventually like it. Also, a lot of times you have something to say and you don’t say it. You’ll regret it later…

Ask questions… and for help

It is easy for you to ask questions and ask for help with certain people but not with everyone. There is nothing wrong with asking a question or with asking for help, it is just something normal. In fact, you’ll see that asking can really get you far.

Help others 

it is not just about you, there is a lot of value you can create for other people. Try to help others even if they do not ask you for help.

Don’t over-commit 

You always do it. There is nothing wrong in saying ‘no’, in fact it is worse to say yes and don’t following through. Quality over quantity my dear friend…

Don’t try to prove yourself to others & don’t try to please everyone

Prove things to yourself and do it because you want to. There is no need to prove yourself to others if you are creating value for yourself. Also if you try to please everyone you’ll soon realize that there is no way to do it, so stop trying.

Enjoy life

Enjoy everything you do. If you are doing something that you do not enjoy and you don’t think is valuable, just quit. You have less time that you think and time waits for no man…

It doesn’t have to be your idea always…

You know what I mean…

Start applying these now

I am not really older than you, in fact I am younger than you are if you are reading this. You already know all this stuff, I can’t understand why you are not applying it already. Don’t wait ’till it is too late and you become one of those people who write a letter to their younger selves and never get to apply it or change their past. Do something, now!

Those are the pieces of advice I wanted to give you.

Best,

The younger -but apparently wiser- you.

Mar. 4-10

This week was an intense week. I went to Heuristica every single day in the afternoon, attended a webinar, had M121’s weekly call and a call with my team, and I had a lot of things to get ready for Laura Deming’s visit next week (so exited!)

Here are some lessons I learned this week:

Mar. 4: I learned more about pitching and the power of choosing your pitch wisely depending on your audience

Mar. 5: I learned what an OPEC is and the effect oil can have in a country’s economic and political status. Also I learned more about next-generation sequencing and how it can enable us to personalize medicine.

Mar. 6: I learned about empathy and IDEO methods and also how hard it is to choose the right questions for an interview.

Mar. 7: I learned that leading a conversation in which everyone agrees on the same thing is kind of hard…

Mar. 8: I learned that when you make a prototype you should make it quick, easy and cheap.

Mar. 9: I learned how much insight non-users can give you

Mar. 10: I learned that studying biology in the middle of a golf tournament is not a bad idea 😉

Feb. 25- Mar. 3

This week was a really exiting and busy week. I made my first draft of the business model canvas for Makeducation, I got rejected for the Thiel Fellowship and I became a team leader for the Yellow team (which we changed to golden) for M121 😀

Here are some lessons I learned during this week.

Feb. 25: I learned that when you think you are done you can still find mistakes so you are never done

Feb. 26: I learned that bananas are starting to become more expensive and they might stop being eaten by so many americans

Feb. 27: I learned that there is a ton of value people are creating all around the world but that hasn’t being discovered.

Feb. 28: I learned that partnerships are something really though specially when someone wants to abandon ship.

Mar. 1: I learned how to make a business model canvas

Mar. 2: I learned how hard it is to deal with adults and time keeping

Mar. 3: I learned that being a team leader is harder online because unless there is a lot of trust (which there is not in a new team) you won’t really know if your leadership is being effective or if you are leading the team well…

March 1: milestone reached, new struggle came with it…

Today I reached an important milestone. When the emails from the Thiel Foundation letting us know about the status of our application were sent, what I got was what I had expected to come in the previous round: I did not make it to the next round.

The reason of why this is an important milestone is because the application process was just amazing and I was able to take my idea to a prototype in a really short period of time. The people I met, the things I learned, the feedback I received…

Also this is the first time I get a ‘big rejection’ and the weird thing is that I feel happy about it. Everyone has called me and chatted with me making sure I am doing ok and they are worried about me not being ok… and I just wonder why they are so worried! This is not the end of the journey, it is just the beginning and I have more opportunities to apply later on, and I still get the opportunity to keep learning from the amazing community so nothing bad happened 🙂

Another good part about this is that I have been thinking about my future more than I had before. Maybe I need to reevaluate how I am approaching my goal. I love biology and neuroscience more than I love computer science and maybe it is better to just put my hands into my ultimate goal, which is making learning more efficient and curing brain disorders since right now, but not through the platform, doing real research… That’s what I really feel like doing.

I love the platform and the potential it can have, but I think it is not ready yet… I really need to reevaluate what is going to happen with that.

Feb.18-24

This week was a busy week. I started going to a bootcamp called Heuristica that is a business incubator plus I kept going to AAG and doing all the stuff I did before. I barely had any time left…

Here are some lessons I learned this week:

Feb.18: I learned that if you start a conversation by talking about something you are passionate about it is easier to get the conversation going, even if you didn’t know the person before.

Feb.19: I learned that there are some people who always do the same thing with their life because they don’ know how to do anything else.

Feb.20:  learned that you are pitching all the time, even if you don’t notice it. The first session we had of Heuristica was about pitching and we saw some videos and talked and I realized this.

Feb.21: I learned that when you really like a topic or book it is really easy for you to remember but when you don’t like it…

Feb.22: I learned how listening to similar ideas can lead you to come up with even more ideas.

Feb.23: I learned that overcoming a fear is all in your mind. I have a fear of heights and I was in a ropes workshop and could overcome the fear just by thinking I could. It was not easy, but it wasn’t impossible either.

Feb.24: I learned that taking notes can really help. I had stopped taking notes for a while but decided to go back to it this week and doing the problem sets on Coursera and edX I could see that it really helped me.

Feb. 11 – 17

This week we had break at Acton and I did a lot of things. I had a lot of tests (unfortunately) and I got sick… But there were also great parts about this week. I had an interview for a VC program called Heuristica for students and alumni at a college called UFM and I was one of the 10 persons selected to participate in the project. There were other highlights for the week like for example I got feedback about my project 🙂 Overall it was a great week. I had more time to work on my project and also to sleep 😛

Here are some lessons learned this week:

Feb. 11: How to differenciate trigonometrical functions. I am taking calculus one and I thought this topic was really interesting.

Feb. 12: Sometimes you have no idea of how to solve a problem but thinking about it non stop for a while actually helps. I had a 6 hours long test that had just 6 questions and it was hard for me… But at the end I was able to solve some problems 🙂

Feb. 13: You have to be careful with emails… There is a long story behind this lesson (and the story continued afterwards) but basically I had some email exchanges that resulted in a problem since when you write emails, the other person can’t really say what your mood is because there is no ‘unspoken language’ and that can make things bad…

Feb. 14: It is really helpful to plan wht you are going to say on an interview but at the same time you should just let the conversation flow naturally.

Feb. 15: Probability laws actually apply to econometric analysis.

Feb. 16: Making cookies is definitely not the best way to earn money… I feel as if I am not getting anywhere

Feb. 17: communication on a team is crucial specially if you are the person in charge of communicating with people. Also you should take some leadership even if you are not the boss.