That’s all there is.

1. Start something.

2. Don’t quit.

That’s it.

Today was frustrating.

When I get in a hurry I get impatient with people.

Idiot slow driver in front of me.

Hour wait at the DMV.

Nine 18 wheelers tying up the toll booth.

People walking slow in front of me in the hallway at work.

Standing behind 50 people at the counter at the Applebee’s…crying babies, jackhammers, traffic accidents, bridges blowing up, giant plate glass windows shattering, women shrieking, chickens scattered everywhere…

It almost got that bad.

By the end of the day, walking behind the slow lady in the parking lot at the ball field dragging her toddler I thought, seriously? What’s the deal with all this?

Then that other part of my brain took over and I thought…

Get out front and you won’t have this problem.

Driving home from work today I was coming up with a vast list of all the road blocks and hindrances that are preventing me from being awesome.

I came up with lots of great excuses.

I felt a little better knowing that it’s really not all my fault that I’m not crushing it like I think I should be.

Then when I got home, I found this story about the National Penmanship Award winner.

Annie Clark, a 7-year-old from Pennsylvania won a trophy and $1,000.

But there’s more to the story of course.

Little Annie’s got no hands.

Good thing Annie is not like me. She wouldn’t have gotten too far on her list of why she couldn’t do stuff.

Pretty cool.

Thanks Annie for inspiring me to be awesome, no matter how lame my excuses are.

You are a winner. You are the very definition of being awesome.

I want to be like you.

Recently I read two really amazing books about two really amazingly accomplished people.

Walt Disney and Steve Jobs.

Walt Disney, the dreamer, was a miserable failure for DECADES. Yes, decades. He obsessed. He dreamed. He saw and wanted things he wasn’t able to make. He was an extremely impractical visionary. Impatient. Cruel. childlike in his wanting of what he couldn’t have. I could go on and on about his lack of business sense, people skills, humility, etc. He should not have succeeded.

Steve Jobs, the jerk, was a whiny baby. Was outright cruel to EVERYONE. Yes everyone. He obsessed. He fought. He routinely behaved so badly that most people like this are socially shunned into oblivion. He should not have succeeded.

But, they both did. Why?

Many reason, of course, but here are a few notables.

Walt had an older brother, Roy. And after several year trying to make his studios work on his own, he teamed up with his brother. Who just so happened to be in finance. Bonus! Roy made Walt. Period. Roy was humble. But they were equal partners until one day after moving into a new building Walt showed Roy their new sign. The sign read, “The Walt Disney Studios.” Roy said, “What happened to “Disney Studios?” Walt basically said, “This studio is about me and what I want, you just make it work financially.” Good brother Roy said, “Ok, if that’s what you want, fine with me.” Roy was the man. Roy spent decades digging Walt out of financial trouble. Then one day in the early fifties, after three decades of hardships, Walt got his first glimpse of his cash cow. He saw the future. His future. He attended a very exclusive demonstration of a television set. Boom. The Wonderful World of Disney was the profit center that allowed Walt to build is kingdoms. Sure Walt made great art up to then, but was never able to climb out of financial turmoil until the 1950′s. Contrary to popular belief, Mickey didn’t make Walt, Roy did.

Steve Jobs, like Walt, was at the right place and was there at the exact right time. In addition, he had a knack for negotiating pretty good deals. When he wanted something he obsessed until he got it. In this case it was Microsoft’s early versions of Excel and Word. And as it turned out, his deals with Bill Gates benefited Microsoft more so than Apple. Steve did about everything he could, it seemed, to run Apple into the ground. He constantly caused employee infighting, embittered vendors, and was himself several times demoted within the company he co-founded. Finally ousted by the board of directors he hired, he went on to start another computer company. This time destined to do this right. Next Computers would have failed and failed big. He poured millions into Next. And it nearly bankrupted him. But his savvy deal making and persuasive negotiations helped him to sell his fledgling computer company back to Apple. The rest is history. But Steve would have permanently self destructed. And seemed to do so weekly, but he had just a few key things going for him.

Kind of amazing to think such greatness came from such ineptitude.

I kinda like this. Not something I’ve worked towards but it is a by-product of doing great things. Be hated. Are you? I guess I am in certain small circles. But I’m not evil.

Be hated.

Have strong convictions. Don’t be too accommodating to the mediocre.

It all takes work.

Are you up to it? Do you have the guts?

Written by Adrian Tan, this was part of his speech to the NTU raduating class of 2008.

Be hated.

It’s not as easy as it sounds. Do you know anyone who hates you? Yet every great figure who has contributed to the human race has been hated, not just by one person, but often by a great many. That hatred is so strong it has caused those great figures to be shunned, abused, murdered and in one famous instance, nailed to a cross.

One does not have to be evil to be hated. In fact, it’s often the case that one is hated precisely because one is trying to do right by one’s own convictions. It is far too easy to be liked, one merely has to be accommodating and hold no strong convictions. Then one will gravitate towards the centre and settle into the average. That cannot be your role. There are a great many bad people in the world, and if you are not offending them, you must be bad yourself. Popularity is a sure sign that you are doing something wrong.