Notes on What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20 by Tina Seelig

When I was a senior at Stanford, I remember going to an inspirational talk by an entrepreneurship professor named Tina Seelig, and the talk was titled What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20. When I was recently strolling through a bookstore in Hong Kong (!), I randomly caught sight of a book by the same name, and it turned out to be a written version of the talk I had heard. Given that it's been 6 or 7 years since I heard the oral version, I figured it wouldn't hurt to have a written refresher, and the book certainly didn't disappoint.

The book is a quick, entertaining account of the lessons Tina learned throughout her life and from her interactions with the many students she has taught and coached. Most recently, she has been teaching a class together with the d.school (Stanford Design School), and I really liked reading the descriptions of the in-class exercises she runs (I wish I could participate in some of those now!). Though some of the advice in the book seems "obvious," hearing it told through real students' stories makes it much more "sticky," vivid, and fun.

Below are my notes on the book. Definitely a fun and inspirational quick read!

Ch. 1: Buy one, get 2 free

• 2 hours to make money class assignment, present slide in class
  
• Turning paper clip into a house
  
• Opportunities everywhere around us (every problem is an opportunity)
  
• We already have most of the resources we need, can be creative with limited resources
  
• Often we frame problems too tightly
  

Ch. 2: The upside down circus

• Circus industry in trouble
  
• Identify all assumptions and imagine exact opposite of each one
  
• Then take what you want from new and old
  
• Created Cirque du Soleil
  

Ch. 3: Bikini or die

• Tackle big problems and free yourself from expectations
  
• Take on impossible tasks
  
• Come up with the worst possible ideas to solve a problem and then look at them in new light
  
• Break rules
  
• Brainstorm
  
• Yes And
  

Ch. 4: Please take out your wallets

• Don't wait for others to give permission or say you can do something
  
• Seize opportunity yourself
  
• Look at projects others have abandoned
  
• Paying attention
  
• Wallet exercise
  
• Find holes around you
  

Ch. 5: Secret sauce of Silicon Valley

• Write a failure resume, listing failures and learnings
  
• When realizing a job is not a match, quit early (same with start-up concept)
  

Ch. 6: Engineering is for girls

• People often over guided by others' words and recommendations for career
  
• Need to just spend time experimenting yourself
  
• Intersection of skills, passion, and market
  

Ch. 7: Turn lemonade into helicopters

• Harder you work, luckier you get
  
• Act like foreign traveler and be aware of surroundings
  
• Lucky people more observant, open minded, friendly, optimistic
  
• Every time somewhere new, meet new friend and have opportunity to make a million dollars
  
• Recombine ideas in unusual ways
  

Ch. 8: Paint the target around the arrow

• Send thank you notes
  
• Negotiations everywhere
  
• Look for surprises and shared interests
  
• Doing the smart thing vs. the right thing
  
• Offer to be helpful to others
  
• Rule of 3 priorities to not take on too much
  
• Apologize with simple sorry
  

Ch. 9: Will this be on the exam

• Never miss an opportunity to be fabulous
  
• Do instead of try
  
• Excuses are cop out
  
• Productive better than competitive; coopetition
  

Ch. 10: Experimental artifacts

• Give permission to challenge assumptions, forge own path