No one is going to do it for you

A thread...

As a founder, if you won't show up every single day, despite how you are feeling, or how the startup is doing or what the press is writing about you, or your cofounders not working out, or your product failing or your customers shouting

No one is going to do it for you
As a student, if you won't do things that scare you, that make you feel nervous, that challenge you, that intimidate you, that you have always wanted to do but never gathered the courage to

No one is going to do it for you
In your first job, if you are not going to make an effort to know how things have happened before and why, to meet new people, to seek help, to ask for feedback, to be patient with results, to not seek "impact" in the first month itself

No one is going to do it for you
If as a son/daughter you are not going to realize what your parents went through while growing up, that they want the same things from your life that you want for your self, that their path is different but there are reasons why

No one is going to do it for you
While looking in the mirror if you do not realize how blessed you are, how fortunate you are, how privileged you are - to be born in a family that took care of you, gave you love, food, shelter, education and an upbringing

No one is going to do it for you
If you are not going to read, not going to listen, not going to shut down all garbage that you consume, not going to spent time with people with a different perspective, not going to observe and learn

No one is going to do it for you
If you are not going to be there when they need you the most, despite it being hard, despite it draining you, despite it taking a toll on you, only because you love them, you care for them and wish well for them

No one is going to do it for you
If you are not going to have the courage to take the path you wish to take, despite what the world thinks of you, despite what the world tells you to do, despite all the obstacles that you can foresee, only because it makes you truly happy

No one is going to do it for you
If you won't stand up and say, "no - I am not going to complain, I am not going to whine, I am not going to talk shit, I am not going to play victim"

No one is going to do it for you
If you won't realize that the most precious gift you can give someone is listening to someone without judgement

No one is going to do it for you
If you won't give yourself the freedom to be truly yourself, to be truly authentic, to not care a damn about what the world thinks, to be comfortable dancing in public without alcohol or drugs

No one is going to do it for you
If you won't respect your own time, if you won't say no more often, if you won't prioritize for what is important as against what is urgent

No one is going to do it for you
During the years when you work the hardest with nothing to show, if you do not acknowledge yourself

No one is going to do it for you
If you are not your best friend, if you do not love yourself, if you do not respect yourself, if you are not kind towards yourself, if you not compassionate with yourself

No one is going to do it for you
As a leader if you do not coach your team, if you do not give instant feedback to the team, if you do not show them a better version of themselves, if you do not respect them as individuals, if you do not surround yourself with the best

No one is going to do it for you
As a parent, if you are not going to answer your kid's persistent questions, if you are not going to encourage them to chose their own path, if you are not going to tell them the importance of being happy more than anything else

No one is going to do it for you
As an working professional, if you are not going to take responsibility of your career

No one is going to do it for you
If you are not going to take the responsibility of your own happiness

No one is going to do it for you
The year 2020 taught us one thing, more than anything else.

When times are tough, when times are uncertain, when times are depressing

And we are craving for support, love, acknowledgement, validation

We always have our own selves
And if we can attend to ourselves before we attend to anyone else, we will gather the courage to help not just our own selves, but everyone else too.

My only wish for all of you in 2021
May you fall in love with your own self
Because if you do not love yourself

No one is going to do it for you

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"I lied about my basic beliefs in order to keep a prestigious job. Now that it will be zero-cost to me, I have a few things to say."


We know that elite institutions like the one Flier was in (partial) charge of rely on irrelevant status markers like private school education, whiteness, legacy, and ability to charm an old white guy at an interview.

Harvard's discriminatory policies are becoming increasingly well known, across the political spectrum (see, e.g., the recent lawsuit on discrimination against East Asian applications.)

It's refreshing to hear a senior administrator admits to personally opposing policies that attempt to remedy these basic flaws. These are flaws that harm his institution's ability to do cutting-edge research and to serve the public.

Harvard is being eclipsed by institutions that have different ideas about how to run a 21st Century institution. Stanford, for one; the UC system; the "public Ivys".