Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Lessons Learned Through Painful Trial and Error
For me this is really my natural state. I love to make things. I love to see how others receive them. I’m motivated both for artistic reasons – I think of something and simply need to see its realization – and practical reasons: I want to make an impact (and a living) with some of the stuff I do.
This is how I spent my time in Junior High and High School. I made a number of computer games. One of them was pretty popular when it was released. It took 2 years to make it!
I then lost some of this spirit during college and at job post-college. I was doing interesting work, but it felt very different. Something was wrong.
Now I’m making things again. I readily admit that I was super naive when I started. This naivete is fine for artistic projects, but it’s a death sentence for practical projects. I did not understand how to make stuff people wanted and when I made stuff they didn’t want I was mystified as to why that was the case.
I’m planning to write about a few of the things I’ve learned along the way. Here is the first.
Help people learn about themselves.
Who are the most important people? Me, myself, and I. People love to learn about themselves. That’s why they take endless personality tests, go to psychics, read horoscopes, and so on. Help them learn about themselves and they will love you.
My first taste of this principle came from my simple Facebook app, “How original are your parents?”, which was released in early 2011. This app takes your first name and birth year and tells you how original your parents were in naming you. It also tells you facts about the name like the year it peaked in popularity and what it might have been had you been the opposite sex (and your parents been just as original).
This app got really popular really quickly – it was used by about 15 million people in a week. Now this was helped by Facebook’s inherent virality, obviously. But people were clearly very, very interested in the results it gave. They were bombarding me with complaints when the server went down. They were pissed when it got their nicknames wrong. They posted their results in a bunch of different internet forums off Facebook.
The app struck a nerve. As simple as it was, it was clear that it was more than just a time waster – it provided people something they wanted.
People love to learn about themselves. It’s not about you, it’s about them. Help them learn more about themselves and they will love you.
To be continued …
Classes: Gradually Coalescing into One Interconnected Blob
Why classes? They’re a great way of jumping into something and immediately getting a taste for it. They’re also structured and regular, so it’s easy to do them. Just sign up and you’re in. (Well, as long as you actually show up.)
These are the classes I’ve done recently:
- A public speaking seminar that happens every 2 weeks
- An improv class
- A singing class
- A “band workshop.” Kind of like School of Rock.
Doing all this stuff has given me even more of an appreciation for the sheer depth of everything in the world. I’ve always found that things tend to appear simpler and more straightforward from the outside. Once I immerse myself in them, I realize the depth and complexity of everything.
Any activity you can think of has people who devote their lives to it. There really is so much to learn.
Take public speaking, for example. Most people don’t think public speaking is easy. (It’s feared more than death, right?) But that doesn’t mean they think it’s complicated. Get up on stage and give a speech. Done. Right? It’s just standing on a stage and delivering some prepared remarks – get the hand gestures and eye contact right, and you’re good to go.
That’s pretty much what I thought. But there’s so much going on beneath the surface.
To start, public speaking is – as with almost everything, I’ve found – very much about internal mindsets and emotional foundations. It’s not so much about techniques – though those are important – as it is about having the right attitude and frame of mind.
For example: To be a good public speaker you need the following:
- The belief that what you have to say about whatever you’re talking about is engaging enough to captivate a room full of people. If you don’t think it’s engaging enough, it’s unlikely they’ll be engaged.
- The ability to be at least moderately comfortable on stage. If you get up there and immediately go deer-in-the-headlights, it’s unlikely you’re going to do a very good job. Stiff and uncomfortable = weird and/or boring.
- The ability to go “all in.” This is a concept that Peter, the guy who runs the seminar, has taken from method acting. The idea is to be completely engaged and “in” the set of whatever you’re talking about. Both emotionally and spatially. If you’re telling a story, you’re fully “in” the physical environment you’re describing and feeling the emotions of the story.
- The ability to speak extemporaneously and be totally comfortable with that. Partly because a speech that is totally “on the rails” will tend to feel rehearsed and boring, partly because so much public speaking is extemporaneous. Most public speaking that goes on in the world is unplanned and unprepared.
That’s what I can think of off the top of my head, but there’s obviously much more.
I love the feeling of diving into something new and opening my world to its intricacies. There is so much depth and subtlety to everything.
I’ve also found that by doing many different things I start to notice connections between things that I would have never guessed were connected. The mass of seemingly-disconnected pursuits and activities gradually coalesce into one interconnected blob.
Poetic, isn’t it?
Where I’m At, Yo
It’s been about a month and a half since I last posted an article here, so I figured some explanation was in order. First, I’ll get the typical deadbeat-blogger apology out of the way:
Sorry about the sporadic updates lately! I’ve been so busy!
But I’m gonna be better now. Soon enough the posts will be coming fast and furious. Just you wait.
(This type of post is usually followed by a new post or two and then another long period of silence. This second period often spells the death of the blog.)
Now don’t worry — I am planning to continue to update this blog. (And thanks to those who have asked.) But my updates will likely be more sporadic in the coming months than they were last year. I’ve decided to refocus my priorities a little.
Let me explain. When I first left my job about one and a half years ago, I set up a daily schedule for myself. In the beginning, this involved working on music, writing, and reading for some number of hours each day.
The schedule morphed over time. I eliminated the reading component. I still read every day, but I’m more casual about it. At one point, I added “networking” to the schedule. It’s not really on there anymore because networking is now a part of my regular lifestyle. I had to force it at the peak of my hermit-dom.
The writing on this blog has changed a lot since its inception. At first, it was mostly essays on personal things I was working through. Then it got more self-helpy. Then it got philosophical. And finally it entered its present phase, where I’ve been doing immersive experiments and mini research projects.
I’m most happy with the most recent content. Something always seemed off before the last few articles. They’ve been my favorites, and they’ve also gotten the best response.
So why slow down now? New developments. As The Big Lebowski‘s Dude says: “New shit has come to light.”
Earlier this year, on a lark, I made a small Facebook app. I was interested in virality and inspired by my brother, who had had success with Facebook apps.
Long story short, my app — a one-shot deal — got about 15 million users in about a week. Its usage is near zero now, but for a brief period it was a pretty big deal. It was #3 on Alexa’s “What’s Hot” list. It’s name was a “hot query” on Google Trends. Threads popped up all over the place with people discussing it.
So I had my 15 million users and 15 minutes of fame. And also more than 3,000 complaints in my e-mail inbox. And 70,000 “fans” on the app’s Facebook page.
That was fun. Stressful at first, but fun. When else in human history has some dude — me in this case — been able to make something that is used by millions of people within days? It’s crazy. Fast viral growth has always existed on the internet, but Facebook just makes it crazy.
My takeaway from the Facebook experience wasn’t that I want to devote my life to Facebook apps. That would be kinda dumb. But I did get a taste of the world of web development and the leverage you can have.
I’ve spent a huge amount of time in my life programming computers. I started at the age of 9. It’s been almost 20 years now. I majored in computer science in college, and I got a software job after graduating. But by the time I left the job, I was feeling pretty burnt out on programming. I had spent so much time on it and neglected other areas of my life.
For more than a year, I did zero programming. I think it was a good break. Over that time I realized that what I’m really interested in is creating awesome things that people use, not just programming for programming’s sake. I’m ready to start creating software again, but only if I’m really excited about the project. I’m not going to start doing it just because I’m good at it or “I shouldn’t waste my education” or that’s where the money is, or whatever.
Recently I’ve been devoting more time to a couple new online projects. And I’ve realized that I really can’t have three focuses. Music, writing, and software, all at the same time, is too much for one person. I can do all three to some degree, but one of them has to be on the back burner. I’ve decided that one will be writing.
Partly I’ve been feeling a bit less excited about writing lately. Or perhaps just more excited about other things. I’m going to keep doing it, but my current level of interest isn’t high enough to justify spending a couple hours every day. That time would help a lot if devoted to other stuff.
Music? Despite my lack of output recently, I’m actually really excited about that right now. I’m made a lot more progress in the last few months, and I’m excited about putting together some type of act in the coming year — more to come. I’m actively composing new material right now.
So, in summary: Expect more articles here. They’ll be good. I already have some cool ideas. But expect fewer of them. I’ll be spending less time writing in the coming months.
Of course I could get inspired and post a flurry of content. We’ll see. But I’m not going to force it.
Ciao!
New Song: “Stars Fall”
I just added a new original song to the music portion of my site. Check it out!
New Site: The Songwriting Process
I recently opened a new site called “The Songwriting Process.” It contains quotations from songwriters describing their music-making process. I’ll be updating it periodically with new stuff. Have a look!
New song
I just put my second song on the music portion of this site. Look here.
My first song!
I thought it was worth mentioning here that I put up my first original composition on the music portion of my site. Check it out here. I hope you like it!
An interview with me!
Given all the staggeringly important things I have to say, it was only inevitable that someone would notice and demand my presence on an internet radio show. Okay, maybe not, but it happened anyway… My friend Raja Shah is starting a podcast, and he interviewed me in the first installment.
Go here to listen: http://shahmotel.com/2008/10/12/1st-podcast/
Open for business
As of today, I’m opening MikeTuritzin.com to the general public. This section contains essays, articles, musings, and ramblings I’ve come up with over the past several months. The goal is to get whatever is on my mind onto paper. There is no overarching theme. I’m just writing about what interests me right now, and I’ll be adding new stuff periodically.
Thanks for visiting. I hope you find something here interesting. If you want to be kept up-to-date, you can subscribe to any of the blogs on this site with an RSS reader like Google Reader.