Surround Yourself with Positivity

OK, this blog is starting to get a bit philosophical. But I want to keep a record of all the new insights I have acquired. So here goes...

ML/DL lesson for life too: Need a way to revise and move towards your goal (e.g. minimal loss or maximum accuracy). This means we need to find a process to assess how we're doing in life relative to our intended lifelong goals. This is a continuous process like the (- learning rate * gradient) update rule that keeps us moving towards our objective.

Ask:

1. Am I wasting my time? (Am I adding value? Am I contributing towards my goals?)

2. Am I with the right people? (Are these people supporting me? Inspiring me? Teaching me?)

3. Am I trapped by fantasies, unrealistic dreams, ? (Can I continue to make progress?)

You must have a stop-loss mechanism. If an activity is no longer serving you, if a friend is always giving you trouble, if you're stuck in a job you can't see yourself doing in 5 years time, you need to move on.

Stop Trying in Vain and Start Getting Help

You're also getting old, so maybe you don't want to spend heaps of time trying something yourself. Instead, seek help, hire people to teach/train/show/represent you. So that you can be freed from an inefficient, long trial-and-error process and start improving straight away. An example is hire a badminton/running coach to train you. While that will cost money, it will also save you time and stop you from injuring yourself or developing some bad habits.

Remember to specialize in your comparative advantages.