go bold

I’ve never been good at exercising regularly, despite lots of reminders, from many different sources, in various formats, explaining just how necessary exercise is for your { mental well-being, life span, quality of life, focus, self-image }. The last period of time in which I exercised regularly involved several very regimented systems (From Couch to 5K, Hundred Push-ups, and Groupon-spurred bikram yoga) and lasted for a total of about six weeks. This was a year ago. Before that, the last time I got regular exercise was the summer of 2006, during which I was interning in another city, and living with people who had much better habits than I.

After beginning a startup and doing very little between working and sleeping, I’ve finally (about six months in) reached a point where my schedule has stabilized a bit, and I’ve found a routine / set of incentives that I feel like I’ll be able to stick to for awhile – at least, I’ve followed it for the last seven weeks (one week longer than my last attempt) and am still going strong. I’m tired of having the phrase “disgustingly sedentary” float up in my mind when people ask me how I’ve been, and I’m looking forward to maintaining my newfound awesomeness. Below, the usual excuses I use to avoid working out, and how I’ve managed to skirt around them.

Typical Excuse #1: My schedule’s too fluid, and I can’t find time to exercise at the gym

My schedule is a bit eccentric, but once I discovered that I have a 24 Hour Fitness one block away from my office, I’ve found that I tend to come to a natural stopping point at around 1am each night. With a 24 hour gym, I can rarely find a reason to skip the gym before heading home. Plus points: I hate working out around other people, and there are rarely more than 3-4 other people at the gym between 1 and 4am (sometimes, I have the place all to myself!)

Typical Excuse #2: Cardio bores the pants off of me

My most successful stint at exercising regularly (summer of 2006) involved reading lots of Ayn Rand on a stationary bike, also late at night. I realized recently that, by bumping up the font size on my Kindle, I could easily read while running on a treadmill – and can now run for a previously unimaginably long time without noticing. (And then go for another 20-minute jog because I need to know what happens next!)

Typical Excuse #3: I know exercise is good for me, but man it’s such a time sink

When you’re running a startup, you work. A lot. And one of the things that I’ve lost (or have been unable to justify) as a result is my time to read for pleasure. By combining something that’s good for me and feels productive (cardio/gym) with something that makes me really happy and that I always want to do more of (reading for pleasure), I genuinely look forward to going to the gym and will often spend way more time exercising than I planned.

I was surprised at first with how much happier I’ve been as a result. I’m not sure if it’s actually the endorphins, or the “badass”-ness I feel from coming back to the office at 3am and sitting down for another hour or two of work (I mentioned my schedule was nutty), or finally being able to move books off my reading queue, but I’ve noticed a definite uptick in my mood and body image as a result. I’ve run something like 75 miles over the last six weeks (I make it to the gym an average of three times a week), and I’m looking forward to my numbers (I love you, Runkeeper!) going ever upward.

Today I signed a lease. I signed a lease that I negotiated down (helped in part by the current state of the real estate market), essentially decreasing rent per room in our five-bedroom by $200.

Today I ended a stint with a startup. I ended my time at Aardvark as part of The Mechanical Zoo, and on Tuesday I start my time at Aardvark as part of Google.

And to think I could have been five months into my Master’s thesis, wrapping up the first month of my last semester at MIT.

I laughed out loud to myself today as I was waiting for the bus to take me home from the landlord’s office – I like this life.

Last week at around this time, I had just been told that my four roommates were moving out, and that I either had three weeks to fill four rooms or find a new place for myself. I got the rent down, two roommates stayed (plus the dog and the cat), a friend moved in, and we did the Craigslist dance to fill the last room. So now we’re good, with a little terror, stress, and hopefulness thrown in.

Two months ago at work (plus change), all of us piled into a room like we normally do for our end-of-the-week meeting. We were told that a term sheet had just been signed for us to be acquired by Google. Due diligence was done, HR negotiations occurred, and secrets were held for far too long from far too many people. We start at a different office in three days – and I’ll be bringing my personal little knot of excitement, apprehension, and curiosity.

In looking at life post-college, I was worried it’d be too routine – I thought that without “landmarks” to look forward to (winter break, summer vacation, finals, formals, trips), I might be bored and let time slip by without noticing. Well – now school looks methodical and predictable and the extraordinarily safe option.

What have I learned? That question will, hopefully, be answered thoroughly in the future in frequent intervals, but for now, a brief summary of my favorite learnings of the last several months:

• How to fix a flat on a bicycle (and a little about how the bicycle works to begin with)
• How to pick a health insurance plan to fit my needs
• What an acquisition looks like from the inside, and how many things could go wrong without a strong negotiator on your side
• French men are the most amusing members of a tech startup
• Socializing and quality alone time are most beneficial in a carefully maintained balance
• I still don’t take enough advantage of the opportunities around me! (Talks, meetups, people)
• Everything usually works out in the end

But I know I continue to be extraordinarily lucky. So I’m extraordinarily thankful – and am excited to see what else is in store!

(modeled after Crystal’s found in abundance in hong kong:)

• Steps and hills (sometimes – steps in hills!)
• Hardwood floors and aged wooden moldings
• Fashion ensembles, in ….. interesting taste
• Vintage boutiques and used book stores
• Dogs and wide streets
• Timbuk2 bags, Elvis Costello glasses, flannel!
• Coffee mugs

Oozing with charm – I love this place!

I got into an extended argument the other day with a friend who made the claim, “MIT does an awful job of making sure its students know what they want to do after graduation.”

Another graduating senior choosing to pursue the one-year Master’s of Engineering next year (like most, to have some extra time to discover his career interests and direction), he is dissatisfied with how MIT has guided him along his path to graduation. A sound bite of his I can’t seem to forget: “I know less about what I want to do now than I did when I entered MIT.”

It makes me laugh, this sense of entitlement – the idea that a student enters this prestigious institution, often and widely advertised by its “huge range of opportunities,” and expect to be helped and told what he or she specifically is passionate about. The discovery of one’s interests, one’s passions, one’s desired area of expertise – these pursuits seem to need to be by definition self-driven.

Figuring out what you want to do with your life is a problem to deal with every year of your life, as priorities and interests change. It should be something to constantly search for, lest you find yourself at a point in your life dissatisfied and unfocused. As a student, it’s not the Institute’s responsibility to guide you. Provide lots of information and resources, yes – guide you and direct you, never.

It’s your responsibility to try our internships and research opportunities, to take an interesting range of classes, and to explore your field (academically and in the industry) as much as possible.

One other interesting viewpoint that came up when I discussed this with another friend was – MIT does an amazing job of challenging preconceptions. Plenty of pre-med majors are made un-pre-med by the Institute, simply because MIT makes them ask themselves, “Do I really want to do this? Do I really want to be a doctor (and go through this pain of being pre-med), or is this just something I’ve expected to do?” And I think that’s a positive thing – being forced to, as I mentioned earlier, constantly reexamine your own goals and expectations for yourself.

This is the time to explore – this is the time to discover yourself, and let your interests flourish. Why would you allow that responsibility to anybody but yourself?