https://tim.blog/2018/06/21/the-tim-ferriss-show-transcripts-debbie-millman/ https://www.douban.com/note/720724313/
He had us do an exercise in that class where we had to envision the life that we could have if we pursued everything that we wanted with the certainty that whatever it is that we wanted, we would succeed.
I wrote an essay in July of 2005. It was supposed to be a five-year plan. He asked us to dream big, and not to edit and said that it had a bit of a magical quality that he experienced with his students over and over so, to be careful what we wished for. I created this essay with these long ranging, far fetched goals that I can tell you now, 12 years later, have almost all come true. It is spooky, spooky. And so, that’s an exercise I do now with my students. Milton has had one of the most profound impacts on my life, aside from the profound impact he’s had on the world. I feel really, really lucky that I have been a student of his and have gotten to interview him now numerous times.
So, let’s say it is winter, 2027. What does your life look like? What are you doing? Where are you living? Who are you living with? Do you have pets? What kind of house are you in? is it an apartment? Are you in the city? Are you in the country? What does your furniture look like? What is your bed like? What are your sheets like? What kind of clothes do you wear? What kind of hair do you have? Tell me about your pets. Tell me about your significant other.
Do you have children? Do you have a car? Do you have a boat? Talk about your career. What do you want? What are you reading? What are you making?
What excites you? What is your health like? And write this day, this one day ten years from now. So, one day in the winter of 2027; what does your whole day look like? Start from the minute you wake up, brush your teeth, have your coffee or tea, all the way through until when you tuck yourself in at night. What is that day like for you? Dream big. Dream without any fear. Write it all down. You don’t have to share it with anyone other than yourself. Put your whole heart into it and write like there’s no tomorrow. Write like your life depends on it because it does. And then, read it once a year and see what happens. It’s magic. It’s magic, Tim.
It’s an ordinary winter night, 2027.
I stay with my wife and my children, sitting in front of the television. There is a big mat with fantastic figures on it. I like it, as I liked the big oval mat during my childhood, which had blue strips surrounding the edge, which I used to pretend it’s ocean and on which my battleship models sailed.
I will have a wife, yes, and one or two children. A boy and a girl, perhaps. They are still young and haven’t reached the age for primary school.
That is an ordinary early night, so I am just sparing time with the family. Later when the kids go to bed, I turn on the computer to reply mails from work.
I still live in Shanghai, somewhere close to my old home. It’s an apartment of a not-so-old neighbourhood. There are many trees and birds there. I hear bird singing every morning.
We live with ourselves, but very close to our parents.
We have a cat, older than our kids.
We have a car (or two). A boat? No. But we do spend time by the sea from time to time. (of course not the sea near Shanghai.)
The sheets, clothes are just ordinary as today. Nothing changes much. Hair? Oh, I still have plenty of hair 😁
She is a good wife. Pretty. Smart. Kind. She can speak more languages than I do. I am still trying to learn new languages (not programming ones…) We both work hard and play hard. Family takes priorities in our life. We both like music, movies, etc. We go to concerts once a month or two.
I am still in the semiconductor industry. I have experienced projects from architecture modeling to high performance software designing. I am proud of the chips we made, and the software stacks we built. In fact, I have participated in some robot projects that use the chips from our company. Really fancy bots! (four-legged with strong … emmm everything …)
The world still is in short of computing power. Our efforts make the world a better place.
So this is my dream, a dream cannot be accomplished by one.
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