Advice

I spent a lot of time reviewing resume tips (yes, my own, but also several others). I don’t update my resume very often, but when I do, I always look for advice. In the end, I actually threw away my original resume and completely rewrote it. The basic content was the same, but the style was entirely new (and very heavily influenced by resume articles I read). This took quite a bit of time, but was entirely worth it. The final product was much higher quality than what I started with.

One really important thing I did was have coworkers, professors, and my fiancée read my resume. I got some really good feedback from this. I got a few style pointers, but mostly I got substance advice. My fiancée pushed me to clarify and expand on my leadership experience. My coworkers recommended relevant technologies that I should have included. My academic advisor really pushed me to restructure the resume to make it more appropriate for the industry. In particular, he had me highlight my skills and work experience.

Formatting

Another thing I would wholeheartedly recommend everyone do is to prepare both a formatted (ahem, PDF) and a plaintext resume. I used my formatted resume almost everywhere. However, I did use a plaintext resume for a few places that I knew were going to strip my resume down to plaintext anyway. In general, plaintext resumes are not very pretty, but for places that I know are going to strip away the formatting, I would rather provide a plaintext resume of my own creation. Text extracted from formatted documents is rarely pleasant to read.

I do not, however, recommend using plaintext resumes for most job applications, because they still look like crap. Use them only when you really have to. And despite what Steve Yegge says, you don’t need to submit a plaintext resume to Google. I don’t know why he implies that resumes at Google are stripped of their formatting. I almost submitted a plaintext resume to Google because of his article. I’m glad I didn’t, though, because the first guy who interviewed me showed up with a printout of my resume exactly as I had formatted it.

The Cover Letter

Every resume I sent was with a custom cover letter. Form letters look lazy and half-assed, because that’s what they are. A custom cover letter indicates at least a little actual interest in the job. A generic cover letter screams “bulk mail”, which in turn yells “delete me”.

I also made my cover letters match my resume as closely as possible. Some of the positions that I applied for were via an online form, and the only place to provide a cover letter was a text box. For those, I submitted the cover letter in plaintext. For the rest, I made my cover letters match my resume fonts, margins, etc. I think this attention to detail is important. When printed, the cover letter and resume should look as if they came from the same document. This level of attention to detail may not be strictly necessary, but it definitely won’t hurt, and it really doesn’t take much time. Create a cover letter template and you only have to make it match once.

Oh, and I saved every single cover letter I sent. This allowed me to lift sentences when writing new cover letters, but it also gave me a lot of examples to read when I had trouble thinking of what to say. (And I have them saved for the future as well.) Whenever I had trouble deciding what to put into a new cover letter, I’d re-read the others, and several ideas would pop into my head. A little socket work here, a little C++ work there. Examples are extremely useful for me, even when they are my own.

Once I finished my resume and all those matching cover letters, I started sending them out to interesting positions. I had planned on talking about that more in this post, but the resume chatter got long enough, so I’m pushing that off to next time.

By the way, if you want a lot of other good tips, read the comments on my resume tips article. There were a lot of really good tips (as well as a few really bad tips) from the readers.

My first programming-related job was working as a systems administrator during my senior year of undergrad studies. I did a lot of network and computer maintenance that year, but I also had a chance to put together some custom software. After that, I had a grant as a Master’s student to develop science and math projects for elementary school students. As part of this job, I built a new website and database for the grant and all its associated projects. Most recently, I was developing radar software for a small defense contractor. This was my first full-time job, and also my first software-only job. However, it was not a job in a software-only company, and I’ve decided that’s where I want to be.

I don’t want to work for the software division of some company. I don’t want to work in network administration. I definitely don’t want to be anyone’s “computer guy”. I want to be a part of a dedicated software firm.

No one can truly thrive without continual learning. You learn or you fall behind, regardless of what field you are in. No matter how much you know, no matter how skilled you are, others will eventually surpass you if you don’t strive to stay ahead. I know that there are many things I need to learn about building quality software, and I feel that I am likely to learn some of these things best in a dedicated software company.

In a software company, the focus is on the software (or it should be). That means that there is more attention directed toward software quality, toward software development productivity. It means that a lot of the management grew out of the developer pool, and should know what it takes to build quality software. Most importantly, it means that there’s a wealth of talented and experienced developers to learn from. I want to know how to built large systems. I want to learn how hundreds of programmers can work together. I want to discover how world-class software is grown. Maybe I could learn these things at a non-software company, but it would certainly be harder.

There are a lot of software firms in the world, but I can tell you one place where most of them are not: Mississippi. You can probably guess where I used to live.

Since Mississippi has few software firms, it would be rather difficult for me to find my ideal job there. Besides, neither I nor my fiancée ever planned to live in Mississippi forever. Neither of us were born or raised in Mississippi, and neither of us have any wish to grow old there. We were destined to move eventually.

When my fiancée and I started investigating where we should live, we wanted to restrict our search to places that would have abundant jobs for both of us. She’s a psychologist. Most software companies are headquartered in or near large cities. A luck would have it, most people are also in or near large cities. Since more people imply more opportunities for psychologists, our fields’ job opportunities overlap best in major cities. (Funny how most opportunities seem to be where most people are . . . .)

We ranked some of the best cities for both of us, and three options came out on top: Boston, San Diego, and Silicon Valley. She applied for jobs in those three areas, and we decided we’d go wherever she got an offer. In the end, she received offers in both San Diego and Silicon Valley (specifically Palo Alto). Of those two, Palo Alto appeared to have more of a future for her, as well as more opportunities for me. That pretty much ended the discussion of where we should live. She accepted a position in Palo Alto and I began the process of applying for jobs myself.

So, where does a programmer apply for jobs in Silicon Valley? Lots and lots of places. I’ll talk more about that soon.

The first part will cover the reasons we (my fiancée and myself) chose Silicon Valley, along with the beginning of the job hunt, the resume, etc., depending on how long I let the post get. Some later posts will describe the interview process, offers, salary and benefits negotiation, and relocation. This will take a while, but stay tuned if you’re interested in more information about the process I went through to get a job in Silicon Valley, or if you’re interested in hearing another opinion about Google and Yahoo’s interview process.

The Yardstick

We cannot measure our success without knowing what success will look like. Our goals should be the yardsticks for our lives. If we are meeting our goals, then we are successful. If we are not, then we need to adjust either our goals or our efforts. Do you know what your goals are?

You might want a million dollars, but that’s not good enough. That’s not a goal. It’s a dream. You can’t act on a dream. Do you want to save a million dollars for retirement? If so, then maybe your goal should be to “invest $250 in a mutual fund every month for the next 40 years.” That’s a goal you can act on. You are much more likely to invest $250 than you are to just “save a million dollars.”

Let’s look at another common example. If you want to get in shape, then “eating better” and “going to the gym regularly” should not be your goals. Even “lose ten pounds” shouldn’t be your goal. Those are all just too intangible to reliably act upon. Your goals should be to “eat no more than 1500 calories per day,” and to “go the gym from 6:00 to 7:00 on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.” Anything less than that isn’t a real goal. It’s just a dream.

Toward a Goal

Once you’ve made your goals into something tangible, something measurable, you can monitor your progress. Did you save $250 last month? If not, you need to adjust your budget and compensate. Did you go to the gym last Tuesday? No? Then you need to make the time.

By setting a measurable goal, you can constantly evaluate whether you’re going to reach that goal. If your dream is to spend more time with your kids, you can’t really track that. How much is enough more? If you want to spend 2 hours every weeknight helping your children with their homework and then going for a walk as a family, that’s something you can track. You can try to track your success in your head, or you can actually keep a personal log. Either way, the first step is to make the goal measurable.

I want to finish all of my degree, except for my dissertation, by the end of next spring. That’s not very tangible, though. So instead, my goals are to take my comprehensive exams and finish 12 hours of class this fall, and to take 6 hours of class and propose my dissertation in the spring. These are by no means easy goals (I have a full-time, off-campus job), but they are measurable goals. I know exactly what I need to do, and I know exactly when I need to do it. I can and do track how my school goals are progressing.

Once your goals are measurable, you can make progress. Until then, you’re just frustrating yourself with dreams that won’t come true.

Big Goals

Sometimes a goal might just be too big to really be tangible. If that’s the case, you need to break it into smaller goals. For example, starting your own company is a huge goal. It’s definitely possible, because others have done it. But “start a company” just doesn’t seam tangible, or very measurable, for that matter. You’ve got to somehow break it up into achievable pieces.

If you want to start a software company, you should probably have a goal of spending several hours a day putting together a prototype product. After that, maybe you need to find a partner or an investor. So you should have a goal of spending some amount of time finding a partner. Or a goal of hitting up everyone you know with more than $5 for investment money. At every step of the way, there should be tangible goals. Even if they aren’t all obvious from the beginning, you should be nailing them down as you go along.

Meeting goals can be hard. It can be very hard work. But the first step is to really know what the goals are. Setting goals is not an extremely difficult thing to do. It takes some time, a little personal honesty, and probably a pen and paper. Whatever time and effort you put into setting your goals will pay itself back many times over, when you actually meet your goals. Once you’ve actually set real goals, you’ll know what you want, you’ll know what you need to do to get it, and you’ll know how to track your progress.

People waste their entire lives dreaming and never doing. All the hoping in the world won’t turn a single dream into reality. But hard work can turn goals into reality. Don’t sell yourself short.

The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we ALL believe that we are above-average drivers.

– Dave Barry

Let’s face it, we hate everyone else on the road. We’re all absolutely fed up with the terrible drivers. Unfortunately, the bad drivers show no signs of disappearing. If anything, the number of bad drivers seem to actually be increasing. Maybe that’s because we are the very same drivers we hate. Here’s my thoughts on what it takes (and what it means) to be a good driver.

A Brief Detour

Remember how yesterday the guy driving that green SUV nearly hit you when he merged into your lane without signaling? The asshole! What kind of idiot is he?

Well, you did the same thing to me last week. And I did it to someone else the week before that. Everyone makes mistakes while driving. Yes, yourself included. That doesn’t necessarily mean that everyone is a bad driver. It means everyone is human. Keep that in mind next time you see another driver do something really stupid. We all make mistakes, so take a deep breath and just let it go. Fuming in your car isn’t helping you or anyone else.

Have a Driving Goal

The most important thing you need in order to be a good driver is a goal. You should have a clear goal whenever you pull onto the road. I’m not talking about just getting from point A to point B. I’m talking about an overall guiding principle to guide your driving, a driving philosophy, if you will.

Your goal might be, e.g., to maximize safety, certainly a good goal to have. My goal is to promote overall traffic flow. I feel that every driver has a responsibility to other drivers. It’s not just you on the road. It’s a shared resource, and it’s only responsible to try to maximize the utility of that resource. It also turns out that the goal of promoting traffic flow is complementary to promoting safety.

Once you’ve got a goal, you can refer to it to fine-tune your driving. Having a goal won’t put an end to all your mistakes, but you might be surprised how a goal can redefine your behavior in certain driving situations. It’s simple to weigh two options and decide which one will help your goal the most. Constantly evaluating your driving against a strong reference can certainly help you to become a better driver.

An Example: When to Slow Down for a Turn

Lots of drivers slow down before they really need to. They slow down for turns, exits, etc. Some drivers begin slowing down as much as a mile early for highway exits. Let’s weigh this kind of behavior against a reasonable driving goal, and see how it holds up.

• Safety. By slowing down early, you are no longer following the flow of traffic. You are therefore at a higher risk of being hit by someone behind you who’s not paying attention. If you’re like most of the “early slowers,” you’re also not even braking, you’re just pressing the accelerator more gently, slowing without brake lights, further increasing the chances of an accident. Now, you can say it’s the other driver’s fault if they rear-end you, and that’s fine, but that’s got nothing to do with safety. Increasing safety means you want to minimize accidents, not just minimize the accidents in which a judge will find you at fault.
• Traffic Flow. By slowing down early, you’re forcing those behind you to slow down unnecessarily. You’re also encouraging them to swerve around you, potentially slowing other lanes down as well (and increasing the chances of an accident, see above). Slowing down early hurts traffic flow unnecessarily.
• Fuel Efficiency. An interesting argument for the “early slowdown” is fuel efficiency concern. However, in many cases, you aren’t maximizing fuel efficiency by slowing down early. If you slow down too early for some highway exits (e.g., those in which the exit ramp climbs toward an overpass), you’ll have to accelerate again later to reach the end of the exit ramp. You’d likely be better off holding a steady speed and using the exit ramp’s climb to slow you.

As an aside, I also have serious doubts about the efficiency of slowing down while still applying some gas. It seems that for maximum efficiency, you shouldn’t slow down for a turn, exit, or red light until your foot is completely off the accelerator. The wind and the natural resistance of the car’s moving parts will bring your speed down fairly quickly, without braking, if you completely remove your foot from the accelerator. And I can guarantee that your car is burning less fuel when your foot is completely off the accelerator than when you’re lightly pressing the accelerator.

It seems best to slow down only when necessary. If your foot is still on the accelerator, you shouldn’t be slowing down. If your foot is still on the accelerator, then you do not need to slow down yet, and there’s no logical reason to so so.

One More Example: Merging at low speed.

We’ve all seen people merge with highway traffic going 25mph, or try to. It can be infuriating. Rather than just be angry and dismissive, though, it’s again useful to think about why it’s so infuriating.

• Safety. Merging at low speed is unsafe for two main reasons. First, if you merge moving slower than traffic, someone in that traffic is much more likely to hit you. You’re also more likely to be hit by others behind you who are merging, and who are giving more attention to the traffic they’re merging with than they are giving to you.
• Traffic Flow. If you merge at low speed, others who are merging behind you are forced to slow down, as are those in the traffic you’re merging with. You’re forcing numerous people to slow down when you merge at low speed. This kind of poor merging can be a major cause of traffic problems on busy highways.
• Fuel Efficiency. This one’s barely even relevant here. You’re (presumably) going to get up to highway speed eventually. It makes sense to do that before merging. In many (or most) cases, the on-ramp will be sloped downward, which is the perfect place to build speed with low fuel expenditure.

Merge at speed. You should be moving at the same speed as the traffic you want to merge with. Going slower makes it harder, not easier. To be as safe and efficient as possible, always merge at the speed of traffic (but keep an eye out for the guy in front of you trying to merge at 25mph).

Put Your Goal Into Practice

I’m sure you can come up with plenty of other examples of driving problems, so I won’t bore you with any more. The point isn’t just to pick out examples of bad driving, but instead to decide why they are examples of bad driving. When you see someone do something stupid while driving, ask why it’s stupid. Determine why they shouldn’t have done that, so that you can truly know why you shouldn’t do it either.

But don’t stop there. Once you’ve picked your driving goal, use it to evaluate your own driving habits as well. Part of being good at anything is working to improve. If you want to be a good driver, think about how you drive. Ask yourself how you could improve. Find the parts of your driving that don’t fit well with your goal, and fix them.

Being a good driver means asking yourself where you can improve. Having a goal can help you answer that question.

(Update: I’ve changed the title to hopefully better match the tone of the post. The title was written before the actual post, and seemed out of place.)

1. Identify your desires.

   Take the time to sit down and decide what it is that you want. Your desire can be short term, as in a beach trip this summer, or long term, as in a millionaire retirement.

   Do you desire Money? A successful relationship? More community involvement? A big screen television? Decide what the things you desire are. If you are unable to identify the things you want desires, you will not acquire them. Identify your desires so that you can obtain them.

2. Visualize what you desire.

   No, I haven’t accepted a sponsorship deal with the producers of The Secret. Visualization isn’t a fix-all, but it is a useful tool. It is, first and foremost, a motivational tool.

   Really think about what you want. Clear any mental distractions away and develop an accurate, clear image of what you desire. Develop this image as fully as possible, because it’s going to guide you.

   Now, hold onto that image. If, and when, you run into frustrations, problems, and barriers, you can call back your visualization. You can recall your image to remind yourself what you are working for. Use your visualization as a source of motivation. Build an image that will motivate you.

3. Set goals and record them.

   You decided what you want in step one, and you established a clear mental image in step two. Now is the time to develop accurate written goals. Find a way to put your desire into words. If you cannot put your vision and your desires into written form, they are not well-formed. Revisit steps one and two.

   Writing down your goals forces you to be more exact about what it is you want, and the record of your goals can provide motivation later. Just as you can return to your mental image when the path becomes hard, you can re-read your goals when you need additional inspiration or personal clarification. Write down your goals to clarify them and provide motivation.

4. Break your goals into achievable pieces.

   This is the single hardest part of goal-setting. It’s easy enough to say you want to retire a millionaire. It’s much more difficult to really set down the steps to reach that goal. The individual pieces should be achievable goals in their own rights.

   If your goal requires saving money, then you need to build a budget, and pursue a higher-income job if necessary. If your goal is to improve your health, set yourself a realistic diet and exercise regimen. If your relationship needs mending, decide what’s wrong with your relationship and set aside the resources and time needed to mend the broken parts. If you are unsure what your goal requires, your goal may need to be specified more exactly.

   If any piece of your goal seems too large, break it down further. Treat each piece as a new goal if necessary, going through these eight steps with the smaller goal. Turn your goals into small steps.

5. Eliminate distractions.

   Eliminate the annoyances that hinder your chances of reaching your goals. If your goal is to lose weight, and you’ve got snacks around the house, throw them away. They are a distraction from your goal. You don’t need them around making your goal more difficult. Make throwing away the snacks your first action.

   If you are trying to reduce your debt, and you have a friend who always wants to eat out at the most expensive restaurants, you need to resolve this. It is a serious obstacle to achieving your goal. You don’t have to eliminate the friend, but you need to eliminate the problem. Tell him that you can’t afford to be eating out so expensively. If he’s really a friend, he’ll understand, and you’ll have a distraction eliminated, either way.

   It’s not always easy to remove distractions. It’s not even always possible. In the cases where it is possible, do it. Do what it takes to eliminate as many distractions as you can. The road to a goal is hard enough without unnecessary blockades. Remove the things which distract you from your goals.

6. Push through problems.

   There will always be problems when trying you reach your goals. Some problems will be big, while others will be bigger. You need to push your way through these problems. You built a strong visualization for a reason. There was a purpose to writing down your goals. When you run into an obstacle that’s more than just a distraction, call up your visualization, re-read your written goals. Use these as fuel to push yourself over, around, or through the obstacle. Problems will arise, but you can overcome them. Remember, your goal is on the other side of that obstacle.

   If you are looking for your dream job, and you’ve already gotten ten rejections, pull your visualization up, and ask yourself, “Is this setback big enough to stop me from reaching my goal, big enough to stop me from getting the job I want, that I deserve?” If you want it, really want it, the answer will be, “Absolutely not.”

   Hold onto the image of what you want, and keep plugging away, striving toward your goal, until you reach it. Remind yourself that even though it’s hard work, it’s going to pay off in spades when you achieve your goal. Push through the obstacles to reach your goal.

7. Work hard toward your goals.

   You don’t just need to work hard. You need to work your ass off. This is the most important step in achieving your goals, and it’s also the most difficult. You can have all the best intentions in the world, but if you don’t put in the work, you will never meet your goals. The likelihood of achieving your goal is directly related to the about of work you put in.

   Find the time and resources to achieve your goals. Push yourself to reach your goals, one step at a time. You are responsible for putting the effort in to achieve your goals. No one else will, or can, put the time in for you.

   If you want to get in shape, you have to diet. You have to keep your dates with the treadmill. No one else can get you into shape. If you want to get out of debt, you have to build a budget, and you have to stick with it. It’s you who has to give up the non-vital expenses, and it’s you who has to live within your means. You have to put in the time, and you have to put in the effort.

   Recall your goals and your visualization. Re-read your written goals. Remember what you are working for when the road seems too long. When you slack off, your goals will move further away, but when you really put the work in, you will see your goals coming closer and closer, until they are finally within your grasp. Work hard and eventually your goals will arrive.

8. Re-evaluate your goals.

   Periodically rethink your goals as you progress. It’s okay to change your goals. Sometimes we outgrow a goal. Other times our goal priorities change. If you find that your initial goals no longer meet your current desires, adjust your goals accordingly. Rethink your vision, rewrite your goals, and adjust the steps as necessary. It’s not important that your goals stay constant, only that you are constantly working toward your goals.

   Likewise, if you find that the steps you are taking are not bringing you closer to your goals, or not bringing you closer as fast as you expected, you should reconsider the steps you chose. It may be that you simply need to be patient and continue to work hard, or it may be that the steps you chose are not optimal. Just as your goals need not be set in stone, the steps to your goals can be pliable. Adjust them where necessary to choose the correct path.

   Nothing is set in stone. You chose your goals, and you may likewise choose to change them. Re-evaluate as needed, and don’t be afraid to change your goals. Remember, your goals should fulfill your desires. If they no longer do that, they need to change. If your goals no longer reflect your desires, adjust your goals.

None of these tips are earth-shattering or new. They are instead quite practical and time-tested. They may not always be easy, but they work. Apply them in your life, and with time and hard work, you can bring your goals within reach.

Doing What You Love

If you love cleaning, you’re going to have a spotless house. If you don’t love it, the best you’ll ever get is clean, never spotless. You won’t excel unless you truly love it. I know what you’re thinking. Suzie from work has a spotless house, and she says she hates to clean. Well, Suzie’s holding a secret from you. Either she actually has a maid, or she doesn’t hate to clean. She might say she does, but what she really means is, “I don’t enjoy cleaning very much, but I absolutely love having a clean house.” If Suzie loves having a clean house enough, then she will put forth the effort to get it done. It’s not hate for cleaning that has her scrubbing stains off the bathroom grout. It’s love.

You might think that nearly everyone loves to have a clean house, but that’s not true. Most people like having a clean house. If they loved it, they’s put forth the same effort that Suzie does. Liking a clean house will get you an occasional straightening-up, and a monthly mopping.

A careful reader might note here that Suzie still doesn’t like cleaning. She just likes, or rather loves, having her house clean. That brings us to an important corollary to the first rule of productivity.

No One Loves Doing Anything

With the exception of a few primal activities and urges, this rule is very nearly universal. You might not believe this, but just bear with me.

No one loves activities. They love results.

Linux fans don’t love using Linux. They love it when they get something to work. They love the feeling of accomplishment. Likewise, programmers don’t love to code. They love the final product. Programming can be extremely tedious at times, like most jobs, but the outcome is worth it if you love the outcome enough. If you know someone who claims to love programming for its own sake, ask him how much he loves it after a full day of unsuccessful debugging. You’ll get a very different answer. You might also witness a psychotic break first hand.

Similarly, great managers don’t love the day to day activities of managing. Instead, they love the payoff, a well-oiled machine. Some love the money or power, but those aren’t great (read: productive) managers.

Competition embodies the love of results. Love of activities doesn’t spur on sports. It’s the love of winning, of accomplishing something grand. It’s not a love of golf that makes Tiger Woods one of the best. Even casual golfers are trying for results. They are trying to improve their games. If it was really about just taking a leisurely afternoon, they wouldn’t get upset when they come in way over par, nor would they be elated when they shave two strokes off their best.

It is possible to be productive at something you simply don’t care about if you love the money enough, but it’s hard. You have to really love money. You have to love money just as much as the truly productive guys love the results. It’s generally much easier to just find something else you love, and find a way to make money at that.

So, what’s the lesson we can take from this corollary? Basically, the lesson is that effectively, Suzie does love to clean. Since no one loves activities, and everyone loves results, it makes no sense to talk about hating an activity if you love the results. If you truly love the results, they you’ll perform the activity, and you’ll probably be good at it.

Use The Rule

Rather than fighting with this, use it to your advantage. If you want to really be great at something, to truly be productive, your best bet is to ether: find something else to do (something that you do love), or find a way to love what you already do. The second option can be a pretty difficult task. I’d recommend the first when possible. Finding something you love isn’t always easy, but it’s certainly rewarding.

For those things you need to do, but just don’t love, you can either accept that you won’t do your best, or you can try to learn to love it. Find the little things about it that make you happy. Do you have to fill out paperwork constantly? Don’t think about how tedious that tenth report is. Instead, remind yourself that doing the work in a high-quality and timely fashion reflects well on you. Think about how good it will feel to be done with all the paperwork for today. Try to find the positives, and focus on those. Or try to effect a change, if you’ve got an idea for how to fix the problem. It’s about focusing on the positive.

Do you need to get in shape, but don’t enjoy exercise and dieting? Don’t concentrate on how hungry you are, how tasty that pie would be, or how boring you find running on the treadmill to be. Think about how good it will be to look at the scale and see another pound gone. Think about how loose your pants have gotten a month into your diet. Find things you love about what you’re doing. If you overlook the positive in favor of the negative, you’re more than likely going to find yourself buying larger pants next month, not smaller.

Successful dieters don’t hate to diet, in spite of what they might say. They love it. That’s what separates successful dieters from the unsuccessful ones. The unsuccessful ones don’t love the results enough to pass up the raspberry-drizzled chocolate torte. The successful ones would rather shave another half pound off their weight than have dessert. If you want to be one of the successful ones, then learn to love it.

If you want to be successful, if you want to be productive, do what you love. Either find something new that you can love, or learn to love what you’re already doing.