How to get ahead of 99% of students in 2025

00:25:50
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i20WU8m6NyQ

الملخص

TLDRIn this video, Ali Al Caroli shares his journey to becoming a top 1% student and the five steps to achieving this goal. The first step is to make a sincere decision to be ahead of others. Next, one needs to 'download the right brain software' by adopting positive beliefs. The third step involves developing systems thinking to understand the context of one's studies. The fourth step balances serendipity (saying yes to opportunities) with focus (saying no to distractions). Finally, seeking mentorship from respected individuals who have achieved the desired results is crucial. This approach aims to achieve academic success without sacrificing enjoyment in life.

الوجبات الجاهزة

  • 💪 Make a decision to pursue being a top 1% student.
  • 🧠 Download positive beliefs to drive success.
  • 🌍 Develop systems thinking for better understanding.
  • 🤝 Seek mentorship from accomplished individuals.
  • 🚀 Balance opportunities and focus in your pursuits.

الجدول الزمني

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    In this video, Ali Al Caroli shares his roadmap to becoming a top 1% student by outlining a five-step process that is both enjoyable and manageable. Although he emphasizes the importance of academic success, he highlights that these steps contribute to a productive and fulfilling life overall. He stresses crucial decision-making as the first step, urging viewers to genuinely want to excel beyond 99% of others and to transform that desire into a clear goal.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:10:00

    The second step focuses on 'downloading the right brain software', which means reprogramming one's beliefs. Ali shares a personal story to illustrate how changing his perception of engineering helped him improve academically. This step involves identifying limiting beliefs and replacing them with empowering ones, essential for achieving top performance.

  • 00:10:00 - 00:15:00

    Step three introduces the idea of 'systems thinking'. Ali encourages viewers to have a broader perspective of their academic environment, recognizing classes, projects, and internships as interconnected elements. By zooming out, students can allocate their time effectively and enhance their learning experiences, making strategic choices that lead toward their main goals, thereby emphasizing the importance of understanding systems around them.

  • 00:15:00 - 00:20:00

    The fourth step discusses mastering serendipity and focus. Ali advises an approach where one must balance saying 'yes' to new opportunities (serendipity) vs. committing to focused goals (focus). He encourages viewers to explore various interests early on, but as their goals crystallize, to become more selective to avoid distractions. The emphasis is on discovering one's passion through exploration and iteration.

  • 00:20:00 - 00:25:50

    Finally, the fifth step underlines the importance of mentorship. Ali advocates for seeking advice from individuals who have achieved the results one aspires to obtain. He encourages proactive outreach and highlights the significance of learning from those who are respected in their fields, reinforcing the idea that guidance from successful mentors is critical for personal and academic achievement.

اعرض المزيد

الخريطة الذهنية

فيديو أسئلة وأجوبة

  • Who is the speaker in the video?

    The speaker is Ali Al Caroli, a postdoctoral fellow at NASA's propulsion lab.

  • What is the first step to becoming a top 1% student?

    The first step is to make a genuine decision to be ahead of 99% of students.

  • What does 'downloading the right brain software' refer to?

    It refers to identifying and adopting positive beliefs that support academic success.

  • How important is systems thinking?

    Systems thinking helps in understanding the broader context of one's actions and decisions in academic life.

  • What should one look for in mentorship?

    Seek mentors who have achieved the results you aim for.

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الترجمات
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التمرير التلقائي:
  • 00:00:00
    if you clicked on this video then you're
  • 00:00:01
    probably interested in being a top 1%
  • 00:00:03
    student in 2025 which naturally means
  • 00:00:05
    you need to be ahead of 99% of the
  • 00:00:07
    students so in this video I'm going to
  • 00:00:08
    show you exactly how to do that in fact
  • 00:00:10
    I'm going to show you the road map I
  • 00:00:11
    took to do that and it's actually a
  • 00:00:13
    really fun road map you don't have to
  • 00:00:15
    burn yourself out you don't have to
  • 00:00:16
    sacrifice a lot of stuff too much and
  • 00:00:18
    it's just going to be really really fun
  • 00:00:19
    and I know it works because it's what
  • 00:00:20
    I've used if you don't know who I am my
  • 00:00:22
    name is Ali Al Caroli I'm a post doct Al
  • 00:00:24
    fellow at the N propulsion lab I did my
  • 00:00:26
    bachelor's Masters and PhD in electrical
  • 00:00:28
    engineering when I was only 26 years old
  • 00:00:31
    um I also got my position here at Nasa
  • 00:00:33
    which is obviously really cool I've done
  • 00:00:34
    a lot of things I've done seven
  • 00:00:35
    internships I've published a lot of
  • 00:00:37
    research papers and besides like
  • 00:00:38
    academic and and professional success
  • 00:00:41
    I've also U made a music album I've
  • 00:00:42
    written a book I run two YouTube
  • 00:00:44
    channels I also run a part-time business
  • 00:00:46
    that makes more money for my job because
  • 00:00:47
    I do my job for fun I've also traveled
  • 00:00:49
    I've been in 35 countries and I've spent
  • 00:00:51
    a ton of time playing rocket League
  • 00:00:53
    playing chess and just hanging out with
  • 00:00:55
    my friends so not only does this road
  • 00:00:57
    map or five steps that I tell you about
  • 00:00:59
    like what not only does it really work
  • 00:01:01
    for academic success uh it also really
  • 00:01:03
    translates like really well in just like
  • 00:01:05
    how to live a productive and enjoyable
  • 00:01:07
    life uh and be able to manage your time
  • 00:01:09
    in a way where you can like achieve your
  • 00:01:10
    wless dreams being the top 1% but still
  • 00:01:13
    have plenty of time to have fun so now
  • 00:01:16
    before I go ahead and explain the five
  • 00:01:17
    steps that go ahead and help you achieve
  • 00:01:19
    that uh you need to understand that
  • 00:01:21
    these are kind of like the way this this
  • 00:01:23
    is going to be a very sequential method
  • 00:01:25
    like a five-step process where each step
  • 00:01:28
    depends on the one before
  • 00:01:31
    and what I mean by that is you want to
  • 00:01:32
    think of it kind of like a house what
  • 00:01:34
    we're going to do is with step one we're
  • 00:01:35
    going to build the foundation like the
  • 00:01:37
    first floor and then we're going to
  • 00:01:38
    build step two and then step three and
  • 00:01:40
    step four and step five so so you need
  • 00:01:42
    to pay attention to every step uh before
  • 00:01:44
    you you you go ahead and implement the
  • 00:01:46
    one before if if you for example don't
  • 00:01:47
    Implement step two steps three four five
  • 00:01:49
    are not going to work so step one we're
  • 00:01:51
    actually going to go ahead and do right
  • 00:01:52
    now in this video steps two and three U
  • 00:01:55
    have to do kind of with things you're
  • 00:01:57
    going to build inside your brain over
  • 00:01:58
    time I'm going to tell you exactly what
  • 00:01:59
    to do and then steps four and five have
  • 00:02:02
    more to do with the external World more
  • 00:02:04
    with like kind of like how to interact
  • 00:02:06
    with other humans and with objects uh in
  • 00:02:08
    the real world in general so I'm going
  • 00:02:10
    to just go ahead and erase this and
  • 00:02:12
    we're going to get into it I'm going to
  • 00:02:13
    be drawing things along the way just so
  • 00:02:15
    you can understand and keep up now the
  • 00:02:18
    very first step step number one is you
  • 00:02:20
    need to make a
  • 00:02:23
    decision um most gurus uh skip the step
  • 00:02:26
    alt together if you click on videos that
  • 00:02:28
    are usually titled like this people like
  • 00:02:30
    get up early like I don't know set a
  • 00:02:32
    schedule or like I don't know start
  • 00:02:34
    working out well all that is
  • 00:02:36
    first you need to make a decision you
  • 00:02:38
    need to decide do you like genuinely
  • 00:02:40
    want to be ahead of 99% of students
  • 00:02:42
    because usually there's a price for that
  • 00:02:44
    and um what I mean by that is it's it's
  • 00:02:46
    nice to have it's a nice thought yes of
  • 00:02:48
    course everyone wants to be ahead of 99%
  • 00:02:49
    of other people but like do you actually
  • 00:02:51
    want that is that like a genuine desire
  • 00:02:53
    that you willing to turn into a goal or
  • 00:02:56
    is that just kind of a nice to have wish
  • 00:02:57
    and the reason you need to make a
  • 00:02:58
    decision because you you need to decide
  • 00:03:01
    if you want to if you want it to be a
  • 00:03:03
    goal or a desire a desire is just
  • 00:03:05
    something that like that you want a goal
  • 00:03:07
    is like taking that desire and turning
  • 00:03:08
    it into like a plan and like something
  • 00:03:10
    that you're actually going to pursue now
  • 00:03:11
    how do you decide whether you want to be
  • 00:03:13
    a top 1% or not well it's actually
  • 00:03:15
    pretty easy pict sure that this is you
  • 00:03:17
    right now and if you're watching this
  • 00:03:19
    I'm guessing you're somewhere between I
  • 00:03:21
    don't know like 15 to like I don't know
  • 00:03:22
    let's say 30 years old or like I don't
  • 00:03:24
    know however however old you are and
  • 00:03:26
    let's say that there's two different
  • 00:03:27
    paths you can take in life where in both
  • 00:03:30
    of these paths you're like let's say 95
  • 00:03:32
    years
  • 00:03:33
    old I don't know let's say like that's
  • 00:03:35
    the age like for whatever reason you are
  • 00:03:37
    like really really old and you're like
  • 00:03:38
    on your death bed and in both of these
  • 00:03:41
    situations like this is a bed this is a
  • 00:03:43
    pillow this is like your head and this
  • 00:03:45
    is like you on your deathbed and you're
  • 00:03:48
    having thoughts and you're thinking
  • 00:03:49
    about two kind of like there's there's
  • 00:03:52
    two kinds of lives that you lived one
  • 00:03:54
    where you achieved like everything that
  • 00:03:55
    you want one where like you look back on
  • 00:03:58
    your life and you're like man like I
  • 00:04:00
    wasted my life so these are two
  • 00:04:01
    different paths that you can
  • 00:04:03
    take one very simple exercise you can do
  • 00:04:06
    is you can try to describe in as much
  • 00:04:08
    detail as possible like you on your
  • 00:04:10
    deathbed what would what would it look
  • 00:04:12
    like looking back on an amazing life an
  • 00:04:14
    exceptional life life you're you're
  • 00:04:15
    proud of something you really really are
  • 00:04:17
    proud of achieving and then
  • 00:04:19
    alternatively you think of the other
  • 00:04:20
    alternative the undesirable situation
  • 00:04:23
    which is your 95 on your deathbed and
  • 00:04:25
    you're thinking about like the worst
  • 00:04:26
    life possible like you wasted so many
  • 00:04:28
    opportunities you you're like all by
  • 00:04:30
    yourself no one loves you like I don't
  • 00:04:32
    know you might even be in jail or like I
  • 00:04:33
    don't know like just everything that
  • 00:04:35
    could have gone wrong has gone wrong and
  • 00:04:37
    then you just simply make a decision and
  • 00:04:39
    you're like okay do I genuinely want to
  • 00:04:42
    pursue this life or like and and and
  • 00:04:44
    what is the cost of if I pursue this
  • 00:04:46
    life like is it really that bad and
  • 00:04:47
    there is no self- judgment and and I say
  • 00:04:49
    that because if you decide that you want
  • 00:04:51
    to be a top 1% student or 99% of people
  • 00:04:54
    great then that's that's good we get
  • 00:04:56
    that out of the way we move on steps
  • 00:04:57
    through five but if you don't want that
  • 00:05:00
    that is totally okay unlike what most
  • 00:05:02
    self-help gurus say not everyone needs
  • 00:05:04
    to go and pursue like crazy amount of
  • 00:05:06
    success like you need to do what you
  • 00:05:08
    genuinely want to do and and this is a
  • 00:05:10
    great moment where we define success
  • 00:05:12
    success is doing what you want in life
  • 00:05:14
    success is not like making some amount
  • 00:05:15
    of money or like I don't know doing
  • 00:05:17
    anything crazy success is literally you
  • 00:05:19
    figuring out what you want what makes
  • 00:05:20
    you happy and you just go out and get it
  • 00:05:22
    and if you can do that then you're
  • 00:05:23
    really really successful so you go ahead
  • 00:05:25
    and make that decision but I'm going to
  • 00:05:26
    go ahead and make the assumption that
  • 00:05:29
    you made that decision of wanting to be
  • 00:05:30
    ahead of 99% students and you're ready
  • 00:05:32
    to turn it into a plan and and a goal
  • 00:05:35
    not just a wish well then that takes us
  • 00:05:37
    to step number two which is
  • 00:05:41
    download the right
  • 00:05:44
    brain
  • 00:05:46
    software and you might think what the
  • 00:05:48
    hell does that mean what does download
  • 00:05:50
    the right brain software means well okay
  • 00:05:52
    once you decide that you actually want
  • 00:05:53
    to achieve something crazy with your
  • 00:05:54
    life such as I don't know being ahead of
  • 00:05:55
    99% of other students uh you need to uh
  • 00:05:59
    think of your brain as a computer where
  • 00:06:00
    like there are certain lines of code
  • 00:06:02
    that are sitting in the operating system
  • 00:06:05
    and that literally dictates how like you
  • 00:06:06
    behave and how you act and and and how
  • 00:06:08
    you carry yourself and how you show up
  • 00:06:10
    to things well these lines of codes
  • 00:06:12
    they're also known as beliefs beliefs
  • 00:06:14
    are basically just like little thoughts
  • 00:06:16
    that you have that kind of you absorbed
  • 00:06:18
    when you're a kid you probably learn
  • 00:06:19
    them from your teacher from your parents
  • 00:06:20
    from someone else and these are the
  • 00:06:22
    things that literally run your life
  • 00:06:23
    because for example uh if I have a
  • 00:06:24
    belief that like I'll I'll give you a
  • 00:06:27
    very simple story um when I started
  • 00:06:29
    engineering school I had the belief that
  • 00:06:31
    engineering was very very hard that's
  • 00:06:33
    because I had teachers people Society
  • 00:06:35
    are telling me Oh my God engineering is
  • 00:06:37
    like the hardest thing ever engineering
  • 00:06:39
    is like the craziest thing ever so I
  • 00:06:40
    literally had that belief in my head I
  • 00:06:42
    didn't even know it was there I just
  • 00:06:43
    like always had the lens of like
  • 00:06:44
    engineering is hard so like I would take
  • 00:06:46
    I my very first semester in college I
  • 00:06:48
    would get a calquin assignment and like
  • 00:06:50
    I would be terrified like even though it
  • 00:06:52
    would be like a very easy derivative but
  • 00:06:54
    like I would go in with like the anxiety
  • 00:06:55
    of like oh my God this thing is supposed
  • 00:06:57
    to be hard and like like it I remember
  • 00:06:59
    just one day sitting like is engineering
  • 00:07:02
    actually hard and then I looked up how
  • 00:07:03
    many people graduate in engineering and
  • 00:07:05
    I don't know it was like it was like
  • 00:07:06
    hundreds of thousands of people per year
  • 00:07:08
    worldwide and I was like dude like
  • 00:07:11
    millions of people have done this degree
  • 00:07:13
    and I'm willing and and I've met a lot
  • 00:07:14
    of Engineers who were very very dumb and
  • 00:07:16
    I was like if these people can do it
  • 00:07:18
    like I can definitely do it that
  • 00:07:19
    definitely doesn't mean it's hard it's
  • 00:07:21
    it's actually pretty easy cuz there's
  • 00:07:23
    like structure there's exams there's
  • 00:07:25
    assignments you just literally got to
  • 00:07:27
    like sit down do the assignments show up
  • 00:07:28
    to class ask the professor some
  • 00:07:30
    questions of course you're going to
  • 00:07:31
    struggle a bit and then like you just
  • 00:07:33
    get through it like actually it's
  • 00:07:34
    actually pretty easy it's like a very
  • 00:07:35
    well systemized and structured thing of
  • 00:07:37
    course it's going to require some
  • 00:07:38
    difficulty and tenacity for you like to
  • 00:07:40
    actually get through it but it actually
  • 00:07:41
    pretty easy and then here's the crazy
  • 00:07:43
    thing when I changed my mindset from
  • 00:07:44
    like engineering is hard like
  • 00:07:45
    engineering is pretty easy people people
  • 00:07:47
    have done this uh like it's it's so
  • 00:07:49
    funny I my grades went up my happiness
  • 00:07:52
    went up uh I I got involved in a lot of
  • 00:07:54
    projects and I just like gained a lot
  • 00:07:55
    more confidence just by literally
  • 00:07:57
    changing one line of code inside my
  • 00:07:59
    brain so you want to go ahead and
  • 00:08:00
    identify certain beliefs that are kind
  • 00:08:02
    of maybe maybe kind of creeping in and
  • 00:08:04
    you want to understand that in order for
  • 00:08:07
    you to achieve your goals you need the
  • 00:08:08
    right lines of code you need the right
  • 00:08:09
    beliefs you need beliefs that you can
  • 00:08:11
    definitely be in the top 1% it's
  • 00:08:13
    definitely possible other people have
  • 00:08:14
    done it you can do it as well uh you
  • 00:08:16
    need to focus on what it is that their
  • 00:08:18
    strengths are and and figure out what
  • 00:08:19
    those are and and you focus on them you
  • 00:08:21
    need to just like fill yourself your
  • 00:08:23
    brain with like like really good
  • 00:08:25
    software just write really good software
  • 00:08:27
    off your brain put good stuff in there
  • 00:08:29
    put good beliefs in there try to cut out
  • 00:08:31
    as much crap as possible try to spend
  • 00:08:33
    less down on social media these are all
  • 00:08:34
    like little things that you can do but
  • 00:08:36
    you definitely need like a very solid
  • 00:08:38
    operating system in order for you to
  • 00:08:39
    operate this Machinery this Hardware so
  • 00:08:41
    once you do that that takes us to step
  • 00:08:44
    number three which is
  • 00:08:50
    systems now what do I mean by systems I
  • 00:08:52
    mean develop like a very systematic uh
  • 00:08:56
    understanding of the world and and you
  • 00:08:57
    need to be able to zoom in and zoom out
  • 00:08:59
    and let me let me give you an example
  • 00:09:01
    what most people kind of like um I don't
  • 00:09:03
    know let's say go to engineering or
  • 00:09:05
    college or whatever they just show up to
  • 00:09:07
    class they get handed a syllabus they do
  • 00:09:09
    some assignments uh and then they just
  • 00:09:10
    kind of like I don't know do the
  • 00:09:11
    assignments and then they move on and
  • 00:09:13
    then they take the exam and then they
  • 00:09:14
    graduate and this whole thing happens
  • 00:09:16
    and they don't like stop to think about
  • 00:09:17
    the ecosystem or the environment in
  • 00:09:19
    which it happens so you need to all like
  • 00:09:21
    if if this was like a system like let's
  • 00:09:24
    say I don't know this is
  • 00:09:25
    college and here you have classes and
  • 00:09:29
    most people stop here they think of like
  • 00:09:31
    only class only assignments but then if
  • 00:09:34
    you zoom out and like most people are
  • 00:09:36
    zoomed in they're literally like inside
  • 00:09:37
    this box and they can't see outside but
  • 00:09:40
    if you do what what I did in college you
  • 00:09:43
    zoom out and you look around and you're
  • 00:09:45
    like what even is college or like what
  • 00:09:46
    is school or what not and you see
  • 00:09:48
    there's classes and then you say whoa
  • 00:09:50
    there's
  • 00:09:51
    projects and then you say whoa there's
  • 00:09:54
    like
  • 00:09:55
    internships and then you say whoa
  • 00:09:57
    there's like professors whom you can
  • 00:09:59
    talk to outside of class about things
  • 00:10:01
    not related to class and then you're
  • 00:10:04
    like whoa there's like other stuff going
  • 00:10:05
    on and whatnot and then you kind of go
  • 00:10:07
    in and zoom out and then let's say
  • 00:10:09
    within the classes I'll give you an
  • 00:10:11
    example like let's say I don't know I
  • 00:10:12
    study electrical engineering so like
  • 00:10:14
    let's say here I had power and then here
  • 00:10:17
    I had communication
  • 00:10:21
    systems now because like like let's say
  • 00:10:23
    I'm and I'll give you a personal story I
  • 00:10:26
    remember one time I was sitting in my
  • 00:10:27
    power Power Systems class it was very
  • 00:10:29
    first day of class and it was my junior
  • 00:10:31
    year and I knew I knew at that point I
  • 00:10:34
    don't care about Power Systems that much
  • 00:10:36
    I care a lot more about
  • 00:10:37
    telecommunications Wireless
  • 00:10:39
    Communications electromagnetics these
  • 00:10:41
    were kind of things I was already
  • 00:10:42
    interested in it was junior year so I
  • 00:10:43
    kind of had a better idea of what I
  • 00:10:44
    wanted to do with my
  • 00:10:45
    life and I um yeah like in that part
  • 00:10:50
    class I I literally showed up first day
  • 00:10:52
    and I was like hey you know what like
  • 00:10:54
    this class is probably a big waste of my
  • 00:10:57
    time and I looked at the syllabus and
  • 00:10:58
    the attendance was 5% and I was like
  • 00:11:01
    okay I'm going to take the L on this 5%
  • 00:11:03
    and I'm just not going to show up to
  • 00:11:04
    this class now why was I able to do that
  • 00:11:06
    because within that class I was able to
  • 00:11:08
    zoom out and see like how the grades
  • 00:11:10
    were broken down and I figured out I
  • 00:11:12
    could just go study on my own with very
  • 00:11:14
    little time and probably get at least
  • 00:11:15
    like a B+ or a minus and then I wanted
  • 00:11:18
    to spend more of my time on
  • 00:11:19
    communication systems so I was able to
  • 00:11:20
    zoom out and say okay I'm going to
  • 00:11:22
    allocate the bare minimum amount of time
  • 00:11:23
    to power which allows me to allocate
  • 00:11:25
    more time to Communications and then I
  • 00:11:27
    basically took that time that other
  • 00:11:28
    students were're spending in class uh
  • 00:11:31
    working on Communications projects I
  • 00:11:32
    joined a cubet lab where I was working
  • 00:11:34
    on antennas and I was working on radios
  • 00:11:36
    and I was working on other things
  • 00:11:37
    relating to Communications and then
  • 00:11:39
    that's also because I was zooming out
  • 00:11:41
    and I knew that within this class I was
  • 00:11:43
    spending more time on projects and other
  • 00:11:45
    things and and and intern and applying
  • 00:11:46
    for internships and working on my resume
  • 00:11:49
    and at the same time out of all that I
  • 00:11:50
    was also like working on writing on on I
  • 00:11:53
    was I was joining music classes I was
  • 00:11:55
    meeting other people to improve my
  • 00:11:56
    social skills so you definitely need the
  • 00:11:58
    ability to think in systems you need to
  • 00:12:00
    be able to like know when to zoom in on
  • 00:12:03
    a specific task or component and then
  • 00:12:05
    when to zoom out and look at the whole
  • 00:12:07
    ecosystem and understand where to
  • 00:12:10
    allocate your time and energy that's a
  • 00:12:11
    very very important skill uh to have
  • 00:12:13
    this actually is this right here uh is
  • 00:12:16
    something that makes someone like Elon
  • 00:12:17
    Musk really really good at identifying
  • 00:12:20
    bottleneck in his company allocating
  • 00:12:22
    resources this makes uh someone like
  • 00:12:23
    Jeff Bezos very good at identifying
  • 00:12:27
    botels U allocating resources in their
  • 00:12:29
    company and I mentioned these two people
  • 00:12:30
    for example um like like because they
  • 00:12:34
    are people who like studied physics a
  • 00:12:36
    studied electrical engineering so they
  • 00:12:38
    are people who through studying
  • 00:12:40
    engineering and physics developed uh
  • 00:12:42
    this systems thinking approach and then
  • 00:12:44
    they applied it to business they applied
  • 00:12:45
    it to entrepreneurship and it's a very
  • 00:12:47
    very important skill if they can do it
  • 00:12:48
    in their businesses you can do it in
  • 00:12:49
    your personal life as well because
  • 00:12:51
    that's I applied in my personal life and
  • 00:12:52
    was something that's very very helpful
  • 00:12:54
    so um one actually like one last note on
  • 00:12:56
    this idea of systems thinking in my
  • 00:12:59
    opinion the best way to develop like a
  • 00:13:01
    like like in addition to thinking in
  • 00:13:03
    systems you really need to get like a
  • 00:13:05
    deep understanding of how the world
  • 00:13:07
    Works uh which means you need to learn
  • 00:13:09
    physics very deeply like you need to
  • 00:13:11
    understand if you understand mechanics
  • 00:13:13
    and if you understand electromagnetics
  • 00:13:15
    in my opinion that's like 99% of the
  • 00:13:17
    relevant physics for like day-to-day
  • 00:13:18
    life uh and just like thinking and
  • 00:13:20
    making decisions if you can understand
  • 00:13:22
    these things very very deeply coupled
  • 00:13:25
    with developing the the skill of like
  • 00:13:27
    knowing when to step back knowing when
  • 00:13:28
    toep step in and go full force on
  • 00:13:30
    something uh that's like that like that
  • 00:13:32
    alone can put you honestly ahead of like
  • 00:13:34
    zero point top like top 0.1% of people
  • 00:13:38
    like genuinely I really I really think
  • 00:13:40
    that is that is the case which brings us
  • 00:13:42
    to step number four suppose you develop
  • 00:13:44
    [Music]
  • 00:13:48
    that you need to learn how to master
  • 00:13:53
    [Music]
  • 00:13:55
    Serendipity and
  • 00:13:57
    focus and what I'm mean by this is let's
  • 00:14:01
    imagine a spectrum where here something
  • 00:14:04
    called Serendipity and I'm going to
  • 00:14:06
    explain what this means exists here's
  • 00:14:09
    something called
  • 00:14:10
    Focus
  • 00:14:12
    exists and think of serendipity as
  • 00:14:16
    saying yes to things think of focus as
  • 00:14:19
    saying no to things I'll give you an
  • 00:14:21
    example it's Friday night and your
  • 00:14:24
    friend messages you and there's a party
  • 00:14:26
    uh and your friend is like hey you
  • 00:14:28
    should come with us party do you do you
  • 00:14:31
    say yes or do you say no uh there's
  • 00:14:34
    actually a very engineering SL maath way
  • 00:14:36
    of of thinking about this and this is
  • 00:14:37
    what I apply on my day day-to-day life
  • 00:14:40
    and if you apply this cumulatively I
  • 00:14:41
    think it's going to serve you very well
  • 00:14:43
    here's Here's my thought is um if you
  • 00:14:45
    have if you know exactly what you want
  • 00:14:48
    and you have a crystal clear goal and
  • 00:14:50
    that goal is urgent you should sit
  • 00:14:53
    somewhere like closer to here you should
  • 00:14:55
    be closer to saying no to like quote
  • 00:14:57
    opportunities or things that happen uh
  • 00:14:59
    if you are at a stage in life where you
  • 00:15:01
    like don't know what you're doing which
  • 00:15:02
    by the way nothing's wrong with that and
  • 00:15:04
    I'm going to actually tell you about how
  • 00:15:06
    to what to do when you're here we're
  • 00:15:07
    going to talk about uh iteration but if
  • 00:15:10
    you're if you if you don't know what
  • 00:15:11
    you're doing with your life and you're
  • 00:15:12
    kind of still open to ideas and you're
  • 00:15:14
    open to things and you're kind of still
  • 00:15:16
    wondering and you're still kind of
  • 00:15:17
    figuring it out you should sit somewhere
  • 00:15:19
    over here and basically the more like
  • 00:15:22
    quote lost or like you're still figuring
  • 00:15:23
    it out or you're still kind of um trying
  • 00:15:26
    out things and you haven't found that
  • 00:15:28
    one thing you lean more towards saying
  • 00:15:30
    yes to anything that comes that your way
  • 00:15:32
    especially if it's like a networking
  • 00:15:33
    opportunity I don't know going out and
  • 00:15:35
    meeting new people joint signing up for
  • 00:15:37
    a club uh checking out a new class any
  • 00:15:40
    type of thing with novelty or an
  • 00:15:42
    opportunity you should lean more towards
  • 00:15:44
    saying yes if you don't know what you're
  • 00:15:45
    doing if you have a crystal clear goal
  • 00:15:47
    and you know exactly it's what you want
  • 00:15:50
    and and you like it's just you have
  • 00:15:52
    urgency and you want to relentlessly
  • 00:15:53
    focus on it then these kind of
  • 00:15:55
    opportunities start becoming
  • 00:15:57
    distractions because yes there's a I
  • 00:15:59
    don't know 1% chance you may meet like
  • 00:16:01
    the love of your life or what not but
  • 00:16:02
    then but but there's a 99% chance you
  • 00:16:05
    won't and then if you do that repeatedly
  • 00:16:07
    then you're going to end up sacrificing
  • 00:16:08
    the goal that you're focusing on so when
  • 00:16:09
    I was um I don't know when I was like 17
  • 00:16:12
    or 18 years old like just start I I
  • 00:16:15
    started college when I was 17 years old
  • 00:16:17
    I was I was like
  • 00:16:18
    here I was like just like showing up to
  • 00:16:21
    like everything like I joined like
  • 00:16:22
    literally everything like when I was a
  • 00:16:24
    freshman and then as I got closer and
  • 00:16:26
    closer to figuring out electrical
  • 00:16:28
    engineering which was my major I I
  • 00:16:30
    started going more over here and now at
  • 00:16:33
    this stage in life I just turned 28 very
  • 00:16:35
    recently I would say I'm like I'm like
  • 00:16:38
    here like uh you you really have to you
  • 00:16:41
    like I I am so focused on the things I'm
  • 00:16:44
    working on between the research I'm
  • 00:16:46
    doing at ASA between some other personal
  • 00:16:48
    projects between for example uh right
  • 00:16:50
    now making videos for you guys so you
  • 00:16:52
    guys can learn things between running my
  • 00:16:53
    business between running my YouTube
  • 00:16:55
    channels uh flying lessons like there's
  • 00:16:57
    a lot of cool stuff making music there's
  • 00:16:59
    a lot of stuff that I'm so focused on
  • 00:17:01
    doing that you really need to convin if
  • 00:17:03
    an opportunity comes my way you really
  • 00:17:05
    need to convince me that's it's like
  • 00:17:07
    worthwhile otherwise like I'm probably
  • 00:17:09
    going to say no obviously you still
  • 00:17:10
    always want to leave like a little bit
  • 00:17:11
    of room you don't want to be like so
  • 00:17:13
    heart focused that you're saying no to
  • 00:17:15
    anything cuz that that's going to kill
  • 00:17:16
    the magic of life but I'm just showing
  • 00:17:18
    you that this is me at like 17 and then
  • 00:17:21
    this is me
  • 00:17:22
    17/18 and then this is me at like 7
  • 00:17:26
    2728 and I think that's kind of the
  • 00:17:29
    natural progression um and and again if
  • 00:17:31
    you just understand the Spectrum and and
  • 00:17:34
    you're honest enough with yourself to
  • 00:17:36
    see where you are in life um and if if
  • 00:17:38
    you're in college if you're in high
  • 00:17:39
    school honestly I would lean a lot more
  • 00:17:41
    towards here like just be open-minded uh
  • 00:17:43
    try a lot of things say yes a lot of
  • 00:17:45
    things because you're going to meet
  • 00:17:46
    amazing people uh and then you're going
  • 00:17:48
    to these people are going to tell you
  • 00:17:49
    what to do with your life now the second
  • 00:17:50
    part of that is how do you actually
  • 00:17:52
    migrate from here to here cuz obviously
  • 00:17:54
    if you want to achieve something really
  • 00:17:56
    substantial uh over your life you need
  • 00:17:58
    to focus right
  • 00:17:59
    well the way to do that is through
  • 00:18:00
    iteration like I have I have a very
  • 00:18:02
    unconventional method uh of of doing
  • 00:18:05
    things in life I switched my major four
  • 00:18:08
    times so like I the way the way most
  • 00:18:11
    people think uh is oh my God I need to
  • 00:18:13
    think very hard about what I got to do
  • 00:18:15
    and like I need to figure it out and
  • 00:18:16
    then I'm going to pick one thing and I'm
  • 00:18:17
    going to run with it and I see and I see
  • 00:18:19
    that a lot in college like a lot of
  • 00:18:20
    people pick a major and then they stick
  • 00:18:22
    with it and then even if they don't
  • 00:18:24
    really like it that much they just stick
  • 00:18:25
    with it cuz people tell you like stick
  • 00:18:27
    to it and like stick to things and like
  • 00:18:28
    just kind of pushed through and whatnot
  • 00:18:30
    I I I don't I don't like that I don't
  • 00:18:32
    like I don't like that school of thought
  • 00:18:34
    I have the school of thought of like if
  • 00:18:36
    I'm not having fun and if I'm not
  • 00:18:37
    enjoying uh like what I'm doing and if
  • 00:18:39
    I'm not curious about it if I'm not
  • 00:18:41
    passionate about it I'm probably going
  • 00:18:42
    to suck I'm probably going to be nowhere
  • 00:18:43
    near the top 1% uh in that category so
  • 00:18:45
    I'm going to shift gears and that's
  • 00:18:47
    exactly what what what happened I
  • 00:18:48
    started out in filming and writing and I
  • 00:18:51
    realized pretty quickly the school I
  • 00:18:53
    went to University of Buffalo was not
  • 00:18:54
    the best in the world I like filming and
  • 00:18:56
    writing uh UB I love you so much you
  • 00:18:57
    have an amazing Department but your
  • 00:18:59
    filming media needs some work uh so I I
  • 00:19:02
    figured out okay pretty quickly okay I
  • 00:19:04
    could be a writer and make films on my
  • 00:19:05
    own like in my in my free time and then
  • 00:19:07
    I switched to mechanical engineering um
  • 00:19:09
    and then like that was not so much fun I
  • 00:19:12
    just didn't really enjoy mechanics it
  • 00:19:13
    was just kind of like very intuitive to
  • 00:19:15
    me like okay yeah fine forces friction
  • 00:19:17
    whatever like it's I it's kind of boring
  • 00:19:19
    and I was like okay well maybe I should
  • 00:19:21
    do airospace cuz airplanes are really
  • 00:19:23
    cool and I I love airplanes um well um
  • 00:19:26
    it was kind of Bor it was also boring to
  • 00:19:28
    me it was just basically like mechanical
  • 00:19:29
    engineering but like with planes uh you
  • 00:19:31
    could argue the only cool class really
  • 00:19:33
    is aerodynamics uh you still kind of
  • 00:19:35
    need to again learn the Statics Dynamics
  • 00:19:37
    the mechanics not very interesting then
  • 00:19:40
    I was like okay I'm very interested in
  • 00:19:41
    human body let me switch to bi medical
  • 00:19:42
    engineering so my freshman uh my my
  • 00:19:45
    freshman fall I was doing biomedical
  • 00:19:46
    engineering um and then I I and in
  • 00:19:49
    parallel to that I was taking some of
  • 00:19:50
    the airspace mechanical classes and then
  • 00:19:52
    I was like yeah man there's a new mejor
  • 00:19:54
    is not really what I want to do and then
  • 00:19:55
    by again Serendipity just by sheer
  • 00:19:57
    coincidence I bum bued into some people
  • 00:19:59
    into a library who were studying
  • 00:20:01
    electrical engineering and they were
  • 00:20:02
    doing some circuit diagrams they were
  • 00:20:04
    doing microelectronics and I was like wo
  • 00:20:06
    this looks really cool what are you guys
  • 00:20:07
    drawing and what not we had a
  • 00:20:08
    conversation and then I ended up
  • 00:20:09
    switching to electrical engineering and
  • 00:20:10
    then as I switched to electrical
  • 00:20:12
    engineering and I started actually
  • 00:20:13
    really liking it and I for example
  • 00:20:15
    signals and systems was like my favorite
  • 00:20:16
    class it was like something I'm f i was
  • 00:20:18
    fascinated by I started migrating over
  • 00:20:21
    here and As Time and Time went on I did
  • 00:20:24
    a lot of internships I did a lot of like
  • 00:20:26
    basically what I'm trying to tell you is
  • 00:20:28
    the way to like find out what it
  • 00:20:30
    whatever it is you need to focus on is
  • 00:20:32
    you just try like a bunch of bunch of
  • 00:20:35
    stuff and as soon as you try them you
  • 00:20:37
    you you you start migrating towards an
  • 00:20:39
    area you can focus on why is this
  • 00:20:41
    relevant to being ahead of 99% people
  • 00:20:44
    because if you want to be ahead of 99%
  • 00:20:46
    of people you need to really like what
  • 00:20:48
    you do and you need to be really good at
  • 00:20:50
    it and the only way to find what you
  • 00:20:52
    like and be really good at it is just to
  • 00:20:55
    try a bunch of stuff iterate
  • 00:20:57
    relentlessly keep keep going and keep
  • 00:21:00
    trying things until you find that one
  • 00:21:01
    thing where you're like okay yeah this
  • 00:21:02
    is actually something I I envision
  • 00:21:04
    myself being good at then once you do
  • 00:21:06
    that you are golden now obviously this
  • 00:21:09
    also has a this this step number four is
  • 00:21:11
    pregnant with step number five because
  • 00:21:13
    there's another lesson or or or piece of
  • 00:21:16
    advice that I have which is about like
  • 00:21:18
    mentorship uh or slash
  • 00:21:22
    advice and what I'm going to say here is
  • 00:21:25
    extremely important extremely important
  • 00:21:27
    if you want to be ahead of 99 % of
  • 00:21:28
    people uh you need the right mentorship
  • 00:21:31
    and you read you need the right guidance
  • 00:21:32
    and you need the right advice and you
  • 00:21:34
    need to take advice from people you
  • 00:21:37
    respect I'm going to say that again you
  • 00:21:39
    need to take advice from people you
  • 00:21:41
    respect and ideally people who have your
  • 00:21:43
    results for example if your goal is to
  • 00:21:45
    be a top engineer you cannot go and ask
  • 00:21:48
    someone who hasn't even studied
  • 00:21:49
    engineering how to be a top engineer
  • 00:21:50
    they don't have the result they probably
  • 00:21:52
    they don't know they may give you some
  • 00:21:53
    good generic advice but they literally
  • 00:21:55
    don't know um like if you need to find
  • 00:21:58
    people people who have done what you're
  • 00:21:59
    trying to do or are good at the thing
  • 00:22:01
    that you're trying to get good at you
  • 00:22:03
    need to learn from them and only learn
  • 00:22:05
    from them because if you just take
  • 00:22:06
    advice from like everyone and this is
  • 00:22:08
    something that breaks my heart because
  • 00:22:09
    when it comes to career or studying or
  • 00:22:11
    or college or or things of that nature
  • 00:22:13
    we tend to ask our friends and family
  • 00:22:15
    who who very often are very well-meaning
  • 00:22:17
    and well-intentioned uh but they will
  • 00:22:20
    give us advice based on their beliefs
  • 00:22:23
    and and they may not even have the
  • 00:22:24
    results that that we want you know and
  • 00:22:26
    so we end up getting is like advice
  • 00:22:28
    that's probably not accurate coupled
  • 00:22:30
    with beliefs that probably are not very
  • 00:22:31
    good for you either uh so that ends up
  • 00:22:33
    being something really really well so
  • 00:22:35
    you need to take advice from people who
  • 00:22:36
    have your results and you ideally want
  • 00:22:38
    to take advice from people you respect
  • 00:22:39
    because when you're when you're taking
  • 00:22:41
    someone's advice you're basically
  • 00:22:43
    telling them or you're telling yourself
  • 00:22:45
    I am I am willing to take the action
  • 00:22:46
    this person is recommending because I'm
  • 00:22:49
    like you're basically be partially
  • 00:22:50
    becoming that person and you want to
  • 00:22:52
    like something that's very very
  • 00:22:53
    important in life is self-respect and
  • 00:22:55
    and and respecting yourself and and and
  • 00:22:57
    being someone who you genuinely enjoy
  • 00:22:59
    being uh and that reflects a lot in the
  • 00:23:01
    advice that you need to take so if
  • 00:23:03
    you're if you're someone who's trying to
  • 00:23:04
    get ahead of 99% of of people one way I
  • 00:23:07
    did it is I just had like some of the
  • 00:23:09
    craziest and best mentors uh anyone
  • 00:23:12
    could ask for uh in Engineering in in
  • 00:23:14
    life in general I just go and I find
  • 00:23:16
    amazing people and I just ask them
  • 00:23:18
    questions and they see that I have a
  • 00:23:20
    genuine desire to improve and they see
  • 00:23:21
    that I'm like sharp and I'm willing to
  • 00:23:23
    learn things I'm willing to do things uh
  • 00:23:25
    and then they see they they they just
  • 00:23:27
    they just they just help me they just
  • 00:23:29
    they're like yeah this is how you do it
  • 00:23:30
    obviously it doesn't happen most of the
  • 00:23:31
    time like to give you some perspective
  • 00:23:33
    when I was when I was in college my very
  • 00:23:35
    first year of freshman year freshman
  • 00:23:37
    spring I sent out I think 44 emails uh
  • 00:23:40
    to professors to help them for free in
  • 00:23:43
    undergraduate research and I think only
  • 00:23:45
    five or four replied and I worked with
  • 00:23:47
    one of them so it's not I'm not saying
  • 00:23:49
    that everyone's going to uh I don't know
  • 00:23:51
    pick up the phone and answer your
  • 00:23:52
    questions but some of the people like if
  • 00:23:54
    you ask enough times and people see that
  • 00:23:56
    you have genuine curiosity and desire to
  • 00:23:58
    learn uh people are going to see that
  • 00:24:00
    you want to learn and then they're going
  • 00:24:01
    to like want to help you any know that
  • 00:24:03
    being said those are pretty much the
  • 00:24:04
    five steps so again summarize so first
  • 00:24:07
    step is
  • 00:24:09
    decide second step is download brain
  • 00:24:14
    software third
  • 00:24:16
    step is become a systems thinker slash
  • 00:24:20
    learn physics ways of thinking and apply
  • 00:24:23
    them to the real world fourth step um we
  • 00:24:26
    talked about serendipity and Focus so
  • 00:24:28
    like yes versus
  • 00:24:30
    no learn that Spectrum very well do not
  • 00:24:33
    forget that spectrum and then number
  • 00:24:34
    five ask advice from people whose
  • 00:24:36
    results you want to embody and find the
  • 00:24:38
    right mentors and stand on the shoulders
  • 00:24:40
    of giants because if Isaac Newton did it
  • 00:24:43
    for church pan did it if Albert Einstein
  • 00:24:45
    did it if a lot of Engineers did it if I
  • 00:24:46
    did it and everyone's telling you like
  • 00:24:48
    you should you should go and do that
  • 00:24:50
    then you should definitely you should
  • 00:24:51
    definitely go go ahead and do that and
  • 00:24:52
    again if you like my results if you
  • 00:24:54
    watch my videos and you're like wow this
  • 00:24:55
    guy has a good understanding of physics
  • 00:24:57
    math uh engineering in this guy has
  • 00:24:59
    accomplished a lot of things I would
  • 00:25:00
    like to accomplish then you should take
  • 00:25:01
    my advice if you don't like my results
  • 00:25:03
    then nothing I have nothing against that
  • 00:25:05
    then you should not take my advice
  • 00:25:07
    because if you take my advice you're
  • 00:25:09
    going to probably get results closer to
  • 00:25:11
    mine and if you take someone else's
  • 00:25:12
    advice you're going to take results
  • 00:25:13
    closer to theirs so find out what
  • 00:25:15
    results you want see who has them and
  • 00:25:17
    then just go ahead and take the advice
  • 00:25:19
    of that person and then obviously always
  • 00:25:20
    use your critical thinking uh that being
  • 00:25:22
    said um I apologize if the video was a
  • 00:25:24
    bit rambly it is very late at night and
  • 00:25:27
    I only had time to record this video
  • 00:25:28
    right now and I figured it's better to
  • 00:25:30
    record this um kind of rough than to not
  • 00:25:33
    record it at all so I'm hoping you've at
  • 00:25:34
    least learned something or that being
  • 00:25:36
    said you're going to have another video
  • 00:25:37
    of mine pop up over here there's
  • 00:25:39
    probably going to be one on systems
  • 00:25:40
    thinking because that is just something
  • 00:25:41
    that's extremely extremely important so
  • 00:25:43
    if it's popping up here or in the
  • 00:25:44
    description or in the comments just do
  • 00:25:46
    yourself a favor go ahead and watch that
  • 00:25:47
    that video is going to change your life
  • 00:25:48
    and I'll see you there Peace Love
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