A Blueprint for Life

Last updated: June 2026

My ultimate mission is to serve God and the people around me. More specifically, I think we are on the cusp of a technological revolution that can vastly benefit humanity. I aim to contribute to that — one way or another — to help steer the ship in the right direction.

To accomplish the above, I recognize that extreme discipline is not only helpful, but necessary. Here are some principles that I try my very best to follow, in no particular order:

• Creativity and curiosity are two great gifts of childhood. It's tempting to lose the spirit of adventure in an age where conformity is increasingly common.
• The people you surround yourself with determine who you become. Achievement and intellect are not the only values to admire in others; habits, drive, and honesty often prevail.
• Somebody once told me to stick to things I'm good at. I believe you can be good at nearly anything if you set your mind to it: if you're confident you won't fail, you're probably being too risk-averse.
• Self-belief requires self-discipline to prevent self-delusion.
• Ancient wisdom is quite valuable and sometimes overlooked by futurists and innovators. The best “self-help” books are often recycled ways of rephrasing lessons from great literature and philosophy.
• Input should be balanced with output: read and write, learn textbooks and pursue research, dream and act.
• Many of the diseases of traditional career-climbing — including performative startup culture — come from this “extreme narcissism” that our society has become accustomed to. Recognizing one's own finitude is an incredibly important prerequisite to true creativity, curiosity, and collaboration.

Also, a list of things that inspire me:

• Steve Jobs on the boundaries of life and what one can do with their time on Earth.
• Patrick Collison's advice page.
• The Voyager Golden Record launched by NASA in 1977.
• Jalen Brunson and the Knicks coming back in Game 4 of the 2026 NBA finals.
• The landing of Falcon Heavy in 2017. Still remember seeing this on TV as a third grader.
• Dario Amodei's optimism-essay on artificial intelligence, “Machines of Loving Grace.”
• Act I of Goethe's Faust II, as he turns his back to the sun.
• That scene in Big Hero 6 where the characters build and suit up (childhood memory).
• Beethoven String Quartet No. 14, Op. 131