Persistence (grit, tenacity) is perhaps the quality that I admired the most from a person, who has a strong desire to achieve something without ever giving up.
(Sometimes I wonder if I have too little desire, like a monk.)
2021-11-15
Persistence
2021-11-14
Advice from my 80-year-old self
I often talk to an imaginary 88-year-old self for advices as a way to elicit answers that I already have in mind.
2021-11-13
Moral judgement on the two sides of the same coin
There are situations where one activity receives lower moral judgement than another, such as spending and saving, resting and working, consumption and production, which are actually two sides of the same coin and can only co-exist together.
2021-11-12
Career corner cutting
I have seen people cutting corners and playing little tricks for the sake of advancing their careers, but none of them, even without getting caught, have become very successful.
Maybe they shift their energy away from what they should really focus on, or they are not very confident about their character, ability, or effort.
And once they start on the wrong path, they tend to get caught up in a downward spiral without being able to get back on the right track.
At the end of the day, how we do things matters more than what we have done, and I would prefer achieving a little less than doing something that I know is not right.
2021-11-11
Award nomination
A few years back, someone asked me to nominate him/her for the SIGGRAPH significant new researcher award. At that time I found the conduct questionable, so I consulted with my PhD adviser, who told me that I should not incur any potential benefits or conflict-of-interests from the nomination. For example, an advisee receiving an award could potentially enhance the reputation of the adviser. A corollary is that the nomination should be anonymous, for which the nominee shouldn’t even be aware of being nominated (not to mention soliciting) as otherwise it is a form of doing favor.
In the end, I still did the nomination due to institutional pressure, but in retrospect I found the entire experience lame, and that person did not win the award anyway.
Today another individual asked me to nominate him/her for a research award, with whom I shared the above story.
I believe someone who deserves an award would not care about it.
I am not following baseball, but the most memorable event in MLB is when Ichiro Suzuki turned down a prestigious award, multiple times.
Research is a fun job if you can handle it
After a company training today a fellow employee from another division pinged me: Are you in the research group? That sounds fun!
Me: Research is a fun job as long as you are comfortable failing 90% of the time. 🙂
2021-11-08
The implications of the physics of time
Time only moves forward.
We cannot change the past or predict the future.
So it is pointless to regret the past or fear the future.
2021-11-07
With great power comes great hassles
With great power comes great responsibility, but the real trade-off lies in the hassles.
2021-10-30
OKR 2021
For OKR 2020, I rated myself 80 percent:
- Published 2 top papers with 2 student first authors.
- Contributed to a newly released motion brush feature in Adobe Fresco, and received 6 granted and 4 filed patents.
- I am relieved some of my management duties (for now) after my last direct report became a professor in NYU.
- I have yet to start top impacts.
-
The creative practice (mainly drawing and animation) has heightened my sense of observation and can help me focus/relax into a zone similar to meditation.
I finished Quicksilver, the first volume of the Baroque Cycle, my yardstick for book reading.
The default period is from July 2021 to June 2022 unless stated otherwise.
Publish top papers
Publish at least 4 papers in top graphics/HCI/vision/ML venues, such as ToG (including SIGGRAPH and SIGGRAPH Asia), CHI/UIST, NIPS/ICML, CVPR/ICCV.
Build top products
Ship at least 1 product feature and file at least 4 patents.
Develop top talents
Help at least 4 students publish in top graphics/HCI/vision/ML venues individually.
Recruit/refer at least 2 top job candidates.
Lead top impacts
This is a new category created last year that I shall start.
Have fun, be awesome
Practice sketching and animation to a professional level.
Continue learning a third language to complement the one Asian and one European language I already know.
Finish the baroque cycle.