How Not to Die

Taken from : http://www.paulgraham.com/die.html

August 2007

(This is a talk I gave at the last Y Combinator dinner of the summer. Usually we don't have a speaker at the last dinner; it's more of a party. But it seemed worth spoiling the atmosphere if I could save some of the startups from preventable deaths. So at the last minute I cooked up this rather grim talk. I didn't mean this as an essay; I wrote it down because I only had two hours before dinner and think fastest while writing.)

A couple days ago I told a reporter that we expected about a third of the companies we funded to succeed. Actually I was being conservative. I'm hoping it might be as much as a half. Wouldn't it be amazing if we could achieve a 50% success rate?

Another way of saying that is that half of you are going to die. Phrased that way, it doesn't sound good at all. In fact, it's kind of weird when you think about it, because our definition of success is that the founders get rich. If half the startups we fund succeed, then half of you are going to get rich and the other half are going to get nothing.

If you can just avoid dying, you get rich. That sounds like a joke, but it's actually a pretty good description of what happens in a typical startup. It certainly describes what happened in Viaweb. We avoided dying till we got rich.

It was really close, too. When we were visiting Yahoo to talk about being acquired, we had to interrupt everything and borrow one of their conference rooms to talk down an investor who was about to back out of a new funding round we needed to stay alive. So even in the middle of getting rich we were fighting off the grim reaper.

You may have heard that quote about luck consisting of opportunity meeting preparation. You've now done the preparation. The work you've done so far has, in effect, put you in a position to get lucky: you can now get rich by not letting your company die. That's more than most people have. So let's talk about how not to die.

We've done this five times now, and we've seen a bunch of startups die. About 10 of them so far. We don't know exactly what happens when they die, because they generally don't die loudly and heroically. Mostly they crawl off somewhere and die.

For us the main indication of impending doom is when we don't hear from you. When we haven't heard from, or about, a startup for a couple months, that's a bad sign. If we send them an email asking what's up, and they don't reply, that's a really bad sign. So far that is a 100% accurate predictor of death.

Whereas if a startup regularly does new deals and releases and either sends us mail or shows up at YC events, they're probably going to live.

I realize this will sound naive, but maybe the linkage works in both directions. Maybe if you can arrange that we keep hearing from you, you won't die.

That may not be so naive as it sounds. You've probably noticed that having dinners every Tuesday with us and the other founders causes you to get more done than you would otherwise, because every dinner is a mini Demo Day. Every dinner is a kind of a deadline. So the mere constraint of staying in regular contact with us will push you to make things happen, because otherwise you'll be embarrassed to tell us that you haven't done anything new since the last time we talked.

If this works, it would be an amazing hack. It would be pretty cool if merely by staying in regular contact with us you could get rich. It sounds crazy, but there's a good chance that would work.

A variant is to stay in touch with other YC-funded startups. There is now a whole neighborhood of them in San Francisco. If you move there, the peer pressure that made you work harder all summer will continue to operate.

When startups die, the official cause of death is always either running out of money or a critical founder bailing. Often the two occur simultaneously. But I think the underlying cause is usually that they've become demoralized. You rarely hear of a startup that's working around the clock doing deals and pumping out new features, and dies because they can't pay their bills and their ISP unplugs their server.

Startups rarely die in mid keystroke. So keep typing!

If so many startups get demoralized and fail when merely by hanging on they could get rich, you have to assume that running a startup can be demoralizing. That is certainly true. I've been there, and that's why I've never done another startup. The low points in a startup are just unbelievably low. I bet even Google had moments where things seemed hopeless.

Knowing that should help. If you know it's going to feel terrible sometimes, then when it feels terrible you won't think "ouch, this feels terrible, I give up." It feels that way for everyone. And if you just hang on, things will probably get better. The metaphor people use to describe the way a startup feels is at least a roller coaster and not drowning. You don't just sink and sink; there are ups after the downs.

Another feeling that seems alarming but is in fact normal in a startup is the feeling that what you're doing isn't working. The reason you can expect to feel this is that what you do probably won't work. Startups almost never get it right the first time. Much more commonly you launch something, and no one cares. Don't assume when this happens that you've failed. That's normal for startups. But don't sit around doing nothing. Iterate.

I like Paul Buchheit's suggestion of trying to make something that at least someone really loves. As long as you've made something that a few users are ecstatic about, you're on the right track. It will be good for your morale to have even a handful of users who really love you, and startups run on morale. But also it will tell you what to focus on. What is it about you that they love? Can you do more of that? Where can you find more people who love that sort of thing? As long as you have some core of users who love you, all you have to do is expand it. It may take a while, but as long as you keep plugging away, you'll win in the end. Both Blogger and Delicious did that. Both took years to succeed. But both began with a core of fanatically devoted users, and all Evan and Joshua had to do was grow that core incrementally. Wufoo is on the same trajectory now.

So when you release something and it seems like no one cares, look more closely. Are there zero users who really love you, or is there at least some little group that does? It's quite possible there will be zero. In that case, tweak your product and try again. Every one of you is working on a space that contains at least one winning permutation somewhere in it. If you just keep trying, you'll find it.

Let me mention some things not to do. The number one thing not to do is other things. If you find yourself saying a sentence that ends with "but we're going to keep working on the startup," you are in big trouble. Bob's going to grad school, but we're going to keep working on the startup. We're moving back to Minnesota, but we're going to keep working on the startup. We're taking on some consulting projects, but we're going to keep working on the startup. You may as well just translate these to "we're giving up on the startup, but we're not willing to admit that to ourselves," because that's what it means most of the time. A startup is so hard that working on it can't be preceded by "but."

In particular, don't go to graduate school, and don't start other projects. Distraction is fatal to startups. Going to (or back to) school is a huge predictor of death because in addition to the distraction it gives you something to say you're doing. If you're only doing a startup, then if the startup fails, you fail. If you're in grad school and your startup fails, you can say later "Oh yeah, we had this startup on the side when I was in grad school, but it didn't go anywhere."

You can't use euphemisms like "didn't go anywhere" for something that's your only occupation. People won't let you.

One of the most interesting things we've discovered from working on Y Combinator is that founders are more motivated by the fear of looking bad than by the hope of getting millions of dollars. So if you want to get millions of dollars, put yourself in a position where failure will be public and humiliating.

When we first met the founders of Octopart, they seemed very smart, but not a great bet to succeed, because they didn't seem especially committed. One of the two founders was still in grad school. It was the usual story: he'd drop out if it looked like the startup was taking off. Since then he has not only dropped out of grad school, but appeared full length in Newsweek with the word "Billionaire" printed across his chest. He just cannot fail now. Everyone he knows has seen that picture. Girls who dissed him in high school have seen it. His mom probably has it on the fridge. It would be unthinkably humiliating to fail now. At this point he is committed to fight to the death.

I wish every startup we funded could appear in a Newsweek article describing them as the next generation of billionaires, because then none of them would be able to give up. The success rate would be 90%. I'm not kidding.

When we first knew the Octoparts they were lighthearted, cheery guys. Now when we talk to them they seem grimly determined. The electronic parts distributors are trying to squash them to keep their monopoly pricing. (If it strikes you as odd that people still order electronic parts out of thick paper catalogs in 2007, there's a reason for that. The distributors want to prevent the transparency that comes from having prices online.) I feel kind of bad that we've transformed these guys from lighthearted to grimly determined. But that comes with the territory. If a startup succeeds, you get millions of dollars, and you don't get that kind of money just by asking for it. You have to assume it takes some amount of pain.

And however tough things get for the Octoparts, I predict they'll succeed. They may have to morph themselves into something totally different, but they won't just crawl off and die. They're smart; they're working in a promising field; and they just cannot give up.

All of you guys already have the first two. You're all smart and working on promising ideas. Whether you end up among the living or the dead comes down to the third ingredient, not giving up.

So I'll tell you now: bad shit is coming. It always is in a startup. The odds of getting from launch to liquidity without some kind of disaster happening are one in a thousand. So don't get demoralized. When the disaster strikes, just say to yourself, ok, this was what Paul was talking about. What did he say to do? Oh, yeah. Don't give up.

Dan Perjuangan, adalah pelaksanaan kata-kata.

Paman Doblang! Paman Doblang!
Mereka masukkan kamu ke dalam sel yang gelap.
Tanpa lampu. Tanpa lubang cahaya. Pengap.
Ada hawa. Tak ada angkasa.
Terkucil. Temanmu beratus-ratus nyamuk semata.
Terkunci. Tak tahu di mana berada.

Paman Doblang! Paman Doblang!
Apa katamu?

Ketika haus aku minum dari kaleng karatan.
Sambil bersila aku mengharungi waktu
lepas dari jam, hari dan bulan
Aku dipeluk oleh wibawa tidak berbentuk
tidak berupa, tidak bernama.
Aku istirah di sini.
Tenaga ghaib memupuk jiwaku.

Paman Doblang! Paman Doblang!
Di setiap jalan mengadang mastodon dan serigala.
Kamu terkurung dalam lingkaran.
Para pengeran meludahi kamu dari kereta kencana.
Kaki kamu dirantai ke batang karang.
Kamu dikutuk dan disalahkan.
Tanpa pengadilan.


Paman Doblang! Paman Doblang!
Bubur di piring timah
didorong dengan kaki ke depanmu
Paman Doblang, apa katamu?

Kesadaran adalah matahari.
Kesabaran adalah bumi.
Keberanian menjadi cakrawala.
Dan perjuangan...
adalah perlaksanaan kata-kata.


Depok, 22 April 1984
"Paman Doblang!" by W.S Rendra

Oh Chris, You Must Be In Love

Look at the stars
Look how they shine for you
Everything you do
They were all yellow

I came along
I wrote a song for you
And all the things you do
It was called yellow

So then I took my time
Oh what a thing to have done
And it was all yellow

Your skin
Oh yeah your skin and bones
Turned into something beautiful

You know
You know I love you so
You know I love you so

I swam across
I jumped across for you
Oh what a thing to do
Because it was all yellow

I drew a line
I drew a line for you
Oh what a thing to do
But it was all yellow

Your skin
Oh yeah your skin and bones
Turned into something beautiful
You know
For you I'd bleed myself dry
For you I'd bleed myself dry

It's true..
Look how they shine for you..
Look how they shine for you..
Look how they shine..

Look at the star..
Look how they shine..for you..
And all the things that you do..

Coldplay - Yellow

Thank You, Good Sir

"I disapprove of what you say. But I will defend, to the death your right to say it"

-Evelyn Beatrice Hall in the book The Friends of Voltaire-

Well said, Mr. Shankly

To the beautiful game we all love

I just saw the movie "United" recently.
A wonderful movie that tells the story about Manchester United Football Club. The story mainly focus around the 1958 Munich disaster.

I already knew the fact about this Munich disaster for quite sometime. But the movie really moved me.



The time was in the 50's.
The young Manchester United team was on top of the world.

Matt Busby was appointed manager of MU in 1945 and immediately hired Jimmy Murphy as assistant manager of the club. After winning the championship at 1952, surprisingly Busby decided to give trust to a gang of "young boys" (then aged 16-17 years old) to be at the United first team replacing the liking of Johny Carey and the previous team mates that had just won them the title.

Who knows that this God given boys was destined for greatness.
With an average age of 21-22 years old players, they've won back to back English League title in 1955-56 and 1956-1957.

Hence come the name : The Busby Babes. The golden boys that is going to be king in the world of football belongs to Matt Busby.

The lads included right-back Bill Foulkes, centre-halves Mark Jones and Jackie Blanchflower, wingers Albert Scanlon and David Pegg and forward Liam Whelan. Among them was Duncan Edwards, judged by many to be England's finest player of his era, and capped by England at 18 – setting a record for the youngest-ever full international that remained unbroken for more than 40 years.

In the 57-58 season they were expected to rule the world of football and they practically did until in February 6th 1958 the plane that the players took was crashed after failing to take off in Munich Airport (the team was back from a champions league games against red star belgrade and the plane was refueling in Munich).

23 out of 44 people that were on the plane died, 8 of them were the players. Some of the Busby Babes.

The babes was young, they were superbly talented, and they were loved, not just by United fans, but by England. And by the world.

There is this one scene in the movie that really move me.

The policeman that escort the players body was asked by Jimmy Murphy do they tired because they've been wake all night to look after the coffin of the babes.
One of the police responded by saying (pretty much) this : "I watched these kids every week. I love how they play. They were such a delight to watch their every game you know? They gave us joy. Everybody love them. Even their opponent love them you know, the Busby babes. They've been the nation's pride. This is the least i can do to honor them. No, I'm not tired."


It amazed me how the players and the managers who survived the tragedy then trying their best to get back on their feet again. How all of the people pick each other up to bounce back after the tragedy.

It really shows me how soccer can inspire so many people all around the world. How it can spread so many love to so many people.

It really is beautiful.

"In Munich you died, in United you live forever"

Dia

Anda-Biru

Oh biru
Biarkan diriku merengkuhmu
Hanyutkan dirimu dalam cintaku, tersenyumlah untukku

Oh biru
Indah dirimu hempaskan aku
Jauh ku tenggelam dalam tatapmu
Sesatku dalam kasihmu

Sejuta kata takkan pernah bisa lisankan maksud rasaku ini

Dia mengalir dalam darahku
Dia setengah dari jiwaku
Dia bayangan atas nyawaku
Dia..

Oh biru
Detak jantungmu membawa aku berlayar tengah samudera cintamu
sesatku dalam kasihmu

Dia mengalir dalam darahku
Dia setengah dari jiwaku
Dia bayangan atas nyawaku
Biarlah dua menjadi satu

The Answer?

I copy this post from the web www.blog.edwardsuhadi.com.
The title of the post is : Stepping Up.



Stepping Up

by Edward Suhadi





I just finished watching Step Up Revolution.



It was breath-taking and mind-blowing. I just wanted to shout all along the movie and shake my tushy off.




The dance and cinematography gimmicks are cool, but what’s really touch me deep is the dancers.



You see, I’m always close to the the dancing world. I think it is mainly because I dated a dancer for seven years in my younger years, so I can see their world up close and know what is really happening.



Dancers are one of the most passionate, determined and idealistic people. Their profession basically summed up what passion is.



I admire them. I really do.



A lot of us don’t realize this, but for every three minute dance performance we see, there are people that come to the studio for weeks just to practice and practice and get it right.



I know first hand on what it feels like coming to practice three times a week, going through traffic, amidst office deadlines, amidst exhaustion, choreographing, memorizing, working out the details, doing it over and over and over and saying “five, six, seven, eight” over and over and over and over and over and over… Just for a three minute performance.



I sometimes think, up until now, “Are you people crazy? All these? For three minutes? Some of the audience is barely looking.”



Can you imagine how many sweaty exhausting hours of practice they gave just for being that little dot in the frame corner for two seconds? But they love it, they don’t care. I know, I’ve been there. Once the music is on, they just. dont. care.

And they definately don’t do it for the money. There’s no money in dancing. Even in a society where dancing is much more appriciated, it is quite hard to make a decent life based on dancing alone.



But they keep doing it. They keep dancing.



Because they love it. And that’s enough.



It doesn’t pay as much as the office job or the usual carreer path their friends are taking or their parents are approving, but they keep on dancing. Against what is established. Following their heart. Pursuing the dream. Not many people are like that nowadays. Not many.



I feel related to them, seeing these dancers jumping around like rabbits from my dark theater seat.



My company too have lost sales and clients based on some idealistic terms and ideas that we have in place starting this year, but that’s okay, since we are now building the clientele with the right fit for our company. It might be not popular, yet, but we keep on going, we keep on ‘dancing’.



I feel like saying to the dancers on the screen, “I feel you man. I feel you.”



But of course to create great, idealistic mind-blowing projects, ‘the dancers’ have to learn how to sell it, how to make a sustainable carreer around these things that they love.



I love this expression ‘Passion and Profit’: It won’t be profitable if it wasn’t passionate, but without profit, it won’t last very long. The two have to exist together.



The passionate people have to learn how to bring the business side to their craft, and the businessmen have to learn to take risks by supporting these people.



Heck, all the genre-defining greats started out like that. Nobody wanted to touch Harry Potter, The Matrix, The Lord of The Rings. Too idealistic. Nobody has done this before. But somewhere along the way, there were producers and publishers that stepped up to take the risk. Passionate projects backed by good money. Bada-boom. Big bada-boom.



That’s why I always whisper a silent prayer if I saw a passion project/business, while also trying to support them the way I can. They need to know that there are people that still believe that dreams come true :)



If we don’t dream, what are we?



So here’s to all the dancers that I know: Francy, Evy, Suhanti, Aline, Cialing, Wiwiek, Santi, Yosandi, Aman, Leo, Suzan, Mona, Rita, Tisen, Vijay, Sandy, Cynthia, Yen Yen, Sella, Dada, Felice, Meimei and all of you out there who continue to come to the studio even if the world doesn’t know and the world doesn’t care: all of you have inspired me. To keep on going. To keep on doing what you love. Despite. Eventhough.



Here’s to the dancers:



Thank you.



* * * * *



A request: If you ever watch a dance performance, in the mall, in the church, on the stage, after they finish, come up to them and just say, “Hey, you did a great job there. Thank you.” It will mean the world to them :)



The writings above was taken from http://blog.edwardsuhadi.com/2012/08/18/stepping-up/

The Gambler

"That's the issue everyone's facing in life isn't it? We all have ideals. We all need money."
-Arem Duplessis-

It just punch me in the face. Reality.
I didn't realize until recently that there is a time limit for chasing dreams.
I just watched this movie, and I don't know why but movies always have it's own way of delivering it's message for me, stronger than any other media.

The main character is a dancer who believe that he can live and earn money by becoming a professional dancer one day. But one day everything is starting to fall apart and it seems like he has to give up his dream of becoming a dancer, and started to work at a company as a regular office worker.

It just hit me that when you grow up, you have less options. You cannot do whatever it is that you wish to do, because you are no longer living for yourself.

Even though you like it. Even though it is your passion. Even though you think you're really good at it. Even though your're believing that you can earn a living from it. When you grow older, you have to prove all that. Or else, you have to leave it. Simply said, when you get older, you'll need to start earning money.

When you grow older, you need money.

And that's why there is a time limit for dreaming.

You need to make it work. If you want to choose dancing as your career, than by a certain age you need to prove that you can earn enough money from dancing. If you want to be a painter, an artist, a musician, a sound engineer, a firefighter, a soldier, or any other profession that you wanted to be, at some time you need to start making money. Or else, you need to find something else to do, that makes money.
I just realize that. (where have I been, right?)

So I'll place my bet. I've set my time limit. I'll take the leap of faith.
Godspeed.

Sexy beast

A VW golf mkvi.
One day.

Would you buy soap from this man?

God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars.
Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need.

We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives.

We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars.

But we won't.

And we're slowly learning that fact.

And we're very, very pissed off.

-Tyler Durden.Fight Club-

Superman(?)

Ketika akhir hari datang,
adakanku untuk selamatkanmu.

Ketika malam tak lagi tenang.
Ketika lautan tak lagi terang.
Ketika senyum tak lagi terkembang.
Ketika tertindas, terinjak, dan terbuang.

Semua, semua menoleh padaku.

Tapi di mana pelita saat aku memerlukanmu?
Di mana bulan saat malam kembali kelam.
Saat lautan kembali dalam.
Dan saat tawa tidak lagi tenggelam.

Aku tidak terasing,
namun sendirian.
Tak terkalahkan,
namun kesepian.

Superman

They Prove Me Wrong

I used to believe that some certain people are a nobody.
I don't listen to them,
I don't hang out with them,
I need not know them better,
I basically just don't care.

But every single effin' time,
In the end,
They prove me wrong.

*Picture from www.icanread.tumblr.com

Gerakan Melawan Lupa 2

Aku sering diancam
juga teror mencekam
Kerap ku disingkirkan
sampai dimana kapan

Ku bisa tenggelam di lautan
Aku bisa diracun di udara
Aku bisa terbunuh di trotoar jalan
tapi aku tak pernah mati
Tak akan berhenti

Aku sering diancam
juga teror mencekam
Ku bisa dibuat menderita
Aku bisa dibuat tak bernyawa
di kursi-listrikkan ataupun ditikam

Tapi aku tak pernah mati
Tak akan berhenti
Tapi aku tak pernah mati
Tak akan berhenti

Ku bisa dibuat menderita
Aku bisa dibuat tak bernyawa
di kursi-listrikkan ataupun ditikam

Ku bisa tenggelam di lautan
Aku bisa diracun di udara
Aku bisa terbunuh di trotoar jalan

Tapi aku tak pernah mati
Tak akan berhenti

Efek Rumah Kaca - Di Udara
Not Forgotten.Munir Said Thalib.8 Desember 1965-7 September 2004.

S.O.S. We Need More Specialist!

Ayah saya selalu bilang kalau hidup ini ibarat hutan belantara.
Kita ga akan pernah bakal tau, rintangan seperti apa yang kita bakal hadapi nanti. Oleh karena itu, alangkah baiknya kalau kita mempersiapkan sebanyak mungkin "senjata" sebelum memasuki hutan belantara tersebut.

Begitu beliau selalu berpesan. Paksakan dirimu belajar sedikit ini dan sedikit itu, kita tidak akan pernah tau, siapa tau sepanjang perjalanan hidup kita, hal-hal yang kita pelajari tersebut mungkin suatu saat akan kita butuhkan.

Saya tumbuh dengan mempercayai hal itu. Tidak buruk memang, tidak buruk sama sekali.
Didikan itu membuat saya sangat terbuka terhadap hal-hal baru, terhadap pemikiran baru, cara baru-ataupun lama, apapun, yang berbeda, semakin banyak, semakin beragam, semakin baik.

Namun, seiring berjalannya waktu saya perlahan menyadari bahwa pemikiran menjadi generalis tidaklah sepenuhnya tepat.

KITA BUTUH LEBIH BANYAK SPESIALIS! INDONESIA BUTUH LEBIH BANYAK SPESIALIS!

Definisi seorang spesialis menurut saya adalah seorang yang sangat-sangat ahli di bidang spesifik tertentu, bukan berarti pengetahuannya "nol" di bidang lainnya, namun untuk bidang tertentu, dia punya kemampuan yang jauh melebih rata-rata orang pada umumnya.

Kenapa kita butuh lebih banyak spesialis?

Menurut saya, Indonesia negara yang kaya. Negara yang sangat beragam. Banyak peluang di berbagai bidang, di berbagai daerah, di berbagai sektor industri, yang bisa dimanfaatkan.

Seorang anak TIDAK HARUS SELALU dibesarkan untuk menjadi seorang karyawan. Tidak harus selalu menjadi akuntan, tidak harus selalu menjadi seorang pengacara, tidak harus selalu menjadi seorang sales, marketing, finance, dan pekerjaan-pekerjaan "mainstream" lainnya.

Don't get me wrong, tidak ada yang salah dengan pekerjaan-pekerjaan di atas. Sama sekali tidak. Kalau memang dari antara pekerjaan-pekerjaan yang saya sebutkan sebagai "mainstream" di atas, ada yang merupakan passion kalian,hal yang kalian cinta untuk lakukan, then go ahead do it!

YANG SALAH ADALAH JIKA PEKERJAAN-PEKERJAAN DI ATAS DILAKUKAN KARENA TERPAKSA.

Karena paksaan orang tua, atau paksaan lingkungan, atau bahkan paksaan diri sendiri.

Passion, menurut saya adalah salah satu (jika tidak satu-satunya) pertimbangan seseorang dalam menentukan profesi yang dia akan pilih.

Motonya adalah : Be the best that you can be, in whatever field you choose.
Mau jadi penulis? Silahkan. Mau jadi pelukis? Monggo. Mau jadi arkeolog? Astronot? Pilot? Ahli bebatuan? Ahli astronomi? Ahli tumbuhan? Ahli hewan?

Lalu muncullah pertanyaan paling klise yang biasanya menghancurkan mimpi setiap anak di seluruh nusantara : "Kalau jadi itu, apa nanti bisa hidup? Apa ada uangnya? Bagaimana nanti masa depan kamu nak?"

Akhirnya biasanya, selamat tinggal pelukis, halo pegawai bank. Selamat tinggal sutradara film layar lebar, halo pengacara.

Pertanyaan saya sekarang :
1. Kira-kira, kalau kita adalah sound engineer terbaik yang dimiliki Indonesia, apakah kita akan jatuh miskin? Kalau kita adalah ahli gempa bumi terbaik yang dimiliki Indonesia, apakah kita akan kesulitan mencari pekerjaan? Kalau kita ahli tanah dan bebatuan terbaik yang dimiliki Indonesia, bahkan mungkin dunia, apa masih perlu konsultan dari luar negeri untuk menghentikan lumpur lapindo? (yang toh ternyata tidak berhasil juga)
Dan jika, sekali lagi jika KITA ADALAH YANG TERBAIK DI BIDANG KITA, apakah kita mungkin hidup susah karena tidak punya uang?

Pertanyaan anda selanjutnya tentu :
2. Bagaimana caranya supaya bisa menjadi yang terbaik? Ada lebih dari 200 juta orang di Indonesia.

Betul ada lebih dari 200 juta orang, tapi ada lebih dari 200 juta profesi unik, yang bisa kita masing-masing tekuni.

Miris mendengar bahwa tidak ada profesor bambu yang berasal dari Indonesia, padahal Indonesia merupakan salah satu daerah penghasil bambu yang cukup banyak. Di Eropa dan Amerika, banyak ahlinya. Mereka bahkan sudah menggunakan bambu sebagai bahan utama bangunan pengganti kayu pohon.
Miris rasanya mendengar bahwa kita yang negara agraris (katanya), tapi masih ekspor banyak sekali hasil pertanian dari negara tetangga. Beras, kacang kedelai, kacang hijau?
Banyak kemirisan lain di berbagai bidang yang saya dengan pengetahuan saya yang terbatas tidak ketahui.

My bottom line is,
please..be the best in whatever fields YOU choose.
Choose it wise, love what you do, do it long enough, and before long you'll be the expert in it.
And when you're an expert, it is only a matter of time until money will start to come into your pocket.
Your job is no longer a work, you're enjoying it, and you get paid for doing it!
Sounds good enough to you, people?

Surat untuk Rumah

Teruntukmu,
Rumah Jiwaku

Tahukah kau dalam setiap tinta
Tak pernah habis terucap cinta
Dalam setiap hembus,
Dalam setiap jiwa,
Dalam setiap raga.

Ketika semua asa telah tiada,
Dalammu, ia kembali terjaga.
Ketika kalah adalah pilihan,
Dalammu, ia tiada.

Ketika cinta bukanlah kata, tapi rasa.

Jarak hanya penanda, bukan fakta.
Untuk kita, ia tak nyata.

Kata mereka, rumah adalah tempat hati berada.
Jika itu benar, maka rumahku adalah kamu.

Sekarang tanya hati pada pikirku,
Jika kita, tidak ditakdirkan untuk bersama,
Maka apa itu cinta?

Sukabumi
16.7.2012

Hujan

Dalam tiap tetesmu
Kau bawa nafas untukku.
Membantu langit,
mengucapkan rindu pada bumi.
Membantu awan,
sampaikan salam pada bebatuan.
Membantu kering pergi,
Menghadirkan damai memeluk kalbu
dalam tiap hati kecil anak manusia.

Hujanmu buat romansa
Bantuku ucapkan kata cinta
Bantu hati bicara,
Apa yang mulut tak berani kata
Bantu mata sampaikan makna
Yang tak sempat terucap oleh kata

Sekarang,
Tanya diri pada hatiku
Apa itu cinta?

Sukabumi
15.7.2012

Paradoks

Dalam sebuah semesta paralel.

Rahwana yang menyekap Dewi Sinta selama 12 tahun tidak pernah sekalipun menyentuh tubuh sang dewi.
Ia hanya merayu.

Rahwana telah bersumpah, ia hanya mau menyentuh tubuh Dewi Sinta jika Dewi Sinta mencintainya.

Pada pertempuran terakhir melawan Rama, Rahwana yang tinggal seorang diri karena seluruh prajuritnya telah mati keluar dari Alengka dengan 8 kuda pilihan.

Sinta berusaha membujuk Rahwana agar menyerah, dan meminta maaf kepada Rama.

"Ksatria macam apa aku ini!! Menyerah saat jutaan rakyat telah mati karenaku!!", jawabnya kepada Sinta.

Sesaat sebelum Rahwana meninggalkan Gerbang Alengka, Sinta memegang pundak Rahwana dan berkata, "Sejujurnya aku kagum padamu."

"Apakah itu berarti kamu mencintaiku, Sinta?"

Sinta terdiam tidak menjawab.

Hanya air matanya titik di Taman Argasoka.


-Terinspirasi kisah Rama & Sinta menurut Dalang Sudjiwo Tedjo-

The Magic Number 10.000

The writing below is inspired by one of the chapter in Outliers, a book written by Malcolm Gladwell.
What is talent?
It is a give from God they say. Certain people can do better with less effort than some other people do with more effort.
Some people may believe talent did exist, some people don't.
It has always been the competition between nature vs nurture.
For me, the writing has been an illumination on this cause.
I know do believe that impossible is nothing.
That hard work will not lie. That we are all created equal. That we are all master of our own destiny.
As Mandela said : "I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul"

Because Being Awesome Is just Awesome

Just

Be

Awesome,

People.

Cheers!