Thread by @justinkan

My life is an example of starting from absolute zero and getting to decent across an array of skills. Many times it’s been 20 years in the making.

Sharing this megathread not to brag but hopefully as an example that you too can make the choice to improve at things you’re bad at.

https://twitter.com/justinkan/status/1090461139484340224

PUBLIC SPEAKING

I was cripplingly shy as a kid. In the 8th grade I had to give a speech. I did the whole thing with my notes literally held covering my face at eye level so I wouldn’t have to see anyone.

In college I went through entire semester-long seminars without speaking once (among a round table class of 12 students).

First couple times speaking as a founder I was incredibly nervous. I gave a lightning talk at Web 2.0 in 2007 and had to get drunk to calm my nerves.

I forced myself to improve by signing up to speak even though I knew I’d regret it when the day came. Also listened to feedback. Recently one of my teammates told me I look bored when presenting so I started doing a quick workout routine before any sort of public speaking.

100+ presentations and speaking gigs later, I am comfortable enough to ad lib an hour long presentation. I keep getting asked to present at things, so it seems to be working.

PROGRAMMING

Unlike many founders, I didn’t grow up coding. I was a physics major in undergrad, which translates to being an absolute shit programmer. Didn’t take a single CS class in school. Object oriented programming? No fucking idea what that was.

I never worked at a programming job either. Went directly to rounding out first company, Kiko, a web calendar which was a giant mess of spaghetti code made from copy and pasting JS tutorials I found online.

That year we pivoted Kiko half a dozen times, which basically served as a bootcamp to build half a dozen new web apps. By the end of that year I was ok at architecting and spinning up a REST app.

After starting Justin.tv, I continued working on product and contributing to writing code. Some of my proudest moments were building cross-browser JS libraries for complex rendering of ads. 4 years after starting professionally, I was a serviceable programmer!

MANAGEMENT

When we started Kiko, I’d never worked at a job for more than 3 mnths in my life. I didn’t know jack shit about how to manage.

You think you work w green managers? Our first employees didn’t even show up to work half the days and we didn’t know how to talk to them

At Justin.tv, we didn’t even have 1:1s because I thought they were a waste of time. Finally our VP Eng took me aside and told me I had to start doing the basics. (He also has to tell me what the basics were)

Years later, after many management books, a lot of management coaching, and many fuck ups, I think I’m a decent manager. At the very least, I’m much more self aware and we’ve built our Atrium team to 150 in 18 months and everyone mostly doesn’t want to kill each other.

FITNESS

In high school I visited Japan. I got into a dispute in an arcade, which ended in me getting punched, dragged out the back, and beaten w a yellow plastic umbrella.

When I got back to US I decided it was time to hit the gym. I couldn’t bench the bar. It was a 25 lb bar

I was consistently picked last for every team I was on in high school and college. In college it was a club team! Bench pressing in college I fucked up both rotator cuffs, making it hard to exercise for years after.

I struggled with consistently building an exercise habit. During the first couple years of startups I rarely went to the gym. I started making progress when I found a gym buddy and made a social commitment to go.

Used whatever hack I could to force myself to exercise. I’d use Snapchat to hold myself accountable to getting on the exercise bike. I made a game of it & I’d try to do something every day, even if it was just for 5m. I built a gym in basement to make working out an easy default

I’m still no physical specimen but I’m exercising regularly now. Last year I deadlifted a PR of 300.

BUSINESS STRATEGY

I started a company where the primary product we were bring to market was a live video feed from a camera strapped to my head. Needless to say I didn’t start out as a grand strategist of business.

I learned by talking to people who were further along than me, and coaching people who were two steps behind me. Over yrs I cultivated a desire to learn about different types of co's & the ways technology would change them. 1000s of hours spent talking to founders and investors.

MENTAL WELL-BEING

I didn’t start off as a very spiritual person. I didn’t view mental well-being as a skill to develop. For years my mom suggested I try therapy but I thought it was stupid.

When I was starting startups I’d often get super depressed. Every summer I would want to quit and get a normal job. I constantly compared myself to peers doing much better than me.

Finally I realized something had to change and I tried seeing a therapist.

Years later, I’ve made improving my headspace a personal challenge. I'm keeping a daily gratitude journal, meditating, seeing a therapist. I’ve never felt happier in my adult life (including after we sold a co for $1b), and it has nothing to do with my external circumstances.

CONCLUSION

I bring up these skills because they are the ones I was absolute dogshit in. They happen to be the things that have mostly made me successful so far, which tells me that success can be learned... if you care enough to improve.

If you feel like you aren’t good enough: Stop being a whiny loser.

When it comes to skills, no one starts on 3rd base. There’s no hack. There are no silver bullets, just lead bullets. You have to get 10,000 hours.

I can do anything I set my mind too, and I think you can too.