Yu-kai Chou

My CMO Jun recently has been making quite a few video projects for Viralogy to let people check out our fun and productive company culture, and get all of you to live life like a hardcore gamer.

With these videos, I had a good chance to check out what I look like and how I talk.

I’m really don’t seem all that impressive

You know how the first time you ever heard yourself on tape, you really disliked your own voice? It’s a bit different from what you expected and its a totally new person who you innately are inclined to evaluate and judge. It’s the same for me when I was watching these videos.

It’s pretty interesting in the sense that, everyone who sees me in these videos feel that I am normal. I’m still the usual Yu-kai, being all weird but having some method to the madness.

Obviously I did some especially corky things for humorous effects, and thanks to Jun and brilliant editor Chris Lew, all the little stupid/funny things I do are all condensed together into a collection of Yu-kaitis, which sounds pretty painful if you think about it.

I don’t mind that too much. It’s good for the videos. Afterall, people don’t watch these videos to find someone they can respect or derive inspiration from (I think). They watch these videos to be entertained and look at unique characters, which I am unashamed to admit being one.

However, outside of these videos, I have time to self-reflect and really move towards the person I want to be.

How I am far from being an impressive person

These are some of the observations I have on myself:

1. I have a nasally voice that could sound like a digital effect. Along with my fast talking speed, it could really resemble the sound of a bee. Quite annoying, and definitely not an impactful way of speaking.

2. My posture is somewhat slouched and awkward. I resemble an old man.

3. My body language is stiff and rigid.

4. Since English is my second language, sometimes I get trapped with strange diction or needing to rephrase my sentence midway through because of grammar issues. Taking ESL and Honors English with Shakespeare at the same time in high school didn’t really help much. Luckily, I still use my original name Yu-kai, so people kinda expect that and I get away with a lot of it.

5. Even without the language issue, I seem to make a lot of socially awkward comments that just entertain myself. To be honest, I’m just truly a socially awkward guy due to my strange blend of all the cultures I grew up with. I used to think that being my friend would be lots of fun, but after watching these clips I feel that being my friend requires a good amount of tolerance, hahaha. Perhaps it’s both!

So with all these things going on at the same time, I’m looking at myself and thinking, “This guy looks like a sleezy dork! Why would anyone want to work with him?”

It’s strange, because it does seem to be the case that everyone who meets me and interacts with me gets a little impressed, and tell others about all these great things about me that I don’t think are necessarily true.

No, I’m not trying to boast and be humble at the same time. I really don’t think what a lot of people say is true. After all, some people tell others I am extremely smart only after 2 casual sentence exchanges. I don’t know where they get that data from and to this day it is still puzzling.

But because of that, I get so many referrals of accomplished and successful people asking for some kind of help one way or another.

Recently, I was referred to help organize the Social Capital Markets, approached to help a top UK singer work on an ambitious project on making the world a better place, and invited as one of the 100 young leaders in California to attend the Govorners’ Global Climate Summit hosted by Arnold Schwarzenegger.

These things don’t come to most 22 year olds, especially one who seems like a sleazy dork (to himself).

The key to becoming successful without having an impressive image

So what’s the trick? The lesson for myself is summed above, and I need to work my hardest to change them, but I could possibly share with the readers what got me a decent brandname in the world DESPITE those awkward things that I do.

You who don’t have the dorky awkwardness, how much easier it would be for you to brand yourself well!

1. Quality Vertical Networking, or making your current network successful

(as opposed to Horizontal Networking, where you just try to amass a bunch of new contacts).

In a previous blog, I wrote about the 6 Core Concepts of good FD Networking. It goes with the principle “networking starts with the self” and “in order to network, you need to be someone worth networking with.”

The 6 Core Concepts are: Integrity, Sincerity, Optimism, Confidence, Initiative, and Persistence.

If you always uphold these 6 Core Concepts, then you will be respected by people you meet.

2. Strong work ethics and a sense of mission

In a previous blog, The Top Y-gines I have worked with, I mentioned that a lot of people in this world become flaky and unreliable.

That actually means as long as you show good attitude and make sure everything that is in your responsibility gets done and gets done fast, you will have already stood out among your peers.

It pretty much means that if you have an uncompromising ideal to fulfill all your promises, and do everything you SHOULD do, your reputation spreads fast. That actually goes along with integrity, sincerity, and initiative.

3. Don’t be afraid to create unique value

School, work, and society overall often asks you to conform, to be like everyone else.

However, you need to constantly find opportunities to break through your comfort zone and challenge what has always been working with a new idea.

It may not be a better idea, but unless you bring it up and think about it, there will never be any better ideas in the system.

The burden of innovation in your environment lies on your shoulders, not people who are smarter.

4. Work with good people

If you associate with passionate and bright people, your reputation will be associated with them too. Not only does the group accomplish great things that you will be known for too, but the experience itself makes you and your public image stronger.

5. Live your day to the fullest

This means that you want to use your time well and constantly stay productive.

You have 168 hours a week, and it is really up to you how you want to spend that time.

A 40 hour week job is really not “full time,” it’s actually slightly lower than quarter time.

If you use the other quarter to sleep, that means you have the other 80 hours left to either do nothing, complain about your 40 hour work or make a difference in this world.

If you want to accomplish uncommon things in this world, you need to live your life uncommonly. If you live your life just like everyone else, you will end up like everyone else.

If you play this Game of Life long enough and seriously enough, you will slowly build up your stats, level up, gain a district reputation, and conquer quests that will open up new ones for you. Life is a game, in which only hardcore gamers make it to the leaderboard.