Web3, Challenging a Fixed Mindset, and the Ideal Content Diet

Tanvi's Monthly Updates: October

Nov 01, 2022

Hey! If you’re new here; I’m Tanvi, I’m 16 years old, and I’ll make sure that you take away something valuable from my experiences every month. I’m passionate about blockchain technology, and you’ll hear a lot about my progress as I learn the ins and outs of the Web3 world and work on projects within the space. But, as I start this journey of action, each month will be full of hustle, hitting roadblocks, and tackling the challenges that come with doing the not-so-average things a 16-year-old would do! I’ll break down my experiences, and reflect on the shifts in mindset that I make to face adversity, stay motivated, and 10x myself this year.

Speaking of, I’m a part of The Knowledge Society, a program that exposes me to emerging technologies, an amazing global network, opportunities like conferences, hackathons, and challenges, and real-life skill building (you’ll hear a lot about it throughout the year!)

Making Decisions With The Right Intention

It was time that I chose my Focus in the program; the emerging technology that I will commit to becoming an expert in this year. But it was a hard choice. I was interested in too many things, and my intentions when making the decision were way off.

In a 1:1 with my TKS Director, Skylor, I realized that I was choosing based on the long-term results of my decision. I narrowed it down to the topic that would yield the most opportunities, in terms of internships, speaking gigs, etc, regardless of my passion for it. The topic was AI, by the way. If I were to spend 10+ hours a week working on this topic, tackling the inevitable challenges/setbacks that come with learning technical concepts, why was I choosing a topic that was not at the top of my list of interests?

At this age, with no consequences of failure/responsibility of building a career, I shouldn't be doing anything that I don't enjoy!

This past month, I spent HOURS going down rabbit holes in the space of blockchain, but I disregarded this topic as a potential Focus because I thought I was biased and didn't give the other ones a chance.

I Chose Blockchain.

Doing ‘work’ for something that you enjoy, is not work. When you pursue something that you enjoy, you don't mind tackling the challenges in the space. It's like choosing your battles. Regardless of the topic, the Focus process is going to be scary, intimidating and painfully hard, but blockchain is the space that I want to struggle in; it's the space that I’ll put in 10+ hours of work without forcing the number, and my passion for it guarantees that I’ll ‘figure it out.’

The rewarding experience of making progress overpowers the struggle. When I’m researching and building projects for my Focus, I’m training, not working.

I told my friend this month that ‘you especially do the things that you don’t want to if it’ll bring you one step closer to your goal.’ You’re not going to enjoy every part of the process, but doing the thing you dread is the direction for your progress; the steps that you need to take for the result.

Challenging My Personality

I’m a perfectionist, and I will not start something unless I know that I am fully prepared for it. I struggle to find the motivation to start something if I’m uncertain about it.

But I’ve recently realized that action comes before motivation. We think that there is a lot at stake when we choose action, but it's really the opposite. In the context of my life, choosing a ‘bad’ Focus is A LOT better than no Focus topic. I get data points by choosing an action, so at least I’ll be certain about what I don't like :)

Once you start taking action-struggling–and reap the rewards, the motivation to continue is a by-product.

When you have the choice, CHOOSE ACTION. For the first step of my Focus, I’m writing a Learn Article on ‘Consensus;’ the underlying concept of the blockchain (stay tuned for it on my medium later this week!), but I hesitated to start writing because I thought that I didn't have enough knowledge for it. I spent hours reading articles, watching videos, and getting tangled up in Twitter threads; but found myself adding to an indefinite list of content to consume before I start the article.

Action Is The Only Way to Learn

Action can clear more doubts than just learning/researching. I realized that writing the article, and explaining the concepts to a larger audience, will sharpen my knowledge much more effectively than spamming content, and I should only use the content to ‘get unstuck.’ Eg. When I find gaps in my knowledge as I explain the concepts in my own words. There is too much information to consume in today’s world, and identifying the right resources for your needs is a mandatory skill to develop as we head toward a completely data-driven society. Check out this article that dives deeper into ‘What Kids Need to Learn to Succeed in 2050.’

Bias Towards Action

As I begin projects in the Web3 space, I’ll need to sharpen my programming skills for blockchain development, Solidity and dApp development, etc.

Instead of waiting to solidify these skills until I need to put them to use, I took on a challenge this month; building a mini-project using Python daily. I knew that my uncertainties kept me from programming consistently, so I broke down the task into daily, digestible challenges. I’ve seen tremendous improvement in my technical skills, and the motivation to keep hustling compounds every day with each challenge completed.

100 Days of Code

My daily habit of experimenting with an unfamiliar skill.

Diving Deep Technically

I wanted to get exposure to the applications of blockchain technology in the Web3 world. So, I was biased toward action this month and attended two very valuable workshops!

ZK-Proof Blockchain Workshop w/ Adam Majmudar, the founding engineer at ThirdWeb
A deep dive into Zero-Knowledge Technology/Cryptography
and breaking down the math behind the notoriously difficult zk-SNARKS proof work.
Amazon Blockchain Fireside Chat ft. Nicole Murray & Shai Perednik
- The applications of blockchain (see diagram below)
- A deeper dive into NFTs, and the variety of assets that can be tokenized
Tokenizing real estate (registering your real estate on a blockchain as an NFT) selling and trading (all digital now that it is tokenized) is so much more efficient! And why would you do that? Well, NFTs create a record of ownership and every transaction that it's ever been or will be a party to. The risk of fraud during transactions is completely eliminated because of the consensus mechanisms.
If this flew right over your head, stay tuned for my Learn Article later this week that dives deeper into the fundamentals of blockchain technology!

Life Update

Although I've been spending countless hours researching and building on my newest-found passion, I’ve been just as busy pursuing older ones :)

I am professionally trained in a classical dance form called Bharatnatyam, and over the 10 years, my respect for this art intensifies with every performance that I complete.

During my call with my other TKS Director Niloo, we had a transparent conversation about avoiding burnout and handling the stress that inevitably comes with a busy schedule. This was one of my most valuable calls of the month.

In order to see progress, you need to give your brain the time and space to reflect/sort out the negative/positive things that you experience in a day. Without this downtime, your brain doesn’t get a chance to be curious/innovate and make the necessary connections that it needs to make.

Dance is the downtime that I give my brain.

This month, I performed:

Kathak/Garba piece at the Canada India Foundation Global Award Gala
Kathak/Bharatnatyam piece at the Indo-Canada Arts Council at Celebration Square

Downtime performing, celebrating Diwali, Navratri, Halloween, and a sweet sixteen with friends and family.

Tanvi's Monthly Updates

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